Sorry about the crowded lines and long paragraphs. If I need to amend I'm more than happy to format. R & R!

Chapter 2

"Hy-ah!"

Sakura shouted into the orange sky as her fist dove into the earth beneath her sending waves of rock and dirt in various directions.

"Woah there Sakura-chan, that was close!"

The blonde kyuubi bearer known as Naruto Uzumaki shouted as he flipped through the air landing on the stable ledge a few feet above Sakura and her newly formed crater. Upon landing a grin appeared on his whiskered face and he folded his arms behind his head.

"Though, I'm still way faster than you Sakura-chan", Naruto teased as he let out a small chuckle.

Sakura looked up from the ground at Naruto standing and grinning above her, pulling her fist out of the dirt and patting it off with her other hand.

"You're lucky you have that cheap demon inside you." Sakura smiled and pushed her hair from her eyes to wipe her brow.

"Hey! That was all me that round. Believe it!" Naruto grinned as he gave his ridiculous thumbs up pose to Sakura.

"Whatever you say. Wanna buy me dinner then Mr. Big shot?"

Sakura leapt up onto the ledge beside Naruto and looked at him, gazing into his blue orbs with her best pouting expression she could muster. Naruto could never resist his best friend's requests when they certainly tied into his adoration for ramen.

"Only if you can beat me to Ichiraku's?"

Before Naruto could hear the pink haired ninja's reply she vanished in a gust of wind past him. Naruto opened his eyes stunned momentarily before he launched himself after her cursing all the way.

"Hah! I win!", said a very happy and grinning Sakura standing in front of a small ramen stand.

"Yea, yea. You got a head start and I'll buy now let's eat I'm starving!"

Naruto muttered his words without a breath or pause pushing the small curtains aside and sitting on a stool. Before speaking a bowl of ramen was placed before him causing Naruto to look up quizzically.

"Trust me kid, you been coming here enough to know" The older male chef smiled and nodded at Naruto.

"Ah! You're the best old man!"

Sakura smiled and ordered her own ramen, a little annoyed that she didn't get her own special bowl, though she didn't expect it. After all it was Naruto who came here every day practically, not her. Sakura shook her head at the sight of Naruto eating and soon began eating her very own bowl.

After some time of goofing off and eating multiple bowls of greasy noodles, Sakura and Naruto decided it was time to call it a night. It was after dark after all, and Tsunade had given word that Sakura be in the Hokage's office at dawn.

"It was fun Naruto, thanks for the ramen too. Again next week I suppose"

Sakura had to admit, Naruto was probably her best friend in the entire village. Even compared with Ino, Naruto outshined in way only family could. Naruto was truly her brother, who she even admired and had looked up to, to become as strong as she was now. Even with the Kyuubi, Naruto was someone Sakura couldn't help but want to be like. Strangely influential, ridiculously powerful, and still a heartfelt idiot. Everything Sasuke wasn't.

"Sure Sakura! Next time you'll be the one buyin'! Believe it!"

Naruto gave Sakura a quick hug and then took his leave in a poof of smoke away from his favorite little ramen stand. Sakura sighed contently into the evening wind enjoying her newfound place in Konoha as head medic ninja, and family with what was probably some of the most powerful shinobi in all the villages. Letting out a yawn, Sakura realized her appointment in the morning and decided it was time to call it in also. With her wishes to Ichiraku and a tip to hope he would soon remember her, Sakura strolled through Konoha to her small home located a short distance from the hospital. Her apartment was rather small and unkept,but as the primary medic of the village next to Tsunade, she never liked going too far from the hospital.

Sakura reached her small enclosure and entered into it, sealing the door behind her with a quick click of a lock. She made her way past her bed and into a room adjacent to the kitchen to the right of the door. Her home was only one large room, with a small kitchen that was separate from her bedroom via a bar with three stools. Sakura's bed was small and round, she wasn't fond of rectangle frames, for more of an OCD reason than any. Past her bed was a closet than was quite frankly the largest part of the house it seemed. Worked great with Sakura's entire wardrobe of three outfits, one of which no longer fit. Next to her closet was a door that led into a small bathroom. Quaint, but home to her. Sakura tossed off her clothing and proceeded into her bathroom. A large mirror was to the left of the entrance that covered the counter on the left side of the room. A small shower and a toilet in a corner were on the right. Sakura let her eyes roam her body in the mirror while the water heated up, eyes catching several scars on her flesh from battles in the past. She treasured her scars, as a testament to her strength in combat, from Sasori to Sasuke, to Naruto even. Sakura had fought the best of the ninja world and lived to tell the tale. Sakura stepped into the hot water closing the small curtain as much as it would close, letting herself fade away into her mind as she relaxed into the bath.