C H A P T E R N I N E

Sakura came up to Naruto's small apartment and parked her bike near the stairs that led up to his door. She climbed them up, consumed with thoughts, and knocked on the door. She didn't even notice he opened to door until he spoke.

"Sakura?" He said as he opened the door.

"Hey," she replied softly.

Naruto stepped to the side and opened the door wider to let her in. Jiraiya was sitting at the kitchen table with a steaming cup of tea.

"Hello, Sakura!" he greeted with a goofy smile on his face.

Sakura sighed and gave a very, very faint smile. "Hi."

Naruto closed the door behind Sakura as she slipped off her sneakers. She walked into the kitchen as Jiraiya stood up.

"I'll leave you two alone," he said. Sakura guessed that Naruto had told Jiraiya what happened.

"So," Naruto started as they sat at the table. "Are you… okay?"

Sakura gave a small smile. No matter what, Naruto was never able to comfort her with words. But he would always listen and give his honest opinion, and that was what she needed. Sometimes he argued against her, which would help her see her problem from a perspective besides her own.

"It wasn't right of him," Sakura said, obviously referring to Kiba. "He should have just, well, thought."

"But you know he just did it because he cares for you," Naruto countered.

"Yeah," Sakura agreed, "but what about how I felt? I don't feel that way about Sai, but Kiba didn't know that. All he had to do was walk up and say 'Hey, who's this?' and it would have been fine!"

"He's not happy that he did it," Naruto said.

"Well, he did do it," Sakura huffed.

"Sakura, you need to think of this through Kiba's perspective," Naruto reasoned. "Say, instead, you were looking for Kiba, and you found him hugging some other girl. So you go up and slap her, only to find that she's a childhood friend. How would you feel?"

"Guilty and embarrassed," Sakura listed. "And if he broke it off like I did, I'd be so sad that my heart would hurt."

It was silent for a moment before Sakura stood and sighed. Naruto stood with her.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Completely settle me down. Work out all my problems. Change my mind."

"What?" Naruto said in mock innocence, a big grin on his face. "Me? Naw, never!"

Sakura laughed and threw her arms around Naruto's neck.

"You're the greatest friend ever," Sakura whispered.

"And so are you," Naruto replied, hugging her tighter.


Sakura wasn't sure what to do.

She was thinking of maybe calling him. Kiba always answered his phone, but what if he didn't because he didn't want to talk to her?

She could text him, but this wasn't a texting situation.

What if she went to his house? That might be kind of… awkward though. Maybe she should meet him somewhere. But where?

Sakura sighed. She might as well just go to his house and talk to him face to face. So, Sakura began walking to his house, because walking would at least give her a little more time to think of what to say.


Kiba wasn't sure what to do.

He sat there with his phone in his hand, but decided not to call her. Sakura was probably still mad at him, and wouldn't answer if she saw it was him.

Kiba decided not to text her, because it wasn't a texting situation.

What if he went to her house? If her dad was there, though, he might send him away. But what else could he do? He might as well go.

Kiba stood up and walked outside, hollering to his mom that he was going on a walk, and then began in the direction of Sakura's house.


They meet half-way there, closer to Sakura's house considering she walked slowly, not knowing what to say, and he ran, just knowing he had to say something (what, though, he didn't think of).

She had been dragging her feet, zoned out, wondering what to say without completely forgiving him easily, or being mean about it.

He noticed her when he was at the park that they had both decided to take a shortcut through. Kiba slowed to a jog before stopping as Sakura looked up.

"Sakura?"

"Kiba?"

"What are you doing here?" Kiba asked as they walked up to each other.

Sakura glanced away before looking back up at him. "I was coming to see you. What were you doing?"

"I was coming to see you," Kiba said, and they both gave a small laugh. They stood in silence.

"I'm sorry," Kiba said quietly, not meeting Sakura's gaze. "I shouldn't have done that, it was wrong. I mean, I just randomly punched some guy just because he gave you a hug!"

"True," Sakura agreed. "But I shouldn't have gotten so mad. I mean, I probably would have punched him too, if our roles had been switched." She gave a smile that was of her normal self. "Well, depending on how pretty the girl you were hugging was."

Kiba laughed. "I'm sorry," he said again.

"I'm sorry too," Sakura said.

They stood there before Sakura suddenly hugged Kiba. He hugged her back, holding her in his arms in the middle of the park on a beautiful day. The sky was turning pink, the clouds were fluffy, and the birds were singing.

Flash

"Look how cute they are, Neji!"

Sakura and Kiba turned to see Neji standing next to Tenten, who was looking at the picture that she had just taken on her phone.

"Tenten," Sakura whined as she pulled away from Kiba.

"Sorry, Sakura," Tenten said, waving her phone in the air. "But I'm going to have to text this to a few people."

"Neji," Kiba whined, but he just shook his head.

"Well," Sakura started, "Why are you here with Neji, hmm, Tenten?"

Tenten stopped and looked up, blushing. Neji turned his face away, which was also pink.

"We're… um…" Tenten muttered.

"On a date?" Kiba finished, a grin on his face.

"Possibly," Neji muttered.

Sakura and Kiba grinned at the blushing couple for a moment.

"Well!" Tenten suddenly exclaimed. "We're off then. Bye!"

Sakura and Kiba watched as Tenten grabbed Neji's hand and pulled him away. They laughed with each other.

"So…" Kiba trailed off, nudging a rock with his shoe.

"So…" Sakura repeated. "I should probably go. My dad should be home soon."

"I'll walk you!" Kiba instantly offered, and Sakura smiled at him.

"How could I ever be mad at you?" she said quietly as they started walking.

"Yeah," Kiba agreed. "How could you be mad at all this boyish charm?"

Sakura laughed, leaning into him as they walked through the park.

"We should do that," Sakura suddenly said.

"Do what?" Kiba asked.

"Go on a date, like Neji and Tenten," Sakura replied, turning her blushing face away from him. Kiba stopped walking.

"Well, where do you want to go?" he said.

Sakura looked up, meeting Kiba's warm brown eyes. "I don't really care."

"Oh, so I get to choose?" Kiba asked with a grin on his face. "Well… let's go to the moon!"

Sakura laughed. "We can't go to the moon," she said as they started walking again.

"If you wanted it, I'd go get the moon and bring it back for you," Kiba said softly.

"You sound like a cheesy romance movie."

"That's exactly what I was going for," Kiba laughed.

They come upon the edge of the park, and headed down the road to Sakura's house.

"How about I come pick you up tomorrow?" Kiba said.

"Where will we go?" Sakura asked.

"That's a surprise," Kiba said, grinning.

"Fine, fine," Sakura pouted.

They continued down the road as the sun lowered behind the trees on the skyline. Kiba walked Sakura up to her front door, and they could hear the television playing inside. The two stood on her porch for a moment.

"So… I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Kiba said, placing his hand on the back of his neck.

"Yeah," Sakura agreed. She turned to go inside, but paused.

Should I kiss him? She thought. I don't have to kiss him on the lips, but still…I was just mad at him…

"Kiba?" Sakura called before he stepped off the porch. He turned around and she tackled him in a hug, squeezing him tightly. He wrapped his arms back around her.

"Be careful," she whispered.

"You too," he replied. "Bye, Sakura."

Sakura watched from her porch as he walked away, then turned around, walking into her house. She opened the door to see her dad standing there, where he had been looking through the peephole.

"Hey, I was just making sure he didn't kiss you," Sakura's dad defended.

o.O.0.O.o

Been a while, huh? Well, I don't own the characters of the series Naruto.

IMPORTANT: I've renamed the chapters, in case you haven't noticed. There's a little theme for these ones. BUT, should I rename the chapters for Strange Girl?

Read and review~!