Chapter I
One Fine Morning
"Ring, Ring!"
"Ughh…," Naruto grudgingly groaned as he shuffled around underneath the bed sheets. The alarm clock seemed to scream louder at him than usual. Almost at the speed of light, he banged the clock's head with his rough hand. Soon, it was quiet again. With the sound gone, he peacefully smothered his head back into his pillow again. Although his bed sheet smelled different than usual, his body told him to relax and drift off into wonderland. Besides, it was a heavenly scent, a scent that made him feel at ease.
He knew that he shouldn't be sleeping like this. He had an important mission going on early this morning, and knew that if he didn't arrive to the gates by eight o'clock sharp, he had to treat all of his comrades a nice dinner. He lifted his hands up. Suddenly, it fell and slapped his forehead.
"Ow, ow…," he winced as he slowly rose up. Despite the pain, his hand felt lighter than usual. "I'm up now, I'm up…." He was still half asleep. His head felt kind of heavy and light at the same time. He yawned and stretched his arms. The curtains blocked the glorious sunlight that tried to intrude into his room. His bright blue eyes began to catch small glimpse of light. He walked toward the covered window.
"Seems like a good day, heh," he said as he pulled the curtains aside. He turned around to go to the bathroom to take a nice hot shower. But when he turned back around, his eyes caught a glimpse of a big toe in the rumpled bed sheets.
'Hey, hey, what's that…,' Naruto thought as he took a closer look at the big toe. All of the sudden, he felt his hair rising sharply.
"Gahhh! What the hell is that?!" he freaked and slammed his back to the wall with his hands and feet spread apart. His head was a gong that was smashed with a huge stick. His head panged again and felt slightly heavy.
"Ah, geez… what the hell did I just do last night," he said as he slid down to the floor. Just then, he remembered the time where he read an article about a man who murdered his best friend while he was drunk. His hair stood up in the air again.
'I couldn't have…. Could I?' Naruto thought as he took small sneaky steps toward the big toe. He stared at it for a long time, narrowing his eyes. Suddenly, it shuffled around and quickly vanished into the bed sheets. He sighed. 'Good, I didn't kill anyone last night, then,' he thought. He stood up and cheerfully went toward the bathroom. Before he touched the doorknob, suddenly, his head flashed with another thought.
'Wait a minute,' he thought as he slowly, very slowly, turned. 'If I didn't kill anyone, and the big toe just moved, then who is in the bed right now…?' Beads of sweat rolled down his almost naked body –he had only a blue-and-white striped boxers on- as he kept staring at his bed as if it was some kind of a sly monster just waiting to pounce on him.
"Ahh," he heard something yawn underneath the sheets. It sounded like a cat for a second, but he knew that there were no cats in his neighborhood. Then, it talked.
"Wow, that was a good sleep," it said. He saw a hand reach up from the short distance. "Ow, ow…. My head feels like it split into two." Something pink plopped out of the pillows and sprang up.
"Eh, Sakura-chan…?" Naruto said as he stood there, stunned. Sakura stared at Naruto at first; not knowing what in the world was going on. She shook her head gently, and opened her eyes. She regained her consciousness. She knew that this wasn't her room, and she was sitting on someone else's bed. Moreover, she was naked, and only the top part of her body showed.
"Gyaahhhh!!!!" Sakura screamed and fussed as she tried to cover herself up with the bed sheet.
"Uh, Sakura-chan," Naruto stuttered, not knowing what to say after. "Uh, good morning….?" He scratched his head. His cheeks started to feel like they were about to burst, as if they were in a very hot steam room.
"Na- Naruto?!" she shouted. Then, regaining her consciousness again, she wrapped the bed sheet around her body and got out of the bed. She cracked the joints of her arms, to which Naruto freaked out.
"N-now, Sa-Sakura-chan," he stumbled and walked backwards and she walked toward him. He tripped over some kind of cloth and fell backwards, and seizing this opportunity, Sakura punched the daylights out of him.
Outside, a nice old couple was walking down the street when they heard lots of cursing, beatings, and screams from one particular room. The old woman clicked her tongue in disproval while the old man tried to carry his wife away from the neighborhood. "Come now dear," he told her. "The world has gotten too violent with those what-cha-ma-call-it anime shows that those young hipsters watch nowadays…."
After the feud was over, and after Sakura had finally calmed down, Naruto tried to regain his consciousness while thinking of last night events. No matter what he thought, nothing seemed to come out of his mind.
In one rare and silent moment, he gently smashed his fist down to his one open palm facing up. "I got it!" he exclaimed.
"Got what," she said bitterly, still holding tightly onto the sheets wrapped around her body.
"I bet some evil gangs drugged us and then tried to kill us," he said with a very serious tone. "But luckily, I saved us in drugged state, and…." He began to blush again.
"And what?!" she yelled at him and stared at him very hard with her piercing green eyes. "Do you really think I came on to you at that time?! Get real, Naruto. You are the last person, no, not even the last. I wouldn't even come on to you, not even when I'm drugged, and not even if you were the last person on earth!" She bitterly said. Her cheeks were red hot and flustered. She bit her lips, making it go quite bloody red, and she cursed herself for saying those regretful things to Naruto. It was the truth, and that was what she thought. She didn't want to shame herself nor Naruto this way.
"Then, what do we do…," he quietly said. He suddenly came closer to her, trying to be honest with his pure blue eyes. "Sakura-chan, I wouldn't do this to you unless you wanted me to! I wouldn't dare!"
"That's enough Naruto," Sakura said, slowly rising up with her eyes closed. She came to a decision. "We won't talk about this anymore, okay? And we certainly won't talk about this to anyone else, understand? We can't let anyone know about this." She was still blushing. Naruto was still on the floor, looking down. His wild side had slid by, and he was quiet and still. She turned around to see him again. For some reason, looking at Naruto right now in this moment made her want to keep her eyes on him for just a little longer. His body was bathed in warm ray of light, and his blond hair seemed to be part of the whole glow. She suddenly felt so comfortable within this atmosphere, even if everything was messed up at this frame of time.
Noticing her feet, Naruto quickly looked up. "Sakura-chan…?" She quickly turned around.
"Ah, yes," she said, beginning to feel a bit agitated and fussy. "Where's the bathroom? I need to take a shower!" She wanted to be somewhere very far away from Naruto at this very moment. She wasn't irritated by him, though.
"Oh, right," Naruto said, standing up. He felt closer to her now more than ever. "Just right in front of you…."
"Thank you," she said and walked into the room. She closed the door, and leaned against it. Right in front of her, she saw a rectangle mirror in front on her, imitating her image. She sighed and slid down to the floor gently.
'What have I done…,' she thought while scrambling her pink hair madly with her hands. 'Aw, damn it! What the hell happened to both of us last night? I seriously can't remember anything.' She slid her hand over her hair and closed her eyes. Nothing seemed to come out of her mind at the moment.
Meanwhile, as the door acted as the barrier between the two, Naruto was doing the same thing.
He quickened his pace toward the large green gate.
"Aw damn it," he spat. "I knew I'd be late!" Somehow, over in the distance, he saw the glimpse of the gate and few people scattered around it. He ran faster. He could hear their voices.
"Whew, made it!" he yelled out loud.
"Geez, late again!" yelled Tenten. "You must be setting the world record for always being fifteen minutes late, Kiba."
Kiba let out a small sorry grin.
"Well, that is particularly odd," Rock Lee pondered. "Where could Naruto-kun be? He is never particularly this late."
"I agree," Neji said.
"He's usually the most enthusiastic one when it comes to missions…. How troublesome." Shikamaru quipped while leaning against a tree. Out of boredom, he plucked a blade of grass from the ground and nibbled onto it. Choji squat down under the shades to keep the sun out of his eyes.
"I wonder if something's up," Kiba wondered. "Heh, he can't be still hung over from last night, huh? I mean, last night's mission was pretty brutal…"
"What does that have to do with today?" Tenten directly asked. She was a little ticked off from all this lateness.
"Well, weren't some girl all over him last night down at the bar?" Kiba said, but suddenly realizing what he just said, he turned red and quickly changed the sentence. "I mean, what I mean is that…. Maybe his alarm clock isn't working too well so he's sleeping in!"
Silence rang through each body.
"You don't mean…." Tenten said and trailed off.
"Heh, as if," Shikamaru spat out. "Naruto doesn't get that carried away!" Just then, they saw Naruto leaping over the buildings from the distance.
"Uh, good morning guys," said Naruto coolly as he landed on the ground. His head was slightly bent down so that the gang couldn't see his face too well. "Ready to go?"
"Naruto," Shikamaru exclaimed.
"You are late," Neji said sharply.
"Naruto-kun, why are you so late this morning?" Lee politely asked.
"I…, uh," Naruto said, but before he could speak, he remembered how he got up this morning with Sakura right next to him in his bed. His cheeks started to grow red hot, and his head slowly bent down.
"Let's just go," Naruto said as he quickly walked past everyone else and toward the gate.
'Could he have….?' Kiba thought.
'Uh, no way,' thought Shikamaru as he crossed his arms and shook his head. 'Ugh, how troublesome…. No more thoughts.'
'It can't be, yuck…!' Tenten thought with disbelief drawn across her face.
"Hey, does that mean Naruto is the loser this time?" Choji said as he followed Naruto's footsteps. "Oh boy, yakiniku, here I come tonight! Oh yeah….!"
Everyone slowly turned around and gave a blank stare at Choji, who was right now clueless due to only thinking of food.
"Mmm, meat….," he drooled happily.
While Naruto was walking faster, Shikamaru eventually caught up to him and noticed that he had a black eye.
"Hey Naruto, what's up with the dark circle?" Shikamaru quietly asked.
"Uh, it's nothing…," Naruto said, blushing. "Nothing at all…."
In his mind, Shikamaru didn't excuse the sight of Naruto's red cheeks. Nonetheless, he decided not to ask because it would be too bothersome to even try.
Nowadays, Sakura worked at the hospital when she had time to spare. It wasn't only because she wanted to help others; she also wanted to further her experience as a medic-nin by interacting with many different people.
At the hospital, Sakura was examining and taking care of patients. Today, she worked a little bit harder than usual. Every nurse who caught her sight noticed it. The other thing that they noticed was that Sakura was also trying to avoid anything colored yellow. She was trying to avoid the sunlight. She avoided pre-cut bananas, yellow tinted toys, and any object or person wearing yellow. When she was asked about this, she tightened her lips or gave a rare mumble about how she disliked the bright hue.
"Sakura is acting very odd today, isn't she?" one nurse spoke to the other, and they both agreed in silent hallways. Of course, Sakura heard these comments, and when the clock struck at three, she threw down her apron.
"I'm off!" Sakura yelled as she quickly ran out of the hospital. Her shift was over, and she wanted to get away from things that reminded her of that one particular scene from this morning. After running so hard, she ran out of breath and sat down on a nearby bench for a rest. She tried to collect her thoughts carefully, trying to think of what happened yesterday night. All she could think about was this morning. Just thinking of that nightmarish moment made her skin crawl like crazy.
It wasn't right or fair; she thought about it and knew that it wasn't. She knew Naruto since they were young, and not ever once did she think about being in bed with him. Even if she was twenty-three, this all seemed too abnormal for her. Why couldn't she think of last night's events or anything at all after that? She thought of that morning when they were getting ready for the day. After she took her abrupt shower and turned off the water, she realized that her clothes were outside and so was Naruto. The worst was just about to begin, and she dreaded every minute of it.
She slapped her wide forehead with her hands. Slowly, she reached for the towel nearby and wrapped it around her body. It was big enough to cover any revealing parts, but nonetheless, showed off her slender legs. Well, it was better than nothing. Quietly she unlocked the door and went out. Naruto was staring out the window. When he heard the door creak, he turned around and saw Sakura in nothing but a slip towel.
"Ah, I'm done…," she said quietly and blushed. She stared at her feet.
"Oh, uh, right," he said, scratching his bed head shyly and facing another side of the room. "I guess it's my turn, then… heh…."
"Yeah, whatever, just get in," Sakura snapped with her quick flailing temper. Naruto slipped into the bathroom silently while Sakura was picking up her scattered clothes on the floor. She sighed.
'How did it ever end up like this…,' she thought, and unexpectedly picked up a torn piece of red cloth. "Eh, what's this?" She carefully examined it for a second, and soon became mortified.
"Kyaa!!!! How did it ever end up like this…?!" Sakura screamed. "My shirt, it's ripped! But how…." Then, she remembered the time where she was about to beat up Naruto and heard something rip. She thought she was just hearing things at that time and was more concentrated on her anger and Naruto. Now she realized that Naruto accidentally tripped over her red shirt and ripped it while it was caught on the cracks of the floorboard.
"Oh man, hell no…," Sakura said, feeling defeated and suddenly out of energy. She dropped the towel that covered her body. Finally, she tried to smile. "Well, it can't go any worse than this, right?"
All of the sudden, Naruto ran out of the bathroom in a hurry with only a towel wrapped around his waist. "I heard you scream! Did something bad happen, Sakura-chan?!"
Sakura quickly covered herself up with the towel and screamed at Naruto. "Nothing's wrong you idiot! Just get back in!" She grabbed any object that was laid out in front of her and threw it at him. His somewhat messy room cluttered with all kinds of junk was convenient for times like this. After taking some shots from the thrown objects –he ended up with a black eye- he quickly ran back into the bathroom and resumed his shower.
Morning seemed to have passed without much decency. Sakura wore a black shirt borrowed from Naruto. It wasn't quite her size since sometimes, her shoulders showed and she had to pull her shirt upwards. Nevertheless, she grew accustomed to it. She convinced herself that it was better than walking around the streets half naked. Also, it felt reassuring, like as if part of Naruto was protecting her. This thought made her feel quite timid and antsy.
All in all, the rest of the morning was quieter, but there was not much peace fit into it. Naruto and Sakura was getting dressed, but looked away to another corners of the room, with their backs facing each other. They could both feel the tension rising. Finally, in order to break the tension, Naruto decided to say a few words.
"Heh, heh, mornings are always so fussy, huh?" he said. But he could see the serious look upon Sakura's face, and his laughter was soon crushed by the rising tension.
"Naruto…," Sakura said, not meeting his eyes. She had a worrisome look drawn into her usually bright and clear emerald eyes. "Does… does this mean that… we are lovers?"
He didn't see this coming. Besides, he couldn't even remember what had happened last night. How could they proclaim themselves to be lovers if they couldn't remember anything? Was it out of impulse? He also thought about Sakura's well being, and the more he thought, the more he felt agitated.
"Sakura-chan, I…!"
"Say no more," Sakura said as she pulled up her skirt. "We'll have to forget about this event. Besides, there's nothing between us."
"Ah, right….," Naruto said. Sakura carefully examined him in somewhat of a piteous way, and carefully thought over what she was going to say.
"This shouldn't be such a big problem," she finally spoke in a collected, careful tone. "If no one knows about this, we should be fine. We should both forget about what happened this morning since we can't even remember what we did last night…." She quickly turned her face away slightly, just so that Naruto couldn't see her worries.
'Sakura-chan…,' Naruto thought, but then, he snapped out of the dark atmosphere that seemed to hover over both of them. "Sakura-chan!" he shouted. "If there's anything… if there's any problem, let me know. I'll take full responsibility-,"
"That's enough, Naruto!" Sakura snapped and quickly faced him. But before she could say anything, all she could pay attention to was the serious look drawn on Naruto's face. He wasn't always so serious like this. She completely froze. She tried to say something, but her lips plastered itself in a slight 'o'.
"I promise," he said gently, placing his hands on her shoulder. His hands felt so rough, yet kindly warm. "No matter what, I'll do anything for you, if you would just have faith in me."
'Faith…?' Sakura thought. She was still sitting on the bench. Her heart had calmed down from the rough pace. 'What possible other faith could I have in you? I've always believed in you…. and now something like this happened. Should I still trust you?' Confused, she looked up at the sky. Clouds were gathering around, shrouding over the clear, vast blue. One by one, the birds began to drop their lovely voices.
"Will it rain today?" Sakura spoke, knowing that no answer to come.
"Maybe," a voice nearby said. Sakura's eyes rolled back down and stared at the person who stood by.
"Ino," Sakura said disdainfully. She was in no mood to see anyone. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh you know, just taking care of flowers and buying some tools needed for it," Ino said as she sat down next to Sakura. "And what are you doing out here, forehead girl?"
As much as she hated being called the 'forehead girl' by Ino, she was, by now, used to it. It was same for Ino- she didn't mind the fact of being called 'Ino-pig.' To them, those immature like, silly phases just reminded them of their bonds and their happy childhood memories. As Sakura thought of how they were when they were thirteen compared to the light of this morning's event, she felt quite amazed by how they all interacted with each other in such different, but still comforting way.
Sakura sighed. Everything was going by quickly. Life was no longer a fresh leaf lightly dancing toward the wide blue pool.
"Hey Ino," Sakura said quietly. "What would you do if you had a lover?" This question shocked Ino for a second, but then made her laugh.
"Oh Sakura," Ino said. "If I ever had a boyfriend-,"
"No, that's not what I meant," Sakura interrupted. "The term boyfriend and lover are quite different, aren't they? I'm talking about lovers. What do lovers do anyhow?"
Somehow, this question surprised Ino. Why did Sakura ask her this question and how did she ever come up with it? It made her wonder….
"Well how should I know…," Ino grumbled. "I don't even have a boyfriend because I'm always busy and there aren't really good looking guys around here…." Suddenly, realizing what she just said, Ino snapped out of her sappy, boyfriend-less mood and faced Sakura in enlightenment. "Hey, isn't love so beautiful, so romantic, so grand…?! Isn't it like shooting stars falling from the vast, limitless, deep royal midnight colored sky? Or like fireworks popping in bright colors…."
"You watch too many romance movies," Sakura quipped, and Ino's dreams quickly evaporated.
"Ha, then forehead-chan," Ino retorted somewhat bitterly. "Then what do you know about love?"
"Love…?" Sakura whispered. She thought for a moment. 'What kind of love,' she thought. 'Is it that wild, crazy, passionate love or just a steady romance?' Sasuke was her first true love, but she was too blind to see it all coming to an end. Besides, that was about ten years ago, and it was a puppy love. She took it seriously back then, but now, it didn't seem like such a hassle anymore. It did, however, leave a gap in her heart. It was a longing emptiness yearning for something in return, even if it did hurt her for a little while.
"Sakura," Ino said, looking at her dazed friend. Sakura quickly snapped back into reality.
"Ah, right, sorry," Sakura said. "I guess I don't know much either…."
Ino just sat there, confused. After a moment, she noticed that Sakura wore a very loose t-shirt. It was also the color that Sakura would be rarely seen in. Black never suited her too well, so Sakura often avoided wearing dark colors as much as possible.
"Hey Sakura… Why are you wearing a shirt that doesn't even fit you too well?" Ino asked. Sakura stared at Ino blankly, and then started to chuckle lightly.
"It's just something I needed for the day," Sakura finally answered. "Even though I really don't...."
That confused Ino a bit more. However, she knew that Sakura's laughter wasn't quite a sincere, hearty one. It was all quite deceiving.
Few more green leaves fell into the small pond, and another week briefly passed. Naruto and his team returned back to Konoha without much hassle, even though it was an A-rank mission.
As promised, Naruto was to pay for the dinner, and Choji took a good advantage out of this by eating lots of meat set on the hearty grill. Soon, the money that he received from the recent mission was all spent on yakiniku. And while everyone laughed and had a good time, Naruto sometimes spent few minutes spacing out.
"Hey, Naruto," Shikamaru kept calling him. "Oi, oi! Naruto!"
"Huh, what," Naruto said, snapping out of his thoughts. He was back in reality again.
"What's up with you? You've been pretty out of it," Shikamaru exclaimed. Naruto scratched the back of his head and gave a light chuckle.
"Ah, really," he grinned. "I didn't think that I was too dazed…."
"You've been pretty spacey after we got back," Shikamaru said. "Do you even know where we are right now?"
"Uhh…," Naruto said. He looked around. Suddenly, he realized that he was no longer in the warm, glowing restaurant. Instead, only the dim streetlights shone down upon their heads in the empty, stark environment. Only the two of them were there. Dumbfounded, Naruto just stood there, waiting for an answer.
"Geez, you are clueless after all," Shikamaru said. "We've just left the restaurant a few minutes ago!"
"Ah, right," he grinned. It was one of those troublesome grins that ticked Shikamaru a little. Nevertheless, he was worried about his friend's troubled state.
"Hey," he put one hand on Naruto's shoulder. "If anything's bothering you, let me know, okay?" He smiled and walked away into the darkness, leaving Naruto standing in the dim light.
Naruto heavily sighed as he watched the last remnants of Shikamaru's shadows disappear. Shikamaru was long gone, and Naruto let out another sorry grin.
"Sorry Shikamaru," he said. He decided to head home as well when suddenly, he sensed something reaching out toward him. Swiftly, he turned around with a kunai in his hand and threw himself and the stranger down to the ground.
"Ack!!!" Naruto was suddenly familiar with the scream. Even with the light hovering over him, he still couldn't see who it was. With a great scowl on his face, he bent a bit more down to see the enemy's face.
It was no enemy; just Sakura.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto said. "What are you doing down there?"
"Ugh, I should ask you the same question," Sakura said. His body was gently pressing on hers, and she felt all of the sudden very hot. Her eyes met with his. Even in the dark, she could see that bright glow within his pool blue eyes. "Would you mind removing the kunai away from my neck?"
"Uh, yeah, sure," Naruto stammered and put the knife away from her.
"And also, could you get off of me?" she asked. He blushed and pulled himself away. He dusted himself and helped her get up from the ground.
"Sorry, I just wanted to scare you a little," she said a little timidly. "Well, I failed."
"Heh, heh, Sakura-chan….," Naruto chuckled lightly. "Sorry…."
"I was just on my way to your place," she said. She was holding something. "Here," she pushed it against his chest.
"What is it," he asked.
"Your shirt, idiot," she proclaimed. She was flustered from having Naruto on top of her.
"Uh, thanks…," he said. He slung it over on one arm. "Is that all….?"
"What do you mean, 'Is that all?'? Of course it is," she shouted. "Good night, Naruto!"
"Wait, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said. Sakura stopped walking away from him. "I'll walk you home…."
"It's okay, Naruto. The last time I need is you walking with me," she lied. It was all a lie. She felt rotten inside for mistreating Naruto again. Why in all these years did she start mistreating him again like this? Of course, it was in a minor form, but Sakura still felt stupid for being this way. She thought hard on why she couldn't act so normally around him. She wanted to welcome him home when she heard that he came back, but she didn't. She wanted to start all over again and be friendly with him, but she couldn't. She could feel the ever growing silence run through her skin and the whole atmosphere. She turned slightly around to apologize to him, but no words ran out of her lips.
As for him, he wanted to make her believe him. He wanted to believe that there had been nothing going on with them. He wanted her to say that one night experience was something that she could remember. He wanted her to say that there was nothing but friendship between them. Arbitrarily, he also wanted her to say there was more to it than just this. But he stood there like a coward, holding down all what he wanted to ignite in this solemn darkness. Underneath this light, there had to be some kind of realness.
But there was nothing, and she was beginning to steadily stow away from him.
"Good night," she said contrarily.
"Wait, Sakura," Naruto said. She rarely ever heard him use her name like that. "Are you… still mad?"
She was quiet again. Was she mad?
"I…," truthfully, she didn't know. But she replied in the wrong form. "I'm not." Now she was wondering why the heck she said that instead. Just looking at Naruto made her want to lie more and more.
"Then, Sakura-chan…. Do you want to go get some ramen with me? My treat," he said quite warmly. He would do anything for her, even if it was small. He was trying to make a progress, she knew. But somehow, when she wanted to answer him and wanted to move on, looking at his face made her feel stern again.
"Maybe later," she said. She turned to him and smiled again. "But thank you…., Naruto."
Her voice, he thought. Her uneasy voice made him somehow calm. It made him feel that he wasn't so alone in this.
In the darkness, he still couldn't remember what happened last week. Though, he did remember that there was something significant about that day. He went out to look for someone in the dark like this one….
Still, only awkward silence became louder and clearer. They could feel the cold distance between each other. And somehow, they both unconsciously felt in their minds that somehow, right now, the new road was just beginning to open for both of them…..
Notes/Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, otherwise, I wouldn't be stuck here writing these crappy fanfics. I'm editing this fanfic, and I'm going to continue it the way I wanted to, along with few adjustments. It's no longer called Burning Bridges, and wow, I gotta say, this story had a lot of change by far. My first fanfic. Please enjoy and R&R instead of just storing it in your favorites and then never read it again... -_-;;;
