Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Hmmm, Okay, I know my points are a little weak, but I believe that they are explained better as the story goes on. I think I will have about 8 chapters. Just a guess. I'm currently writing 5 and proof reading 3 and 4. I went a little overboard with the writing XD

Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 2: Their Feelings

Sakura rubbed her temples in irritation. Her shift at the hospital still wouldn't be over for a few hours. Yet these would be the longest few hours of her life. She sighed, and began her trip to her next patient's room.

This had been what her duties were like all week. The war had given them many injured. Of course they were better off than those who died, but still, some were likely to disagree with the injuries they had. All week, the hospital staff had been working overtime, pulling almost double the amount of shifts they would normally be required to do. They were lucky in a way that Tsunade had increased the amount of medical staff since she became Hokage. If not, Sakura was sure that most of the hospital staff would have become patients from chakra exhaustion.

Secretly, Sakura was glad for the distraction. It had been a week since her little night out with Naruto. And she hadn't talked to him at all. He had come by that day after Ino had shown up, but Sakura had pretended not to be home. Then she had been pulled into hospital duty, pretty much making her days full of eating, sleeping and working. Hell, she didn't even go home most days, sleeping in her office along with some other staff members who were just too exhausted to move.

She felt a little bad for Naruto. But the fact was, she wasn't ready to face him yet. She couldn't do it until she sorted out her feelings. She knew that Naruto was special to her; she just wasn't sure how special. Did he cross that line that separated a friend from something more?

Sakura bit her lip. She shouldn't be having these thoughts at the hospital. These distractions wouldn't do her any good if they caused her to mess up someone's treatment. So, she pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, willing them to stay there for the next few hours.

Shikamaru walked up to his favourite cloud watching spot. He had just delivered his report to the Hokage regarding any actions he took as the 4th Division commander during the war in Gaara's absence, and he had decided that he needed a break.

When he arrived there, however, he found Naruto, gazing up at the clouds. Shikamaru frowned. Naruto doing something that requires little to no energy was always a bad sign. Sighing, he laid down next the blonde. Naruto nodded at his arrival.

After sitting in silence for a while, Shikamaru couldn't take it anymore. Seeing Naruto not say anything, not even trying to go get his 10th Ramen bowl of the day, was just plain weird. And the sooner he fixed this, the sooner Shikamaru could feel at ease.

"Naruto, what happened?"

Naruto blinked up at the clouds. "Nothing"

Shikamaru snorted. "Troublesome idiot. Don't act like nothing is up. You're not even putting on a face like you usually do"

Naruto sighed. Okay, now Shikamaru was really worried. Putting his genius mind to work, he quickly went over the list of things that could depress Naruto to this extent. The list was very short.

"It's Sakura isn't it?"

Naruto turned his head to look at him, before turning back and chuckling softly.

"Yeah…"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

Naruto sighed again. "I slept with Sakura-chan"

Shikamaru shot up from his spot immediately. He gaped down at Naruto, who just watched the clouds roll by.

After finally regaining his composure, he shook his head. "So? You were always in love with her. Why is this a bad thing?"

Naruto shook his head. "Mmm, but I don't know if that night meant anything to her. She wasn't there when I woke up. Plus, she never said she loved me or anything. Nothing about what would happen afterwards. We just kind of…"

Shikamaru rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "You two are the most troublesome people I've ever met"

Naruto glared at him this time. "Hey, this is a big deal for me!"

Shikamaru answered him with a glare of his own. "Well duh! That was obvious. What I'm saying is, why don't you go ask her then?"

Naruto sighed, returning his gaze to the clouds. "I was going to. I went to her house the morning after, but she wasn't there. And now, she's been stuck at the hospital, treating the wounded. But even if she wasn't busy, I'm a little afraid of what her answer would be"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. He got up, deciding to do his cloud watching somewhere else. Before walking away, he quickly said, "You know, Sakura isn't one to do something without putting some thought into it. You should have some faith in her, whether or not she was a little intoxicated at the time"

Sakura awoke the next morning feeling very warm. She quickly kicked of the blankets that covered her, unable to take the heat much longer. Shrugging it off, she got up and looked out her window. It was only about 7 in the morning. Luckily for her, Tsunade had given her the day off, to give her a chance to rest.

Sakura got dressed quickly and headed out. She didn't want to be in her apartment in case Naruto came by. She wasn't ready to face him yet.

Unfortunately, fate just wasn't on her side today. As she passed by Ichiraku's, she caught sight of blonde hair through the blinds. It seems he had just finished an early morning meal and was now leaving. Sakura bolted. She jumped up the nearest building, running over the roof and jumping the next one, before dropping to street level to see if he had followed her.

He hadn't. Good. She wasn't ready to talk to him yet. As she walked, she began thinking about Naruto and her. How did she feel?

Sakura only had one thing to compare this to, and that was her feelings for Sasuke. But the significance of that situation and this didn't even compare. For Sasuke, she openly tried to win his affection, getting shot down every time. With Naruto, she always had his attention, and his acceptance. This felt much deeper, more profound than what she felt for Sasuke. Years of time to think about her situation back then had shown her exactly how shallow she had been. Sure, near the end, her affection had taken on something that was close to love, although it had been cruelly torn apart and cast aside. Naruto, on the other hand, had always been there for her. Sure, she found his attempts to ask her out all the time for ramen annoying, but it wasn't like she outright hated the attention he gave her. In fact she had actually thought about agreeing a couple of times, it was just that she didn't want to eat ramen.

Sakura sighed, annoyed. Maybe destroying something would help her clear her mind. She decided to head to a training ground, one that Naruto wasn't usually on.

Sakura was so lost in thought that she walked straight into Shikamaru, who stumbled back a bit. "Ow, what the hell? Sakura?"

Sakura looked at him, dazed. "Shikamaru? I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going"

Shikamaru shrugged. Then he remembered his conversation with Naruto the day before. Deciding to help but still stay out of it, Shikamaru decided to intervene indirectly. "Hey, Naruto was looking really out of it lately? As far as I know, you're the only one who can get him like that. Any idea what's up?"

Sakura looked at him, unsure of what to say. "No I have no idea"

Suddenly, she reviewed his words in her mind. "Wait, what do you mean I'm-"

Shikamaru put up a hand to stop her. "You really don't know? God, this is too troublesome. Sakura, Naruto would do anything to make you happy. Hell, if you asked, he would probably run around the village naked, screaming about youth" he paused to shudder at the unwelcome mental images he had created. "Basically, when you're unhappy, he's unhappy. You're happy, he's happy. That's the way it works"

Sakura just stared at him, unable to form words.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Well, you two should really talk. I mean, it's obvious you two have a stronger bond than anyone I know"

With that, Shikamaru began to walk away. As he walked, he glimpsed over his shoulder to see Sakura, gazing at the ground in thought. He smirked. 'Good. Maybe that will get those two to do something. The rest of us are tired of watching them do nothing'

Meanwhile, Sakura's mind was in turmoil. Shikamaru's words had affected her greatly and she was quickly going over every memory of her and Naruto.

He was right of course. Naruto had always just tried to make Sakura happy. Unfortunately, instead of cheering Sakura up, it just filled her with guilt at how she had treated her teammate so poorly before his promise to get Sasuke for her. On top of that, Naruto would always risk life and limb for her, and would put himself in danger without a second's hesitation to keep her safe. This information just made her feel horrible. Then she remembered the information Sai had given her before they had gone to the Land of Iron to find Naruto and to kill Sasuke. The confession. She only realized now how cruel that confession could have been. Even if she hadn't meant to hurt him, she had twisted his feelings, tried to use them. She felt tears fall begin to form in her eyes. She felt at that moment that she didn't deserve Naruto, no matter what her feelings were.

But what were her feelings? She thought about it for a while. No matter what memory of him she came up with, she always ended up smiling. Then she thought of him the night they had slept with him. Sakura knew that she had not just done that on a whim. She wasn't like that. For her to do that, she would need to have some reason, something real, to do that. And it was painfully obvious now that, for her, that blonde knucklehead was exactly that, someone special. She loved him, it couldn't be denied now.

Now, though, she was worried. She was definitely in love with that orange loving baka. But did she deserve his love? The answer to that was no, in her mind. She couldn't see where she had earned it.

She started walking. She wasn't sure where she was going, she didn't care. She only felt regret at the pain she had caused for Naruto over the years. As she walked, she decided at that moment that she and Naruto wouldn't- no couldn't- be together.