Sakura could not tell you the exact date she moved in with Naruto. It had been gradual.

It started when Naruto got his new apartment. He paid a pretty penny in rent each month, but compared to her awful dungeon-like place it seemed like a beautiful escape. It started off with her just spending the night a few times, and being too tired to drive home after sex. Naruto was not entirely faultless either. He would bribe her with cuddles on cold autumn nights and breakfast every morning. Sakura quickly came to realize that everything she lacked in terms of culinary skills, Naruto made up.

One morning she left her toothbrush at his house by accident instead of packing it in her purse before she left for the hospital. The next, she left a pair of her fingerless gloves. Over the next few weeks, the change of clothes she would bring over and leave there had started to accumulate so he gave her a drawer of her own. That drawer grew in to two and then three and soon she had her own dresser.

Eventually, she stopped paying rent at her own place and began chipping in for Naruto's apartment instead. It seemed like a dumb idea to everyone at the time, but to her it just felt natural. Naruto had been her other half ever since they were twelve so it seemed like the right thing to do. That is what she told herself anyway.

Autumn:

Sakura dropped the last box she was carrying onto Naruto's hardwood floor, and lifted an arm to wipe the sweat off her forehead. Behind her, she heard Naruto struggle through the narrow doorframe with her suitcases. She watched him, pondering how such a great ninja could struggle so much with such a simple task, before walking over and taking two of the bags from him.

He smiled peevishly at her. "Thanks Sakura, what would I do without you?" he said through a grin.

"Probably die!" She called out behind her as she walked the bags to the closet he had designated for her. Naruto would not admit it but Sakura had an inkling that the devious man had had her in mind when he had decided on the apartment.

Naruto closed the door behind him and walked over to where Sakura was standing, clearly contemplating how she was fitting all of her clothing into the closet space. Naruto slid an arm around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. "This is going to be incredible." he whispered into her ear.

Despite herself, her prior frustration, and her current dissatisfaction with how she believed she would have to organize her closet, Sakura found herself smiling. He always seemed to have that effect on her.

"It is Naruto. It really is." She turned around and nuzzled herself into his neck, inhaling the scent of him. She could not imagine anything being better, safer, and more fulfilling than this.

A few weeks had passed and Naruto and Sakura had settled into a routine. Sakura would wake up first, and go take a shower. Naruto would notice the lack of warmth and disgruntledly pull her pillow to his chest. She would return and wake him up, and they would both go on with their mornings until he left for training and she went to the hospital. They would meet up for lunch if their schedules allowed it and if not, they would meet at home. Naruto would make dinner and Sakura would clean up around the apartment, and they would sit down and talk until one of them gave out from exhaustion first. It was normally Sakura.

Somewhere along the lines, the days began to blur together. It was the same thing every day. Weekends were a little different but their time together was still riddled with the reality that they were two of Konoha's greatest assets and had priorities which came before spending time together. Every once in a while Naruto would leave for a mission, and Sakura found that she didn't even notice until she got home that night and realized that she was on her own for dinner. She would then walk into their bedroom and sit on their bed and lift up his pillow and hold it to her chest. She would inhale the scent that was so distinctly Naruto, and feel around under her own pillow for the note that he had inevitably left. She always felt a pang of guilt as she did this because she knew Naruto had placed it under her pillow lovingly right before he was called to leave in the middle of the night, and he would have kissed her gently on the lips so as not to wake her, but here she was, nearly 24 hours later just realizing it now.

It was a lovely mid-october evening, Sakura was walking down the street, humming to herself. She loved the fall. The pleasant breeze, the changing colors in the trees which defined Konoha. It was just a peaceful time. She sauntered to the hospital, something she rarely did anymore because it seemed that every single moment of her time was preoccupied. She let her mind wander to earlier that day at lunch. She had waited for Naruto at the restaurant they had agreed to for lunch in the morning. She knew he was probably busy with something or another when he didn't show after the first half an hour, but she had waited regardless. She kept making excuses for him in her mind, and when the realization hit that he wasn't coming, her eyes began to well up with tears. She didn't quite know why. Sakura hadn't been much of a crier after she passed the age of 14. And yet, sitting there in the restaurant booth, looking across from her, she was just sad. She didn't quite understand why. There was no reason to be. He had missed lunch many times, as had she. But the sorrow was just something she couldn't deal with. It felt like a weight on her chest, and a lump in her throat. For the first time since she began working at the hospital as a doctor, Sakura took the afternoon off. She went back to their apartment, just barely holding back the tears that threatened to overflow at any time. She kept her head down because she didn't want to deal with the looks of the other people on the street. Numbly, she opened the door, closed it behind her, and sank to the floor, back to the door, and let herself cry. She couldn't quite make sense of the thoughts in her own head, except one.

"I miss him". She thought it repeatedly, and then finally when her sobs subsided, and she was getting her normal breathing patterns back, she said it aloud. "I miss him."

After that, she had gotten up, taken a shower, and decided to head back to the hospital, with every intention of talking to Naruto later that night.

Throughout her shift at the hospital, Sakura aimlessly filled out paperwork, while rehearsing the lines she wanted to say over and over in her head, perfecting them. Having a discussion with Naruto like this just seemed…. Off. He had been her other half for as long as she could remember, but talking about her feelings with him made her feel like she had regressed to her own whiny childhood self. In her mind, all she could think of was the idea that after listening to what she had to say, he would scoff at her.

"Sakura, you haven't changed at all have you?" she could hear him saying, "just as whiny and needy as ever."

Rationally, she knew that this wasn't possible. Naruto loved her. He had when she had been useless, and he had loved her as she grew into a strong independent woman. He would listen to what she had to say, and maybe he wouldn't say the exact right thing back, but he would comfort her in the way that only he was capable of.

"But what if he doesn't Sakura" the voice in her head said. "What if he is sick of it"

She absentmindedly waived the absurd thought from her mind, but she couldn't seem to get rid of the growing pit in her stomach.

A light knock on the door abruptly stopped her internal monologue.

"Sakura, its time for you to go home" the voice from the other side said. Sakura recognized it as Shizune's voice. Normally, that declaration always pleased Sakura. She loved the idea of going home to her best friend, but today the idea of it gave her sweaty palms and a fast paced heart.

"O-ok, thank you!" she replied "I'll be on my way soon!". She leaned forward in her chair, straining to hear, until she was confident the footsteps she heard walking away from her door were Shizune's.

She then leaned back in her chair and let out a really long sigh.

"What is happening to me?"