Naruto Shippuden
NaruSaku
1,248 words

Hi everyone! This is my first upload on here! ^^; I hope you guys enjoy! I love NaruSaku ;~; Reviews would be much appreciated, thanks!

-chid0ri


It was a very quiet night in the small village of Konoha. It was 1 AM and most of the villagers were sound asleep in their warm beds. Although for Haruno Sakura, it was a different story. She was just about to leave the Hokage's office from her duties.

"Is that all, Lady Tsunade?" Sakura asked her beloved Hokage, who was almost drunk off of sake.

"Yes, yes, Sakura, you may go," she said, gesturing her hand carelessly, telling her to leave.

"Alright, goodnight Lady Tsunade," Sakura said as she bowed graciously and turned to leave. Sakura took a quick peek at the clock hung up over the door.

1 AM already, huh? I really need to get home and get some rest… Working for the Hokage can be so tiring sometimes, Sakura thought to herself. She had worked for thirteen hours straight with only four hours of sleep. She was exhausted. She had been called very early – and not to mention very abruptly – by Shizune in the morning to help Tsunade-sama with what seemed to be very large amount of paperwork and such (although Sakura figured that the very procrastinating Hokage had set aside all this paperwork before to gamble and drink).

Sakura quietly slipped out of the Hokage's office just as Shizune nervously was telling the Hokage "I think you've had enough to drink for tonight, Lady Tsunade…" The pink-haired kunoichi quietly giggled as she heard Tsunade-sama yell, "Shizune! A woman like me needs their sake!"

A few minutes passed by as Sakura made her way outside. The warm night's breeze gently hit her face as she walked through the small village.

It's so quiet, Sakura thought to herself. Her boots crunched against the dirt on the ground as she wandered through. She passed Yamanaka Ino's home. She knew that the young Yamanaka wasn't home; she was off on a mission with Nara Shikamaru and Akamichi Chouji. She sighed to herself.

"All I've been doing is working and sleeping," Sakura said to herself. She rubbed her eyes to help keep her awake as she sighed once again. For the past few weeks she had been feeling very lonely. Close to all of her friends were busy doing other jobs around the village to help prepare them for the war, or they had gone off on a mission. Lady Tsunade had said that there would be more missions that would be given to the Chuunins because the Jonins were too busy.

Wanting to get home quickly, Sakura quickened her pace. She had passed Inuzuka Kiba's home already. She had bumped into him the other day, while he was delivering important messages. She thought back to their conversation.

"Kiba-kun, you've been busy lately too, huh?" Sakura asked.

"Oh yeah, the Hokage's been giving us a load of stuff to do, hasn't she boy?" Kiba had said while getting off an impatient Akamaru and scratching him behind the ears. Akamaru barked gleefully.

"Anyways, guess who I ran into the other day while on my mission to the Sand? Naruto – the idiot," Kiba had said with that huge grin of his. Sakura's eyes widened; her heart paced faster a little.

"Really? Naruto?" She hasn't heard the idiot say 'Sakura-chan will you go on a date with me?' in a while. The village was oddly quiet without him.

"Yeah, he said he's really busy training and all that stuff." Kiba said with a shrug. "He doesn't know when he's going to be back though. Anyway, Akamaru and I have to go or else the Hokage is going to rip our heads off. See ya," he said with a roll of the eyes and that grin again. He quickly got onto Akamaru and they sped away, probably off to deliver some more messages.

Sakura stood there as she waved goodbye. After they were out of sight, she put her arm down. She looked thoughtfully into the sky.
Naruto… when are you coming back?

The kunoichi was not nearly close to home. She looked at the ground, her feet scuffling against the ground. She was so lonely; but she knew that everyone had to be busy; the war was going to start soon and they had to prepare. She started to think of the old days – when Team 7 still existed. When they went on cat-finding missions… When Sasuke and Naruto compete against each other in everything they did… When Naruto would always mess up and she would tell him off for it… When Sasuke used to be there with them – with their village… with their team.

Her gaze stayed on the ground until she heard footsteps in front of her.

Who would be awake this late? Sakura thought to herself as she looked up. Her eyes spotted a person wearing a very familiar looking orange jumpsuit and sported that oh, so familiar blonde hair.

Naruto?

Her heart almost skipped a beat, she felt it. She wanted to scream his name, to run up and hug him – but she would never, ever, do that. No, never… But he was just there, walking his usual way – his hands behind his head. He walked so carefree; so happy. Sakura's heart started to warm up, and she didn't even know why.

She wasn't sure if she should call his name or not. He was quite close, but not too close for him to notice her presence.

Sakura's head was going crazy. She closed her eyes. Maybe he's tired… He wouldn't want to talk to me. Although why not? I haven't seen him for three weeks! He owes me at least a hello! I'm on his team, I'm his comrade, I'm his… Why am I getting so worked up about this? Ugh, he's such an idiot! Why, why, why am I thinking these things? It's not a big deal… Why is my heart beating so fast? So I haven't seen him in three weeks. So what? It's not like I missed that babbling idiot or anything! What a baka… Oh, Sakura, just say his name! No, I need to go home and sleep… He's probably heading home to his instant-ramen infested house anyway. Oh the way he eats ramen; I don't know how he does it – wait, what… why am I thinking this? She held her head a little. How this was giving her a slight headache and –

"Sakura-chan?"

Sakura took her hands off her head and blinked a few times. Her vision was a little blurred for a few moments but it all came into focus. Her fellow comrade, Uzumaki Naruto, was standing right in front of her, his head slightly cocked to the side.

Naruto…