After naruko encountered some of her friends, she decided to go back to her apartment to think things over and also take a shower and maybe take a nap since she didn't sleep all that well. Ever since the day of Niles' betrayal naruko hasn't been able to sleep easily.

Once naruko got to her apartment she took a shower. After twenty minutes naruko got out of the shower, dried herself off, and got dressed. She put on her hoodie and left the bathroom. Naruko opened the door. "Naruko!" Naruko fell flat on her behind. She looked up and saw rock lee. "Lee!? How did you get in my apartment? And how did you find where I lived?" Naruko asked. "I asked hinata where you lived and your front door was unlocked" lee said. 'Damn it I must have forgotten to lock it' naruko thought then stood up.

"Anyways I heard from ino, sakura, hinata, kiba, shikamaru, and choji that you were feeling down today so I'm here to help cheer you up and bring that smile back on my youthful friend's face" lee said with a thumbs up. "Look lee I appreciate that you want to cheer me up but-" before naruko could finish what she was saying lee grabbed her hand and ran out of her apartment.

"Wha- lee stop! Where are we going?" Naruko said. "We're heading to the training grounds" lee said. 'The training grounds? Why are we going there?' Naruko thought. Once they got to the training grounds lee let go of naruko's hand and said "whenever I'm down I usually come here and train. It always helps me feel better."

Naruko sighed. She was going to say something but before she could she saw lee rushing towards her. Naruko quickly jumped out of the way. Standing up naruko figured that she wasn't gonna be able to convince him to leave her alone so she saw no why out of this but the moment lee was distracted she'd sneak away.

After a bit of sparing naruko and lee heard someone say "lee there you are my youthful student." Both naruko and lee looked at the person who said that and saw Might Guy. "Guy-sensei" lee said. Lee then went over to Might Guy and started talking.

Seeing that lee and Guy were distracted naruko immediately ran off without them knowing. After a bit of running naruko stopped and said "thank god they didn't see me leave." Just as naruko was about to leave she heard someone shout "naruko!"

Naruko turned around to see ino, sakura, and tenten walking towards her. "Hey naruko we're going shopping and we were wondering if you'd like to join us" tenten said. "Look I get that you guys are trying to cheer me up and I appreciate it but I just want to be alone" naruko said.

As naruko was just about to walk away sakura grabbed her wrist then her, tenten, and ino started walking away dragging naruko along with them. "Come on naruko quit moping around and spend some time with your friends" sakura said. "Yeah what sakura said. This'll be fun and you don't have to worry about paying for anything. Whatever you want to buy we'll pay for it" ino said.

Naruko, sakura, tenten, and ino went to a couple stores. They were carrying a bunch of grocery bags with stuff like clothes and makeup, well except for naruko and tenten. Although the shopping trip was boring naruko had to admit it was nice to spend time with girls around her age again. It also reminded her of how Shakira, Scarlett, and Amy would pester her to go on shopping trips with them. All though it was boring it was nice to spend time with her friends.

Naruko thanked sakura, tenten, and ino for inviting her and spending time with her then left to go back to her apartment. Along the way she ran into kiba, akamaru, hinata, and neji. Confused, naruko asked "what are you guys doing?" "We were just taking a walk around the village. You're welcome to join us" kiba said.

"I-" just as naruko was about to say that she wanted to be alone she stopped what she was saying. 'If I tell them that I don't want to they're just gonna make me do it anyways' naruko thought. Naruko sighed and said "fine I'll join you guys." "Alright then let's get moving" kiba said.

After a couple minutes of walking they arrived at a pond. They stopped walking when kiba said "wait here you guys, I'll be right back. I need to use the bathroom." Kiba walked away leaving naruko, hinata, and neji.

Naruko saw a bench and went to sit down since she was tired of walking. Naruko honestly regretted coming along. They kept going to places where her and Akito always loved to go. It brought back so many happy memories of her and Akito. It only made her feel worse.

'I miss him so much. He would always use any excuse to see me and I could always talk to him when I was scared, mad, confused, sad, or when I just needed someone to talk to. He would always do his best to comfort me and he was always there for me when I needed him the most' naruko thought.

Naruko was brought out of her thoughts when hinata and neji sat down next to her. "Are you ok naruko?" Neji said. "I'm alright neji" naruko said. "Are you sure naru-chan? You've been really upset today" hinata said. "I'm fine hinata don't worry" naruko said forcing herself to smile.

They were talking for a bit until a young couple caught naruko's attention. She heard them saying sweet things to each other. Tears started to run down naruko's cheeks. The scene reminded her of a time Akito said things similar to what the couple were saying.

'It was during a festival. Naruko and Akito where in the forest sitting by a water fall watching the sunset. Akito was wearing a black and white suit while naruko was wearing a hot pink kimono with a blue and purple flower pattern on it with pink flowers in her hair. The way the two were dressed and how close they were sitting next to each other made it look like they were dating.

They were just sitting down on the ground and watching the sunset. Naruko looked at Akito and said "hey Akito." Akito looked at naruko and said "yes." "Thank you for convincing me to go to the festival. I had my doubts but I had a lot of fun" naruko said. "Y'know it wasn't just me that convinced you to go to the festival" Akito said.

"I know I'm going to go thank everyone else soon but I wanted to say my thanks to you first… but I also wanna thank you for something else to" naruko said. Akito, confused, asked "what is it?" "I wanted to thank you for always being there for me when I need you the most. I really needed the company" naruko said.

"Kitty you don't need to thank me. I'm always happy to help and to see you" Akito said. "See me?" Naruko said confused. Akito looked away blushing, scratching the back of his head, and said "y-yeah I always want to see you."

Akito and naruko blushed a bit and looked away from each other. They were quite for a bit before Akito said "you know I would spend every single day with you and listen to you talk for hours if my parents wouldn't constantly nag me." "Ugh tell me about it. In the leaf when I'm not getting harassed by the villagers Iruka-sensei or old man hokage is usually nagging the hell out of me" naruko said.

Akito smiled and said "you always say what's on your mind and that's one of the things I like about you. You're not afraid to be different." "Exactly. I mean what's the point of being born into this world if you can't be different from everyone else" naruko said.

Akito laughed and said "you are just the cutest girl in the world." "Oh please that's not true, you're just being nice" naruko said. "Oh yeah well how about you ask someone else in the village. I'm sure they will agree with me" Akito said.

Naruko giggled. "Y'know it's hard for me to to get though a day without hearing your voice or seeing your adorable face. Even when I was a little kid I couldn't go one day without seeing you so it was pretty hard for me when I left the leaf" Akito said.

Naruko frowned and said "can you please not bring up the time you left." "Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings" Akito said. "Wha- no Akito you didn't hurt my feelings it's just… well I thought that you'd never leave me so when you left I was devastated and just the thought of you leaving me all alone again it just upsets me" naruko said saddened.

Akito lifted naruko's chin, made her look at him and said "kitty I will never leave you ever again. I'll stay by your side no matter what." After a bit of silence naruko said "do you promise?" "I promise this on my life."Akito said putting his hand on naruko's cheek.'

Naruko stood up and ran away crying. "Naruko!" Neji shouted. "Naru-chan!" Hinata shouted. She heard hinata and neji calling her name but she ignored them and continued running.