Letters from Kyosuke
A/N: Hello and welcome to my first ever Naruto fic. This is a story that has been swirling around in my head since senior year of high school which was back 2008… yeah long time, I know. Anyways, I really hope that you all enjoy this story.
Prologue
For as long as he could remember he had always had feeling for her; but for as equally long as he could remember, he was always overshadowed by another. No matter how he tried, his feelings would never be recognized, because she was in love with someone else and he was only seen as the idiotic fool. It killed him inside to see her upset and devastated when he had come back to the village without Sasuke. He gave his word and promised on his life that he would bring him back, but no matter what he tried; no matter how hard he fought to get through to him… he got away. He woke up in a hospital bed, disappointed and covered in bandages, having to stare into those jade green eyes, brimming with tears, to tell her that he failed.
Now he felt like he had no chance with Sakura, not like he had a chance with her before… but now, that glimmer of hope he had, was completely absorbed when he had failed his mission, causing her to turn even further away from him. Even though he knew that there was no way that Sakura would return his feelings for him, it was killing him to tell her; other than reoccurring nightmares of Sasuke, it was the other thing would make him lie awake late at night with that nagging 'what if?' in the back of his mind. The only problem was he was too afraid to tell her face to face, for fear of her reaction and being rejected.
From the time that he had gotten out of the hospital he had been running on autopilot, doing what he could to make everything seem like business as usual; he thought that he was doing a good job of it for how miserable he felt. No one really seemed to question his silence, he would occasionally hear whispers of others when he would pass by but he would try not to let it bother him.
Today was just a normal day, no mission; he was still under strict orders by Granny Tsunade that he was to 'focus on recovery' and Pervy Sage agreed with her, he told him to 'enjoy the down time, because it would not last long'. But he needed a mission to get his mind off of what was going on lately, he didn't even care if it was just rescuing that stupid cat that was always running away from one of the nobles.
As he passed by Sakura's house he felt the familiar pain in his chest and kept his head down and kept walking, praying that Sakura would not see him. She knew that he felt bad for what had happened and did what she could to stay friendly around him. Both of them had made an unspoken agreement that that Sasuke was an off limits subject when in each other's presence.
As Naruto neared Ichiraku ramen shop he put on the best smile that he could fake and stooped under the canvas that was across the top of the doorway. Choji and Shikamaru were there enjoying a bowl of the house specialty ramen.
"Naruto, welcome, come on in!" Teuchi said when he came into view, "the usual? Extra-large miso ramen with pork."
"Yeah, that sounds great, thanks old man" he said as cheerfully as he could muster, and then looking to his right he smiled at his fellow comrades, "hey Choji, hey Shikamaru, what's up?"
"Hey Naruto" Shikamaru and Choji chimed in at the same time.
"Just finishing off our ramen here and then I'm gonna be meeting up with Asuma-sensei to kick his ass at shogi" Shikamaru said with a smirk, "how have you been doing? Haven't seen you around much lately."
"I've been doing good, just been really busy" Naruto lied.
"Oh ok, do they have you going out on any missions yet?" Choji asked as he finished stuffing the last bit of pork in his mouth.
"Not yet, Granny Tsunade says that I still need to focus on recovery, but I should be out there again soon."
"Gotcha, well best of luck Naruto!" Choji said paying for his meal and he and Shikamaru got up to leave.
"See ya later Naruto," they said together as they left.
Naruto sat there and ate his ramen in silence, not even really hungry, just going through the motions of eating because he knew that he had to. He sighed to himself; Teuchi taking notice of his silence asked him, "anything the matter?"
"No, I'm okay, just tired," he lied again. After he finished, he paid for his ramen and then made his way back for his house.
When he had almost reached his place, he noticed someone standing outside of the building like they had been waiting for him there. It was Sakura; he felt a knot begin to form in the pit of his stomach as he approached. She stood there in silence as he walked up to her; when they were finally face to face he looked her over and noticed the dark circles under her eyes as if she had not been sleeping; he noticed how puffy and red her eyes looked like she had recently been crying. Her face was gaunter than normal, as if she had not been eating; her now pallid complexion, replaced her once rosy cheeks and the light in her jade green eyes had gone dim and devoid of life. A weak attempt at a smile played across her features as he approached.
"Hey Sakura," he said with a weak smile, "what's up?"
"Hey Naruto," she said in a feeble attempt to sound cheerful, "I just came to check on you and see how you're doing, how are your injuries?"
"Oh, those healed a while ago," he said with a chuckle, "you know how fast I recover, but Granny Tsunade said that I can't go on any missions yet, so I'm just waiting it out until I can."
"Well I'm glad to hear that you've recovered," she said with a smile, but he noticed that it didn't touch her eyes. Seeing the lack of life in her eyes killed him; he wanted so badly to take her into his arms and hold her for eternity.
They stood there for a moment, neither one of them saying a word, Naruto shifted from one foot to the other; breaking the awkward silence, Naruto spoke, "So… how have you been?" he asked genuinely curious.
"Oh… I've been doing fine," she replied not meeting his gaze; he could tell that she was not being honest, but he did not press her about how she was really doing because he didn't want to pry.
"Well, it was really good to see you, I better start heading home now; don't want my mom to start to worry… and I need to study up for my medical training with Lady Tsunade…" her voice trailed off as if she was not sure where else to take the conversation.
"Oh, yeah… I have some studying of my own that I have to do… Pervy Sage has some things that he needs me to do," Naruto said trying to make it sound believable, "well see you later Sakura," he waved to her and made his way inside.
He unlocked the door to his lonely apartment, closed the door behind him and locked the door behind him. He slumped to the floor against the door and put his face in his hands, I'm so lost… what do I do to help Sakura feel better… how can I help her forget about Sasuke? He inquired bitterly to himself. He picked himself up off the floor, stripped out of his clothes and crawled into bed. He felt a throbbing ache in his chest as recalled the hollow look in Sakura's eyes, completely devoid of life.
He laid there on his bed staring at the ceiling not even knowing how much time had passed; as he gazed briefly out the window, he noticed the sunset filled the sky with a fiery orange glow. He felt an empty gnawing in his stomach and knew it was right about the time that he would be having dinner; he didn't care, his mind was too occupied to even think about eating. He rolled over and closed his eyes; it's been a long day…that was the last thought that filled his head as his mind wandered off…
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the prologue, this was going to be chapter 1 but I was not sure if you guys would enjoy this or not, so that's why it's been left at a cliff hanger and it's only the prologue…anyways, Chapter 1 will be up shortly! Please review if you would be so kind, constructive criticism is always appreciated I hope that I did these characters justice… anyways you all are beautiful!
One more thing… I'm contemplating changing my pen name... I created this penname when I had an obsession with twilight, it was a phase that I have outgrown, thoughts? Let me know
Peace & Love,
AliceCullenLucky13
