Naruto returned home to find Sakura emerging from her bedroom, freshly changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants. "Oh! There you are! I swear, I leave for five minutes and you run-off." She jived playfully.

"Try six hours. Your apartment is nice but it gets pretty fucking boring after a while." He scoffed back, rolling a joking eye.

Sakura mocked offence, "Well excuuuuuse me for not being around to entertain you, your highness, but somebody has to pay the bills. Where'd you disappear to anyway?"

Naruto walked over and crashed onto the couch. ("Careful! Don't wreck my furniture!") "I went exploring, that's all. Checked out the neighborhood, y'know."

"Did you find anything exciting?" Naruto paused as Sakura gently sat herself on the couches' armrest. His mind flashed with images of the run-down houses and littered streets of the compound.

"Uh… no. No, not really."

Sakura gave him a look that said she didn't buy it but wouldn't press for an answer. "Okaaay then, did you at least like the neighborhood?"

"Y-yeah! It was great; I liked a lot of the different stores and the flowershop-lady down the street was cool."

"You met Ino?!"

"Yeah, you know her?"

"Um, yeah, duh, she and I have been friends since kindergarten. I can't believe you don't remember her!" Thinking back, he kinda did. Sakura did used to spend a lot of time with an Ino back when they were young. He guessed he didn't recognize her now that she wasn't too good to look his way.

"Now I do, she used to be such a bitch! When did that change?"

Sakura would have yelled at him for insulting one of her best friends but… it was kinda true. At least, for him it was. Ino had treated Sakura well for the most part but she was way too proud to hang around with a misfit like Naruto. Sakura was ashamed to say she was too at first. "Around sophomore year. She just grew up I guess." Yeah, and it had taken Sakura one hell of a 'He's my friend, stop being a stuck-up bitch' rant to stunt that little growth spurt. "Anyways, I picked up take out on the way home. Lets eat!"

As he lay in bed asleep, Naruto dreamt of endless hallways. At first he walked down them, then he began a slow run and as he searched and found no exit, he broke into a full sprint. Still, he never found the end.

The next day saw little more than Sakura dragging Naruto by his arm around the city. He understood her wanting to show him what he'd missed but ripping his arm off wasn't going to catch him up any faster. Not to mention, a man can only absorb so much information at a time. Fortunately or unfortunately for him, she had the day off so he wasn't getting a break any time soon.

Despite his aching limbs, Naruto probably wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world. After all, She was his best friend and he loved her no matter how physically painful it was. If it meant he could spend the day with her, Naruto would endure just about anything and after eight years of the same thing every day, the activity would have to be pretty awful to make Naruto complain. "Sweet Jesus women, slow down!" At least, complain very much.

"Wha-! Bu-! Ah, okay, okay I'll take it easy. I just want to show you everything!" She scratched her cheek sheepishly.

"The city will still be here tomorrow."

"Yeah but with work and school and my internship I barely have anytime to do things like this. Whatever, we'll take it slow. What do you want to do?"

Naruto slid closer to her, suddenly looking very mischievous. He put an arm around her. "Well, we don't have to take it that slow. Maybe we could find a nice, romantic area and take it fast? He he he-ooomph!" Naruto doubled over and tried to re-gain the breath Sakura had knocked out of him.

"Honestly! You use any excuse to hit on me. Once again, you haven't changed all!" She huffed.

"Heeeeeey, I've been good!" Naruto whined up at her. "It's not my fault you're so beautiful."

Sakura tried to suppress a smile, lest she encourage him. "Oh, just… shut up!" and with that she strode off, leaving him to chase her.

"Saakuuuraaaaaa, can't I meet your friends someother time? I'm tireeeeed."

"Stop whining, damnit! It works out for everyone tonight so we're doing it tonight!" Sakura pulled on Naruto's ear to punctuate her statement. Sometimes she swore he was still a child. "And you know, some of them used to be your friends too, Naruto! Just think, if you re-hit it off them you won't have to be bored when I'm gone."

Naruto wished he could argue. He really, really wished he could argue but she was right. "She's always freaking right." He did want to see Shikamaru and Chouji again but that didn't stop the fact that another part of him said it was a bad idea. That things would be different now. "Ow! Fine, fine I'll get my shoes on."

Sakura smirked and crossed her arms knowing she had won. "Good boy!"

The restaurant was dark and lit only by dim, low hanging lights placed above each table. Red faux leather-seated booths lined each wall of the dining area and they met at the rooms corners to form larger, party-sized seating. It was at one of these that Naruto and Sakura found their modest group.

Naruto had often wondered what had happened to his childhood acquaintances over their years apart. Sure, Sakura had filled him in on the all the big events; Shikamaru getting a full academic scholarship to any college he wanted, Chouji finding his first and only girlfriend, but it was the little things that he had always wondered about. The big moments are pivotal but it's the little ones that really chip away at you, really shape you. He wondered if Shikamaru still slept through class and managed to pull straight A's, or if he had lost his touch and had to work at his genius; Wondered if Chouji was still kind and mild, or if years of back-handed compliments and locker-room snickers had made him cynical; he wondered if the pretty people were still pretty and if the losers were still losing. He wondered if anyone ever missed him, ever thought about him in the quiet moments of their everyday lives. He wondered what others would think of his return; would they be happy? Scared? Standing there, if front of the faces of his past, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Still, he'd come this far and if they were here, they must not hate him or fear him. So he took a breath and bit back every voice that was telling him to turn and run.

"Hey."