A soft light filtered through the window blinds and danced across the bedroom, now cluttered with bags and foreign possessions. Naruto awoke to the sound of children shouting in the distance and thought it odd that he was up before the nurse arrived to give him his morning pill. He lay basking in peaceful laziness for a good five minutes before in occurred to him that the nurse would never come. Those mornings were over.

With a sudden burst of giddiness, Naruto hopped out bed and made his way out into the apartment's small living room to find Sakura curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee. The bitter-sweet scent drifted around the room. "Good morning, sleepy-head." Naruto's grin touched both ears and his face shone like a summer sun, "morning." Naruto plopped down on the other side of Sakura. "What's for breakfast?"

Sakura rolled her eyes with a sigh, "It's your first morning out of Shady Acres and the very first thing you think about is food. Naruto Uzumaki, you haven't changed at all."

"A man has to have priorities!"

…

"Mphh, Sakura, this food," Naruto swallowed the eggs he was speaking around, "is delicious!"

Sakura's eye twitched as she leered at him from across the table, "Could you PLEASE eat like a civilized human being?"

"Sorry," another huge bite was swallowed, "it's just that I haven't eaten anything but government grade crap for years."

"Well I appreciate the compliment but your kinda ruining my appetite." Sakura laughed despite herself and Naruto was quick to join her. This was nice. It'd been so long since Naruto had held a conversation that didn't involve either spilling his guts to a therapist or listening to Sai try to sell him his meds. Maybe if he'dve just taken them he could've been out of there too. "Whatcha thinking about?"

Naruto's head snapped up from his plate, "Huh? Oh, nothing. Just this guy that I knew in the institution."

"Don't call it that! You make it sound like you spent eight years trapped in a loonybin."

Naruto laughed "I DID spend eight years in a loonybin."

"It was a mental health ward not a home for crazy people."

"Yeah, well, you never met the tenets! I had this one friend, Sai, that never took his meds; he just sold them to the junkies every day. He was basically the resident dealer. Not that my other friend Kiba was complaining; Dude blew him under the table just to score some pills. Jesus, I never heard the end of that!"

"Wait, he blew him? Right there under the table for the world to see?"

"Kiba never did care too much about what everybody thought. Kiba did what Kiba pleased. Probably what ended him in the ward, I never really asked but there was a rumor that it was because he had a tendency for fucking dogs."

Sakura could contain her fit of laughter, "That can't be true! There must have been something else that landed him there."

"You never know in that place." Naruto winked. He suddenly grew grave, "There was another guy, Gaara, I don't know what he did but it must have been bad because they kept him in a padded room under constant watch. He was always with a nurse no matter what and he never talked, just sat there and glared at everybody." Naruto could see a chill go through Sakura, "It wasn't so bad though, we had a lot more Kiba and Sais than Gaaras."

He could physically see the tension leave her body. "Well, I'm glad it wasn't too awful for you. I really wish I could have visited more; I feel so guilty."

"Aw, Sakura, you always wrote." Naruto touched her hand and offered up a shit-eating grin, "And your letting me stay here aren't you? That's a hell of a lot more than anyone else ever did!"

She gave a small smile, not completely satisfied. "I suppose." She sighed, "I better head to work or my boss'll have my ass." She gave him a chaste hug and headed for the door. "Don't burn the place down!" She called back.

"No promises!" Naruto answered before the door closed and the apartment fell silent. He picked up the dishes and rinsed them off before placing them in the washer. He stood and took in his surroundings. This was still new to him and without Sakura around he wasn't sure what to do. He settled on TV; he had always enjoyed the rare times when he got the chance to watch it.

…

Naruto switched the television off, he had spent more time getting a feel for the controls than he had actually watching it. He just couldn't enjoy the colorful ads and fast-paced drama of day time television. He couldn't say why but he felt listless and trapped alone in his friend's box of a living space. He decided instead to take a walk, enjoy the benefits of being a free man.

It was crisp, early fall day, nearing the end of September and the changing of seasons. Naruto filled his lungs with air and cherished each refreshing breath. God, he had missed this. He hadn't realized how stuffy Shady Acres was, even the courtyard held a sort of enclosed feel to it.

The east side Konoha really was beautiful. It was the slightly more bohemian part of the city and Naruto was enamored with its brick paved streets and endless supply of small shops. The whole thing was very artsy.

Naruto whittled the day away making way through every shop that caught his attention and talking to vendors on the street. He had a particularly interesting conversation with a bouncy blonde who ran the local flower shop, mostly because she seemed so familiar. Finally the brick roads stopped and turned to dirt, the buildings became more domestic and grew further and further apart from each other as he carried on. It must been a road out of town. Naruto wandered further along, Sakura said she had a long shift today and wouldn't be back until late afternoon.

As he pushed further, Naruto could see a series of old buildings in the distance. When he approached he saw that it was an abandoned family compound. The stone wall protecting the wooden city was crumpling in different places from years of abandon and harsh weather. Weeds grew in window sills and shattered glass littered the ground. As he watched, Naruto idly wondered what had driven the clan away and left their homes to rot. He stepped over fallen stones and passed through a hole in the wall; there was something strange about this place, it drew him to it. He wanted to explore the falling buildings but as he admired his surroundings he heard a shuffling behind him. He turned to find no one there.

'You imagined it.' Suddenly he was very aware of the feeling he was being watched. 'There's no one here. You're just as crazy as before.'He must have imagined it, had to of. But He left just to be safe.