Author's Note: This is AU, if it wasn't obvious by the summary... Sakura is 18 in this fic. It will start out NaruSaku, so just bare with me here, please.

"Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose." Kevin Arnold

Naruto slurped up his ramen in true Naruto fashion. On one side of him sat Sakura, who was finished and was watching Naruto gulp down his fifth bowl of ramen. On the other side was Lee, who was just as enthusiastic as Naruto in eating the ramen in front of him.

"Hah!" Naruto said, slamming the bowl down on the counter. "I win." Lee slammed his bowl down a second later with a frown on his face.

"Once again you have beaten me," Lee said. "Until next time." Sakura shook her head in disbelief. They'd been having ramen eating competitions, and Naruto always won. Why did Lee even try?

He had a passion to strive to succeed, no matter how much effort it took. She admired that in Lee, just like she had with Sasuke…

"Arigato, Sakura."

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered. When she came back to reality, she noticed Naruto and Lee looking at her, concern on their faces. "Sorry, just… thinking back on something." Naruto wrapped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her.

"Hey, we all miss him, too, but there's nothing we can do about it," he said, smiling at her. "He made a decision and went with it. Even if it was a stupid decision… It's his life, so let him live it, okay, Sakura-chan?" She nodded silently in response.

She loved Naruto. She would deny it vehemently if anybody asked her, but it was the truth. Naruto had been the one to comfort her after Sasuke left. He had been her shoulder to cry on; he had been someone who she could hug when she felt like dying, giving her comforting words when she needed them the most.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan," Lee said, smiling widely. "Don't worry about it. Sasuke's been gone for five years." At this, Naruto looked at the counter, deep in thought.

"It's strange," he said quietly. "I haven't seen any signs of Orochimaru or the Akatsuki." He smiled and looked up, any hint of confusion gone from his face. "Oh well, I guess that's a good thing."

"Right," Lee said. "Oh yeah. Naruto, Hokage-sama told me that she needs to speak to you before the day is over." Naruto nodded and stood up, putting the money for everybody's ramen on the counter.

"Alright, then, I guess I'll go ahead and do that." He leaned over and kissed Sakura's forehead; she narrowed her eyes at him even though her cheeks turned pink. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura-chan." He waved as he took off towards Tsunade's office.

"It's getting late," Lee noted. "I'll walk you home, if you don't mind, Sakura-chan." Sakura smiled at her friend; he had replaced the hole that Sasuke had left in her heart. Like Naruto, Lee always found a way to cheer her up or keep her company.

"I'd love that," she said, glancing in the direction Naruto had gone. If Tsunade-sama needed to talk to Naruto, it must be important. She hoped nothing bad was going to happen.

"The Akatsuki is a terrorist organization," Naruto had told her. "Sasuke's brother is in that group."

"Why are they after you, though?"

"I… I can't tell you."

She still didn't know why the Akatsuki was after Naruto, or why Naruto couldn't tell her. He would always tell her everything, but not that.

"Why not?" she asked, hands on her hips. Naruto looked at the ground.

"I don't want you to hate me," he said softly. He looked up at her. "If I tell you why Itachi is after me, you'll hate me for the rest of your life, just like Sasuke hates Itachi."

"I could never hate you like that, Naruto. I…" her voice died as she saw tears forming in her friend's eyes. "Naruto…"

"Please," he said. "Don't worry about it. I'll be fine. Trust me."

She knew that he wasn't fine, though, and that's what bothered her the most. She'd asked

Jiraiya-sannin, Kakashi-sensei, even Tsunade-sama, but nobody would tell her what the Akatsuki was after, what Naruto was hiding.

It was immediately obvious that her generation was left out in the cold; Naruto seemed to be the only one her age to know the secret. She wondered if it had something to do with losing his parents. She didn't even know who his parents were, or what happened to them. Everything she knew about Naruto was from the academy.

"Why are you so worried about me?" Naruto asked, casting a side glance at her. "I'm fine. Please, don't stress anymore."

"I'm going to stress about it!" she said, frustrated. "You're hiding something, and I don't like it. I want to know what it is, and I want to know n--" She was cut off when he kissed her cheek quickly. He smiled sadly at her.

"Don't worry about it, okay?" She just nodded, bewildered at the fact that he'd actually kissed her. As he walked away, she put her hand on the place he'd kissed her.

It was late in the night -- maybe early in the morning -- when Sakura was awakened by Naruto tapping on her window. She sat up in her bed and opened the window, seeing his desperate face. "What's wrong, Naru—"She was cut off when he put his hand over her mouth. "Umph…"

"Shh," he said. "We need to talk. Now." He released his hold on her mouth and she gasped for air. "There's a problem. Hokage-sama told me that Itachi has been spotted nearby, outside the village."

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked. "I can't do anything." Naruto shook his head.

"Yes you can. If he's here for me, which he probably is, he'll be willing to do anything to get me," he said. "He may come after you first, as bait for me." He put his hand on her cheek. "And it would work. I need you to find somewhere else to live, at least until Itachi's gone. Maybe Ino's house, or Hinata's. Just… don't stay here alone. Please."

"Okay," she said, mentally noting his hand on her cheek. She made no move to swat it away. She didn't mind it at all.

"I'm going to leave the village for a few days," he said. "It'll throw Itachi off for a little bit, which will give me enough time to prepare for anything he can dish out." Her eyes widened in silent recognition. "Itachi is very dangerous. I don't want you under his control at all. Please, trust me." She nodded, and he started to make his way back outside.

"Naruto," she said, grabbing his hand and stopping him. He turned around to face her and she leaned forward and kissed his lips. "I love you." Naruto blinked and stared at her for a moment before he jerked his hand out of hers and took off into the night.

"I love you, too," he whispered.