Storm
Lavonia
Sakura hated the rain. She hated how it would keep pouring and pouring without and end. She also hated it because it reminded her of the weeks after Sasuke left. It had rained the entire time through.
She also hated the smell of death. Her stomach churned as her former's patients partially decomposed body lay wrapped on the other side of the small log cabin. The old woman, despite the pink haired girl's attention, had ceased living. Sakura decided that she couldn't just leave the body in place. It would be disrespectful. So she decided to bury it. But it had been raining for the past three days and the ground was too wet to make a decent hole.
So that was how Sakura was stuck in her current situation almost a week later. She was high in the mountains with a corpse next to a small lake on a crater. If it kept raining, she would have had to begin worrying about landslides and other unwelcome occurrences that rain could bring. She shivered at the thought and huddled closer to the weak fire she had started in the fire place.
The wind whistled around the old cabin and thunder boomed overhead. Sakura never told her worst fear to anyone before. She was deathly afraid of thunder. As another flash streaked across the sky, the Kunoichi prepared herself for the next roaring blast.
She wasn't disappointed.
After the noise died away, she heard another sound from outside her door. She froze in fear. Normally, she would be ready for whatever was going to come through the door, but her reactions were affected by her fear coursing through her. The thunder, lightening, and intruder were just too much for her.
To make it worse, her fire had just gone out.
The door swung open and a figure walked inside, slamming the door behind it. Sakura huddled in a corner and tried her best not to whimper. She almost succeeded until another roar ripped through the sky, and she squealed from beneath her blanket.
The figure turned around in her direction. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and listened to the footsteps coming closer and closer. She suddenly wondered if she would come out of her situation alive.
The footsteps stopped. She knew that the person was a man. He certainly smelled like a man. Plus he was standing two feet away from her. The blanket slowly started to get pulled away, but she couldn't get it back. Her super strength had been lessened by her terror.
"Sakura?" A voice gently called. The girl whimpered back. "Geez Sakura, you look horrible. What happened to you?"
"N-Naruto?" She called out.
"Yeah, it's me. Granny sent me to check up on you since you haven't reported back yet." He looked down at the shivering girl. "Why didn't you tell me you were scared of storms?"
"I'm not scared of storms just-" A boom cut her off. She squealed and made a mad dash for the closet. "-thunder." She finished.
After a moment, the door slowly slid open, and Naruto looked in with a candle which he handed to her. He then sat down next to her and slid the door shut. "Being scared isn't something to be ashamed of." He admitted. "I'm scared of people important to me dieing."
There was a long pause in-between the two. There was another bellow of thunder and Sakura squeezed her eyes shut.
"Hey, do you remember that time in the forest of Death that you told me about? When you stood over both me and Sasuke against three Sound ninja? At first I didn't believe the story because I thought you weren't brave enough to do something like that, but I was wrong. Or that time you stood by yourself to protect the bridge builder. Or…"
He kept going on and on about all the times that Sakura had been braved. Slowly, Sakura stopped thinking less about the thunder and more about what Naruto had to say. After several hours and a lot of one sided conversation from Naruto, the blond boy opened the door. It was still gray outside, but the rain had stopped. Both tumbled out of the closet.
Then Sakura realized what he had done.
"Thanks Naruto."
"For what?"
"Distracting me from the storm."
"Oh, I was distracting you from the storm?" A playful grin flicked over his mouth. "I didn't realize it." He slowly began to walk away. "Come on. Let's get the corpse buried, and then we can head back to Konoha."
Sakura watched the back of her teammate. She silently admitted to herself that she couldn't have asked for a better friend.
AN: Well, Merry (belated) Christmas everyone! First off, this is a FRIENDSHIP thing. I don't believe in anything other than sibling love between the two. Hinata would probably stab Sakura if she pulled a move on Naruto anyways.
You all know the drill. Review please.