1Title: Burning of Affection

By: OneLastxBreath

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto.

Pairings: NaruSaku, slight SasuSaku, ShikaIno and many more!

Rating: M for Mature :0

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'Sakura thoughts.'

'inner Sakura'

"thoughts"

"speaking."

xxx

It started out as a normal day for Konoha's Cherry Blossom; the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the villagers were in their normal busy mood. She laughed as she watched a few kids play on the playground close to the swings. They reminded her so much of when she was younger. The kunoichi sighed as she continued to walk towards her usual route. Tsunade-sama was probably wondering where she was by now..

The pink-haired girl sighed once again as she started to walk up the graveled stairs towards the Hokage's office. 'My life's pretty boring..' she thought as she looked up to the sky. 'Yupp. I've noticed that too!' Inner chimed in. The girl rolled her eyes but continued to walk.

At last, she arrived towards her destination and walked towards a door. She stopped and knocked twice before hearing a faint 'come in!' on the other side. She hesitated at first after hearing her yell out something angrily, but got over it. "Tsunade-sama, is everything alright in here?" she asked as she looked around, now understanding what all the fuss was about.

"Yes, Sakura, it is, don't worry, this baka here is just being so rude!" the godaime replied. Sakura looked to the right of the Hokage noticing the other blonde boy beside her: Uzumaki Naruto. He also turned around at the sound of her name, looking at her straight in her eyes. She blushed.

"Morning Sakura-chan!" he yelled as the boy smiled, not seeming to notice the blush on her face.

"Uh, yeah. Good Morning to you too Naruto." Sakura said as she sat down. She reached into her carrying bad and pulled out an apple, biting into it as she looked up.

"So what are you guys bickering about this time?" Tsunade snorted.

"Oh Sakura-chan, it's terrible! Some people broke into my apartment and trashed the place! I'm gonna get those bastards.." Naruto responded as he shook a fist in the air. The hokage sighed and shook her head.

"Naruto, we already talked about this! I'll take care of it, meanwhile you find a place to crash while this shenanigan is solved. Got it?" The sun-kissed boy looked back and whined.

"But Tsunade-baachan! I don't have a place to stay at and.." He was interrupted by a certain pink-haired girl listening to the whole situation.

"You can stay at my place, Naruto." she said and smiled. Tsunade looked up to the blonde who had a ridiculously-looking face, almost as if he was shocked.

"There. So it's settled. You stay at Sakura's apartment while I fix up your apartment. Now, get out of my office." she said as she waved her hand towards the door, gesturing them to leave.

The two looked at her for a minute, but followed her orders and were out. Tsunade linked her hands together and rested her chin on top of it, staring at the door for a moment, checking if they were truly gone. When she thought they were gone, she sighed. "Shizune!" the blonde called as a woman with black hair came in.

"Yes Tsunade-sama?"

"Bring me some sake, my head is pounding like an earthquake..." she replied, placing a hand to her forehead. Shizune sighed and headed out the door, off to look for some sake.

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Meanwhile, Sakura and Naruto were walking out of the Hokage tower, thinking about their recent experience. They were quiet for a moment, until Naruto broke the sudden silence. "Sakura-chan, what did you mean when you said I could stay at your place?" he asked, a little uneasy. She shrugged.

"I meant that you can crash at my apartment while Hokage-sama fixes yours." Naruto looked at her confused. She sounded to comfortable with the idea of him at her place.

"..but are you sure..? I mean-" She stopped.

"Naruto. I meant what I said. No friend of mine will be abandoned at a time like this. I don't want you ending up homeless, you know? Now c'mon. Do you want to see it or not?" The blonde looked at her and nodded.

"Okay. Thanks Sakura-chan." Naruto replied and gave her one of the greatest smiles he had ever given her. Sakura looked at him and turned slightly pink.

"Uhm, yeah. No problem Naruto. Now come on." she said as they proceeded to walk. The whole time, she was looking down at her feet, and she could feel her stomach turning. 'What's wrong with me?' she asked herself. 'Dude. I think you're in love with Naruto!'Her Inner self replied. 'I'm.. What?' 'You heard me!' Inner said and giggled a bit. Sakura shook her head mentally. 'No.. That can't be. I love... Sasuke-kun. Yeah. That's it... I think.' Inner laughed again. 'Whatever you say...' she said as she disappeared behind her mind. Sakura sighed and looked straight ahead, seeing her apartment in view.

"There it is!" the pinku yelled, pointing at a light-pink-colored apartment. Naruto laughed a bit.

"I shoulda known it would be pink!" he replied as Sakura laughed a bit too.

"Yeah, well, what can I say?" she said. They laughed again as they entered their destination. Sakura closed the door as Naruto stepped in, looking around the room. "Wow. I never thought this is how Sakura-chan's apartment would look like.." he said to himself. There were scrolls on the floor anywhere random, and lots of photographs on the walls. A small kitchen was placed in front of the living room, and you could see it was empty. He walked over to the cabinets and opened them. "Empty..." he thought as he turned around to face a stunned Sakura.

"Why are these cabinets empty little missy?" the blonde asked, a bit of concern in his voice. She blushed.

"Uhm, well, I don't really have time to eat around here, so I usually order something from the street, ya know?" Naruto nodded and decided to sit on a sofa close by. Sakura followed and sat across from him. There was silence in between them for a while. It seemed like hours went by, until Sakura spoke.

"Hey Naruto, would you like to go see the bed room?" He looked up a bit startled, but nodded.

As they arrived towards a light-pink-colored door, Sakura turned the knob and opened it. Naruto followed behind her. The first thing that caught his eyes were the number of beds: one. He gulped uncomfortably. Sakura taking notice of his actions, she looked at him puzzled.

"Is something wrong Naruto?" she asked, a bit of concern in her voice. The blonde shook his head firmly.

"Uh, Sakura-chan, there's only one bed. Where's the other one?" This question bothered her. Had she not noticed that they needed two separate beds for each other? This thought struck her.

"Damn. I guess I forgot. Hehe. Silly me!" the cherry blossom laughed a bit. Naruto shrugged.

"It's okay! I'll sleep on the floor." He answered with a toothy fox-like grin. The cherry blossom stared at him for a while. 'Wow. Naruto sure has gotten handsome over the years...' 'You got that right, sister! That boy-ish grin of his, that wavy golden locks of his, those adoring eyes, his muscular sexy voice, ohh!' Inner Sakura passed out as Sakura mentally rolled her eyes. Though she shook it off and ignored it, she had a point.

"Hello? Sakura-chan?" Naruto waved a hand in front of her face. The girl left her trance and looked at him. They were really close. She blushed madly.

"I-I'm sorry Naruto, I was just think-king of something." Sakura laughed a bit nervously, but the Uzumaki didn't seem to notice.

"Oh. Okay. Well, anyways, I'll sleep on the floor, if that's okay with you." The pink-haired girl shook her head after hearing him.

"Hell no! I'm not going to let you sleep on my hard cold floor when there's a nice warm bed for you to sleep in! So, you're sleeping with me, and that's that!" She crossed her arms to prove her point, and shut her eyes as if to look a bit mad. There was a visible blush on the blonde's cheeks when Sakura opened her eyes. She looked a bit confused, until she found out about what was wrong with that sentence.

"I-I-I mean, not like tha-at but..." She was blushing now as well.

"Are you sure? I mean, I can always sleep on a couch or something." Sakura shook her head.

"Positive. There's nothing wrong with a couple of friends sleeping in the same bed, right?" Naruto nodded.

"Yeah! Nothing's gonna happen, right?" He looked up at Sakura, and she blushed a bit again.

"R-Right." 'Unless you want it to...' she thought as an evil smirk made it's way through her lips.

"What's that smile for Sakura-chan?"

"Oh nothing.." she replied and sighed as she sat on the edge of the bed. 'This is going to be one interesting sleep over.' she thought and smiled up at Naruto again. Inner Sakura laughed and thought about what kind of things would happen in the next couple of days.

xxx

Okay, so tell me if you liked it! R&R please, and if there are any mistakes, please tell me! And by the way, I think I'll be updating this one soon, I'm really interesting in what's going to happen next too:D