Disclaimer: I still do not own any of the characters, plot elements, or heck any rights to Naruto whatsoever… darn.

Notes to you: Well let's keep this thing going eh? A little shorter this time, but I would rather post regularly, than to wait so long that I don't do it. Anyway if you are a returning fan, and I probably should have said this on the last chapter, I revised all the chapters 8 and below to rid them of spelling and grammatical errors, and just to generally make it more readable. So, you may find that you want to re-read all of those chapters(no plot elements were changed so it's fine if you don't) Enjoy!

Chapter 10

"Shit." Naruto said to himself. He sat down on his bed after Sakura had chewed his ear off for calling Ino a bitch. He didn't enjoy the feeling of leaving things as they were when Sakura went home. "You screwed us Fluffy."

"I wasn't the one that confused reality with his thoughts, and besides STOP CALLING ME FLUFFY!" the nine tailed beast roared in his cage.

Naruto had long since learned to live with the beasts wailing, and shook off his comment like it was nothing. "Yeah, but you know I'm not good at stuff like that. You couldn't have waited till she left to start questioning the situation?"

"I was bored. The only entertainment I get is watching you squirm."

"Wait, are you saying that you set me up for that one?" Naruto leaned back against the wall disgruntled.

"Well maybe you should show me a little respect, and I might be inclined to legitimately help you, instead of trying to throw you under the bus all the time."

Naruto thought over the monster's request briefly. "Ok, if you stop trying to mess with me, then maybe I'll start calling you by your real name… Which is?"

"Oh you want to know that after all this time?"

"Don't give me that crap, I'm trying to be nice here."

The great fox closed his eyes and carefully considered things. "Will you let me give you more advice?"

"Advice would be great. You know I have problems thinking things through anyway."

The Kyuubi opened its eyes and glared mischievously at him. "Deal, it'll be fun to use you to mess with other people. And the name's Kurama."

"Deal Kurama. Alright so what the hell am I going to do about this fight with Sakura?"

"I don't know man, women are weird. They want to talk about their feelings and crap… I guess you don't have too much to worry about here though."

"What do you mean? This is our first real fight."

The Kyuubi laughed. "No it's not! Have you forgotten half the shit you and her have been through?"

Naruto let out a sigh through his teeth, and a grimace crept across his face. "I meant as a couple."

Kurama returned to his usual self. "You remember how you two finally started dating right? It was only a week ago when you were trying to spy on women in the bathhouse. How quick did she forgive you for that?" His final question came off as rhetorical.

Naruto scratched his head. "I guess she got over it pretty quickly."

"Exactly! I don't think this is something you have to worry about, just say you're sorry and wait a little while. She'll forget it pretty quick."

"That's… actually pretty good advice."

"Hell yeah it is!" Kurama's confidence always peaked when he got something right. "Now leave me alone for a bit. I have to plot our revenge on Tsunade for blinding us." And just like that the nine tailed beast turned around in his cage and wandered off into his schemes.

Across town:

Sakura had just arrived home still in a huff over the events of the evening. "Stupid dumbass." She cursed quietly to herself.

"Nice ass!" Inner Sakura added.

"Is that all you are going to do? Is be perverted?" She asked her second mind while she opened the front door.

"I'm just here to point out that we already knew he was dumb. This was inevitable."

Sakura walked into the living room. "You're right…" However this didn't stop her grumbling. "Stupid dumb-nice ass."

"Sakura honey, you talk to yourself a lot. I hope you don't do that around your boyfriend."

Sakura's head and eyes slowly turned in fear towards the couch that her mother was staring at her from. "Ha… ha…" Her nerve-wracked fake laugh didn't cover her unease at all. Sakura sunk her head in shame. "Oh gosh I don't need this right now."

"What's wrong?" Her mother always saw right through her.

Sakura clenched her eyes shut. "Naruto and I… we got in a fight."

"Do I need to give you a hug… go over to his house… and hurt him?"

Sakura smiled lightly. "No Mom, it's ok. We're just going to have to work through it."

"Tell me what happened." Her mother closed the book that she was reading and patted on the seat next to her on the couch.

Sakura took the seat before she started speaking. "Naruto…" She struggled the find the words. "Naruto is just dumb, ok."

"Yeah I heard that part, and apparently he has a nice ass also." The older woman grinned wickedly.

Sakura blushed at her comment and looked away. "Mom please!"

"I couldn't help it." Her smile faded when she noticed Sakura's emotions remained unchanged. "I'm sorry sweety. Now tell me what's really going on."

"That's just it Mom, he really is just dumb."

"Sakura, that could describe any man I even met, even your father." She was serious. "Men are dumb, especially when they're young. Trust me you start off hoping to find one isn't too childish, then you find one that you like anyway. You stick by them because you know that they would do the same for you. And you really hope that grow enough sense to stop picking their nose in front of you one day… but they never do. That's when the truth hits you dear, the reason you care for them is because of who they are. That childishness becomes what you love most about them. But the real important thing is in their heart. Ask yourself, 'did he do what he did because he wanted to hurt you or was it just a mistake?'"

Sakura sat silently for a few seconds as she stared at the floor in front of her. "I guess it was just a mistake."

"Would he ever do anything to intentionally hurt your feelings?"

Sakura got defensive over Naruto. "Not a chance! Naruto would go through hell just to see me smile!"

Her mother smiled knowingly. "Then what's the problem?"

Both Sakura and her inner self were shocked. "Damn! Mom knows what's going on!" Sakura's second mind chimed in.

"I didn't know she was so good at this." Sakura said out loud.

"You're talking to yourself again Sakura."

"Yeah I was… sorry Mom."

Sakura's Mom grabbed a cup of tea and took a deep sip while she looked straight ahead of her. "It also helps if he has dreamy eyes and big dick."

Inner Sakura's jaw hit the floor. "Damn! Mom knows what's going on!"

"You can say that again." Sakura said.

The mother looked surprised. "I would have thought that would have grossed you out."

"What? Yeah! I mean I wasn't talking to you…" Sakura drug out the last word as she thought. "Wasn't talking to YOU! That's it! Naruto wasn't talking to me he was talking to… someone else." She didn't want her mother to know about Naruto's ability to speak with the kyuubi, even though it was just a hunch.

Sakura's mother sat there extremely confused. "I'm glad I helped?"

"Yeah, thanks Mom you're the best." Sakura kissed her mother on the cheek and got up to unpack her things.

At Naruto's apartment:

Naruto looked around his small studio apartment. "Wow! This place is freakishly clean." He said to himself gasping at what an incredible job Sakura had done to clean the place up over a week's time. There were no dishes in the sink, the counters were bare save for appliances, and even the toilet was sparkling white. He marveled as he looked inside the bowl. "I thought that ring where water sat was a decoration." It was shocking to see the transformation of his house from garbage dump to home. "I'll never be able to keep it this way." His head sunk in sorrow. "Oh well I guess Sakura will just make me clean when I need to… It won't be that bad… right?" he questioned himself knowing this was going to be a thorn in their relationship.

Naruto shook off the feeling of dread from the impending future, and felt the weight of a long day come over him. He decided that it was just best to go to bed and deal with things in the morning. Teeth brushed, showered, and bowels relieved, and Naruto found himself ready to sleep. He turned off the lights and lay down in his bed.

It was uncomfortable, no matter how he turned he couldn't get to a point where he felt he could fall asleep. A few irritating minutes and Naruto had had enough. He got out of bed and flicked on the light. "I know what's wrong here… Shadow clone Jutsu." One single shadow clone appeared in front of him. "I got used to sleeping with another person… So come on it's not that weird."

The clone shifted his eyes around room as if searching for other people. "We never tell anyone about this."

"Yup!" they crawled into the bed together, and it was worse than before. Naruto didn't find sleeping with an exact clone of himself to be something that he liked to cuddle up next to.

The clone spoke first. "This isn't working."

"I know that!..." There was silence for a few too many seconds. "Turn into Sakura." There was even more silence than before.

"You turn into Sakura!" The clone snapped back at him, but the quiet was all the thicker.

"Just do it… I don't think it would feel right if we were both Sakura."

The clone was not happy, but knew that he would be replaced in a moment's notice with a clone that shared the viewpoint of the original. Thus, with great dissatisfaction, the clone changed his shape through the transformation jutsu.

At Sakura's house:

Sakura entered her room for the first time in nearly a week. "Wow! It's freakishly clean in here." She said to herself realizing the vast difference between her level of cleanliness and Naruto's. Somehow she now found herself to be the person in the wrong. "I guess not everything as to be perfect…" She mused over the thought of what she might do with her free time by cleaning less while she unpacked. That is until she realized shadow clones could be her person housekeeping slaves. She laughed maliciously to herself. "Yes. Everything will be clean!"

It was her usual routine before going to bed. Brush teeth, shower… relieve the bowels. An order that had been disrupted since she had been staying at Naruto's. She found comfort in getting back to her normal life, although something was missing now… And it didn't take her long to figure out that that thing, was a person.

She sighed to herself. "I'll see him tomorrow, just try and get some sleep." She made her way into bed, which was freezing. The feeling instantly reminded her of her now personal blonde bed warmer. "No!" she said to herself. "We can't sleep over there. Just suck it up for now." She fell asleep though not as fast as she wished, and dreamt of having a warm body next to her.

At Naruto's apartment:

It was comfortable finally, and Naruto had no trouble going to sleep. The clone however lay there wide eyed, with a look of sheer terror breaking his face, and hoped that it was only a dream.

Extra Notes: Hey just a heads up if you are a fan of my work do please continue reading, but also check out the book that I wrote " The Red X by Robert P. Sullivan " (It's a zombie survival book) And if you like it tell your friends. Thanks!