Author's Note:
Hello! Thank's for taking the time to give my story a reach. With the state of the world as it is, I finally caved and decided to try my hand at writing a NaruSaku fic. It may have brought up some past frustration at the way the series ended, but it's also been a lot of fun to put my own spin on things. As this is my first story I have published, please bare with me as I get the hang of it. I don't know how long the story will be, but I am gonna try to release chapter's pretty frequently, as I have literally nothing else to do currently.
Any reviews, comments, or follows are greatly appreciated as, again, this is a new process to me. It would be cool to see that people actually are reading my work, and cooler to become a better writer.
A couple of notes about the story: It takes place around and is loosely inspired by the events of the Last, but has a very different narrative as you will see. However, I plan to continue the story for a while after that. Some other couples will be thrown in, but its mainly Naruto and Sakura's story. It is rated M as I haven't decided whether or not to add lemons yet, but we will see.
""= Dialogue
''= Inner thoughts
This is the longest note I am gonna write to you guys, so thanks for baring with me, and I hope you enjoy!
-LK
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By My Side
Chapter 1:
A soft ray of light crept in threw a crack in the blinds. Ever so slowly, the light illuminated the contents of the room. A beige dresser, a bookshelf crammed with textbooks and scrolls, dark green bedding, a single picture in a frame on a nightstand, until finally the light shone across her face. A mess of tangled pink hair tossed and turned, as the girl who inhabited the room slowly stirred. Eventually, and with great distress, she forced open her eyes and the light reflected off jade as she forced herself to sit up.
Sakura Haruno stretched her arms up over her head and groaned. 'Great, another night with barely any sleep' she thought to herself. She took a hair tie off of her wrist and quickly tied her shoulder length hair behind her head before wiping the sleep out of her eyes. She wrestled with the chord that opened her blinds. After managing to open them, she was greeted by the sight of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, of her home. She took in a deep breath as she observed the civilians down below. So many smiling faces. Shes saw a little girl trip and fall before her younger brother rushed to her side to help her up. She watched as their mother walked over and picked up the child, and all three of them laughed. She let out a soft chuckle herself. 'We did it. We really did. All the fighting, all the struggle. This is why. This is what it led too.'
She turned her view upward toward the great stone faces of the Hokage Monument. The war was over. It had been for 2 years. So many lives had been lost, and so many battles had been fought, but in the ashes rose a ninja village and a ninja world that was stronger and more united than ever. She remembered all the funerals and influx of patients at the hospital that came after the final battle. How difficult the rebuilding had been. Things had finally started to settle down. The village had completely recovered from the Pein attack prior to the war, and had even started expanding. Above the great stone faces there were signs of a new part of konaha that was taking shape. This part hardly resembled the village down below, as metal rods and beams represented the evolution of architecture. The homes and houses of the village she grew up in were being replaced with towering skyscrapers and luxury apartments. She understood that this was going to be the new business district of Konoha, but she was very glad that her line of work would ideally not take her there often. Still, she was grateful for the peace that allowed such a place to be a possibility in the first place.
'A peace that he brought about' she thought to herself. She leaned over and picked up the framed photograph she kept on her nightstand. She held it in her hand and looked down on it, and focused on the face of a dark haired sulking man with his arms folded across his chest. But before long she found her gaze shifting to the blonde shinobi mimicking his stance on the right. She couldn't help a smile forming on her lips as she turned her view back towards the village.
'And our war is over too' she thought. They had done it. Against all odds they had managed to bring their friend home. They had brought Sasuke Uchiha back from the darkness that consumed him. It had almost cost them their lives, hell it almost cost everyone in the world their lives, but they had done it. If she was being honest with herself, she know that HE had really done it. She looked back to the blonde in the photograph. Naruto Uzumaki. Her precious teammate. One third of Team Seven. The #1 hyperactive knucklehead ninja, dead last in his class. Now, the village hero. The ninja world's hero. He had defied everyones expectations, including her own, and rose from nothing to the best of the best. He was famous throughout the world, the most likely candidate to replace her former sensei as the next hokage, and most importantly, he was her best friend.
Ever since he had come back from his 2 year training trip with Jiraiya, the two of them had become close. They were close before, but she knew she admonished and insulted him far more than she should have, and it took her along time to get over the shame of some of the things she had said to him. She still wasn't over it, but she recognized that given the way every single person in the village treated him, she was not entirely too blame. Not that is stopped her from blaming herself, she did that quite enough. But it was after the war that the two of them had become inseparable.
They had brought sasuke back, but as soon as he received his prosthetic arm he set out on his own journey to atone for his sins. She remembered how he had wanted to live the rest of his life with one arm, before Naruto convinced him that the villages power would be significantly weakened if Sasuke had a handicap. Eventually he agreed and received his prosthetic. She also remembered him denying her the opportunity to join him on his journey. Before leaving he had tapped her on the forehead, just how his brother used to do to him, and told her he would be back eventually. But it was his final words as he walked the path out of the gates of the village that stuck with her.
"Besides, you're needed here, more than you know." And with that, he had left the village, but not before receiving his headband from his brother, agreeing to settle things between them when he returned.
Those words stuck with her, because she sensed a hidden meaning in his message, but to this day could not decipher what he meant. She knew her role as a medic was important, but she didn't think that was what Sasuke was talking about. She also remembered being significantly less sad than she was anticipating at the rejection. She knew, deep down in her heart, that Sasuke was not the one for her. And in the last two years, she had realized that she cared for him as a friend and a teammate, but some wounds couldn't heal. She couldn't act like he was the same Sasuke that he was before he left, and she couldn't ignore the fact that he had hurt so many. That he had hurt her. That he had hurt Naruto. She could forgive and move on, but she no longer was capable of feeling the same love for the Uchiha. Figuring it out had not been easy, but she had come to terms with and accepted her own feelings for a while now.
Since the Uchiha left (again) Sakura and Naruto had become as thick as thieves. They trained together, ate meals together, hung out together. She even had a spare set of clothes at his place as she stayed at his apartment at least once a week. It was closer to the hospital. Ever since she took over as assistant head doctor, under the leadership of her mentor, the 5th hokage, she sometimes had to be at the hospital at obscene hours in the morning, and staying 15 minutes closer to work made all the difference. On those nights, Naruto slept on the couch in the living room while she took the bed. She would have gladly taken the couch but he had insisted, and it was one of their few disagreements he had actually won. The two of them were as close as two people could be, and she wouldn't give that away for the world.
Which is why the last two weeks had been really weird and, to her great surprise, sad for her. Kakashi had called them into his office two weeks ago to let them know that Sasuke had finished his journey of redemption and was coming home to stay in the village for the time being. She thought that Naruto would have been ecstatic to have his brother home, so she was surprised when he seemed almost sad to hear the news.
"Naruto, whats wrong, I thought you would be over the moon to have him back" Kakashi had asked him. As quickly as it had appeared the sad look on his face vanished. "Sorry Kakashi sensei, I am! I just was thinking about how now I have to keep an eye on him again. I hope the bastards less mopey than he was when he left." He plastered his signature grin on but Sakura could tell something was wrong. However, she decided to ask him about it later. Unfortunately for her, later never came. Since that day, he had hardly seen her. They hadn't hung out alone once, and their only contact was when he was on an errand for Kakashi at the hospital. He had acted very strangely and the whole thing was bothering her. Then, when Sasuke returned a week ago, she assumed Naruto had put all of his time into making sure his friend was acclimated and helping him adjust. She understood that he was busy, but she would have liked for him to make more time for her. And it surprised her just how much she missed being with him. The feelings of dependence on him had been there for a while she knew this, but she didn't think that him not being around would have such an effect on her.
'Whatever, he is busy and its not like he owes me anything' she thought to herself. 'Besides, we have a mission toda...oh no' she broke herself out of her own thought and looked at the clock.
"7:35, damnit I am gonna be late" she yelled. She threw herself out of bed, jumped into her winter clothing as fast as she possibly could, and entered the living room ready to leave.
"Morning Forehead" she was greeted to the sound of her best friend and roommate who was sipping tea at the small dining table next to the kitchen. Sakura clenched her fist as a vein popped in her temple. She was glad that she and Ino had decided to get an apartment together a year ago, and she loved the girl to death but was not in the mood for any of her comments this morning. "I told you to stop calling me that Pig" She said "but Ill deal with you later, I am already late" and with that she grabbed and piece of fruit from a basket on the counter and opened the front door. She jumped onto the roof as the cold winter air slammed her in the face as she began to head towards the third training grounds.
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Sakura jumped out of the trees and landed softly at the entrance to the training grounds. She looked at the scene unfolding in front of her and couldn't help but smile. The training field was divided in the middle by a small body of water. On the side of the entrance sat Sixteen young academy students, all of which seemed too excited to sit still. She clocked the fact that more than one of them was wearing orange, and felt slightly annoyed that her teammate had actually managed to make the color into a fashion trend. Behind the children stood a tall adult with his hair tied up above his head, and with a large scare spread horizontally across his face. He was the first to notice her arrival.
"Sakura, its good to see you, glad you could make it today." Iruka said as she took a place by his side. She smiled warmly at him and nodded her head. "Of course Sensei, glad I could help. With those two, I have a feeling I will be healing somebody rather quickly." She laughed and Iruka said something about how she was right, but also how he had a few young medics in his class that looked up to her and wanted to meet her. She nodded her head and smiled, before turning her attention to the other side of the river. Her heart sped up as she braced herself for the scene in front of her. Yet, at the same time, she was overjoyed that she had lived to see the day this could happen.
Across the water stood two shinobi, staring intensely at each other. On the left stood a man with dark black hair covering one of his eyes and a frown etched upon his face. He was clad in all black, with a cape that covered his simple, black uniform underneath. He discarded his cape and the crest embroidered on the back of his shirt came into view. A crest her wore with more pride than almost anything else in his life. He exuded a calm, powerful presence that she could feel all the way from where she stood. While she was used to it, the mans energy never failed to send a chill down her spine, although not for the reasons it used too. The feeling vanished, however, as soon as she shifted her gaze to the man on the right.
Naruto Uzumaki stood at full height with his hands crossed across his chest. He was focused, thinking of nothing else but the man who stood in front of him. In contrast though, his energy was warm and inviting, yet just as powerful. He stood confident and his eyes stated there was no way in hell he would lose, and he had the track record to back it up. He wore a black jacket with an orange zipper that went all the way up to the neckline, paired with his signature orange pants. On his arm he had a band with his own clans symbol on it. She remembered the fuss he had made when she took him shopping to buy his new jacket. He had complained the old one worked just fine, despite the face it was worn, tattered, and barely fit him after his latest growth spurt. It still surprised her he ended up being taller than she was by almost a foot. He had only conceded when she offered to buy him lunch if he just tried it for a few days, and he hadn't taken it off since.
Suddenly, his focus was broken as he sensed her presence. He turned and his gaze met hers and a toothy grin spread across his face and his hand shot up and waved to her. "Sakura-chan!" He yelled and started hopping up and down as if to get her attention. She closed her eyes and a vein popped in her forehead. "I can see you, you idiot! You better stay focused or you're gonna lose this time" She yelled back, and was amused at his defensive reaction. Some of the students laughed and she smiled at him. He knew he was being made fun off, but shook it off and turned back to Sasuke, who had a smug look on his face. "What are you looking at?"
"You two are both so annoying" he said, before putting his hand on the handle of his katana. "You ready to get started?"
"Almost. Just one more thing, put your headband on." Naruto said, as he adjusted his own headband and tightened it. Sasuke looked at him before smirking and reaching into his weapon pouch. "Hmf" he said, as he tied the headband and used it to push his hair out of his face, revealing his rinnegen eye that was previously covered. Sakura meanwhile, just sat there, smiling like an idiot. 'This. This is also what it was for' she thought before adjusting her own forehead protector and settling against a nearby tree to watch the match.
"Alright you two!" Iruka yelled. "I want a clean fight. Remember this is just a friendly match, please avoid anything that would permanently damage the field. No giant tailed beast or rinnegan attacks. Sakura is here to patch you up, but don't go to far. I will call when the match is over." Naruto and Sasuke didn't flinch. Iruka sighed and took a place leaning against a tree next to Sakura. "Whenever you are ready, Begin!"