Slowly Sakura made her way home. She was sure to find her smiling fiancee, Hotaru, there. He usually made her happy, but tonight was different, and she couldn't explain why.
"I'm just overworked, that's all", she told herself in an unconvincing voice. At her front door she wavered over whether or not she would enter, but before she could reach a decision the door was flung open to reveal Naruto with his trademark grin plastered across his face.
"Sakura-chan!", he yelled boisterously.
"N-N-Naruto-kun! What are you doing here?", she gasped, caught off guard at seeing Naruto inside her house. Suddenly, the reality that Naruto was in her house without permission, sank in. "What are you doing in my house Naruto?", she growled menacingly.
"S-S-Sakuran-chan it's okay, Hotaru invited me over for dinner",he quickly replied, so as not to end up at the bottom of a crater.
"Oh Sakura you're home"
Sakura looked up to see the smiling visage of her fiancee. It wouldn't be a lie to say Hotaru was quite handsome. His eyes had a color reminiscent to that found in storm clouds, and his hair had a sheen like that of polished cherry wood. His complexion didn't compare to the porcelain starkness of Sasuke's, but it held a certain charm of its own. It was the warm friendly kitchen to Sasuke's cold, yet frighteningly beautiful cathedral. Hotaru was three years older than Sakura, and worked with Iruka sensei at the academy, training Konoha's youngsters. Both knew that Sakura was stronger and more skillful than him, but it didn't matter. He was able to block out the memory of her former teammate, and that was more important than anything else to her.
He walked up and kissed her lightly on the cheek. Sakura didn't notice, but Naruto made a slight twitch. He could never accept another man being with Sakura. It wasn't because he was jealous. He had gotten over her rejection years ago and realized it had only been a childhood crush. No, it was because, deep down, he still felt Sakura was Sasuke's. He knew that if he ever told her his feelings, there wouldn't be enough of him left to even cremate. Naruto had come to terms with his sentiments, because he enjoyed seeing Sakura happy with someone other than Sasuke. He had been nervous about how Sakura would handle Sasuke's leaving, especially after his empty handed return so many years ago. At last she had found someone to replace Sasuke with, and this was good thing because Sasuke was dead, or as good as, to the village hidden in the leaves.
"Sakura, I invited Naruto over for dinner. He was going to eat at the Ichiraku Ramen with Iruka-san, but Iruka was held up by paperwork and had to break their engagement. You should have seen Naruto. He was so crestfallen that I took pity on him, and invited him over." Sakura quickly gave in and agreed that it would be a pleasure having Naruto over for dinner. He immediately began listing off food they should eat. All of his options had ramen somewhere in the title.
"Naruto we are not eating ramen!", she yelled exasperatingly.
"But Sakura-chan!", he whined. No matter how old he got, Naruto always reverted to his thirteen-year-old self around Sakura. She was one of his 'precious people' after all. Now, Naruto definitely used 'precious' in the broadest sense of the term, but the members of Team 7: Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi; they held a special place in Naruto's heart. They were the closest thing to family that Naruto ever had.
"All right, but only one ramen dish." The effect of this statement was immediate, and Sakura couldn't help but laugh at the grin plastered across the blue eyed nin's face.
After dinner was over, and Naruto had left for home, Sakura remembered about her mission. An uneasy sensation soon followed, which was confusing, because missions never made her nervous. She decided that a good night's sleep would cure whatever was ailing her. "Tsunade-sama hinted at there being a lot of work tomorrow, so I think I'll turn in early tonight, Hotaru." She had gotten halfway up the stairs, when--
"Sakura is anything bothering you?", Hotaru looked at her with concern in his eyes. Was her anxiety that obvious on her face? No, it was only Hotaru. His ability to sense agitation in Sakura was uncanny.
"What would make you say that Hotaru? No, I'm perfectly fine", she paused. "I'll see you tomorrow." She saw no point in sharing her feelings with him, especially since they were related to tomorrow's classified mission. She didn't like the idea of going on a mission without him knowing. It felt sneaky, like someone having an affair. This was ridiculous, of course, because the Hokage had ordered her to do this mission. Unfortunately, rationalizing didn't make her feel any better.