Windy Days

by phoebe.a

Pain is like the wind: it can knock you down and blow you away. But, in the end, you're the one that's going to choose whether you're going to fight it or let it push you down. Naruto X Sakura. Kakashi X Anko. Alternate Universe.

6. Fated Luck

Windy Days

Chapter Six: Fated Luck

If there was such a thing as luck, Naruto believed that the Gods must have been stingy with it when it came to him. It was now the second day in a row that he accidentally locked himself out of his car. Yesterday, the first time he locked himself out, it had been during a downpour and by the time he managed to walk back to his apartment to retrieve his spare key, he was soaked to the bone. And now today, the skies were still crying rain, but to make his life a little more difficult, the wind was blowing the raindrops in every direction. His jacket was more insufficient since the rain jacket he had on yesterday was sitting in a soaking pile of laundry.

He took a peek into his car and spied the silver glint of his keys on the car floor wedged between the seat and the door. The keys had fallen out of his pocket, as he exited, along with his wallet. His cellphone on the other hand was still propped up in a spot above the cup holders in its stand, charging.

"Damn," Naruto grumbled before pitifully pulling the collar of his hoodless jacket to cover as much of his face. His cheeks were already a cherry red because of the cold, the tips of his ears a blushing pink, and the tiny drops of rain were little slaps against his numbing face.

The young rocker attempted to walk home, but it was difficult to see a meter ahead of him because of dark skies and the condensed outpour of water. His cotton shirt under his jacket and well-worn jeans were soaked through. In a matter of minutes he was shivering in the cold. He tried to find a haven to wait out the rain, but the streets were devoid of people and it was already too late for most stores to be open. So, he soldiered on and walked, a little uncertain of his bearings. Then, a few yards away, he spotted a bus stop, one complete with a bench. Naruto figured that it would provide him with more shelter than standing out in the open and who knows, the bus might actually come for once.

After waiting for over an hour, it was clear to him that no bus would be coming. Damn the rain, damn the wind, damn his idiocy for shutting the damn door before making sure he had his keys, wallet, and phone. He grumbled as he staked out for any passing car. His lips quivered as his teeth chattered uncontrollably. The next car he saw, he was going to get it to stop, and he didn't care if he got killed in the process. Anything was better than freezing his ass off.

XXXX

One thing that Sakura hated after a fourteen hour shift at work was running across a big, dark parking lot to her car. By the time she had the key into the ignition, her hair was flat with moisture and her uniform pasted onto her shivering skin. The worst thing about having an older car was the fact that not only did the AC didn't work during the summer, the heater tended to malfunction as well, usually when it was needed the most.

"Come on, turn on!" she urged the heater with a slap on the dash. Her windows were fogged up and was going to stay that way unless she got the heater working. She waited a few more minutes until the car warmed up a bit more before trying to turn the heat back on. This time, someone up there must have heard her threatening pleas.

"Yes!" She puffed out a relieved sigh as the fogged up windshield started to clear to reveal the heavy splattering of rain. "Okay, now, don't turn off."

Sakura turned on her headlights, backed out of her parking spot, and made it onto a main street. She was about to turn left onto the road leading to the highway, when a construction-orange sign informed her that the road was closed due to flooding and possible landslides.

She cursed and made an illegal U-turn. Now, she had to take the long way home and drive through narrow roads to the next exit. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the steering wheel. Even with the bright headlights, she could only see a few feet ahead of her car. All the traffic lights ahead were nothing but blurry spots on a black background. The weather was unforgiving as it lashed out against her tiny, yellow 1995 Volkswagen.

Moments later, like out of a horror movie, there was a blur of movement on her right and then a pale face staring back at her through the windshield. There was only a split second to swerve out of the way. Sakura opted to swerve to the left, risking on-coming traffic as she slammed on the brakes. She cursed in fear as she barely missed the idiot in the middle of the road. Her car, because of her reduced speed, didn't jump the sidewalk or the rails at the opposite side of the road, but it did fishtail and now she was facing the wrong way on the wrong side of the road.

For a moment she could do nothing but stare out the front of her car in total shock. Her breath came in prickly gulps. Her heart beat faster than a punk-band's percussion solo. The incessant pitter-patter of the rain somewhat eased her muddled mind birthing her indignant anger. The idiot almost got himself killed and almost took her with him for the trip.

The lanky, pink-haired woman exited her car with the least grace possible and pivoted toward her target. Uncaring that her uniform was now soaked through because of the rain or that her exposed arms were shivering with gooseflesh, she marched toward the suicidal soul lying in the middle of the road.

"Are you crazy?" She shrieked. "You could have been killed!"

She grabbed the poor sod by the shirt collar and pulled him up that way.

"What kind of idiot runs into the middle of the road?" she shook the limp body like a dishrag until she realized that he'd passed out. His neck, devoid of tension, lolled forward, his hair a brilliant mess. The care taker in her pitied the sorry bloke and took immediate control of the situation. Her fingers settled on the man's neck looking for a pulse. His pulse was fledging, probably steadying from the run to the front of her car, but his skin was heated in a fever.

Sakura brought him off his back on the ground. She literally dragged him to her car, which, for once, luckily, was only a few feet away because of the angle her car tail-spun. She nudged the passenger door open with an awkward pull and a strategic hip-check. She had to lean down with the man's deadweight on her shoulder and back as she tugged on the lever that lowered and pushed back the seat. Luckily, he wasn't one of those bulkily muscled men. She gave a loud grunt as she used the rest of her strength to push the man into the car. Even with the seat pushed all the way back, the man's legs were bent because of his height. He had to have been at least six feet tall, not a lot of men were taller than Sakura's five foot ten model-like frame.

It wasn't until the moment that Sakura had the man laid down on her now soaked seats and turned on the car light so she could look for the bottle of aspirin she kept in her glove compartment that she became aware of just who it was lying in her passenger seat.

"Naruto," she gasped as she dropped the bottle of aspirin onto the floor under his legs. "Crap."

She couldn't help but spot the humour in it. The object of her desire just jumped in front of her car. It was silly actually; but after the weekend getaway at his estate, she couldn't help but wonder how he was doing or if he even thought of her despite the impossibility of it all. A girl could dream, right?

Sakura bent down to grab the bottle as a particularly strong gust of wind blew against her back. She shivered and was reminded that she had to get both of them out of the rain. She closed the passenger door with her knee and rounded the front of the car and entered the driver's side, aspirin bottle in hand.

She shut the door behind her and sat down, her pants adhering to her legs uncomfortably. Sakura turned the car on, and, thankfully, the heat worked. She backed up and did a reverse U-turn of sorts and found herself on the right side of the street on the way home. She took one last check of her patient's fever to see if it had increased in temperature or not. The fever seemed to be sorting itself out without the aid of aspirin although his skin still felt hot to the touch.

It was a silent drive for Sakura had many things keeping her mind occupied and Naruto stayed unconscious even until she reached her apartment. Once the old Beetle was parked in its proper spot, did Sakura try to shake the blond rocker awake.

"Hey, Naruto, wake up." She pulled her hand away from his shoulder when he gave a painful groan in response. "It's going to get cold again if you don't move. I don't think I have the strength to carry you anymore."

His eyes stayed close until the moment he ascertained that he didn't know where he was, he only heard indecipherable murmurs of a woman's voice. With this thought, he jumped up into sitting position scaring Sakura who gave a surprised yelp.

"Where am I? Where did you take me?" he spurted groggily. "Are you an alien?"

It took him a couple minutes for his sight to focus on to the face of the woman who haunted his dreams the past few weeks. He must still be dreaming, or he was surly dead.

"My God," his face crumpled, Naruto was sure that he was dead. He hadn't even found a steady girlfriend yet.

"Wrong person," Sakura smiled and placed a soft, cold hand on his thrumming forehead. "Come on, my place is just up those stairs, it'll be warmer there." She said indicating to the illuminated door; the only light source in the otherwise dark parking garage.

"N-no, please…" he begged. "I don't want to die yet."

"You're not going to die, just get the hell out of my car and follow me up." Sakura's patience limit had been reached. After fourteen hours of work and then getting run off the road and now having a man thinking he was dead really drained her patience supply.

She exited her car and pulled open the passenger side door. She reached out her hand to the weeping baby in her car. Her crush on Naruto was starting to wane after seeing him crying. But, she knew that people dealt with shock differently, so she carefully helped him out of her car and got him into the stairwell leading to the first floor.

"Come on, Naruto, stop crying, you're going to be alright. You just have a little bit of a fever, nothing a little aspirin and rest can't cure." She kept a hand on his shoulder for no other reason than to comfort him.

"I can't stop," he had stopped sobbing, but his eyes still watered. "Are you really Sakura?"

"Yeah, I am," she replied.

The confirmation stopped Naruto's tears completely. He looked up to clearly see that it really was Sakura before him. Her hand on his shoulder started to burn him. Realization hit him hard: he was crying like a baby in front of the last person he wanted to see him cry.

The awkward silence rattled on until they reached her apartment suite. Sakura opened the door with a key, disappeared into the kitchen area, before coming back to the puddle of water in her foyer and the man standing in the center of the said puddle.

"I turned the heater on, so it should get warmer soon. First things first, we have to get out of our wet clothes. I don't think that I have anything that will fit you, but you can try on one of my night shirts, they're pretty big on me. And I have towels and blankets that will cover everything else." Sakura stated.

"Are you sure I'm not dreaming?" Naruto asked her jokingly, "Because you just quoted word for word one of my fantasies."

Sakura gave a dry laugh; she was too tired to deal with this right now. "I'll shower first. The hot chocolate is in the cupboard along with the cups, you'll find a spoon in the second drawer by the sink. If you want to take the aspirin for your fever, I left the pills on the kitchen counter. Make yourself as comfortable as you can. I'll grab some towels for you and the puddles."

Naruto watched the green-eyed beauty as she sashayed across the apartment floor. Despite her now-stringy hair, smudged eye make-up and red cheeks, he still thought her pretty. Internally, he was still beating himself up for the crying and the awkward joke. This was Lee's girl; he had no right to take advantage of her kindness. He pulled off his jacket and shirt. The room was starting to get toasty warm. He rubbed his hands together to warm them up.

Sakura returned with a squeak as she came upon Naruto Uzumaki—the same Naruto Uzumaki who was the lead singer of one of the most famous bands in the world—half naked. He was definitely built like a man, she was wrong about her assumption on his build before. He was all lean muscle and defined.

She cleared her throat to get his attention. He turned to face her and she felt her knees grow weak.

"Um, here are some towels and a couple blankets you can use. Oh, and if you want to use the phone it's right over there." She said pointing to the phone in the far wall near her two-seater couch.

"Thank you," Naruto said. "And I'm sorry for intruding on you like this. I know that Lee will probably beat me up for this."

"How about I'll take a shower and once we're both dry I'll listen to your story. And if I think that it's a good enough reason for running in front of my car, I'll promise to not sick Lee on you. This'll just be our little secret." Sakura took a towel from the pile and paraded off to her bedroom with the only bathroom.

XXXX

Naruto knew that if he was smart, he would use the phone and get someone to pick him up. The sooner he was out of Sakura Haruno's life, the better it was for the both of them. But, the selfish jerk in him, wanted to spend just a little more time with her. So, after talking his conscience out of using the phone, he took a couple aspirins and downed it with tap water from the sink. He had draped a towel over his shoulders and mopped up the puddle he had made on the floor. He could still hear the running water in the other room, and tried to ignore the fact that the woman of his dreams was only a room away, undressed.

Damn him, damn his perverted thoughts, and damn his stupid heart for falling for a woman who would never want him—a woman who was already in a happy relationship with one of his best friends.

"Damn it, Naruto, get it through your thick skull, she's Lee's girl!" he chided himself. "Don't forget it."

When Sakura re-entered the room, she was completely dry, her exotic coloured hair was exceptionally pink that night, or early morning: an observation dependent on the type of person. To Naruto, four o'clock was early morning. His body felt the exhaustion and lack of sleep creep up on him. But, for Sakura, it was still night, because she had another shift later on in the day.

"Sorry I took so long, the water was just so warm," she said as she smiled at him. "Hey, you should take a shower too. I'm sure that there's still some hot water left. I'll go look for something you can wear."

Sakura handed the blond man one of the towels she left for him.

"The one quirk about this apartment is that the only bathroom is in the bedroom. You see, this apartment and the one next door used to be one suite, but the owner built a wall right here." She said as she pointed to the said wall located in the current living area. "But, if you ask the guy next door, I got the better side."

Naruto was unable to get a word in edge-wise, but didn't care so much. He was thoroughly mesmerized by the woman's natural charm. So, he had no choice but to follow her through the only part of the apartment that he hadn't visited yet. They entered her bedroom with a wave of her arm motioning him to enter after her: it was girly enough with the bright red pillows and sheets, the boy band posters (including one of Soleil), a vanity complete with a mirror, and the room smelled uniquely of her.

Sakura opened the door to the bathroom and Naruto felt as if he were transported to another world. He'd never seen a bathroom so clean before, the walls were a septic white and all lotions, ointments, and soaps were in see-through cabinets. The floor was tiled as were the walls around the tub. The mirror was large, but not hugely so. The sink was an older style but fulfilled its purpose. Since the rocker hadn't been fortunate enough to know his mother and was raised by men, he never had been so uncomfortable in a bathroom before.

"So, the body wash is here. You can use this shampoo, sorry if it smells like strawberries. And to turn on the shower, you just have to turn this lever thing like so, and then voila!"

She looked at him as if she was expecting him to say something profound, but his mind was still blank.

"Uh," he began. "Thanks."

"It's no problem, just holler when you need dry clothes." That said, Sakura beat a hasty retreat. Why did she have to babble like a geek? Of course, Naruto knew how to operate a shower.

The sooner he was out of her house the better. He was—er—is Lee's friend. Lee being the man she was currently dating. Sakura felt terrible at the thought of Lee. He was nothing but nice to her, a true gentleman. Even though she refused to make their relationship official, he still waited for her. While she, on the other hand, was crushing on his best friend.

Sakura decided that there was no point in worrying about her current love-life, because she knew that in the end of it all, she was the only one who would be walking around with a broken heart. She only had a few more months left and then she'd be able to pay off all her student loans. She wouldn't have to pretend anymore. But what, she wondered, what would it cost her?

"Uh, Sakura?" she heard Naruto call from the bathroom, knocking her out of her reverie.

"Um, I'll be there in a second." She opened her first drawer and pulled out the first shirt she could grab and a pair of baggy sweat pants.

The green-eyed beauty knocked on the door softly. Naruto opened the door a crack.

"Here," she said handing him the clothes.

"Thanks," he quipped, taking the clothes and closing the door once more.

"I'll meet you in the living room. I still have to find out if you're worth saving from Lee's wrath."

"Alright," was his simple reply.

XXXX

Sakura had just finished making two hot chocolates and set them on her round dining set when Naruto exited her room with a towel hanging over his shoulders. The sweat pants she gave him were stretched tightly against his legs and he wasn't wearing the shirt he handed to her.

"They don't fit too well," he stated the obvious. "And the shirt you gave me wasn't a t-shirt. It's one of those hospital shirt thingies."

As proof he held up the scrubs she'd handed him by mistake.

"I'm sorry. I'll get you a shirt." Sakura scurried to retrieve the right shirt. She handed him a dark-red t-shirt which was one of her favourite sleep wear. But, after seeing his build, it was the only shirt big enough to fit him that she had. "Here." He took the shirt and pulled it over his head, it fit him perfectly, unlike the ill-fitting pants.

"Actually, I was just wondering if you worked at the hospital or something. You were wearing one of those shirt things—"

"Scrubs," she supplied.

"Yeah, you were wearing scrubs before." Naruto questioned. "But, I swear, Lee told me that you were a model from London."

Sakura ignored his enquiry until she passed him the cup of hot cocoa and sat across from him on the dining table. Both of them taking long sips before she answered him.

"I'm going to level with you, Naruto." She gave a deep sigh. How could she end up possibly ruining her livelihood and her heart in one night? Should she lie like she had to Lee, or finally tell someone the truth, well, as much of the truth as she could?

"I did model in London when I was younger, but then I realized that modeling didn't help me save the world, like I've always dreamed myself doing. So, I decided to finally go to school after so many years of having my mom pitch the idea. I entered this program here in Konoha and it allowed me to fulfill of my prerequisites in one year before entering medical school. That was a hard year, and it cost me a fortune. But, at the end of it all, I knew that I was finally on my way to saving the world. I finished my doctorate a year and a half ago before I met you guys. I had been working odd hours at the hospital as an on call paramedic for six months until the beginning of this year when I was promoted to become a surgeon under Dr. Tsunade—"

"You know the old lady?" Naruto couldn't help but interrupt. "She's Hinata's doctor, you know?"

"Yeah, I've been present during some of Hinata's check-ups although, she didn't notice me there."

"Does Lee know?" Naruto felt that the information that he was just privy to was confidential.

"No, he doesn't know, Naruto," Sakura answered. "He doesn't know anything about this. And I don't want it getting out, okay?"

"But why?" Naruto asked. As much as he was happy that he knew something about Sakura that Lee didn't, it wasn't something he wanted to keep to himself. "Lee's feelings for you won't change, if that's what you're afraid of."

"That's not what I'm worried about, Naruto." Sakura sighed. "My relationship with Lee is complicated, and I—well, I don't want to hurt him."

"How will telling him that you're a doctor hurt him?" Naruto asked incredulous. "He'd be proud of you. I'm proud of you. You could have lived a much more comfortable life as a model, but instead you chose to turn your life around and serve the rest of humanity instead. If you think that Lee is that shallow to dump you for not being a model, then you should get Dr. Tsunade to give you a check-up. Lee would never—"

Sakura pressed her lips to his to shut him up. She couldn't hear any more about Lee. It was killing her leading him on, but one more word about his kindness was going to kill her out of guilt instead.

Naruto couldn't help but press his lips firmer against hers as he cradled her cheek in his hand. He'd dreamed of this, he'd wanted this. Desire possessed him, then the voice of his conscience pointed out something important: she was Lee's girl.

"Damn it," he swore after pushing her away. "I don't know who you think I am, Sakura, but I'm not this. I'm not someone who would cheat on his best friend."

Tears sprung in her eyes, because her calculating move backfired. She had thought that she could distract Naruto from his questions if she'd kissed him, but instead, he'd mesmerized her with his loyalty.

"Don't get me wrong, you're a great person, anyone would fall in love with you, but I can't." Naruto digressed. "I can't do this to Lee."

He stood up from his seat and grabbed his wet clothes off the floor, put on his shoes.

"I can't stay here." He passed her and made headway to the door. He didn't care if he had to walk in the rain again. He just couldn't stay here with the woman who not only tempted him beyond reason, but the woman who had already won his heart despite himself.

"Naruto," his name on her lips stopped him in his tracks. "The reason why I can't tell Lee is because, when I do tell him everything, I'm going to break his heart. I don't love him in the way he wants me to, but as a woman in my profession, I can't allow him to cage me with his love. I want to be free."

"Everyone wants to be free, but freedom has a price, Sakura." He retorted.

"I know," she agreed. "But, you must know that I'm an ambitious woman, and I've done heartless things to get where I'm at. I will stop at nothing to gain my freedom. I want to be free to save the world, Naruto, that's my freedom. And Lee doesn't fit in that picture, no one does."

"Isn't that backwards? How could you hurt people when you want to save lives?" He finally faced the evocative woman he barely knew, but loved regardless. "How can you want to help people when you think that freedom means being alone?"

"I can do it because the only person who gets hurt is me." She stated, her tears now overflowing. "Nobody will get hurt except for me."

"Are you sure about that?" Naruto's eyes glared at her, "Because I'm pretty hurt right now."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She repeated. He walked out, slamming the door.

As Naruto walked along the narrow hallway to the exit, he rubbed the place where she had kissed him. His lips still burned where hers had touched. The kiss was an electric shock to his system, and it threw him for a loop. Yes, he liked her, but she was supposed to like Lee, not him. He felt like the bad guy. He could have stopped her, he was sure of it. He could have done something.

Naruto gave an expatiated sigh reverberating from somewhere deep in his soul. He knew that he couldn't have stopped her kiss, because he didn't want to stop her. Instead of dwelling on his sins, he pulled on his wet jacket. The cold material soaking his borrowed shirt helped him forget for a while. He walked out into the rain once again. Of course, he didn't know where the hell he was, but it was just as well. He didn't want to go home where he was going to be alone. At least out here, he had the wind and rain as company.

XXXX

Back inside, Sakura was still staring at the door. A part of her wondered how she had hurt Naruto Uzumaki of all people. Another part of her wondered if he'd ever kiss her again.

The phone's ringing snapped her out of her musings. Looking at the caller ID, she knew that it was back to work.

/Haruno, what's up?/ The voice on the line asked her. /Secretary said that you needed to talk to me./

"I can't do it anymore, Anko." Sakura's voice came out as a whoosh. "They're really good guys, and I can't write about them anymore."

There was a definite pause.

/We have a contract, you can't back out./

"You can sue me all you want, but I can't do it anymore." Sakura clutched onto the receiver. "I'll return all your money."

/What happened, Haruno, don't tell me you actually fell in love with Rock Lee, did you?/ There was a taunting tone in the editor's voice. /Or did you fall for the creepy keyboard guy?/

"No, I didn't, but Lee and Shino are good guys. They're not spoiled, arrogant rich people like you made them out to be."

/You've been around them for months now; what's changed?/ Anko's voice became serious. /Why am I losing my top writer all of sudden? Something has to cause the change./

"I'm just tired of lying to these people. Naruto and the others are really kind, and they've let me into their lives. I can't go on abusing their trust." Sakura uttered, trying to find what's left of her dignity. "I can't help you ruin their lives with exposés and stories from 'reliable sources' anymore."

/That's rich, Sakura!/ Anko laughed on the other end. /This whole thing was your idea. You wanted money for it, and I gave it to you. You said that you'd have no problem getting the information./

"Anko, I quit. I don't want to do this anymore."

/Sakura, tell you what,/ Anko knew that if she pushed the other woman too far, she'd lose her. /Just do one last story for me, one covering the concert next week, and then we'll call it quits. That is, if you still want to quit after that. And you can keep the money./

Sakura knew that she owed her entire education to Anko. If it weren't for Anko taking her on after she quit modelling and moved to a city like Konoha, she wouldn't have been able to pay for medical school, let alone have enough money to pay for rent.

"Okay, deal." Sakura agreed, "Just one more story."

/And make it a good one,/ Anko added. /I have to go, I have a doctor's appointment in a few hours. Ever since my appendix ruptured three weeks ago, the old man's been trying to get me to work less hours. Between the old doctor and Hatake, you'd think I have cancer or something./

"You should take better care of yourself, Anko," The young surgeon advised. "Or let Kakashi Hatake take care of you. That man's been in love with you for longer than I've known you."

/I don't need to be taken care of,/ Anko grumbled. /I don't need stupid men falling in love with me./

"You're lucky to have someone you love, love you back." Sakura admitted. "I would give up everything I have if I could have such a guarantee."

/That's where you and I are different, Sakura. I would never give up everything for some man's love, even if I did share the emotion. And on the record, I don't love Hatake./

"Then you must be a lot stupider than me." Sakura said absentmindedly. And then after a pause, "I'm sorry, Anko, I didn't know what I was saying. I didn't mean to offend you. Hello? Anko, are you still there?"

Anko didn't hang up until this moment. The words hurt more than she thought it would. Anko thought that the admission of not needing anyone made her stronger, but she felt weak, alone and afraid instead. She had a guarantee, but what if one day Kakashi got tired of waiting? What if he realized that she wasn't worth it?

Sakura hung up on her end and watched the raging storm outside knowing that Naruto was wandering around in it.

"Actually, Anko, we're both stupid. At least where love is concerned." She whispered against the window, her breath fogging up the glass.

Maybe it wasn't luck that brought people in and out of her life. Maybe it was fate, some master plan that she could only see a part of. If that were the case, then Sakura hoped that her story had a happy ending.

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N/A:

Hello readers, I know that I'm dragging my feet when it comes to updating, but just so you know, I haven't given up on writing yet. I will write until I finish this story (and Target as well). This chapter focuses more on Sakura's background and her role in the story. I tried really hard to keep her in character, but in this story, she's a lot more mature (probably because of her older age, 25, than in the series).

For Naruto fans, I know that he was emotional and reckless in this chapter, but this is how I viewed him in the anime. Naruto was always the first to blurt things out and rush into a battle without thinking.

I would like to thank the readers who have reviewed and stayed with me all through the process, thus far (please don't give up on me!), and for those who wait ever so patiently for me to update. I really appreciate your dedication and patience to myself these stories. Just know that I don't forget about you. I alway think of you when I write a sentence or paragraph of each and every chapter. These stories aren't just for me anymore, they are for you to enjoy.

****Spoiler****

We now know that Sakura is HMH Magazine's mystery writer. Actually, here's a little Days Series trivia for you. I came up with the name of HMH Magazine by simply using Sakura, Anko, and Kakashi's surnames' initials: Haruno Mitarashi Hatake. So, ever since I've written the magazine into the story, I've always known that Sakura would be the informant for HMH.