A few days later found Sakura sitting crossed-legged underneath the shade of the tree in their backyard. With a look of concentration in her eyes, Sakura placed her hands on both sides of the ink bottle she snatched off her papa's desk. She focused on the flame within her body, the one she called forth to perform her brother's jutsu, directing the flow to her palms. She envisioned pinpricks, smaller than needles, piercing through the molecular structure of the bottle and seeping into the ink. Her sister really wasn't kidding when she said that the process was hard.

All of a sudden, the bottle exploded, and Sakura only barely managed turning to the side to avoid getting ink splattered onto her face. She felt the liquid come in contact with the back of her cheongsam, and though the splatter thankfully spared her pants, it still made her frown. Her mama was going to throw a fit about this, no doubt. It was a gift from some distant relative, after all, to the rightful heiress of the clan .

Well, on second thought, given the slight reprimand directed to her papa in the letter that accompanied this gift, maybe her mama wouldn't mind her ruining this outfit all that much.

Raising a hand to squeeze the ink soaking the tips of her pink hair, Sakura scowled. That had been her fourth ink bottle in a row, and while her papa seemed to have an endless supply of black ink for his own calligraphy projects and ink paintings, the keyword in that thought was seemed and her papa was bound to find out how many bottles he was missing from his stock. Sakura used up all of her stock, which wasn't that impressive when compared to her papa's, but still—it was such a waste of ink, it practically rankled to see it splatter everywhere.

Maybe you should take a break , Sai-nii suggested at the same time Saeko-nee piped up, maybe you're going at this the wrong way. The simultaneous onslaught of voices with different messages and different volumes made her wince; this was one of the disadvantages of having mental siblings. Different instructions almost physically hurt her, but strangely enough, the worst their bickering did was distract her from whatever activity she had been doing. She had thought, a while ago, that it would have been the other way around.

To their credit, her siblings seemed appropriately chastised by the thought of disadvantages, and a few blessed moments of silence passed as neither Saeko-nee nor Sai-nii made any move to comment on her next course of action, moments that Sakura greatly treasured. For a moment, Sakura just sat there, fiddling with a piece of the broken bottle. She really had a lot of luck, didn't she? Especially considering how none of the shards somehow found their way to her skin, providing her with cuts. She could brush off the wasted ink as a tantrum forged by frustration in the middle of a painting, or even that a cat knocked them off, since old lady Ritsu's cat had a tendency to jump over the neighbors' fences and destroy their stuff.

While the thought of blaming her failures on a cat made her feel terrible, old lady Ritsu's cat also nearly clawed her hand off once, so Sakura probably won't feel too terrible about it.

Suddenly, Sakura heard a shout coming from the tree-line behind her house, beyond their backyard; the one that extended for what seemed like forever – but only really went on for half an hour when trekked through at a walking pace – only to end with the back of the public market's buildings. She stood, squinted at the tree-line, and for a moment, she thought she had honestly imagined the whole thing—but then she heard another shout, tone refined to express utmost panic, and judging by how much louder it was, whoever was shouting was either much closer than she thought or they had really impressive lung capacity. Sakura was betting on the latter.

With one last glance at her house – empty, because mama was at a friend's house across the street and papa was at work – Sakura nodded to herself. There wouldn't be any harm in checking what the fuss was all about – or who was causing all the fuss. And besides, someone could be in need of help. Pausing, Sakura reached for the two scrolls at the foot of the tree, the ones filled with paintings of lions—really, really fat lions with big teeth and fluffy manes, made with the chakra-infused ink she had left over, the one she made with her blood.

Do you really think you're going to need that? Her sister asked, you don't even know what's really going on.

That's true, but I do know that those didn't sound like shouts of delight , and Sakura knew what those sounded like; Ino shouted happily more times than she could count. Stuffing both scrolls in both of her pants' pockets, Sakura experimentally reached for the top of the picket fence surrounding their home. Testing her grip, she tried to pull herself up—

And considering how she lacked the proper upper body strength to pull that off, she failed spectacularly. Going around, then , Sakura thought glumly amidst Saeko-nee's barking laughter.

The tree-line – well-qualified to be called a small forest, in all honesty – was almost eerie in its sudden silence. Sakura saw no point in trying to sneak through the trees; if anyone really was here, shouting for help or causing distress, it would be better for Sakura if she was mistaken for a lost little girl than be seen with suspicion. Her brother said something along the lines of, almost comical paranoia, those shinobi stories sure are paying off , which Sakura didn't deign to respond to. She was in enemy territory now; she had to be prepared and alert.

You're so dramatic , her sister said, still slightly laughing.

Sakura had half a mind to stick her tongue out, but the sound of rustling leaves made her stop short. She turned her head to the source of the sound, but all she saw was a bunch of bushes. Just as she was about to keep moving forward, Sakura heard voices coming from up ahead.

"Where the hell is that little brat !" A voice that didn't sound all that much older than her asked, though it sounded more like a demand than anything else. "What sort of idiot trips on mud ?!"

"Hey, don't act like you didn't trip, too! And you let that demon brat get away!" A second voice shouted.

That sounds like they're looking for someone , her sister pointed out, no longer laughing. In fact, her sister sounded angry , and her anger was infectious to the point that Sakura felt angry. And maybe it wasn't just her sister's anger seeping through—those strangers' tone, combined with her sister's theory, made it sound like they were looking for someone to hurt them.

Their tone sounded a whole lot like how Ami spoke about her hair and forehead, Sakura realized—just a lot meaner, promising pain without outright stating so. It made Sakura's blood boil for some strange reason, in a much greater intensity compared to what she felt before she gave in and smacked Ami with her notepad. She clenched her fists at her side.

Maybe it's a good thing she brought her scrolls with her.

Another rustle came from the bushes, snapping Sakura out of her reverie. Turning back, Sakura approached the source of the noise. If it occured just once, Sakura would have brushed it off as some forest creature that undoubtedly lived in Konoha's woods, one that was simply passing through. But twice ? Call her paranoid – you are — shut up, nii-chan – but twice seemed really unlikely.

When Sakura saw a head of golden hair and terrified sky-blue eyes the moment she parted through the bushes with her hands, Sakura couldn't resist telling her brother, ha, I was right.

Just as the boy opened his mouth, presumably to scream in alarm – judging by his expression, he hadn't known that Sakura was there in the first place – Sakura hurriedly clamped an ink-covered hand against his mouth, mildly regretting it when the boy spluttered at the awful taste. "Shh," she whispered, bringing her hand away, "It's okay, it's just me."

"Y-You look like a ghost , y'know!" The boy whisper-shouted, sticking his tongue out and spitting at the side. He wiped his tongue against his hand, which, ew , "And what was that ? And who are you ?"

"You're being awfully loud for someone who was hiding," Sakura commented idly, ignoring his questions and noting the sudden silence that seemed to ripple across the forest. Her comment made the boy stop short, and when the fear returned in small specks in his eyes, Sakura asked, "Are you who they're looking for? The one they called a demon brat?"

She was going off on a guess, but judging by the fear and bitterness that grew in sky-blue eyes, she hit the mark. A scowl formed on the boy's face and he pulled away from her, no longer making the effort to keep quiet at all. It almost seemed as if he wanted to be found rather than talk to her, but that was ridiculous, wasn't it? "So what if I am?! Are you here to just, just—" his eyes widened even further, which was almost comical on his infinitely round face, "Are you just here to bring me to 'em?! You're their friend, aren't ya?!"

"I don't even know who 'they' are."

"You don't—" as if a switch was flipped, the boy visibly deflated, anger making way for curiosity. "Then why are you here talking to me if you're not, well, y'know ?"

Sakura shrugged, her own curiosity piqued as well, "Can't I just talk to you?"

"W-what, no!" He spluttered, as if the notion of someone talking to him for the heck of it was so foreign.

"Why not?" Sakura trudged on unrelentingly, staring at the boy in a way that may be described as unnerving.

"Just 'cause!"

"Because what ?"

"Because nobody does !" the boy said, throwing his hands up in what seemed like total frustration.

Before Sakura could point out all the things wrong with that statement, the voice she heard from earlier piped up. "Found you now, demon brat!" Given a clear view of the speaker, Sakura saw that it was a boy that seemed a few years older than her and the blonde boy who's sitting in the bushes. A few footsteps later, there was another boy that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Both of them had uninteresting brown hair and mud splattered on their clothes and faces, making their earlier shouted conversation seem a whole lot funnier.

Funnier, sure, but Sakura wasn't laughing. In her head, Saeko-nee had grown silent, and her brother seemed to radiate annoyance towards the two newcomers, even though he wasn't saying anything at all. Combined, the both of them seemed to ask, how dare they?

"Who is this?" One of the boys, the taller of the two, asked as he cast a derisive sneer towards Sakura. His eyes visibly roamed over her form, and whatever he saw made him press his lips thinly, his nose scrunching up with disgust. "Are you hiding behind a girl now, demon brat?"

"So what if I am?" The blonde boy asked defensively at the same time Sakura seethed, "Don't call him a demon; that's not very nice ."

Her statement seemed to strike a chord within the blonde, and though Sakura wasn't looking at him anymore, she knew that he was watching her. If the sharp intake of air had been any indication, the boy wasn't expecting her – or anyone for that matter – to stand up for him. The thought that no one has ever stood up for him crossed Sakura's mind, filling her with a burning rage that she's never known before. It's not like the feeling she got when she didn't get what she wanted, or back then at the park with Ami and her gaggle of twittering idiots—this was worse, so much worse. It was exhilarating as much as it was terrifying.

She hasn't ever felt this angry for anyone else's sake before. Not even for Ino, though that might be because no one seemed to want to mess with Ino.

"Look at her," the shorter brown-haired boy said in a mock-whisper – as in, Sakura could hear him just fine – to his friend, "Pink hair with black tips? What a weirdo."

"Looks like she went swimming in tar ," the taller one sneered, "A perfect weirdo friend for a demon brat, then."

"Girlie, we gotta be honest, we don't want to get you tangled up in this," the shorter boy said, kneeling down to her height. Though his voice had gone deceptively soft, there was a mocking glint in his dark black eyes. It made Sakura want to rip his face off. "Just step away from the bush, and let us get to the demon brat."

"He's not even running away," the other boy urged, growing impatient by the minute. "Just push her aside ."

Sakura glared at the other boy over his friend's shoulder, but she stepped away just like the shorter boy said. It earned her a pat on her hair, one that she scowled at, and she resolutely didn't look towards the blonde boy still crouching in the bushes, didn't look at the betrayed expression that might be plastered on his face.

Instead, Sakura pulled out the scroll from her left pocket, unraveled it in one swift motion, and raised her right hand to her chest. " Ninpou: Choujuu Giga ," she murmured, and the motion caught both older boys' attention. Sakura took utmost delight in the way their eyes widened once her drawings moved up and out of their scrolls. She lifted her free arm, pointing it towards both boys, and her four ink-lions lunged without Sakura even uttering a single word.

"From now on, you leave him alone, you hear me?" She crossed her arms across her chest, watching with barely concealed glee as the boy shuddered, a lion snapping at his heels as he snapped out of his stupor.

The way they screamed, high pitched shrieks that rivaled Ino's, as they were chased by ink-based creatures throughout the woods would stay with Sakura forever.

"Hey, are you okay?" The strange girl asked him, but he was looking at the path were his pursuers had run off with strange fluffy animals with really big teeth running after them. Naruto felt a slight touch on his arm, making him jerk back to reality, and he found himself face-to-face with the girl who essentially saved him. She had black stuff – ink , his mind supplied – tinting the tips of her hair and her dress was green mottled with black. She was weird , no doubt—

But she helped him. She saved him, even though he didn't ask her to.

Before Naruto even registered it, he had wrapped his arms around her shoulders, knocking the both of them off their feet. "You were so cool , y'know!" he all but squealed, stamping on the parts of his mind that said she might not really like you and she did it out of pity . No one just does that out of pity; not even Jiji's zoo people stepped in when kids tried to catch him as if he was some unruly pet and make fun of him, and Naruto knew that at least one of Jiji's zoo people felt bad for him. That lady with the beaver mask and purple hair always said, "Poor kid," when she thought he wasn't listening, after all.

When Naruto pulled away and stood up, he offered her his hand, and he was more than surprised to see the strange girl smiling at him, and though it seemed kinda awkward in his opinion – like she wasn't used to smiling – Naruto thought it made her look pretty. "Thanks," the girl said, her voice sounding genuinely pleased as she actually reached for his hand . Still a little dazed, Naruto pulled her up, and the girl gave him a funny look before saying, "Why were they chasing you?"

With the reminder of what led to him running into the woods, Naruto scowled, "Stupid Ayano told 'em that I was the one who took their books, even though I didn't and he did it himself, he just wanted to blame me because he's a massive jerk , y'know—and they didn't believe me when I told 'em." Crossing his arms over his chest, Naruto huffed, "What would I do with their stupid books, anyway? It's not like I can read 'em, y'know."

"That sucks," the girl told him bluntly, but then her eyes – so green , like tree leaves – widened, her mouth falling open slightly. Naruto worried he broke her for a while – or she realized that he really was the demon brat that her parents probably told her about – but then the girl shouted, the loudest that he's heard her before, "You don't know how to read yet?!" Her eyes turned steely, her lips thinning, but all Naruto could think was how that's what she was focusing on.

There were no hurled insults, no mean glares. Instead, the girl grabbed his wrist and started dragging him somewhere.

"W-where are we going?!" Naruto spluttered, trying to wrench out of her grasp, but hell if she didn't have a strong grip.

"To my house," she replied shortly, "I'm teaching you how to read."

"What? But what does that matter?! I don't even know you, so why do you care?!"

And really, why did she care? They've met, like, once and sure she saved him using her cool fluffy animal things – how did she do that, by the way? – but Naruto couldn't see how that extended to teaching him how to read , of all things. No one cared that much, except maybe for Jiji.

What he said made the strange girl stop, let go of him, and turn around. Naruto stared at her warily, waiting for the inevitable shove or hurtful comment or– or simply something . But she just tilted her head, and then she struck her hand out. Naruto's gaze wavered from her face to her hand.

"My name's Sakura," the girl said, an odd note to her voice, like she's not so sure about her own name . But that's stupid. "What's your name?" She asked.

"I'm Naruto," he said, blinking and still watching her hand. When she didn't make any move to retract the outstretched limb, he slowly lifted his own hand, grasping the girl's – Sakura's – ink-tinted hand. He gasped, just a bit, as her hand gently closed around his.

And then she shot him a sunny smile, "This makes us friends now, doesn't it?"

Friends . "What?" No one has ever wanted to be friends with him before, especially not cool girls with super cool jutsu. Naruto realized, then and there, that he wants to be her friend, he really does— but no one just calls him a friend. No one ever wants to be his friend, and it's just—Naruto can't possibly be blamed for being suspicious.

Her smile faltered, her hold loosening, although she didn't pull away. Sakura stayed quiet for a while, and it felt like hours before she spoke again, and when she did, there was a bit of a questioning tone in her words. "I heard that once physical contact and an exchange of names are established in a non-violent manner, that signifies the beginning of a beautiful friendship," she said, sounding a whole lot like she was quoting something. She tilted her head to the side, pink strands falling into her eyes, "Haven't we established that? Doesn't that make us friends?"

"Well," he looked at their still intertwined hands, "I guess? Is that why you care so much? Because you think we're friends?"

"Can't I just care?" She shot back. "Haven't you ever had anyone to care just 'cause they do?"

"Only jiji," he admitted, thinking about it, and he just knew his face was red with how warm it felt. Here he was, face to face with a girl he hasn't met before, one that called him her friend .

"Well, now you have me, too," the girl chirped, cheerfully so, smile sliding back in place. Still smiling, she added, "If you'll have me as your friend, that is."

It was practically all his dreams and wishes come true, to have someone else ask to be friends with him, and—he's already hugged her, hasn't he? And she saved him. She saved him, and if Naruto's smile wobbled for even the slightest moments as he hugged her for the second time that day, no one said a word about it.

"You live here?" Naruto asked behind her, staring up at her house with something like trepidation. Sakura nodded, but when she made a move to go around the gates and enter through the front door, Naruto didn't follow. She gave him a curious look, one that he caught, and he looked down in response, mumbling underneath his breath, "I don't think this is a good idea, Sakura-chan."

"Why not?" Her parents would probably like to see her bringing a friend home for the first time ever. Not even Ino's gotten the chance to visit her house, though Sakura made a mental note to invite her over sometime. Friends share each other's stuff, don't they? And Ino shares her flowers on a daily basis; maybe Sakura should show Ino more of her drawings.

"People don't like me," Naruto stated bluntly, still unmoving. Sakura was about to say something about how that wasn't true, he probably hasn't met many people before, but her siblings sent a unified warning that a comment like that wasn't something that would be appreciated. Maybe he saw the way Sakura opened her mouth without saying anything, because Naruto offered, "You heard what they called me, didn't ya? Demon brat, they said."

"But I don't think you're a demon brat," Sakura replied, frowning, but Naruto only seemed to curl within himself without moving his body outright. It was enough to discourage Sakura; she didn't want to make her newest friend nervous in just an hour of establishing their friendship. Maybe those reading lessons will have to wait.

Making friends is hard , she told her siblings, to which she got dazed agreements in return. Huh, strange.

"Well, okay, if you don't want to go home with me, do you want to play instead?" She asked. That was a way to strengthen friendships, after all. Her brother said so, and she's seen it happen between her and Ino, and despite her sister's laughter and comments about emotional ineptitude, Sakura found that his tips were helpful.

Speaking of which, she was free to go to the park tomorrow. Maybe she could introduce Ino to Naruto, and they'd all be friends. Then Ino and Naruto could be, like, a sunshine duo or something. They both had blonde hair and puppy-like demeanor in common, so that made sense.

"Sure!" Naruto cheered, and the smile that graced his face almost made it look like he was glowing. "What game will we be playing?" He asked eagerly, almost bouncing on his heels. Gone was the boy who almost seemed adamant to not befriend her unless he made sure that she had no ulterior motives, and here was a puppy . A very cute puppy.

Sakura thought about it for a while. She and Ino usually played house, and also hide and seek. But if she suggested that, they'd probably end up running around in the woods again, and Sakura wasn't quite keen on going back in. The sun was setting; what if they got lost? It certainly wouldn't be hard to get lost.

Again, Naruto seemed to bounce in place, and Sakura had the brightest idea. "Tag," Naruto certainly seemed to have the energy for it—and, if the way his smile grew even wider, it seemed like he thought that game was great.

And it was great, both as a game and as a way to get to know each other better, because at some point, their game of tag somehow got a bit of twenty questions mixed in. It had been Naruto who started it with a question about what happened to her hair, and it only spiraled out from there.

"What's your favorite food?" Sakura asked once she patted Naruto on the back firmly, signifying that she caught him. She dodged the swipe he made at her head, and though she ended up tumbling onto the grass, Sakura found herself smiling.

"Ramen," Naruto answered, taking a leap towards her. He missed by a long shot, nearly smacking his face into a tree, but thankfully he had enough sense to throw an arm out to prevent that tragedy from happening. Sakura couldn't hold back a snort of amusement, to which she received a completely insincere glare in response.

"Who taught you your jutsu? Was that a jutsu?" Naruto asked when he caught the back of her clothes in a hold. He dropped her immediately, now knowing just how quick she can take a swipe towards him. She's fun , Naruto realized.

"That's two questions!" Sakura protested initially, although she did answer his questions regardless of the amount. "I just figured it out, and of course it was, what else would it be?"

Her answer made him stop short, and it was all Sakura needed to plant her palm onto Naruto's round face. Not expecting to catch him at all, and with Naruto not expecting to be caught mere seconds after he just caught Sakura, she ended up putting too much force into her hand and Naruto had been too light on his feet. They stumbled, both of them, into the grass beyond the picket fence of Sakura's house, and though they laid there in a daze for a long while, both children ended up laughing into the open air.

"Let's play again tomorrow, maybe after lunchtime," Sakura suggested, once the sun had dipped the world in orange hues and it was time for Naruto to leave. "We could meet in the park and we'll play games of our own, and maybe I can introduce you to Ino."

It was either that Naruto genuinely didn't hear what she said about Ino, or he didn't want to acknowledge the thought of another person, but in any case, he didn't make any comment regarding Ino. But Naruto did give her a smile, and although it looked uncertain, he said, "Sure, Sakura-chan, I'd love that, y'know!"

This is what I give you after a month.