Naruto always wanted what was best for Sakura, no matter how much it hurt him. If that meant she was to continue loving Sasuke, then Naruto was going to let that be. He walked sadly through the village, passing Ichiraku Ramen. Normally he would stop in to get him self a bite, scratch that, a meal to eat, but lately he just wasn't in the mood.

No one would be in the mood for food after the dreadful conversation he had just had with Sakura. His head hung low as he tried to analyze what had happened a few nights before. No, nothing bad had happened, Naruto was just being himself, Sakura had just taking things a little bit out of proportion, hadn't she? How could she have just acted so out of character, all because Naruto wanted to tell her how he truly felt about her? She never listened to him when it came to his feelings for her, she would always brush him off.

"Sakura, I just, I was wondering if I could talk to you?"

Sakura looked over to him kindly and smiled. "Sure Naruto, what about?"

"Uhh, well..." he stuttered nervously. Naruto took a quick glimpse to the sky, watching as the clouds moved slowly through the night sky, revealing all of the hidden stars. It was going to be ok, he thought, she wasn't going to laugh at him, she would comfort him, like a good friend always would.

Sakura sat beside him on the park bench, and Naruto couldn't help but blush slightly as she radiated under the moonlight. "What did you want to talk about?" She clasped her hands together excitedly. "Let me guess, you have finally got the guts to ask Hinata out?"

"Uhmm..." Naruto shook his head slightly. He sighed mentally, this wasn't a good start. Sakura has immediately thought the conversation was about someone else.

"Oh," she said quietly. "What then?"

"Well," He took in a deep breath. "its about you... and well..." Before Naruto had time to finish, he could already see Sakura's happy face changing into something more upsetting. They looked at each other for a short while before Naruto had the courage to continue what he wanted to say. "I wanted to tell you.. how much I-"

"Stop it Naruto," She interrupted. Naruto instantly flinched, as he looked over at Sakura. She had her head hanging low, and her fists were clenched together tightly. So he had thought wrong, she obviously wasn't ready to know how he felt about her, but Naruto needed to tell her. He was sick and tired of keeping his feelings all bottled up. He wanted Sakura to know, just so he could have everything out in the open. "I don't want to know how you feel about me ok? We have been friends for years now, and I don't want to ruin that friendship. Do you understand?"

"I do Sakura, but you see-"

"Why do you do this to me Naruto?" she snapped at him. Naruto fell still as Sakura stood up in front of him. She looked furious, her fists were still clenched, and her eyes bore down on him hard. Naruto felt his heart instantly drop. "Why do you keep pressuring me Naruto? I shouldn't have to deal with this kind of shit. We have to rescue Sasuke, that's what we should be focusing on, not how you feel about me."

"I just thought..." Naruto trailed off. He didn't expect Sakura to return his feelings, but he definitely didn't expect this type of reaction from her. He knew she was highly opinionated, and always liked her bit to be heard, but this was taking it too far.

"You just thought what Naruto? We are friends, don't you get that? I love you like a brother, not like the way I love Sasuke," she held her hand to her chest. "He will always have my heart Naruto... that's just how it is."

"Oh, right," he muttered to himself.

Sakura sighed a sigh of relief. "I knew you would understand."

Naruto couldn't bare to look at her. How could she just stand there and deny the fact that he had feelings for her? How could she sigh and act so relieved that he was forced into keeping his feelings to himself? Naruto thought that Sakura would at least understand that he had a right to express how he felt. He was wrong.

"You're not upset are you?"

"No," he stood up angrily. He didn't want to look at her, but she was right in front of him, he couldn't help it. Sakura looked happy, like she always did. How could I be so selfish? Naruto asked himself. Why should he tell her how he felt if it caused her so much distraught? He looked away, breaking her longing gaze. "not at all."

The truth was, Naruto was heart broken. It had been days since he had seen or even spoken to Sakura, but he still felt like their talk happened five minutes ago. He had never felt so lonely in all his life time. Even when he was a kid and had no one around him, he felt better then, rather than how he was feeling now. It was like someone had torn a whole part of his life away from him, ripped it out and left a huge hole.

Naruto kept walking through the village, avoiding eye contact with people he knew, as much as possible. The last thing he wanted was people trying to cheer him up.

"Is that Naruto?" he heard a lady whisper. "Why does he look so sad?"

That was another thing that was bothering him. Every person he walked past seemed to snicker a comment about him. Whether it be about why he seemed upset, or because people had heard about the heated conversation he had with Sakura. News spread fast in this village, and for once, Naruto didn't want any of it to be about him. Unfortunately he didn't have a choice.

He took a few more steps before stopping in the middle of the crowded path. He could still hear people talking about him, the brief conversation that only lasted five seconds before Naruto spotted who was talking about him. Mostly elderly folk. Typical, he thought. They were always the gossip of the village.

He looked to the sky, as if searching for some answers, but it held nothing. The clouds would just continue on their way, floating along like they had no care in the world. Naruto became angry. Why were the clouds allowed to have all the freedom they wanted, yet he wasn't even allowed to express how he feels? He felt his body tense all over, like a small electric charge had been sent through out his muscles. That's when he ran. Naruto didn't care where he was running to, as long as it was away from everyone. He needed peace, he needed time alone, he needed to get Sakura out of his system.

Meanwhile, while Sakura walked through the village doing her weekly shopping, she could hear people whispering as she walked by. Clasping her hand around her shopping back tighter, she tried to ignore all the strange looks she was getting.

"What's going on around here?" she mumbled to herself.

Amongst all the shoppers, Sakura over heard a lady talking to her friend. "There's that Naruto boy, I heard he's been very upset lately."

"Wonder why he's running away, thought he loved being the center of attention," her friend said.

As Sakura picked up an apple, her grip around the red fruit was so tight it crumbled in her hands. She just looked at it angrily as she continued to listen to the ladies conversation.

"Heard he had a falling out with one of his team mates."

"Oh, that pink haired thing?"

"Possibly. Personally I thought she was a bit of a snob."

Sakura threw her crumbled apple to the ground. "That snob is right here," she snapped. The two elderly ladies looked at her blankly as she sent them a death defying glare. Before they had the chance to say something back to her, she stormed off angrily, not paying for the apple.

Naruto hugged his knees tightly as he overlooked Konoha. He never thought he could feel pain like this, it was emotional torture. The love of his life loved him only like a brother, and refused to believe that he had feelings for her. He closed his eyes as he felt a small gust of wind blow by. It had a cooling affect on him, almost like the wind took all his negative feelings away.

"Naruto!"

His eyes shot open quickly. He hadn't heard that voice in a few days now, and it didn't sound like it was happy. He stood up and turned around as Sakura emerged from the trees. She was storming her way towards him, and he didn't like the look on her face. Naruto made no improvement to his mood, he just waited for her as he stood in place.

Sakura stood three feet away from him, a frown showing greatly in her features. "What the hell have you been doing?"

Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets and raised a small confused brow. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Sakura let out a sarcastic laugh. "You don't know? Yeah right Naruto, I'm the laughing stock of the whole village!" She pointed at him. "Just because I rejected you the other night, does not give you the right to spread horrible things about me. I've been confronted by so many people Naruto, why would you do that to me?"

Naruto gritted his teeth together. To think that Sakura would actually think he would spread things about her infuriated him. "Do you think I'm that immature to do something like that Sakura?" he yelled. "I would never tell anyone about our private conversations, they are ours. Whoever spread them, it wasn't me, I haven't done anything."

Sakura grabbed him by the arm. "Yes Naruto, as a matter of fact, I would think you would do something like this," she gripped his arm tighter. "You have always been jealous of Sasuke! Even now, when hes not around, you still mange to find some reason to make him look bad and make yourself look good."

He yanked his arm back. "Sasuke is gone Sakura! He left us! I have every reason to make him look bad! He left us behind, he left you behind."

Out of the blue, Sakura slammed her fist into Naruto's cheek. He grabbed his face and took a few steps back. It took him awhile to process what had just happened, but before he could say anything, Sakura came at him again. Naruto managed to dodge it this time, but she continued to attack. "Sakura stop!" he yelled as he dodged another one of her punches.

"No!" she yelled back, striking him in his side.

Naruto went flying into a tree fifty feet away, slamming into it with a huge crunch. He held onto his side tightly as pain began to soar throughout his body. He had forgotten how strong Sakura had become in the past few years he had been gone. He saw her running towards him at full pace, so Naruto got up quickly, just fast enough for Sakura's punch to miss him by inches. As her fist plowed into the tree he had just been flown into, it exploded into shards of bark. Naruto stood back, waiting for Sakura to attack him again, but nothing happened. As the bark and dust settled down, all Naruto saw was Sakura on her knees.

He wanted to comfort her, but what was he supposed to say? I know you weren't ACTUALLY trying to kill me just then, but are you ok? No, that wouldn't do it. Then he heard her sobbing. It was like Sakura's whole world had just fallen apart, and now was the only time she could truly get all her feelings out.

Naruto took a step forward. "S-Sakura?"

"Go away Naruto!" she yelled in painful sobs.

"But, you're crying..." He whispered.

"Just leave!"

Naruto didn't look back, he ran away from the situation as fast as he could.

By the time Naruto made it home, the sun was setting. He heard his tummy rumble as he fumbled for his key. "Where is it?" he groaned to himself.

After looking under every object that lay on his front porch, he twisted the door knob to realize that it was already unlocked. Naruto mentally sighed to himself, as he slipped his jacket off and closed the door behind him. In all his time he had known Sakura, he had never seen her sob as hard as he did today. It broke him to know that she was that angry at him, that he made her that upset. I don't deserve to be her friend, he thought to himself. Before he made his way up to his room, he noticed a small envelope sitting at the foot of the front door.

"I wonder who that's from?" he asked himself as he picked it up.

It was addressed to him, but as he looked on the back, it had no sender. He walked himself into the lounge, and still examined the envelope. It was unusual for Naruto to get letters, usually people would just tell him news, rather than write it to him in a letter. He sat himself down on the couch and carefully opened the letter. To his shock, it was from Temari.

Dear Naruto,

I know this is strange for me to be writing to you, but I thought you should know. Sakura and I have been writing to each other for awhile now, ever since the attack on Gaara. I have some letters here from her that were written to me, but I thought you should read them. If you don't, then maybe it will ruin your entire friendship. Anyway, good luck.

Temari.

Naruto pulled out the letters that Temari had sent through. They were small, but there was many of them. Why would Temari be sending on Sakura's private letters? He read the first letter, and was baffled.

Dear Temari,

I don't really know if you're one of the people I should be asking this, but because of your relationship with Shikamaru, I thought you might be a good candidate? It's about Sasuke and Naruto.

Sakura.

Why would Sakura need advice on things about him and Sasuke, Naruto wondered. He read through some more letters, they often involved content about Sasuke, which didn't surprise him. But as Naruto read on, the letters began to involve him, Sakura had begun to talk about Naruto and not Sasuke.

Naruto has grown so much, its strange to see him like this. I feel like a child next to him.

Naruto actually made me laugh today, I don't think he noticed though.

I went to Ichiraku Ramen with Naruto today, I offered to pay for him too.

Naruto looked at the letters, absolutely confused. It wasn't like they weren't friends, and of course it was normal for a friend to write so much about her friend... Wasn't it? He wondered why Sakura had stopped writing about Sasuke, after all, she had told him that Sasuke had her heart. Finally, Naruto came towards the last letter. He didn't know why Temari had sent all these, it didn't make any sense to him, until he read the final letter.

Dear Temari,

You give great advice, but I don't think I'm the type of person that could go through with those kind of actions. Sure I may act confident, but I'm not really when it comes to emotional things.

I did something stupid tonight. I told Naruto that Sasuke had my heart and always would. I saw the pain in his eyes. I don't know why I keep acting like this, I know I'm over Sasuke, but the thought of Naruto... I don't know what he does to me.

I don't think he will be talking to me for awhile. I miss him already.

Ugh, sorry for being such a bother Temari, I know you probably don't want to hear any of this.

Thanks anyway.

Sakura.

Naruto just looked at the letter. He couldn't fathom what he had just read. She said she missed him, but she only missed him as a friend... didn't she? He read the letter again, and again. He read it like the letter didn't exist, he wanted to be sure that what he was reading was true and not fake. It was Sakura's writing, Naruto would recognize it anywhere. Before he had a chance to read over the letter a tenth time, there was a knocking at the door. He looked over to the door and then quickly shoved the letters under the cushion.

The impatient visitor knocked on the door again. "I'm coming!" Naruto yelled frustratingly. He strolled over towards the door and opened it to his unexpected visitor. "Sakura?" He asked questioningly.

There was dirt marks all over her face, and her cheeks were red, signs from her teary outburst. She didn't look up at him, just continued to stare at the ground. Naruto moved aside, as an offer for Sakura to come in, but she shook her head. "I'm here to apologize," she mumbled.

"Sakura, you don't have-"

"Yes Naruto I do!" she snapped. Naruto respected her wishes, and let her continue. "I'm sorry, for blaming you. I'm sorry for... for not letting you explain your feelings the other day. I haven't been a good friend," She looked up at him, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "I'm not a good friend Naruto."

They looked at each other for what seemed like hours. Naruto desperately wanted to say something, but he didn't know what. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, tell her everything was ok, but he couldn't get a word out. Sakura smiled at him, it was a small smile, but a guilty one. She knew how Naruto had felt about her, for years now, but she didn't want to admit it. A small tear slid down her face. " I should go."

Naruto watched as Sakura walked off in such a hurry. Her pink hair bounced as she walked down the pathway. Naruto stood in the door way speechless. Sakura had just apologized then walked off like nothing had happened. He ran after her. "Sakura!" he yelled. It was so dark outside, he couldn't believe how dark it got so quickly. Naruto could barely make out Sakura's figure before him.

She stopped in her tracks, and waited as Naruto made his way up to her. He grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to face him. Both had confused looks on their faces, but Naruto knew this was his chance to tell her. He pulled her into a hug. Sakura whimpered, clinging onto his shirt and nuzzling her head into his neck. Naruto relaxed himself a little as he held her tightly. He was surprised at the grip Sakura had around him, he never it expected it to be so tight. He nuzzled himself near her ear. "I love you Sakura."

Sakura let out another whimper. "I know, Naruto... I know."

Naruto hugged her tighter, he felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. This was all he wanted to do, just tell her he loved her, whether she returned the feelings or not.

"Naruto," said said quietly as she pulled away from him. Naruto just looked at her, as she searched for something in his eyes. She placed her hand on his neck, tracing her thumb along his jawline. "Please, stay with me in this moment."

"I'll stay with you forever."

He closed his eyes quietly and held her tightly. This was what he wanted, just to express himself, and hope that Sakura would accept it. She did, she held onto him like he was her life, there was no way she was going to let another one of her friends run off. Sakura was going to make sure Naruto would stay, and if that meant she had to confess how she truly felt about him, she was going to do that.