A/N: I didn't update yesterday and I probably won't update for a while but to make it up, this chapter is extra long. Twice as long as any chapter I've wrote before. I never thought 'Explanation' chapters could be so long. Anyway, enjoy~!


o-o-o

Family:

Without Which We Could Not Exist

o-o-o

Sakura was always taught not to judge a book by its cover. It's all she had left for Naruto's random and strange behavior. However, the fight club scene she witnessed was beyond judging the cover of a book. No matter what kind of reason Naruto had for doing it, it couldn't be worth his life and well being.

Sakura entered through the classroom with those thoughts in mind. Unfortunately for her, she was late which only happened on rare occasions. Ino, Hinata and Tenten were worried that something might have been wrong with their friend.

It wasn't her that had the problem but one blonde boy who was so full of mystery it hurt. She wanted-no demanded an answer from him as soon as possible. This lead her to do the only act she could think of.

"I know I just got here but can Naruto and I be excused?"

The teacher stared at her, expressionless. "Mrs. Haruno, if you want to make out with your boyfriend you can do that on your own time." A man with a doctor's mask asked, with a raised eyebrow. Not many people knew why Kakashi Hatake wore it but he just did. People stopped caring about the mask after a few months of being under his study and got use to it as being part of his face.

"I'll take that as a yes, come on Naruto." Sakura grabbed Naruto roughly and pulled him out of his seat.

"Wow, she didn't even blush." He paused "Must be serious."

"Um, what's up Sakura-chan?" Naruto spoke up after the long awkward silent. She already weirded him out by pulling him out of the classroom, he didn't need her to just stare at him after she brought him up to the roof.

"I know."

"Huh?"

"I was there last night." Naruto cocked his head and Sakura snapped at his confusion "I watched you fight in that god forsaken night club!"

The color from Naruto's face drained. "How did you…?"

"Sasuke took me."

"…that bastard-!" Before Naruto could rush off Sakura grabbed his hand.

"Don't! I asked him to do it!"

"Why would you do something like that?" Naruto was genuinely angry with her. She couldn't blame him. She was in direct violation of the promise they made- she made.

"What was I supposed to do? You wouldn't talk to me anymore! I had to do something!" She pulled up any excuse she could.

"You could have forgotten about all of this and moved on with your life!"

"How can I when you get into fights everyday like that? I'm worried about you! I'm scared that if I just look the other way you'll just disappear."

"It would be better if I did, your life would be better that way."

Sakura was taken aback. "How can you say that?" He didn't reply.

"So that's it? Just appear in my life, befriend me, have me care for you then when you're done with me you try to get rid of me?"

"What? No! I'm telling you this for your own good!"

"My own good? You can't just decide things like that for me! Let me make my own choices!"

"Sakura you've seen enough of my life! I'm dangerous. I just don't want to see you get hurt!"

"Naruto if you think you're protecting me you're wrong." Sakura shook her head "You're only hurting me with your silence."

Naruto gave her a bitter look before he turned away and paced around. "I feel like no matter what I do you'll abandon me."

Sakura's anger flared at the word 'abandon. "I'm not going to abandon you! Not again!" Sakura was caught off guard by her own words. Naruto seemed more stunned than she was. She didn't mean to say that; it just managed to let itself out.

Again? High school was the only time I met Naruto. Why would I say again?

"Sakura-chan…?" Naruto seemed more lost than she was.

"Listen to me. I won't leave you, I won't abandon you and I definitely won't hate you if you just explained everything to me." She took a deep calming breath and held Naruto's shirt tightly "Ne, Naruto?"

"…meet me at the school gate after school," was all Naruto said before he walked off the roof. Sakura sighed. Finally he was going to talk to her.


As promised, Naruto waited for Sakura after school near the gate. On her way over to him, Sakura had a hard time reading his facial expression. He seemed distant, no mellow, no slightly depressed? Whatever.

"Follow me."

"Where are we going?" Sakura lugged her bag over shoulders, following Naruto seemingly heavy footsteps.

"You'll see."

More of the silent treatment? I thought he was finally going to talk to me.

While Sakura walked down the unfamiliar streets of Konoha, she couldn't help but feel that Naruto was being distant with her. His strides were wider, since he was much taller than she was, which left a lot of space between them when she walked. Not only that but she could feel like she was being watched. It only took her a moment to notice that people were in fact staring, not at her but Naruto.

It took Sakura only a minute to figure out what Naruto (knowing his nature) was doing. He was far too kind to be a delinquent. (At least that's what Sakura thought.) He was purposefully speeding up so people wouldn't think they were together, to spare her of the hateful glares.

If you're so kind Naruto, why would you be in a place like that?

Sakura followed Naruto into what seemed like a large apartment complex. He walked through the gate and into the center of the complex, which was a small park. From there Sakura could see people opening their doors from the higher floors, which each of their eyes all gunning for her.

"This is a good friend of mine," Naruto shouted to all the onlookers "If any of you so much as look at her wrong," Naruto cracked his knuckles loudly. "There will be hell to pay. And then some."

Some with fearful looks backed away into their rooms, others shook their head with a humorous sigh and some had impassive looks on their faces - one in particular – a guy with dark hair and questionable fashion tastes.

"Come on," Naruto nudged her with the first smile he wore for the day "I have some friends I want to show you."


Naruto and Sakura climbed the stairs to the second floor, where he began lightly knocking on the third door from the stairs.

"Yui-onee-chan! Are you home?"

"Hello Naruto," A young woman with medium length brunette hair appeared from out the door "Oh my, and who is this?"

"My name is Sakura Haruno, nice to meet you." Sakura smiled.

"Oh! You are Sakura? I can see why Naruto is so taken with you."

"Wah! You didn't have to tell her that!" Naruto colored red, so did Sakura.

"It's fine isn't it?" The woman held her cheeks and fidgeted about "I can't believe that my little Naruto has become so grown up," Yui (in an emotional fit) grabbed Naruto, burying him in her chest and hugging him tightly.

"Onee-san, now isn't the time!"

Sakura didn't know why or how, but she felt angry. She also felt a sense of defeat for some reason. It was bitter. Yui seemed to notice Sakura's expression and smiled before she let Naruto go."

"Well it is a pleasure meeting you, Haruno-chan," She smiled "Would you two like to come in for some tea?"

"No thanks Onee-chan, I have to go introduce her to everyone else."

"That's a shame. I made your favourite pastries too." She sighed.

"….with cinnamon?"

"Yep."

"… the ones with the jelly filling?"

"The very same."

"Naruto you're drooling." Sakura nudged him and he regained his composure.

"As tempting as that sounds, really tempting….I mean extremely-" Sakura coughed "I mean, I have to show her around then we have some business to attend to. So I really can't." Naruto straightened up, completely wiping away his desires. He felt like a new man.

"Well I could always save them."

"Sweet merciful Kami-sama, thank you!" Naruto was on the verge of tears in an instant. Were they that good?

"Anyway, I don't want to keep you from your adolescent desires! So good bye you two." Her smile quickly turned into a devil's grin as she backed away into her room with a princess' haughty laugh.

"What did she mean…?"

"Don't ask."


"Ebisu, you in there?" Naruto called on another door on the next floor.

"Huh? Oh Naruto, and…why hello there!" His tired expression quickly changed into a smile once he laid eyes upon Sakura. Sakura read this man as 'Dangerous and must be avoided at all costs'. He had dark hair and brown eyes wore thick sunglasses.

"If you value your life, don't bother." Naruto glared coldly.

"Such hostility Naruto, don't you know better manners than to be courteous and kind when in the presence of a lovely lady." He shook his head. Sakura didn't know why, but Kakashi-sensei popped into her head when she looked at the man. They must have been one in the same – totally perverted.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway I came here to intoduce- Oye!"

"It is my pleasure milady." Ebisu already by passed Naruto grabbed Sakura's hand and kissed it gently "They call me Ebisu. May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

Kill. Kill. Kill.

Sakura had always wanted to meet her prince charming, to be treated like a princess and such…when she was 9. Naruto could see her fists trembling. He could tell they ached for some violence.

"Right," Naruto grabbed Ebisu's hand and threw them off "Like I said, if you value your life. Don't bother."

"For now Naruto, for now."

"Forever you idiot!"

"Life and well being takes a back seat to love my boy," Ebisu's expression changed when he said that "And you will know all about it soon enough. Won't you Naruto?"

"What?"

"Nothing." He shook his head "Anyway, it was a pleasure to meet you, Sakura."

"How did you know my name?"

"Naruto has talked a lot about you-"

"Shut up you pervert," Naruto literally kicked him back into his room and slammed the door shut. "Ignore him."

"Until we meet again my dear!" He shouted from the other side of the door.

On the way up the stairs, she could hear Naruto's annoyed mumbling. Something about '…perverted old man' and 'I don't talk about Sakura that much'. She had to admit it warmed her heart that Naruto was speaking so brightly about her even when he didn't talk directly to her.


"Yume, Yuki! You home-" Before Naruto could even finish his call, a girl with short hair as white as snow burst through the door and onto Naruto. Naruto caught her in his arms and spun her around a few times.

"Onii-chan!" The girl giggled. She was then joined, by a similar looking girl (with longer hair) who wasn't as rash as the other and stood in the doorway.

"Nii-san!" The girls were twins by the looks of it. They looked no older than 12.

"Hey girls, how are you two today?" Naruto put the girl down and rubbed her head lightly.

"We're fine today, Nii-san." The polite girl answered with a sincere smile on her face.

"Yeah, we had an awesome time at school today! I caught this huge bug in our classroom and Yume got caught stealing cookies from the cafeteria." The rasher one held her arms behind her head, showing off her little snaggle tooth when she smiled.

"Yuki that was you! The cafeteria lady was awfully mad at you." Yume pulled on her sister's blouse.

"Ah, she needed the exercise anyway."

"She chased you for an hour straight…I hope she is okay."

"You guys are having way too much fun…" Naruto laughed nervously.

"By the way, Nii-san, who is that behind you?" Yume asked hesitantly. Sakura could see the cloud of worry in her eyes when Yume looked at her.

"Oh this is-"

"An enemy!" Yuki shouted.

"An enemy?" Sakura repeated.

"Yuki, what do you mean by 'an enemy'? Sakura isn't evil you know." Naruto claimed.

"Oh, so this is Sakura." Yume walked up to her carefully analyzing her face.

"Hello," Sakura gave her brightest smile.

"Not good enough…" She muttered.

"Huh?"

"She isn't good enough for you!" Yume ran back to Naruto tugging on his shirt.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh I see what's going on," Sakura giggled "You don't want me stealing your precious 'onii-chan' from you, huh?"

"She's looking at us like she's won already!" Yuki snapped.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto was lost.

"Oh it's nothing," Sakura shrugged it off but the twins weren't about to let her off so easily.

"Naruto wouldn't like you because of that huge forehead of yours!" Yuki shouted.

Twitch.

"Just because you're older than us doesn't give you any points, you…o-old lady!" Yume screamed.

Twitch. Twitch.

"Yeah! Besides your boobs are no bigger than ours." Both said in unison.

Twitch. Twitch. RAGE.

"Sakura-chan…?" Naruto noticed the zombie-like appearance Sakura had while she inched towards the girls. Oh crap!

"Sakura! They are only kids!" Naruto wrap his arms around her in an attempt to hold her back but she still managed to walk forward. What kind of insane strength does she have? Was she always this strong?

"Hey! No fair!" Yume and Yuki flew towards Naruto and pulled him off Sakura by tackling him to the ground.

"As you can see, they are quite taken with me," Naruto rubbed the back of his head with his usual goofy smile.

Maybe it was the smile, maybe it was the fact that she was getting frustrated over kids but Sakura lost all the anger she had been feeling. For the time being, she should remain impassive about the whole thing. And so she tried to ignore the faces the girls made at her and the frequent 'sticking their tongues out' at her. She tried.

Just then the girls hugged Naruto's face, just to spite her. Again, she tried. But when they each kissed his cheek, Naruto knew it was time to go before he lost them both to the raging monster in front of them.

"Um, Sakura-chan?" On their way up the stairs, Naruto meekly spoke up "I think your forehead is lovely."

"…thanks." Sakura genuinely smiled. That's right. She shouldn't have let what those girls did bother her. In Naruto's mind she was special.

"And about your boobs-"

"Don't go there."


"Konohamaru! You in there?" Naruto pushed the door slowly "Wait here Sakura-chan."

He pushed the door open and momentarily stepped back allowing the pail of chalk dust to fall on the floor.

"Aww man," A childish voice cried out "I was sure you'd fall for it this time."

"You think you could get me with a pathetic gag like this?" Naruto grinned.

"Of course!" A small boy (looked 12) appeared from the dark corridor of the room, wearing a very Naruto-like grin. He had short spiky brown hair and black eyes. He also had a small chip in his tooth. He wore a yellow shirt with the Konoha leaf symbol in red, grey shorts, and a long blue scarf that reached his feet.

"Commence the attack!"

"Open fire," A girl no older than the boy appeared pelting what seemed like tiny nuts at Naruto. She had orange hair tied up, with red elastics, into two very large pigtails. She also has red oval markings on her cheeks. She wore a red tank-top over a pink t-shirt layered at the bottom; her pants are grey and she wears the traditional ninja sandals.

"I'm still not sure about this!" A boy, who appeared to be very sleepy, and with a drip of snot hanging from his nose, copied the actions of the girl. He had dark brown hair, wore glasses over his dark brown eyes wearing a plain black shirt with white pants.

"Ohohoho, you think you can defeat me with these…nuts?" Naruto couldn't help but chuckled at the projectiles. With lightning fast reflexes, he caught ever single nut that they threw at him and deposited them in the chalk pail.

"Whoa." the girl was surprised.

"As expected of Nii-san." Konohamaru gave a respectful nod.

"Now," Naruto scanned the interior of the room "Didn't Yui-nee-san clean this house, just yesterday?" The children froze.

"Kono, you got some cleaning to do."

"Never! Tactical retreat!"

"Oh no you don't!" Before the children could get away, Naruto rushed up and grabbed the girl placing her on his shoulders "Gotcha!"

"Noooooo! Konohamaru help!"

"Oh no! He's got Moegi!" Konohamaru halted his retreat.

"What should we do?" The other boy asked.

"We leave no man down! So charge!" Both boys jumped onto Naruto's pant leg and struggled to pull him down.

"You guys will have to try harder than that to put me down!"

"Um, Onii-chan," Moegi tapped Naruto's head.

"What's up?"

"It's been bothering me for a while now, but who is that girl in the front door?" She pointed towards Sakura.

"This is why I stopped here in the first place," Naruto walked towards Sakura (carrying the boys with him) "This is Sakura Haruno, a classmate of mine."

"It's nice to meet you all." Sakura waved slightly amused at the scene that unfolded infront of her. She never knew that Naruto had such a way with kids. It's like he was in perfect sync with them. Maybe it was because he was still a kid himself.

"My name is Moegi!"

"Konohamaru."

"U-udon."

"Great, all of you are introduced." Naruto smiled.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Konohamaru asked flatly.

"She isn't my girlfriend!"

"But you talk about her all the time."

"Quiet Udon!" Naruto snapped "Um, I happened to mention your name around them. Once or twice."

"You mean every day right?"

"Quiet you!" Naruto grabbed Konohamaru's by the neck and drilled his fist into his head.

"Ahhh! I give I give."

"That'll learn ya," Naruto snorted before he gently put Moegi down. "Alright, it's time for us to go."

"Aww come on, play with us a bit more." Moegi tugged on his shirt with pleading eyes.

"Yeah, you still owe you for that time you ate my ramen!" Even Konohamaru still wanted to play.

"That was one time! And I gave you mine the day after!"

"So?"

"Oh boy," Naruto shook his head "I have something important to talk about with Sakura-chan."

"Oh I see how it is," Konohamaru grinned "You just want time to make out with your girlfriend!" Konohamaru mocked.

"Naruto and Sakura sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Both Naruto and Sakura flushed red.

"First comes love then comes marriage then comes little big-foreheaded Naruto in a baby-"

Without warning, Konohamaru felt something like no other. An indescribably feeling of pure fear itched up his felt his soul leave his body for a split second.

What the heck?

When he looked up, he noticed that Sakura had already made her way to him with a gentle smile on her face carrying an aura that didn't match her face at all. It was frightening.

"Please don't mock us like that, ok 3?"

Konohamaru could have actually seen the heart.

"…I apologize for my mockery."

"Good boy." Sakura turned away and walked up to Naruto "Let's go."

Naruto looked to Konohamaru, to Moegi then Udon and back to Sakura. Everyone had the same ghost-like appearance. They all felt it. Naruto swore from the bottom of his heart that he would try not to anger her…ever again.

"You sure know how to pick them Nii-san…"

"What was that?"

Konohamaru could see the fires of hell burning in the background. "Nothing! I'm sorry! Later Nii-san!" Konohamaru slammed the door shut. He was never going to live this down. Neither were the others.

"I think you just scarred them…and me for life…"

"I'm sensitive about my forehead you know." Sakura pouted.

"I thought you would have gotten over that by now." Naruto replied non-chalet as he climbed the stairs.

"Well yeah but-" Sakura's eyes' widened to the size of dinner plates "How did you know I was sensitive about my forehead? I don't remember telling you anything about it."

"Oh um, I overheard….um…Ino? Yeah, Ino was talking about it and I overheard."

"That pig…"

"Anyway! Next stop, my room."

Sorry, Ino for I told a lie about you. Don't hate me.


"I think you missed a spot…" Sakura's eyebrows twitched.

"What? Where?"

"There on the table. It's the only space that doesn't have your junk all over it!" Sakura snapped. Clutter, so much clutter. Sakura had never seen a more disorganized room in her life! There were empty ramen cups, soda bottles, clothes and more than one brand of chocolate bar scattered across the living room alone.

"Why don't you try cleaning your house? It might make it, I dunno, more livable?"

"Its fine the way it is. I can find my stuff easier this way."

"No. If we are going to talk here, you had better clean it first." Sakura placed her hands on her hips. No way she was going to converse in this cesspool of filth.

"But-"

"No buts. Clean."

"Fine, we'll talk and clean."

"Fine by me. We're going to need the broom, mop, disinfectant and air-sanitizer….lots and lots of air sanitizer."

...

"So…"

"So?"

"What did you bring me here for? It certainly wasn't to clean." Sakura couldn't help but bring it up. Though she tried to hide it, the entire time it was eating at her slowly. She had to know what was going on.

"Yeah…" Naruto paused for a minute before he started speaking "Sakura-chan, what I'm about to tell you isn't easy so just bare with me."

She nodded.

"Everyone in the apartment complex is like family to me. I love them all even with their quirks. I've grown attached to them over the years, which is why I do what I do now. It's all for them."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll start with Ebisu. He…is a doctor. Weird, I know. I could never picture him as one but he is one of the greatest I know, besides Tsunade of course."

"You still have to tell me how you know her."

"I will." He smiled "But right now he doesn't have a job and probably never will."

"Why's that?"

"A scandal caused by one of his patients." Sakura listened as patiently and attentively as she could. "A favorite patient of his sued him for messing up her surgery which she said had some 'adverse effects' on her body. I never read the paper or paid attention to those long names of effects so I don't know what happened. But that didn't matter. She fabricated the whole thing anyway."

Naruto reorganized the couch as he spoke without any hints of showing any emotion.

"After all ways said and done, he lost all his money, his job and any chance of getting one in this town. All he can do now is wonder where he went wrong in life."

"What happened to the girl who framed him?"

"Oh, she's doing fine I suppose. She couldn't be happier with her life now that she has a big family of idiots to take care of. It will be even bigger if more people come here though…"

"Wait, she lives here?" Sakura asked, slightly surprised.

"You met her just now you know."

"Wait, Yui? Why would she…she seemed so nice…"

"She is." Naruto paused as he cleared the table "Turns out that some mob boss was using her to extract money from people all over the city. Ebisu was unlucky enough to be his next victim."

"It was strange finding her sobbing her eyes out at a bar the next day. She was on the edge. I don't blame her. The same night of the trial, her father was murderer by the very mob boss that promised to end his debt. She apologized so much that night. It got through to Ebisu. He felt no hatred towards her when she spoke to him."

"Rather, he was enraged that 'a dirty rotten snake-in-the-grass' would use such a lovely woman like that. One of his drinking buddies and fellow pervert, was happy enough to join him as well as a few other residents to go teach the mobster a lesson. Ah, memories. I remember that night like it was the back of my hand. I had so many stitches Ebisu swore that I would have threat for blood."

"You were in the middle of all that?"

"How could I miss something like that?" Naruto removed the dirty cups of ramen and put them into trash bags "After we beat him senseless, he agreed to leave her alone. But even with her new found freedom she wanted to help Ebisu for wronging him. He said that he was fine but she insisted. And so now she lives here. The two are great friends now."

"Well that ended well enough, I suppose." Sakura swept the living room clearing out all the dust "Do the twins have a similar story?"

"No. It's more of a family issue." Naruto scratched his head before he got back to cleaning "They live alone in that small apartment of theirs."

"What? Where are their parents?"

"Somewhere." Naruto scoffed "Their father is an alcoholic and their mother is a woman who can't handle responsibility. They blame each other for their own mistakes and argue about it day and night. It was too much for the twins. They did the only thing they could."

"Ran away…" Sakura muttered.

"They lived in a cardboard box house somewhere near the great river. That got destroyed when a group of thugs attacked an idiot fighter for 'looking at them wrong'. After he got rid of the thugs, he apologized to them. They explained their situation and the boy promised to take care of them. At first they didn't trust him. They went so far to make his life a living hell but eventually they saw that he meant what he said so they opened up to him."

"He gave them what remained of the life they had. He gave them a home, he gave them food and clothing and even sent them to school."

"That idiot fighter is you isn't it?"

Rather than answer he went on with his story."Going to school was a big problem with them you know. They never went much because of their parent's negligence but look at them now."

Sakura noticed that Naruto had a smile similar to that of her mother when she was proud of Hana. "Getting excited to do their homework, bugging the staff and getting excited over going back for another day of fun."

"You look a lot like a parent right now." She had to admit, Naruto could make a mature face when he wanted. The only thing she didn't get was why she couldn't take her eyes off him when he did.

"Parent? Me? Nah," Naruto waved his hand "Yui-nee-chan is the one taking care of everything for the kids."

Sakura was almost afraid to ask.

"Speaking of kids…what about Konohamaru and his friends?"

Naruto seemed hesitant to speak.

"It's been 9 years since I came here with my Godfather." Naruto moved to stare out his window.

Godfather? Not parents? That must have meant that…

"You've never really spoken about him." Or them…

"Not much to say about him besides the fact that he is a drunk and a pervert. Also, he isn't here." Naruto returned to his duties, grabbing the mop and wiping the floor. "He comes home maybe once every three months. He likes to travel a lot. He sends me stuff every month- money, gifts, books."

"Do you actually read those?"

"He's a porn novelist."

"Forget I asked…" Sakura regretted asking.

"Anyway, he took me here to meet a friend of his Hiruzen Sarutobi. He was Konohamaru's grandfather and the most amazing man I ever knew." Sakura stopped cleaning. Naruto was finally showing emotion, but it wasn't an emotion she enjoyed.

"Udon, Moegi and countless others here are orphans. Sarutobi-sensei found them all and brought them here. He was the caretaker of this place. It didn't matter what kind of background you had, he would take care of you regardless. He treated everyone here as his own children." Naruto spoke bitterly.

"He was one of the few people who actually saw me for me. Not the monster that people made me out to be. For a time being, I thought they were right. But he taught me otherwise. He taught me how to believe in myself. He taught me that people don't have the right to define who Naruto Uzumaki is, only I can."

"He knew I got into fights daily because of my rash personality. He told me that I rushed in without thinking about the consequences way too much. I still do it now. So he taught me a few things. 'I didn't teach you how to fight; I taught you how to defend myself!' or something like that" He chuckled bitterly "He made me who I am today."

"He seems like a great man."

"He was, but he was still old. I thought he had a lot of life left in him since he could still kick my ass in his 80's but one day…he just…"

Sakura dropped what she was doing immediately and rushed over to him placing her hands on his back. "I'm sorry Naruto…"

"I am Kamikaze, undefeated champion of the Akatsuki Underground Fighting Area. I fight for money, I hurt people for money I do a lot of things I don't enjoy but it's all to provide for the family that he left behind. He always told me that if he ever had an accident and couldn't take care of everyone, that I shouldn't feel obliged to do it myself. He said it would eventually kill me on the inside."

Naruto gritted his teeth roughly as he turned to Sakura.

"Sakura, I know you don't want me to get hurt but I have to do what I can. If I don't I wouldn't be able to support the family he built over the years. If I didn't take care of them, who would?"

"Naruto…" Sakura noticed that he began to tear up.

"I entered that god awful place because I didn't know what else to do! It paid well enough so I'd have enough money for everyone. I was young, I was stupid I know but if I had the choice I would still do it again."

"Ebisu refuses to take money from me without reason. Since he is a doctor and I have constant bruises and wounds from my fights, he agreed to become my personal doctor. At first he didn't agree with it. Who would? I mean what was 14 year old boy doing in a fight club? But he realized that he needed the money and I needed a doctor I could trust. I can still see the guilt in his eyes when he treats me. It kills him on the inside but he knows that my cause is right."

"The kids…God the kids. I can't imagine what would happen to them if I couldn't get the simplest of things for them. They know I work hard to give them what they need but they never once thought of where I was getting it. I'm grateful of that. As long as they can go to school, as long as they have food to eat, as long as they can live a normal life smiling without worry, that's something I can live with regardless of the pains I suffer."

"Naruto…"

Now it all made sense. Sasuke's anger 'You're killing yourself for people that you barely know!' but Sasuke was wrong. Naruto did know them. It was what pushed him to do what he did. Naruto was solely providing for all of them with the money he earned from his fights. He obviously didn't like it but it paid enough for him and everyone else to get by. It was enough to keep everyone off the streets.

"Naruto I understand what you're saying but…you're killing yourself by doing this." But even so, Sakura didn't want to see Naruto get hurt. She didn't enjoy the thought of him disappearing one day because of one fight gone wrong.

"This is why people think you're a delinquent, because they saw you at the fight club?" Naruto didn't respond. It angered her. People were placing labels on him without even trying to understand him. Sakura cursed herself for almost believing he was. He was destroying his life and his reputation and it wasn't doing him any good.

"Naruto you can't keep this up forever…eventually you'll have to stop otherwise you'll…." Sakura looked down, unable to look him in the eye anymore.

"I know…but I don't have any other choice."

"Of course you do! There is always another way!" Sakura gripped tightly on his shirt.

"Like what?" Naruto shouted.

"I don't know. You can send the kids to an orphanage and help Ebisu find a job in another city."

"Sakura, they are the only family I know! The only people I can trust! The only people who actually care about me! They are all I have left in this world and…I don't want to see them gone." The tears were now flooding out of Naruto's eyes.

"I enjoy coming back home just to hear Yui-nee-chan say 'Welcome home'. I enjoy playing with the kids and joking around with Ebisu. I love eating ramen with my friends Sai and Yuuji. I don't want to be alone…not anymore."

It wasn't only a problem of find a better solution, Naruto simply didn't want to be alone. He selfishly and desperately didn't want to lose what family he had left. But who could blame him? He was a guy who gave so much to so many people. Didn't he deserve to be selfish?

"Naruto…you're not alone." Sakura wiped the tears from his face with a sincere smile and a caring gaze.

"What do you mean…?"

Sakura wrapped her arms around waist and pressed against him, holding him in a tight embrace as if she was never planning to let him go.

"You're not alone. Not anymore. Not ever again."


A/N: I hope this sheds some light on the situation~