Two stories in a single day? Wow...I need to stop. Oh well! This plot actually came from a friend of mine. She was asking me questions for a paper she had to write and ended up helping me come up with the plot for this story instead. I've been working on this for HOURS. It was something totally new and exciting for me to try out and can't wait to see how it turns out. I hope you enjoy!

Anyway!

I do not own Naruto or its characters, just the plot to this story.

If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!

S Lyubov'yu,

Casper!

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Soul mates. The people that were born into this world specifically for another person. They were said to be the person you were destined to be with until the end of time. At least, that's what the stories always said. Sakura wasn't always so sure how much of the stories and lore were true. But then again, she didn't exactly know how much of them were false either. She supposed that she would find out soon enough. Her eighteenth birthday was looming over her head. It would be the only way for her to know the truth behind the soul mate principal.

The lore behind soul mates was simple, yet it held many secrets far out of reach. Secrets that would not be revealed until you had reached the age of eighteen. After you've reached that age, you would cease to age completely. The years would continue to pass, but your body would cease aging. It didn't matter if thirty years had passed since your eighteenth birthday, until you had met your soul mate, you would not age a day. Some saw it as a way to obtain immortality. That is, unless illness were to take you. Or something dastardly were to happen to you, causing you to lose your life prematurely. The possibilities were endless.

Many people fantasized about what type of person their soul mate was. Were they tall and handsome? Short and stocky? Were they perfect ladies or gentleman? Or were they complete assholes? Nobody knew. Not until they met them for themselves, if they ever found them.

Sakura had heard stories about soul mates being separated by vast oceans, never being able to meet. She didn't know why, but it always saddened her to think that some people weren't able to meet the person that was destined for them. Sure, you were able to marry people who weren't your soul mates, but it never lasted. It wasn't meant to last. Some people out there thought that their soul mates were a lost cause and thus, gave up the thought of ever being with them. Much less finding them.

Now, Sakura never thought much on if she would ever meet her soul mate or not. Hell, she'd never even sat down and thought about what he looked like. She didn't want to get her hopes up for meeting them out of fear that she may never get the chance to meet them. She didn't want to set herself up for heartbreak. If she was able to meet them, then she would be more than happy to accept them. If she never met them? Well, she would be fine with that she supposed. She had spent the last few years preparing herself for that possibility. She didn't plan on being one of those who went on a sort of pilgrimage in search of their soul mate.

She thought the idea of pretty much hunting down a person to be a little ridiculous. Sure, she didn't fault someone for wanting to feel the love of another person, especially the person that was supposedly their soul mate. But hunting them down like they were some sort of animal was just silly and unnecessarily. If the Fates decided you were supposed to meet your soul mates, then you would meet them.

She supposed that she would just have to wait and see what the day of her eighteenth birthday would bring.

One thing she always wondered was how you knew if you had actually met your soul mate. It was said that you would stop aging after the age of eighteen until you met them. But how would you know that you had found them? Would their be some sort of sign?

A fluttering of the heart?

A sense of belonging?

Would you just know?

There were way too many possibilities and in a way, it bothered her that she didn't have an answer to it. It wasn't as if she could ask her parent's how they had known that they were meant for each other. They had passed away two years ago, right before her sixteenth birthday. They had passed before she had even thought about asking them such a question. She didn't know who else she could ask either. After her parents had died, she had moved away from her hometown and had lost contact with all of her old friends in the process.

She knew that she could have easily called them and asked, but she didn't think that they would want to talk to her. She hadn't exactly been the nicest person after her parent's passing. She had all but thrown them out of her life and thrown herself into a world of loneliness and self pity. It hadn't been pretty. And now, two years later, she was still alone. She hadn't enrolled in the high school in her new town, opting to finish her high school career by way of online courses. That way she wouldn't have to deal with people in the outside world as much as she normally would.

It wasn't as though Sakura wasn't a people person, in truth, she loved people. She loved talking to them, hearing their stories, and just watching them as they passed by her little house in the city. It fascinated her that people could be so carefree. She had dealt with the death of her parent's in stride, taking it day by day. She had long since gotten over her parent's passing, but she still felt as if there was something missing from her life.

She couldn't tell if it was from lack or human contact or it was just straight up loneliness. At that point, the only time she ever really left her cozy little two bedroom home was to go to work. She worked at a cute little bakery on Main Street. Somehow baking cookies and cakes all day and seeing the happy smiles of children always made her heart soar. But at the same time, watching the smiling children made her feel a small ache in her heart.

She had found out shortly after turning sixteen that she would not be able to have children of her own. She had been born with a rare disease in her womb that had caused her to have it removed. Her dreams of having children had all but been destroyed. She knew that adopting a child was an option, but she still ached to have a child of her own. And child brought into this world by her and her soul mate. If she ever met him, that is.

For now, she would be patient and see what the world brought her way.

For now, she could only hope that she was not destined to be alone.

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Sakura woke up with a sigh, it was finally her eighteenth birthday. The birds were singing, the sun was bathing her in its warm embrace, the sky was clear of clouds, signaling that it was going to be a beautiful day. She couldn't have asked for a nicer day if she tried. She threw her black comforter from her body, lifting her body into a sitting position before letting out a grunt as she stretched her still sleeping body.

Once she was satisfied that her body was properly stretched out, she rolled herself off her bed, her messy waist length bubblegum locks brushing her cheeks as she lifted herself into a standing position. Her thoughts wandered back to her childhood for a brief moment. Throughout most of her childhood, she had kept her unnaturally colored hair cut short in a pixie cut to prevent the bullies from her elementary and early high school years from pulling on it. She had forgotten how many times she had been mercilessly teased about the color of her hair or the size of her forehead.

The minute she had moved out of her home town and cut ties with her past life, she had grown her hair out the way she had always wanted it. There was no one here now to pull at her hair and call her names, she was alone. And in a way, she kind of liked it that way. Sure, she wouldn't mind someone to talk to every so often, even if it was about the little things. But at the same time, nobody being around meant no teasing, no questioning stares, and no worries about the people close to her finding their destined partners.

The pink haired teen shook her head, clearing her mind of her thoughts. It was too early for such deep thinking. She padded her way out of her bedroom and towards her bathroom, fully intending on washing her sleepiness from her skin. She had to work today and she wasn't about to show up looking like she had been recently mauled by a bear. Granted she rarely left the kitchen unless someone needed her to cover for them while they went on break or went out for a quick smoke.

But still, she was just as vain as any other woman. She liked to look her best. You never knew when you would meet someone worth looking pretty for. She shed her night clothes from her body and turned her shower on as hot as she could stand before jumping under the spray. She let out a small contented sigh as the water pelted her sleepy muscles into awareness. One thing she had noticed since she had grown her hair out was that washing her hair took twice as long and twice as much shampoo. Sure, the cost of her hygiene products had increased, but it was worth it.

She showered as quickly as she could before cutting off the water and grabbing a towel off the wrack just outside the shower curtain. She wrapped it tightly around her torso and body before stepping out of the tub. Years of living with a man in the house had made throwing a towel around her body almost second nature. She had learned that habit the hard way when her father had accidentally rushed into the bathroom while she was naked.

She had never been so mortified in her life.

Ever.

She grabbed a second towel from the wrack and tied it on top of her soaked hair, she didn't know why, but she refused to use the same towel she had dried her body with on her hair. She knew that her body was clean, but there was something about using her body towel on her hair that bothered her to no end.

She exited her bathroom and made her way back into her bathroom, grabbing a fresh pair of underwear out of her dresser as she passed by it. She quickly dried her body, careful not to move her head too much. She hated it when the towel came loose and fell of while she was drying off. Once her body was dry, she slipped on her underwear and walked of to her closet, fishing through it until she found her not-so-flattering work uniform. She loved her job, but the uniforms weren't exactly pretty to look at.

She slipped on a black undershirt before throwing on her work shirt, a plain gray collared shirt, her name embroidered right above her left breast. She was happy that she could at least wear whatever pants she wanted, having to wear a full on uniform reminded her too much of the atrocious uniform she had been forced to wear during her days in high school. She grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans from her closet and shimmied them up her hips.

She removed the towel from her hair and squeezed the excess water from her silky tresses before drying her hair thoroughly. Once she was satisfied that her hair was dry enough, she grabbed the hair brush off of her dresser and began the daunting task of brushing out her long hair. It had taken awhile to get used to having such a large amount of hair to brush, but after awhile, the feeling of the brush going trough her tresses became almost therapeutic and relaxing.

A short time later, Sakura was dressed and ready to haul ass to work. She only worked about ten minutes from her house by foot. She didn't see a point in driving her car to work since she lived so close. She honestly couldn't even remember the last time she had actually driven her car. She silently questioned herself as to why she was paying insurance on a car she never drove. She shrugged it off after a moment, she never knew when she would actually need it. It was better to be safe than sorry.

She glanced at the clock on her stove as she passed by her kitchen, she had twenty minutes before her shift started. She grabbed an apple out of the bowl on the counter before stuffing her feet into her favorite pair of black and purple high tops. She never understood why people always assumed her favorite color was pink. She chalked it up to being because of the outrageous color of her hair. In truth, her favorite color was purple. She had no idea why. It just was.

After stepping outside and locking her front door, Sakura made her way down the street towards the bakery. She hoped that her shift would go by quickly and that she would be home sooner rather than later. She had a date with all of the SAW movies when she got home. It was how she spent every birthday. Somehow spending her entire day in her pajamas watching horror movies just seemed like a great way to spend her birthday. Her old friends had always told her she needed to get out more, but she wouldn't hear anything about it.

There just wasn't a way for her to be torn away from the movies she loved so much.

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Sakura walked into the bakery, throwing the leftover core from her breakfast in a nearby trash can. She waved to the blond behind the counter as she made her way towards the back room. Said blond didn't seem satisfied with just a simple wave and followed her into the backroom, fully intending on getting a proper morning greeting.

"Sakura-Chan, don't I get more than just a stupid wave?", the blond whined as he entered the backroom.

"Good morning, Naruto.", she sighed, turning her head to give him a small smile.

"That's better.", he grinned, his bright blue eyes dancing with barely withheld mischief.

"Get your ass back to the front before people think we're closed.", Sakura smirked, pulling her apron out of her work locked, tying it around her waist before she spun around the face the blond.

"Fine, meanie. I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday!", he pouted, jutting his bottom lip out, trying to guilt her into feeling bad.

"Thanks, Naruto. And you know your pouting doesn't work on me.", she winked, walking past him and towards the kitchens.

"Someday you'll fall for my charms!", he called.

"Not on your life!", she called back with a small laugh.

Naruto shook his head and made his way back towards the front of the bakery. He couldn't help but adore the short pink haired woman. She had been the first person in a long time that had not judged him or berated him for any reason. She had accepted who he was and never judged him for his nearly endless amount of energy. She had easily become somewhat like a sister to him, though he wasn't sure that she returned his feelings. She had always seemed so closed off to him, hardly showing any sort of emotion. It had taken him awhile to learn how to read her, if you wanted to know how she was feeling, you had to look deeply into her eyes.

Her face and body language may have been able to lie about her emotions, but her eyes betrayed her every time without fail.

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Hours passed quickly for Sakura, she glanced at the clock every so often to make sure that she hadn't stayed later than she was supposed to. For whatever reason, she had a bad habit of losing track of time and continuing her tasks well past the time she was given. Granted, her bosses loved her work ethic. If she wasn't done with the job she was given, she always stayed longer to ensure that it was finished before she left.

She refused to be a lazy bum and push her own work onto someone else.

She heard the bell up front ding against the door, signaling that somebody had entered the shop. She wiped the flour from her hands onto her apron before exiting the kitchen, Naruto had gone on his break a few minutes prior so it was her job to cover both the back and the front. She was grateful that she had put off sticking her next batch of cookies in the oven until the bubbly blond had returned from his break.

She plastered the nicest smile she could muster onto her face before walking into the customers sight.

"Welcome to Sharanno's, how can I help...you?", Sakura trails off, taking in the form of the man in front of her.

Jade eyes lock with deep violet. Time seems to freeze for a moment, neither of them taking a single breath. Sakura took in the fine details of the man in front of her, deep violet eyes that seemed to almost ooze danger. A cocky smirk graced his lips, his silver tinted hair was slicked back tastefully.

'Lord have mercy, he's hot as hell!', she internally screamed.

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First chapter done! Hopefully it didn't turn out too terrible. Thoughts?

If you enjoyed, please leave a review, favorite, and follow!

Also!

Are there anymore soul mate pairs you would like to see in this story?

Let me know!

Until Next Time!