Please don't ask for an explanation

I already know there is not a single one I can give

That will satisfy your hunger of wanting to know

Why?

What could make me do such a thing?

In truth…sometimes I don't even know

Sakura was not dumb, she wasn't dim or stupid either, she didn't not notice details in everyday life, despite what some of you (or maybe all of you, I'm not quite sure) may think. Sure, she would be the first to admit that when she was just a bit younger she had been…immature (a slight understatement). But then again, she wasn't ever the one to first point out that she had grown up tremendously since she first became a genin.

Her teacher had noticed it before her, her mother noticed it before she did, her teammates noticed it before her too, hell, even her rival realized how much she had matured in little less than a year.

But even so, even with all her rather new found maturity, Sakura still had her moments of immaturity, as we all do. This was one of the reasons Sasuke didn't expect her to try and find out why their other teammate could be not be found anywhere he would normally be. But, to his slight surprise, she did.

And that was why he had been avoiding her for at least a week straight, walking quickly in the opposite direction she was going if he happened to spot her somewhere, blurting out (rather panicky when it's recalled ) that he had something to do if she happened to find him and ask him if she could talk to him.

All of this had worked so far, and he hadn't expected her to try anything else than meet him in public and try to get him to tell her what the hell was going on.

And that was why it greatly surprised him when he answered the door the day after speaking with Naruto to find a very annoyed looking Sakura, usual ninja clothes replaced with ones akin to those of a civilian. Red sweater, blue jeans and tennis shoes, she pushed through his doorway, turned to meet his eyes, a glare formed on those green eyes that had never been directed at him before.

Closing the door, he asked simply and cool,

"…What?"

Her glare deepened as she crossed her arms over her chest, saying,

"You know what Sasuke-kun…you've been avoiding me for a whole week, Kakashi hasn't assigned any missions or training sessions, and neither of you will speak to me. I want to know where Naruto is…"

And then she started crying…he hated it when people cried, it made him feel awkward and displaced. Emotions, my dear reader, were one of the few things Sasuke was no genius at. It wasn't like she was bawling…but still, she stood up straight, as if to say she wasn't going to stop until he told her what was going on.

And then she spoke again.

"I know you and Kakashi know where he is…if you didn't you wouldn't be avoiding me like I was some sort of plague. It ticks me off that neither of you will tell me, because I'm his teammate too you know!" she said, her voice cracking every now and then.

There was silence for a minute or two that was calmly filled with the sound of Sakura sniffling and the sound of water hitting the floor.

"I'll show you…but his won't like it." Sasuke said, finally not being able to handle the idea of Sakura crying over something like this. But then again, had Sasuke been any normal person, he probably would have been just as distraught as she was.

Her crying stopped as a look of shock came over her face. Apparently, she had prepared herself for the worst, which would have been Sasuke shrugging her off and telling her to get out of his home. Sasuke said nothing as he opened and walked out the front door, listening as Sakura followed behind, closing the door.

The early evening of mid October was pleasant enough, cool winds and a warming sun, but still Sasuke was glad for the long sleeve shirt under his normal high collard shirt. Before long he'd have to replace the white shorts he normally wore with a pair of pants, as he always did when it came time for winter.

Walking close to him, Sasuke could see that Sakura was indeed quite confused; she knew the only place this road would lead to was that rehabilitation center she had seen Sasuke come from yesterday…

She stopped walking, staring at the back of Sasuke's head. Turning around as he stopped, Sasuke arched an eye brow at her; silently asking what was she doing. He couldn't help but wonder if she had figured it out for herself.

"He's at the rehabilitation center…isn't he?"

Sasuke didn't need to answer as she started walking again, he going the opposite direction as she walked past him, directly towards the center.

He knew she was mature enough to handle this…he hoped.

It was during breakfast that both Miyuki and Airashii noticed the small, subtle changes in their new friend. Far more quiet than usual, pushing the food around the tray, taking a nibble or two before declaring he was full, taking the tray to the conveyer belt to where it would be cleaned…and they still had fifteen minutes left to eat.

Something was wrong.

"What's up?" Miyuki asked as he sat back down from carrying his 'finished' tray over the the belt.

"Nothing much…just tired."

"I hope you know today is the official "Do not Bullshit Your Friends" holiday…it's when you can't try and bullshit your friends." Miyuki said with a mock serious tone.

Naruto snorted and dug his head into his orange coat covered arms, the old thing having been returned to him when Miyuki finally realized how tiring the color could be on ones eyes.

"You sound like a shrink." He answered, not really wanting to explain why he was so nervous and edgy and quiet and all the things he hadn't been around them.

"It's also "Don't Try and Change the Subject" day, didn't you know?" it was Airashii who spoke this time, munching away at his food and drinking his black coffee.

Naruto stayed silent for a moment, looking up only to see two sets of eyes waiting patiently for his answer.

"Well…you guys might not know this, but when I first came here, I jumped out of a window on the first section here…obviously they eventually caught me and brought me back here." Naruto started, leaving out details for the moment and listened to Miyuki whisper, "I knew that had to be you who did that…"

"But", Naruto said, "the person who they ended up sending to find me is my sensei, for being a ninja you know? And so, he brought me back here and we sort of talked." Naruto said, swaying as his tone changed from fairly serious to almost uncaring.

"Well, what'd he say? Is it the reason why you're so…like this?" Airashii asked, idly trying to spin his chopsticks like a top.

Naruto cleared his throat and watched Miyuki chug her carton of milk before speaking.

"He said he'd give me two days before we're going to have a talk…and it's been two days."

Both winced as what was said made its way to their brains…they had heard many, many people complain how nerve wracking a talk could be. They had both seen extreme cases of this, where some people actually threw up before such a talk…some even passed out and more than one had tried to run away. Luckily (or unlikely, depends on how you look at it), neither Miyuki nor Airashii had ever had to endure such a thing, simply because all of their living relatives had died a long time ago and their parents had died on their own time…neither sets of deaths at all enjoyable. Naruto was the first one they had ever seen hide his nervousness this well…it was sort of scary.

"Well, no wonder you acting so out of sorts. You must be nervous out of your mind." Miyuki said.

"Well, I was hoping it wouldn't be that intimidating."

All three looked to the owner of the voice, each having a different reaction.

Airashii looked at him for a moment, smile and went back to eating what little food he had left.

Naruto paled considerable and continued to stare.

Miyuki, on the other hand…

"Ah! Creepy sneaky pervert, don't sneak up on me!" she said, pointing an offending finger at him.

Kakashi's visible eye turned downwards in mock sadness.

"The creepy and sneaky I can understand…but I haven't done anything perverted."

"Who are you creepy pervert and why have you come amongst us rejects?" Miyuki yelled dramatically, causing several tables full of people to turn their attention towards the "creepy pervert".

"I…have come to talk with Naruto." Kakashi said, eye curling into a smile.

Miyuki stared for a moment, turned to Naruto and asked,

"So he's…"

"Yep."

"And that's why…"

"yep."

"And is he really a…"

"Yep…he's a pervert."

"Hey…What I read has nothing to do with my likes and dislikes." Kakashi said, whipping out said reading material.

"Oh." Miyuki said, sitting back down and thoroughly not enjoying the awkward silence that had settled.

Snapping the book shut, Kakashi said quietly.

"Naruto…I need to speak with you."

Standing up and following the retreating back of his teacher, Naruto glanced back as both of the cousins held up their thumbs, mouthing the words 'Good luck!'

Making their way down the halls, Kakashi lead them into the boys' sleeping quarters and sat down on the first bed of the room, leaving Naruto to stand there. Patting the spot next to him, Naruto made his way to the bed and sat down next to his sensei, listening to the bed creak under their weight.

And then, there was a deep silence.

One thing Naruto hated most in the world was waiting when you knew something big was going to happen. He couldn't help but think back to a saying he had heard once "The wait its self can kill you." Right now it couldn't be truer.

"Naruto…" Kakashi began, listening to the sound of his students heart speed up.

Kakashi sighed, he didn't want his student to be scared or nervous…but he guessed a little bit of nervousness or fright would have to come if he wanted to figure things out, even if he didn't want the fright or nervousness to happen to begin with.

"Why?" he asked, hoping that answering that simple question wouldn't be too much for the boy.

But, it might have been, because that's when the flood gates decided to open for Naruto. Silently and seemingly without much emotion, Naruto cried openly in front of his teacher.

Now, it wasn't like Kakashi hadn't seen Naruto cry before, far from it. But this time, it seemed different. Before, Kakashi had only seen the boy cry out of emotion he felt for other people or out of pure anger and frustration brought on by people or that was held for people. But this…this just seemed to come from nothing but emotions Naruto had about himself.

"Because," Naruto finally spoke, voice cracking slightly, "bad stuff happens to me all the time Kakashi-sensei. Stuff that I don't know how to deal with at all and I hate myself for it." Naruto was quiet for a moment, before continuing, "I mean, what normal person does this to themselves!" Naruto seemed to be asking himself more than Kakashi as he held out his slightly exposed arm, the sharp contrast of his scars showing clearly against his skin.

"Well, you know, it wasn't your fault that this abnormal life was given to you. Why take it out on yourself?" Kakashi asked, staring intently at the exposed flesh of his student's wrist.

"…who else would I take it out on? It's not like I have a personal punching bag or anything, and it's not like anyone else taught me how to deal with shit like this." Naruto answered, bringing his knees to his chest and hugging them there, eyes stopped crying and he wiped away the tears on his face.

"Shit like what?" Kakashi asked, having an idea what he could be referring to.

A bitter smile formed on Naruto's as he spoke,

"Did you know Kakashi-sensei; I was five the first time I got seriously beaten up on my birthday. I hurt so bad afterwards I didn't move from my home for three days, and no one came to make sure if I was even alive…except for the Hokage-sama."

"And don't ask why I didn't tell anyone." Naruto finished as Kakashi had, in fact, been opening his mouth to ask just that.

Naruto laughed bitterly as he continued,

"I guess I had already learned by then that if I made a big deal out of what people here sometimes do to me, they make an even bigger deal out of it once they served what ever punishment they were given. And all I ever wanted them to do was be done with what ever they happened to be doing at the time and leave me be."

"Well, what would they do to you?" Kakashi asked, hoping it wasn't what he was thinking they might do.

Naruto shrugged his shoulder in an uninterested fashion,

"Mostly just stole stuff or wrecked the apartment…nothing that couldn't be fixed."

He heard the small sigh of relief that came from Kakashi's mouth. Now Naruto was glad he had gone against the idea of maybe telling him that those people would often if not always molest him if they broke into his apartment when he was there…given, they had never actually gone the whole way and had done it with him., just touch and being touched. But, by no means did this not affect Naruto…in fact, it had been one of the main reasons he had ever even picked up a blade to begin with.

"Naruto…let me see your arms." Kakashi said, rather abruptly.

A look of shock crossed over Naruto's face before he dug his face into his arms, still wrapped around his curled up legs.

Mumbling something Kakashi couldn't quite catch, he set his legs down so his feet almost touched the ground and shrugged off one sleeve of his coat, leaving the expose flesh of his forearm and most of his upper arm to the prying eyes of his teacher.

Naruto couldn't help but feel like climbing into a small hole in the ground and staying there until his life time was over.

"Both arms please Naruto." Kakashi said.

Naruto sighed, shrugged off the other sleeve of the jacket, stood up, held his arms out for his sensei to see, and turned his head as to not see what emotions might flash his that single eye.

Kakashi couldn't believe it. There were so many scars.

He gently took the small wrists into his hands, running a thumb over the nearest marking. He studied them carefully, turning the arms over and back again and again. Some of the scars were in neat rows, like little soldiers, others were scattered at random. Some were vast, others skinny. Some were very old, some still an angry red. Some that had healed had become bumps because of how deep they had been. Some were even on the tops of his hands.

In all his years, Kakashi had seen many, many things that he wished to this very day he could forget. But nothing else except for Obito's attempted suicide compared to this. To see someone, his student and someone he considered precious no less, doing this to themselves it was…he couldn't even think of a proper words for it. It felt horrible knowing someone you cared about was suffering and not really knowing what to do to help them.

"Naruto…how long have you been doing this?" Kakashi asked, trying to make eye contact with the boy.

Once again, Naruto mumbled something that Kakashi couldn't catch.

"Naruto…even if I'm a ninja, I still can't hear what you're saying if all you do is mumble."

"It's been five years…a few days over five years Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said eyes still averted.

Kakashi dropped Naruto's arms so they hung at his sides.

There was a small lapse of time before Kakashi spoke again.

"How did you hide them?" Kakashi continued.

"I made a jutsu for it. It makes an illusion that my skin isn't like this," he gestured to the skin of his forearms, "I use that a lot, but I sometimes cover them up with clothes, you know." Naruto said, twiddling his thumbs.

"You've cut yourself in places other than your arms…right?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto visible flinched at the words 'you've cut yourself'.

"..." was the answer Kakashi's received for his question.

He took a moment to look at his student and was saddened by the image his mind saw and the thought behind it. The boy who to a rather good portion of the village was a scapegoat, had no biological parents to speak of, lived alone in a run down apartment…and hurt himself because no one had ever bothered to teach him as a child what could help him cope when he felt sad, angry or depressed. Then and there, Kakashi had a very small epiphany.

If…if his train of thought was the truth, every basic aspect of normal human behavior for the boy had been self taught.

Now that he thought on it, it amazed Kakashi how much Naruto had taught himself in his short life time. Would have had to teach himself to read and write, would have had to try to learn proper manners, of both the etiquette and social kind…why, the boy would have had to grown up and teach himself when he was probably just learning to walk.

Standing up, Kakashi wrapped his arms around the short boy, squeezing slightly as he heard Naruto start crying again, a little louder than before.

How lonely that life style must have been…no wonder he was in enough pain to seriously do what he was doing…

"You don't have to show me them…just tell me where they are." Kakashi whispered; rubbing circles on Naruto's back as he felt the boy clutch at his shirt.

"Everywhere", Kakashi heard the muffled reply as his shirt started to feel damp, "they're everywhere; on my sides, my legs, my thighs, my chest, my shoulders, the nape of my neck…I put them where ever I can reach.

Kakashi again, for the second time that day stunned at the pain the boy would inflict upon himself.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi could hear the boy sob into his shirt.

"It's ok Naruto…shh, it's ok", the older man tried to calm the boy down enough so he would stop crying at least, "just…can you promise me you won't do it again, can you promise me that?"

"No." Naruto said, sobs reducing until he was only hiccupping, tears still soaking into his teachers shirt.

"Why can't you promise me that?" Kakashi asked, continuing with the back rubbing.

"Cause I know already I'm not ready to stop…and I don't want to make a promise with you and turn right around and break it. It's against my ninja path anyways." Naruto said.

Both were silent as Naruto sniffled a little.

"And…can you tell me why can't you stop?" Kakashi asked.

"Because this village will always hate me for something I supposedly did when I was a new born. This village will never see me as I am…I'm just a dumb kid trying to get through life, not the demon that killed their loved ones." Naruto replied, looking up and staring Kakashi straight in the eye with his red rimed and slightly blood shot eyes.

"Why can't they see there was no possible way for me to do what some of them blame me for? I was a baby when the fox was sealed in me…I didn't even have a choice in the matter! How can they be so stupid?" Naruto asked, on the verge of crying again.

Kakashi was silent for a moment, thinking over what should be said.

"They…they don't know any other way and I know it's not fair to you and I know it's not your fault, and you are very correct about them being stupid. None of what's happened to them and their families' years ago gives them the right to treat you like they do, no matter what they think you did or didn't do…if you just told me…"Kakashi said, trailing off as Naruto crushed his face into his sensei's stomach as he began to cry again, much louder than before and was now bordering the sobbing territory.

Sighing deeply, turning his head to the ceiling, and squeezing his arms around the small figure once again, he asked in a soft voice,

"What happened to you Naruto? What happened to you that would make you hurt yourself so badly?" Kakashi asked the boy softly.

His answer was silence, all except for the boy's clutch on his shirt becoming, if possibly, stronger and his crying becoming loud and heart wrenching sobbing.

When he randomly entered his group therapy session, no one (not even Airashii or Miyuki) had asked what had happened and no one asked why he was late…the look on his face was enough to tell them anyways.

"Had a bad day so far, I take it." Tamada (his shrink) said to him as he flopped tiredly into a large plush chair she had in her room.

"What gave that away?" Naruto answered sarcastically; well aware he probably didn't look so hot right at that moment.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked, rather timidly, for a experience shrink such as herself knew that some patients could get very violent if asked the wrong question.

"No…I hate talking about things that don't need to be brought up." He answered, curling up into the overly large chair.

She didn't need to know that since and when he was little, since people would often break into his home and steal what little money and valuables he owned when he was away, the easiest way to make money was to deliver drugs for the dealers that lived not too far away from his apartment.

She didn't need to know that by the time he was ten he had tried practically every illegal drug under the sun, even to this day would still steal a pinch here and there when the cutting wasn't enough to let him drown his pain out. She also didn't need to know that if the dealers decided to be stingy with the money he needed to feed himself with, it usually meant he'd have to disguise himself in his Sexy-no-jutsu form (usually a little altered), head over to even shadier parts of town, and give hand jobs for the price of five bucks. Blow jobs were an extra five.

No…in fact no one needed to know all these things, even if he desperately wanted someone to know what they hell he had been through and what he was still going through. He wanted at least someone to know how hard it was for him to push his depression and pain down past his knees and into his feet each day and have a huge smile on his face.

He knew that his smile could brighten up people's day, simply because he was Naruto…the one who was never sad, the little brother, the one who always made you smile, the epitome of a bubbling youthful and happy kid.

What would they think if they knew what he had to do when they weren't around, just so he could live and keep that smile up for them…even if it wasn't really real at all.

"Well", the woman said, "if I am to be so bold to say… those scars are telling everyone who see them a completely different story then you try to portray."

Naruto had no comeback for that, other than a barley spoken sentence.

"I'm screwed up…aren't I?"

"Only just a little, so far as I can tell…if you'd speak to me more openly about things, I'd be able to make a better statement for that question."

"…"

Naruto was positive that eventually, this woman would know more about him than any other. Not today, and probably not tomorrow, but, yeah someday she'd know the things that he thought she didn't need to know.

"So…Miyuki, how have you been?" a very young doctor asked, clipboard and pen in hand, sitting comfortably as she waited for Miyuki to get comfortable.

"Well, now that I think about it…pretty good." Miyuki said, thinking about how the last two days had gone…minus last night's dream.

"I see…I've heard you've made a friend out of the new boy who came, what's his name?" the woman asked, leaning back in her chair and kicking off her high heels.

"Naruto…Uzumaki Naruto. And yeah, his nice enough…but I still haven't fully given him my trust." Miyuki said, twirling a strand of her long white hair between he fingers.

"So…have you had any thoughts of cutting since yesterday, I heard one of the attendants found you awake really late last night."

Miyuki sighed…she hated it when shrinks wanted you to say things out loud so you'd hear them yourself.

"What do you think happened Saraii? I had the same nightmare I always do…my dad beat me up, made me touch him and touched me back…like when it happened for real, durrr!" Miyuki said, keeping a calm exterior in firm place.

Saraii sighed heavily.

"What am I going to do with you?" she asked good naturedly.

"You could always say 'She's not crazy anymore, let her out!'" Miyuki suggested, slightly hopeful.

Saraii looked at her for a moment and snorted in laughter.

"That's what I love about you Miyuki…you've got such a great sense of humor."

"You may bask in my glory!" Miyuki said sarcastically, sticking out her tongue happily as she listened to her shrink laugh her butt off.

By the time the second recreational time rolled around, Naruto was beyond mentally tired, hadn't felt like eating during lunch so was now hungry and the only thing good that had come out of today had been he'd been able to sneak his Cd and Cd player out of the art therapy room. Plopping down on to his bed in the boys' dorm, he curled up on to the comfortable mattress and tried to let himself fall asleep to the music pumping into his ears.

I never conquered, rarely came
16 just held such better days
Days when I still felt alive
We couldn't wait to get outside
The world was wide, too late to try
The tour was over we'd survived
I couldn't wait till I got home
To pass the time in my room alone

Not the most proper song for someone to catch him listening to…but then again, he didn't expect many people (if any at all) here to understand the English language, so he suspected he was fairly safe.

Naruto could feel his mind shutting off for rest and fell asleep to the song ringing in his ears.

I never thought I'd die alone
Another six months I'll be unknown
Give all my things to all my friends
You'll never step foot in my room again
You'll close it off, board it up
Remember the time that I spilled the cup
Of apple juice in the hall
Please tell mom this is not her fault

"Naruto." A voice snapped him out of sleep, causing a chain reaction consisting of Naruto yelping, the person standing by him yelping and then the person standing in the doorway yelped as well, despite herself. Upon recognizing exactly whose yelp from the doorway belonged to, Naruto promptly fell out of bed, Cd wiring tangling his feet.

"Man, what kind of ninja are you?" Miyuki asked as she walked around to the side of the bed Naruto had fallen onto, helping the untangling process and helping him to his feet.

Looking to the doorway, two words escaped his mouth,

"Hey Sakura…"

"Oh, so you do know her!" Miyuki said, "I'll let you guys talk…I'll bring you something if you miss dinner, ok?"

And then she was gone.

About ten minutes earlier, in the waiting room.

Sakura had managed to find what section Naruto was staying in and what level as well, and had finally made it to her destination with only a slight headache from it all. What she met on the other side didn't help it too much.

Where the waiting room and desk was sat a fairly short row of chairs, only one being occupied at the moment, the desk its self void of personnel. As the door behind her clicked shut (Sakura sighed in relief that there was now something between her and that crazy Kiriva woman) Sakura looked from the girl sitting in a far chair to the desk and back.

"I might be able to help you if you asked." The white haired girl said, snapping the purple book in her hands shut, standing up and straightened her sweat shirt and jeans.

Sakura couldn't help but be slightly intimidated by the red stare she received from the girl and all she managed to stammer out was a simple,

"I'm looking for someone…"

"Well, who are you looking for?" she asked tilting her head to the side.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Sakura answered.

The girl seemed to deflate slightly, putting her hands to her face and sighing angrily.

"You guys need to give him a break you know…"

"What…?" was all Sakura managed before the girl held her hand up, a sigh to stop talking.

"Yesterday, peacock haired pretty boy showed up and they ended up having a pretty loud argument…today his sneaky perverted sensei came in and talked with him for more than two hours, and now you show up…how exactly doe you know him?" The white haired girl inquired.

Matching the descriptions of the two people she had described, Sakura quickly concluded that, indeed, both Sasuke and Kakashi had already visited the boy.

"I'm his teammate." She answered.

"Ah…I see…you know how lucky you are?"

Now this caught Sakura totally off guard.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you know just how lucky you are to have your life? You're pretty, you're obviously smart, you probably have a ton of friends, loving parents…do you know how many people here would kill themselves to have a shot to have a life like yours?" the girl said, an odd look coming across her eyes for a moment , it passing as soon as it had come.

Sakura stared, having nothing to say for herself, chewing over the girl's words.

The girl sighed again,

"Don't mind my rambling…I'll show you where he is."

But Sakura did mind her rambling, and thought on it too. Was…was she really that lucky to be who she was, to have her life?

A very odd silence filled the room as Naruto watched Sakura and Sakura watched Naruto. Sakura was the first to move.

Flinging herself onto him, she latched onto him in the form of a hug.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, gingerly embracing her back.

As she let go of him, he saw her eyes were glazed over with water and his breath hitched.

"I was scared! I didn't know where you were and neither Sasuke nor Kakashi would say a word to me! Please don't get mad at Sasuke, I made him at least point me in the direction you were in." Sakura said, rubbing her eyes free of water.

Pushing what he was really feeling past his knees and into his feet, he managed a smile to form on his lips, when all he really wanted to do was freak out appropriately and be left alone…probably even get all angsty and such.

"Ahhh…I'm sorry I worried you Sakura…I just…" he left his sentence hanging.

"Why are you staying here anyways? What happened?" a sacred look filled Sakura's eyes again, looking Naruto up and down as if there would be a sign for her to read on what had happened.

Naruto was silent for a moment, truly now wishing he could just properly freak out and not have to deal with this for the moment.

Taking a deep breath and looking away from Sakura's eyes, he slid one sleeve of his coat far up enough that he knew she'd be able to see clearly what had been done. When several moments had passed, Naruto lowered the sleeve, turned, and sat back down on his bed, his back facing Sakura. He waited for her to leave, he waited for her to yell, be disgusted, hit him…but he didn't expect what happened next.

Two slender arms wrapped around his shoulders and the bed sank slightly with her added weight.

"I'm sorry…so sorry Naruto." Sakura whispered her voice full of emotion.

They sat like that for some time and probably would have had Sakura not gotten up, gently kissed the back of Naruto's golden hair covered head and left, promising to be back soon.

A while later, a voice accompanied a new weight that made the bed sink slightly.

"Want to talk about it?" Airashii asked, resting his own back against Naruto's, he pushed a small napkin full of food to Naruto.

Naruto snorted, sighed and then began with a simple,

"Today sucked really bad, and I mean really bad…"

Ino was a person who loved surprises but this…this was almost too much.

Here was her sworn rival of love, standing at the doorway to her family's flower shop, bawling her eyes out.

Ino raised an eyebrow, her rival mode soon being drowned out by 'concerned for sometimes friend' mode.

"What happened Sakura?" Ino asked, inviting her inside.

Sakura was silent for a moment, taking he time to try and compose herself.

"Ino…I need to talk to you about Naruto..."

Now…that took to cake when it came to surprises in Ino's book.

Thinking back on it as she crawled into the futon Ino had set up for her (the blond had convinced the other girl to stay the night after her retelling of what had happened and what she had seen) the words of that white haired girl played in her mind,

/ Do you know how lucky you are/

Yes…Sakura had a small idea now of just how lucky she was to have been given the life she had.

This was such a sappy chapter! dies of own chapter's over abundance of sweetness I think I may have given myself a freaking cavity! Oh jebus!