So I never realized that this story is actually topping one of my most popular stories on Fanfiction. This one has always been low-key and not high on my radar but it looks like I should be giving this story a bit more loooove! Thank you again, readers! (And special love goes out to my reviewers!) It's the one year anniversary of the beginning of the story! Hooray!

Also, my anonymous guest reviewers—thank you so much for the reviews, love, and support! I always reply to my reviewers but it sucks that I can't do that for you guys, so just as a clump to all those reviews last chapter: a big warm thank you!

Really quick note relevant to the story:

You might have noticed that there aren't any as many flashbacks as there were in the beginning anymore. I guess it's inconsistent of me to not keep writing them and just include them in the more expository part of the story. Flashbacks are a sorta cheat way for me to incorporate background information into the story really quickly. Anyway, sorry about my wily uncreative ways. I'll see if I can incorporate more flashbacks through the rest of the story to make the characterization of everyone and the whole story in general more complete. Always a work in process. :)

But getting on with the actual story…

Chapter Ten:

would you like fries with that?

"Naruto," she urgently whispered. Then again. "Naruto." Her head was spinning already and the only word that was sifting through her mind—cold.

She felt tears closing in on her throat, her breath catching a sob.

"Why are you crying? I'm not dead yet."

She pulled away the heavy fabric around his body, pressing her ear against his stiff chest. She prayed for some kind of a sign that he was still there—he was just really exhausted right? There was no way that he could have been dead. He was just talking to her a few days ago. Naruto was stronger than that.

"Naruto!" she repeated, resorting to slapping his face. "Naruto!"

No response.

This drove her crazy. He was stronger than this! How could he possibly be dead?!

Frustrated, angry, saddened, anxious, worried, paranoid, she desperately fisted her hands, banging them against his chest. "Wake up, Naruto!" She felt Sai come in behind her, trying to calm her down and attempting to keep her hands at bay. "You're not supposed to die yet! Naruto! Naruto!"

Then a flutter. And all the world froze.

His eyelids flickered. Her breath caught.

His eyebrows crinkled and when his sky blue eyes finally opened, the first thing he saw was a mass of pink hair tackling him. Confused by the warm embrace and the familiar smell of a long-time friend, he raised his hands and pushed her away.

"Sakura?!" and even though his voice was ecstatic, her name came out sputtered from his weak body.

She found herself unable to say anything. Thank god, you're alive. Thank god.

"Wha—what's going on?" he asked, woozily.

"You've been stuck underground for quite a while," Sai explained. "We're getting you out of here."

"Who are you?" Naruto demanded.

Not letting Naruto go from her grasp, Sakura explained, "It's okay, Naruto. He's my neighbor. It's fine. You're fine."

"But what's he doing all the way out here?" he asked, his eyes rolling back. "And how did you even find me? I thought I was…are you real?"

"It's alright, Naruto," Sakura said, hugging him once more. "I'll explain everything later."

"What's going on…"

She shushed him, helping him fall asleep, and then looked up at Sai before the two of them carried Naruto back up to the surface.

All the way back to Sai's car, she held tightly onto Naruto's hand, worried that if she let him go, she'd lose him all over again.

later

"Thank you," she said.

Sai kept his eyes on the road. "Of course."

Sakura quickly processed everything that had just happened within the past few days. She still wasn't sure how she felt about everything. Relieved, by far—but…

"So…what about the other bodies in the sierram mine?"

"I tagged them and reported them," Sai replied simply. "I'm sure every man in that mine will go home."

Whether alive or not, Sakura quickly finished Sai's sentence in her head.

"You've saved your friend now, Sakura."

She nodded, knowing what he was going to ask next.

"So now what?"

She still wasn't prepared for the question. "I don't know."

But before she could answer, a groan emerged from the back of the car.

"Sakura! So all that was real!" Naruto exclaimed. "Wait but…wait, how did you guys find me?"

"Sai helped me find you," Sakura explained. "He's my next door neighbor…and he was there when I got your phone call. So we found you."

Naruto waited a few more minutes for Sakura to continue, but she didn't. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"There's more to that story," Naruto said, leaning forward. "I mean, two regular civilians don't just get into a car and drive to a militant zone to save a soldier."

Sakura looked over at Sai. He gave her a quick nod.

"Well," she began after a long minute. "Sai happens to be an undercover ANBU agent. He agreed to help you get out of here."

She knew Naruto tended to overreact and she hoped that this one time Naruto wouldn't go completely berserk at this information, but to her surprise, Naruto was rather passive about this reveal.

"Huh," he said, before his head fell back to the car seat.

Sakura smiled to herself when she realized that Naruto had fallen asleep once more. Reaching back, she untucked his arm from under his head.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," Sai apologized suddenly.

Her silence asked why.

"You're so strong—having been thrown into this mess and dealing so well with all the chaos." He finally looked back towards her, onyx eyes locking onto her. "I'm happy for you, but honestly I don't understand why you risked all this to go back and save him. You were in just as serious of a situation as him, yet you still stopped and went back."

At this point, she couldn't take his gaze anymore, and she looked out the passenger window.

"You do things for the people you care most about," she said.

"And Naruto is someone I care about. A whole lot."

midafternoon

"So now what?"

Sakura fumbled Sai's question in her mind, flipping it over and tasting it until she got sick of it.

There were still so many unanswered questions. What did the Akatsuki want with her? Just Sasuke? And what did the Akatsuki want with Sasuke? With sierram?

What did Sasuke want? Why was he wrecking havoc? Just because he was working for a crime organization? Out of spite? Because he was forced to?

What about the man that looked just like him? His brother? Why did he not shoot them? Why was this man in the Akatsuki?

And then not just that—what did the ANBU want with Sasuke and the Akatsuki? What was the real relationship between all three of them? And who was it that Sai had mentioned? Orochimaru? Who was he? What was he even planning, being head of a crime organization?

In the midst of furrowing eyebrows, Naruto came to.

"Fuck, I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry."

His comment was so unexpected that Sakura couldn't help but laugh.

Sai's eyes trailed off the road and read a passing highway sign. "We'll stop by to grab something to eat." His hands turned right to make towards the exit.

"Ramen, please," Naruto suggested.

"Of course," Sakura sighed.

"It's the food of the gods."

flashback

"It's because I care about you!" she blurted. "I can't see you doing that to yourself!"

Sasuke pressed his forehead between his fists. "Why do you care? Just fucking stop. I'm not worth your time."

Sakura's voice practically came out in a snarl. "I determine who I care about, and I think that you can't just take that for granted."

"Okay!" the raven-haired teenager retorted. "Then I'll take you for granted. I can deal with being a bastard if you stop pestering me."

Her emerald eyes darkened with grief. "Why? Why are you letting yourself suffer?"

His entire face was turned away from her. She couldn't read anything from his still posture.

"Don't tell me you're punishing yourself," she said, breathing out the concern that she had always worried about. These words barely made it past her lips and they were nothing more than a whisper absorbed in the heavy tense air.

The thick silence almost choked her. Or perhaps it was the accumulating tears in her throat.

"I don't know, Sakura. I don't know," Sasuke finally confessed.

Naruto looked between the two of them before leaning forward and admitting, "Geez, I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving to death here."

After a moment, Sakura suddenly sputtered into laughter, unable to take in the two conflicting emotions she was hearing. She couldn't stop laughing, sharp bells of happiness emerging from her lungs. Somewhere along the line, Naruto began to see the ridiculousness of the whole situation, and his deeper chuckles underscored Sakura's giggles. They laughed for at least a minute, Sasuke still scowling.

But he broke thirty seconds later, and all three clutched their hurting bellies.

backtothepresent

The sight must have been strange—two men donning very non-civilian clothing and a woman that looked as though she had just escaped from the jungle.

"I'm just acting as normal as possible, you know?" Naruto said to her while waiting for their order.

"Right, by ordering enough food for a family of four kids and two monsters," Sakura retorted.

"Exactly! I'm starving! I was hiding there for at least two days!"

Sai smiled, before excusing himself to take a restroom break.

Not even after few steps, Sakura turned to Naruto. "I was so worried about you."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I was worried you'd be worried about me."

"How would I have not worry about you?"

He shook his head. "Once I get back to Konoha, they'll probably reassign me to another location."

Her mouth gaped open. "No, they couldn't. Not after what you went through. After you get debriefed, no! That would be—"

"And besides, I kinda want to fight more," he interrupted. "I mean, some people don't get the chance to receive honor and pride while kicking ass." He looked back at her, blue eyes genuinely sparkling. "I'm going to fight as much as I damn can!"

She looked away, hiding her twisted mouth.

flashback

"Sakura! I'm sorry!" Naruto said, once more, trying to win back the pinkette's attention.

She turned up her nose and stormed off, after having served her thirty minutes of playground detention.

Her first ever detention.

She couldn't believe that he made her get in trouble.

"You were the one that started it," she simply said, not forgiving him.

"I already said sorry! I mean, it's not my fault that you're in detention!" Naruto replied. "If anything, you should have talked back to Iruka-sensei!"

Sakura whirled around on her heel. "Talk back to the sensei?! That's ridiculous! You don't do that!"

"Well yeah but—"

"Why are you always making so much trouble, Naruto? Geez," Sakura sighed, exasperated. She flipped around again, heading out the classroom door and making sure to walk faster than him. There was no way that the other kids on the playground were going to see her—the head of the class—walking with the dead last—even if he was her friend—out of the detention room.

She almost didn't hear his answer, but it wafted in the air and stuck in her head.

"Would you know my name otherwise?"

eatingramen

"So uh, how did you get to know this…Sai, or whatever his name is?" Naruto said, rolling his chopsticks together before mumbling a quick itadakimasu.

"Oh god," Sakura sighed. "It's a long ass story."

Naruto shrugged, dipping his chopsticks into the broth. "Well, I'm not going anywhere."

"But for the most part, it's about Sasuke being a criminal."

The blond choked on a noodle. Sakura felt a vibe of 'what the hell' coming from the army man. But then the two of them noticed Sai coming back towards them from the bathroom.

"You owe me a better explanation," Naruto concluded.

Sai, quite awkwardly, took a seat across the two of them.

Naruto watched him for a second before asking casually, "So what's going to happen next?"

"Well," Sai said, pulling up a gun to Naruto's head. "You tell me."

Haha! Well then! How about that review? :P (else I'll let Gai know that you want to join in his daily morning exercise routine all next month!)

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