I took longer than expected! My apologies for that, but after a lot of writing, deleting, writing, polishing, deleting and writing again I completed chapter 4! I hope you enjoy reading at least half of how much I enjoyed writing it.

Thank you again for those who wrote reviews, faved the story or is following it!

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Love Can Be Different

By Nena-uchiha22

Chapter 4: Anniversary

The sound of Kunai clashing together was the only noise in the area, the chipping of birds was long gone, the serenity long replaced by the weapons colliding against each other. The Hokage watched the last forty minutes of the training from the height of a tall tree where he could appreciate his son fighting his longtime friend Konohamaru. He looked proudly at how Konohamaru has having trouble keeping up with Boruto and admired the speed at which Boruto would respond. One second, he was in front of Konohamaru, the next millisecond he would be behind him, the sensei barely had time to react. Naruto smiled at this and noted that it was probably the Namikaze legacy on the blond kid that allowed him to have that speed. After what seemed like 30 minutes of taijustsu, followed by 10 minutes of kunai and shuriken throwing, the sensei of Konohamaru brought the training to an end.

Boruto nodded to his sensei and started to walk away from him and towards the tree.

"Hey old man, didn't you know its illegal to watch young kids?" he asked his dad with a playful and mocking tone. Naruto laughed, gladly noting how Boruto was coming back to his old ways.

"Who are you calling old man?!" he asked while jumping down the tree and landing a kick to Boruto's head that was skillfully stopped by the young man.

"Hokage-sama" the pair stopped their fight to look at Konohamaru. "Glad you can join us again" the brown-haired man said.

"Hey Konohamaru, don't be so formal" the blond man smiled. "I am picking up Boruto to go to lunch, want to join us?" he asked.

Konohamaru looked at him for a moment but denied the offer. "I better get home soon but thank you for the offer Hokage-sa… Hokage-san" he tried to fix the formality of the name, making Boruto laugh.

"He is an old man, sensei. You can call him whatever you like!" Boruto said causing Naruto to hit him in the head. Konohamaru smiled awkwardly before leaving them arguing by themselves.

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"And she said that I may start officially training with her next month" Himawari finished her story while slurping her ramen.

The Uzumakis were in Ichiraku's, Naruto's treat. Himawari was at Naruto's left and Boruto at his right, the little one was sharing her day with the men of her life. The look on her face made it evident of how excited she was, the duo had picked the youngest up from the Academy.

"I thought you were already training with her" Naruto said.

"No, no" she denied with her head. "Tsunade-sama has taught me things, but I need to graduate so she can take me officially as her apprentice" she said smiling.

Naruto noticed how Himawari's eyes lit up at the prospect of being Tsunade's apprentice.

"I see" he said. "That's good. I'm sure you will be a good apprentice"

Himawari smiled at her dad.

"I hope" she stopped when she was about to bring the chopsticks to her mouth. "Tsunade-sama told me I have a very good chakra control" she brought the chopsticks finally to her mouth.

Boruto chuckled. "Yeah, you could touch chakra points since you were six" he said, and Naruto laughed nodding.

Himawari smiled. "Yeah, she said I could maybe come close to her best apprentice" she said. Naruto looked at her asking to elaborate. "Sakura-san has surpassed Tsunade-sama, Tsunade-sama also said Shizune-san was her apprentice but she never could master everything Tsunade has. Sakura-san did and in a short time of period, so Tsunade-sama said she has been surpassed by Sakura-san" Himawari explained cheerfully. "So, if I can come close to Sakura-san, then maybe I can be as strong and as good of a doctor as Tsunade-sama" she said.

"Hey, you think of you so highly huh!" Boruto said throwing a napkin in a ball to Himawari that Naruto quickly caught.

"True" she said smiling shyly. "I'm getting ahead of myself" Himawari admitted. "I am just so excited" she admitted, and her brother smiled.

Naruto looked at his kids, a mixture of nostalgy in his eyes, since Hinata passed away he had spent more time with his kids. He had spent more times with them the moment she got sick. A fact that he reprimanded himself for, he should've spent more time with his family without a tragedy causing it. Nonetheless, he tried to force that sour thought out of his mind. He made a regular outing of going to eat at Ichiraku's with his kids every Friday, sometimes Boruto couldn't join because he had missions, once Himawari skipped it because she had a road trip with the Academy, but Naruto never missed it. He promised himself he wouldn't.

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On the way back home, they crossed the market to take a more entertaining way home, Boruto meanwhile talked about what he thought about the rest of the teams of his generation.

"But you know what is weird" he said, both hands behind his neck. "The Ino-Shika-Cho team"

Naruto laughed at this and Himawari walked next to her brother staring at him in confusion.

"Yeah!" he took Naruto's laugh as a sign that he agreed with his statement. "They are insane! They are a team that has been a team formed by the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi for generations!" he said. "What would have happened if one of them wouldn't have had a kid? The formation is over!" he explained.

Naruto kept laughing, in a way finding his kid's reasoning amusing.

"Sakura-san!" Himawari said excitedly, walking ahead.

Naruto looked up and saw Sakura, the kunoichi greeted the family and stood in front of them.

"Himawari-chan" she acknowledged the little one. "Boruto" she smiled and then brought her eyes up to meet her longtime friend and both smiled at each other.

"Sakura-san!" Himawari repeated and Sakura took her eyes off the Hokage for a second. "I have something to tell you!"

Sakura laughed for a second. "I think I know what it is" she smiled. And Himawari stared at her. "You could become the third apprentice of Tsunade-sama or so I've heard" she grinned at her and Himawari smiled.

"Yes!" she answered excitedly. Sakura smiled at her excitement. The kunoichi was sure Himawari would learn fast under the tutelage of Tsunade, the fact is she had outstanding chakra control even higher than an average Hyuuga, which would put her ahead of the rest students to become doctors. She also had a good chakra reserve heritage of her father; those two things together just make an excellent formula for a good doctor. And that is without adding the motivation and hard work that Himawari would bring to the table. She had already started to learn some basic jutsus with Tsunade but excelled at that and never once gave up, Tsunade had to stop Himawari a few times because she seemed determined to master it all and didn't seem to mind self-exhaustion. Sakura guessed determination came from Hinata, but the stubbornness was all Naruto.

"If you need any help, you know you can come to me, right?" Sakura said. Himawari's eyes opened widely and she smiled, as if the offer was something, she wanted but didn't know she would get it. Himawari nodded enthusiastically. "You're heading home?" Sakura asked looking at Naruto, Naruto on the other hand, during the whole conversation did not look away from Sakura, something Boruto noticed but decided to not dwell over.

"Uh… yes" Naruto answered scratching his neck. "We came back from Ichiraku's just now" he said. "Did you just get off the hospital?" he asked wondering why so late this time, by now Naruto knew Sakura's schedule perfectly. The reason? He paid visits constantly to her office, sometimes he would just stay in her office even when she was busy treating patients. But most times, he would arrive after he was done with his work and hang with her as she wrapped up her daily paper work, the latest she had left the office was 19:00. Yet it was past that hour, and Naruto started to wonder if maybe something was wrong.

"Oh no… I got off early and wanted to spend it with Sarada" she said, and Naruto could sense a sadness in her voice. "As you remember she has a mission tomorrow and since she won't spend tomorrow with me…" she said and stopped herself. "Well… what am I doing?" she asked looking up at the Hokage "You sign the missions, you know!" Sakura said looking at Naruto and changing the subject. "Anyway… so we went to eat, and she just left"

"Oh yeah, she has that mission with the other sensor types…" Boruto mentioned. "But it's a simple mission she won't be far for long" he said looking at Sakura. He couldn't understand why she wanted to spend time with her daughter before she left, as if the mission Sarada was going to was dangerous, which it wasn't it was a simple reconciliation mission.

"Yeah, I know" Sakura smiled. "Anyway… I hope you have a good night, I'll see you later!" she bid farewell and grabbed the bag she was carrying it tighter. Naruto noticed it was a paper bag with fish and vegetables in it. Before he could say goodbye to Sakura, she was out of sight. Himawari kept walking and Boruto waited for his dad to catch up… but he kept staring at the path that Sakura had taken and Boruto grew suspicious. Then again pushing that thought out of his mind, he grabbed Naruto by the arm and woke him up from his sleep.

"Let's go old man!"

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For some reason Naruto couldn't sleep. Sleep hadn't been a problem for a while now, he assumed that is how things would happen, back to normal… but not really. He welcomed sleep, but this time he was awake for another reason than the usual. The reason being… the weird exchange he had with Sakura at the market. Maybe weird wouldn't be the best way to describe it, as a matter of fact, Boruto and Himawari didn't notice anything weird. But he did. Because he knew Sakura, and he felt that she was off, could she maybe had fought with Sarada?

No, they never fight. And whenever they do, Sakura is more angry than sad. He tried thinking of hints. For any other person, they could have assumed the kunoichi had an off day, but Naruto couldn't assume just like that, because he knew Sakura since they were kids. He could tell her humor by the book, even when she tried to pretend. He rolled around the bed and saw his clock marking 3AM. He sighed. Then a flash of that day was brought to his mind, she was carrying food… but one food in particular; tomatoes.

Naruto stood up and walked towards his desk, he sat down and pulled out a calendar. And he understood.

Tomorrow… today technically, would be the anniversary of Sasuke's passing. Three years now.

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The smell of cooked rice covered the whole house, the sound of the knife hitting the wooden board where she was cutting the lettuce was the only noise coming from the kitchen. She diligently cut the tomatoes, she made a mental note that maybe she was overdoing the amount of food she was making, after all, Sarada was out but the thought left her mind as fast as it came. It was the one day she would allow herself to do things that solely made her happy, remembering him was one and cooking his favorite dish even if it was illogical for everybody else was the second one. She smiled as she poured the tomatoes on top of the cooked rice, she nodded with content at the finished product. A sound reminded her she had left some bread in the oven, she turned around and bent to get it. The smell of baked bread filled the house and replaced the previous odor. This smell was better, she admitted. She looked at the clock and noted that it was 13:00, she chuckled at how much time she had spent in the kitchen. She had started the whole process at 9:00, but she didn't mind the time spent. It was a special occasion and cooking, even though she never was a fast cook was one of the most fun activities she liked doing. It was a luxury that she barely got to do since she worked at the hospital long hours, but today was an exception.

She heard a knock at the door, and for a second the thought of Sarada coming back to spend today with her crossed her mind, but the idea left her mind as soon as she recognized her guest.

"Naruto?" she asked opening the door. She noticed how she didn't feel disappointed but rather excited at her guest. She saw Naruto often, some weeks more than she would see Sarada since she would go on missions more and more often, and Naruto would pay constant visits to her office. But instead of feeling bored of seeing Naruto, she observed how soothing his presence was to her, it was as if she was stressed but didn't notice until Naruto came and took the stress away. The blond one smiled, he crossed the door and hugged her. Didn't say anything but it was as if it was what Sakura needed. She hugged him back and they stayed like that standing in the entrance for several minutes. But none of them minded, and they didn't move until she heard another noise coming from the kitchen. Another timer for some boiling water she left in the kitchen.

She looked up from the hug and smiled at Naruto. He smiled back at let go off her, as he saw how she slowly left his arms and disappeared inside the kitchen.

"It smells good" he said after he closed the door and walked towards the kitchen, he stood by the door and saw Sakura take some corn from a pot. She laughed in response and looked at him.

"What brings you here Naruto?" she asked while putting the corn in a plate.

"It's his… today" he slowed his words as soon as they left his mouth. Sakura smiled sadly and nodded. "I wanted to see if you wanted company, you know? Sarada is on a mission and… well…"

"I'd love that" she answered looking back at what she was doing.

Sakura and Sarada had spent the first anniversary of her passed husband's death together with a group of friends, but it felt hard since they had to keep a brave face. The following year, they spent it by themselves and cooked Sasuke's favorite dishes, it all felt better that way, they cried, and they laughed, and they shared stories of Sasuke. It felt intimate and nice. This time, on the third anniversary, Sarada was out, but Sakura decided to keep on the tradition by doing the same activities she did but without Sarada. The addition of Naruto felt like it could lighten up the day.

"But wait… are you staying for the food or to keep me company?" she asked lightening up the mood.

"Well…" and as he was about to answer his stomach growled causing Sakura to laugh. "both" he finished joining on the laughter. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"It's all set" she said turning around with a plate of corn and another one of onigiri. "You can help me bring this to the table" she signaled some tuna sliced on the kitchen table.

"We are having all of the teme's favorites" he said. "I see a lot of tomato" and Sakura smiled in response.

The table was set in the living room, there was a glass wall that led to the garden. The Uchihas moved to the house that belonged to Sasuke's family, they had a garden now, Sakura thought of moving to a smaller place since the family would only be Sarada and her. But Sarada pleaded to stay in the household, and so they kept it. Sakura didn't have trouble paying it and the memories of it were too precious to lose, they had renewed the house when they moved in with Sasuke. It was quite a surprise when Sasuke suggested it to Sakura one day, she thought maybe the memories of the tragedy that took place would drive him forever away from that house, but Sasuke suggesting the moving made her realize he had made peace with what had happen when he was a kid. They did renovate the house, it looked close to entirely different than what it originally looked like, but they kept a few things the same, Sasuke asked for the garden to be kept the same, for that was the place where his mom spent most time and the staircase, because it reminded him of Itachi. These last things he shared with her on the rarest of occasions as they were sitting at their previous home and looking at the blueprint of the future renovations. Sakura noticed then how comfortable Sasuke had become with her, at the beginning of the relationship it would be she who would ask questions for him to open up, and little by little he would start telling her more and more until one day—same as that day—he started telling them randomly, sharing openly but only to her. Something she cherished a lot. Sakura remembered that with a smile as the took a sip of her green tea.

"What's funny?" Naruto asked before giving a bite to his onigiri.

"I was just reminiscing" she smiled. "Sasuke liked the garden" she said. "it reminded him of his mother".

Naruto stopped eating and looked at her.

"Did you know he asked me for help to get those Sakuras here?" Naruto said. Sakura looked at him now the confused look belonged to her.

"What?" she asked and looked at the garden, three Cherry Blossom trees on the sides of the garden covering it all with a shade of pink. "They weren't here from the start?" she asked.

Naruto denied with his head and explained. "He mentioned he would get the property back that belonged to his family" he started. "He also said 'I need Ino Yamanaka to set some trees there' which is the way Sasuke would word requests"

Sakura laughed at this story, Sasuke getting Sakura trees for the house prior to them moving would be probably one of the sweetest stories that Sakura had heard of her late husband. She had told him he liked that tree a long time ago but thought it would be cliché to have it in her garden because it would clash with her hair, she thought he hadn't paid attention when she told him that, but he had.

"So, you asked Ino?"

"Yeah, she didn't mind. I thought she would have told you" Naruto said, and Sakura denied with a smile.

"I love them" she said as she finished her tea. She had set a candle for Sasuke that day, next to it was a tomato onigiri, green tea, cooked corn and tuna with species. She had this tradition with Sarada to set the table as if Sasuke would pay them a visit that day, she would think everybody would find it weird but doubted Naruto would say anything about it. Which turned out to be true, he didn't bat an eyelid at the candle nor the extra spot on the table.

"Is this what you did last year?" Naruto asked from across the table.

"Yes" Sakura confirmed after a few seconds. "Sorry I didn't invite you that time, Sarada and I wanted to be alone"

Naruto nodded with his head.

"Don't apologize, I understand" he said. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"It's easier to deal this year I think, and I appreciate your company a lot" she smiled. "Sarada is out so I thought it'd be hard, but it's been okay. I think it'll hit me later"

Naruto looked at her and smiled. "When it does, I'll be here"

Sakura smiled at her friend, he didn't have to say it. At this point she knew Naruto would be there for her no matter what. She thought maybe it was a bit arrogant to think that way, but he showed time and time again how he had her back so she was confident if she ever felt like crying or breaking down…he would be there.

"I mean if you need distraction or if you want to cry" he added.

Sakura chuckled. "Yeah… we've had our fair share of crying I think" Naruto nodded.

They kept eating in silence, Sakura never ceased to surprise herself every time she noticed she had spent several minutes (sometimes hours) with Naruto without talking. They had developed the type of relationship where no words needed to be said, if someone had told her 17-year-old self that she and Naruto would spend a lot of time together in silence, she wouldn't have believed it. One, because Naruto at 17—or any age prior to that—would talk endlessly always feeling like he needed to fill in the empty pauses in conversations and two, because she was the same. Naruto on the other hand, had realized this sooner than Sakura but he didn't think about it as much as she did, he enjoyed silence with her something that he didn't have with his other friends and he cherished it but to him it was what he knew would happen eventually. He remembered one day after he finished his training with Jiraiya in the Mount Myoboku that Jiraiya compared Naruto's friendship with Sakura, with the one he had with Tsunade. So, to him they would eventually behave more how Jiraiya and Tsunade did, they would share a lot of moments just communicating by small gestures or by mere looks. To Naruto it just made sense.

"Sakura-chan" the blonde said suddenly startling Sakura. They had both finished their meal and Sakura was fixing the dessert which was Dorayaki, Sasuke hated sweets but this was the only dessert he enjoyed, after Sakura begged him endlessly to try it for days.

"Hm?" she asked.

Naruto sighed and Sakura stopped what she was doing. "I have something to tell you" he started. Sakura left the spoon she was holding on the table to make sure she could pay utter attention.

"Yes?" she said. Naruto took a deep breath and continued.

"That night when…when Sasuke died" he said, his eyes didn't meet Sakura and she could feel his voice struggle, his frown growing deeper. "It was my fault". He waited for a reaction from her, but none came, he looked up at her and he could see a frown forming in her face, but her eyes were not staring at him like he thought they would. "To stop the fifth war from unleashing, we went to the Otsutsuki hideout Sasuke and I had taken care of the clan while Kakashi and the rest of the assembled team took care of the portal, everything was going according to plan, but the Otsutsuki leader came at me, I didn't have time to react since Kurama's chakra was sealed in that moment by Momoshiki and I got distracted, Sasuke intervened and took the fatal shot that was meant to be for me" he finished explaining. "I never dared to tell you what happened"

His voice trembled in that last sentence his hand was in a fist, he still didn't dare to look up, he was waiting for Sakura to yell or throw something at him. And he would take it, because nothing would make up for what he did. Nonetheless, none of those things happened, and instead Naruto felt soft hands on his fist. He looked up across the table and saw Sakura with a sad smile but reassuring eyes.

"I know" she said. Naruto's face had confusion all over it.

"How?" he asked. He tried to think if anyone could've told her, but he couldn't come up with a valid reason.

"I just knew it" she said. "I knew from the moment we were together after the fourth ninja war that Team 7's destiny would be to die for each other" she said. "I know Sasuke wouldn't have died if it wasn't protecting someone he loved. It's just how it was supposed to happen".

Sakura stood up from the table and crossed to the other side so she could be closer to her friend. She grabbed his face so that he would meet her eyes. "Don't blame yourself, it's how life occurs, it's not your fault and he died protecting his brother"

Naruto fought back the tears and reprimanded himself. This was the day Sakura had to be mourning her passed husband, but instead she was comforting him, he felt ashamed. And as if Sakura could read his mind, she pulled him up from the chair so that he was standing in front of her and without letting him react she hugged him.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan" he said.

"Don't hate yourself, he wouldn't want that" she said. Naruto hugged her back tighter than usual. After what seemed like five minutes, she broke the hug and looked at her friend, he looked down at her and saw a few tears on her cheek, he cleaned them with his hand right away. "Come, let's have some Dorayaki"

They talked and talked for hours, Sakura told him how much Sasuke talked about Naruto. He didn't believe it, she explained that it was with small gestures, but he thought of Naruto as a brother, just like what he had with Itachi. Naruto told him the whole story of how Sasuke gave him a hard time when he used his hawk for personal business, because after some time Sasuke explained he would need Taka to deliver something to Sakura. They laughed and when it was about to be midnight Sakura turned that laughter into crying, and Naruto held her, he held her until she fell asleep. He thought of waking her up or picking her up and taking her to her room, but instead decided to stay like that: his back against the wall, his head facing the garden and Sakura on his chest, one hand of his on the floor, the other one holding her.

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A fresh windy cool and crispy air started whistling and the first rays of sun fell on their faces. Sakura started to gain back consciousness, she opened her eyes and was slightly startled by the realization that she had fallen asleep, more importantly, on her friend. The blonde was still sleeping, his hand not leaving Sakura's waist and she blushed when she noticed this. The girl started shaking the Hokage and he slowly rose to consciousness, he yawned and looked down at her. To her surprise he didn't look astounded by the realization that they had fallen asleep together, he greeted her with a smile.

"Morning Sakura-chan" he said causing again for the woman to blush.

"Good morning" she responded trying to get ahold of herself.

He let go off her and she started to stand up, the blonde one took longer than she did. She knew he wasn't used to getting up quickly, after all she had been in charge of getting him out of bed several times. Once they were both standing up, she walked inside the house and he followed.

"Naruto, do you want breakfast?" she asked still a little bit shaken up by how they fell asleep.

"Oh no, Sakura- chan" he denied politely. "Boruto and Himawari are probably wondering where I am." He said and Sakura nodded understanding but slightly sad that he wouldn't stay longer. He walked towards the main door followed by Sakura, he opened it and turned around. "I see you Monday?" he asked a big grin on his face.

Sakura smiled back, his smile was contagious.

"Ah… no" she answered remembering something. "I'm going to be in Suna for three weeks" she said, and Naruto's grin slowly disappeared.

"Suna?" he asked.

"Yeah, they're opening a new Children's hospital and I have to make sure it starts running smoothly" she said.

"Oh"

"I thought you knew" she said. "But I think the paperwork started when Shikamaru was making the decisions so he might have signed that one"

"Oh yeah" he said scratching his neck. "I see" he said smiling at her. Before he could walk away, Sakura grabbed his hand and intertwined his fingers with her fingers.

"Naruto" she looked at his eyes for what seemed like forever. "Thank you for everything" she said.

Naruto smiled and hugged her one last time.

"I'll see you in three weeks then" he said while letting his friend go.

She could feel his smile was not genuine so as he started to walk making his way to the Uzumaki household Sakura added "Naruto, you can use my office even if I'm not there as a hideout! You know that, right?" she asked.

Naruto a few meters ahead already turned around and smiled at her.

"Yeah" he said. "Thank you" and as he bid goodbye, he couldn't explain to himself the deep emptiness that he was feeling at that precise moment. The prospect of using her office as his own personal hideout where to escape responsibilities didn't seem attractive as he thought it would seem. And he kept thinking about those three weeks he wouldn't hear from her, he tried to push the thought out of his mind, but as much as he tried it just kept crawling back, it was objectively irrational, and it scared him that he had even thought about that. As soon as he reached his home, he closed the door behind him and rested his head against the door. The same thought swarming back to his mind, he frowned as he stopped the battle within himself, he had to accept it, he would miss her.

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Please write me a review if you liked it, constructive criticism is also accepted! I try to improve constantly and since this is my first NaruSaku I really want to hear what you think!

There's more NaruSaku coming but a lot of understanding and coming to term with what they're feeling in this confusing stage of the story for the main characters. Please stick with me!

I promise it will become sweeter and yet very real, I hope you enjoy this ride with me.

With love,

Nena-Uchiha22