Ch. 7

The next day.

"Hey there, Sexy Lady." called two nurses as they giggled to themselves and walked past Sakura in the hallway. Sakura looked at them and gave a forced smile as she kept walking at a deliberate pace. Normally, she would've tried to contain some type of negative reaction, but she had already been bombarded by a multitude of people making references to yesterday's events and she had settled into simply ignoring them. She couldn't go back in time and change anything so there was no point in constantly exploding every time someone said something. It would only raise her blood pressure and keep her angry throughout the day. She decided that she would just have to accept all of the weird and annoying things people were saying to her for now. It couldn't last forever right? At least she hoped not…

'That Naruto is something else...' she thought to herself while shaking her head with a frown. She wondered if he thought it was worth it. The first time she beat him up for singing over the hospital speakers, she had held back a little, but yesterday was a different story. She hadn't held much back, and she remembered him being in pretty bad shape after she left him. She was sure that even with his healing factor he would probably need to take a little time off to completely heal. She would feel bad about hurting him so much if she didn't feel like he deserved it. Of all the things he could do, he had to sing that particular song over the hospital speakers! Just thinking about it was getting her riled up again. She walked into an empty patient room then let out a deep breath as she leaned against the wall.

What frustrated her the most wasn't even what that blond retard did yesterday though. It was the fact that despite him embarrassing her with his constant singing visits and despite him completely humiliating her over the week, she was still just a tad bit worried about him. She had refused to treat him after beating him half to death, but now she found herself worrying about if he had gotten proper medical treatment. Tsunade was around the hospital at the time so she assumed he had been treated by her, but despite that, she still couldn't stop herself from worrying about the blond idiot, even if it was only a tiny bit. She raised a hand to her temple and let out another small sigh as she considered the weird relationship the two of them shared. She had beat up the blond knucklehead only a day ago for completely humiliating her, but she was already back to worrying about him. She wondered why it was so hard for her to stay mad at him. She told herself that it was probably because he was such a likable guy or because of his energetic personality, but in reality, she knew she was just trying to fool herself. She knew the real reason she couldn't stay mad at him and it wasn't nearly as simple as any of the other reasons she had been thinking about. It was a lot more complicated. She dropped her head a bit then let out a small chuckle to herself wondering how she went from being mad at the idiot to being sad that she wasn't in a relationship with him. "Talk about bipolar…" she mumbled to herself with a wry chuckle.

"Having a bad day?"

Sakura quickly turned to the doorway and saw none other than Sasuke standing there with his usual blank stare. She used her back to push herself off the wall then put on a brave smile. "No, I'm fine."

Sasuke ignored her protests and said, "If I knew Naruto's antics would've bothered you this much, I would've stopped him."

"Thanks for trying to help, Sasuke, but that's not it."

The Uchiha examined her for a bit then reasoned that she was telling the truth. "Ok." he simply said. It looked like she was dealing with something personal, so he decided not to push the subject any further. He had his suspicions about what might be bothering her, but if he was right, there wasn't much he could do to help anyway.

After a short pause, he looked down the hallway and said, "I was actually just talking with the dobe."

"Naruto's here at the hospital?" asked Sakura without missing a beat.

"Still worried about him I see," observed Sasuke with a small smile.

Sakura crossed her arms while turning her head away then said, "No, I'm not."

Sasuke gave her a blank stare that showed she didn't look all that convincing.

"I'm not worried about him." she declared in a voice that made it sound like she was trying to convince herself more than anyone.

She stared at Sasuke for a bit and noticed he still wasn't buying it. After a few seconds, she finally turned away with a pout and softly said, "Ok, maybe a little…"

Sasuke gave a small smile at her confession then said, "He's actually on this floor waiting for a follow-up treatment. Tsunade treated most of his injuries yesterday, but even with his healing factor, his body couldn't completely recover in one day. Ino's supposed to treat him after she finishes with one of her patients. You did a real number on him."

"What, like he didn't deserve it?" she retorted.

"I don't know if he deserved all of that…" said Sasuke while looking away at nowhere in particular.

"Sasuke…did you hear what he called me yesterday?" she asked with a bit of her annoyance seeping through into the question.

"Yeah, I heard all of it, but still…"

"I should've known you'd take his side…" she said while squinting at him in a distrusting manner.

"Well, if you saw how he looked, you might feel differently."

Sakura thought about what he had said for a moment then eyed him suspiciously. "Fine… I guess I'll check on him…"

"Weren't you going to do that regardless." he joked with a slight smirk.

"J-J-Just shut up and go…brood or whatever it is you do at this hour." she stammered out while giving him a bit of a side-eye.

Sasuke gave a small smirk then decided it was probably time for him to go. He'd given her Naruto's location, so she could work out her issues with him if she wanted to. "I'll go do that. See you." he said while giving a curt nod and turning away.

"See you around." she replied before turning around to go look for Naruto. She had a good idea of where Ino would be so she was pretty sure finding Naruto wouldn't be too much of a chore.

Sakura walked into the mental ward of the hospital and started looking around. If her memory served her correctly, Ino should be around that area of the hospital right about now. She rounded the corner of one of the hallways and looked past a few people to see Ino standing outside a patient room, writing in a folder.

"Hey, Ino."

Ino kept writing but replied with a faint smile. "What's up, my fine friend."

Sakura gave an eye roll and said, "Nothing much."

"If you're looking for Naruto, he's sitting in there." she said while motioning towards the hospital room behind her. "I was actually just about to treat him."

Sakura gave an innocent shrug and said, "Who said I was looking for Naruto?"

"Sakura, please. You rarely pay me courtesy visits. Why else would you be down here?"

"Ouch." said Sakura while scrunching up her face comically. "I guess you're right though…" she finished while rubbing her chin. "How long do you think you'll take?"

"I'm not sure. I'm just supposed to be doing some basic medical ninjutsu to help him heal faster. It would probably take less than 5 minutes."

"Oh ok. I'll wait then."

"Yeah, you could wait for me to finish…or I could let you treat him instead." Ino replied while holding out the folder she had been filling out to Sakura with an eye-closed smile.

"I don't know, Ino..." said Sakura while looking towards the room apprehensively.

"What are you talking about, Forehead? Get in there and talk to him. To be honest, you owe him a lot more than that after your little rampage yesterday."

Sakura stared at the folder for a moment before finally caving in and accepting it begrudgingly. "Fine…" she mumbled under her breath.

"Great!" replied Ino while pushing Sakura towards the room. "And I'll be waiting for the details later…"

"I'm sure…"

Sakura opened the door slightly and peered inside. She looked towards the hospital bed and there Naruto was laying down with his eyes closed. As she looked over his body, she started to see what Sasuke meant when he said she went too far. To say he looked like he was in bad shape was an understatement. His neck was in a cast that forced his neck to stay straight, his right arm was still wrapped in the same cast from two days ago, and she could tell that he had a few bandages under his clothing. She felt a little guilty at the sight of him if she was honest. She thought he deserved to get a beatdown but not that much of a beatdown. She examined his injuries for a bit longer then decided to slowly open the door so as not to alarm him.

As soon as the door started opening, Naruto opened his eyes and started turning his head towards the door. When his eyes landed on Sakura there looked to be a cross between shock and apprehension in his eyes. Where did Ino go? And what was the girl who beat him half to a pulp yesterday doing in his room... She couldn't still be mad, could she?... "Ino," he called out with a hint of doubt in his voice. "What's going on?..."

Ino responded by starting to pull the door closed after Sakura had entered. "Uhhh… I've got to take care of another patient." she called from behind the door. "Sakura was nearby so I agreed to let her take care of you."

"N-N-No, No, Nooooooo." stammered Naruto as he jumped off the examining table and started walking towards the door. "We agreed you'd treat me, remember…"

Ino slammed the door shut with him and Sakura inside then used a key to lock it. "Sorry, Naruto. The patient I'm dealing with has a mental problem that can't wait. Sakura will take care of you just fine."

Sakura tried to give a smile that would put him at ease and said, "It's not that big a deal, Naruto. I'm not mad anymore." Unfortunately, the smile came out looking forced and awkward which did nothing to soothe Naruto's fears. "Ino," he growled out while violently shaking the door handle. "Stop playing games and open this door!"

"Sorry, Naruto. Duty calls." she replied while turning to walk away.

"No! Ino!" he called as he used his finger to peer past the curtains. "Don't leave me…" he whined as she rounded a corner.

After a few moments of silence, Sakura raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you done?"

Naruto simply squinted while letting out a low growl.

Sakura rolled both eyes and said, "Get back on the bed."

Naruto sulked all the way back to the bed and let himself plop down onto the right side of it with a pout. Although he was angry, Sakura found him particularly funny to look at. His contorted angry face resulted in his bottom lip poking out comically, and just by how he was sitting, she could tell he would've crossed his arms if one of them wasn't in a cast. Typical Naruto.

"Sit up straight and take off your shirt." she said with a sigh.

Naruto grudgingly obliged, struggling to get the shirt past his arm cast. Sakura would've helped him, but she could still feel the tension in the room, so she left him alone. When he finally got it off, Sakura saw the bandaged-up bruises that were lining his back. She felt a little worse at the sight but decided it would be a good start to just take care of him as promised. She sat down on the left side of the bed then asked, "So, how are you doing?" as she started to use green chakra to heal the bruises across his back.

"I'll be fine." he replied in a slightly hoarse voice.

Sakura looked at him with a bit of concern then asked, "What happened to your voice?"

"Nothing much. It's just that someone crushed my voice box when they grabbed me by the throat yesterday…" he stated while squinting at her from the side.

"Oh…" replied Sakura while making sure to avoid his eyes. Maybe she should apologize. From the looks of things, Sasuke was right, she had gone too far. Even if Naruto had totally humiliated her, she would never want to hurt him to the point where he looked like he did now.

Naruto shifted ever so slightly to watch her reaction and couldn't help feeling a little satisfied at the fact that she looked to be feeling a little guilty. After what he did, he had expected to get beat up pretty bad, but he didn't expect her to completely lose it on him! Maybe that was what it was like when she completely lost her temper... It was hard to believe she had actually been in control every other time she had beat him up over the past few years. In any case, he'd never do anything to piss her off that much again. Lesson learned.

"I'm sorry." she said while keeping her focus on the bruise she was healing. "When you started singing that song yesterday, I just lost it. I was already wound up from the day before and when I realized you were gonna do it again, I just snapped..."

Sakura noticed that his angry scowl started to fade and that he seemed to calm down a bit after that. She let out a small smile realizing that she was getting through to him then decided to tease him a bit for good measure. "You know how I get when I'm angry… If anything, what happened to you is kinda your fault…"

After she said that, Naruto's tough exterior finally cracked as he started chuckling a bit. "So, that's your apology... You're gonna take my words, and twist 'em to justify beating me half to a pulp…" Naruto shook his head a bit then smiled and said, "Ok. After you're done healing me, I'll go grab some Ichiraku's and think about how I'm gonna retaliate."

Sakura laughed a bit and said, "No retaliation, Naruto! Let's just go back to how things were before all of this craziness. Ok?"

"Can't take the heat?"

"No, I can't." Sakura said with a chuckle. "You win."

"Sooooo?" he asked with a sly grin now creeping up to his lips. "What do you say?"

"Really?"

"You have to say it, Sakura-chan."

Sakura let out an annoyed sigh then mumbled, "Never mess with a superior prankster…"

"Ah, that's what I wanted to hear."

"I hate you." she replied while shaking her head and smiling a bit. "You're like an annoying little kid I can't get rid of."

"Well, I hate you a slightly higher amount then." said Naruto with his proud smirk still in place.

Sakura let out a snort and said, "Yeah, right. If that were the case, you wouldn't keep coming here and singing. Just admit it…"

"Admit what?"

"You can't get enough of me." she said while biting her tongue and leaning forward to see his reaction.

"Yeah and look where it got me." he replied while shaking his head.

Sakura couldn't help but giggle a bit at that. "Come on, Naruto. It's not that bad…"

Naruto dropped both eyes then turned his whole body towards her. "Look at me, Sakura-chan. This stupid neck cast makes me have to turn my whole body just to turn my head!"

Sakura couldn't help but giggle a little more at how ridiculous he looked.

"It's not funny, Sakura-chan…" he said while turning away from her so she could continue healing his back.

Sakura giggled for a bit longer before finally forcing herself to stop. "Alright, I went a little overboard…" she said while giving him an apologetic smile.

"Yeah, just a little…" he said sarcastically. "Enough about me, how have you been?"

Sakura gave a shrug of her shoulders and said, "Well, as fine as you can be with people calling you names all day. I've been called treasure, sexy lady, pretty girl and a whole bunch of other things. I have to admit sexy m0t#3rf^c*3r has been the most popular though…"

Naruto started laughing a little more than he should have which resulted in Sakura moderately chastising him. "It's not funny, Naruto." she said while wrinkling her nose.

"Come on, Sakura-chan. It's a little funny." teased Naruto while giving her a playful smile. Sakura kept healing him while shaking her head although there was the slightest smile tugging on her lips. Naruto leaned back so that he was just a few inches from her face and whispered, "You have to think it was at least a teeny bit funny, Sakura-chan."

The hard exterior she was trying to uphold finally melted away as she couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Do you know how many people have called me weird names today?" she sighed while laughing at the absurdity of her life at the moment.

"I'm guessing probably over half the hospital…" he answered while starting to laugh again.

"It's ridiculous Naruto…"

Naruto laughed a bit more then said, "Don't worry Sakura-chan, it'll pass…"

"It better, or I'm coming for you again…" she joked.

Naruto started laughing and said, "I definitely wouldn't want that…"

After the two had laughed together for a bit longer, Sakura examined her lifelong friend with a smile. So much had changed from the time they were kids up to this point. They had both grown so much over the years. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally... And their relationship had grown so much as well. But so much had remained the same as well. Despite everything he'd been through, Naruto was still that kid from so long ago. Still cracking stupid jokes, still pulling stupid pranks, and still more than willing to make a fool of himself if it meant a good laugh. And even though he knew exactly what to do to get under her skin, she loved him for it.

After looking at him for a bit longer, she finally turned away with a bit of a sad smile. "Naruto?" she said in a voice that came out as a whisper.

"Yeah?"

"We'll always be friends, no matter what, right?"

"Of course."

"Even if I told you something that might make things a little awkward?"

"I just humiliated you for nearly a week and we're still friends. I think our friendship is indestructible by now Sakura-chan."

"Yeah, I guess it is." replied Sakura while giving a small smile.

She dropped her hands from his back as she finished healing him, then took a deep breath before she finally spoke up. "I've had something on my mind for a while now. Something I've wanted to talk to you about." She paused for a second, then looked away sadly as she finished, "I just never really worked up the courage to do it…"

Naruto reached out with his free arm to turn her face back to him then gave her a soft smile as he placed his hand over hers. "Give yourself more credit. It looks like you worked up the courage to do whatever it was right now."

Sakura looked at him with a soft smile. "Still reassuring me, huh?"

"Always."

Sakura smiled a bit at that then decided to take the plunge. It was now or never, and there was no point in backing down now. She was going to be honest with him about how she felt at least one time so all she could do was hope he felt the same way. She slowly lifted her emerald green eyes to meet his ocean blue ones as she tried to figure out how to express her feelings. "How do I put this?" she whispered while looking away to think to herself.

"Well it's…" her voice trailed off. "It's just-"

Naruto noticed how nervous she was, so he gave her a small smile and said, "Don't overthink it, Sakura-chan. It's just me."

Sakura let out a small sigh at her failed attempts to communicate her feelings then lifted a hand to rest on the side of his face. Her eyes locked with his before slowly moving down and settling on his slightly chapped lips. "It's this." she whispered as she leaned forward to pull him into a soft kiss.

The kiss was awkward, a bit clumsy, and not at all what Sakura expected, but it felt right somehow. Like it was simply meant to be. Naruto didn't seem to mind much either as he shifted ever so slightly to lean into the kiss from his side of the bed. She couldn't be sure that he was feeling exactly what she was feeling, but he had to at least be attracted to her in some way to be kissing her the way he was now. His kisses were slow and passionate, but they had a definite desire in them, maybe even a bit of love...

After she had kissed him for a bit longer, she forced herself to cut the kiss short so she could better gauge his reaction.

The two of them sat there with their foreheads resting against each other. Naruto looking down, his expression unreadable. And Sakura, looking unusually shy, her green eyes looking up to show she was waiting for him to say something, anything...

After a few seconds of silence, Sakura noticed the corner of his mouth turn up ever so slightly. A faint blush adorned her cheeks before she shyly returned the smile.

Naruto chuckled a bit then said, "About damn time."

Sakura's emerald green eyes went wide with what looked to be a mix of shock although there was a rising joy present there as well. "You want this?" she whispered.

Naruto smiled then used his hand to brush a strand of pink hair away as he leaned in for another kiss. Sakura's eyelids fell shut of their own accord as she returned the kiss. This time, there was no hesitation, no question hanging in the air, just that moment with the two of them. After pulling away, Naruto flashed her a somewhat naughty smile and replied, "Who wouldn't?"

Sakura wanted to look away to hide the fact that she was blushing like mad, but she relished how close they were, so she decided to mildly chastise him instead. "Naruto stop it." she said with a grin while keeping her forehead pressed to his.

"What?" he replied with a smile of his own. "I mean, look at you. It's true."

Sakura started blushing again but decided to cover it up this time by reaching for a pillow and smacking him square across the face. He let his body fall onto the bed comically and grabbed the other pillow to defend himself. "You're such a smooth talker." she said with a laugh while preparing to smack him again.

"No, I'm not!" he laughed. "I'm just trying to pay you back for all the compliments I couldn't pay you a few years ago."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at that. "Compliments you couldn't pay me?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, come on, Sakura-chan. If I would've said something like what I just said now a few years ago, you would've punched me halfway across Konoha."

Sakura thought about it for a bit then smiled and said, "Yeah, you're probably right." while finally dropping the pillow back onto the bed. She let out a small sigh then used her arm to prop herself up next to him. "I wish I would've talked to you earlier…"

Naruto turned to look up at the ceiling then said, "Yeah, talk about keeping a guy waiting. I thought you'd say something sooner."

"What do you mean?" she asked with confusion starting to take over her features. Naruto simply laid there smiling. She used her arm to prop herself up a bit more, then whispered, "You knew?"

"I'm not nearly as dense as you think I am." he said while looking at her from the side.

Sakura gave him a look of disbelief as her eyes locked with his. "For how long?"

Naruto relaxed a bit then put his free hand under his head before speaking. "I've suspected it for a while now. When you spend a lot of time with someone, you memorize a lot of things. How they look at you, how they smile at you, how they touch you…things like that. A few months ago, I thought that the way you looked at me started changing ever so slightly. I thought I might be going crazy, but then it looked like the way you smiled at me was changing too. I would notice other little things, like you looking at me for a bit longer than usual and in a different way than you used to, or you wanting to touch me but pulling back…"

Sakura was left speechless. She couldn't believe it. Here she was thinking Naruto was a dense idiot and he was secretly observing every little detail of how she acted. The blond, bumbling idiot was just a disguise.

Naruto continued with a soft smile settling on his lips. "Even with everything I just told you, I still doubted whether you liked me or not. Maybe I just couldn't bring myself to believe it." he admitted with a bit of a sad smile. "I've only known for sure since our little Christmas gathering a few days ago."

"The Christmas gathering?" she asked with a hint of curiosity. What had happened at the Christmas gathering that she missed? Was it something she did when he gave her that necklace? Had she touched him a certain way and not noticed she was being a little too friendly?

Naruto smiled while watching the cogs turning in her brain. "You can't guess it Sakura-chan. It's something you didn't know you did."

Sakura looked at him cluelessly for what seemed to be the longest time before finally asking in a soft voice, "What was it?"

Naruto smiled and said, "There was a moment after you gave me that mp3 player where I said that I couldn't not like a gift from my best friend. I wasn't thinking much when I said it, but after saying it I noticed that you just had this…look."

"A look?" she asked, never once taking her eyes off him.

"Yeah. It was a look I used to have in my…younger years." he finished while laughing a bit.

Sakura looked away slightly suddenly feeling a little embarrassed at the fact that her feelings were so blatantly on display. "Don't laugh at me…" she said while avoiding his eyes with a faint smile.

"Don't think too much of it, Sakura-chan." he said while lifting a hand to rub the side of her face. "It takes one to know one."

There was a moment of silence between the two before Sakura finally spoke again. "You know, I thought you outgrew me…" she softly whispered while looking down.

"I could see why you'd think that…" he replied with a weak smile. "The truth is I could never outgrow you Sakura-chan. The only reason I settled into being your friend after the war is because, with Sasuke back, I thought you could finally have that life you always wanted. But Sasuke came back and nothing ever happened between you two. I was wondering why but then I noticed you weren't looking at him anymore, you were looking at me. Sakura-chan, I only ever wanted you to be happy, I just never thought you'd be happy with a baka like me, you know."

All Sakura could do was try to hold back the tears that were now blurring her vision. She thought he had lost his feelings for her, but he hadn't. He was just willing to suppress them if it meant she could be happy. He was just looking out for her, as usual…

"Well, I am." she replied through her tears as she leaned down to give him one last kiss. Naruto returned the kiss then sat up straight on the bed grabbing his shirt in the process. "So, I assume we're a thing, now?" he asked while pulling the shirt over his head.

Sakura smiled while wiping away her tears and said, "We are most definitely a thing now."

"Good." he replied with a genuine smile. He rose to his feet then stretched a bit as he looked out the hospital room window over the village. "So, want to go on our first date?"

Sakura looked down at her wrist to check her watch. "I've still got some time on my lunch break. Where to?"

"Ichiraku's, maybe?"

"Figures."

"No, I've got a good reason this time." he defended. "I've got two weeks' worth of free Ichiraku's to burn through."

"How in the world did you get two weeks' worth of free ramen?"

Naruto started smiling and said, "Kakashi was betting with people on whether I would sing that song yesterday. He promised me two weeks' worth of Ichiraku's if I did it."

"Did he now?" asked Sakura with a bit of rage already starting to show in her eye.

"Sure did!" replied Naruto, fully aware that he was getting his Sensei into a loooooot of trouble.

"Oh, he's gonna pay…" she said while using her key to open the door.

"I'm sure he will." chuckled Naruto while following her out of the room.

"Let's go." said Sakura while giving him a tender smile and holding out her hand for him to take. Naruto gave her one of those goofy grins she was so used to before proudly grabbing ahold of her hand and walking her down the hallway. Typical Naruto.

"I just have one question though." she asked after they had walked for a bit.

"Yeah?"

"If you've known for sure that I liked you since the Christmas gathering, why didn't you say anything?"

Naruto smiled a bit as he turned to her. "Sakura-chan, did you listen to any of the songs?"

Sakura looked away feeling slightly ashamed and mumbled, "No, not really…"

Naruto smiled and said, "You should've listened to the songs, Sakura-chan."

"Maybe…" she admitted. "But I was too embarrassed to want to listen to them, in my defense..."

Naruto gave her a foxy grin and said, "Alright, let me sing one for you."

"You really don't have to…" she said while dropping both eyes.

"Too late." he quipped back.

Sakura could only smile and give a small eyeroll. Despite her actions, she couldn't deny a bit of curiosity regarding what the lyrics of all those songs had said. Maybe she'd listen to them later.

Naruto cleared his voice once more as he prepared to sing. "My voice isn't the best right now because, well you know..." he said while giving her a sideways smile. "...but I'll give it my best shot."

Sakura smiled a bit at the subtle jab then nodded for him to start.

"We've known each other for so long

Your heart's been aching but you're too shy to say it."

Sakura smiled a bit at the truth in that line while shaking her head at how much of a sap Naruto was.

"Inside we both know what's been going on

We know the game and we're gonna play it"

"Oh, I see." said Sakura with a smile. Naruto placed a finger over her mouth to silence her as he continued.

"And if you ask me how I'm feeling

Don't tell me you're too blind to see…"

Sakura smiled and placed a finger over his mouth now. "Never gonna give me up?"

Naruto simply smiled then wrapped his arm around her back as he nodded in agreement.

Sakura couldn't help but smile at the blond idiot. She thought she knew the guy, but the truth was that he could still surprise her even after all these years. She leaned into him a bit more, then whispered, "Naruto Uzumaki,"

"Yeah?"

"You's a cheesy m0t#3rf^c*3r."

READER INFO:

This story is officially done! I hope you all enjoyed it thoroughly and if you did, please don't forget to leave a review! I wrote this story to give me a break from more serious stories, and I think it's done that pretty well. I now have some more serious story ideas I want to flesh out so I'll probably start working on those.