Author's Note: Here is the next installment. I hope you all enjoy!

title: lean on, written for anonymous
prompt: just please be my best friend right now, not the guy I confessed my love to
pairing: naruto x sakura
genre: angst / friendship / romance
rating: g

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

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He found her on his porch, leaning up against the front door, curled up in a sopping wet ball.

There was a split second where Naruto worried he had somehow managed to lock Sasuke out of the house again, but one glimpse of the damp, bubblegum pink hair revealed who exactly his surprise visitor was.

The blond approached with caution.

Naruto hadn't heard from her in weeks – not since their falling out after, what he now dubbed, 'the incident' – and something deep in his chest ached at the sight of her, shivering and soaked to the bone on his doorstep.

What could she possibly be doing here? Now? After all this time?

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto tentatively called out.

At the sound of his voice, the rosette's head snapped up at breakneck speed; flat, dispirited green orbs locked with his own. They were bloodshot and swollen from crying, rimmed with sunken pools of onyx. The same faded makeup framed the tear tracks which ran down the roundness of both cheeks. Where the wet, sloppy mix of mascara and eyeliner didn't cover alabaster skin, Sakura's complexion was flushed with angry, blister-like red patches.

In the back of his mind, Naruto vaguely remembered his best friend informing him that she usually broke out in hives when she was severely upset.

It took a moment for murky viridian depths to recognize him, but after they grew impossibly wide with acknowledgment, the dam broke.

Sakura's face crumpled in turmoil, and a strangled, agonized wail escaping her parted, chapped lips. She scrambled to stand, her movements overwrought and frantic as she half-crawled, half-launched herself in his direction.

Naruto met her halfway, panic-stricken. He was so unused to seeing this side of his childhood friend.

He grunted with the force of their collision, instinctively wrapping one arm around her waist so that he could keep her upright. Sakura's right hand clutched at the collar of his shirt, tugging impatiently on the cloth in tandem with her ragged breaths. One of her arms – he couldn't tell which one at this point – was squished awkwardly between them and Naruto was sure there would be a bruise on his right bicep in the morning where Sakura's left hand had the muscle imprisoned in a vice.

She was holding onto him as if he was her lifeline.

Just what was going on?

"I di-didn't," Sakura hiccupped between her tears. Her chin trembled against his collarbone, the wobbly movement causing her teeth to click together audibly. "I didn't k-kn-now wh-where to go."

Naruto's chest tightened at her defeated confession, and that unnerved pang from earlier became all-consuming, a trickle of trepidation slithering down his spine.

The tenseness in Naruto's shoulders – a stiffness that he hadn't realized that he was carrying – deflated, and his body slumped forward, encompassing the petite, cherry-haired woman in a tender embrace.

Right now, Sakura needed him, and there was nothing that was going to stop him from helping her.

Their current fight be damned.

"Shh…," The blond cooed affectionately. "Shh, Sakura-chan. It's alright. I'm here."

He wasn't sure how long they remained under that awning, out in the rain, but enough time passed for his sweater to become drenched in a soggy blend of tears and the secondhand moisture from her own wet attire.

When a particularly strong gust of wind blew through the veranda, the fair-haired male quivered, though this time, not from the overabundance of repressed emotion.

Naruto expertly extracted himself from Sakura's secure hold, maneuvering the distraught woman so that she was facing the front door, flush against his chest. His coral-haired best friend had calmed down significantly, sniffling almost soundlessly as she bonelessly leaned against him.

Sakura went along without a fuss as Naruto corralled her through the door and into the townhouse.

Luckily, at this time of day, neither of his roommates were home. Sasuke was somewhat inept when it came to dealing with a hysterical Sakura and Sai…well, if the hole in the kitchen wall amounted to anything, it was that the socially stunted artist now knew better than to call the rosette 'ugly' when she was distressed.

Shuffling Sakura into the living room, Naruto gently guided her to the couch, carrying most of her weight as he assisted her when she sat down. He tried to ignore the way the carpet gave a wet 'squish' underneath his sneakers, but he could already hear Sasuke bitching about the muddy mess they undoubtedly tracked throughout their home. The impending argument could wait, however, and Naruto brushed away any thoughts of the dark-haired Uchiha, instead focusing on studying Sakura face.

The color of her skin was eerily white, almost ashen in certain areas, contrasting greatly with the bright crimson that ran along her the expanse of her neck and the sides of her face.

"I'll be right back…," Naruto murmured, hesitating only slightly as he waited for her acknowledgment. It wouldn't be worth the effort of leaving the room if he were to come back to find her bawling.

At the small bob of her head, the blond ventured off down the corridor to his bedroom. Naruto kicked off his shoes, socks included and traded in his sodden shirt for an extra-large, pullover sweat-shirt. He could make do with some damp jeans for now.

A quick rummage through a few of his dresser drawers produced a pair of gym shorts and one of his old, long-sleeved rugby jerseys. With unrepressed haste, Naruto exited his room, stopping only to deposit the extra clothing in the bathroom before returning to Sakura's side.

She hadn't moved, nor did she look in his direction upon his reappearance.

For a brief, unpleasant moment, Naruto felt out of place and out of his depth, warily watching her as the sound of his heartbeat revibrated in his ears.

He tried to shake discouraging awareness of it all, but the picture that Sakura presented, this unnaturally, heartbreaking tranquility, filled him with immeasurable dread.

Whatever happened to her to make her react in such a way, must have been monumentally significant. Childish theatrics and throwing tantrums wasn't something that Sakura dabbled in; she never carried on like this without reason.

"Sakura-chan?" The blond ventured. Attempting to hide the slight note of discontent in his voice, Naruto cleared his throat before continuing, "I put some dry clothes in the bathroom for you. Why don't you go get cleaned up and change, while I make us some tea?"

There was a pregnant pause, then tortuously slow, Sakura lifted her head, shifting her gaze in his direction with languid unhurriedness.

And for a long while, all she did was stare.

It was enough to make Naruto fidget in an uncharacteristic shift of antsy restlessness. Never, never in the history of their relationship had Naruto seen Sakura look so defeated.

Eventually, the pinkette rose from her perch, slipping out of the living room silently. Naruto turned to watch her pad down the hallway, disappearing into the designated sub-room. Only when he heard the soft 'click' of the bathroom door as it closed, did he finally move towards the kitchen.

-o-

A short while later found them both back in the sitting room. Naruto sat stiff as a board, in the middle of the couch while Sakura was on the floor, tucked between the sofa and the coffee table, a spare blanket from his bed securely wrapped around her shoulders.

She still refused to look in his direction, and Naruto wasn't sure if he was relieved or not by the action.

This entire thing was a weirdly strange, convoluted mess and all Naruto wanted to do was talk to Sakura about what was going on, but he didn't know what to say.

How do you comfort a woman who shows up on your doorstep, crying, after weeks of not talking to one another?

The same woman, who had previously confessed her love for you? A confession, mind you, that caused your brain to malfunction and your body to shut down, resulting in you just sitting there and staring at her like she sprouted another head?

Never in his wildest dreams did Naruto believe that Sakura felt anything other than close kinship towards him. He must have garnered a lot of bad karma in his previous life because when the situation presented itself, and he was given the opportunity to finally tell Sakura just how he felt, his mouth stopped working and his mind blanked.

It didn't help that the rosette took his uncharacteristic silence as rejection, either.

As if Naruto Uzumaki would ever reject Sakura Haruno.

Naruto knew he was being absurd; that this was Sakura and she came to him in her time of need for a reason, but he was nervous, and it was awkward, and the last thing he wanted was for this entire situation to blow up right in his face like most things tended to do.

Despite his apparent desire to provide comfort, Sakura needed to be the one to initiate this discussion.

So, here he sat, idly twirling the mug of steaming green tea between his palms, trying to calm his array of frenzied nerves.

As if somehow sensing his internal dilemma, Sakura finally broke the silence.

"My patient died," The emerald-eyed woman croaked, voice hoarse from disuse and her earlier breakdown.

Before Naruto could interject with remorse filled words of emapthy, Sakura carried on, "He passed away on the operating table…he bled out…right underneath my very hands."

Ah. Well, that explained it.

Sakura was always naturally drawn to people. She had some unquenchable thirst to help others, to seem them grow and mend with the aid of her skill. It was what fueled her motivation to attend medical school.

The death of a patient came with the territory of being in the medical profession. Thankfully, this only occurred in Sakura's case twice before – and both times they hadn't even been her direct patients – but she always took the news particularly hard.

Leaning forward, Naruto placed his cup on the glass tabletop, resting his left elbow on his knee for balance before setting his right hand on the shoulder that was closest to him.

"I'm sure it wasn't your fault, Sakura," He assured, giving her an encouraging squeeze.

"That's the thing Naruto…this…it might be my fault."

She still wouldn't look him in the eye, but Naruto felt the muscle under his palm go rigid. She must have been scowling.

"He came in complaining of nausea, fatigue, and shortness of breath…or at least that's what the referring doctor noted in his chart. There was a familial history of chronic heart disease and blood clots, so immediately, I started him on blood thinners while we were conducting preliminary tests."

The rosette paused long enough to take a breath, then she said, "I thought it was congestive heart failure. If it wasn't serious, a few changes to his diet and some medication could help. If it were severe, the best option would have been coronary artery bypass surgery. Either way, it wasn't a complicated case."

The shoulder in his grasp began to tremble, and her voice hitched an octave higher as she continued, "What no one told me, or noted in his paperwork, is that he had been in an accident a few days prior to the start his symptoms. While I was too busy focusing on his heart, because that is what his chart lead me to believe the issue was, blood had been pooling in the membrane between his brain and his skull. It's called a subdural hematoma, and it only got worse because I put him on Coumadin. By the time I realized what was happening and went in to operate so that I could relieve some of the pressure…it was too late and he just…flatlined right on the table."

She was crying again, her chest heaving with the force of her sobs. "Tsunade gave me a few days off because the hospital wants to look into what happened and figure out where the exact miscommunication occurred. She told me that everything would turn out alright in a few days and I was fine…but Naruto…I could lose my license, and I don't know what to do! I didn't know where to go…and I…I just needed you."

Sakura leaned against the outside of his thigh, pressing her cheek into the already damp material of his jeans.

"I know things aren't exactly copesetic between us at the moment, but please, just please be my best friend right now. I need the man that protected me from bullies when I was a kid, not the guy I confessed my love to."

"I'm here," Naruto rasped voice thick with emotion.

Unable to do much with their current seating arrangements, he lifted his hand from her shoulder, burying it in her short, pink locks. His thumb immediately began to knead small, soothing circles into the soft patch of skin behind her right ear.

He reiterated, "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

At his declaration, the floodgates opened again, and Sakura did her best to muffle her sorrow against his muscle of his hamstring. Naruto tried to ease her pain as best as he could, given the circumstances. A coo of consolation here and a kiss to her temple there. He gave what he could freely and without hesitance.

Under different conditions, he would have provided more verbal assurances, but right now, empty promises that everything would be alright would amount to nothing.

Sakura's livelihood was on the line over a simple lack of communication, and there was nothing he could say that would ease her discomfort. It would be best let her get everything out, and when it was all over, they would pick up the pieces together. She wanted him there, and he would be; reliable, and stable, and ready to face anything that life tossed her way.

And maybe, when this whole thing was over, and their lives returned to a semblance of normalcy, they could finally sit down and talk about them.

After all, the woman who loved him needed to know that he felt the same.

Thank you for reading!

word count: 2,363
last edited on: 05/01/18

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