"C-Cant breath……Sak-kura……c-chan," Naruto sputtered through enstrangled gasps. "Sorry!" Sakura said as she released her blonde best friend. Naruto held his chest as he tried to regain oxygen. Sakura watched with soft eyes and a small smile as she finally felt complete now that her blonde was with her. Ichigo noticed this and thought,'She's never looked at me that way.' He cleared his throat then grinned at her. "How are you Sakura-chan," he asked. "I'm feeling good now that you're here," she replied honestly. The shinobi blushed a cute shade of red that would put Hinata to shame as he scratched the back of his head. "Don't take it the wrong way baka," she seethed as she smacked him on top of his head. "Neh Sakura-chan, what'd you do that for?" the blonde complained as he massaged his throbbing head. Sakura only chuckled in return.
Ichigo cleared his throat loudly. "Ahem. We're still here," he muttered in a low yet audible voice. "Oh. I forgot to introduce you," she said and she dragged Naruto over to the four friends. "Naruto, this is Ichigo, Rukia, Uryu, Orihime and Chad. They're my new friends and they've been taking care of me this entire time," she said as she pointed to each one of them respectively. "Hey guys. I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm gonna become Hokage, dattebayo!" he proclaimed loudly. "Is this guy gonna really become Hokage?" Ichigo whispered to a dazzled Rukia, remembering how Sakura defined a Hokage. "Thanks for taking care of Sakura-chan while I was away," he said in all truth and honesty. Ichigo elbowed a still dazzled Rukia for her to answer since she was the self-proclaimed spokesperson of their group. "Um… err. I mean you're welcome," she replied cooly as she nervously cleared her throat. Ichigo eyed Rukia out of the corner of his eye. 'What's with her nervousness?' he thought as he noticed her shift uncomfortably.
Sakura noticed several bruises all over Naruto and his clothes were battered and bloodied. "You're hurt!" she exclaimed as she observed him. "Oh I forgot to tell you. I forgot to tell you that I fought some bad guy called Aizen. He was tough though but I beat him anyway. Says he'll come back for revenge whatsoever," the blonde said as he shrugged nonchalantly. "You fought with Aizen and defeated him?" Rukia exclaimed, her mouth agape. He nodded quickly with an eye closed smile. Sakura noticed that all of them had shocked expressions on their faces. "Who's Aizen?" she asked. "He's the most badass shinigami to ever have existed," Ichigo replied as he recovered from his initial shock. Naruto gave him a puzzled look. "He means the Madara of this world," she explained in easier terms. "Oh," the blonde said as he smiled sheepishly. "How did you do it?" Rukia asked rather gleefully. Before Naruto could answer, Sakura had already done so. "He'll explain while I'll heal him," she said, her medic antics kicking in.
Naruto was lying down on Ichigo's bed facing the ceiling while Sakura worked on his bruises. The whole gang had been astonished when her hands glowed green and began healing the obnoxious blonde. Ichigo had even muttered a small "wow" as he stared at Sakura work like an expert on Naruto's wounds. "So how did you defeat Aizen?" Chad asked in a low but deep voice. "At first I was going easy on him but I saw he was a tough opponent. So I asked the Kyuubi for some help and I defeated him," he explained rather plainly as his pink haired best friend worked on a gash across his torso. "Naruto that's not a real explanation," Sakura commented as she face-palmed inwardly. "What am I supposed to say?" he whined like a child. "Give a more wide explanation like the justus you used or something like that," she said as she moved to his chest. She removed his jacket and began to heal the nasty cut stretching from his shoulder to his stomach. "I don't know how to explain it," he said lazily. "Now you're starting to sound like Shikamaru," she commented. Naruto only stuck his tongue out which earned him a smack to the side of his head. "I think it has something to do with the chakra thing," Rukia said as she held her chin in deep thought. "Chakra?" Sakura asked.
Rukia nodded. "I don't know if this theory is true. In this world we use spiritual energy to fight but you guys use chakra which a part of you, not some spiritual thingy whatsoever. So it might be that your using chakra instead of spiritual energy does the trick," she explained. "Hmmm. But I still think there's something more to it rather than chakra," Sakura commented. "What about having both spiritual energy and chakra?" Ichigo said after a short pause. "Sakura was able to sense a Hollow a fair distance away where she is," he said as he thought of the many times Sakura had sensed Hollows which were faraway and had defeated them with just one punch. "You mean those black gigantic weirdo thingies?" Naruto asked. "You met Hollows?" Rukia asked. He nodded. "Met them a couple of few times. Easy to defeat though. I used a Rasengan on them," he said. "Since you were able to sense them, you might have both chakra and spiritual energy," Ichigo concluded. "I'm guessing your theory about having both spiritual energy and chakra might be true," Sakura said. "I'll see if the theory is true," Rukia concluded as she decided on further researching on the area. Sakura finished healing all of her best friend's wounds.
She stood up and stretched a bit. "Those wounds were quite nasty. Took a large chunk out of my chakra reserves," she said sleepily as she swayed a little. Ichigo caught before she fell down. He made her sit down on the floor and kneeled beside her. "Are you okay?" Naruto asked concern clearly evident in his voice. "I'm fine," she said as she waved a hand. She leaned into Ichigo's chest and was soon snoring. "She looks really cute, doesn't she?" Naruto said as he admired his pink haired teammate. Ichigo nodded slowly.
Ichigo shifted in order to make Sakura lie on the floor but that immediately woke her up. She moved away from the comfort of his chest. "Sorry I fell asleep on you," she mumbled unapologetically as she sleepily rubbed her eyes. "In think you need to rest," Ichigo said. "I will after he gets a bath," Sakura said as she pointed to Naruto who was sitting cross legged on the bed. "W-What?!" Naruto stammered. "I could smell your stench even in my sleep," she commented dryly. "Sakura-chan, don't make bath at this time of the day," the blonde complained like a three year old. "If you don't go and take a bath, I'm going to punch you all the way to next week," she threatened as she waved her fist in the air. Naruto tried to protest but grumpily made his way towards the bathroom after seeing that she was not changing her mind.
"So he's your teammate," Orihime said after Naruto had left. "Yep and best friend. Though he's quite a handful," she said as she gave the orange haired girl a small smile. She massaged her temples as she frowned. Gosh who knew that her chakra reserves had depleted this much. But it was understandable considering the many bruises and cuts that blonde had obtained. Maybe chakra exhaustion made the Kyuubi unable to quickly heal his wounds considering he had been involved in a fight with the greatest villan in this world.
"I better leave. It's getting pretty late," Uryu said as he stood up from his sitting position on the floor. "Me too," Chad said as he shifted from his position of leaning beside the closet. The others bid farewell to two of their friends and they left.
"Sakura-chan! I don't have any clothes!" Naruto shouted loudly from the bathroom. Sakura's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Ichigo heard her mutter "dobe" darkly before turning to him with a big smile and sweetly asking him in he had some clothes to spare. He noticed that her smile was fake and strained. 'Probably trying to control her anger,' he thought as he recalled how Rukia had done so on many occasions. He gave a weird look before walking over to his closet and pulling out a set of an orange tee-shirt and black pants. He handed them over to Sakura who in turn handed them over to Rukia and asked her to give Naruto the clothes as she yawned sleepily. Rukia agreed and left for the bathroom.
Rukia was standing on the door of the bathroom. Her hands were slightly trembling. Her instincts were telling her that something big was going to happen once she opened that door. But she didn't know what it was. Her gut instinct never lied. She inhaled then exhaled. She braced herself for whatever was going to happen. She knocked once, she knocked but she got no answer. 'What's taking him so long?' she thought impatiently. After knocking for the fifth time, she resolved to open the door herself and get inside.
She turned the door knob and entered the bathroom. Steam was everywhere so she couldn't make out anything in the bathroom. She walked towards the shower and a figure of a person. "Naruto?" she called out. "Yes?" he replied. "I came with your clothes," she said. "Thanks. Let me just come over there and get them," he replied and she heard wet footsteps coming towards her direction. She walked over the direction where the footsteps were coming from but slipped on the wet floor and fell forward. But before she had a face plant, she felt arms wrap around her. She blinked in confusion before turning to meet the tanned chest of a certain Uzumaki boy.
She screamed and shoved the boy away from her as if he were Death himself.
"Hey are you okay?" Naruto asked concernedly. "Naruto don't try to seduce Rukia in there!" Sakura shouted from Ichigo's bedroom. Rukia nodded furiously as she thrust the clothes into his hands. She was out of the bathroom before Naruto could bat an eyelash.
Naruto arrived five minutes later clad in the clothes Ichigo had given him. He noticed that Rukia wasn't in the room. "Thanks for the clothes strawberry," Naruto said to the shinigami. "I'm not strawberry," he replied annoyedly as his eyebrow twitched. "But your name means strawberry so it's the same thing," the blonde replied as he shrugged. Ichigo decided to let it pass for now. "So where am I going to sleep?" Naruto asked himself. "You can come over to my place. There is enough space for another person," Orihime spoke for the first time since Naruto had arrived. "Nah. I wouldn't wanna trouble you," the jinchuriki politely declined. "No really. It's okay. Sakura is staying with me," she urged. "Is that okay Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked the kunoichi but he wasn't answered as Sakura was sprawled out on Ichigo's bed, snoring her head off. "Okay. I'll come with you. Thanks anyway," he said to the girl. "No problem," she replied with a smile. "Now to get Sakura-chan home quickly," he said. "Shadow Clone Jutsu," he said as he did the single handsign and another Naruto appeared. The original Naruto picked up Sakura bridal style. "You just tell me where you live and we'll get there really quick," Naruto said to a baffled Orihime. "Y-Yeah sure," she said as she recomposed herself. The clone Naruto picked her up bridal style. "Goodbye strawberry. Say good night to Rukia for me." With that, the blonde shinobi and his clone jumped out of the open window towards Orihime's.
"So what do you think about Naruto?" Ichigo teasingly asked Rukia who had emerged from the closet she had hidden in after seeing Naruto shirtless in the bathroom. "I just saw a real man," she said with stars in her eyes as she clasped both hands on her chest. Ichigo sweatdropped anime style at her actions.
I'm done with this chapter. Hope you like it. Read and review.
Also I'm writing another fanfic called Back to zero. You might want to read it.
Toonana
AfricanFire
