There had been a series of days warmer than normal recently in Konoha and to pile misfortune upon misfortune the centralized cooling at the Uzumaki residence had been acting a bit out of order, resulting in a very high temperature in Naruto's room. Wanting too cool down a bit he had left his room in search of a cold beverage and even for someone with a mind slightly duller than the average (such as his was), it was easy to deduce that a cold drink was most likely found in the fridge.
When Naruto opened the fridge door he felt a rush of cool air sweep over his body and he sighed in pleasure, milling about restlessly with his eyes over the content of the fridge he eventually settled on a can of iced tea. "Bleh it so hot in my room, I'll stay downstairs for a bit" he muttered to himself as he took a seat in the living room, propping his feet on the coffee table.
As he sat there, slowly sipping away at that cold tea which brought him much pleasure this warm day just enjoying life, smelling the rose so to say living in t… "Hey, put your feet down, ugh you're so disgusting" he suddenly heard from behind him. Naruto turned to look at the one that spoke, it was his sister Hikari, she was about 5'4" with red hair (just like their mother's) reaching to her waist, and she had whisker marks on her cheeks. Her blue eyes held a glare as she looked at Naruto with contempt "Yeah yeah" Naruto replied as he hastily shuffled his feet down to the floor.
An awkward silence filled the room after their short exchange of words and feeling an urge to fill it with noise Naruto said "Hey.. Umm.. Crazy weather we have been having right?" his sister just looked at him and clicked her tongue as she left the room. "Haah, I wonder why she acts this way, I remember when we were little and she used to adore me so much, she even said she would be my bride when we grew up…" Naruto thought as he finished the last of his drink.
Thinking about the current stalemate in the relations with his sister always brought him down a bit, so he decided to take a walk to clear his mind. After a few minutes of aimless wandering he caught a glimpse of pink hair on top of a girl coming out of a grocery store in the distance "Sakura-chan!" He yelled and rushed towards it, but he reached the end of the street before catching up with her quickly looking both ways at the intersection he bellowed at the top of his lungs "SAKURA-CHAN!?" and caught sight of her, now stopped in her tracks waiting for him.
As he got close he could see that she was shivering and he ran up to her and put his hand on her shoulder "Hey Sakura, are you cold or something? Why are you shivering? The weather is so fine, it's kinda weird that you are cold…".
Then there was pain, it took a few moments for Naruto to reorient himself as he was suddenly lying on the floor, nose bleeding with a furious Sakura towering over him with her fists clenched and teeth grinding. "NARUTOOO! What have I told you about making a scene in public!" She yelled.
Naruto glanced around them and saw that they had drawn a few observers and, putting a hand to his nose to stop the bleeding caused by Sakura's blow said "Hehe Sorry! You know me, once I'm excited I can't hold back… ". Around them a few whispers could be heard "Hokage's son… Traitor teammate… Disgrace... " however luckily for the speakers they were too silent for Naruto to hear.
Naruto sat and nursed his nose for a bit when suddenly Sakura reached out her hand, and said "Come on, get up", Naruto took her hand and heaved himself up. They began walking side by side, towards Sakura's home.
"What have you done today?" Naruto asked "Oh you know, the usual, teaching the kids at the academy and helping out at my parents shop, and you?" Sakura replied. Naruto put his hands behind his head "I was out of the village on a mission". as Naruto said that he saw a frown begin to form on her face and he hastily added "Nothing dangerous mind you, just a C-rank delivery!". At that Sakura's frown quickly brightened up into a smile and she said "Ah good to hear, you know how I worry… Ever since Sas…."
Naruto hastily interrupted her "I know I know I won't let anything happen to me, I will be here for you always! You can rely on that!" they walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence, both of their minds occupied by thoughts of their estranged teammate.
Lately the Haruno residence had started to feel like a second home to Naruto so when they got in he quietly said "I'm home", Sakura looked at him and shook her head with a bemused smile. "It's stuff like this that makes my father behave the way he does you know…"
As if he had heard them talking about him Kizashi poked his head out through a nearby doorway "Hey! Naruto, have you finally come to take Sakura as your bride?" He said. Naruto began blushing widely and quietly stammered "Aahh.. Umm.. Eeh… I'unno.." Naruto looked at his feet and started to squirm, while Sakura silently started counting down from ten in her mind "10… 9… 8…". But before mount Sakura could erupt in a shower of righteous rage, Mebuki interjected "Oh ignore him, he's just being silly. You must be thirsty being outside in this warm weather, let me get you something cold to drink."
Having greeted Sakura's family they retired to her room, where Sakura managed to rope Naruto into helping her with some lesson plans for the class she was assigned to teach at the academy "So.. Naruto, your sister recently graduated" Sakura said.
Naruto looked up from the worksheets he was putting together "Yeah, she got Kakashi as her Jounin teacher" "Oh, I didn't know he would be willing to pick up a team so soon after…" Sakura looked around awkwardly "After Sasuke's defection" Naruto finished for her, he sighed "Kakashi, he really can't say no to my dad." "Your dad taught him right?" Naruto nodded as an answer to Sakura's question.
"Anyways back to your sister, Is everything alright between you two? She hasn't really spoken about you in class, I remember as kids you were pretty much everything she talked about" Sakura asked, Naruto shrugged "We've been drifting apart lately… It's been kinda weird, I don't really understand it" Sensing that Naruto rather not talk about it Sakura continued her work in silence.
After finishing up a quick meal with Sakura's family as payment for the favor of helping with the lesson plan. Naruto returned home as the sun was about to set, and as he entered through the front door he said "I'm home" hastily taking off his shoes and heading for the stair he noted that his sister was on the way down, and just as they were about to pass each other by she slipped on something, Naruto quickly reached out with his arm to try and grab her but his attempt to stabilize them was futile and after a short fall they ended up in a pile of entangled limbs at the bottom of the stairs.
Flustered Hikari quickly extricated herself and mumbled "Klutz-ninja..." as she walked away. Unbeknownst to both of them they weren't the only victims of the fall, as a certain infamous orange book had also fallen out of Hikari's bag and it had found a resting place underneath a nearby bureau…
