A/N: Alright, I didn't get much response on the last chapter. I'm guessin' stuff needed to be better explained, and hopefully this chapter addresses that a little (alternatively it could just be due to how quickly I'm getting these chapters out). Even if it doesn't, I still like this fic and that's all that's important. Oh and a warning on depressing, emo rambling and a bit of harsh language in the first part of this chapter.

Disclaimer: My pony's name is Ted (I do not own Naruto).

Sakura Haruno did not return to Ichiraku Ramen the next day after that hectic night. She did not return the day after that either. By the third day she doubted she would ever return.

She didn't care that in the time since then her only thoughts have been of cups of ramen and pretty girls with brown hair. She couldn't return, not now, not after all she had done.

She had confined herself to her room since then, refusing to leave for anything, crying and hating herself, as she convinced herself that her life was over. The only laughter that escaped through her tear soaked face was that concocted on the thoughts of how absolutely pathetic she must look right now, rolled in a ball on top of her bed, clenching her now saturated pillow to her eyes.

A rational friend, she surmised, would have led Ayame to village authorities to obtain help. This person then would have waited and tried to calm Ayame while the criminal was sought out and what was stolen was recovered. Of course Sakura had, like an idiot, rushed forth at full speed after the bandit, engaging him in a high speed chase through the desolate back alleys of the village, inadvertently putting the victim once more in the path of the perpetrator.

It had been Sakura's fault that Ayame had faced any danger at all, she told herself. Even before she had led that man to Ayame's location it had been her fault. He had likely waited in the shadows for her to leave Ayame alone at Ichiraku.

She doubted Ayame considered her a friend anymore, Sakura cursed herself again as she thought back. Sakura had been so caught up in her aggression and so blinded with reckless confidence that she had been willing to toy with Ayame's very life. What's more, she had proven powerless to stop the girl's injury.

She had then allowed herself to become even more a detestable creature. She committed cold murder in front of that girl who had only hours earlier been enamored with the kunoichi's ability to do good and save lives. After that, she had forcefully removed the girl's clothing against her will. How she had let herself do something that unforgivable, Sakura did not know, but she did know that Ayame had every right to react as she did.

In Sakura's mind she had abandoned her friend, then forced her to face mortal danger, then callously played with her life, then allowed her to get hurt, then subjected her to a scene of gruesome brutality, only to finally to end it all with something so perverted and embarrassing that Sakura could only hate herself. Ayame could only hate her now as well. Her response, that polite but clearly unnerved utterance of surely false gratitude followed swiftly by her complete removal from the scene, all seemed to make sense to the young ninja girl now. That did not make it any easier for her to take.

But why the hell should any of this shit matter? Ayame was the god damn ramen girl. She saw her like twice a month. If Ayame hated her why should she care? Ayame was just one insignificant person in this world of many. This response was just fucking ridiculous to a simple, rational friend wasn't it. People sometimes have to make choices and move on and find new friends. Sakura knew that she couldn't think like this. Inside, she knew her twisted, disgusting heart wanted that sweet ramen girl as more than a friend.

Sakura's incessant thoughts were soon disturbed by a knock on the door of her room. Her mother's voice soon followed, "Sakura, you've got a friend here top see you."

Sakura half considered telling her mother to simply turn away whoever it was; She was after all in no mood for visitors. But, what if it was Ayame? Would she be able to face her here? Would she want to face her here? If it was Ayame would that mean that she had hope of finding forgiveness? She had to at least know that much.

After a minute or so with no response, Sakura's mother knocked on the door again, this time even harder, this time raising her tone in annoyance as she spoke, "Sakura, are you even in there?"

"Who is it?" Sakura said softly in a deep tone of melancholy. "Who is here to see me?" A second question was added as if suggesting that there could be no one who would want to see her.

"It's that boy." Her mother said still showing irritation in her voice at her daughter's reluctance to open the door as in her brooding tone, "You know that trouble making blonde one."

It wasn't Ayame. She didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed. She didn't really care in the slightest about Naruto at the moment but her curiosity, as piqued as it was going to get, she allowed herself to ask indifferently, "And what does he want?"

"He's your friend. He's here to see you, not deliver messages through me! Stop moping around, get out of there and go talk to him!"Her mother raised her tone again as she shot her commands.

Sakura clearly wasn't in a mood to see Naruto. She was however, also not in a mood to get into a confrontation with her mother. She sighed as she reluctantly got to her feet. She made sure to dry the remnant tears from her eyes as she opened the door.

"That's more like it." Her mother met her with a look of disappointment before adding with a scowl, "He's already been waiting long enough."

Sakura simply rolled her eyes as she passed her mother without a word. She found Naruto at the door to her house.

"Hey Sakura what's up?" Naruto opened the conversation in his usual upbeat tone.

"You better have a damn good reason for being here, Naruto..." Sakura said fed up with the hyperactive ninja already.

"Gee, someone's in a good mood..." The boy said in a clearly sarcastic tone punctuated by a short laugh

Sakura, completely unamused by the whole situation turned around to retreat back to her room, saying "If you don't want something, I'm leaving." as she did so.

"Wait." Naruto called out, temporarily stopping the girl's movements. With his arm he grabbed her at the wrist and dragged her outside before adding in a serious tone to match hers, "I have somewhere I need to take you."

Sakura doubted there was anywhere she wanted to go with Naruto. Still it seemed only appropriate to at least acknowledge what intentions he had before smashing him into the ground and running back to her room. "And where would that be?" She replied, showing her disinterest clearly.

"Just to Ichiraku." Naruto said showing no signs of backing down.

Sakura's heart skipped a beat at the name. How could she go there? Naruto must not know what happened if he's asking her to go there. Now she knew she had to decline his offer, "I'm not in the mood, Naruto. Ramen's the last thing I want at a time like this..."

"You don't have to have any then." Naruto replied simply, with a force in his inclination that contradicted the disorientation in that of the other, "The old man just wants to see you."

Sakura wondered how this could be the case after what she put his daughter through. She now asked, "Why would he want to do that?"

"He wants to thank you for what you did for them." Naruto answered.

Sakura thought at this. Thank her? It was her fault things had escalated so badly. Did Ayame not go into the details of how much worse she had made things? She sighed; it would be the same sort of thanks the girl had given her herself. She had retrieved Ichiraku's livelihood from the thief and Ayame had not died, she supposed a signal of false gratitude was only customary for this situation.

"So are you coming?" Naruto said after waiting a full minute through Sakura's reflective silence. He then punctuated this statement, sarcastically remarking, "Or are you just going to stand there all day with that depressed look on your face?"

"Yeah, I'll go..." Sakura sighed showing much reluctance.

Naruto attempted to talk to her a few more times on the familiar trek to Ichiraku ramen but after being shot down and threatened with brutality decided it was better to let the rest of the walk remain silent. Sakura could feel her heart-rate rising and the air around her seemingly becoming more and more tense as she closed in on the familiar locale of the ramen shop. Soon they were inside, and just as soon Sakura let out a visible sigh as she noticed that Ayame was nowhere inside the structure aside from her thoughts.

"Sakura! Good to see you! Sit down!" Teuchi called out enthusiastically as he spotted the two shinobi enter.

"I'd rather just..." Sakura started but cut herself off as not to sound rude. After a pause she nonchalantly said, "Naruto said you had something you want to tell me."

"My girl, you sound real depressed. All I want is to thank you for what you did for my daughter, but if there's something eating at you, right now, maybe that should be addressed first." The old man said taking a fatherly tone that forced the girl to finally take her seat.

"Well it's just that..." Sakura's voice could clearly be heard trembling, but she was determined to let this kind man know what she was feeling. 'That night..." Sakura gulped in some air before nervously continuing, "I don't know if what I did was right."

"Oh, I see." Teuchi said in an understanding way. "Human life is something to be treasured. No one enjoys being put in a situation where they have to take a life to save another."

"So that's it!" Naruto butted in, reminding Sakura of his presence. He said in a low somber tone, "Taking a life is never easy even when it's unavoidable and friends you care about are in danger." He paused before adding even further drained of his usual emotion, "You're strong to be able to make decisions like that, Sakura."

Sakura had learned a great deal about her opponent that night. Before returning home to ultimately confine herself to her bed she had reported the incident to Tsunade who had told her a little bit about the wanted man. Okimoto Sokuseigi had been a Konoha shinobi during times of war. He was unfortunate enough to have been captured by the enemy forces and had been subjected to torture. The Konoha forces had succeeded in liberating the area he was being held and he was released before he was executed by the enemy. When the war was over he attempted to return to his duties as a shinobi but it was soon found that the trauma he suffered during the war had made him unstable and the Hokage was forced to revoke his position as a shinobi. With his family all being killed during the same war, Okimoto was left with no place to go and wandered the streets for years begging for food. Eventually he took up stealing to survive, as time passed and the memories of the war time atrocities faded he became better and better at his thievery. When he was killed at 46 he had been a top rated criminal of Konoha, wanted on several counts of burglary, aggravated robbery, assault, and at least one count of murder.

Okimoto Sokuseigi had led a sad life, Sakura could admit this, but she didn't care in the least. She hated him before she knew who he was and she still hated him now. She was glad he was dead and buried in some hole somewhere where the world would ever have to look at him again. No, Teuchi was misunderstanding her completely here. She had no remorse for what she had done to that man. Teuchi thought Okimoto's life was the price for his daughter's but Sakura knew very well that her chakra control was perhaps second in the village only to the Hokage. She could have held back easily and let the poor bastard live and still have ensured the girl's safety. She had killed him because she had wanted him dead. She had wanted to hear his spine crack to pieces as he fell dead to the ground.

"That's not it at all!" Sakura said in a frustrated tone as she mulled over her thoughts.

"Then tell, me what's bugging you girl."The Ramen shop owner said a little taken aback by this new and sudden exclamation.

Sakura trembled a moment looking down at the space between her feet as she tried to bolster the confidence to explain herself. After much effort she started in a frantic distressed tone, "I-it was all my fault." The kunoichi took in some heavy breaths before continuing in a more somber subdued murmur, "If it wasn't for me Ayame wouldn't have had to go through such danger. She wouldn't have been hurt."

Teuchi paused a moment to ponder the young girl's words before closing his eyes ans speaking in voice that sounded as though it held all the wisdom of his years, "You can't blame yourself, Sakura." He gave a smile as he forced the girl to make eye contact with him, "If you weren't there, She'd be suffering a lot more now then she is."

"She would...?" Sakura said with a quiver.

"Yes. This shop has seen some success of late, but it's always been a small operation. If that money that was stolen had not been returned, we'd be suffering to get by and keep open at the same time." Teuchi explained.

"Still, it was my fault it got stolen in the first place." Sakura said catching herself before she allowed a smile to cross her lips, "If I had stayed with her, in the shop that night..."

"So you'd stay in the ramen shop all night then?" Teuchi started his hardy laugh, "That seems a little unreasonable to me." He let out a sigh before adding, "and if you're going to start with the blame, I think I deserve a good part of it for not coming into work that day."

Sakura mulled this over in her brain for a while before looking up at the man once more and asking, "So you're not angry with me?" She gulped some air then added, "She's not angry with me?"

"Of course not. In fact we couldn't be more happy with you." He said smiling widely.

Sakura still wasn't completely convinced as she looked around once more, "If that's the case, Then why isn't she here now."

"After I heard about the incident, I felt guilty and decided to give her the whole week off."He explained simply, in a happy tone.

"Oh, is that so?" Sakura finally allowed a smile to cross her lips.

"Yeah, in fact she told me, that a certain kunoichi promised to spend time with her next time she had a break." He said hintingly, reminding Sakura at once of that day's conversation.

Sakura smiled in full at this, "Thanks a lot Teuchi."

"No problem Now, how about some ramen." The old man replied with a soft laugh.

"Sure." Sakura chimed noticing she was actually really hungry.

"I'll take some too, old man!" Naruto called out from the back of the shop.

"Oh you're still here?" Teuchi laughed again.

"Of course I am!" Naruto returned with enthusiasm as he forced himself on the stool next to his teammate.

"Oh and Sakura." Teuchi started again, "From now on you're ramen's on the house."

"You don't have to..." Sakura started in soft protest.

"No I insist." Teuchi said in an adamant tone, "From now on I refuse to take any money from you."

"Wait a second old man." Naruto started in a tone of slight but clear anger. "You never told me about doing that. I want free ramen too!"

"You save my shop and my daughter's life and I'll consider it." Teuchi shot back with a sigh. He then added with another laugh, "On second thought, regardless of the reason, giving you free ramen would bankrupt Ichiraku."

"But Sakura's okay?" Naruto questioned defiantly.

"Yeah. She doesn't eat her on a near daily basis like some people." The old man shrugged.

"You're right..." Naruto acquiesced, the added in a suspicious tone "In fact I never knew Sakura ever came here without me at all..."

Sakura blushed as she forced herself to remember the face of the beautiful ramen serving angel that had drawn her to this shop time and again recently. After a moment to recover she said, simply, "Thanks."

In truth she couldn't be happier. She knew Ayame didn't hate her now. She also, however knew that there were things about Ayame she couldn't deny any longer. She was smiling as the old man who worked the local ramen shop gave her an offering of free ramen for life though, inside the depths of her mind, she knew she desired to take something far more precious from this man.

A/N: I don't know what compelled me to make the first half of this chapter so thick with brooding angst. I guess it's just my love of emotional exploration, the first chapter was all happy and fun, the second romantic and suspenseful, this one dark and anguished. I suppose if you can't already tell the next chapter will be mostly sensual in its tone. This chapter had no Ayame in it but the next one will be 100 percent Sakura X Ayame. I'm really liking this fic and I hope the rest of you are as well. If not, tell me what I'm doing wrong.