Second Day

Sakura set off from her apartment with a determined look on her face.

Ino probably thinks I'll go straight to her with this 'true love' business, Sakura thought as she turned towards the hospital. Well I'll just have to keep her waiting!

After waking up that morning Sakura had decided to play Ino's little game, but instead of immediately rushing over to gush over the flowers like Ino surely expected her to do, she would instead act as if nothing was amiss.

That should teach her to try and trick me!

It wasn't that she didn't like the flowers. They were a very lovely sight to wake up to in the morning and their sweet fragrance had brought a content smile to her face. Ino worked around flowers all the time, but Sakura knew her friend always kept flowers in her apartment.

But in Sakura's home flowers were fairly rare. Most of the time she was much too busy to worry about plants (not to mention she didn't feel she should have to buy them for herself). In her mind, flowers were the kind of thing you got from lovers, occasionally from a close friend or from family, but not from yourself.

Sure, she would get the occasional blossom from Naruto or Lee, but those were always self-picked. Apparently they thought it was more interesting that way…

In the end, what few flowers she did get were quite average looking, either a carnation (sometimes Ino threw her a bone), cherry blossoms (Lee quite liked the symbolism), or an occasional weed (Naruto tried, but what did he know about flowers?).

What Sakura really wanted for once was a real lover's bouquet. Something that meant more than a little color on her table. Something that smelled nice and looked beautiful and made anyone who saw it just wish they had something like it.

Heh, can't blame a girl for dreaming.

No matter how hard she tried, Sakura seriously couldn't imagine that happening anytime soon.

She honestly felt pretty good about her appearance; she knew she wasn't bad looking by any means, and while she knew she could use a bit more in some departments (Sakura thought she could stand a bit more in the chest region) and a little less in others (she had lost hope in ever growing into her forehead), overall she thought herself attractive, smart, and a very capable girlfriend.

And yet she remained single.

Sakura had thought about this problem for quite some time, putting her large forehead to good use, and had finally came up with the cause of her single status.

Naruto.

The way he flitted around her all the time…who else could even get close?

Somehow, without her even noticing, he had formed a rather orange-ish barrier around her over the years, and for the life of her she didn't know how to get out of it! Wherever she went people associated her with Naruto. Most of the time she didn't mind; it was nice to feel she wasn't alone and Naruto was probably the most important person in her life now.

This didn't mean she never felt frustrated with the arrangement, however, because once again, men were afraid to approach her lest they find themselves on the receiving end of the Kyuubi holder's wrath.

And I thought shinobi were supposed to be brave, she thought wryly and rolled her eyes.

If they were afraid of Naruto, then they should be doubly afraid of the only person who could make him whimper in fear from a mere crack of her knuckles. And she almost always healed him afterwards anyways.

"Good morning Sakura," Shizune greeted her as she entered the hospital and received a list of her days patients.

"Hello Shizune. How is everything?"

"Everything seems to be running smoothly today, thankfully. Our profession is one of the few where a slow day is a good day."

"Mm," Sakura agreed as she looked over her list, "That's the truth."

Usually things did slow down during the holidays as people were less apt to get a check up during such a busy time. But this didn't mean their number of emergencies stopped. People still died. The holiday's just made it doubly painful when it happened, not only for the family of the dead, but for the medics who had failed.

One year Sakura had lost a patient on Christmas Eve. She had poured all of her chakra into the patient, but there had been too much damage done for her to fix and he had died. Even after his heart had stopped she had kept trying, and it wasn't until Naruto was called and barged in to pull her sobbing form into his arms did she quit.

He had kept holding her even as she struggled to free herself yelling that she had to be the one to tell the family she had failed, that she couldn't let anyone else do it.

"No, Sakura-chan," he had said so firmly that she had paused in her struggle. "You did your part, now its time to let someone else do the rest."

"But it's my problem!" she had sobbed, looking up into his eyes. "I have to be responsible for my mistakes!"

"And what mistake would that be?" he ground out, holding her shoulders so tightly that she could feel him trembling. "All your chakra is gone! What else could you have done!?"

And it had been the combination of Naruto's fear and anger directed at her that had finally caused her to regain herself. After a few moments of settling down, he had allowed her to talk to the family without giving up his hold on her hand. And when the family hadn't blamed her but instead thanked her for trying her best, it was once again Naruto who she had cried on.

Thoughts returning to the present Sakura shook her head.

That's the last thing I need to be thinking about, she mentally berated herself as she went in search of her first patient.

----

Sakura hummed to herself as she walked back to her apartment. The day had started smoothly, and for once ended smoothly and this was enough to lift her spirits a little out of the gloom they had previously been in.

Mentally going over what she needed to do that night, she skipped up her steps and barely was able to dodge the package lying in front of her door.

"Another one?" she frowned, hoisting it up and disappearing inside. Hands on her hips she regarded the box untrustingly. But in the end her curiosity got the best of her and she tore open the lid.

Inside the box was another box, but as she peered inside she could definitely catch the telling aroma of chocolate.

Pulling out the box of chocolates, she tore off the attached card and read:

Happiness

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

11 chocolate hearts

Once again no name had been given, and as Sakura opened the chocolate box she found exactly eleven chocolate hearts. There had been twelve, she noted with raised brows, except one seemed to be missing.

"Apparently this secret gift-giver has a sweet tooth," she chuckled before popping a chocolate in her mouth.

Interesting…