Road to Ninja: Broken Petals, a Naruto fanfic

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

Part 2: Stay with Me

Sakura had made her way to the staircase near the Hokage Rock formation and was now leaning over the balcony, lost in her thoughts.

"What do I do now? Is this all because of what I said to him?" She looked up to see the image of her father carved into the mountain. The sight of the face created an awful pit of despair in her stomach. It didn't feel right to see this at all. She was so used to seeing the face of Minato.

"…but now, what about his dream?" She remembered all of those times where Naruto stood up to others in the face of danger. Where he proudly proclaimed that he was going to make Hokage someday no matter what it took to get there. The moment that stood out to her was during the first round of the Chunin Exams where he stood up to the instructor, Ibiki. Is his dream now all for nothing? I told myself I wouldn't let his dream die… She felt tears make their way to her eyes, how could this all have happened like this?

A small gust of wind hit her in the face, leaves dancing around her feet as she blinked and looked down on the brightly-lit village one more time. There is no place like home…just not this one…I have to tell him what we need to do…I just wonder if he'll want to go… The pink-haired kunoichi headed towards the alleyway, she was due to meet Naruto in ten minutes.


Naruto got dressed again and left his home after reading the note that had been left for him. Running across rooftops, he arrived at his destination. The alleyway was silent; nothing seemed out of place. Not even a cat or a rat could be heard. He walked towards the junction in the pathway, hearing footsteps shuffle against the concrete dirt. That must be her…I wonder what this is all about? He slowly stepped to the corner, leaning his back against the wooden fence. Sakura, in turn, had heard him approach and stop walking.

A display of sadness encapsulated her face. She didn't want to upset him like this, but she just had to say it.

"Sakura-chan, I got your message, what did you wanna talk about? I'm a bit busy today, I can't stay for long?"

"Oh…" So he's made more plans to spend with his family? I can't say I blame him…

"Er, I mean until the time comes for us to use the scroll, all we can do is wait, right? I guess I'm just killing time until then…" He scratched the back of his head, chuckling slightly.

Her expression grew more and more unhappy. "Can I ask you something? Are you actually happy in this world Naruto?"

"What? Sakura-chan, are you crazy? What do you mean…it's just…" Naruto stopped himself. He really did want to say what he wanted, but what if he was going to be the selfish one here?

Then, a deafening silence between the two of them. Sure, there had been moments like this before, but now they were both at a crossroads, not knowing how to respond to one another. Was this fake world really everything they had hoped for? Sakura being treated as the 'child of heroes', free of her parents, and Naruto, finally living out the dreams he had wanted ever since he was young. Was it really worth the sacrifice of their real-world for this false vision of happiness?

In this world….I have everything...everything I've always wanted…. My dad is here; my mum is here…This is what I've always longed for…

Hearing her feet shuffle slightly, Naruto picked up the signal that it was time for them to go back to their respective homes. Sakura turned to head in the direction of hers; another night without anyone. Another night of pure silence and the night sky being the only thing keeping her company.

It was my dream to….. All his thoughts of the last few days began racing around in his mind.

.but this place…. She didn't have anything else to think about

.I know it's not real…I….

He knew what he had to do. He had to find a way to use the scroll to get back to their own world.

Right now though, Naruto thought about the only thing that mattered. Her.

"Sakura-chan, wait!" The blonde ninja called out, running around the corner towards her. Sakura stopped, turning round with the same vacant expression on her face.

"What is it?"

The blonde took a deep breath, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. "Sakura-chan, I don't want you to be alone tonight. I owe this to you."

Sakura was startled by his words. "Don't worry about me, you have your parents to go back to tonight-"

"-it's okay." He smiled softly at her. "I told them I was gonna see you for a while and that you were busy with some studying so I would help you out. Don't sweat it; I didn't say THAT reason…please let me keep you company tonight. " He gestured. Sakura really didn't know how to respond to this request. Even with the revelation that his parents were finally in his life, he was still going to drop them to be with her.

He's doing all this for me…as usual; he's putting everything else on the line, just for me? I never knew how much I really meant to him. Naruto….you truly are one of a kind… She slowly wrapped her arms around his waist, placing her head on his chest, her expression softening to a warm smile. Naruto, taken aback by this gesture, slowly placed his arms around her.

"Thank you, Naruto."

"You're welcome, Sakura-chan." He noticed the chill of the wind in the air pick up slightly. "We should get going, it's getting cold out."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, we should. It's this way."

They began walking back hand in hand with each other, both noticing a small blush on each other faces.

This is really nice. I never thought I'd be doing this with anyone, let alone Naruto. She thought, turning her head slightly not wanting to make eye contact. His eyes…when did they get so pristine? They're so full of compassion and heart, there's no way you could tell there was a monster living inside of him. The day she had found out he was the jinchuriki for the nine-tailed fox, her world seemed to get even darker than it was. First with Sasuke leaving the village and then finding out Naruto had been marked for death by a group of power-hungry terrorists? It was at that moment that she realized that she would do anything to protect him.

Naruto himself at the moment was very happy. He was holding hands with the girl of his dreams. He stared into her soft emerald eyes that shimmered in the moonlight.

"What's up?" She asked, noticing his soft stare back at her.

"It's nothing…just…this is really nice is all…"

Sakura giggled. "I'm glad you think so."

The two of them arrived at her home momentarily. Both of them kicked their shoes off and headed to the living room. Naruto sat down on the sofa while Sakura headed upstairs to change. While she was gone, he noticed the unusual amount of empty cans on the dining table next to him. Fruit jelly? I guess this is to her what ramen is to me… He couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

Sakura eventually came down. "Hey Naruto, would you like some tea or hot chocolate?" She was wearing a plain white hoodie with blue jean shorts, in addition, she had removed her forehead protector, letting her hair fall down naturally. Naruto blushed at how cute she looked; it was different seeing her in casual clothing now and again.

"Just some hot chocolate please, Sakura-chan." He replied gently.

In a few moments, she had made two large mugs of hot chocolate. Giving one to Naruto, she sat next to him on the sofa. As he had his first sip, he noticed the flower on the table, its petals completely fallen off leaving just the green roots behind.

"The flower, who was that from?"

Sakura didn't want to answer but she knew keeping the truth from Naruto was impossible. He was just too good at reading people. "It was from Sasuke…well, the Sasuke we saw…turns out he's nothing but a cheap flirt…a playboy..."

He grew a little angry, knowing that the Uchiha in their world was bad enough, and now this doppelgänger was just as cruel. "Damn him…as if he wasn't as obnoxious and annoying in the bathhouse, he goes and does that to you? Damn it." He couldn't stand seeing Sakura like this.

"Speaking of…what happened, well y'know, before Lee crashed in there?" He asked out of curiosity.

Sakura turned her head slightly. "Girl stuff…not the kind of thing that I should really be disclosing…well, that and Hinata…" She didn't want to make eye contact with Naruto at this point.

"Hinata did what? I know she was acting quite aggressively, but what did she do? Did she hurt you?"

The kunoichi went red at this point. This was so embarrassing, but would this really matter? It's not even a real-world at this point.

"…shecalledmeflatokay…" she mumbled quickly. This was not her day.

"Sakura-chan what-!?" He wondered what she was getting so worked up about.

She screamed out in frustration. "SHE CALLED ME FLAT AS A BOARD OKAY! LIKE SERIOUSLY I DON'T GET WHAT THE HELL IT IS WITH YOU BOYS AND YOUR FASCINATION WITH THE T & A DEPARTMENTS! IT'S UNCALLED FOR!" She panted angrily hoping Naruto would put a sock in it and move on from the conversation. Being teased for her forehead when she was young was bad enough, but now she had to feel belittled again all because she didn't have the right assets to attract a guy?

That's all it was? Naruto thought. He knew at times he could be perverted (probably due to spending time with Jiraiya rubbed off on him) but he respected and treasured Sakura and was pleased with how she looked. He placed his mug down and held her hand to comfort her. He never minded her over-sized forehead, he was too distracted by her emerald eyes and bubblegum pink hair her to notice.

"Sakura-chan…"

"Hm?" She replied, keeping her eyes off him. "I'm sorry, it's just that-"

"-listen. I don't care about that stuff at all. In my eyes, you've always been beautiful. You're beautiful, hard-working, and compassionate and you always want to do more for people. You are an incredible soul both inside and out. Even right now, I'll even say I think you look very cute too." He grinned with passion.

Sakura blushed again and calmed herself down. Not even Sasuke had the nerve to say something like this to her. "Y-you really think I'm beautiful? But-"

"But nothing! If anyone else can't see that, they must be as blind as Kakashi is when he's walking around with one eye covered all the time."

She was taken aback by his words. All this time she thought Naruto was just another raging teenage boy with only one thing on his mind. She smiled weakly. "Wow, Naruto…I don't know what to say…I mean having an oversized forehead was bad enough and-!"

"Think nothing of it." He poked her on the nose playfully. "To me Sakura-chan, you are the most beautiful flower in the whole village." Her smile grew bigger, and she playfully poked him on the cheek in return.

"Thank you Naruto-kun…" She gasped at what she had just said. Did I just say Naruto-kun? Where did that come from? Is this…? Am I…? She continued blushing and shook her head wanting to carry on.

"So, what happened on your side of the hot springs then?"

Naruto noticed she had slipped the honorific on his name and didn't know what to say to that. Usually, she reserved it for Sasuke….but surely she couldn't be falling for him now, could she? "Well, um, despite Sasuke-teme being annoying, Kiba walking round with soapy cat ears, Shino talking nonsense about bugs, Neji perving on the girls, and Shikamaru acting like a complete idiot? Nope, that was it. But I couldn't help but feel that this was deja-vu from the other day?"

"The other day? You mean when we went to the bathhouse and I beat you up cuz you had my bra on your towel?" Sakura snickered. "Yeah sorry about that, you know how it is with us girls…"

"Yeah, it was all familiar, like we were replaying the whole thing again with different personalities. But I sort of figured out what was going on here. You wished not to have parents around you all the time, meanwhile, I was annoyed after that mission with Akatsuki and everyone got their Jonin promotion. " The thought of him when he lost it with Iruka came back to haunt him. "I lashed out at Iruka-sensei because I was frustrated with not having anyone to go home to and being by myself. I shouldn't have been so hard on him; he's been with me since pretty much the beginning. I wonder if he's still mad at me for it." His head turned to the floor in sadness.

Sakura moved closer to him, enveloping her fingers in between his. "It's okay, I finally understand what you've been through all these years. The pain of not having anyone to welcome you home in the evening. No one to share an evening meal with or spend time with. I see what you've been through now with my own eyes. Having parents is something you shouldn't take for granted. Also, from what you're saying is that Madara granted our wishes in form of our desires." Mentally, she was kicking herself for ever thinking such a thing in the first place. Who knew that their greatest enemy could try and tear them apart like this?

"And don't worry about Iruka-sensei. Whatever you said, I'm sure you didn't mean. I know he'll forgive you." Her expression seemed to sadden once again. "The question is…do you forgive me for being selfish about all of this? I mean I acted quite big-headed earlier on being praised as the 'child of heroes' and I guess I got carried away."

Naruto brought his other hand to her face, stroking a bang of her hair away from her eyes. "Sakura-chan, I forgive you. Don't beat yourself up about it. I'm always here for you and I promise we are going to get back home, together."

She could feel her heartbeat faster and her face flush with heat. She hadn't felt this feeling in years. It was a warm, comforting feeling; like all her cares had just melted away. Gazing into his cerulean eyes, she saw nothing but peace, love, tranquility.

All these feelings of mine…they've been there buried for a long time…crushed by the weight of sadness and anger…I was telling myself a long time ago, I needed to give up on Sasuke because of everything he had done. Now, I see why. Naruto's always been here, always trying to make me smile, always protecting me from the worse. Stupid antics aside, he's really shown he can be mature. He never goes back on his word and brings out the best in people. Naruto, you really are-"

"Sakura-chan?" He asked worriedly. "Are you feeling okay? You've gone quiet on me again."

Sakura couldn't help but smile even more. "It's okay, I've never been better."

Both of them inches apart knew what was coming next. She closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss him softly. Naruto, being taken aback by this surprise, broke off the kiss briefly.

"Sakura-chan…I…I…"

"Shh." She gestured with a finger on his lips. "Please, stay with me. I don't want to be alone again. " She moved closer, and both of them leaned in to kiss again, this time more passionately. Both ended up lying down on the sofa, Naruto wrapping his arms around her waist, as she placed her arms around his neck. The kiss grew more intense, Naruto mesmerized by the softness of her lips. At this moment, it was pure bliss for the two of them. Sakura feeling her comrade's muscular frame around her own made her feel protected and safe. He brushed his tongue against her lips wanting entrance to her mouth, and she gracefully accepted. After a few seconds of the tongue, he broke off, gently kissing her cheek, her jawline, and adding a few butterfly kisses on her neck, causing her to moan softly in response. Seeing what he was doing, she smirked and started kissing the whisker marks on his face, around his cheek, down his neck, and was surprised when it caused him to purr in response.

"Hehe…" She kissed his lips again, amused by the reaction.

"What?" Naruto asked confused

"Did you just purr? I thought only cats did that…"

Embarrassed, Naruto scratched his face. "Er…I think it's cuz of….you-know-who…"

"Well, fox or no fox, I had no idea you were such a good kisser, Naruto-kun." She stroked his face softly. So this is what love feels like…is this love? If it is, I don't want it to end.

The blonde adjusted his lying position, now with his head on the arm of the sofa. His first arm wrapped around Sakura's waist, cradling her soft delicate frame, while his hand gently touched her stomach with his fingertips. He had admired how curvy she had become and the sensation of her creamy soft skin molded softly to his touch. His other one began playing with strands of her soft pink bubblegum hair, the scent of it enlightening his sense of smell. "Hehe, thanks…Sakura-chan."

They both laid there in complete content with one another. Naruto didn't believe that this was actually happening. He had always wanted Sakura but didn't feel he was ever good enough for her. Who knew it would take the literal end of the world for their feelings to be known to each other.

"Sakura-chan, no matter what, I'm getting us back home. It's a promise of a lifetime. I love you, Haruno Sakura."

It was like the words she had wanted to hear for years. And now, it was time for her to respond.

"I love you too, Uzumaki Naruto." She responded with another passionate kiss.

Neither of them wanted this moment to pass, but they realized it had to. For the sake of both their worlds and to stop Madara once and for all.

"What about tomorrow?" Sakura asked.

"Hm?"

"How about tomorrow I spend it with you and your family and then when the day is done, tomorrow night, we stop Madara once and for all."

"Is it going to be a blood-red moon though?" Naruto replied, puzzled.

"Judging by the night sky, yes."

"How do we find him though?"

"We let him come to us. We have the scroll; it's only a matter of time before he plans an attack. We should make a plan of counterattack, since in this dimension; I don't think the rest of the people know what Madara is capable of. "

Naruto nodded. She was right. In this dimension, it sounded like Uchiha Madara was a myth, then how about the rest of Akatsuki? Surely they must exist as well in some capacity. And what of Orochimaru? So many questions in what seemed to be so little time.

"You're right Sakura-chan. We'll work this out, together." They kissed once more. Realizing their drinks had gone cold, Sakura offered to make another one.

The rest of the evening with the two young ninjas was quiet, mostly reminiscing on what they had done together, and all the time they had missed out on when they were apart for two and a half years.

"Tell me something though, is there anything you'd keep in this world? Besides your mum and dad?" The pink-haired kunoichi asked out of curiosity.

The Kyuubi boy chuckled. "Maybe Lee if he didn't have the cross-dressing thing going on; all the others just don't make sense. How about you?"

"Well Ino's fun now that she's all soft and sensitive. Not sure about Tenten though; she seems to be a danger to herself and others."

"Let's not forget about Sai. Do you even think he can still use his jutsu properly? That painting earlier spoke a thousand words…and they all said shit." Naruto wondered as Sakura laughed at his remark.

"Let's not forget the Tsunade and Shizune switch up! I mean, it was weird seeing the Hokage so….flat…" This comment had Naruto crying with laugher. "Oh Sakura-chan, you know all the right things to say!"

The kunoichi laughed with him. Laughing with you is one of the best things I can enjoy in life, you number one knucklehead.

Both of them finished their drinks and decided it was time for sleep. They went upstairs to Sakura's room, dressed down (Naruto took off his jacket and pants while Sakura stayed as she was) before snuggling down together with a duvet.

"So, how are you gonna explain this tomorrow to your parents, 'Menma-kun'?" Sakura teased him, reminding him of the situation they still had to deal with.

Naruto cringed at the name again. "I…uh…guess I'll say you were attacked in the middle of the night and you didn't feel safe being on your own?"

"Aww, my hero!" She responded with a kiss. "I look forward to it." My hero alright, in more ways than one.

"Same here, goodnight Sakura-chan, sweet dreams." He leaned in for one more kiss with her.

"Goodnight Naruto-kun."

Within a few moments, snuggled together arm-in-arm, they drifted off to sleep.


Elsewhere, Uchiha Madara looked up at the night sky. It had been unfortunate that they had landed the scroll so easily; alas it had all worked out for him. He was going to capture the nine-tailed fox no matter what it took.

"Sleep easy, Uzumaki Naruto. Tomorrow night, when the moon turns blood red, the plan will be enacted and the nine-tailed fox will be mine for the taking."

FIN


A/N: Whew! That was fun to write indeed. I hope nothing seemed too cheesy or over the top in this situation. Breaking it into two parts was a lot easier in turn and I'll be writing a few more one/two-shots in the coming weeks.

If you enjoyed it, please do leave me a review and if you find anything amiss, please do offer some constructive criticism as well! This was my first fic in SEVEN years and I would love to get the creative juices flowing again, and constructive criticism helps me become better at what I like doing. If you're curious about my past work, click my profile and have fun reading!

This is TheShamanMaster signing off for now.