(AN) No, seriously, I'm leaving on vacation NOW. Me go 'bye bye' in a couple of hours, but I felt I had to leave with another chapter in my wake. You know what's really depressing? I was reading this romance novel, which had the potential for a great sex scene, and when it came up, my god, it was like: 'when she gently pushed him down on the bed and kissed down his chest, he thought he might die from the pleasure. And, when she finally straddled him, it took all his control not to lose himself in the tight warmth of her. Sometime later…' I swear I could've cried. I was like, W…T….F! So, I promise you, when my lemon chapter comes alone, I will NOT do that to you! With that in mind, enjoy this extra-long chapter, because you can't have any for three weeks!


Naruto walked the streets of Konoha, his nose taking in all the familiar smells he had missed so much on his trip. He had traveled to tons of different countries, learning specific jutsus from each place.

Naruto picked up his pace as his eyes fell on a small stand labeled, 'Ichiraku'. He took a seat on one of the stools, and quickly ordered up some Misu Ramen. Ayame, the girl who ran the shop, smiled brightly at him, and gave him an extra large bowl.

'Oh. No one here's seen that I'm back yet, have they?' Naruto concluded as he pulled apart his chopsticks. 'I just had to use the hospital doors as my dramatic entrance…'

"Oh my God! It is!"

"What? It's what? Where are you looking?"

"I-It's Naruto-kun!"

Naruto's back tensed up as he heard a small stampede of sandaled feet charging at him. It was only a matter of seconds before they were all over him.

'R-rampaging k-k-kunoichi?' Naruto panicked as Ino, Ten-Ten, and even Hinata stood around him, checking him out. 'Shit…did I do something stupid before I left? What! I don't remember!'

"You." Ino demanded, a delicate well-manicured finger in his face, "Has forehead seen you yet?"

Naruto was a little scared to answer. 'I don't get a, 'hey, welcome back, we missed you'? In its place, I get a death threat…' The flames obviously burning in her eyes were evidence to support that fact.

"Um, yeah, she's seen me already."

"What? She's seen you already? So what in God's name are you doing here?" Ino countered.

"Well…I mean…we've talked already too?" Naruto was, for the first time, conscious of not giving away too much information. Like, for example, 'Oh yeah, I saw her in the ER. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what happened after that? I totally made out with her for Kami knows how long!' Not a good thing to say. Or so he thought.

Ino, who looked much the same as he remembered her, was not pleased with his answers. She plunked down on a stool in frustration.

"You're gone for two years…and you come back…and all YOU do is TALK?"

'S-she's snapped…' Naruto stared at Ino in horror as she continued ranting. Ten-Ten and Hinata just stood patiently off to the side, careful to stay out of range of the Yamanaka's wrath.

"I mean, come ON Uzumaki you idiot! At least make a move on her! You left dramatically enough," Ino sat up straight, crossed her legs, and leaned in towards Naruto. She clasped her hands beside her face, her eyes resembling glittering stars. She mimicked his voice. "I love you with everything I have!"

Naruto blushed profusely, "You-you heard that?"

Ino feigned innocence. "Of course not, Naruto-kun, I just guessed."

Ten-Ten eyed Ino suspiciously, but said nothing.

"W-welcome back, Naruto-kun."

Naruto turned away from Ino to face Hinata. Her stuttering problem – which was mostly due to nervousness – had improved over the years. Naruto smiled brightly at Hinata, returning the gesture. As Sakura had, all the other kunoichi seemed to have been growing their hair out as well.

"So, Naruto," Ten-Ten finally cut in, attempting to reinforce the previous topic as she leaned against the counter of 'Ichiraku'. "Are you planning on going out with Sakura?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "Well…um, actually, I was going to see if she'd go out with me tonight –"

"Good luck with that, idiot." Ino muttered from her newly slouched position against the table. Her behaviour was the complete opposite from what it had been moments ago. She seemed…depressed.

"Why?" Naruto questioned, looking back and forth now between the downcast faces of the previously hyperactive kunoichi.

Hinata fidgeted nervously. "S-Sakura-san…is very b-busy."

Ten-Ten guffawed, watching as Ino turned her icy blue stare upon Naruto. He didn't mean to be poetic, but it seemed, as he curiously looked directly back into her gaze, that the frozen resilience in her eyes was melting.

"Yeah," Ino whispered, "she's real busy."

Naruto watched her clench and unclench her fists, starting to become very uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"Things have changed since four years ago, Naruto. You know that as well as the rest of us do." Ino breathed out. Ten-Ten and Hinata nodded their agreement.

"Sakura-chan started to become determined to be strong." Naruto confirmed, wanting Ino to continue.

"Well, she really lost it after you left." It was Ten-Ten who spoke, her eyes looking anywhere but at him. 'I…I don't understand' Naruto was so lost, he couldn't begin to explain. He silently begged Ino to tell him just what the hell happened after he left.

"After you left," Ino began, almost as if she'd read his mind, "Sakura was really confused. It was like she didn't know what she wanted. She was so confused, that all her focus was drawn to the one thing she knew she did want."

"To be strong…" Naruto muttered. He was still confused, but at least now the tiniest little bit of light was beginning to make its way into his mind, slowly telling him what was going on.

"Well, that's all she focused on. Being strong. She trained, trained and trained – did you know she's ANBU now? Yeah by that face, I bet you didn't – she worked her ass of, Naruto. She was like a robot. It was like," Ino ran a hand down her long blond ponytail, pushing her bangs out of her face, only to have them fall back exactly where they were before. "It was like the harder she worked, the less she'd think about how confused she was about the way she felt about you, until she was trying so hard she lost track of why she was doing it in the first place."

Naruto stared wide-eyed at Ino's solid, straight face. She wasn't lying. Everything she was telling him was the truth, and Naruto felt the strings on his heart tugging, pulling, and molding a threatening ball of guilt in the pit of his stomach.

When he'd decided to confess to her before leaving to train, he hadn't wanted to trouble her. It was the last thing he wanted to do. The irony of it all was that he wanted to let her know that someone cared, and that Sasuke could go fuck himself – for lack of a better word. But no, he'd ended up doing just the opposite.

Ten-Ten noticed the expression of distress on Naruto's face, and quickly jumped to amend his misconception.

"Hey, Naruto. This isn't your fault, stop thinking that it is."

Naruto jerked out of his morbid state to send a surprised look at Ten-Ten, and then shifted his eyes to Ino, almost as if begging to know if what she said was true. Part of Naruto hoped it was, but the other part, deep down and pushed away, wanted it to be his fault, so that he might actually have a chance at amending it. If his confession hadn't sent Sakura into such a state, then, what had?

"Ten-Ten's right, Uzumaki. We figure you're the only one who could really help her now." Ino whispered dejectedly. It was obvious that she was hurt by the fact that she, Sakura's best friend, could do nothing for her.

"What…what can I do though?" Naruto muttered, clasping his hands, and then quickly pulling them apart. He fidgeted when he got nervous, and right now, he felt like there was a butterfly jutsu going on in his stomach.

"W-we think that y-you're the only reason the S-Sakura we know s-still exists." Hinata began, her pale eyes gazing at him with the utmost confidence.

"Hinata's got a point." Ino confirmed, going from depressed to extremely serious in a matter of seconds. "She told us – on the rare occasion that she's not training, on missions, or working at the hospital – that she really liked you. We tried to talk her out of her insane work schedule, and her unreal desire to save Sasuke, but…but she wouldn't listen!" Ino all but yelled, getting off her stool and pacing around behind him.

"Naruto, you've got to talk some sense into her. I hate Sasuke just as much as she does, and I don't want to take what she wants so much away from her, but God, she's driving us up the wall!" Ino let out a frustrated growl, once again tugging on her hair. "You have to make her take a break, relax, ease off the constant flow of tension she's always got raging through her. Kami-sama, Naruto, if anyone can convince her she doesn't have to do this alone to prove herself to that Uchiha bastard, it's you."

The complete sincerity in Ino's eyes startled him, but as he looked into each individual kunoichi's eyes, he become more and more aware that the message they were trying to convey to him was really important to them. They were genuinely worried about Sakura. Worried that she was working to hard. Scared that she'd become an empty emotionless shell. So what if that's shinobi code? Everyone was worried that she was losing herself.

"We'd figured," Ten-Ten interrupted his revelation, "that she'd return back to the way she was when you came back to Konoha. We imagined that once she saw you, she'd fall madly in love with you, and ta-da, the old Sakura would be back!" Ten-Ten put a thoughtful finger to her chin.

"And then, in say, eight to nine months, there'd be little Uzumaki babies running around. And yet," Ino added, before glaring daggers at Naruto's crimson face. "All you did was talk, am I right? And I bet your oblivious self couldn't see the difference in her. Please, God, tell me she smiled."

Naruto's face was feeling incredibly hot, and he tried to inconspicuously loosen the collar of his sweater as his mind danced around exactly what they'd have to do to result in 'little Uzumaki babies'.

Naruto coughed, "S-she did smile. She showed a lot of different emotions. We talked, yeah…but then…" His voice trailed off as he remembered the feeling of her soft lips against his own, as he reveled in the memory of her running her small feminine hands through his hair, pulling him closer to her.

"You kissed her!" Ino squealed gleefully, and Naruto averted his gaze to stare at the dirt ground. He looked up in time to see Ino and Ten-Ten high-five each other, chanting something about how there was still a chance for her. Upon seeing his confused and bashful stare, Ten-Ten filled him in.

"Sakura's done a lot of nothing with guys. Seriously, she's gorgeous, yet she hasn't dated a single guy, let alone kissed them on the cheek. We all thought that it was because she was waiting for you, but the longer you were gone, the less emotion she showed, and we all just assumed she'd become a zombie. But, look at you, one day and you get the jackpot!" She winked at Naruto, as he felt the familiar feeling of heat creeping up his neck.

Naruto just sat and stared as he watched the kunoichi animatedly discussing the major possibilities that the real Sakura would be back soon, now that he was here. His mind completely stopped following the conversation after they stared discussing all the things they were going to do together with her once Naruto 'fixed' her.

Naruto leaned against the counter, with an uncharacteristic loss of appetite. When he'd seen Sakura for the first time in two years, he'd immediately seen that something was different. Sure, she was much like her old self – which according to Ino was for his eyes only – but that gleam she was attempting to hide in her eyes, could it have been the result of what she'd done to herself over the years?

'Ino…she said that Sakura-chan was ANBU!'

His gut clenched at the thought of his Sakura-chan putting herself into the danger that was ANBU missions. As much as ANBU was something that was completely confidential, and no one was really ever supposed to hear about, he knew as well as the next person that ANBU missions were hard, dangerous, and deathly.

He wondered painfully just how close Sakura had come to the 'deathly' part.

'I have to help her.' Naruto confided in himself. 'I have to tell her she isn't alone! That I'm not leaving again, and I'll stay with her, do everything with her!'

Naruto stood from his perched position near the counter, and walked away, completely forgetting that he was supposed to be in 'plot-mode' with Ino, Ten-Ten, and a partially willing Hinata.

If he had to do this, he had to do it alone.

He was going to go to the hospital, find Sakura, and ask her out for tonight, and if she was too busy, well then the next night. He would keep trying until was able to be alone with her, when he could tell her everything he felt, and try his best to make her see that she didn't have to do all this alone.

With that in mind, he walked back directly to where he never thought he'd go intentionally.

Straight back to the hospital.


When Naruto had told himself he'd keep trying until he got a hold of Sakura, he never dreamed it would be this difficult.

One week had already passed of him not being able to see her, and he was quickly becoming restless for a multitude of reasons. Two reasons stood out, one of which was less than…well, let's not go there. Many a sleepless night, for varying uncomfortable reasons.

As for the other reason, since Ino and Ten-Ten had told him what Sakura was doing to herself, he worried that every day that passed by was hurting her more. He personally knew what it was like to be completely dead set on something, to want nothing more than to see it happen, and Kami, it hurts when things don't go the way one wants.

As for him, Naruto had his dream of becoming Hokage, the best shinobi in the village. Nothing and nobody was going to get in his way. When he was twelve, he felt the same way. He would do it all alone, because that would be the greatest success, wouldn't it? To have made it to the top unaided?

'But, if it hadn't been for Iruka-sensei, and then Team 7, I probably never would be where I am today.'

Naruto had realized, as he grew older, that maybe attempting to reach his goal without any help wouldn't work. He'd always been alone, so it wasn't that much of a change. But, when Iruka-sensei had stood by him and helped him, it somehow dawned on him that he would discover his dream faster if he accepted help and encouragement from others.

He guessed that Sakura hadn't realized it yet, hadn't found out that people would help her get what she wanted. Or maybe, she thought no one would understand.

But Naruto…he understood. Even though he may not get the deeper, underlying emotions to her determination, he distinguished enough of it to realize that Sakura needed to become strong in order for things to get better.

But did she realize that physical strength means nothing without a personified soul?

It was two days and an evening later that Naruto finally managed to steal Sakura away from her occupations.


"Mou, Naruto. I miss you too, but I have responsibilities." Sakura said for the tenth time as she waited for her ramen. Typical of Naruto that when he finally finds her with some free time, he takes her out on a dinner date to 'Ichiraku'.

Naruto was silent – what's up with that? – so Sakura continued her time obsessed speech.

"I have to be at the hospital at 8:00 to do some filing and that'll take a long time, and then I have to go and check out the documents for the mission statement tomorrow morning, and after that I have to make sure that all the equipment is sterile for –"

"Sakura-chan," Naruto interrupted her, his eyes and facial expression completely unreadable. "Don't you ever take a break?"

Sakura was a little taken aback by his blunt statement, but she felt she had to inform him of something. "Naruto. I'm a busy woman. I'm –" ANBU, you know.

"ANBU, right? Ino told me. Congratulations." He sounded sincere enough in what he said, and by the gleam in his eyes he was obviously trying to convey that he was impressed with her. But what then, was with the tone of voice?

He continued.

"Sakura-chan, you're ANBU when you're ANBU. And you work at the hospital when you have assigned shifts. Demo, have you realized you work even when you don't have to? Don't you ever take time off to just be…you?"

"I-I…" Sakura was dumbstruck. What was with this mood change in Naruto? She took time off her vital work to spend time with him, seeing as he was so desperate to be with her – and she couldn't deny that since he came back, her mind all but constantly replayed their first kiss – and now he was criticizing her work habits?

Her temper flared.

"Naruto!" She snapped her chopsticks apart, digging them gracelessly into her ramen. "If you must know, I don't have time to be me, because there are things that I have to do! I have responsibilities, unlike you! I have something that I have to do, that's really important to me, and I won't stop until I see it through! Not like you, ne? You can just up and leave for two damn years, and nobody will miss y–"

Sakura froze mid sentence, a cold chill taking over her body as she relived everything that she'd just said. She desperately tried to force back the tears she might cry at her stupidity as she saw the hurt look in his eyes. The pain her words had caused him.

"S-sorry..." She all but whispered in an attempt to hide the choking noise she felt swelling up in her throat.

'That…was so wrong of me. Who was I to tell him that he doesn't have responsibilities, dreams?'

'I hate to tell you, but you did screw that one up big time. You know Naruto's dream. The whole village does.'Inner-Sakura muttered quietly. Sakura's conscience was hurt too with the words she had said. Yelled, no less.

'He was never shy about saying his dream was to become the Hokage. I knew that. I knew that even as I said those terrible things to him!' Sakura clenched her hands, ignoring as her knuckles turned white at her relentless grip. 'His leaving was so that he could become stronger too, in order to achieve his dream! And I…I told him that no one missed him…God, I missed him most of all. Ino… Shikamaru… Kiba… Ten-Ten… Lee… Hinata… hell, even Neji had missed his boisterous presence.'

Sakura stared up at Naruto's almost expressionless face through her bangs, awed by how hard he was trying to pretend that her words didn't hurt him. She'd said such horrible things. A paramount of disgust settled on her insides at the idea that what she'd just said to him was the equivalent of what Sasuke had said to her. Kami…she couldn't live if Naruto hated her. She wouldn't be able to do it.

"I…I'm so sorry Naruto, I didn't mean that!" She started, trying desperately to make him look at her, but he was looking everywhere but.

"I know you have a dream, to become Hokage, and I'm sure someday soon you will! What I said about…about nobody missing you…that was such a lie. Such a terrible, horrible lie. I missed you most of all." If only he'd give her the slightest reassurance that he was listening.

Sakura opened her heart further than she thought she ever would. Further than she had in many years, in order to tell him just how much she'd missed him.

"When you left…I didn't know what I would do. Everyone here, the rookie nine, all of us, when we found out you'd be gone for so long, everyone was sad! I…I missed you so much! I didn't know what I would do without you! Not so soon after I realized I loved you!" She choked back a sob at his startled gaze. Sakura had realized that her feelings for Naruto were way beyond a simple crush the moment she thought she might've screwed things up for good.

"I-I didn't know what I would do. I didn't know where you were, when you'd be back, other than that you'd be gone for so long! And when you just showed up, I was so scared that you were going to die! I kept saying to myself, 'please don't let him die, please don't let him die' because I'm not sure that I could live."

Sakura hugged herself, almost in an attempt to stop Naruto from seeing right through her. She felt exposed, having never told anyone how she felt before, and now, all of a sudden pouring out all her emotions in such a public place, she felt like all eyes were on her. In reality, the only stares she was receiving was a concerned one from the man at the ramen stand, taking away their bowls, and a shocked, heated stare from the blond teen seated beside her.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered, standing up and offering her his hand. "Come with me."

She looked up at him, confusion evident in her jade orbs.

'Is he forgiving us?'Inner-Sakura wondered as Sakura tentatively reached her hand up to clasp it with Naruto's.

He placed is hand on the small of her back, walking her briskly through the streets of Konoha till they were, to her surprise, and internal dismay, at the front door to her house.

'Is this his way of dismissing me?'

She dejectedly reached her hand up to push open her door, feeling several shades of stupid, when her path was obscured as Naruto assumed the empty space between herself and her home's threshold.

"Sakura-chan, I didn't mean to offend you." Naruto murmured softly, his blue eyes staring intently at her. "I just wanted," he stopped, almost as if to seriously consider his words before speaking, a truly unlike him thing to do. "To let you know that we're worried about you."

Sakura stared bewildered at Naruto's obviously uncomfortable facial expression. He was apologizing to her? At this moment in time, try as she might, she couldn't even remember why it was she snapped at him in the first place. All she could think of was that she wanted him to forgive her, and Kami, how he smelt good.

"Were you worried…about me?" Sakura inwardly smacked herself at her stupid reply. Be that as it may, she still wanted to know.

"I still am, Sakura-chan." Naruto started to look really uncomfortable, and seemed like he'd rather be bouncing around somewhere then pouring out his thoughts and feelings. She could relate.

"I know you want to become strong because of something that happened with the teme, and I'm not going to ask what, but onegai, Sakura-chan, please let us – me – help." This time he looked right in her eyes, a difficult task according to Ino, who says looking into her eyes is equivalent to the myth of Medusa. "You don't have to do everything alone."

Naruto smiled that big, stupid-ass grin as he looked down – she remembered when it was up – at her, and shoved his hands in his pockets.

So many different emotions were swirling through Sakura as she stood there, doing nothing but staring at her blond friend come love, as she attempted to process everything that was said.

'You don't have to do everything alone.' Those words were ringing in her ears. She had cut herself off from everybody so as to not have any distractions, because she'd believed that she accomplished more on her own. She was uncomfortable showing her feelings for Naruto because she'd felt that if she got tangled up with him, he'd be a distraction. She threw herself at mission after mission, attempting to do most of it by herself, because that work she did on her own meant the most to her improvement.

Now, as she stared at his clouded over cerulean eyes, she wondered if, perhaps, she had been wrong. Maybe this was what Sasuke had wanted; for her to dig herself so deep into a hole that she could no longer climb out of it. For her to lose herself so completely in the process of trying to find that very thing. In the process trying to tell him she was strong. But, now that she took the time to think about it, having to get rid of her old lifestyle in order to accomplish something like strength seemed like the epitome of weakness.

So, Sakura took a step closer to Naruto, pressing herself up against his chest, she wrapped her left arm around his neck, and put her right hand to her door. She pressed her lips desperately against his, giving into the temptation that had been hanging over her since he came back.

Naruto easily got the point, and eagerly wrapped his arms around her small frame, pulling her closer to him, running his left hand up and down her back, kissing her with a fervor he didn't know he had.

Sakura let her left hand slip down from around his neck, and clenched her fist around the open neck of his orange and black jacket. She thrust open her door with her right hand, and pulled Naruto in after her by his collar, closing it behind him.

'Tonight,' She told herself, 'I'll do what I want to do, not what I think I have to.'


(AN) And that's that! No worries though, Sakura and Naruto have a strong relationship!

For those who want to know:

Well, I'm off, and I know for the most part this was a bit of a morbid chapter to leave off on, but hey, when I get back, we'll have a very citrusy chapter to look forward too!

Many thanks to: jere7782, rickp2006, full-metal-sousuke, Kabata4life, Sareon, Krymsom, skytide101, narusakufan, sakurastears, Narutomaniac, FreetodrinkSR, Gnosismaster, me, holeymoley, Radon199, DeathRaiderz, and Grand Admiral Gin for reviewing my last chapter!