Hethra: Hey everyone! In keeping with my promise that I'm going to start writing more, here's another Naruto fic. The plan with this one is to write a nice, short, sweet story, over and done with in a reasonable, short amount of time. I tried it with my last Naruto fic, and it turned out a lot longer than I had anticipated... I think I've got that condition... the one Stephen King has... where you just can't help but write more and more words, until you've got some kind of monster (pardon the pun) on your hands... I'ma try and keep this short, but I make no promises.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Naruto. I wish I did, but I don't. The End.

Warm Nights and Memories

Haruno Sakura was tired. She had spent the entire day with Tsunade-sama, and although she loved her mentor to death, almost like a second mother, she still just couldn't keep up with the old lady. The Godaime had an endless supply of energy, and Sakura had begun to suspect that if the woman didn't drink or gamble, she would probably explode, and take out most of Konoha with her. That day alone, Tsunade had started her off with a bit of advanced medical ninjutsu, then a three hour meditation session (which was a lot more draining than it had sounded at the time, though she was focusing chakra the whole three hours) and then the Hokage had given her a five foot long scroll of errands to run, which had taken Sakura the rest of the day to complete. By the time she made it home for the evening, she was feeling muscles she hadn't even known existed, which was saying a lot, considering she was a med-nin.

Now, at home, relaxing in her fluffy pink slippers, with her (pink) bathrobe drawn around her slender frame, Sakura could think of nothing aside from the bath she was about to enjoy, relaxing and reading a good book... maybe eating from that box of chocolates her mother had just given her for Easter... and then slipping into bed to sleep the night away... and most of the following morning as well. After all, weekends were to be enjoyed.

Just as she was about to turn on the tap in the bathroom, something distracted her. She stopped, mid-bend, and turned her head to listen. She thought she had just heard the strangest sound... a tiny *plink* coming from somewhere outside the bathroom. She stood and waited in silence. After a few seconds, it repeated itself. This time, she was sure that it had come from her bedroom. Curiosity getting the better of her, thoughts of the warm bath temporarily, temporarily, driven from her mind, she thought it best to investigate. There was no force on earth that would keep her from her bath for long though. The whole of Akatsuki could be waiting to ambush her, and she would still be having her bath. She was a force of nature, Haruno Sakura was, especially if someone got between her and something she wanted. Naruto knew all about that, first hand.

Speaking of Naruto, she hadn't seen the blond ninja at all that day... which wasn't entirely surprising, considering the sheer amount of everything she had been doing that day. But while running her errands, she had bumped into quite a few of her friends and co-workers. Kakashi-sensei, Yamato-taichou, Ino-pig, Iruka-sensei, Kiba, Shino, and even Shikamaru had spoken with her as long as they'd been able, or at least until Sakura had to be on her way. But Naruto had been nowhere to be seen. It was odd, usually her team-mate found her at least once during the day, dragging her with him to Ichiraku, or just sort of following her around for a bit. And though she would never admit it to anyone, most times she didn't mind Naruto... in fact, if hard pressed for it, though she would still never admit it, she enjoyed being around Naruto. She didn't know when it had happened, but gradually, very gradually, he had stopped being the annoying boy he had once been, and had grown into a... less annoying teen. Well, no, she thought, that wasn't really fair. Naruto had grown into something surprising... he was taller than her, which had been surprising... he was better at jutsu than her, which was also surprising. He had matured a bit (also surprising, a lot) and... maybe most surprising of all was that he hadn't left her behind... even though he had been gone for two and a half years, the moment she saw him again, it was like old times. He was there for her again, right off the bat, and she felt...

Well, the one thing she definitely felt was the strange heat that crept across her cheeks. Was she blushing? At the thought of Naruto? It had been a really long day. She shook her head to clear the thoughts of Naruto, and was surprised when his smile stuck fast in her mind. It was strange... and she'd have to think about it. After she found the source of the strange noise, and after her bath. She had worked too hard that day to be denied her bath. She pitied the source of the noise. If it was alive now, it wouldn't be much longer.

She entered her bedroom as another *plink* sounded... from her window? She crossed the room and looked out. It was a clear, starry night, and a full moon illuminated the town, bathed it in a loving glow. It seemed peaceful out there... no wind to blow anything into her window... no trees near the window to rap against the glass... which left... the ground. Her eyes drifted down to the grass and there, standing next to a tiny pile of pebbles was the elusive Naruto. What shocked Sakura most was what Naruto was holding in the hand he wasn't using to throw the pebbles at her window.

Another pebble bounced off the glass in front of her nose. She pulled the window open and leaned out.

"Naruto! You're supposed to stop throwing the stones when the person is at the window!" Naruto gave her a sheepish smile.

"Really? I didn't know that. I stopped paying attention to the movie when I understood the point of throwing them... I didn't watch it long enough to see if he kept throwing them..." Sakura sighed, and smiled in spite of herself.

"Stupid Naruto." She mumbled to herself, soft enough so Naruto wouldn't hear her. Once again, however, curiosity overcame her better judgement. As she spoke, she could hear her inner self screaming at her about the bath they were supposed to be taking right now. Forget Naruto, it said, there's a bathtub in there! Sakura decided to ignore it for the moment. Darn her curiosity.

"Naruto... um... why do you have a guitar?" Naruto looked puzzled for a moment, then remembered the instrument he was holding in his hand. He lifted it and shook it gently above his head.

"Yeah! It's a guitar!" Sakura stared at him.

"I know it's a guitar. I'm asking you why you have it? I didn't know you played guitar..." He had never mentioned it to her, or to anyone as far as she knew. No one else had told her he played. Maybe he had picked it up during his training session with Jiraiya.

"I just got it today!" Naruto beamed. "I was talking to Sai, and he said that he read in a book that girls like guys with guitars, so I went and got one to show you!" Sakura smiled in spite of herself, and shook her head. She knew what was coming.

"Naruto..." she trailed off. He looked up at her, excitement written as plain as day on his face. Even as a teenager, almost seventeen years old, he still acted like a child.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan?" Sakura wondered why her heart gave a little flutter at the old endearment.

"Do you even know how to play guitar?" Naruto stared at her, smile frozen in place. She watched, a little embarrassed (for him, that is) as the smile started to slowly slide off his face, as if it was seeking a place to hide from the dawning realisation. Naruto's face fell into puzzlement, and then horror.

"P-play... play the guitar... Sakura-chan?" She sighed.

"Yes, Naruto. Do you even know how to play the guitar?" She suspected the answer was no. Naruto stammered for a few seconds, then his head hung in defeat.

"No, Sakura-chan... I'm sorry. I don't." Sakura had suspected right. In Naruto's endless ambition to impress her, he had heard a story about something that impressed girls, and had rushed off without hearing it through.

"Naruto," Sakura said, pulling the robe tighter around herself. It was chilly out. "Naruto, when it said girls were impressed by boys with guitars, it meant that we're impressed by boys who play the guitar." Naruto stared at her for a few seconds, then that idiot's grin – that cute idiot's grin, she found herself thinking – broke its way back onto his face.

"Ok! Then I'll learn how to play and come back and impress you!" Sakura groaned.

"Naruto, you know it'll take you months, or even years to learn how to play, right?" she was surprised when Naruto flashed her the strangest grin she had ever seen on his face. It was like he was in on some little secret that she had no clue about. It made her curious – damn her curiosity – and she was suddenly wishing that she could have read his mind to figure out what he was planning.

"Just you wait! I'll learn to play, and then I'll really impress you!" Naruto smiled, an turned to leave, but stopped and turned back to face her. He seemed embarrassed. "Hey, Sakura-chan?"

"Yes, Naruto?" she wondered at what he was up to. He was rubbing the back of his neck and smiling – damn that smile! – at her.

"Can you just pretend that tonight... never happened? I mean... forget that I came here? With the guitar?" She wasn't sure she would be able to, but she nodded anyway, just for him. He smiled again.

"Great! Thanks Sakura-chan, you're the best!"

And with that Naruto was gone, off down the street like his heels were on fire. Sakura was thankful. If he had stayed around much longer after his last words to her, he would definitely have noticed the blush that spread across her face like a wildfire. Damn that full moon. Sakura closed the window and went back to the bathroom. The image of Naruto with his guitar, and his last words to her still running about in her head. She smiled to herself as she sat at the edge of the tub and turned the tap, waiting for the gush of hot water to start slowly filling the tub.

When the faucet coughed, made a little wheezing noise, and then refused to spit out any water at all, she cursed so loudly that she was almost sure that Naruto would have wet himself in fear if he had been close enough to hear her.

The following night, Haruno Sakura was in a piss-poor mood. Her day hadn't gone anywhere near the way she had planned it. It turned out that the pipes had broken the previous night, probably sometime during Naruto's visit. If she had ignored him, then she would have been able to have her bath, he would have been gone when she was done, and her night would have gone perfectly. She would have slept in until lunch time, relaxed with her book, and it would have been a great day.

It had not gone according to plan, she had not been relaxed, and the plumbers had been in her house all day fixing the pipes. By the time they left it was after supper, and she was miserable. The plumbers had given her some good news though. They said the pipes were fine now, and that she could have her bath. Finally. She was looking forward to it now, and dammit, there wasn't anything that was going to stop her tonight. Yes, she thought, tonight was going to be her relaxing night. Nothing was going to keep her from her bath. She had even drawn the shades on her window in the off chance a certain loud-mouthed ninja happened by again, to make it seem like she wasn't home. This time her plan was perfect.

Then it happened. She was sitting on the edge of the bathtub when she heard a small *plink* echo from her room. She groaned aloud, and began to rise before stopping. Naruto couldn't have learned how to play the guitar so quickly, so he was probably just back to bother her. Sakura decided she would ignore the blonde until he went away. She could then explain to him the next day (or whenever she next saw him) that she hadn't heard the pebbles. She had already begun her bath. She smiled and turned the tap. The warm water poured out of the faucet, and drowned out the noise of the pebbles on her window. Naruto would exhaust his supply, then go on his way, and she would get the relaxing night she deserved.

Just as she was about to take off her robe and slip into the warm water, her plan was again interrupted. For a moment, she stood horrified, sure that she hadn't heard what she thought she had. Then, she heard it again.

"Sakura-chan! Hey, Sakura-chan!"

Dear lord, he was calling for her now! He had probably run out of rocks, but instead of quitting, he was calling for her. Sakura's face darkened into a scowl, and she grabbed a bar of soap of the counter beside her. She was going to give Naruto a piece of her mind. She was going to beat him senseless, heal him and then beat him again! He really was the most determined ninja in all of Konoha. He was also totally clueless! Would Shikamaru have interrupted Ino's bath time? No chance in hell. He was too afraid of her, but he also knew when to let her have her own time. Naruto, it appeared, had no such tact. Ok then, Sakura decided, I'll teach him tact. Clutching the soap tightly in her hand, she walked to the window, and threw the shades aside and opened it in one swift movement. Her arm reared back over her head, soap clenched tightly in fist, and was about to hurl it at near light-speed at a certain ninja's head, when she stopped. Stopped dead.

All of a sudden, the most beautiful melody reached her ears. Soft, delicate notes danced through the air, enticing and mysterious. She looked down, and there was Naruto, guitar in hand, playing. He was the source of the melody. She recognized it too. It reminded her of her childhood, when her mother would sing her to sleep. The song that she loved most was a song that her mother had learned from her own mother, and had apparently been passed down for as long as anyone in her family could remember. The song he was playing wasn't exactly the same, but the chords were there, the melody all but apparent. If her mother had been there singing to her right then, the sound of the guitar and her mother's voice would have melded perfectly, the song complete.

"...suitcase of memories, time after sometime..."

The song was so familiar, she could almost hear the lyrics... wait... she was hearing the lyrics. But from where? Naruto didn't sing... Sakura did a double take as, sure enough, the most unpredictable ninja in Konoha, hell, in the world was now playing and singing her favourite childhood song on her lawn. His voice wasn't perfect, but the memory of her mother's voice supported the points in Naruto's song where his voice just didn't want to co-operate with him. Sakura didn't really know what to do. She stood stunned as he played and sang. The song was beautiful, and he was doing so well. She felt a tear run down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away, knowing if she didn't then Naruto would stop, and worry about her instead of the music. She didn't want him to stop now... hell, she didn't want him to stop ever. With every line, it seemed his voice was getting better and better, and his playing became more and more confident. It was amazing to watch.

She didn't know when he stopped, she knew he played the whole thing through, but she was so entranced that she didn't realise it had ended. She stared at him in a strange new light. She could see the old Naruto, her childhood friend and comrade, the bumbling idiot and determined Hokage-to-be... but superimposed over that she saw this new Naruto, more mature, more able, more surprising. And she realised that she had somehow, somewhere along the way, come to value him more than any other person she knew. It scared her a bit, sure. It was a big change. But it felt so... good. Like it had only been a matter of time. And besides, it wasn't everyday you found a boy like Uzumaki Naruto, that was for sure. Naruto smiled up at her from his spot on the lawn.

"So, Sakura-chan, what do you think? Impressed?" Sakura just smiled at him, a soft, beautiful smile that Uzumaki Naruto would remember to the end of his days.

"Play it again for me Naruto, please." Naruto flushed bright red, but bent his head and in a matter of seconds the chords were drifting on the still night air to Sakura's windowsill.

"Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick, and I think of you..."

So, Haruno Sakura's weekend so far hadn't gone any way she had expected it to, and yet, in spite of it all, she was glad. She hadn't gotten into her book, she hadn't slept in until lunch, and she definitely did not have her bath. But compared to watching and listening to Naruto play guitar to her from her front lawn...?

Her bath could wait.

Hethra: Alright. That turned out a lot longer than I thought it would. But I'm not going to ruin it by putting a lot down here. I really enjoyed writing it. I hope you enjoy reading it. Let me know what you think. See you all later.

The Unknown Warrior