Chapter four, read at your leisure.


There he was, slowly being lowered, and all I could do was watch and cry. This feeling outweighed all others in various ways. The pastor was nearing the end of his long speech, and knew very well what that meant; the procession was coming to a close. My body was now at the point of giving way beneath me, I'm sure if it wasn't for my clinging to Sasuke it would have already.

My lips were begging me to mutter his name, my heart was aching in turmoil for wanting him to say mine again. I knew at releasing his name, I would lose every bit of my semi-composure I had established. I wish I could just say his name, I wished it didn't affect me like it did; just his name had the ability to break me.

He had a once in a lifetime charm, anyone fell under his spell. I witnessed this when I brought Naruto back to my house that first time. He easily plowed his way into my mom's heart, not that he had to try really hard. She simply adored the boy from first glance. I simply had hated him, well I guess what they say about opinions is true; they change.


Our walk was quiet and slightly comforting. His hand was still clasped with mine, everyone we passed looked at us making accusations of 'what a cute couple'. We were not, and weren't going to be a couple anytime soon. I just pushed their assumptions to the side, and again began enjoying the warmth of his had. Our trudge was soon to end as I saw my small apartment complex coming into view. It was only three stories tall, I lived on the bottom floor. It was less hastle with groceries and other things.

My mind was running through countless situations as I approached the door. Naruto was still being obedient and staying quiet. That was odd, earlier at school he was somewhat reckless and noisy. Nevertheless, it was time to enter my house. I twisted the rigidity knob, allowing me to enter and pull him inside with me. All I had to do now was introduce the blonde to my mom and I was set. I released my grasp on his hand, his hand just fell limp to his side; this wasn't the active boy I met earlier, no this was his inner turmoil.

I carried out the task of taking my shoes off, I watched as Naruto stared of in a daze. It was like his physical body was here, while his mentality was elsewhere. I paused myself. was this really the boy who had defeated the Sasuke Uchiha that I 'loved' so much? There was no way they were one and the same. Maybe I was forgetting the fact he had lost his final family member. I could easily sympathize with him, maybe this was what I looked like when my father died. He had finally snapped out of his pretentious daze and was working on taking his shoes off; that was good for both of us, my mom would kill us both if were to go in with our shoes on...Oh no, my mom. I had totally forgotten about her picky attitude towards my friends.

"Mom, I'm home and I brought my friend, Nar-"

"Oh my, Naruto you sure do work fast don't you?" my mom said giving him a wink. Just what was going on here...?

He was rubbing his hand behind his head carelessly, something he did a lot if I noticed right. He looked somewhat embarrassed, the other half surprised extremely. I really was feeling like I had been played to no end. Then I saw it, his eyes they weren't the full, glimmering-with-happiness ones from earlier. No, they were conflicted with an emotion that you couldn't fake, he was internally dying. He was fighting his entire being just to smile, his will power was something I marveled at; to be terribly upset a matter of minutes before he was seemingly fooling my mother with ease. Now there was the fact my mother knew him...

"So this is the Sakura you were telling me about this morning Miss Haruno. She is feisty just like you said," he said. Oh, how I wanted to just slap him for calling me feisty.. I guess if I did that, it would only further acknowledge that.

"Wait you two met? When, how, and why was I brought up?" I roared, to my moms un-delight and Naruto's surprise.

"Oh, calm down, Dear, he helped me earlier at the market." My mom said plainly.

"She forgot her purse, and I paid for her items. Thats when she thanked me, and told me she had a daughter about my age, and that she was a bit rambunctious." Naruto concluded. My own mother was calling me a handful...Well I guess she wasn't far off.

Their story left no room to argue, now there was only to explain my and Naruto's situation to her; I just hoped she would believe me. I looked to where my mom once was. She was gone, not only her but Naruto, too. Great, just what had I gotten myself into? A mom who wants me in a relationship, and the boy who is on the verge of a total emotional collapse; what a night I was about to adventure into.


It had been hours since I had arrived home, it was nearly midnight now. Naruto had made his valiant attempt to leave, but my mother kept that hope away with the 'it's too late to be out by yourself' speech. So he was formally sleeping on my couch, or, that's what he was supposed to be doing.

I watched as my door slowly inched its way open, if Naruto planned on trying to lay a "move" on me now was not the time, not that I would have made any advance at any of them. Instead of bright blonde my eyes met sandy brown; it was my mom, a rare occasion at this time of night. I braced myself for whatever it was that she had to tell me.

"Goodnight, Sakura." She said smoothly.

"Night, Naruto asleep?" I asked.

"I think he is watching tv, you can go down too. Just don't stay up too late." my mom said smiling, she knew it was Friday night...I would be up late.

I watched as she crept back out the door muttering something that I didn't catch. Well, I guess staying in my room was a great decision after all. I have food, and drinks... Okay, scratch that I 'had' food, and drinks... Looks like I'll be paying a visit to the good ol' kitchen. I quickly found my way out into the hallway, and at the top of the steps leading down stairs. I stopped. I would have to cross from the living room to the kitchen... That meant seeing Naruto. Maybe I wasn't so hungry after all.

My stomach rumbled once more, notifying me of my hunger; yeah, I was going to the kitchen. I inched halfway down the steps, just to stop and glance to see if Naruto was either awake or asleep; hopefully he was asleep. I looked slightly down and to the right; he was sitting up. He may have been sitting up, but I knew he wasn't doing it because he wanted to. No, he was sitting there staring at the ground , because he had hide his emotions all day. His body wasn't going to allow him to sleep; it wasn't going to allow him to do anything he wanted. My hunger was now gone. It seemed staring at him today simply put my emotions and actions into an endless chaos; I was now moving rapidly to him.

My body's movements were undergoing possibly the most unresponsive times ever. I had no idea when I had decided to go to him, but here I was moving towards him and his rugged blonde hair. His head shifted up to meet my gaze, he was startled. It was like my body just wasn't going to listen to me; I wanted to stop moving towards him, but I kept going till my arms flung themselves around his neck. We were embracing, I didn't care he seemed hurt, emotionless, lost, and lonely. I could never sit around and watch someone be lonely, especially now that I knew he was alone.

"Naruto...I won't...let you be lonely." I stumbled my words, but those filled the empty, dry air.

He wasn't replying to me, I began to think that I may have over reacted; that was till I felt something grip me. He was tightly hugging me, I could tell now that I had done the right thing. He was slowly returning back to his warm normal self. I could feel my eyes beginning to water, how long was it I wanted Sasuke to embrace me? I had just met Naruto, and here we were at twelve at night alone and hugging in my living room, talk about a rather large change up; though it wasn't Sasuke, I couldn't deny that this embrace had a certain unattainable quality to it. Yeah, we both needed it.

"Thanks...Sakura." he let out through a few sniffles.


Just as I promised to never let him be lonely, he promised me the same. Though what brought that about was different, but similar circumstances. He was so...Well, he was just Naruto. Sadly my Naruto was now gone, and I was again lonely.


Sorry if it is to short, I just needed a transitional chapter to further what I have coming up. Leave a review if you feel up to it. Till next time. ~