I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters. This takes place before the 3rd dies.
Sakura Haruno walked through the wet streets of Konoha. It had been raining for several days and it looked like it would continue.
She was heading home, freezing her butt off and muttering curses under her breath when she heard a noise.
Several noises in fact.
And they were coming from the nearest alley way.
Cautiously she pulled a kunai out of it's pouch and walked into the alley. Her eyes scanned around as she continued, getting closer to the noises, which was actually a single noise.
It wasn't until she got halfway through when she saw what caused the noises.
There lay, his orange jumpsuit tattered and stained suspiciously red, Naruto Uzumaki.
Sakura stared wide eyed at her teammate, who obviously didn't recognize her and weakly cowered away from her, whimpering softly "Please...d-don't hurt me..."
She gave a tiny gasp and moved closer, her eyes widening slightly more at what she saw.
It looked like he got run over bye a semi.
His face was bruised, various cuts where everywhere, blood was also everywhere and some fresh blood still leaked out weakly.
Sakura stared wide eyed at her teammate, her mind trying to comprehend the blonde in front of her. "N-Naruto?"
Naruto jerked his head and looked hazily up at her. "S-Sakura-chan?" But before she could respond he sprung up and had his signature giant smile plastered on his face. "Sakura-chan what are you doing here?"
Sakura blinked. "I was walking home until I heard a noise. I came over and I found you. Naruto what are you doing here?" Naruto swiftly ignored her question. "Sakura-chan you should go home before it gets too late, your parents might worry."
Sakura knew that Naruto ignored her question but didn't bring it up. "Naruto you should come with me, stay at my house for the night instead of..." She trailed off but Naruto shook his head furiously. "No Sakura-chan it's OK, I don't want to be a burden."
"Nonsense you won't be a burden! Come on Naruto your coming to my house and that's final!" Naruto looked unsure but nodded. "What about your parents?" "They're not home, now hurry up I'm cold!"
A few minutes later the two ninja stepping into the Haruno household, Naruto still looking slightly unsure. Sakura turned towards her teammate. "Want anything to eat Naruto? I think I have some instant ramen..." She was shocked when Naruto shook his head. "I'm not hungry Sakura-chan...thank you though."
Sakura nodded slightly numb, walking upstairs and pointing at a door. "That's the guest room, you can stay there tonight. Over there is my room, you are not allowed in. The bathroom is across from my room and down the hall are my parent's room."
Naruto nodded, remembering what each door was. "Do you want something to drink? I have hot chocolate." That seemed to gain the blonde's interest as he nodded. "Hot chocolate?" Sakura smiled and nodded, walking back downstairs to the kitchen and pulling out two packs. "It'll be ready in a few minutes.''
The blonde ninja nodded and walked into the living room, curling up on a corner of the couch.
During that time Sakura was worried as hell. Naruto had been acting strange ever since she saw him, first ignoring what he was doing in that alley, then denying ramen, something she didn't think could happen but there you go...
Sakura frowned, wondering what has gotten over her blonde teammate, he's been acting strangely for the past couple of days now that she thought about it.
He was quieter and out of the way, two things Naruto was not known for.
Apparently neither Kakashi-sensei or Sasuke noticed this strange behavior, something Sakura didn't really find hard to believe, but this...the fact that they hadn't noticed proved Naruto was doing good at staying out of the way, which she admitted it didn't help that they all ignore him most of the time.
The coco was done and she got Naruto's cup and walked into the living room, frowning when she saw the curled up blonde. She handed him the cup and he tried to give her his signature grin, but faltering horribly and to Sakura it looked broken.
He took a long grateful sip and they sat in silence for a few minutes before Sakura spoke up. "What were you doing out there Naruto?"
This question made him flinch and he looked down. Sakura gave him a pointed look. "Naruto no reasonable person would be out there in this weather. Tell me."
Naruto sighed and he looked down. "You don't wanna know." Sakura frowned again. OK now she knew something was wrong.
Normally, Naruto would give a giant stupid grin and tell them everything was fine, to which most people aside from those who really knew Naruto would believe, but this...it's like there are two different Naruto's. The happy smiling blonde everyone knows...and the broken and sad blonde that occupied a small corner of the couch in Sakura's living room.
"Naruto...I do want to know." Naruto looked at her and she saw various emotions flash through his dull eyes and he sighed again. "Alright. Guess I'll tell you. It was a few days ago, some of the villagers and ninja decided to try their hands at killing me, unfortunately they were drunk and accidentally lit my apartment on fire. It wasn't their fault but I've been living on the streets for the past couple of days...and..well more drunks came..."
Sakura didn't need to hear anymore to get the gist of what he meant but it was still shocking. "W-why would they do that to you Naruto?"
Naruto gave her another broken look. "I suppose I should tell you since Jii-san told me I could tell anyone..." Sakura frowned. "What do you mean?"
Naruto gave her a serious look. "What I'm about to tell you is The highest possible rank secret known in this village. Only I can tell you and you cannot tell another soul because the penalty is death." In a heartbeat Sakura nodded. "I won't tell a soul Naruto."
The boy nodded and looked down again. "I..." Sakura nodded at him unsure. "I have the Kyuubi sealed inside me. Th-they call me demon and freak...they constantly try and kill me because of it..." Sakura nodded shocked.
It made sense now. All of it. The reason he could be doing so poorly...and all along she thought it was because he really was a failure.
"H-how many know?" Naruto looked up slightly confused. "Know the secret? Well...the younger generation never knew so...so far only you."
Sakura froze at those words. She was the first person he'd ever told about his secret. She felt a deep honor and deep guilt to how badly he was treated bye her.
Curiously, she asked. "Do you still like me?" This question defiantly caught Naruto off guard it took him longer to answer. "As in girlfriend material?" She nodded. Naruto, again to her shock, shook his head. "I'm sorry Sakura-chan I don't like you like that anymore." Sakura nodded, confused. "Then why did you tell me you hold the kyuubi?" Naruto gave a blush of embarrassment. "W-well..."
Sakura tilted her head. "Well what?" "Your the closest thing to a sister I have..." It was like Sakura had been hit with a ton of bricks. Naruto...thought her...like a sister? After all the crap she put him through he still thought she was sister material? "N-Naruto...I'm..."
Naruto hung his head sadly. "It's OK if your disgusted..." Sakura shook her head. "N-no I'm touched." This caused the blonde ninja to look at her slightly confused. "Touched?" Sakura nodded. "Yeah...what you said...well...it made me feel bad about all the times I hit or ignored you..." Naruto blushed and looked down. "Tell you what Naruto." Naruto looked up, his sapphire eyes locked into Sakura's. "I could be your sister if you want."
You could hear a fly sneeze it was so quiet. Eventually Naruto found his speaking voice. "Y-...Y...You'd really...w-want to be..." Sakura nodded. "Of course. No one deserves to be without family." Naruto cracked a smile, a true smile Sakura noted, and wrapped her in the gentlest, most loving hug she'd ever had. "T-thank you...onee-chan.''
Sakura gawked at the word. He called her big sister. Not just sister. Big sister. She smiled and hugged him back. "It's no problem...otouto" Naruto smiled again and kept hugging her.
Sakura gave a tiny kiss on the blonde forehead. "Bye the way. If you don't like me...who do you like hm?" Naruto blushed and mumbled it.
Sakura leaned a little closer. "What was that?"
"I said it was...Tenten."
Sakura blinked. "Tenten? You mean the older girl with the buns?" Naruto nodded blushing. Sakura smiled. "Aww...little Naru-kun has a crush on an older woman!' Said Naru-kun blushed heavier and buried himself on her shoulder.
Sakura realized how late it was and pulled a blanket over them, hugging Naruto as the brother and sister fell asleep in each others arms.
If you hate me for how Sakura is that's because I really don't know how to accurately portray a nice Sakura since my personal opinion is that she treats Naruto like dirt a good chunk of the time but still.
Naruto: I think you did a good job. Right onee-chan?
Sakura: *nods* Right otouto!
