Chapter two
Cry for the moon

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They made good time out of Konoha and Sakura was so caught up in moving, being active again, that it was Naruto who eventually called them to a stop. He was good like that, had learned early on that his stamina was far superior to the lasting power of most and he was always careful to note when people were lagging or short of breath. Deceptively perceptive. But then, he'd always been that way.

They dropped down into a clearing and he rummaged in his pack, withdrawing a crumpled sandwich before handing it to her.

She glanced at the food but didn't take it. "It's okay, I'm not hungry."

His eyes flashed and his mouth turned down. "It's not okay, and I don't care. We're not leaving until you eat something."

What? She hadn't heard him take this tone since their last real battle, and she was fairly certain he'd never sounded that angry with her before. She blinked and gaped but his face didn't change.

He shook the sandwich at her. "Here. If we don't eat them today they won't keep until tomorrow."

She wasn't hungry in the slightest but everyone knew not to argue with him when he got that stubborn tilt to his face. She took the package from his offering arm and let it drop into her lap, fiddling with the paper and wondering distantly if he'd wrapped it in his sleep. It was a messy, awkward parcel, and for some reason it reminded her of someone.

He unwrapped his own food and bit into it, making an exaggerated noise of pleasure at the taste. "Mmm. It's good, Sakura-chan. Tuna, your favourite."

"Is there mayonnaise?" she asked, the faint stirrings of hunger rumbling in her belly. Maybe she did want something to eat. What with all her time-wasting and hall-roaming, sometimes she'd go a whole day without a meal. She'd just forget, and after a while she couldn't eat much even when she did remember to. Luckily, she'd moved out into her own apartment. Her mother would cluck and fuss if she didn't finish dinner at home.

Naruto looked down at his hand and shook his head. "No, I ran out. Just tuna and pepper. It's still tasty though, so eat up."

She took an edge of the careless wrapping and peeled it back gingerly, but the sandwich underneath looked normal and she reminded herself that he'd been living alone for nearly all of his life. He'd been cooking for himself since childhood and when he wasn't eating ramen, his food wasn't too bad at all. Her own attempts at cooking had been rather pitiable in the beginning, and she'd had to swallow her pride and ask him for tips. Ino would never have let her live the indignity down, but Naruto had dropped everything to rush over and give a quick class on how not to burn scrambled eggs.

He was so humbling that it hurt sometimes.

Giving a corner of the sandwich a tentative nibble, she chewed and swallowed before looking down at the bread and taking a bigger bite. She probably could have gone all day without eating again if left to her own devices, but now that the food was right in front of her - and in her mouth - she was suddenly ravenous. She downed the rest of one half in a few more bites, and picked up the other part, catching Naruto's eye.

He looked pleased and relieved, the empty wrapper of his own meal lying beside him. "It's good to eat, Sakura-chan," he said reassuringly.

She nodded and ate the rest, chewing as fast as she could to get the food down her throat. When she was finished, she folded up the paper and put it neatly under a stone, so as not to blow away in the chill winter wind. "Thanks, Naruto," she said after a while, a kind of food lethargy settling over her from eating too much, too fast.

He gave a quick grin and rubbed reflexively at his head. "No worries. You just need to eat to keep up strength. We can't go off on this mission tired or weak."

She nodded again. "You're right. I don't know if you've given our agenda much thought, but I guess we'll camp inside the border and travel to the edge towns each day. I brought some extra clothes and a kit to use, what about you?"

He frowned and grabbed his pack, poking through it. "Yup, some plain clothes, a change of shoes, food..." he trailed off. Something occurred to him and he gave her an apprehensive look. "Um, did you bring the -"

"Tent?" she offered, dangling the packed up tent by the strings of its little bag. He gave her a sheepish nod and she tossed it to him. "You left it at my place the last time we came back from a mission together."

"Really?" He looked surprised. "That must have been months ago."

"It was," she replied quietly. "Nearly four months, now."

The tentative good mood shattered and her stomach heaved, rebelling suddenly against the unexpected meal. She closed her eyes and pressed at her belly, willing the food to stay where it was, and when she opened her eyes again, Naruto was giving her an odd, unreadable look.

"I bought it this morning," he said. "The food, I mean. I hope there's nothing wrong with it, because I wouldn't be able to tell."

It was true. He had a cast iron stomach and never seemed to fall ill, no matter what the circumstances. It would have irked her, were it anyone else, but it was hard not to forgive Naruto anything. And besides, he couldn't help it. It was probably some fiendish mixture of the Kyuubi's power and his own built-up intolerance from a ramen-staple diet of nearly eighteen years. She was glad he'd started eating outside the square. Soup and noodles just weren't suitable for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

"There was nothing wrong with the food. It was good." She gave him a weak smile and brushed some crumbs from her lap. "I just should have eaten slower, or not as much. I'll be fine." She picked at some more crumbs that had managed to cling to her sleeve but paused as Naruto got up and made his way over, crouching next to her, clear blue gaze focused on her face.

"You've got something," he said, reaching out and brushing his hand across her cheek. She forced herself not to react to the soft touch, his callouses scratching lightly across her lips and down over her chin. The moment stretched out and careened in, the world reducing to a pinprick of light that was just the clearing, herself and Naruto's heat on her skin. And then he leaned back, the spell broken, the moment over.

His smile turned down slightly at the corners and he averted his eyes as he got to his feet. "We better get going," he said gruffly, but she stayed motionless for a moment, her face burning in several places at once.

"A-Ah," she said eventually, unable to articulate anything more clever at the time. She reached out to pick up her folded piece of paper just as Naruto bent over with the intention of doing the same. Their hands touched for another brief second before he snatched his back, standing up with a snap.

"Here," he said, thrusting her his own crumpled wrapper.

She took it carefully and stowed it in her pack. He motioned for them to continue and she followed his lead, jumping up into the branches in their renewed journey to Wave.

It had been far too long since she'd been in the company of others, if this was how she was reacting to Naruto of all people. It was high time she put this grief and apathy behind her and moved on with her life. Naruto was just as affected as she was, and yet he could smile and function normally. She was too self-indulgent with her pain and allowed it to consume her as she wished.

She'd have to use this trip as a means to getting back on track, to numb herself somewhat, to move on, so to speak. She needed to treat this mission as an opportunity to change and yet revert, to go back to being that happy girl she hoped still lived inside.

----

Naruto clenched his hand into a shaking fist, and wondered if he could punch himself without Sakura noticing. Probably not. She was so quick to spot some things, and achingly slow to pick up on others.

Why had he gotten so close? He knew how she affected him. He could have just let the crumbs stay on her face - it wasn't like they'd be seeing anyone else today, anyway. But some part - the stupid part - had taken over and crossed to her side, letting himself give in and run his finger across her lips.

He was a dreamer, but in many ways a realist. It was the closest he'd ever get to her because even if she miraculously came to care for him, a spectre stood in their way.

Stupid. He was stupid. And he'd come so far, as well. She was the only one who made him twelve again and while sometimes he basked in the carefree feeling, more often than not he made a fool out of himself, no doubt reinforcing his perceived immaturity. If he was going to be Hokage - and he was, most definitely, only death could stop him - then he'd need to stamp out this awkwardness before it was too late.

"Naruto." She caught up with him and he turned automatically, finding her looking composed once more. It had been surprising to see that embarrassment and confusion on her face, but he didn't let himself dwell on what it could have meant. Hope was a beautiful thing, but false hope broke hearts and his had never seemed quite whole to begin with.

"Where should we camp?" he asked, more to distract himself than anything else. She glanced away, a thoughtful purse to her lips, and he knew she was processing, drawing up lists and possibilities to find what was safest and best. She'd always been the smartest one out of the three of them. He'd always been the dumb one. The other one had been called a genius, but you only had to look at his decision making skills to see how accurate that label had been.

He felt a sudden heated anger for Sasuke's stupidity, for throwing away his friendship and Sakura's unflinching devotion like they were nothing. That bastard had had it made but he couldn't let go of the past, couldn't submerge himself in the present, couldn't wait for the future. In retrospect, he was the idiot. The dead last. The first to leave, never to return.

Sakura gasped and his attention was back on her in an instant. "What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, eyes darting about them for some sign of danger or an attack.

She shook her head. "No, it's nothing bad. I just remembered that there are some nin-huts near the border outposts and if we're lucky, we won't need to camp out of doors at all."

"All right!" He grinned. That would be much preferable to sleeping in a flimsy tent in a wintry forest. The snow hadn't touched this part of the Fire country, and probably wouldn't, due to their climate, but the Wave country had fluctuating weather and the chance of snow was always there. It was a strange time for a mission, under strange circumstances, and he couldn't shake the nagging suspicion that Tsunade was up to something. Whatever she was planning, it couldn't be that important, otherwise she wouldn't have sent Sakura as well. Still, it was slightly troubling, but it would just have to trouble him later.

"Pass me the map?"

He reached into his packet and grabbed the rolled-up map, throwing it towards Sakura, who snatched it out of the air. She gave the area in front of her a cursory glance to make sure she wasn't going to cross any uneven ground, and then opened the map scroll to get their position. He kept an eye on her as she read in case she did fall, but after a moment she snapped the parchment shut and pitched it back. He caught it and put it away again, oddly disappointed she didn't at least stumble. It was always nice to play the hero. Appreciation was all he could ever expect, and he got it when he helped her out. Not that he had an ulterior motive - he'd do the same for anyone. But there was a depth, an edge, when Sakura was the one in danger, like something inside him twisted free and took over.

"We're close," she called, jolting him from his thoughts. He welcomed the interruption and gave her a grateful smile.

"Okay."

They passed the rest of the journey in comfortable silence. Naruto did counting games in his head to make sure his mind didn't wander again.

----

The outpost huts were things Sakura had only read on and heard about by word of mouth, and so it took them some time to locate one, even with the assistance of the map. It certainly didn't help that the buildings were only vaguely indicated on the piece of parchment, casual x's strewn across the map in a lazy scrawl. She paused and stared at the map again, then looked up, positioning herself in her mind. This squiggle had to be the indent in the hill over there and that bumpy line looked to be the rocky stream bed to the left. And if both of those were correct, then the hut had to be right over -

"I found it!"

Naruto had clambered up into a tree behind her, and she turned to see him pointing down towards a small copse of trees. It wasn't where she'd been thinking, so she surveyed it with a dubious eye. "Are you sure?"

"Yup!" He dropped down from the canopy and straightened, pointing again with certainty before setting off down the hill. She shrugged and followed him, tucking the near-useless map away. She wondered if it had been sourced from the room with the misinformed medical texts, because they seemed to be of a similar accuracy.

They made their way into the copse. The hut was where he'd indicated, making him right once more, and she felt immediately awful for doubting him again. She really should have learned by now that Naruto's gut feelings and general senses were always spot on. Had she always been so reluctant to believe in others, or had events changed and shaped her over the years?

Well, it was all rather obvious, really, so she chose not to dwell on it.

She evaded the drapings of a sturdy fir and nearly barrelled into Naruto's back. Stumbling, she grabbed his arm and righted herself, before asking crossly, "Why did you stop right in front of me?"

He turned to face her with a worried look. "See what's happened, Sakura-chan?"

She glanced past him and got her first real view of the hut, and her heart sank at the condition it was in. It looked rustic and sturdy enough, but at some point a large tree had fallen and smacked down upon it, crushing an entire corner of the building.

Geez, they should keep a better check on these things. The wood of the hut had splintered and peeled away upon impact, and the tree wasn't looking much better, lying awkwardly and forlorn atop the shattered wall. All in all, it wasn't too bad, and the building would still protect them from the elements much more effectively than their flimsy tent would.

She sighed and hitched up her backpack, striding forward to the door. "Coming?" she asked, and Naruto hurried to follow. Part of the door frame had been damaged too, and the door itself was lodged shut, but she hadn't learned chakra-strength for nothing, and its obstinate rebellion was soon cut short by the application of a bit of force. She kicked away the last splintered remnants of the barrier and felt oddly satisfied after the random spurt of violence. She was about to make her way in when she felt Naruto's restraining hand on her arm.

"Let me," he said grandly, pushing her aside. "It's a man's job to place himself in danger before a lady."

She blinked at him and let the words process before bursting into laughter. "Have you been taking notes from Lee?"

He made a face before smiling back. "Fuzzy Eyebrows? Like I'd want his advice on anything." He touched his hitai-ate before ducking through the doorway, and she wondered if the action had been an unconscious one. Then she ducked through also and joined him in the hut.

The interior was musty and she wrinkled her nose at the smell, which was a combined one of sweat, dust and the scent of damp. It had rained since the tree had chosen to fall, and water had streamed in through the broken wood, forming a murky puddle in the corner. Naruto, ever braver than she was, went forward and swirled the water with the tip of a kunai, grimacing at the result. Then he straightened and turned to her, his face set into a sort of resigned cheerfulness.

"It's good we got here before dark, Sakura-chan."

She tilted her head. "Why's that?"

He moved past her, out of the hut, unzipping his dark jacket and dropping it on the ground. Her eyes followed the fall of the fabric before moving back to his face, a quizzical eyebrow raised at his action.

He grinned. "Because we've got a lot of cleaning up to do." Then he brought his fingers together in a familiar seal and, with a muttered jutsu, a handful of shadow clones filled the clearing.

She watched in muted surprise as he donned the mantle of overseer, ordering one clone to check the ration cupboard for cleaning supplies and another to fetch some water from the stream. The rest he directed to strategic spots around the fallen tree, before gritting his teeth in concentration and creating a whirling ball of chakra in his palm.

"Rasengan!" he cried, and then rushed forward, the powerful, explosive and extremely difficult technique known to only a few nin used here for the decidedly mundane task of cutting up a tree.

She moved out of the doorway and watched the spinning sphere cut a hole through the middle of the tree, whorls radiating out from impact but not shattering the wood as she would have expected. He had more control of the technique than she realised and it was humbling again to see how much he'd changed since their genin days together.

Then the trunk snapped through and the clones sprang into action, grabbing the two pieces and heaving them aside before they could do more damage to the hut. Naruto gave his copies a hand, pulling one half of the tree away and then helping with the other, and when both pieces were safely on the ground he dismissed his clones and turned back to her, a triumphant grin splitting his face.

Her heart thumped painfully and she had to look away. He'd changed so much and yet not at all. Events hadn't made him cold and bitter like they had to her, but she shouldn't have been so surprised. Hadn't she always known he was the kindest, most giving person she'd ever met? He changed people; it wasn't the other way around. He humbled her every day, but had she ever affected him?

She glanced back and his grin had faded a bit, and again she felt that horrid jolt that meant she might have hurt him once more. She needed to watch her reactions because she knew things touched him deeply, regardless of whether he showed it or not.

"Good job," she said huskily, and his smile picked up again. "Let's go inside and find a way to mend that hole."

"Okay!" He nodded and picked up his jacket, zipping it back up over his shirt as he walked back inside. She watched the play of fabric over his shoulders before she caught herself and joined him in the hut.

"Right," she said, with more confidence than she felt. "We'll need to mend the hole up there before we do anything else. And then we'll have to sort out that water over there, otherwise we won't be able to sleep from the smell." She rattled off a few more jobs for them to do, pausing when the last Bunshin came trotting back in with two full buckets of water, handing them to Naruto before vanishing with a puff.

He eyed the water, then glanced over at the pile of cloth bandages a previous Bunshin had put aside to clean with. "Which job do you want, Sakura-chan?

She grimaced at the moldy interior and looked up at the roof. "You know, Naruto, I fancy a bit of carpentry. Think you can take care of things in here?"

He hefted the buckets with determination. "I'll do my best!"

Chuckling, she moved across the room, boosting her feet with chakra and jumping up through the hole. She shaded her eyes and checked the sky. Only a few more hours till sunset, and there was much to be done.

She reached into her hip pack and pulled out one of the gloves she used to protect her hands from chakra-strength. Best to be prepared, she thought, before dropping down lightly beside the broken tree trunk and getting to work.

Work was good because it kept her busy. She heard a puff of Kage Bunshin from inside and suppressed a smile at Naruto and his work ethic. Between the two of them - well, ten now, probably - they'd get this done. After the hut was sorted out they could work on planning and theory for tomorrow. Following a good rest, they could set out on their mission. She took a deep breath and felt much better than she had in a very long time. She was on a mission again, she was out of the musty reference room, and she was here with Naruto.

He was a comfort, a reassurance, and truly her closest friend. She needed to forget all about those things that dragged her down, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so, away from most of the reminders in her life.

She took another deep breath and swung her hand down, shattering the wood carefully into planks. Distance and fresh air could only do so much. Sometimes violence had to do the rest.

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Yay, another chapter done! Dedicated, as is the rest of the fic, to the beautiful Nushi, with thanks to DarkenedSakura and sureasdawn for their mad betaing skills. A big wave as well to the crew at the narusaku Heaven and Earth forum, for being so awesome and welcoming. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. :) See you in a few days!