This story was a totally random idea that evolved into a halfway-decent story, if you ask me. I had writer's block until one of my friends said something about a peanut-butter sandwich and this idea just popped into my head. I get inspiration from the strangest things sometimes...
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Just this story.
Beep. Beep. Beep.The sixteen-year-old blonde ninja groaned and opened his eyes, smacking the "snooze" button on his alarm clock. He rolled onto his side and tried-unsuccessfully-to fall back asleep. With a sigh, he climbed out of bed.
"Well, I guess I should get some breakfast. No, wait," he said, noticing the clock. Noon. "Heh-heh. I guess it would be lunch now."
He wandered into his kitchen, stopping at his refridgerator. Opening it, he let out a groan. The fridge was half empty, everything in it was moldy and rotten.
"Note to self," Naruto muttered. "Clean out refrigerator." He closed the fridge and pulled open his cupboard. He shrieked.
"Mouse! Mouse! Mouse!" He leaped back as the offending critter scampered out of the cupboard, onto the counter, and out the window. Taking a few deep breaths to slow his pounding heart, Naruto glanced back into the cupboard. Save for a few crumbs, it was completely empty.
"Crap!" Now that he knew for certain there was no food in his apartment, his stomach started growling. "Guess I'll have to go out and get something."
He went back to his room and for dressed. He grabbed his frog-shaped wallet. Opening it, he found that it was empty.
"Aw man!" he cried. His stomach started growling even louder. "Maybe I should go find Iruka-sensei and he could treat me to ramen." With this plan in mind, Naruto left his apartment.
"Man, this totally sucks!" Naruto thought. He was walking down the streets, holding his stomach in an attempt to muffle the noise it was making. "Iruka-sensei's gotta grade tests from the academy, so he can't treat me to ramen. Maybe if I just go to Ichiraku's, I can tell them I'll pay them once I get some cash and-ow!"
Naruto was so preoccupied with his thoughts, he didn't notice he was walking straight towards someone...until he ran right into them. They both fell and the other person dropped their shopping bag. Groceries fell everywhere.
"Dattebayo, I'm so sorry! I totally wasn't paying attention an-" Naruto noticed a shock of pink hair. "Sakura?"
"Naruto, you baka!" Sakura ignored Naruto's outstretched hand and pulled herself to her feet.
"I-I'm really sorry, Sakura-chan! Uh, here, let me pick up your groceries for you." Naruto knelt down onto the ground, scrambling for eggs, tomatoes and other things from Sakura's shopping bags.
"No, that's fine Naruto." Sakura knelt next to him, helping place things back into the bags. "Really, you've done enough already...what was that?"
Naruto's face burned. "Um, nothing! Here's your bread back..."
"There it is again!" Sakura squinted at the blue-eyed ninja boy. "Naruto, is your stomach growling?"
"No," Naruto lied as his stomach protested once more. Sakura raised one eyebrow. "Okay, yes. My stomach is growling. I have no food at my place, so I went to see Iruka, but he's busy. So I was gonna go toIchiraku's and see if I could get some ramen and pay them next time."
Sakura shook her head. "Naruto, you are hopeless!" She picked up her grocery bag and stood up. "Thanks for helping. ...Um...hey, why don't you...maybe come to my house, instead of Ichiraku's? It's really not healthy to have ramen all the time." Her cheeks flushed to match her hair as Naruto's mouth fell open.
"Huh? Y-you mean it, Sakura-chan?" The only thing running through Naruto's head was, "Dattebayo! If I'm dreaming, don't nobody pinch me!"
"Here we are. Sit down and make yourself comfortable, Naruto." Naruto heeded these words and flopped down onto the couch.
"Do you need any help with anything, Sakura-chan?
"Um, no thanks, naruto. I can get everything just fine. You just wait in here." Sakura walked into the kitchen.
"What made me decide to invite him here? I can't cook! The most I can make is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and sometimes I can even mess those up! Cha!" Inner Sakura screamed.
The pink-haired kunoichi groaned and started walking around the small kitchen, gathering the supplies she needed for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. As she reached into her shopping bag for the loaf of bread she had just bought, she realized it was way too squashed to use for anything.
"Drat! It must have gotten crushed when I fell down! Hopefully I still have some left from the other loaf." She opened the cupboard and pulled out the mostly-empty bread bag. There were two slices left.
"That's only enough for one sandwich! I'll make it for Naruto, since he's a lot hungrier than I am. But wait," she mused. "If I don't eat something, too, he might think that I just felt sorry for him, and then he'd be embarrassed. Cha, I wish I had thought this through first!" With a sigh, Sakura pulled the slices out of the bag. She hesitated before grabbing a jar of peanut butter.
"Naruto's not allgeric to peanut butter, is he?" she wondered. "I've never seen him eat it before, but then, I've only ever really hung out with him during missions, and none of us ever ate any peanut butter on missions. Well, most likely he's not allergic. If he is , I'll try to make him something else."
Sakura spread the peanut butter (smooth, chunky grossed her out) on one slice of bread and the jelly (grape, of course) on the other slice.
"There!" she said. "That's the best I can do. I hope Naruto won't be too disappointed."
Naruto was checking out Sakura's living room. It wasn't much bigger than his own, but ut was much better decorated. There were potted flowers on the windowsill, cherry blossom-patterned wallpaper, and framed pictures on the walls and coffee table. Naruto couldn't tear his gaze from one picture in particular: him, Sakura, Kakashi...and Sasuke. Involuntarily, Naruto's fists clenched.
"Naruto?" He turned his head. Sakura was coming out of the kitchen, holding a sandwich.
"Oh, hey, Sakura-chan." Sakura looked rather uncomfortable.
"Um...naruto, I should've mentioned this sooner, but...I can't cook. I can really only make sandwiches and very few other things, so I hope you weren't expecting anything too fancy."
"that's okay, Sakura!" Naruto grinned. "I've learned not to expect anything too fancy from you!" Sakura narrowed her eyes and growled under her breath. "Uh...you okay, Sakura-chan?"
"Calm down,"Sakura told herself. "He's just being the usual Naruto."She walked over to the couch and sat down next to Naruto, handng him the sandwich.
"Here," she said. Naruto blinked.
"You didn't make one for yourself?"
"I didn't have enough bread. The loaf I bought today got crushed when we, uh, ran into each other."
"Oh." Naruto was silent for a moment. "Um, here." He broke the sandwich in half. "You have half of it. You're the one who made it, and you were nice enough to invite me over here."
"Oh. Thanks, Naruto." Sakura took half of the sandwich. They ate in silence for a while, until Sakura said, "Naruto, do you think Sasuke-kun's ever going to come back?"
"I...I don't even know anymore, Sakura. He's so determined to have his revenge...but I sure hope he comes back."
Sakura couldn't help but smile. "Three years ago, you would have said good riddance to him."
"That was before Sasuke became my best friend!" Naruto protested. "I just want for him to come home to Konoha now!"
"Me too," Sakura agreed. "I really wish he'd come back. I miss him a lot."
"Why don't we talk about something else for a while, Sakura-chan?" Naruto suggested. "How's your traing with Granny Tsunade?"
They talked for what seemed like hours, and what probably was. They talked about their mentors, the weather, their days back in the academy, anything that caught their fancy and seemed to be a good conversation topic. The sun was setting as they ran out of subjects to cover.
"So, um, I guess I'll see you around, eh, Sakura-chan?"
"I guess so." Naruto stood up. Then, without warning, he swiftly kissed Sakura's cheek and rushed out the door, calling, "That was a thank-you for lunch!"
Sakura sat there for a few seconds, stunned. Slowly, she reached up and touched her cheek, a small smile spreading across her face.
"Naruto, you really do know how to make a girl feel special. I think...that's what I love about you."
Outside, Naruto stopped, panting. Sakura wasn't coming out of the house to beat him up, so maybe he was safe.
"Dattebayo! I seriously can't believe I just did that!" He sighed. "Sakura's probably still in love with Sasuke. She doesn't care about me. But still," he turned towards the sunset. "You really can't blame a guy for dreaming."