Hola my darlings ^-^
Sorry that it took soooo long to post this chapter XD
Um, I'd like to thank all the people who reviewed my story =3
It is greatly appriciated =^-^=
This chapter isn't very good, but don't worry, the next one is where things get really intresting =S Whooooo!!!
That's right girls, get excited =D
So, thanks again, and please review, it would really make my day ^3^
Disclaimer: The anime Naruto and all of it's characters are not mine, never were, and never will be *sob sob* No matter how many times I close my eyes and wish .
-Chapter 4-
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Naruto stared back at the pink-haired girl, mouth dry, frozen to the spot. Sakura only stayed quiet for a second, before she started screeching and flinging her arms in all directions.
"What were you doing!" she yelled, loud enough that Naruto flinched as her words echoed through his head.
"Answer me Uzumaki!" she screamed. Her voice was loud, brash, but fear lurked in her eyes. A thousand scenarios were flashing through her mind. Did he kill someone? Sakura suddenly felt sick to her stomach when she thought of that. Naruto? Murder someone? No, not possible…no way…no fucking way!!!
Naruto was blown away by Sakura's reaction. She cares? A small smile appeared unconsciously on his lips, a bad move on his part. Sakura growled and thumped Naruto over the head, sending him reeling back into a wall.
"What the hell is so funny about…about that!!!"
The blonde realized what he had done, frowning at himself. The Kyuubi was rolling over inside of him, its bellowing laugh making him cringe.
"Well, tell me!"
Naruto looked up, harsh laughing still ringing in his ears. He covered them up with his hands, hoping to stop it, squeezing his eyes shut.
Sakura didn't understand this action, but thought to herself it was probably because she was yelling at him so loud, because she was scaring him.
She forced herself to calm down, breathing in and out slowly. She approached her team-mate, placing her hands on his shoulders.
"I'm sorry I yelled Naruto", she said quietly, tilting her head so that she could see his face.
"But you need to tell me what happened in the-"
Suddenly her eyes caught sight of the bandages that were hidden under Naruto's shirt. Her eyes widened and she stepped away, glancing back into the stinking bathroom.
Naruto opened his eyes, feeling Sakura move away. He took down his hands and let them fall to his sides. He went through what to say in his head, what was going to get him out of this awkward situation.
"Sakura I-", he started, fiddling with his zipper, not looking straight at her, praying that she would just forget about it when he spilled her his lies.
"Naruto", Sakura interrupted, lifting a hand to run it through her hair. "Did you…harm yourself?"
Naruto's mouth dropped and his blue eyes widened. He composed himself quickly, readying himself again to lie himself out of it. "It's okay, it's okay", he whispered softly to himself.
"No I-"
"Do not…" Sakura whispered, loud enough for Naruto to hear. "Lie to me".
Naruto bit on his bottom lip, ripping his skin slightly, tasting blood on his tongue. "I…did", he said, stumbling forward slightly. "But-"
"There are no excuses Naruto", Sakura said quietly, turning to face him. "No maybe's, no if's, not buts".
Naruto clenched his scarred arm, gritting his teeth together. How would she know?!
"If you were in pain Naruto, if you were lonely…"
She sighed, closing her eyes for a moment before pointing her gaze straight at the boy. "You should have asked for help, not do those type of things to yourself…"
Again, a sickening feeling settled in her stomach, threatening to push back up her breakfast.
Naruto turned away. He couldn't bear her looking at him like that. A gaze filled with pity. Pity for him. Because she thought he was sad, lonely…weak.
He hated that. Hated it more than anything. Anger flared up inside him, stinging his skin, every part of his body. He heard Sakura sigh. Another burst of angry flames coursed through his veins, causing his frame to tremble slightly.
The Kyuubi danced inside his head, feeling the seal weaken, waiting for an opening to let his chakra escape.
Naruto leaned against the wall, breathing loudly now, almost panting. Control yourself!
He was suddenly frozen when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist, hands catching around his stomach. He leaned back into Sakura, calming down almost immediately. Sakura had never touched him like this before, had never hugged him sincerely. Naruto's heart fluttered, blowing away the fire that had rumbled through him almost seconds ago.
The Kyuubi roared, but the sound was drowned out by the sound of Sakura's voice. "You aren't alone Naruto", she whispered, a smile pulling at her lips. But it was soon replaced with a frown and she quickly buried her head into Naruto's shoulder, guilt rocketing through her body.
"And…I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like you were…"
Naruto blinked and turned in Sakura's arms, for the first time today, actually looking into her eyes. "You never did-"
"No Naruto…I did", she corrected, smiling slightly. "And I just hope that you can forgive me".
Naruto nodded quickly, his hair bouncing up and down. He smiled brightly, filled with love for the girl.
Sakura couldn't help but smile back, releasing her hold on Naruto.
"Thank you".
"Anytime…"
Sakura slipped her hand towards Naruto's arm and pushed down his sleeve. Naruto blinked and took a step away. "It's fine", he whispered.
"Let me see", she said, following him closely.
Naruto turned his head to the side, a light blush covering his cheeks. Should I?
"Please".
He snapped his head back to look at the girl, looking into her pleading eyes. He quietly sighed and stuck his arm out for her to see, pulling back his sleeve in the process.
Sakura gasped silently at the amount of damage he had done. From his wrist to his elbow was covered with messy bandages.
She gently unwrapped his arm, letting the bandages fall to the ground. She held back her tongue as more and more cuts were revealed, one after the other. They weren't very deep, she told herself, trying to figure out what she was going to do about this.
Naruto's blush was deepening at Sakura's reactions. He knew it looked bad, he knew that he was foolish, that it was stupid. But he also knew that Sakura understood why he did it in the first place.
Sakura ran another hand through her hair, and then put it above the wounds, performing a medical jutsu.
Naruto hissed as his cuts stretched and healed. It hurt, but he knew that if he protested Sakura would only ignore him or hit him again, so he kept quiet and let her continue with her work.
After a few minutes of silence, only ten or twelve pink scars were left on Naruto's skin. His arm looked much better and it didn't make Sakura feel quite as sick as she had before.
Naruto flexed his muscles and shyly held his arm, glancing up into Sakura's face. "Thanks".
"Don't mention it", she said, turning around and walking swiftly to the door.
Naruto blinked and followed along behind. "W-Where are you going Sakura?"
"Where do you think", she spat at him, her temper now beginning to show through. Naruto gasped and grabbed onto her shirt.
"Don't Sakura! Please don't tell anyone!"
Sakura glanced up at the ceiling; not wanting to look at Naruto's begging eyes. She had fallen to those puppy dog eyes before and wasn't about to let it happen again.
"Naruto…", she said quietly. "I have to".
"No! Please don't!"
Naruto was nearly shouting, trying to keep Sakura form leaving. She saw through his forced movements, his forced smile and frowned.
"I don't want to lose you Naruto!" she finally shouted back. "I've already lost one of my team and if you think I'm going to let that happen again, you got another thing coming, moron!"
Naruto felt a pang in his chest when Sakura brought up Sasuke. His enemy, his rival…his friend.
Even though Sasuke didn't care about Naruto, Sakura or anyone, they still couldn't help but worry about him.
Naruto slid down to his knees, the pain in his chest getting worse. His guilt was taking him again. The Kyuubi's words echoed in his head again. "Give it up Naruto…"
Sakura turned away and looked out at the street. "I won't lose you", she whispered, more to herself than to Naruto and sighed, before shutting the door and walking away.
Naruto stayed curled up on the floor for the next couple of hours, with only the Kyuubi and his past memories for company.
