AN: I actually can't believe what happened with the last chapter! I'm so sorry for everyone who couldn't read it properly when it came out, I was trying to edit it when I cope-and-pasted it to the document form on fan fiction but it seems that when I edited it something happened where it ended up in plain text format… I have no idea, so sorry about that! I hope everyone loves this chapter!

Finding Peace in the Pieces

Naruto was wandering around the village and he noticed that he had come into his best friend's complex. "Huh, why am I here again?" he wondered out loud. Over five years ago he had come to notice Sakura. Always alone, always looking sad, always wondering into the woods behind her home and crying… Naruto wondered why she was so lonely, he knew that her family had just moved into the village at the time and felt a strong connection to her. When he found out that her father had died while on a mission he had approached her and talked to her. He knew that she never told the whole truth about her life but he respected her way of going about things. Sakura came to open up more to him and when she did he would always feel his heart skip a beat. He knew he liked her, to say that he didn't would be a lie, but never acted on such feelings as he knew that she just needed a friend.

Sakura loved him too, he would tell himself, but he knew that her love for him was more as a sister to a brother. Since the day of comforting her after her father's death he promised he would never let a thing happen to her, that he would protect her throughout his life. But now… Now he had figured out why she had been so secretive, about her chakra infused blood. He had heard about it from his other best friend, Sasuke. Chakra infused blood… never die, never hurt, but never truly live to old age. He was furious about it when he had found out, not at her, but at all of the clans who had sent letter after letter to his best friend's place after learning such knowledge. Sakura was his, he constantly told himself, not as a lover but a friend.

She had been the only one who trusted him with her life when she found out about the monster who was trapped inside his body. The villagers… they had learned to trust him, his teammates have learned to trust him, but Sakura had been different. She had been his shoulder to cry on when he needed someone to talk to, his friend when he felt alone, and his savior when he felt so little and powerless… She was something that meant to world to him- she was the one who truly cared. 'Sakura you dummy, you left the window open,' he thought as he climbed the tree to sneak up on her when she was tired after long shifts at the hospital that would usually extend until 0200 in the morning.

Sakura was thrashing around in her bed, crying so heavily that her long pink locks clung to her face, sweating and whimpering as if in pain. He moved swiftly and quietly into her room, trying not to awaken her from what he thought was a nightmare. A terrible, terrible, nightmare. She mumbled something that he couldn't make out and walked carefully over to her bed. "Don't… don't… t… take him… s… stop…" was all he could hear. Sakura's tanned body looked so pale and fragile now, she was shaking and crying heavier. Naruto couldn't stand there any longer and let his friend continue on in this nightmare. Naruto reached out a hand to try and shake her shoulder awake when he saw her emerald eyes snap open with a fierce gaze enough to make a dead man quiver. Sakura flipped him and pinned him to the wall with a kunai at his throat all within a matter of a second. Now, it's not to say that this strength and speed had come out of no where but- hell! It did come out of nowhere! Naruto let out a yelp of pain when he hit the wall of her room so hard that it made an indent. Sakura pulled back her kunai to strike when Naruto had cried her name, loudly, one might add. In an instant her eyes and contorted face returned to her regular look. She took note of what position they were in and dropped her kunai quickly and backed away in fear. Naruto watched the scene that had just happened before him with disbelief, almost forgetting that he was against the wall that had a Naruto-head-shape left on it. His bright blue eyes looked at her with concern. How could a simple civilian nurse attack him with such speed and force? "Sakura…" he managed to get out. "What… what the hell was that?"

"Naruto… I can explain," she squeaked out, tears falling from her eyes quickly. 'Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Not even Gaara can save me now.' The pink-haired nurse took a deep breath and shivered at the reminder of what just happened. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something but they both heard a voice screaming from downstairs.

"Sakura! What's going on?!" Mebuki called out as she ran up the steps. She swung the door open quickly to see an injured Naruto shaking against a wall and Sakura, her Sakura, crying uncontrollably. "Shit," she cursed under her breath. Mebuki quickly formed hand signs and put the whole house under a genjutsu to keep their upcoming conversation a secret.

Naruto looked at the two dumbfounded as if his brain couldn't process anything at all anymore. His body felt like jell-o and he sunk to the floor, not even noticing the trickle of blood coming from his neck. However, Sakura did. She tried to wipe away her tears as quickly as they would fall but it was no use. Sakura stood up, still shaking and made her way over to a shocked Naruto. Said blonde boy snapped back into this world when Sakura kneeled before him, assessing the wound she had inflicted not too long ago. Sakura's tears were slowly coming to a halt and she reached one hand up to his neck making Naruto shiver as he didn't know what was going to happen next. As soon as her fingers touched the flesh of his neck the wound began healing. Naruto stared at her in disbelief, first she attacked him as only a ninja could do, second she healed him, and now… now she was crying because she hurt him.

"S-Sakura…" he breathed.

"Naruto, I…" she braced herself for the upcoming loss of her one and only friend. "Naruto… Things happen that aren't supposed to and sometimes secrets have to be kept in order for this world to remain safe…"

"Sakura, how did you do that? What's going on? Why didn't you tell me? All the time…" his words were rushed and filled with confusion and a hint of anger. But that was to be expected. It's not everyday you encounter a civilian has secret ninja powers. Especially not when it's one of your only friends. His face softened at the pain that was in her eyes. Without another thought he leaned forward and pulled her close, he hugged her tightly and never wanted to let go. He didn't know how the hell this happened but it sure wasn't going to change the fact that he still loved her dearly.

"Hime, tell him now, while we're all still safe here. There will be someone coming with all of the noise you made," Mebuki was tough, as she had to be. This sort of thing would not sit well with the Kazekage and she knew it. "There is no doubt he will be here soon. He knows you signature well." She nodded towards Sakura in respect and left the room as quickly as she had come in shutting the door on her way out.

"Hime?…" Naruto repeated in a questioning tone. "Who is after you?"

Sakura relaxed at his words. There was no anger in his tone or his posture anymore. "Naruto… I have to tell you something. But what I say now will never leave this room, your mouth, or…" her words drifted off trying to sound tough but only made her sound weaker than she truly was.

"Sakura, tell me who it is, I'll protect you. I can keep you safe. I… I love you…" he didn't mean for those last words to slip. As soon as they came out of his mouth his cheeks reddened and he turned his gaze towards the floor, not wanting to hear her rejection and see her face as she said it. No, that would've been much too painful.

"Naruto-kun… I'm not who I say I am," that much was obvious from the scene that had just unfolded before them not more than 30 minutes ago. Still, she pressed on, "My last name isn't Haruno, and actually… my first name isn't even Sakura." The pink hair that usually framed her face still stuck to her neck and face making her feel uncomfortable and considerably ugly. She went to tie it up and continued on once it was in a soft, messy bun. "My name is Aiko Tanaka. I was born in the mountains of water country with my twin brother… We-" she stopped herself and she felt tears begin to trickle down her face again. "Something happened and I had to hide in Suna for fourteen years… My brother became well-known and went from hated by the whole village to someone they all care for. And myself… I just hid, no one knew who I was, and I kind of wanted it to stay that way."

Naruto noticed the pain pouring out of her voice as she spoke, so he did what he always did, wipe away her tears with his thumb and pulled her back into his arms. He felt at such a loss, why would someone do this to her? She was so special… "Saku- Aiko… If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay…" he tried to reassure her. Truthfully, he wanted to know everything about her, he always did. And so she continued to speak, the strength and pain becoming more evident in her voice. He took in all this newfound knowledge and found himself nodding as she spoke to remind her that he was listening.

He learned a quite few things, for instance she was hidden in Suna in the Kazekage Palace until she was nine, she trained in secret from when she was five, and she had been 'saved' by people while her family was dying at the hands of a monster. "Your brother… has he had any contact with you since you moved here?" it pained the young blonde to think that someone who was so close to her had left her in the dust.

Sakura shook her head no and took in a deep breath. "He knows I'm here, but he won't return any of my messages that I keep flying over to him, it's like he doesn't want anything to do with me…" She knew it was a lie the minute it came out of her mouth, but she said it in a fit of anger- she tried to remind herself of that, but it was a bittersweet taste on her tongue.

"Who's your brother? I can kick his ass if you want?" Naruto said as he chuckled lightly trying to ease the tension that soaked the room with bitter words. Sakura laughed about that softly and shook her head no.

"Naruto, I love you, but you wouldn't stand a chance," she giggled out. Naruto felt his cheeks turn hot at the word 'love' but he knew it was just platonic. But still, if that's all she wanted with him then that's everything he would take. Love- it was both a burden and joy. Just not one for his to take.

"Aha, it'll be alright. Just know that I'm here for you all the time. Believe it!" Naruto loosened his grip on her, letting her know that she was free to let go if she wanted to.

Sakura kissed his cheek and stood up from their seated position. "It'll be better off if you didn't know who he was, Just not yet… Not until the time is right anyways." She held out her hand to offer him some help when getting up. He gladly took it.