" " speaking; ' ' thinking

((DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters.))

- Sakura's Rage -

Naruto had left Sasuke for a while after their encounter. Sasuke had been too elated to care; Naruto was fairly sure he had gone to sleep. Naruto had went out though, planning on getting ramen, but ending up with sake instead. A lot of sake.

By dusk, Naruto remembered that Cell 7 was supposed to train with Kakashi east of town at nightfall. Walking unsteadily with his worries drowned in alcohol, Naruto made his way east only to pass Sasuke waiting outside of Cell 7's temporary home.

"Naruto-chan...?" Sasuke muttered, sounding almost nervous but keeping his trademark indifferent look on his face. "Should we tell Sakura and Kakashi-sensei about us... you know, being together?"

Remembering the situation he was in had a sobering effect. Naruto breathed deeply, and the replied, "I'll tell them. Sakura-san will hate me enough as it is. I may as well be the one who gives her reason to..."

"Did you ever have real feelings for Sakura, Naruto-chan?"

Naruto thought carefully. "Perhaps a bit, in the beginning, but none after I started to know you better."

Sasuke smiled at him and he returned it as believably as he could. It pained Naruto to know that the love Sasuke so desprately longed for was something he couldn't really give him. No matter how hard he pretended, he wasn't in love with Sasuke. He had no problem with the fact the Sasuke liked men, but the problem laid within the fact that Sasuke liked him, and Sasuke would probably kill himself if Naruto didn't love him back.

Now, Naruto was beginning to have regretful thoughts about his own sexuality: ' Why couldn't I be gay? Why couldn't I just love him back for real? '

The two reached the eastern forest where Kakashi and Sakura both waited. Naruto hadn't spoked to Sakura since the day before when she'd told him that he could look through Sasuke's things. She was nervously waiting on Naruto to deliever some news. Kakashi, worried about both the boys, showed his impatience less the Sakura did, but he was equally nervous.

Naruto left Sasuke and walked towards Sakura, who was saying something about "Now you've passed your laziness onto Sasuke-kun! Even Kakashi-sensei was here before you...!" Something like that; Naruto wasn't listening. Finally, he reached Sakura, who gave him a puzzled look as he placed his hands on her shoulders. He kept his head down so that she couldn't see the pain and sadness in his eyes.

"Sakura-san," he whispered, on the verge of breaking down and crying on her shoulder. "You'll be happy to know that I'm no longer going to pretend to interesting in you."

"Pretend?" Sakura asked, only loud enough for she and Naruto to hear. "Naruto-kun, what happened? What's wrong with Sasuke...?"

"Sakura-san, there's nothing wrong... Sasuke-chan and I are together now!"

He hadn't meant to say it as loud as he did, but if it hadn't been a shout then it would've been a sob, and he couldn't cry.

"Naruto-kun...?" she muttereed, looking between the depressed Naruto and the smirking Sasuke. "I... I..." She couldn't find any words to express how she felt, so she screamed, "How could you do this to me?" at the top of her lungs and slapped Naruto squarely on the cheek. A few of the tears he'd tried to repress escaped when she did; she noticed them, but she forced her feet to move and ran back into town.

"Naruto-kun," Kakashi said with a heaving sigh. "I don't believe that was the best way to begin our training. With Sakura gone, we shouldn't review any new material. Class dismissed."

"I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto apologized. Sasuke joined him and nodded.

"I'm sorry as well, Kakashi-sensei. Naruto," he added, turning to the blonde. "Would you like to go for ramen?"

Naruto contemplated for a moment, and then he shook his head. "No, I think I'd rather just go home."

Kakashi hung his head as the boys left. To see Naruto in such a position was one thing, but to see Naruto passing up ramen...

That was a whole new side of Naruto's depression that Kakashi had never seen before, and that he never wanted to see again.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Poor Sakura-chan! Wow, I think I captured her anger fairly well there... Poor Naruto. He's such a nice guy; he'll do anything for a friend. Most fan fictions don't portray that. Hell, that's the basis for my story! Lemon in chapter seven possibly...? Stay tuned and find out. Hope you liked it. X3

P.S: I don't think many of you will like chapter seven...I apologize in advance. So sorry. -runs and hides-