Title: Returning

Chapter 1: A given chance

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Romance

Rating: T

Paring: SakuNaru

Disclaimer: I'm working on that, Kishi just won't give… sadly

Warnings: none

By: Ruru-chan

Now, on with the story:


Prologue:

Everyday appeared clouded in her world. The pain she had suffered since his departure had truly never left her. She was distant, she was lonely and broken. It had all been his fault, she could only blame him. He had hurt her to the point that she could not forget.

He had meant everything to her, but she was worthless to him. She refused to believe that, though, and she trained; she strained her-self, pushing harder and harder each and every day, so he could acknowledge her. Hopefully all her training would be good enough and she could help bring him back home. It had all been pointless in the end. Her efforts and Naruto's had all gone to waste when Sasuke refused to return, and was once again out of their reach. She never felt more useless and hurt. He had hurt them both, Naruto and her, and broken their hearts.

Naruto seemed to have accepted that Sasuke would never be a part of their lives again, and so, moved on. She had not. Sasuke had meant absolutely everything, she could not so easily forget. She had just loved him for so long that facing his permanent absence broke her down.


.: Chapter 1: given chance :.


"Why?" she silently asked her self, "Why wouldn't he return?..."

Sakura sat in the furthest corner of her room. She sat in the dark, acknowledging that it wouldn't have made the slightest difference otherwise. It had been roughly three months since they had returned home after their miserably failed mission. She had hardly moved from that spot since. Rarely getting up just to lay and mope in her bed. She wouldn't go out and she would scarcely eat. She only wanted to be alone and die soon. She considered she'd been doing a good job at it so far. Her medic experience told her as much. A few more months of this and she would reach her goal.

'This is taking too damn long.' she mused to her self.

She pondered for a second; she could always make the process quicker. A swift slash at her wrist, a pleasant overdose on soldier pills, heck, even an irrational hanging to end her life sounded rather nice. If it hadn't been for Naruto's obnoxious concern over her she would have ended her life a long time ago; he kept interrupting her every convenient time. Of course, he had no idea she wanted to take her own life. She couldn't do it, though, she admitted. Heh, even to this extent she was worthless. She couldn't even take her own god-dammed life.

Her train of thought was interrupted by sudden banging coming from the front door of her apartment. There he was again, with out fail. Naruto was at the door. He just wouldn't leave her alone. He was persistent in the entire meaning of the word. She ignored him. He would eventually leave, just like everyone else had. She knew her friends cared about her and they just wanted to help, but she didn't care. She wouldn't care for anyone if it wasn't him. She heard the knocking once again. Why couldn't he just give up already?

"Sakura, open the door; I know you're in there!" Naruto demanded from the other side of the door.

"Go away!" Sakura yelled.

She wasn't ready to face him. No, it wasn't that, she just couldn't face him. She felt week and stupid. Naruto understood her feelings exactly and had shared her pain. He was always there for her and refused to give up on her. It was shameful to admit how useless his efforts were, because she had already given up on herself. That's why she couldn't open the door. Naruto had been able to move on but she still couldn't.

"Sakura, I will break down this door if I have to! I've come here day after day and I'm getting tired of it!"

"Then give up already! I'm not going to open!"

Naruto furrowed his brow and frowned. This was getting annoying. Did she really believe that he would give up that easy? Had she forgotten who he was? It was not part of his character to simply give up on anything, especially her. He still loved her with all his heart and wasn't about to stand around and watch as she threw her life away.

"Sakura…" Naruto soften his voice. "Listen to me, Sakura; you can't keep doing this to yourself… don't give up like that…"

Sakura just sat and listened. It wasn't like it would make a difference if he encouraged her. She had already given up on herself. She didn't know what else to do. Everything meant nothing if he was not here with her.

Naruto grew impatient at her lack of response. He franticly began to search for an opening around her apartment. If she wouldn't let him in, he would let himself in. Finally, he found a window open near her kitchen and crawled through it. Sakura shifted, just barely, when she felt his presence inside her apartment.

"Sakura let me help you. I've had enough; I don't want to see you like this anymore" Naruto calmly talked to her as he looked for her.

"Why, Naruto? Why can't you just let it go?" Sakura whispered under her breath trying hard to understand why he couldn't leave her alone.

"Because… I love you"

Sakura looked up to find Naruto standing in her bedroom doorway. He gave her a sweet smile but she turned away. He frowned. What could he do to make her happy? This was really getting tiring.

"Sakura-chan…" he spoke softly, Sakura only hugged her knees tighter.

"You are wasting your time Naruto… just forget about me, ok?"

Sakura couldn't accept him; not like this. He had been there all along, caring for her, and all she had done was hurt him. She didn't deserve him and he deserved better. Besides, she still loved Sasuke.

Naruto didn't say much, though. He knew his confession had been premature, but he wasn't about to let her go. He would always be by her side ready to help her when ever she needed. He would be there for her, and little by little, he would help her forget about Sasuke and get her to start noticing him.

Naruto turned and left the room and Sakura's eyes began to swell up with tears. Why couldn't she seem to stop hurting him? She allowed her sobs to escape her; it was getting harder to hold it in.


-


She wasn't sure how much time had passed since she had begun crying, but was suddenly aware that Naruto was back in her room. She looked up and watched as he approached her and knelled down to her level. He only gave her a cautious smile before he reached to wipe away her tears.

"I made you some ramen," he said, trying to project the warm care he felt for her, "let me help you to the bed so you can eat it."

Sakura conceded and allowed Naruto to help her up from the floor and across her room to her bed. Naruto place the steamy bowl on the nearest night stand and sat next to Sakura. Sakura made no effort to reach for the bowl. Naruto frowned and nudged her to edge her on. A small scowl marred her features and faced entirely away from Naruto.

"I'm not hungry." She stated. Naruto crunched his nose, she was being difficult.

Naruto took the bowl with his hands before picking up a few noodles and blowing on them lightly. He tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. He gave Sakura a stern look.

"Sakura if you won't eat it yourself I will feed it to you. Now say: ahh." Sakura looked at him like he had lost his mind.

"Come on… ahh" Naruto requested inching the noodles closer to her mouth. Sakura had no choice but to take the noodles in her mouth.

Sakura swallowed slowly, embarrassed that Naruto was feeding her like she was an incapable child. Naruto reached down to scoop more ramen, but before he could, Sakura stopped him.

"I think I can feed myself." She said taking the chopsticks from his hands. Naruto grinned and carefully passed her the bowl convinced that she would eat it.

"You know, everyone misses you. Ino keeps asking me about you and Kakashi too. Hokage's been real worried about you; I had to convince her that you would be all right… even though I'm not sure my self." Naruto gave her a warm look as he hugged his legs Sakura listened quietly, "but I made a promise and now here I am."

Sakura paused. She hadn't thought about how her actions were affecting people. Especially her shishou, she was like her second mother. Now she felt guilty for being so selfish. She sighted loosing all interest on her food again.

"Oi, Sakura-chan… if you don't finish that I'm ganna be forced to shove it up your nose …" Naruto said so seriously that it almost didn't sound like a joke. Sakura threw him a disgusted look and rapidly took a bite from the floating beef in the ramen.

Naruto snorted at her actions "haha! I finally got a reaction out of you!" he said grinning side to side.

Sakura stopped and stared. She gave him a faint smile when she realized what he was trying to do. Naruto was really trying hard, just for her. Maybe there was more hope to her situation then she originally thought.

He didn't say much after that and just sat quietly and watched Sakura eat her ramen. She took her time to finish it but when she finished she placed the bowl on the night stand and hugged her knees once again. Small tints of red merit her cheeks. She was feeling self-conscious. Naruto had just sat there watching her eat the whole time. There had been more to that though, something in the way he looked at her. Now, more than ever, she was feeling how much Naruto was a man.

She let out a small sight and tugged her hair behind her ear. Naruto just lay beside her with a thoughtful look on his face. He was quiet for a moment longer before he took her hand and laced his fingers with hers. The action surprised her, to say the least, but she didn't pull away. She just watched him as he observed her hand thoughtfully. Suddenly he spoke up.

"What did you ever see on that idiot? He's done nothing but hurt you…" Sakura was a little taken back but said nothing. Naruto sat up and she met with his gaze. "I don't think I can forgive him for that… just look at you"

"I-" Sakura wanted to say something, but Naruto silenced her by placing a finger on her lips. "It's true Sakura. Sasuke has done nothing but hurt you. If you give me a chance I can help you forget him and then you can start noticing me…"

Naruto slowly traced her lips. He slid a few fingers under her chin and tugged her closer until her lips met with his. Sakura froze entirely, shocked at what was happening. She was about to protest when he suddenly deepened the kiss carefully sliding his tong in her mouth. Much to her surprise she began to enjoy it. Gradually, Naruto pushed her down on her bed shifting his mouth to her neck. Sakura let out a small gasp when she felt a flick from his tong tickle a sensitive spot. Suddenly she was carefully pulled forward to meet Naruto in a possessive hug.

"Sakura … I swear to you; I will definitely make you love me back." Naruto whispered in her ear before tenderly kissing her lips.

Naruto removed him self from her and then entirely from her bed. Sakura was speechless as she watched Naruto make his way to her bedroom door. He reached fro the door knob but halted for a second before turning around to face her again. He had a wide but warm smile.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura-chan!" he said and then left her room and finally leaving her apartment.

Sakura could only lay on her bed, almost half dreaming, pondering on what Naruto had said. She ran a hand down her neck and tenderly touched her lips with the other. She struggled to ignore the little feeling of butterflies skirmishing in her stomach. Naruto had kissed her and she had enjoyed it.

"What… just … happened?"


Whah... this story has been on my mind for a long-ass time now! i.M so happy i finally typed it down and am able to share it with everybody :)

As you can tell, i.M relatively new here... so please be gentle.

Review please: I do appreciate constructive criticism and would love to see what readers think of my writing and stories :)