Chapter 2.
Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Naruto or any characters related.
10:40 PM:
The wooden walkway creaked loudly under the pressure of Naruto's feet as he made his way down the balcony towards the small one-man apartment in which he called home. Despite how worn down and decrepit the building was obviously in, he never bothered to complain to his landlord about certain little inconveniencies like having to use the occasionally broken down washer and dryer downstairs or the fact that there was no air-conditioning built into the rooms.
"It'll toughen you up as a ninja," the landlord would always bark stringently, a toothy grin accompanying his wizened face in response to the dirty look that Naruto would always issue him before smacking the washer in annoyance. Even so, the landlord would always make sure to fix the small problems for him such as the failing plumbing or the furnace whenever Naruto left to go on missions. On occasion, his wife would also prepare him something to eat and leave it in his fridge for him to feast on whenever he got home. When the mood stuck her, she would sometimes go and tidy his kitchen for him even though that was getting to be more and more of a rarity by each year. And even though he was growing older, it was comforting to know that despite the rough time his landlord would occasionally give him, him and his wife were in some way other then Iruka-sensei, parental figures towards him. It might have also been the possibility that he was the only one living there who never complained about the building and that the landlord merely catered to him as a form of bribery as long as he continued to reside there while paying the meager rent. He hadn't been decided on that one yet.
He had just reached the door when a sharp wind suddenly brushed against him, causing him to shiver slightly. Despite the heat from earlier in the day, summer nights in Konohagakure could still be quite cold and this night looked to be no exception either.
"Hope she went home after I did," Naruto uttered to himself as he searched his pocket for the key to his apartment. Finding it, he quickly slipped it into the knob and twisted it open while giving the stubborn door a sharp kick, causing it too bounce swiftly against the porch wall inside.
Walking into his apartment, he was immediately welcomed with a light breeze from an old fan that he had grudgingly received from his landlord a couple summers ago during one particular hot day when temperatures had reached an unbearable boiling point. He had purposely left his hallway light on, already knowing in advance that he would be training late into the evening.
Shutting the door behind himself, he wearily made his way across the dim, untidy living room making sure to avoid the largely cluttered coffee table where he had stubbed his toe numerous times before in the past on the corners. The aged couch groaned in sudden protest as he unceremoniously flopped himself down right next to the fan, his feet casually propping up on the coffee table, atop of some old training manuals that he'd been meaning to put somewhere else for awhile now. For a second, Naruto glanced at the T.V. next to the open window, contemplating whether he should turn it on or not. He gradually began to lose interest in that idea, his mind and body craving nothing but the simplicity of peace and quiet for the moment.
Naruto sighed as he pressed the back of his head against the cushion, quietly reveling in the soft breezes that steadily washed over him. His ears gradually becoming accustomed to the steady hum of the fan as well as the constant ticking of the cheap clock that hung on the side of the wall, just above him.
His mind flickering back to earlier on the bridge when he'd been making his way home. "I wonder if I should have even said anything?" he contemplated aloud, feeling a bit of regret as he causally swept a hand through his messy blonde hair.
Walking away, he'd felt surprisingly better with himself. It had been like releasing a pressing weight off of his sagging shoulders. "It needed to be said," he had kept telling himself, almost like a continuous mantra used in the Tai Chi courses taught over in the academy. He wasn't quite sure though if he was trying to reassure himself that he had done the right thing by telling her his opinion or otherwise convince himself in order to levitate some unknown guilt that he'd unwillingly unleashed. Maybe he would have just felt better if he'd been able to persuade her into at least letting him walk her home. Maybe he should just have kept his mouth shut and walked away. Maybe…
Naruto moaned to himself. The latter was starting to sound pretty good right now and he did have that somewhat bad habit of sounding so pompously high and mighty during a tense situation. Yawning raggedly, he slowly pushed himself off of the couch and kicked his sandals over towards the porch where they bounced against the wall before coming to rest on the welcome mat. He then untied his hitae-ate headband and placed it down on his coffee table, somehow managing to find a vacant place for it.
Making his way over to the bathroom, he casually shucked out of his dirty orange jumpsuit and walked into the shower. Turning the faucets on, he immediately received a blast of hot water across his shoulders, scalding him briefly. He made no attempt to manipulate the taps, instead relaxing as the water washed over him.
He inhaled softly, allowing some of the hot steam into his lungs. Involuntarily, he touched the upper part of his chest where Sasuke had stuck him. Even though Kyuubi had repaired the flesh with ease, it had chosen to leave behind a small trace of a scar as a souvenir as well as a constant reminder to what could have happened without its 'divine' presence close by.
Sasuke…
Naruto shook his head violently, not really feeling like reminiscing as he reached for the shampoo and conditioner. He quickly lathered and rinsed before shutting the taps off. Toweling himself off, he reached over to the door where one of his most prized possessions hung.
On the door was a thick bathrobe that had been dyed in his favorite orange hue, his initials clearly stitched on the pockets. He had received it a couple years ago prior to his passing from the Sandaime as a Christmas present. It was one of the few objects that he had treasured from his childhood that had actually contained warm nostalgic memories.
Lifting it off the hook, he wrapped it snugly around himself as he opened the door allowing some of the steam to dissipate. He then made his way down the short hallway towards his bedroom where he kept a small closet filled with an assortment of casual and formal clothing apart from his usual training attire. Settling on an old t-shirt and a pair of casual shorts, he slipped out of the warm robe and put the clothes on.
Yawning loudly, he walked back into his hallway and switched the light off casting the apartment into a peaceful darkness. Naruto cackled happily with unbridled glee as he lifted his blanket up and wearily crawled into bed. He pulled the comforter over himself and rolled onto his back, listening to the wind as it whistled through the slight crack in his window.
"What a day…" he muttered to himself as he casually crossed his arms over his head. Earlier, he had been able to easily subdue his self-conscious thoughts by continually keeping himself busy, not allowing himself to reminisce, but now…as he laid there in the silence of the dark, Naruto could fell himself sinking back into that mindset pattern; the memories that he had fought hard to avoid, beginning to barrage him once again.
The whole week had been such an ordeal and had taxed him in just about every way possible. Losing his best friend slash rival to Orochimaru, Neji and Chouji nearly dying in battle against the formidable sound ninja, Sakura tearfully begging him to bring Sasuke back and then pretty much being ignored by her while staying in the hospital even though she had apologized for it and now to top it all off, his stupid confession that he had still felt unsure of, even after half-heartily convincing himself that what he did had been right.
"Was it really?" he found himself asking, feeling a sense of unease as his own words echoed in his mind. He had never really been good at reaching out or revealing his feelings when it came to matters of the heart. Emotional anguish was just something that he'd constantly had to deal with growing up. It was that pain alone that had transformed him into the prankster that most of the village viewed him as today. Only that rare few who had been able to see him beyond all of that pretense and coating, could really understood exactly who he was. A human being that deserved the simple need of acknowledgement.
In some ways, Sasuke and Sakura had been exactly like him, more so Sakura though. He could remember on more then one occasion as a kid when he had been walking around merely minding his own business when he would come across Sakura crying by herself in a situation vaguely similar to the bridge. Kids had always seemingly picked on her for no real reason other then having a large sized forehead when he himself had really found nothing wrong with it. 'Abnormal' had been the singsong nickname they had commonly used to describe it. It wasn't until she finally became friends with Ino, when she gradually began to abandon that conscious aspect of herself while finding that niche within that allowed her to become the person she was today.
He grunted as he rolled over onto his side, hoping that a new position would gradually lull him too sleep. He didn't know what was going to happen now, due to this awkward situation that he had created earlier. Tomorrow, now more then likely, he'd get some form of retribution whether it was in the form of a well-placed fist, a harsh insult or just simply distancing herself away from him like she had seemingly been doing all week.
"I'll worry about that tomorrow," he mumbled while shutting his eyes, hoping against hope that he'd drift off soon. Minutes went by as he gradually started to nod off. His mind growing hazier by the second as the darkness began to take its hold on him. He was just on the verge of snoring, when a soft noise caused him to slightly shift. A couple seconds later, the sound was again repeated. A little louder then the last one.
Naruto opened one eye slowly; his senses becoming alert as he gradually interpreted the noise as somebody knocking on his door. He scowled in irritation, hoping that the person would just go away already and leave him alone. It wasn't until the noise was repeated a third time that he realized that who ever it was wouldn't be leaving. Not right away, anyways. Huffing to himself, he roughly pushed the comforter off as he swung his legs out, reluctantly getting himself out of bed.
"This better be important," he growled while making glancing over at his clock, the numbers representing eleven o'clock glowing softly on his night table. Hastily throwing his robe on and making sure to grab a spare kunai off the floor, he hurriedly walked out of his room while slapping the hallway light on. Ever since that brief skirmish with Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, Ero-sennin had made it a point before leaving to lecture him about the basis that a ninja must never take the simplest of situations for granted.
In any case, the chakra that he was sensing as he approached his door didn't seem dark or at all tainted, although there did seem to be a hint of something off-balance. Reaching forward, he opened the door with a quick jerk, ready to lambaste the unwelcome visitor with a flurry of insults, yet the first words had barely left his tongue when he finally realized who it was.
Standing there in front of him was the pink haired kunoichi that he had left on the bridge no more then a half an hour ago. Her head was drooped down slightly; causing her disarrayed pink locks to cascade around her eyes while she looked to be slightly disheveled. Her dress was hardly appropriate for the blowing winds that had grown steadily cooler as the night progressed.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked in a mixture of shock and surprise. She was the last person he'd expected to be knocking on his door at this hour, let alone any other time.
Sakura gazed up slowly; her emerald green eyes glinted against the illuminated lighting from the streets below. "Naruto," she spoke softly. Her voice sounded tired, but there was a sincerity within that he'd never noticed from her before. "I'm sorry for coming here so late, but I…I needed to talk to you." She was about to say something else when a sudden gust of wind caused her to squeak loudly. She quickly wrapped her arms around herself, desperately trying to keep warm.
Naruto immediately held the door open for her, "Please come inside, Sakura-chan. It's to cold out right now," he quickly coaxed her. Nodding her thanks, Sakura hastily stepped inside.
Shutting the door, Naruto went and flicked on the main power switch, instantly brightening up the living room. Ignoring the painful sparks in his eyes, Naruto went and began to shut the window by the T.V. while turning down the fan to a more appropriate setting in order to get a bit of heat circulating in the apartment. After closing the stubborn window, Naruto looked over to where Sakura was still standing, noticing that she was still rubbing her chilled arms in an attempt to warm up.
Breaking the sash on his robe and untangling himself once more, he walked over to where she stood and carefully placed it around her shoulders. Her eyes widened at the unexpected action yet she immediately accepted the robe without hesitation, grateful for it's sudden warmth. Sakura sighed in content while sliding her arms into the sleeves, wrapping the garment around herself while tying the sash loosely around her waist. It was a bit big on her, but at the moment, she wasn't too concerned about fashion sense.
Turning around, she flashed him a small smile in thanks, not wanting to seem to appreciative in that Naruto might happen to overreact as usual. Instead, he merely nodded with a soft smile. "It looks better on you then me, anyway," he offered casually. Sakura was a little taken back by that response, but she didn't pay it much thought, her attention currently drawn on the robe itself.
"I really need one like this," she remarked with a pout, casually thumbing the ends of the sleeves while making a few mental notes to herself on certain aspects of the fabric.
Naruto nodded in agreement. "Those are pretty hard to come by. I got that as a gift," he added discouragingly, indulging in the light conversation.
"I'm jealous," she replied and meant it as she glanced admiringly at the initials on the front pockets.
Naruto chuckled at her childlike expression. "Well, if something ever happens to me, then you can have it," he offered. "All you'd have to do is get the stitching replaced and…" Noticing the serious expression Sakura now wore, Naruto's words began to die off. That girlish pout was suddenly replaced with a concerned frown, much like the one he'd noticed earlier in the evening after his little joke about the hospital.
"Don't you ever say that again, Naruto. Not even as a joke," she warned him with an unexpected edge of frost in her tone, her eyes gleaming brightly with sudden anger.
Naruto gingerly bit the inside of his cheek, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I didn't mean it like that," he quickly apologized, seeing just how upset she was getting. He was getting good at saying the wrong things at the right times, and this looked to be no different. It had only been a little joke.
Without warning, she quickly stepped forward, lifting her right hand as if to strike him for acting like an idiot. Naruto managed to beat her to the punch by foolishly wrapped his arms around her in sudden desperation, his mind abandoning all forms of rational logic.
"Please don't hit me, Sakura-chan, I really am sorry!" he hastily apologized, desperately hoping that his sincere words would squelch her present hostility. He stood there, half-expecting to be shoved away or at least run down in some way but she did neither, much to his immense relief. Instead, she pressed her body against his, her cheek resting against his left shoulder as she allowed herself to be held.
"Promise that you won't ever talk like that again, Naruto" she whispered. "If something ever happened to you…"
He held her a little tighter. "Y-you won't get rid of me that easily," he told her, knowing that that was a promise he could easily keep—and still feeling confused that she had acted so vehemently. It's wasn't like she had ever shown much of any interest for his well-being in the past.
He felt her nod against his shoulder. "You've got that right. Somebody has to keep you in line," she retorted half-seriously. He laughed at this as he leaned down, catching a scent of her cotton candy locks, the aroma of exotic fruits drifting up into his nose. The memory of that scent was quickly locked away, hoarded deep within the recesses of his mind where it would forever be treasured as long as he lived.
He felt her head pulling away from his shoulder. "Naruto? You weren't sleeping or anything when I knocked on the door, were you?" she asked, having finally noticed the darkened kitchen.
"On and off," he answered her honestly, releasing her from his grasp.
Sakura bit the bottom of her lip, the guilt evident on her face as she meekly glanced away. "You should have just sent me away. I would have understood," she quietly admonished him, even though she felt more embarrassed with herself then anything for showing up at such an impromptu hour.
"And let my Sakura-chan freeze outside and catch cold, especially in the summer? Not a chance!" he quickly argued, seeming almost shocked that she would even suggest such an idea to him.
"Okay, okay," she quickly resolved, holding her hands up in a gesture of peaceful surrender, not wanting to get him worked up right now.
"Great! Did you still want to talk then, Sakura-chan?" he asked her exuberantly, a friendly smile gracing his lips while patiently awaiting her answer.
Sakura sighed, allowing him to have this brief victory. "I've hardly been able to sleep these past couple days. He looks pretty exhausted, but if I tell him it's okay, he'll just tell me not too worry about it…and I also would have just wasted a trip over here for nothing," she carefully considered as she looked him over. "Naruto can be such a dummy at times, but I actually wouldn't mind staying. At least, for a little while."
"So, what do you say then? You'll want to warm up, anyways, right?" he asked her again while throwing in a little psychology for good measure.
At that welcoming thought, Sakura nodded in agreement and gave in. "But you're going to bed the minute you start to nod off, and I don't want to hear any ifs, ands or buts about it. Understand?" Her tone offering no room whatsoever for argument as well as effectively reminding him that it would take a lot more then just simple reverse psychology to ever get the best of her.
"Yes ma'am," he replied, his bold grin never diminishing. If anything his smile grew all the wider as he walked off in the direction of the kitchen while humming a tune of victory to himself.
"Smart ass," she hissed under her breath as she watched him walk off. A suddenly enthrallment with the hypnotic swaying of his hips caused her irratiation to diminish. "Smart ass indeed," she repeated to herself while continuing to observe his glutes and lower legs with slight interest. She'd never seen him in those kind of shorts before.
"I'm going to go make some tea. Would you like some, Sakura-chan?" Naruto called over his shoulder as he flipped the light on for his kitchen.
"Umm…uh, sure, Naruto," she stuttered, quickly looking away and not wanting him to see the blush that had formed on her face. Thankfully, Naruto was busy filling a kettle with water and hadn't noticed her ogling him.
"It's only Naruto," she reminded herself, giving her head a shake for her reprehensible behavior. Recovering from her embarrassment, she made her way into the kitchen which looked to be in a bit of a mess at the moment. "Need a hand," she offered, noticing that Naruto was running back and forth between several tasks.
"Nope. Just have a seat, and sorry for the mess. I usually don't really have any company over," he cheerfully replied, throwing a bunch of old ramen containers in the trash.
Taking the seat closest to her, Sakura shot him a curious look. "Come to think of it, this is actually the first time I've ever been in his apartment. Aside from the mess, it's not all that bad I guess," she thought to herself as she glanced around his kitchen. After a couple minutes of rushed cleaning and filling up the sink, Naruto finally arrived at the table with the steaming brew and two clean cups. "I really wouldn't have minded giving you a hand, you know," she chided, accepting the mug that he offered her.
"You're my guest, though, Sakura-chan," he defended himself while pouring some tea into her cup.
"Thank you," she replied, remembering her manners as he took a seat across the table from her.
Happening to notice the light frown on Sakura's face, Naruto smiled faintly as he poured himself some tea. "But thanks for offering to help," he added warmly.
Sakura's lips twitched slightly at the sincere comment, unexpected warmth quickly spreading across her cheeks. Luckily, Naruto had been busy sipping his tea and hadn't noticed her unexpected blushing again for the second time. "Dammit, what the hell is wrong with me. I never blush around him, ever. Now, over the course of a minute, I blush, what, twice? Get it together already!" she admonished herself, taking a quick sip to ease her tension.
"How's your tea, Sakura-chan? Is it to bitter?" Naruto casually asked, seeing her eyebrows lightly scrunching up.
She shook her head. "It's good, thanks," keeping her voice just as nonchalant while gradually draining her cup. A few seconds went by as they sat there in silence. Sakura seeming quite intent on drinking her tea as she all but forgot about Naruto for the present moment.
"Umm…Sakura-chan?"
Her eyes quickly flicked up as she gazed at him in mild surprise. "Yes?"
Naruto offered her that million-dollar smile that he seemed to especially reserve, just for her. "You said you wanted to talk about something, Sakura-chan?" He gently reminded her while at the same time, tried to coax her into making conversation. She smiled weakly as she placed her cup back on the table with a light 'clinking' noise.
"I'm sorry, Naruto. It's just that I've been at my wits end all week now and this is the first time in awhile that I've felt like I can just relax. Just enjoying the feeling, you know?"
Reaching for the pot, Naruto nodded in understanding. "I know how you feel. It's been a bad week for everyone. I'm just glad that you're starting too feel better," he openly admitted.
"But what about you, Naruto? You've been so busy asking how I've been doing that you haven't given me the chance to ask you that same question," she asked, managing to turn the tables on him.
Naruto's behavior didn't falter as he lifted the pot over his empty mug, a calm smile on his face. "I'm fine. Took some time, but it's not bothering me as much now," he replied, trying to keep his response as straightforward as possible while filling his cup.
Sakura wasn't really sure what to do with that answer. That response and smile, to her, looked like more of a smokescreen then anything. Unfortunately, she couldn't read Naruto's feelings enough to be able to cut through a presumed fabrication like that. The regret of not getting to know him as well as she should have in the past was beginning to weigh more and more heavily on her mind.
"More tea?" he asked, holding the pot out for her.
"Please," she replied sweetly offering him her cup, a sudden feeling of content filling her eyes as she watched him pour steaming liquid into his mug.
"He's been so…attentive, and yet, he's not being pushy at all. How come I never noticed this before?"
"Maybe that's because you spent so much time obsession over Sasuke, that you never even bothered to take the time to notice!" Her inner self viciously shot back, causing Sakura to glance down, her short-lived happiness quickly shattering like fragile glass.
"You okay, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, this time happening to notice the sudden look of discontent on her face.
His question caused her to giggle in response as she tried to conceal her sudden mood change. "Of course I'm okay! Really, Naruto, you shouldn't worry about me so much," she tried to scold him in an attempt to shift his attention.
Naruto merely gazed at her in a fox-like fashion, the puzzlement clear on his face. "But...you're my precious friend, Sakura-chan!" He protested as he brought his cup up to his lips, taking a slow sip of his drink. He then quietly added, "I don't like seeing you hurt."
Sakura could only nod meekly as she glanced down at his cup, unsure of how to reply to his sincere statement. "I can't believe how nice he is, how nice he's been. I know he's had some stupid crush on me for a while now, but I never thought, could never have even imagined that he cared for me like this," she mused to herself, her thoughts began to drift backwards to a week ago on that miserable day when she had shown up at the gate just as Naruto and the others were just about to leave, her desperate plea to Naruto and his heartfelt promise that he would bring him back.
Early the next morning, she had immediately gone to the hospital with the unbearable anticipation of seeing Sasuke again. He would probably be disgruntled, restrained and quite possibly even injured, but otherwise alive and back home where he belonged. She had even taken the time the night before to prepare a lecture just especially for him, even though he would probably glare at her as usual for having to put up with any additional torture.
It wasn't until she had asked one of the nurses where Sasuke's room was located when she had finally heard that Naruto and a couple of the other members in the retrieval party had been injured, while Sasuke had somehow managed to slip away into seclusion. Unwilling to accept the nurse's statement, she had instead asked for Naruto's room with the hopes that he would be able to shed some light on the situation. Arriving at his room, she had been ready to barge in demanding to know what was going on when she had heard directly from Naruto's own recollection of events that Sasuke had indeed gotten away, his status now marked as a missing nin.
Her heart broken, she'd wanted to do nothing more then run away from the hospital and cry and yet…she'd also wanted to check on Naruto and at the very least, make sure that he was okay. He at least deserved that, but after seeing the extent of his injuries and that unwavering smile of his, she'd almost been ready to burst into tears right then and there.
Afterwards, she had decided to keep her distance away from him, wanting nothing more then to be alone with herself. Unfortunately, each time she made an attempt to resolve her thoughts on the matter involving Sasuke, the end result would end up in the same outpouring of her own pitiful tears.
It hadn't been until Naruto had shown up tonight that she had finally given in and allowed herself to openly weep in front of him, immensely enjoying the comfort that he had unselfishly provided for her. The fact that he cared so much for her own well being while she did nothing but loathe and ignore his made her heart ache with such misery.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto's concerned voice broke through again, eradicating her train of thought. "Are you all right? You looked lost there for awhile," he asked with a slight frown.
"I am lost…"
"Sakura-chan?"
"Naruto…I'm sorry," she abruptly replied in a hushed voice, brushing some hair out of her eyes.
Confused, Naruto started to laugh nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. "Sakura-chan, I already told you not to worry about keeping me…" he started to say, but she shook her head.
"I mean, for everything," she clarified, her expression becoming somber.
Naruto's laughter came to an abrupt halt, his mind doing a double take, the look of puzzlement expectedly eminent on his face. "I don't understand, Sakura-chan. What do you mean 'for everything'?" he repeated, attempting to make some form of clarity out of her apology.
His question almost made her want too look away, almost regretting even saying anything to him, yet she forced herself to make eye contact with him.
"When…when we first graduated from the academy and I found out that I was going to be on the same team as Sasuke-kun, I was beyond ecstatic," she hesitantly began to explain. "The person who I had always admired would finally be obtainable, and I thought that I could make him mine. But after awhile though, I realized that no matter what I did or how much I cared for him, he would never return my feelings the way I wanted him too. The only thing he ever really cared about was the need for power." She had expected Naruto to jump in with a few choice comments by now, but to her immense relief, he quietly sat there and allowed Sakura to speak her mind just as she had granted for him earlier.
"The night that Sasuke-kun left, I went to go reason with him. I tried to persuade him into staying. I told him…" She suddenly stopped herself, unsure if she should continue or not but the sincerity in Naruto eyes gave some much needed courage. "I told him, that I loved him and that if he couldn't stay, then to at least take me with him," she quietly finished, her emerald eyes began to water once again at the painful recollection.
"I can't forgive myself for the way I acted towards you that morning," she continued. "I was so damn selfish. I never even once began to consider your feelings towards the whole situation nor consider the remote possibility that you could have been injured, or even killed during that mission because of my selfishness." She bit the bottom of her lip tenderly as sudden tears began to stain her cheeks, her wavering resolve beginning to slowly crumble once again.
Naruto had kept his silence this entire time, not wanting to interrupt or disrupt her musings, even though he had wanted to say something when she had mentioned the fact that she had been willing to leave the village in order to be with him. Anger suddenly began to coarse through him although he forced himself to smile superficially, if only for her sake.
"Kami…she was willing to leave her friends, her family, even me behind...to be with him," he sadly remarked to himself. "Sasuke, you stupid bastard. How could you even think to leave her after all of that?"
He cleared his throat. "Sakura-chan, I would have gone after Sasuke whether or not you had shown up. You shouldn't blame yourself for not being able to stop him from leaving the village. He chose to leave; he chose to join Orochimaru. There was nothing any of us could have done to prevent that," he tried to reason with her in a sensible manner, a feeling of compassion laced in his voice.
Sakura violently shook her head as she swept the back of hand against her face again. "That's not the point," she sniffed, glowering at him with a tenacious look.
"In all of this time that I've known you, there hasn't been one moment where you've done nothing but show me kindness, respect and the means of what a true friend should be. Instead of taking that time to notice what was really important to me. I cast you aside like mere dust in the wind, because of my stupid crush over Sasuke!" Her anger and sadness clearly evident in the missing honorific—something Naruto had never heard before—while tears continued to run down her cheeks. This time, however, she made no attempt to brush them away.
"You've always been there for me, no matter what. Always looking out for me, always protecting me, saving me." Her hands began to tremble around the cup; the tears flowing freely from her blurring eyes, splashing against the cup and table. "That day, when we went after Gaara. I thought it was Sasuke who had saved me from the sand. I even went and thanked him for it, but he'd told that it had been you who had saved me…and he was right, wasn't he?" A twinge of emotional despair had crept into her voice, but the resolve in her eyes was indication enough that she already knew the answer.
Sighing, Naruto tentatively nodded his head in compliance, unsure of what else to say to her. She was an emotional wreck at this point and he didn't want to wear her down any further, but he also didn't want to lie or hide anything from her either. As farfetched as it must have seemed to her, she also deserved to know the truth.
Her tears seemed to flow all the more harder as a look of bewilderment came over her. "How come you never told me?" she asked in a small, hurt voice.
Naruto's gaze immediately hardened at her question as he drained his cup before setting it back down on the table with a hard thump, his surprising irritation causing her to jump in her seat. "It wasn't important whether or not you knew at the time. As long as Sasuke was okay and you were out of harms way, that was all that was important," he replied curtly, not bothering to hide his present anger from her. "And if I had told you the truth before, would you have even believed me?" he coolly added.
Ignoring his sudden hostility, she quickly opened her mouth in an attempt to say something, anything that would have resembled a yes in some way or another. Yet her lips had barely formed the necessary words when her inner self suddenly chimed in.
"He's not as stupid as you pegged him out to be. Both you and him damn well know that you would have said no without missing a beat. He's been truthful to you from the start. The very least you could do is be honest with him…and to yourself!" Her inner persona angrily scolded.
Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, causing her forehead to scrunch up tightly as she brought her trembling hands up to her face, shakily rubbing her eyes.
"I would have said no, and would never have even given it another thought," she answered him bitterly. "I would have tried to convince myself that only Sasuke could have managed to do something like that." The truth of her own words hurt immensely, her hands becoming tight balls of reddening fists while ignoring the endless outpour that refused to cease from her eyes. Her resolve was almost non-existent at this point yet she continued to find unexpected strength through Naruto's concerned gaze.
"How do you do it, Naruto? How do you manage to overlook all of my cruel and selfish acts and still find it in your heart to care so much about me? I've never earned your friendship or your trust, so what is it you see in me? Why do you try so hard to be there for me?" She banged her fists against his table, her desperation growing with each question. "I'm so sorry for the way I've always treated you, I know that can't ever make up for what I've done, but I…. I need to know why though?! Please, tell me why…WHY?!" she cried out in sudden wretched anguish, slamming her fists against the table again, hard.
Unable to hold them back anymore, the floodgates began to burst under the pressure of Sakura's raging distress as she began to cry hard. She hadn't wanted to break down like this in front of Naruto again but she couldn't stop herself anymore. "WHY, NARUTO, WHY?!" She continued to wail against her now open palms, her hands and face shaking uncontrollably from the emotional outpouring.
Naruto was rendered absolutlely speechless as he watched Sakura bawl, a prisoner of her own self-induced misery. Pushing his chair away from the table and standing up, a familiar disheartening smile—much like the one he'd worn just before making his promise to Sakura—appeared on his face.
Feelings of intense empathy gradually began to replace the brief anger he had harbored for Sakura as he walked over to her huddled form. He didn't really understand why her simple question had annoyed him the way it did. It might have been due to the uncomfortable fact that he wasn't used to seeing her broken down and reduced to this pathetic state of mind. Regardless, this wasn't the time to be debating something so insignificant.
Knelling next to her, Naruto lightly rested his palm comfortingly against her back. His knees had just touched the floor when she turned and fell against him, nearly knocking him over. Her arms quickly finding there way around his neck, Sakura buried her head into his chest, her desperate sobs once again shaking both of their bodies.
Resting his chin against her crown, Naruto fell silent. His left hand gingerly caressing the back of her head while continually rubbing her back with the other. As he knelt, Naruto could feel several parts of his chest growing wet from the warm moisture that had started to soak through the flimsy shirt he was wearing. Even though he was technically holding for the third time tonight, it was really the first time that she had initiated that action instead of him. It really painted a vivid picture of just how emotionally distraught she'd become out of all of this.
Minutes went by as she continued to cling to him desperately, seeming almost terrified that he would just vanish and leave her behind again. Naruto gently ran his fingers through her hair while whispering meaningless promises in her ear, hoping that through these simple motions, he could make her realize and understand that he wasn't going to go anywhere this time around.
Eventually, her fits of crying gradually began to subside, and a long, heaving sigh emanated from deep in her throat. Calming down, Sakura turned her head towards her sleeve wiping away the last of her salty tears.
With the realization that she was finally done, Naruto carefully lifted his head from hers as he pulled back to inspect her once more. "A-are you okay now?" he quietly asked.
Glancing up at him with teary red eyes, she shook her head. Her arms were still woven tightly around his neck, keeping them mere inches apart. "I got your bathrobe sleeve all wet," she pouted in a small voice.
Her coy remark caused Naruto to smile in satisfaction. "That's fine, don't worry about that," he chuckled, just feeling thankful that she wasn't crying anymore.
Giggling at her own comment, Sakura leaned forward, affectionately pressing her cheek against his right shoulder and snuggling against him for warmth. She mumbled, "You're sweet, you know?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his head, feeling embarrassed at the sudden compliment. "Um…thanks," he sheepishly managed to put in.
"It's only the truth, Naruto," she replied as she squeezed him against her, keeping him close.
Eyelids starting to close, Naruto began to relax in her warm embrace, a feeling of tranquil peace washing over him. He had never been hugged by a girl before—the only exception being the landlord's wife when he had started living here as a child. The sensation was so unfamiliar, felt so new to him that he wanted to do nothing more but savior the feeling for as long as he possibly could. Gradually beginning to stir against him, the sound of her muffled voice forced him to abandon that possibility.
"...Naruto?"
He tilted his head down in response, "Something wrong, Sakura-chan?" he instantly inquired.
Sakura shook her head, "Oh no, it's just that…well, you never did answer my question."
"About…oh!" Naruto's muddled brain snapped back into focus, suddenly remembering why he had comforted her in the first place, anyways.
Sakura giggled at his dense but caring nature. "Typical Naruto, always jumping into the fray without asking questions," she remarked to herself, a warm smile crossing her lips as she loosened her steadfast grip on him, finally allowing him some leeway.
Naruto was quiet while he thought of a response to her pressing inquiry. He never really considered the possibility that he'd have to answer a question like that but now, she had effectively put him on the hot seat.
There was one thing however: a certain precious characteristic that he had always admired ever since he'd known her. It had always endeared over the years and was the one thing he had come to love most about her. Leaning forward agian and resting his head against hers, Naruto smiled to himself. "Do you know what I like most about you, Sakura-chan?" he casually asked her, carefully altering the subject.
"What's that? My intelligence, my witty personality or is it just the fact that you secretly enjoy it when I smack you now and again?" she prodded him teasingly; her curiosity remaining roused at his sudden question.
Continuing to smile, Naruto shook his head, dismissing all of her responses, "Actually, what I really admire about you...is how big of a heart you have."
His simple response caused her half-closed eyes to open abruptly, her pupils widening in confused protest.
"...Huh?"
To be continued…
Author Note: Happy Holidays to everyone.