Normal POV

Time skip to 7:00 pm

"Come on in," said Sakura as she waved her arms motioning them to come inside. She closed the door behind them and walked into the small kitchen. The walls around her whole apartment were a light yellow. Many pictures of her family and friends hung on the white walls, all of them framed in a beautiful ornate white border.

Sasuke stuck his hands in his pocket as he followed Sakura to the kitchen. Her kitchen was simple and organized. Sitting down in one of the tables, he stretched his long limbs and grunted. Naruto was looking at the pictures hanging on the walls. His hands were behind his back as he bent over to see one of the pictures that hung right above the white couch.

It was a picture of Sakura's family.

As far as any of the members of Team Seven knew, Sakura had the normal life. She had a wonderful family and an easy life. She didn't come from any prestigious clan, unlike Sasuke. She didn't have any crazy siblings, just one normal older sister. Even now, Naruto's last name was changed from Uzumaki to Namikaze because of his father, the fourth Hokage. It looked as if everyone except for her had some special gift.

Naruto turned his attention from the picture of her family to Sakura who was in the kitchen, boiling some water. He saw Sasuke watching her from the table with cold eyes, analyzing her every move. Naruto walked from the living room to the table where Sasuke was sitting and gently pushed out a chair from under the table. Settling into the chair, he accidently pushed his chair out a little far and knocked over a small vase.

Naruto's eyes widened as he murmured, "Oh, shit." He reached for the vase with his large hands, but as he flung his arm out, the vase disappears mid-air. He stared at the empty air for a second until he looked up. Sakura was holding, no cuddling, the vase in her small hands. Her jade eyes were wide as she held the vase to her chest. Naruto's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

She set the vase back on the pedestal Naruto almost knocked over. Her eyes squinted as she positioned the vase exactly the way it was. Turning her attention away from the vase, she glared at Naruto. "Don't ever do that again, ok?" She looked at the vase. "That vase…it's important to me."

Naruto raised his hands to his face and shrugged his shoulders. "Yea, of course. Sorry about that," He started to laugh, but his laughter was interrupted by a large gurgling noise coming from his stomach. It was Sakura's turn to laugh. She held her stomach and laughed and laughed. Tears started to spring from her eyes. "Uh, Sakura-chan…it's not that funny," mumbled Naruto.

"Ah…uh…" sighed Sakura s she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I haven't laughed like that in a long time," She sighed again and walked back in the kitchen, leaving the two boys confused and little bit terrified at her sudden outburst of laughter.

Sakura turned around and put her hands on her hips. She smirked while pointing at Naruto, "I assume you're hungry?" She also pointed at Sasuke, "Are you?"

Naruto bounced up to Sakura and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "I want to eat anything you make! You know I love your cooking."

Sakura pinched the bridge between her eyes and shook her head. She twisted her shoulders slightly so Naruto's heavy arm would drop off. Her pink lips twitched upward as she questioned, "You want ramen, don't you?"

Naruto dropped to his knees and cried, "PLEASE SAKURA-CHAN! I HAVEN'T HAD RAMEN IN FIVE YEARS!" He held up his five fingers for emphasis. Pointing at Sasuke with a scathing look, he accused, "THIS TEME WOULDN'T LET ME! PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU!"

"Shut up, baka! Let's get you both settled in before we leave, ok?" Her body twisted around as she walked down the small hallway toward two doors. "Sasuke," she opened one door, "this will be your room. Let me know if any problems occur, ok?" Sasuke grunted in response. Walking further down the hallway, she stopped at another door. Twisting the brass knobs, she looked at Naruto. "This will be your room. Let me know if there are any problems."

Leaving the boys to investigate their rooms, Sasuke and Naruto walked into their rooms. Naruto's room was a little bit small, but cozy. The walls were a nice tan and the furniture pieces were white. There was a small walk-in-closet left of the door and a small table-stand was in the corner of the room. Naruto set his bags down and opened the closet. Multiple blankets and pillows were there for his bed.

After putting his clothes away, he scrambled into Sasuke's room. "Oy, Sasuke-teme!" he called.

He ran in as soon as Sasuke was putting away his clothes. His room was very different than Naruto's. The walls were not tan, but a navy blue. The furniture was black, and unlike Naruto, Sasuke actually had a bed. The bedframe was also black, but the metal-work was very ornate, twisting and turning to create a dream-like look. He had a tall black metal lamp next to his bed and a small table-stand as well.

Sasuke was surprised at Naruto's sudden barge-in, but quickly recovered. He placed the rest of his clothes gently into the closet and sat down on the bed. Naruto jumped onto the bed as well, making Sasuke roll of the bed. "Hey, Sasuke…" asked Naruto.

Slightly groaning from landing on his face, Sasuke jumped gracefully to his feet. Sasuke growled, "What!" Naruto may be his best friend, but he's still an idiot. He didn't even notice Sasuke on the floor because of Naruto.

Naruto just pointed at a picture on the table-stand next to the bed. "Who's this?" Naruto's finger pointed to a boy with brown hair and green eyes. Holding his new Konoha hitai proudly, he was smiling widely, showing his dimples on his right cheek. There was blood running down the corner of his head, but it seemed like the boy didn't seem to notice. His coffee colored hair was tousled a bit, a few leaves here and there. The boy was laughing and smiling at someone when the picture was taken. His emerald eyes flashed with happiness and excitement. The picture was probably taken after the Chunin exams because the boy was wearing the official Konoha vest.

Sasuke cocked his head to the right slightly , thinking about who the boy could be. He could sense Naruto boring his eyes at Sasuke, but he ignored it. "I don't know, why don't you ask Sakura?"

Naruto lost all of his curiousity as soon as Sasuke said that. He looked away from the picture and whispered, "I don't think she'll answer."

Sasuke detected Naruto's sudden discomfort and placed his hand carefully on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto tensed at Sasuke's sudden gentle gesture, but relaxed. "Naruto," asked Sasuke, "Why are you afraid to talk to her?"

"It was something I did…five years ago,"

One of Sasuke's eyebrows twitched upwards. "What did you do?"

Naruto quickly glanced up at Sasuke. "I…left her,"

Suddenly, the hand on Naruto's shoulder left as quickly as it arrived. Sasuke's mouth thinned and turned into a frown. "What do you mean?" Naruto couldn't even look at Sasuke. He was so ashamed. He did the exact same thing he promised to Sakura he would never do. He promised never to leave. That he wouldn't leave, just like Sasuke did.

Sasuke smacked Naruto's head to get his attention. "Well?" asked Sasuke, "Are you going to finish your story?"

"I left…to find you,"

"I already knew that, remember? You found me and hence," Sasuke waved his arms along his body, "here I am,"

"I know that!" Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke's snide comment. "But…I didn't tell Sakura-chan until it was too late for her to follow me." He looked at the hard-wood floor. "I didn't take her along, because the last time she went after you…you almost killed her. Luckily for her, I was there, remember? I jumped in at the moment you were about to stab her with the kunai." His blue eyes were filled with tears that refused to run down his cheeks. He sniffled and kept going on with his story. "I didn't want her to get hurt, especially by her own teammate. I thought it would be better for her, to stay in Konoha,"

"I was at the gate that night, five years ago. My bags were packed and I had enough ramen to feed a village," Naruto sniffled a chuckle. "Walking towards the gate, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around, but I already knew who it was. It was Sakura, standing behind me. She held my hand and told me that if I left that night, she would never forgive me. She told me that she would hate me forever," Naruto slumped back on the bed. His eyes stared at the ceiling fan above. "I told her to let me go and to not follow me. She didn't understand!" He slammed his hands onto the bed. "I couldn't let her go! What if she got hurt? What would I do then? She's like a sister to me. For me to let her come with me…it was too much. If she ever got hurt, I would be useless to her. So…that night, I told her to leave me alone. I told her that you wouldn't want to even see her. I told her...I didn't want to see her."

"I betrayed her, Sasuke. I left her…just like you did. I became a missing-nin, and I broke my promise to her. I knocked her out, just like you did."

He stood up slowly and put his hands to his face. Rubbing his temples, Naruto sighed. "Time flies, doesn't it old friend?"

Sasuke's eyes softened for just a moment as he replied, "I guess it does," Sasuke took his hand and hit the back of Naruto's head. "You have a lot of explaining to do. Especially to Sakura." Sasuke looked at his hands as he was washed over with a wave of guilt.

Just like you did.

Ignoring the feeling of guilt, Sasuke wondered, "Did you tell the Hokage this?"

"Of course. But it's no excuse…"

"It's time for you to tell Sakura this. I think she has the right to know. She has to know why you didn't bring her along with you."

Sasuke folded his arms around his chest and looked away from Naruto. His eyes furrowed as he mumbled, "Don't hurt her anymore."

Naruto's mouth turned into a cheeky grin. He bounced up to Sasuke and punched him in the arm. "You care for her, don't you, teme?"

"Shut up."

"You do! Sasuke likes Sakura!" Naruto pointed at Sasuke accusingly.

Sasuke ignored at Naruto's constant banter. How could he have such a fast change of mood? One moment he's depressed and another he's extremely happy and annoying. It's like he is having his time of the month, all the time. Sasuke shook his head and raised his hand. He rolled his hands into a fist and punched Naruto in the face, just to make him shut up.

Naruto fell to the floor in surprise. He stared at Sasuke with his wide sapphire eyes. All of the sudden, fits of giggles and chuckles emerged from Naruto. Naruto held his stomach and rolled on the floor. He sighed as he stood up and fixed his shirt. Then, placing his hands on Sasuke's shoulder, he suddenly turned serious. With a slight frown, he stated, "Don't hurt her anymore too, teme. Or I'll kill you."

His threat was real. Sasuke knew that.

There was one thing that Sasuke didn't know though.

That all this time, Sakura was standing outside the door, listening to her two boys fight and banter. Her hand covered her mouth as she tried to stifle a sob as she heard Naruto speaking about his sudden departure.

Even though Naruto was on the floor laughing, she couldn't stop crying. All this time, why didn't that idiot just say so? Sakura shook her head as she wiped her tears. Why was she even crying?

I haven't cried like this in years, maybe it just all spilled out.

She was going to come in to warn Sasuke not to mess with anything in the room.

That room was special to her. It belonged to her older brother. Another small tear rolled down her cheek. Brother…

}{}{}{}{}{}{

Hey guys!

I just returned from Korea, by the way, it was amazing.

I wanted to thank everyone for their reviews! I understand this is kind of a slow story, but I want it to be as elaborate is it could be. There was a little SasuSaku moment…kind of? Haha, well I hope you guys stick with me the whole ride!

Please, more reviews would be fantastic! Truthfully, I love reading all of your reviews. You guys are so nice!

Oh, and for the one person who recommended titles for this story, thanks so much! I loved the titles, but I want to hear from the rest of you guys! If I don't receive any more from this story, then I'm going with the one person who recommended me titles.

Ah, and before I forget. I'm holding a CONTEST!

I would like anyone to give me another plot line for my next story. I'm going to be writing this story along with this story at the same time. I would like to keep it SasuSaku related. I have nothing against any other couples, but it is easier for me to write SasuSaku stories. If you're interested, sign up for this contest by reviewing to this chapter. Thanks!

Thank you so much!

-mdrm 812-

P.S. I'll try making this story go a bit faster, but I'm trying to get it to be maybe around 50 chapters…so we'll see!

P.P.S. Surprise! I have summer school…woo? I'll try and post as much as I can, but summer school is kind of long…with a lot of homework, so I'll try! Don't be mad at me if I don't post as often! Thanks!