Disclaimer: Standard one applies.

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Chapter 2:

A comforting palm pressed to her forehead. Gentle and familiar. "You awake, Sakura?"

"I'm in hell." She declared, clutching her spinning head. "My body aches. My throat sores. A migraine in my head and hell, this is all a fucking nightmare." Sakura groaned.

"A fever of 40 degrees. You should be ashamed of yourself, Sakura Chan." Naruto said sternly but any effect was ruined by his wavering pout. "A doctor who can't take care of herself? I fear for the next generation's future."

"Stop talking craps, Naruto." Sakura growled, wincing as her voice came out hoarse and left unbelievable pain. "All those cheesy chick flicks are getting to your head."

"Me? I was called last night by a nurse, telling me someone found your ass in the rain, dead to the world and was escorted to the hospital by the ambulance." Naruto poked her in the forehead. "Who is a drama queen again?"

"I'm in the hospital?" The smell and the surroundings should have given Sakura clues since she opened her eyes. "Hand me my specs. I can't see anything."

"No way, Sherlock." Naruto sighed, settling down on the chair beside the bed and picking up an apple to peel as Sakura slipped in her glass and felt much more confident. "Sai just left. His lecture started like ten minutes ago."

Sakura glanced to the lock nearby. It was 3 in the afternoon. "Don't you have a date with Hinata?" He had been excited and all nervous since last week about their date. It's just a damn movie, Sakura had thought but now, watching Naruto's face, she felt like she had dragged him off his own wedding.

Naruto scowled at his apple. "I can't leave you alone. You would make a fuss if I left."

"Oi. I'm no kiddo." Sakura tried to joke but it felt flat. She felt like a kid because she would throw a tantrum if she woke up in a hospital and found Naruto was not by her side, because he had a date with Hinata.

"Bring me the coffee." Sakura demanded, finding it's hard to think without her usual dose of caffeine. "No sugar."

"If you drink less of this stuff," Naruto made a face as he passed her the bottle of fresh coffee he must have brewed at home. "I believe you won't have to put yogurt on your face every night. A damn waste of food."

"Shut up. It's my money." Sakura drained the container in three large gulps. Her throat felt less itchy with the sooth of coffee. "And you will put down 5 kg without three burgers a day, idiot."

"Touché." Naruto beamed.

"Touché. Your French is horrible." Sakura grinned.

"Well, my French kiss, according to majority, is incredible." Naruto boasted, making kissing noise with the pillow he had snatched from Sakura's head. She smacked him on the head and commanded him to puff the pillow.

"You sucks major at being smooth, Naruto. It's hurt me to think what a joke you'd be in front of Hinata." Sakura stole a piece of apple.

"She…" Naruto's smile slid off to be replaced by a frown. "You're right. Lately, she only smiles politely at my jokes. Only smiles! Even at that Green Dolphin one! I must be the lamest ass ever! She's going to dump me soon!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You're a retard, Naruto. I won't laugh my head off in front of Sasuke, even if he said something real funny, which of course, he always does."

"He does?" Naruto asked genuinely but Sakura ignored him.

"Hinata is a girl and she's in love with – wait for it – you!" When Naruto looked as if he was going to point out that he knew it all and wasn't she a Sherlock, Sakura hurriedly continued. "Of course she'll be the all lady-like, feminine model of all ladies. Good girl image. Perfect lover and wife. Have you ever considered she might snort whenever she laughs?"

"You do and I don't mind."

Sakura decided to take this light-hearted. Part because he was here with her instead of his future wife.

"I shall repeat. Naruto, you're a retard. It's not about you. It's about her! You guys aren't at the stage where you could shit in each other presence yet, ok? You're, like, in the honeymoon stage! Give the girl a rest. I'm sure she'll come around."

"I should mention that you always shit when I take a shower but… I'm not sure, Sakura." Naruto handed Sakura the whole plate to spare her the chore of reaching out of her bed and snatched one piece at a time. "Hinata is like, I don't know, very pure. She's so... fragile. I couldn't be myself."

"You will be. She has seen you before she asked you out and she's the one that chased after you, not the other way around. You weren't, aren't and will never be a peach, if you know what I mean." Sakura chewed thoughtfully. "Hinata's not a fool. She must see something deep, deep, deep inside you, through all those layers of fat, bad clothes and weirdo hair."

"Sakura, I'm big bone! Not fat!" Sakura wondered if she should accuse him of stealing Chouji's line but decided against it.

"Whatever. She likes you as a loser. Be that way." Sakura finalized, before biting her lips. Now that she had mentioned the L word, might as well get it out of the way. The elephant had been in the corner for the whole hour. "Look, Naruto. About last night…"

"You were stupid and be your usual bitch self. No big deal. I can't even remember what we were on about." Naruto patted her head and she leaned against it a bit.

"Short-spanned memory. You should get that check. Might lead to Alzheimer soon." Sakura suggested cheerily.

Naruto threaded fingers through her dry, dry hair before wrestling with a particular stubborn knot on his way. "You should at least comb your hair, Sakura. It's like the Amazon jungle in here!"

"Leave it alone. I'm too tired for your fashion tips, sir Bush fire for hair." Sakura shot a meaningful look at Naruto's spiky top and he scowled at her.

"Hinata loves my wild style."

"Oh, please. She's an exception." Sakura rolled her eyes. "I mean, look at you! Chubby like a cupid. Hair like a war zone with only thorn left. Clothes the color of rainbow."

"Sai said us two made a good duo, like a bad hair twins." Naruto smiled.

"Sai is an arsehole with dick for brain." Sakura waved it away. "Look, when could I get out of this place? I want my Brad Pitt's duvet, not this blank, boring one!"

"Your fever, remember?"

"Juice and food and a nap in my Brad Pitt's duvet would be enough." Sakura pointed out. "Come on, get me home!"

"Can't do. You're sick and at home, I can't watch you 24/7! What if you hungry or thirsty or-"

"I'm sick. Not disable, you retard." Sakura snapped. "Now shut up and do the paperwork. I will change myself."

"I'm serious, Sakura." Naruto was determined. "I don't want you to be home."

"Why? You want some private chat in the bed with Hinata?" It had been a sarcastic question but Naruto flushed a furious red.

"N-no! Of course, not!" He exclaimed, almost tipped over the vase of flower near Sakura's head. It's stupid, she had thought, scowling at the vase, who would bring her flowers when she's only in the hospital for a day.

As if noticing, Naruto beamed winningly at her. "Isn't Hinata nice to give us these beautiful flowers? She said it means Get well soon." He sighed in that love-struck sigh he had always done when talking about Hinata. "She's too kind for her own good."

"Saint. Should be Maria the virgin." Sakura diverted her glare to the wall instead. She is everything but obvious. "Anyhow, I'm out of here and- Ouch." As she sat up, pain exploded near her temple and Sakura felt bandage around her skull.

"Oh, I've meant to ask. It's there when you were brought in." Naruto told her with a frown. "Did you pick a fight with Ino last night or something? The doctor said it's pretty deep."

The memories of the strange trio last night flooded back and Sakura shrugged. "Nothing. Just an accident."

"A hole in the skull is an accident?"

"Shut up." Sakura wondered if she should mention the weird trio last night and their unexpected assaults. But Naruto was a guy who acted first before thinking and he didn't care much about celebrities. If he knew some actors and actresses had poked a hole in Sakura's head with their stylish shoes, hellish wrath was ensured to erupt.

"Forget it, Naruto. Nothing big happens last night, okay?" Sakura smiled at her best friend. "Let's leave last night behind."

Sakura might want to leave it, but it might not want to, Sakura discovered later. Life is a bitch, for real.

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Sometimes, when Sakura sat alone in the apartment she shared with Naruto, she would think about her own family, her parents. They were nice people, kind - too kind for her. They loved her too much, spoiled her rotten yet, Sakura had never felt content. She was a selfish bitch, she knew.

Too ambitious, too full of herself, too insensitive.

She left once she's legal to be independent, despite her mother's tears and her father's almost crushing hugs. She wanted to be more than just small people in a small town out of nowhere. She left home to this city, where nothing was hers and she had to work hard to gain anything she wanted and hardly wrote home, despite the constant streams of letters income.

Then the letters stopped and Sakura lost what she had always taken for granted.

"Naruto has already covered your shift tonight. Don't worry." Her boss's booming voice mingled amongst the restaurant's background noises of chatters and laughter. "Just make sure to recover fast and come to work tomorrow."

Once he hung up, Sakura ventured to the kitchen.

Kitchen was not her place. She sucked at cooking, had no desire to improve and was content to leave it for Naruto, even if they had takeaway pizza twice a week and the rest consisted of hamburgers and fries.

Rummaging through the cupboard and finding nothing but potato chips, Sakura made herself a cup of coffee, even if it's already late evening. She would wait for Naruto, she decided, like her mother always waited for her when she returned late from whatever party or clubs in their hometown.

That night was no different from others.

She was using some time alone to calculate both Naruto and her outcomes. Even though only Sakura was a full-time student and Naruto was a full-time team member of the video store nearby, they were always short on cashes. Naruto's monthly wage hardly enough to cover their twice a day meals and Sakura's inheritance was the only mean to pay the rent for this surly, overprice dungeon.

The scholarship, despite its low status, was the only way Sakura could use to achieve her dream. Sometimes, she wished she had lowered one, so that she could be happier, like Naruto's.

"Me?" They had spent a night celebrating her 21th birthday and she had wondered aloud why they never seemed to celebrate his. In a matter of fact, she hadn't bothered to ask his birthday, not even after 3 months of apartment-mates bonding. Naruto had laughed then, cradling the chips bag in one arm and beer can in the other. "I don't know, Sakura. I haven't mentioned I came from the Kage?"

Sakura spit the beer she had just been ready to swallow. "You did?" Sakura asked, astonished and wary. She might be new to this city but everyone who had a decent marble knew the Kage orphanage, where everyone shot everyone.

Also, its orphans who always grew up to end as either a thief or lowly homeless.

"Is it… Is it alright?" Naruto had asked slowly, sky-liked eyes careful on her face, watching and waiting. Sakura had felt sick, because everyone's parents told them to stay as far away from the Kage and its rats, because Naruto was her apartment-mates and she knew the birthday cake was not easy for his pocket and his stupid face was making Sakura felt funny.

She chugged down two cans of beer before grunting. "Well, you're someone I know and even if you're lame – honestly, who bought cookies for a birthday present, you loser – you're alright." She felt an urge to add at his silly beam. "That didn't mean you could prance around, announcing you're a Kage, you stupid retard. Give me a fucking heart attack."

"I… I never have a family, Sakura. I've always want one, though." Naruto had said, looking small and young in his ginger hand-down jumper. "I just thought that since we're nearly friends and everything, I should come clean first."

Sakura wanted to correct him that there was no way she would be a Kage's friend but Naruto was gazing at his chubby laps and he looked so damned young and she was crazy for wanting to touch his head.

She downed another beer, and passed him the empty can, wondering how could he's be real because no one could be stupid enough to simply wish for a family. He should have wanted something higher, like money, status, power.

But family? Sakura had thought about her parents then, loving her limitless, loving her for whom she was, loving her more than she could return. Someone should have knock some senses into Naruto because family should not be anyone's ambition and as long as you loved and having love returned, you had a family.

"You have me, retard." She told him then, and she remembered his full name, not just an apartment-mate.

Thinking about the past alone was something Sakura hated. It made her felt old, and nostalgia, so she shoved the memories away to concentrate in the numbers on her notes.

Sakura was happy for Naruto when Hinata asked him out. Really, she did.

But she just wished her friend to have the decency to think before spending all his money on the dates and bonus presents. Hinata was nice, and Sakura hated herself for wishing the girl would stop taking Naruto to elegant art gallery, to romantic expensive restaurant and made Sakura's life miserable because, hell: before, they barely had enough - now, everything just corkscrewed straight out of control.

And, the rent of the apartment was drawing extremely near. This stress was almost as bad as her anxiety before exams.

Sakura would need to find a third job then. She was going through the news paper for job advertisements when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Good evening. Are you Sakura Haruno?" When she confirmed, the caller said with an expensive drawl. "Miss Haruno, my name is Kabuto. The Sound Company is opening for an experiment and Dr. Orochimaru, personally, believes you shall be suitable to participate."

Short, straight to the point.

Sakura clutched her phone. "How do… No, not the main point, what could you offer me?" She was never a curious person- ok, may be she is, but the point was that she honestly didn't care how these people knew her and knew her desperation for jobs. May be they wanted randomness for their experiment. She had learnt about those stuffs and she was desperate for jobs and may be she had lucks after all.

"Ah, many things, now that you are so eager to know, Miss Haruno." Kabuto sounded approving. "Even if you only anticipate in our research team for a short period of time, our company shall treat you as if you're a full-time worker. This means, of course, a job contract, a weekly wage, medical insurance and paid for 5 days off."

"That's crazy." Sakura demanded in disbelief. The deal was too good to be true. "What kind of experiment is this?"

"Oh, we are trying out for the newest products. If you are interested in fully-detailed description," Kabuto sounded distracted. "you shall have to come to our company tomorrow. We have an interview at 10 am."

"But I'm busy at that time!" She had a test! She had to attend it at 10 am and passed it with flying color to keep her scholarship!

"It's none of our company's concern to know your schedule, Miss Haruno. The chance is there and we have 10 more participants who desperately want this position." Kabuto warned. "A smart girl knows where her priority lies, Miss Haruno."

She barely uttered a good bye before he bid her good luck and the line went dead. Naruto called sometimes later, to tell her that he would not come home that night.

A smart girl knows where her priority lies.

The apartment felt cold without Naruto and the numbers in her notes just kept getting bigger and bigger and Sakura wondered why choices were so hard to make.

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Sai was one of those guys whose thoughts no one could decipher. At first impression, Sakura hadn't liked him. Partly, because he called her Ugly right after he nicknamed Naruto as Dickless; partly, because there was something inside his eyes which told her he knew her more than she knew herself.

"The Sound Company?" Sai's mouth was full of Sakura's favorite Obby's cereals. He continued without any notice to Sakura's scowl. "Are you sane? They are the best in our city for treating their employee well. You should ditch your stupid test."

"Scholarship is everything for a poor student like me, Sai." Sakura wondered how Sai paid his tuition. He must have back-up from home. "Beside, the job, as this Kabuto said, is temporarily and there are 10 bloody competitors against me! I know my luck. They suck more than Naruto and his algebra. Coffee?"

Sai took her offer, but added at least 6 sugar cubes. "You hardly have a chance to find out. Anyway, it's your decision. Where's Dickless?"

"He's hardly a dickless if he can score Hinata, Sai." Sakura winked at her friend's blank face. "Not home and they must have breakfast in the bed right now." She sighed wistfully. "If only that stupid accident didn't happen, I would be in bed with Sasuke now."

"I believe you have an urgent need for a full-length mirror." Sai commented sincerely and Sakura opened a drawer for the sake of it. Oh, and not punch the bastard in the face as well.

"I swear I will gut you like a fish and dispose your god damn body in a ditch one day, Sai." Sakura said to Naruto's potato chips.

"After ravishing my hot body?" Sai asked. "Outrageous."

"Oh, fuck off." She slammed the door and stormed to her bed room. "Clean after yourself and lock the door, after you're done."

Sai carried his second bowl of noodle after her. "Why? Where're you going?"

"Throw myself out of a window for the privilege of taking a nap?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. "And who said you can eat in my room! Shoo! Go away!"

"I'm still hungry." Sai said, draining the last bit of milk and Sakura shot him an incredulous stare.

"Are you for real? Wait, you're Naruto's friend after all." Sakura massaged her forehead. "What evidence could you gather that I will ever get my ass out of my comfy bed and feed you, Sai?"

"Because I'm handsome?"

"Nice try." He did have a point but she flipped him the bird. "Pissed off."

"Look, I haven't had proper food for a week!" Sai argued.

"I haven't had anything but coffee for last week!"

"Well, I haven't had healthy food for the last two weeks!"

"Well, this is not a competition and I'm certainly not arguing with you," Sakura scowled. "But for the last month, I haven't had any vegetables in my digestive system."

"I see why your face is a coal field with irredeemable holes." Sai had to throw himself on the floor to dodge a flying dictionary.

"Why did you dodge? Waste of a good shot." Sakura sighed, rolling out of her bed and passed Sai with a filthy glare. "Alright, man of my heart, what do you want?"

"I was hoping for some eggs." Sai smiled at her.

"To prove my eternal devotion," Sakura rummaged through the fridge, "there will be eggs. You want my eternal devotion scrambled or fired?"

Sai clearly wished he hadn't asked for eggs because the fire alarm went off in ten minutes later and Sai was still shaking his head, even if he forced spoonful of burnt protein in his mouth. "You suck at cooking. You suck at being pretty. You suck at being a lady. How will you win Prince Charming over, Ugly?"

"I suppose Naruto stuck with me then." Sakura smirked at him, glancing at the clock and decided that her nap could be arranged later of the day. She only had half an hour to get to her university now.

Then, the phone rang.

Naruto's muffled sobs came quickly as Sakura tried to gain balance by leaning against the wall. "Hanabi—" He uttered helplessly. "She's dead, Sakura. Murdered by a Kage."

And that morning was when everything spiraled down to hell.

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A/N: As side information, Kage is the name of the orphanage Naruto was raised in and anyone who grew up in there will be called a Kage. About Sakura, I hope no one found her as out of character. She has always struck me as an easy to jealous, self-conscious and insecured kind of girl.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you readers enjoy the story so far. I love all of your reviews and would love more of them. Well, I'm that much of a review-whore. Anyway, the next update will come soon. See you all.

P.S. About the pairing, I haven't had much thoughts about whom Sakura will end up with. This is a Sakura Harem kind of fic but I still like her to find her love in the end. Or, may be not. I'm not sure. Tell me what you think, yeah?