Setting: 5 months after attack of Pein. Fourth war hasn't started.
Chapter 1: The Fantastically Foolish Plan
She is beautiful but sometimes scary. She is extremely smart, and she is also stubborn when she knows she is wrong about things. She keeps the exciting edge in my life going and even the edge that keeps my life a little on the dangerous side. She is irreplaceable, perfect, and just the right amount of Sakura that anyone could ever ask for. But I am saddened to know that she is not mine, and I don't even know if she ever will be.
I know I love her. When I am around her, I feel so overjoyed because it's like I feel this radiating light coming from her filling my heart with happiness, admiration, and love. At the same time, it is quite contradicting to feel a little depressed. Knowing that she may never accept my love (or me for that matter) burdens my heart with heavy chains that have a thousand pound weights dangling at the ends.
Sakura-chan and I have been teammates for how many years now? It has been 5 months since our Leaf Village survived the attack of Pein. It's true that she has been more herself and cheerful around me for a while now, but I haven't felt any signs that she may like me more than friends and teammates. Then again, I haven't made many moves on her or asked her out lately. How can I? How can I risk what we already have as friends? I don't want to push her in any wrong direction for fear we would make things awkward between us. Or worse, I don't want to make her so uncomfortable that she'll punch me. With a slight blush and smile, I have to admit I do enjoy the attention when that happens.
It's an early Tuesday morning as I lay wide awake in my worn-down bed. I love sleeping in, but all these thoughts are clouding my mind. I begin to brainstorm ideas of what I could do today, as today is one of my few days off from training and missions.
A smirk crept upon my face as I realized that Sakura-chan works Tuesday mornings at the hospital. I should go there and say hi! But… I can't just show up. Sakura-chan might think I am wasting her time when she needs to be working. Maybe if I had a reason, like having an injury, she would welcome me in the hospital. Maybe she would be the one to treat my injuries!
Hmm… how should I get injured? A paper cut? No, she would think I am a weakling for showing up to the hospital because of that. Maybe I can fake the cold? No, she would see through that immediately.
Just then my stomach growled so loud one would think it was the nine tails yelling for freedom. I wiggled out of bed, slipped on some casual day shorts over my boxers, and walked to my fridge. The icy chill the fridge released when I opened it gave my bare chest and back shivers as I saw there was absolutely nothing in there to eat. I strolled over to the cabinet, where upon opening it I found one single cup of ramen.
All of a sudden, an idea struck me like gold. Sakura-chan can't deny me treatment if I have burns! I could "accidently" spill hot water on my arm from making ramen! Yep, this is the perfect plan. It's not like a burn will hurt too much, and there won't be any blood. I am a tough guy. I can handle this. Heck, I am Naruto Uzumaki!
Completely ignoring my hunger, I brought some water to a boil. I mentally prepared to do the inevitable. Slowly, I grasped the handle of the pot containing the hot water. Here goes nothing… And with a final gulp, I splashed the water on me.
OWWWWW AHHH! Crap! What was I thinking!? This HURTS! And to make matters worse, I didn't just get it on my arm. I got the freakishly hot water on my chest too. Damn, why didn't I put on a shirt?
With one swift motion, I raced to my room, tugged on a t-shirt, slipped into my ninja shoes, and was sprinting to the hospital. The whole way there, I was mentally hitting myself because why would I be so careless to spill boiling hot water on me? I must really crave to see Sakura-chan… I guess someone did say once that love makes a man do crazy things.
Six minutes passed and I finally saw the hospital come into view. My heart began to race even more after running because the nervousness began to sink in. Sakura-chan…