CHAPTER SEVEN: MISUNDERSTANDINGS

"To hell with everything, I don't care. Not anymore." He whispered and closed his eyes. All the stress was making his head dizzy. He wasn't able to get any sleep today because of Ino's continuous talking. Even though Naruto's eyes were closed, he could still picture Sakura's tearful face and his heart ached. He didn't want to do this and he knew it. It wasn't her fault that he was in the hospital; it wasn't her duty to take care of him or to check on him. Maybe she had better things to do other than hanging around with him.

After a while Sakura's sobs disappeared, he opened his eyes a little and saw that she was still standing there, looking at the floor, "You've changed." She smiled as a trail of tears escaped her eyes. "I thought maybe all of us could be back together and I thought you'll never change."

Naruto didn't know what she was talking about until the memory of three years ago crossed his mind, "I'm gonna drag Sasuke back, that's a promise of life Sakura-chan." She wants that Uchiha back, Naruto flinched. What about Naruto? Didn't he matter to her anymore? Was he just like a tool to her who would bring her Sasuke back? More anger started boiling inside of him and he wanted to scream. What was wrong with Sakura? Why was she treating him like that? It was all so confusing. He wanted to get up and tear everything apart in the room.

"I was wrong, I'm always wrong." She sighed and turned around. "See you around." She said coldly as if she was wishing the opposite.

Naruto clenched his jaws tightly to avoid saying something bad to her. He had already committed many mistakes.

He closed his eyes once again as the door closed lightly behind Sakura. He took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. He had waited two whole years to see Sakura, trained just so he could bring Sasuke back, so that Sakura could be happy. He had lived everyday of the past two years knowing that he'll go back to Sakura telling her that he'll be the one who'll bring that bastard back and make him love her if that was what she wanted. She was the reason he was still living, she was his true mission, his definition of life, of sorrow and of happiness. He could do anything for her even kill himself if she wanted. For past two years he had lived to see her smiling face but after he returned he made it all worse for her, for himself. He had made her cry something that was unforgivable in his opinion.

His eyes shot open when the door opened again slowly. A disappointing sigh escaped his lips when he saw that Ino was standing there. She was staring at him.

"Naruto, I have to leave for the night. Is that fine with you?"

"Yeah." He was thankful that Ino wouldn't have to stay with him for the night. He wanted sometime alone to think things through.

"Is something wrong?" She asked innocently.

He grunted, what was her problem? Couldn't she just leave already?

He took a deep breath; there was no need to get angry on Ino, not when she had been there when he was in need of someone. He should be thankful but he wasn't. There was just something awfully wrong and he could feel it.

He looked at Ino, "Everything's okay." He assured.

"But I think I saw Sakura cr…"

Naruto clenched his teeth together trying to calm himself, "Everything's just okay."

Ino gave him a judgmental look before sighing, "Well, I'll see you in the morning." She turned around and opened the door.

"There is no need." Naruto whispered. He was looking at the ceiling. (A/N: He's still lying in the bed.) Ino turned to face him, "I'm well enough to take care of my own self."

"No your not." Ino disagreed.

"There is nothing to argue, I'm well enough." He turned his head to look at her, "I'm thankful for what you did for me and for that… you'll always have a special place in my heart but for now, I don't need you." He didn't care if his sentences seemed like he was using her, he didn't care.

Naruto didn't look away from her face as her expressions changed from pleased to hurt. It was like as if she was faking her expressions, like he had been nothing but a burden to her and she was thankful that she wouldn't have to return. But then there were her impaired expressions, he had made two people unhappy in only a single day. He didn't know what was wrong with him; he was just so messed up.

"I'm sorry." Naruto's voice was just a little above a whisper.

Ino smiled a little, "At least I gained your friendship, that's the first step to everything." Naruto smiled at the girl's positive thinking. Ino seemed satisfied with his smile, she turned and left.

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So many misunderstandings, so many confusions, misapprehensions that's all that was left in her life. Sakura was so confused, why had Naruto not let her explain? Why had he believed Ino? Did he actually think that she would leave him in trouble, was she nothing to him? Was he joking when he said that she meant nothing to him or was that for real?

All of the confusing questions that wouldn't be answered anytime soon and God knew, if what was going on between the two stayed the same, they would never be answered.

Sakura rolled onto her stomach and buried her face into the pillow; Naruto's just confused like me. She tried to convince herself, but then why was he so angry. She had never seen Naruto this much angry before. He had changed so much.

The emptiness was killing her. Silence was eating up her mind. Her house felt a little too empty, Sakura realized. Maybe that was because she was empty.

She stood up from the bed and without giving it a thought, walked out of the house.

The air around her chilly and she wasn't wearing anything except her dad's comfortable shirt and shorts. The shirt was too big for her and covered the shorts giving the impression that she wasn't wearing anything under it.

She shivered a little and kept on walking not knowing where she was headed. There was no light, no moon, and no stars. It was quite and dark but she didn't care not until she heard a soft sound from behind her. She turned her head to look behind and saw that no one was there. She ignored it thinking that she had imagined it and resumed walking.

She heard the sound again and this time some noises too. She didn't care to look back and fastened her pace. The voices were coming nearer. He fear took over and she broke into a run.

She glanced behind her and saw two men running behind her. Before she could look back ahead, she bumped into something. She looked up and saw a large man smirking down at her.

"Where are you going missy?" The man asked and grabbed her shoulder so that she wouldn't run. He than looked past her, "Look what I got Jared, a beauty."

"Let me go." Sakura struggled to break free from his hold.

"Now now miss, you know this is no time for a beautiful girl…" The man brought his free hand to her cheek and lightly rubbed it.

"Don't touch me." Sakura warned and slapped his hand away.

The man ignored her and continued, "To be all alone."

"Yeah." The other two men who were following her were now standing just a few feet away.

"Come with us charming." One of them suggested.

"Let me go, please." She pleaded. There was no hope of her escaping now. They were three and she was all alone.

"We just want to play." The man grinned.

"Don't hurt me." A tear rolled down her cheek. "Please don't."

"We will never hurt you." The man winked at her, "One night is all we want."

"N-no. Please no."

All the three ignored her, "She a cute one James." The man addressed the one who was holding her. He then looked at her, "The sun will start rising soon, let's hurry."

The man named James placed his arms under her and the next moment he was carrying her in his arms. They had walked just a few feet when they saw a figure standing a few feet away from them. Sakura wasn't able to see his face due to the dark.

"Drop the girl, now."

One of the men chuckled, "Your boyfriend's a little older than you love."

"Now." Her savior commanded. His voice seemed awfully familiar but her mind wasn't working properly.

"Try making us." Jared challenged and Sakura heard an angry groan and before she knew, all the three men were lying on the floor and someone else was carrying her.

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A/N: Read and review guys… I'm always waiting and thanks to all who reviewed. Thanks "Graved" for wanting to be my beta… I would really love that. Really.

Yeah so, I was still wondering if anyone would like to role play with us… Me and two other people. If anyone's interested, let me know. Thanks.