DISCLAIMER: No matter how much I want it, I do not own Naruto. I am still only borrowing the characters and promise to return them in good condition – well, maybe slightly battered!

*Inspiration of this story is based around another called wallbanger.

Chapter One:
It was just a dream

Our little victories and desires won't live on
Let shadows die
So I can feel alive
~Black Veil Brides~

Sakura sat straight up in bed, soaked in perspiration, gasping for breath, clawing at the unrelenting blackness before she fully awoke and switched on the lamp beside her bed and sent shadows chasing around the room.

She was alone.

She shoved the blanket off herself and scrambled out of bed in instinctual self-preservation. With a hammering heart, she stumbled to the center of the room and stood there, shaking in fear and confusion.

The cool night air pebbled her flesh. Something felt wrong. She caught a faint scent of oil-rubbed leather armor and the coppery tang of blood…two smells that did not belong in her cozy little bedroom. She inhaled deeply, but the odors evaporated even as she tried to identify the source.

It was just a figment of her imagination; just as it had been since the Forth Shinobi war ended and she had come home.

They were always the same. She dreamed of a Madara Uchiha winning the war and enslaving the world in his Eye of the Moon plan. It shouldn't have scared her, it was all over… they won. But in her dreams they lost; Konoha was destroyed and everyone she cared for died.

Understandably, the dream always left her feeling tense and foolish at the same time.

Sakura walked to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water. She returned to her bed, sat on the edge, and drank deeply before setting the glass down on the table and slipped under the covers once more. After a brief hesitation she switched off the lamp and looked out the window apprehensively.

Outside, in the predawn stillness, a chill wind stripped dead leaves from a nearby mulberry tree and blew them against her window, startling her. The dry brittle sound somehow seemed ominous to her.

The crisp brown leaves spun against the glass, and for a moment, she half thought were going to form into a monstrous face. Instead, the capricious wind suddenly carried them up and out of sight into the dark sky.

"Calm down, Sakura Haruno," she told herself with a self-depreciating laugh, "You're being ridiculous." She closed her eyes and was right about to fall back to sleep when she heard it.

Thump

"Oh god!"

Thump, thump

"Oh god!"

Sakura found herself looking around her bedroom in bafflement for a little while before she finally figured out what exactly she was hearing. She glared at the thin wall separating her and the next door neighbor. Sakura snatched up her pillow; somehow resisting the urge to scream into it, and punched it a few times more than necessary to fluff it. As she lay back down she felt movement. Her bed moved..

"Are you kidding me?!"

Sakura glared at the wall again. This was the third time this month she'd had to put up with his nighttime activities. It was getting to be too much. She either woke up in the middle of the night from nightmares or to… that.

She cocked her head to hear if it was going to continue, but it seemed that they were finished. The rumbling purr of Ino's cat, Hachiko lulled her and she began to drift back to sleep. That's when everything went out of control.

"Yes! Yes! Oh my God…Oh, God!"

Just above her headboard was a shelf that she had hung the other day. She had been so proud of herself for hanging it straight. The pictures that lined it began to rattle and then wobble which unfortunately, she didn't see. One of the pictures - a new team photo, was knocked down and smacked her right on the head. Sakura growled as she threw it across the room. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists in fury.

Sakura ran her fingers over her scalp - figuring for sure that she received a contusion or a knot. Although there was nothing she cursed long and loud. She muttered quite a few choice suggestions of what her next door neighbor could do to himself until she was fairly certain Hachiko was blushing.

It was like riding a boat on the choppy sea. Her headboard was actually hitting the wall as the unrelenting disturbance continued on.

"Mmm…yes, baby, yes, yes, yes!" the female's voice repeated…and ended with a loud scream.

Then she heard, what the hell was that? Spanking? Yes, it was spanking. There was no way it could be anything else, and someone was really getting one in the next apartment.

"Oh, God. Yes. I've been a naughty girl. Spank me harder! Yes, yes!"

Sakura looked at the wall in disgust as the sounds continued until she finally heard the unmistakable sound of him, moaning and groaning.

Sakura jerked out of the bed and shoved it a few inches away from the wall, and grumpily threw herself back under the blanket, muttering fiercely and staring at the wall the entire time. She didn't think she would ever get back to sleep after all that, but finally she did. The last thought in her mind was that she would kill them both if she heard one more sound.

~~O~~

Morning sun peeked through the curtains, striping the sheets and blankets with shadow and golden light. Vibrant pink hair lay softly spread out on the pillow. Jade eyes slowly blinked open.

Although months had passed since the end of the Fourth Shinobi War, Sakura still found herself surprised to wake up in a soft comfortable bed at home in Konohagakure. Rubbing her hands tiredly over her face, she groggily glanced at the alarm clock. Six AM.

"Damn," she thought as she struggled to form a coherent thought. Although happy to be up before her roommate and getting first shot at the shower, Sakura was exhausted. She glared at the wall separating her and the man next door.

Feeling slightly refreshed after her shower, Sakura headed towards the kitchen to get some caffeine and food – and in that order. She was slightly surprised to see her mug on the countertop, steaming with her favorite blend of tea. She didn't think Ino was even out of bed yet.

"You're a life saver, Ino," she thought as she drank deeply. She ate a quick breakfast and then, hearing the shower start up, refilled her mug and shouted, "See you later, Pig!"

As Sakura locked the front door, she couldn't help but notice the red sash tied to the door of the apartment next to hers. She mentally rolled her eyes and squashed the pang of jealousy. She didn't have to guess who got locked out this time. With Naruto's room right next hers, she knew just who had company… and all night long!

"Lady, yeah right," she thought with a humph, "Lady of the evening, more like!"

Her best friend lived there.

Before the war, he asked her out all the time, but she hadn't been ready to date and then the war started. The war that changed everything… It changed the landscape. It changed enemies into comrades. It changed the hearts and minds of nearly every shinobi in each nation. It changed a girl into a woman…

Now she fully understood the fragility of life and regretted so many decisions such as her prior obsession with Sasuke and her dismissal of Naruto. It was too late; he had moved on. Sakura had seen him in the village with other women and it hurt. She couldn't say anything though because she passed by so many opportunities to be with him. She would have to just accept the fact that they were friends only and nothing more. Still, she thought with a twinge of discomfort, it bothered her.

She couldn't put her finger on the moment when her view of him had changed, but it did all the same. It wasn't until much later that she remembered the first person she cried out for on the day of Pain's attack on Konoha… Naruto. She still loved Sasuke and always would, but only as a friend and teammate.

Now he was back home, living with Naruto and Sai as part of his conditioned 'parole'… Well, that and the fact that there weren't a whole lot of places to live. The village was still in the process of rebuilding and many were sharing accommodations until more apartments could be built. Sasuke wasn't exactly happy about it, but they all were learning to live together without killing each other.

She was so happy to have her whole team together again even she no longer went on missions with them. She was needed too badly at the hospital right now. Not only the regular shinobi, but many of the medics died in the war as well and the hospital was in dire straits without them.

Sakura glared at the red sash one last time before making up her mind. She marched over to the apartment and; holding herself back from destroying it, banged on the door.

AN:

Well, I haven't neglected the rest of my other story - Stronger. I am waiting on my beta to finish giving it a once over. I have been toying with the idea of writing a romance for quite a while and there just aren't enough Sakura/Naruto fics out there. To all the people out there who have read my other work - I know that I typically write longer chapters, but expect this story to be about this size for each one. Hopefully you enjoy it!

Ja Ne,

AZFAERYDUST