The Beginning of the End: Chapter 1

It was the middle of the night. My head throbbed, my muscles ached, and I was having a hard time going to sleep. I reached over to the bedside table and my hand found the bottle of liquor sitting there, waiting for me, and calling my name.

"You'll kill yourself if you keep this up."

Naruto.

"When did you get here?"

"I've been standing here for the last 2 minutes."

I nodded, and turned my head away from him as I turned the bottle up. Before I could even get a good sip of it, the bottle was thrown from my hands and across the room. I looked over at Naruto, a glare in my eyes, to see his face contorted in fury.

"You think you're the only one hurt? Huh? You don't think this affects me like it does you? I sit up every night wondering what I did wrong… I hate that he is gone, Sakura. But you don't see me wasting myself away in my house all day, or at bars, getting myself so drunk to the point that I can't even see straight."

I just stared at him. Ever since Sasuke left, I'd pushed all of my friends away. I picked up drinking; from Tsunade-shishou of course. If I wasn't on a mission, I was at a bar. If I wasn't at a bar, I was at the liquor store picking up more alcohol to bring home with me. It numbed the pain. Feeling numb was a lot better than dealing with the constant heart break, shattering my already broken world into tinnier pieces.

Ino quit talking to me after I got so drunk one night I called her a two-timing whore. TenTen quit talking to me after I borrowed money from her for groceries, and spent it on alcohol. Shikamaru was with Ino, so naturally he quit talking to me as well. Same goes for Lee. Naruto was the only one that stuck by me. Through it all, he has been the one to pick me up off the ground when I was too weak even to crawl.

"Leave me alone," I spat. "You think you're any better than me? I know that you spend your days slaving away, training to become stronger. That's all you think about. 'Gotta get stronger.' 'Gotta bring Sasuke back.' Psh, don't come to me with that you're-throwing-your-life-away bullshit. You're just as bad."

I could tell my words had hurt him. Ah well, everyone else left me. He might as well, too. Besides, I was drunk.

"You're just drunk," Naruto whispered as if he had read my thoughts. The angered that showed clearly on his face was erased. In it's place was concern.

"Drunken minds speak a sober man's words."

Two seconds later, I heard my door slam shut.

"Finally. Some fucking peace.

The Next Day

Waking up with a hang over, to say the least, sucked ass. If my head was hurting last night, it was doubled this morning. Without even opening my eyes, I made my way to the bathroom, took a shower, and got dressed.

I was desperately late, so I decided to run to the hospital. Not a good idea. With every move I made, my head pounded a little harder. Eventually, though, I made it to my destination. Unfortunately for me, Tsunade was standing at the front desk, awaiting my arrival.

"Sakura, I need to see you in my office. Now."

Uh-oh. I'm in trouble. "Yes, Tsunade-shihsou."

I followed her to her office, a room I was quite familiar with, and plopped down on my favorite couch.

"Sakura, I need to talk to you about something."

Tsunade's eyes looked away from mine, and out the window. I knew this was not a good sign. When I didn't say anything, she went on.

"Naruto came an visited me last night. Late last night."

My whole body tensed up, and I already knew where this conversation was going. Still, I stayed silent.

"He has brought to my attention that your 'occasional drink' has turned into a problem. You're drinking too much, Sakura. I hate seeing you like this. So, as punishment, I'm suspending your medical duties until further notice. I want to see improvement. You are forbidden to drink any kind of alcoholic beverage. I've assigned someone to watch over you. I believe you've been on a couple of missions with him. Naruto insisted I let him do it, but I don't think that is for the best. So, you will be staying in the Hyuga Mansion, under the surveillance of Neji Hyuga. The arrangements have been made, earlier this morning. You are to meet him at 5 p.m. sharp at Ichiraku Ramen."

Silence, from my end. Questioning look, from my mentor. Then, the anger came, boiling to the top of my chest in a flash. This absolutely cannot be happening. How dare she! For an instant, I wanted to strangle her. Then the words were out of my mouth before I even hand the chance to censor them.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."