A/N: Naruto and Sakura are best friends in this story and probably a bit older as well. I think about nineteen years old.
Bonk. Bonk.
"Sakura-chan, open the door!"
Sakura slowly opened her eyes and yawned loudly. 'Stupid Naruto.. Waking me up like this.' She stood up to open the door. Just as she guessed, Naruto stood in her doorway, grinning stupidly at her. She stepped aside to let him in. "Hey, what are you doing here at six in the morning? We don't have a mission, right?"
"Sorry, Sakura-chan." Naruto apologized, "I didn't wake you up, did I?"
Sakura sighed. "Don't tell me you forgot I had the night shift at the hospital."
"You did?" He scratched his head. "Oh.. I think I forgot. Gomen, Sakura-chan." Naruto grinned sheepishly at her.
She sighed, "It doesn't matter. Now, tell me what's wrong."
Naruto immediately stopped smiling and looked Sakura straight in her eyes. "Baa-chan told me something important. She said I had to report it to you later, but I thought you wanted to know right away."
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"Teme is back and with 'friends'."
"Teme?" Sakura couldn't really come up with who the person was. Naruto called so many people 'teme'.
Now Naruto started grinning. "You don't remember Sasuke-teme? How bad of you, Sakura-chan. I thought you loved him."
"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura smiled happily at Naruto and hugged him. "Naruto? Is it really true? Is he back!"
Naruto smiled sadly. "Yeah, he's back with us, finally." He released himself from the hug and ruffled Sakura's hair.
She grinned at him and said, "well, what we're waiting for? Let's go!" She grabbed Naruto's hand and ran outside.
"Sakura-chan! Wait, you're still in your pajama!"
Sakura suddenly stopped running and looked down at herself. She grinned at Naruto. "Oops? I'm going to chance, okay? Wait for me!"
"I'll go with you."
"Psh, you pervert." She replied, smiling at his antics.
"Hey! That hurt my feelings, Sakura-chan!" He fake cried, holding a hand to his heart.
"Tsunade-shishou!" Sakura stormed inside the Hokage's room.
As usual, Tsunade was sleeping on her desk. She woke up and yawned. She quickly looked up and saw Sakura and Naruto standing before her desk. "I see you got my message?"
Sakura nodded.
"And.. you probably want to see him?"
Sakura let out the breath she didn't know she was holding and replied with a breathy "yes."
"Good. Because he wanted to see you guys too." Tsunade replied, looking from Sakura to Naruto.
"Where is he now, baa-chan?" Naruto said.
"Well," Tsunade began, "I first wanted to put him into a cell, but I thought he was trustful enough, because he killed Orochimaru. However, I've put guards around his house. After all, he once betrayed the village, who knows if it happens a next time? Oh, one last thing; just say you've been sent by me."
Sasuke sat on his bed in his room, thinking about Sakura and Naruto.
"Sasuke-kun." He turned around to see Karin standing in the door frame. "Eat something. You haven't eaten at all since we've arrived."
"Hn." Was his reply and turned around to face the wall.
"Oh, Sasuke-kun.." She said as she walked over to Sasuke and hugged him from behind. "Are you still not happy that you're back?"
"I want to see my old teammates." He replied.
Karin sighed. "Sasuke-kun. Your sensei was here just minutes ago. Aren't you happy he was here?"
Sasuke turned to Karin again and said, "of course, I was happy. But I want to see my friends- old teammates again. I wonder if Naruto is still so loudmouthed and if Sakura's still so annoying. I just miss-" He stopped talking when he heard some knocking on the door. He stood up, walked out of the room and opened the door.
He felt a smile tugging at his lips when he saw Naruto and Sakura standing outside his door.
"Teme!" Naruto rushed over to Sasuke and pulled him into a friendly hug. Sakura was smiling at the scene and soon she was joining the two. It was the first group hug they ever had. They released themselves and Sasuke invited them inside.
Letting himself fall on the couch, Naruto looked around and saw a girl in the kitchen. 'What the hell?'
"Naruto?" He saw Sakura looking at him with a worried expression. "Is everything okay?"
"Err- Yeah.. I'm fine."
Sakura's expression softened and she turned to Sasuke, who was sitting in a chair. "Ne, Sasuke-kun. Did I tell you?"
Sasuke winced. She still added 'kun' at his name. 'That won't be for long I think…' Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he saw that Sakura was talking to him. "-and then he proposed to her! That was really romantic. They are married now. And she keeps saying, 'Sakura, don't forget you have to call me Nara Ino now!' It's really annoying, but it's nice to see your friends getting together. Anyway, where are your friends?"
Damn, that was the question he was trying to avoid. And she, of all people, was asking it. He couldn't say that they weren't here, could he? After all, she wouldn't have asked it if she hadn't know. "Err- My friends? Well.. Juugo and Suigetsu are outside. Of course they are guarded, but they wanted to take a look around."
Sakura looked down at her feet. "Oh.. That girl.. There was a girl with you, right? What happened to her?"
"Don't worry, I didn't die or something." They turned around to see Karin standing in the door frame.
Sakura frowned. "I wasn't worried. I just wondered where you went.." She trailed off.
"Whatever." Karin replied, rolling her eyes. "I'm Karin. You must be Sakura? Sasuke-kun has told me a lot about you."
'She calls him Sasuke-kun?' Sakura smiled, "yeah, that's me. It's nice to meet you."
"Hey!" Naruto broke in the conversation. "Did you forget about me?"
"Ah. You must be the dobe." Sasuke shot her a glare. "I mean Naruto."
Naruto eyed her warily. "And you're one of Sasuke's friends?"
Karin laughed at that. "Friends? Boy, I'm his soon-to-be wife."
At that moment, Naruto froze and Sakura thought her heart had stopped beating.
Sasuke tried not to look at Sakura. He knew she had loved him. Maybe, she still loves him.
"Teme." He looked up to see Naruto standing there with an angry expression. "Let's talk."
They moved to another room and closed the door behind them. Karin shot Sakura a worried glance.
Naruto pushed Sasuke up against the wall. He was angry. Well, more than angry, he was furious. Sasuke was sure he saw some red in Naruto's eyes. "Teme! How could you that to Sakura-chan?" He growled out.
Now it was Sasuke's turn to be angry. After all, he couldn't help he didn't love Sakura. True, she was a special friend to him and he loved her with all of his heart. But it was not the kind of love lovers had.
"Dobe. I have feelings for Karin. Not for Sakura. I can't help it." He screamed the last sentence.
Naruto had now red eyes and stared deeply into Sasuke's Sharingan ones. "I know you never loved her. But if you ever take a lover, then don't let it be such a slutty-looking girl! Then take something like Hinata or something! That would've been understandable for Sakura."
"Hn." Was Sasuke's only reply.
They heard yelling from the other room. But they didn't know what the guys were saying. There was an awkward silence between Karin and Sakura. The door opened and they turned their heads at the door. "Naru-" Sakura began, but she was stopped when he pulled her up dragged her out of the house. The last thing Sakura saw was that Karin quickly hugged Sasuke.
They were now on the old training fields of team seven. Naruto panted an sat down on the grass. Next to him, Sakura did the same. 'She still has the sad look on her face.' Naruto noticed.
"Sakura-chan. Don't let it bother you. I'm sure you'll find another nice guy in the future." He tried to reassure her.
When she heard the words, she couldn't take it anymore. She cried and he slowly pulled her into a hug. "Shh.. It's going to be alright, Sakura-chan."
"But.. But.. He's marrying soon." She sniffed. "I knew it.. I knew he didn't love me. But I didn't expect him to have a lover, either."
Naruto looked down at her with sad eyes and stroked her hair softly. Slowly, Sakura released the hug. "I'm going to take a walk. I'll be back in the afternoon or something."
"Okay, take care."
- After a few hours of walking -
Sakura picked up a rock and threw it in the lake before her. She decided to go further away from the Konoha gates. She quickly checked if she still had some shuriken and kunai with her. After all, you never know if there's an enemy, right?
She walked into a clearing and saw a figure sitting on a log. Black with red clouds. She gasped, "Akatsuki."
The figure spoke, "who's there? Don't hide yourself. Come here or I'll come get you."
She walked slowly to the figure and to her surprise it was a wounded Hoshigaki Kisame.
"Oh," he said, "if it isn't the kunoichi."
She could always attack him. After all, he was wounded. But she had to look out for his partner. Where was he anyway? "Where is Uchiha Itachi?"
He looked down for a moment and then looked up again, "You didn't hear the news?"
She was confused, "news? What kind of news?"
"He's dead. His little brother killed him." He sighed.
"How is that possible?" Sakura replied, "I don't want to praise him or something, but Itachi was way stronger than Sasuke." She left the 'kun' out. She couldn't call him that anymore.
"He was indeed. Itachi was half blind because of his Sharingan. The brat, Sasuke as you call him, hit me with his chidori too." He looked down at his wound.
"Oh." Was her only reply.
He patted the grass beside him. "Come sit here, kunoichi. You're not that bad to talk to."
"My name is Sakura. Not kunoichi. And how am I sure I can trust you? You're a S-class criminal."
He laughed at her reply. "Sakura. You can't trust me. You can talk to me however. You won't betray your village if you do that. And you could easily kill me; I'm wounded, remember?"
"Okay…" She said, raising an eyebrow. "That's out of character coming from you."
He grinned, she was sure she could see all of his shiny teeth now. "I know. But I just need someone to talk to."
"Ah." She replied in understanding. "I see…"
She sat down on the grass beside him. "So…" She said, "what now?"
He shrugged. "I don't know."
"Oh…"
Silence.
"But," she began, "what are you doing here, anyway?"
"I followed the Uchiha-brat all the way down to here. But I lost track of him." He sighed and looked at her. "What are you doing here?"
"I.. I just.. wanted to think.. I've lost a dear friend to someone." She said, sadly.
"Who did you lose? Do I know him or her?" Kisame asked, looking back to the ground again.
"It's the person you call the Uchiha-brat." She said, laughing a bit. "He is finally back, but he has a lover now."
"Well.. I think we both lost important people today. You lost Sasuke and I lost Itachi." He said, looking into her green eyes. He laughed, "this is stupid, criminals like me aren't supposed to miss someone."
"It's good to talk to someone once in a while." She replied.
He grinned. "That's true. You're a nice person, Sakura-san. Too bad you're my enemy."
"Yeah, I know.." She trailed off. Suddenly she got an idea. "Kisame-san.. I don't want to betray my village, but I could heal your wound."
He raised an eyebrow. "Why would you do that? You don't know me very well."
"You're a nice person, Kisame-san. It's great to talk to you and I hope I'll be able to do that tomorrow too. And if I don't heal you, I'm sure you're going to die." She said, blushing a bit.
He grinned, "very well then. Go ahead."
Sakura immediately got into medic-mode and started healing him. She was really concentrated on her work. She stopped when she heard Kisame talk.
"Sakura-san. I want to.. thank you. It's really nice of you." He said in a serious voice. But he grinned when he said, "but I'll kill you if you don't come here tomorrow."
Sakura smiled sweetly at Kisame. "You're welcome, Kisame-san. I'll definitely come back here tomorrow."
He smiled at her response. "That's good to hear. Arigatou, Sakura-san."
She looked up. "For what?"
"For being my friend. And.. I'm really glad you're here, I really like you."
Once again, Sakura smiled. "You're a nice guy, Kisame-san." She winked at him, "and.. I like you too."