Hey guys, sorry for the little delay. I know I promised to post this yesterday, but I just collapsed on my bed after my final. It's a truly tiring life out there.

This story has officially passed 200 followers! I'm really amazed and proud, and glad that my writings can reach this many people.

To angelary, who didn't log in (shame on you *shakin ma head*), and wants to make a doujinshi for this story, I'd say go for it girl/boy! I'm glad You drew inspiration from this piece of fiction of mine :) And I'm really honoured!

Without further babbling, here's the chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it!

(I apologize for those who read it right after I put it out. I re-read it the next day and was horrified at the amount of typos I found, maybe I should read my writings before I post them *sigh*)


Chapter 7

"Your forehead is so big, it's like a billboard!"

A little pink-haired girl curled in on herself, sitting in the corner of a room filled with other small children towering over her, their smiles stretched big on their faces.

"I bet her mommy was huge when she was carrying her in her stomach!" laughed another kid.

Sakura brought her knees to her chest, and put down her bangs to hide her forehead from their mocking stares, her head hanging low.

"Hey, don't hide the attraction," snickered one of the older boys. "Let us look at it a bit more!"

The other kids laughed, teasingly pushing her around while she whimpered, hiding her head in her arms.

"Maybe we should cut her bangs off, that way she can't hide it anymore," suggested a little girl.

There was a consensus in which the other kids shouted their agreement, and Sakura's eyes widened, as her body started trembling. One of the little girls ran out of the room, and came back holding a pair of scissors in her hands. She approached the rose-haired girl, and crouched in front of her. She grabbed her arm to have access to her locks, but Sakura stayed obstinate, her head buried deep into her arms.

"I can't grab her hair," said the girl.

"We'll get it Lia," responded another boy. He grabbed one of her arms, and gestured to one of his friends to grab her other arm, spreading them apart. Sakura moaned in pain, keeping her head low in front of her, and Lia smiled mischievously.

"Come on, show us that pretty forehead of yours," she murmured softly. Sakura turned her head to the side, hiding her bangs from Lia, which resulted in the latter getting angry.

"Grab her," she ordered another bystander. The girl hesitated, but advanced nonetheless when she noticed Lia's icy stare, and grabbed Sakura's hair to yank her head backwards, offering Lia a good look at her face.

"Ah, there you are," smiled Lia. She grabbed Sakura's bangs in her free hand, and brought the scissors forwards under Sakura's terrified stare.

"H-hey, Lia, maybe this isn't such a good idea after all," stuttered out the girl holding Sakura's hair.

"You all agreed to this," responded Lia. "I want to see her ugly forehead."

"But this is a little too much," whispered someone else. "You're going to cut off her hair!"

"I don't care!" shouted Lia. "I want to cut off her stupid pink locks! The colour is too pretty for a stupid girl like her!"

Lia angrily yanked Sakura's head forwards, and cut her bangs in one swift motion. The pink locks fell at Sakura's feet, under her shocked face and wide eyes. The two boys holding her released her arms, uncertainty written on their faces. The girl who grabbed her hair released her as well, and backed away, looking at the room's entrance in fear. The room went silent, and Sakura shoulders started shaking, tears falling from her eyes, sobbing softly.

"Look at how ugly you really are," laughed Lia. "You can't hide behind your hair anymore," she said loudly for everyone to hear, looking around. "Do you guys see this? Look at her! She's hideous now that she doesn't have her hair anymore! Maybe that's why her parents left her here! They were stupid enough to have her, and they didn't want to look at her ugly face anymore," she laughed, turning around to look at Sakura. "Is that why they left you at the orphanage, forehead? They didn't want to be your parents anymore-"

Lia shouted as Sakura lunged forwards, tackling the cruel girl to the ground with an angry roar.

"What the hell! Let me go!" screamed Lia, thrashing violently on the ground as the other kids watched, frozen with shock at the behaviour of the usually cowardly pink haired girl.

"Don't talk about our parents with that filthy mouth of yours," said Sakura in a voice that none of them recognized.

They saw the cruel smile stretching Sakura's lips, as she curled her hand into a fist and brought it forwards. It made a loud crunching noise as it collided with Lia's cheek, and her head whipped around.

"Sakura, stop!" screamed another child, too fearful to advance and help the girl on the ground.

"Stop?" laughed Sakura humorlessly. "Why would I stop? She deserves what's coming to her, after everything she made us go through!"

"Let me go, you're crazy!" screamed Lia, crying pathetically and struggling to free her arms that Sakura was holding to the ground. "And who the hell is 'us'? Have you lost your mind?"

"Sakura and I of course. And why would we let you go? How many times has she begged you to let her go?" asked Sakura in a soft voice. "If you want mercy, you're going to have to try harder than that."

"Please, help me," whined Lia, ignoring Sakura's words and looking around for help. But none of the other children moved a muscle. She whipped her head around, and stared at Sakura with a mix of fear and anger in her eyes. "Once I free myself, I'm going to make you regret what you're doing to me!"

Sakura laughed, and looked around, searching for something. She smiled in triumph when she found the scissors next to the pile of her pink hair, and grabbed them, bringing them closer to Lia's face. "How about we cut your hair as well, huh? A tooth for a tooth, and eye for an eye, right?"

Lia's eyes widened, and she started thrashing around once again. "No! Don't do it, don't cut my hair! I'll never touch you ever again, I swear! I won't even look at you!"

Sakura pretended to think for a few seconds, running a hand through the uneven hair in front of her face that was now barely covering a centimeter of her forehead. "Why would we believe you? Once we let you go, you're going to go back to the same old habits, pushing us around, and playing with us like dolls," she whispered, and then smiled cruelly, bringing the sharp end of the scissors closer to Lia's face. "How about we pluck your eyes out? That why we'll ensure that you're not going to look at us ever again like you promised?"

The scissors were now edging dangerously close to the girl's eyelashes. Sakura could hear someone whimpering in the background, and hushed whispers going through the room.

"What! No, don't! Please Sakura!" screamed Lia, trying to push the pink haired girl off her.

"Oh, it's Sakura now? I thought our name was forehead?" smiled Sakura.

"Sakura," said another kid, an older boy that would usually make her trip when she walked around. "Stop this nonsense! What do you think is going to happen if you do something like this? They're going to kick you out of here, maybe even take you to prison!"

Sakura turned her head around to stare at the boy with the coldest stare he'd ever seen on her. "Take us away from here you said? Prison? We don't care what they do to us, as long as they take us far away from the likes of you!"

Sakura stared back at Lia, and brought the hand clutching the scissors upwards to give herself enough momentum to slam them down on the terrified girl underneath her. She clutched them tighter in her hand, and smile cruelly, suddenly bringing them down with force as a little girl in the room started screaming her lungs out.

"What is going on in here?" said a voice from the door. The kids looked at the newcomer, realizing that it was the orphanage's owner, Chiyo, who must have been alerted by the commotion. Chiyo's eyes went to the two girls on the ground, and her eyes widened when she realized what she was looking at.

Sakura was still clutching the scissors in her hand, a few centimeters above Lia's head, and the latter was sobbing on the ground, her eyes tightly closed, and her chest wracked by tremors.

"Sakura?" she whispered, shocked at the usually inoffensive girl's attitude. "What are you trying to do? Drop the scissors at this instant, and let Lia go!"

Sakura started blankly at the elderly woman, before her eyes went to the hand holding her weapon. Her vision blurred for a second, and she stared at the scissors dumbfounded, before a small scream left her lips. She released them from her grasp, and they clattered noisily to the ground.

"Oh God," she whispered out, staring at her trembling hand. She looked down at Lia, and noticed her teary eyes and terrified expression, and hurriedly got off her. She looked around at the puzzled kids, and their frightened gazes. Finally, her eyes met Chiyo's, and she saw the disappointment in her eyes.

"Sakura, what happened?" she whispered out, walking towards the girl. Sakura's eyes filled with tears, and before anyone could stop her, ran past Chiyo out of the big house. She passed in front of the grocery store where she would walk with Chiyo to buy their food, and in front of the park where she would go and sit on the swings to comfort herself, and remember her parents when the other kids would be too cruel to her. She didn't stop running until her tired legs brought her in the middle of nowhere, where she fell to the ground and started crying.

"I'm so sorry," she whimpered out, collapsing to the ground from fatigue.

The next time she woke up, she was lying on her bed back at the orphanage, and the very next day, Chiyo regretfully said goodbye to her as she was taken to the hospital, where the mental ward would become her home for the next two years.

Sakura came out of here reverie when a hand shook her shoulder. She looked up and was met by the blue eyes of her boyfriend, staring down at her with worry.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" he asked. "You kind of spaced out there for a minute."

"I'm fine," she replied, rubbing her tired eyes. "I was just thinking."

He sat down next to her, making himself comfortable on the sofa. "Are you worried about the hearing?"

Sakura had completely forgotten about it, but she nonetheless smiled at Naruto. "A little bit yeah. I don't know what's going to happen, and I'm worried about Sarada. She has to accompany us to this one this time."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and brought her to his chest. "Shikamaru is the best. That guy is a flipping genius, and he has a rate of success that is higher than Sasuke."

"I know that, I completely trust your judgement. If you say that Shikamaru is the best, I fully believe you," she smiled up at him, and he returned it with undisguised tenderness in his gaze. "Is Sarada still in her room?"

"Yeah, she hasn't come out of it," he replied.

"I think she's upset about the case. She didn't take it well when I told her that Sasuke planned on taking her," sighed Sakura. "I don't want her to hate him. I know he loves her unconditionally, and I fear that this case is going to put a strain on their relationship."

"It'll be fine," assured her Naruto, rubbing her arm. "He'll come out of it eventually and realize how stupid and selfish he's acting."

There was a comfortable silence in the room, as both watched the mute TV where a random movie was playing. Naruto shifted uncomfortably in his seat, peering at Sakura, before he spoke. "I want to ask you something, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to," he asked with uncertainty in his voice.

"Ask away, you don't know if I will, until you voice if out."

"When we were sitting in the court room a few weeks ago, Sasuke's lawyer mentioned that you attacked people, but didn't elaborate on it. What was that about?"

Sakura thought for a moment, before she answered. "He didn't elaborate because it was only the first hearing. Lawyers usually leave their best arguments for later when the case becomes a full blown one."

Naruto nodded in understanding, and she continued talking, hesitation in her voice. "When-when I was younger, I used to live in this orphanage. My parents had died when I was around the age of seven, and I was taken there by the social worker I had at the time."

"Is that why you've never talked about your parents?"

"Yeah. I just told you that they weren't around because it's a sensitive topic for me," she answered. "There was this elderly lady who worked there. Her name was Chiyo, and she was the nicest woman I had ever met. I instantly liked her, and she took good care of me. But things weren't as good when she wasn't around," she said somberly. "The other kids used to tease me a lot about my forehead before my parents died, and the same thing happened when I went to the orphanage. They used to bully me and push me around a lot. I was a very silent girl, and I was too shy to do anything about it."

"I somewhat have some trouble believing that you were ever shy or silent," teased Naruto, and she hit him in the arm, a laughter escaping her lips.

"Hey, this is a serious moment right here," she said.

Sakura stopped talking for a moment, trying to recollect her thoughts and think about what she was going to say after. Naruto stayed silent, patiently listening the whole time.

"I had always suspected that there was something wrong with me, and my parents did too. They used to argue about me a lot, about how I was too shy and antisocial, and didn't have many friends. There was always this little voice in my head that used to tell me to do bad things every time one of these kids would say something bad to me. It used to urge me to let it shine through, and it scared me a lot that I would think that way."

Sakura's voice got louder, and Naruto noticed the distress coating her words. "The teasing only got worse, especially coming from one of the girls at the orphanage. Her name was Lia, and she was the driving force of all the other kids. She convinced them to bully me, and that I was a bad person. I never knew why she hated me, but I later realized that she was just jealous of the attention I got from Chiyo. It all went down when once day she cut off my bangs because she wanted to see my big forehead."

Sakura took a deep breath. "I-I was devastated. My mother used to compliment me on my hair all the time, and I cherished it. So when she-Lia cut it off, and then insulted my parents, something snapped within me, and the voice took over."

Naruto noticed that Sakura was starting to shake, and her eyes were filled with unshed tears. His hands automatically started drawing circles on her skin as a comforting gesture, urging her to continue by showing her that he was listening and that he was supporting her.

"I attacked her, and I hit her harder than I had ever hit anything in my entire life. I was so mad, so blinded by the injustice. It was like I was looking at her without realizing what I was doing. I almost stabbed her in the eye with the same scissors she had cut my hair with, but Chiyo interrupted me and it shook me out of my trance. I was horrified when I came to my senses, and I ran away from the orphanage until I collapsed."

Naruto released her, turning her around until he was staring into her face. There were tears streaming down her cheeks, and he took them in both hands to wipe away the moisture with his thumbs. He took her in his arms, burying her face in his chest, and she couldn't help but sob in his arms, shaking violently.

"It's okay," he whispered. "You don't have to tell me more if it hurts you to talk about it."

"Thank you for listening," she mumbled in his shirt.

He held her in his arms until she stopped crying. She fell asleep on his chest, and he carried her to her room. He put her on her bed, covering her with her white sheets, and kissed her forehead.

He stared at her peaceful face for a moment, before turning around and leaving the room.

-: :-

"Shit, shit, shit, shit," swore Sakura loudly, rummaging through her purse.

"That's a lot of money you owe me now, mom," scolded Sarada. "I'm going to become rich!"

"Sure honey," absentmindedly answered Sakura. She had forgotten her phone, and they were already in front of the courthouse.

"Are you looking for this?" asked her daughter.

Sakura looked up, and her phone was dangling from Sarada's hand in front of her eyes. She quickly grabbed it, and shoved it inside her purse.

"Why do you have this? I've been looking for it."

"I found it on the table before we left," shrugged Sarada, opening the car's door. "I knew you would forget it, so I grabbed it for you."

"What would I do without you, my darling daughter?" mused Sakura, exiting the car.

Sakura ran a hand through her hair, apprehensiveness written all over her face. She hadn't contacted Sasuke since that faithful day when he had assaulted her, and being there was the last thing she wanted. She suddenly felt a hand slip in hers, and looked down at her daughter, who smiled up at her.

"It's going to be okay, mom. Let's go now, we wouldn't want to be late. You're always uptight about punctuality. It would be bad for your reputation."

Sakura smiled back at Sarada, knowing that her daughter's words were a way to comfort her. "You're right. Everything's going to be fine."

The two made their way inside, climbing the stairs and entering the big hall littered with benches. Sakura quickly noticed a head topped with hair the shape of a pineapple, and made her way towards the man standing in front of a blonde woman. She noticed Sakura, and quickly left him to greet her.

"Sakura, you're finally here," smiled the woman.

"Temari," acknowledged her Sakura. "It's good to see you again. Are you accompanying Mr. Nara?"

Temari huffed in annoyance. "I'm the one who dragged him out of his house. If I weren't there, he probably would have slept in."

"For my defense, I was up all night working on the case," he defended himself, glaring at Temari.

"It's no excuse. I know you're competent, but that's not a reason to compromise the case," she argued back.

"Am I hearing things or did you just compliment me?" he teased her.

Temari's cheeks reddened imperceptibly, and she looked away from him. "Don't count on it too much, idiot man."

"You're such a troublesome woman," sighed Shikamaru, before he directed his attention to his client. "You're here early. That's good, we'll able to go through some things."

Sakura nodded. "Am I going to have to speak?"

"Not today. We're just going to defend some of the points made against you in the first hearing as I mentioned last time. The only reason why you would have to speak is if Uchiha's lawyer calls you to the stand. You know what to do, right?"

"Not lie, but not divulge the whole truth," she repeated what he had told her.

"Excellent. I believe everything is going to be fine then," he replied. He looked down at Sarada, and smiled at the shy girl who was clutching her mother's hand and looking at the intimidating couple. When she noticed that they were staring at her, she gulped and spoke hesitantly.

"H-hello Mr. Nara, Mrs. Nara."

The couple's eyes widened, and they both turned red.

"We're not married," sputtered out Temari. "We're not even dating! And call me Temari, dear."

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, watching as Sarada apologized profusely.

"It's fine, kid," he reassured her. He turned to Sakura in wonder. "Is she okay with coming here?"

"She doesn't have a choice, does she?" answered Sakura.

"I just hope that she doesn't get called to the stand. She's too young to know how to step around a lawyer's questions."

"I can do it," said Sarada stubbornly, annoyed at the fact that they were talking about her as if she were not present. "I can talk if they call me."

"I know you can, honey," said Sakura. "But this is different than a school presentation. Lawyers won't go easy on you, whether you're a child or not."

Before Sarada could reply, they noticed Sasuke walking inside the courthouse, followed by someone Sakura didn't think she would have to see for a very long time. Fugaku Uchiha was walking behind his son, carrying himself with pride and assurance. As they passed by them, Sasuke briefly looked at Sakura, and turned his head away, guiltily avoiding her eyes. Fugaku, however, looked her straight in the eye, before his eyes skimmed over his granddaughter who looked at him with excitement. She was about to greet him, when he simply kept walking, turning his back to her, and leaving her dejected.

"What's wrong with grandpa?" she muttered to her mother.

"I don't know honey, maybe he didn't notice you?" replied Sakura. She knew that he had noticed his granddaughter, but cared too much about appearances to appear soft in public.

Her daughter didn't seem convinced, and simply nodded. "Okay."

"Alright," Shikamaru cut them off. "It's going to start soon, we should head inside."

Shikamaru followed the Uchiha senior, and Sakura regretfully did the same. She half-wished that Naruto were there with her to give her the necessary confidence she needed to face Sasuke once again, but he had been called to work for an emergency.

"Let's go mom, we have to win this," said Sakura, smiling at her, and Sakura felt slightly more confident.

-: :-

"So how did it go?" asked Naruto.

"Better than last time. No secrets were divulged, it was just a plain old hearing. Sasuke's lawyer didn't even mention the beating you gave him," smiled Sakura. "All we have to wait for is to see if the judge will accept the case."

"Sorry about that," muttered Naruto guiltily.

"There was one curious thing that happened though," she muttered thoughtfully. "Sasuke's father was there, but he didn't speak to us at all. It was like we didn't exist at that moment, and it made Sarada really sad. I'm not surprised about his coldness, but I thought that he would at least greet her."

"That's strange indeed. I thought he got along well with Sarada?"

"He does. He spoils her all the time, and she adores him," she responded with a small smile.

"I'm sure he'll get over it. Those Uchiha have way too much pride," Naruto said, rolling his eyes. "How did Shikamaru do, by the way? I would have liked to be there to see him in action."

"He was great, like you said he would be," she told her boyfriend. "It was really funny, like a competition between the two firms. They really don't like each other."

They were both sitting in the middle of the dining room, snuggling up to each other on the sofa. Naruto had come to see her after his shift, carrying take-out in his hands.

"And Sarada?"

"She was a good girl, as usual. She stayed calm through the whole thing, I wasn't expecting any less from her. I'm just glad they didn't call her to the stand."

"She a smart kid, she would have been fine anyway," remarked Naruto thoughtfully. "Sometimes she acts like a five-year old, but sometimes she acts ten years older than her age. It's really impressive, she has a great understanding capacity."

"Yeah, well her mother is a doctor, and her father is a lawyer," laughed Sakura.

Naruto poked her side, and she stopped laughing, yelping at the attack. "Did you drop her off at Ino's?"

"No, it's Sasuke's turn to have her today," responded Sakura. Naruto looked at her in astonishment.

"What? I thought you wouldn't let him have her after the first hearing's fiasco!" he exclaimed.

"I can't do that, we agreed to share her. He's her father after all, and she still loves him and needs him in her life," replied Sakura. "He might have gone back on his word, but it's not my type to stab him in the back like he did to me. Plus, if I don't let him have her, it'll only give him more evidence to go against me."

Naruto thought for a moment, relaxing underneath her. "I guess you're right. That's very logical."

Sakura wrapped her arms around him tightly. "Mr. Nara explained it to me."

Naruto laughed. "It's weird to hear someone call him like that. To me, he's just plain, old, lazy Shikamaru."

"How long have you guys known each other?"

"Since primary school. Shikamaru and I were classmates, and Temari was two grades above," he replied. "I've been witness to their little dance around each other forever."

Sakura laughed. "Sarada thought that they were married. I've never seen someone turn red as fast as those two, it was quite entertaining."

"The denial is real," muttered Naruto with a chuckle.

Sakura yawned, untangling herself from within Naruto's arms, and stood up to stretch her body. She then started picking up the empty take-out boxes on the table, shaking her head at the amount of ramen Naruto had consumed. Surely it wasn't healthy to eat five boxes in one sitting? She honestly wondered how he could maintain such a good body with the diet he had.

She carried the boxes to the kitchen, dropping them in the trash, and grabbed herself a cup of water. The day had been tiring and mentally straining, even though the hearing had gone well, and Sakura couldn't wait to be at peace again.

She made her way back to the living room, and stood at the foot of the sofa, watching a sprawled Naruto flip through the channels. He looked at her with questioning eyes.

"What are you doing? Come lie down with me, we can watch some movie or something," he said.

She smiled cockily at him, crawling on top of his body. "I was thinking of a more hands on activity."

His curious eyes quickly turned playful, and he grabbed her hips, pushing her further into him. "I like the way you think."

"Sarada's not here, and I think we could allow ourselves to be as loud as we like tonight," she chuckled, kissing his neck playfully.

He sat up on the sofa, placing her on his lap with her legs wrapped around his waist, and kissed her soft lips. His mouth trailed down her throat, and she hummed in content. "It's been quite some time since we did this," he muttered against her skin.

"It's been quite hectic," she laughed.

His mouth went back up, and he stared into her eyes. "Well since it went so well today, how about I fuck you until you can't walk?"

His words sent a jolt straight to her lower stomach, and she could feel the desire pool there. "I love it when you talk like that."

Naruto went back to kissing her, immediately grabbing the hem of her t-shirt to remove it. His large hands cupped her sides, caressing the smooth skin there, and Sakura sighed at the familiar caress. "No foreplay this time, I've been waiting too long. Just take my pants off," she whispered.

"You're a very impatient and demanding woman," he laughed.

"Come on," she whined, removing his hands from her sides and putting them on the zipper of her jeans. "I want you, right now."

"As my lady wishes," he said, immediately unbuttoning them. He opened the zipper, shoving his hands inside her pants to cup her bottom, and she glared at him. He squeezed her cheeks, humoured by her impatience, and she growled at him.

"Did you just…growl at me?" he asked. "I've never heard you make that sound before."

She blushed, immediately hiding her face in his chest. "Sorry," she muttered. "I just got excited. Besides, you're too slow for my liking."

"It's okay, I liked it. It made you sound like a possessive animal," he chuckled, and she felt the reverberations in his chest. "I won't make you wait any longer if that's what you want."

He tugged at her pants, dragging them over her ass and down her legs, and she stood up so he could remove them. When they were completely off, she sprung forwards, grabbing his shirt to yank it over his head. When her hands reached his belt, she froze midway when she heard her phone ring, but she chose to ignore it by unbuckling his belt.

"Hey, you should take that. It could be important," he told her, watching her as she worked on his pants.

"No, ignore it. Nothing's more important right now than me getting into those pants of yours," she said.

Her phone kept ringing insistently, and he grabbed her hands to remove them from his pants. "Sakura," he insisted.

She rolled her eyes, and huffed in annoyance, reaching for her phone that she had left on the table. "Fine. Since when are you the serious one?"

"I've always been serious," he pouted, crossing his arms over his naked chest.

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes, and answered the phone without looking at the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Dr. Haruno?"

"Ah," she exclaimed, looking at Naruto with surprise. "Mr. Nara, I wasn't expecting you so soon."

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, looking at her surprised expression with equal astonishment.

"Me neither, this is as unexpected for me as it is for you."

"What's the matter?"

"I have some pretty bad news. Turns out the judge accepted the case, and now we're in serious fight for Sarada's custody."

Sakura gasped in shock. "What? Already? I thought it would take at least a few days until we get the answer! How is that even possible? We had a solid case, there's no reason that this should happen!"

"Believe me, Dr. Haruno. I feel the same as well. I know the law as well as the back of my hand, and the procedure for this case is anything but natural. Something smells fishy about all of this, and I count on finding out what the issue is."

There was a pause where Sakura rubbed her tired eyes. "Mr. Nara, I hired you because Naruto assured me that you were the best at what you're doing, and I fully believe him. So I will trust you with handling the case and helping me keep my daughter, no matter how much money it costs me."

"I will win this case, I assure you. I won't let you or Naruto down."

Sakura smiled softly into the phone, bidding goodbye to her lawyer and putting the device on the table. She turned to Naruto, and smiled softly at him. "It turns out that things won't be as easy as I thought."

"You look strangely relaxed about all of this," he told her with worry in his voice, dragging her to him by the hips.

"I guess it just hasn't sunk in yet, I'm just too tired of all of this," she sighed, hugging his shoulders. "Believe me when I say that I'll turn into a wreck in no time."

Naruto gently lifted her up in his arms, and got up from the sofa. "Come on, let's take you to bed. I bet that conversation drained you."

She wrapped her legs around him, and put her head on his shoulder as he moved through the house. "You're right. Thanks Naruto."


I like leading you on ;)) No smut this time homies, but I plan on writing many more for this story in the near future.

After the stuff I had written in the last chapter, I wanted to write a lighter one, with a little peak into Sakura's past. It doesn't end there, and more stuff is coming.

The next chapter should be up in a week's time, if everything bodes well.

As usual, I hope you enjoyed that, and I would love to hear from you guys!