The Twelve of Two

by silentknight021

An abrupt confession by Naruto sets the stage for a twelve hour timespan between Sakura and himself. As they learn more about each other, Sakura begins to understand what was always there while Naruto comes to a decision. NaruSaku

10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any characters related.

10:04 AM:

Half-blinded by both the rain and the tears she'd spent the last two minutes subduing for both appearance and humility's sake, Sakura had been running full tilt down the streets with all of the desperation of a fugitive in the general direction of the Hokage's tower when her right boot abruptly caught an uneven patch of ground. She stumbled, managed to stay vertical but was severely off balance from the breakneck pace she'd set for herself, abruptly came down on the knife-edge of her opposite foot, hard. Sakura's eyes bulged and she gasped in pain as her ankle abruptly twisted out from underneath her. She instinctively attempted to counter balance with her right knee but the sudden shift of weight caused it to buckle under the pressure. The laws of gravity finally took control of the situation and Sakura fell butt first into a large puddle, soaking her instantly from the waist down.

For a minute she sat there looking straight ahead in a dumbfounded stupor, her mind blank from the shock of everything that had transpired up until now. It was as if she'd been caught in the subtle grasp of a genjutsu this entire time and this was the climatic punch line to some universal joke she hadn't been privy to. Then reality caught her like a slap in the face and she gawked down at herself in absolute distress. Dark obscenities immediately rose to mind and she quickly pressed her lips together for her own sake. She quickly looked from side to side and noted with some small measure of relief that she was the only out here. At least nobody had seen her tumble over like a clueless klutz.

Aside from her left ankle throbbing and being disheveled as all hell, Sakura appeared to be okay. Her pride had taken a real beating and forgetting her umbrella had been idiotic as well but those were all things she could deal with once she was off and moving; her rain hood would be enough protection and she could spare a quick moment in the bathroom at the Hokage's tower when she got there to wipe herself down and look at least half-assed presentable. Concentrating on being optimistic and not the fact that her boots were half filled with water, Sakura immediately propped her hands against the grassy soil and, keeping her left leg elevated off the ground and placing all of her weight on the right, began to lift/crabwalk up into a haphazard crouching position. Keeping her left hand up in the air for balance and pushing up on her toes, Sakura methodically worked her way up and was nearly standing when a violent gust of wind pushed at her from the side. Already unstable and unable to keep from being shuttled forward, Sakura sucked in her breath as she mechanically came down on her left foot—

—And shrieked as a white-hot spasm of pain flashed up and down her injured leg. Sakura unceremoniously toppled over once again, this time missing the puddle and instead came down on the soil in front of it, her right shoulder hitting the ground with a loud splat. She rolled over defensively and quickly scurried backwards until her back collided with the fence line, her now dirty coat absorbing most of the impact. Dank strands of pink hair fell against her eyes and Sakura could feel gritty patches of mud against her face from the previous falls. She made no attempt to clean herself but instead reached for her ankle and very lightly began to press and probe against it with her hands in a rudimentary attempt to assess the scope of damage. Even though had some basic first-aid training to fall back on in a scenario like this, Sakura could already tell this was a bad deal. She'd taken more then her share of bumps and bruises during those past days spent at the academy and had always been able to push and work her way through bouts of pain whenever they surfaced, but this felt way different. If her ankle was just slightly agitated then she should have been able to put weight on it and just walk it off until the problem eventually went away, yet it throbbed against her boot as if it were puffing up to twice its normal size. A cold suspicion twisted in her gut at once and she tried to unwrap her mind around the suggestion that she was potentially facing a fracture but ultimately failed. On the coattails of that notion was the undeniable fact that she was going to be late for her first lesson with the Hokage. Naruto had already strongly insisted that the woman did not like to be kept waiting and if any of the stories regarding her legendary temper were true…

Then, fracture or not, she needed to get the hell moving. Refueled by determination, Sakura looked for something she could use as a walking stick but there was nothing practical lying around; just twigs mostly and a couple feeble-looking branches that would never have supported her weight. The village was kept fairly tidy year-round and it wasn't very common to see scraps of litter lying around. Her umbrella would have made for a useful crutch but she'd left the damn thing behind and there wasn't anything she could do to change that now. Gritting her teeth, Sakura slowly forced herself back up into a stationary position and braced her side up against the fence. She then summoned a burst of chakra and sent it down her good ankle like a ray of light—heightening and fortifying her sense of balance while simulteniously triggering the bottom of her foot to keep atop of the layer of water that had been pooling across the ground over the night and morning. Definite overkill on her part, but Sakura knew she wasn't going to make any progress in the current shape her leg was in. Reaching down and very carefully adjusting her boot to make sure it wouldn't shift on her, she then started to limp her way down the street in short but determined hops whilst keeping the opposite leg elevated as best as she could. Not the greatest plan of attack, but it was arguably about the best she could manage until she could find something that would help take the weight off her leg.

"Greatest plan of attack…" Sakura muttered darkly to herself. Hell, the whole morning had been a friggin write-off as far as that idea was concerned. She'd gone over everything that had transpired and she still couldn't believe just how sourly everything had turned out. Yeah, she could understand the fact that Naruto was dealing with some personal issues right now and wanted space; she got that yes. He'd also accused her of being dishonest with him and she could partially understand where he was coming from in that sense as well—especially where Sasuke-kun was concerned, but it wasn't like she'd just wandered into Naruto's world overnight for heavens sake. They had been a team for a few months now, had faced life and death situations together and had even saved one another during those instances. If times like those don't serve to bring people closer together in some way, then she honestly had little understanding of what would. Sakura had seriously been under the impression that everything that had culminated up until last night had somewhat brought her and Naruto closer together—at least that's what she had been left to perceive when she'd awoke this morning—but now…

A sharp burst of wind swept over her like a tidal wave, violently blowing her hood back from her face and nearly unbalancing her again. Straightening her good leg, Sakura slowly turned around, looked up at the wounded sky and sighed heavily; an exaltation of breath that seemed to retract not from her lungs, but from the steadfast beating of her equally wounded heart. Rain glanced off of her swollen cheeks in small bursts yet did little to cool the invisible fire that was starting to radiate across her face in light, burning waves. Not enough to be overly irritating but enough so that it was going to make her cheeks noticeably red the moment she walked in out of this storm. Any particular concerns she had for her physical appearance or needless accessories like nail polish or perfume had taken a backseat ever since the exams, but even she didn't feel totally comfortable walking into the Hokage's office looking like a glowing beacon. And while she seriously doubted that the older woman would give it much notice, it didn't change the fact that Sakura felt really irresponsible right now. Being out here in this murky weather, feeling like she was now—all of this could have been easily avoided had she just retained some form of personal tact and kept things to a minimum pitch instead of blowing things way out of proportion. She'd been riding on an emotional high from personal revelations and both the evaluation and evolution of her feelings over the past hours of interacting closely with Naruto; so much so that she had allowed it to blanket and impede her rational judgment. To completely bring him around to accept the epiphany she'd started to experience without past judgment was a little outlandish regardless of how much she'd seemingly pushed (and she'd known she had), but she also could never have expected the sort of push-away reaction that he'd displayed. If there was anything that could be gathered from all of this, it was realizing that unfathomable consequences lay in store for those who previously belittle ones existence and that amends and good intentions could not always undo those actions. In turn, that really made her question the point of doing anything nice for anyone then if there was nothing to be gained from it aside from distrust and animosity?

Sakura abruptly straightened up and resumed the steadfast limping pace she had set out for herself, ultimately deciding that she was done thinking about this and that there was somewhere she needed to be. If Naruto didn't want to be around her because of some ridiculous dreams he'd been having, then that was his problem and not hers. Straight up. At the very least she could say she'd tried to make things right on her end. Add to the fact that he'd questioned her integrity and that left very little reason to try and rationalize anything else. That dummy could alienate himself all he wanted too if it made him feel better, but she sure as hell wasn't going to wait around for that little idiot to get his head on straight. Not this time. Not after the lengths she'd gone to in order to try and cheer him up.

"And what about the lengths he's gone to in order to cheer YOU up…? "

Sakura pressed on down the road, refusing to let the treacherous inner voice sway her reasoning with feelings of guilt since it was a pointless gesture. She had already made peace with the fact that she couldn't change past situations or behaviors, and could only do the best she could to improve on them for the future. Otherwise she would have still been at home in bed—with her knees drawn up to her chest in a fetal position, crying into her pillow, battered by insomnia, lamenting as the guest of honor at her own private pity party over being unable to alter Sasuke-kun's perception on the way he viewed the world. Upon that recollection, Sakura unconsciously shook her head, feeling almost foolish for allowing herself to get so worked up over something that she had no control over. Previous lessons about keeping her emotions in check stirred rampantly in Sakura's head and she had to fight briefly to keep the grimace off of her lips.

"Frickin' puberty," she said aloud, the last word coming out in a husky sort of wheeze. She coughed in an attempt to clear her throat, coughed again, abruptly frowned at the uncomfortable sensation that was beginning to rapidly thicken itself around her throat area as if she'd inadvertently swallowed a puffer fish. That wasn't a good sign. While getting sick was generally uncommon for her, sore throats were usually a prelude to something shitier. The consistent exposure to the cold wind and rain had no doubt set her up for a goddamn cold of some kind—and judging from the now-noticeable throb caressing the inside of her skull, it was going to be a ugly one.

Sakura sighed inwardly at the crappy timing. The urge to bash the hell out of something was steadily rising at this point, but even she was aware that this was nobody's fault but her own. It wasn't like anyone had cowed her by putting a kunai to her throat. Making the choice to seek tuition from the Hokage on this lousy morning had been her own choice. She just wished she had waited an extra day before making any life-altering changes. Seriously, what else could possibly go wrong today?

She was about to find out.

Coming up to an fork in the alley, Sakura was mentally lost in the process of trying to work out a plausible explanation as to how her ankle had ended up injured when a brown cat abruptly darted out on the intersecting road in front of her; its tiny legs carrying it down the alley like greased lightning. Right on the cat's heels was a small white dog. It's loud, aggressive yelps lending motivation to the traditional chase. Their petty exchange took them down the opposite road—took them further and further away from the young lady they had inadvertently startled over the course of their rambunctious actions. Caught in mid leap and completely off-guard, Sakura's determined stride abruptly became a sloppy mess of motion and she savagely fought to keep herself upright. Beads of water sloshed against her cheeks and eyes from the frenzied activity, distorting and blurring her vision. Sakura lashed the back of her hand against her face furiously as she struggled to maintain some semblance of momentum. She needed to stop, needed time and some semblance of composure to get her act together, but inner turmoil and anger had completely superseded her ability to apply any form of common sense. Swiping at her eyes again, Sakura felt her normally superb chakra control waver wildly as she continued to try and multitask, the muddy ground rapidly succeeding in bogging her down. She splashed through another large puddle instead of walking atop of it and immediately felt her good foot being sucked in against the soft soil. Panic instantly surged through her and she tried to summon another burst of chakra to try and stabilize her balance but it was already too late. Trapped in an increasingly overwhelming maelstrom of debilitating factors and going far too fast for her own good, Sakura's heart thudded loudly in her ears as she plunged to the ground for a third time, landing face-first in the mud.

For a long moment she simply laid there in a weary heap, gasping for air, spitting out grainy bits of water, trying to fight off the icy web of exhaustion that was attempting to devour her like a hungry python. Sharp pebbles of rain lapped into her sprawled out form like countless tranquilizer darts, sapping whatever little energy she still possessed. Her blurry eyes drooped and flickered from fatigue and she felt herself beginning to relax and doze off, the damp chill lulling her further into a state of relaxation. The shivering she'd previously felt slipped away, and a soothing black skin began to envelop her senses as she started to snore peacefully—

"WAKE UP!"

Her eyes tore open at the mental command, and she found herself whirling over and sitting up faster then she ever could have imagined on instinct; her trembling hands painfully gripping the saturated ground as if she were sitting on the edge of an abyss. A hot blanket of nervous sweat quickly sheened her dirty forehead as she glanced about the alley in stark bewilderment, trying to come to grips with the fact that she had just fallen asleep on the ground for an unknown duration of time. Logically it had maybe been five minutes at the absolute most if that, but her mind was in such disarray right now that all plausible explanations were instantly disregarded.

"H-how could I have f-fallen asleep like that?" Sakura finally gasped aloud, her voice breaking out in a panicky stutter. The use of her vocal cords immediately attracted a batch of phlegm to her chest and she reflexively began coughing in an attempt to dislodge it. The headache that had been developing earlier quickly resumed its position within her skull with a vengeance, the pressure making her almost nauseous. She brought a hand up to her forehead in an attempt to relieve it, wasn't particularly surprised at how feverishly hot her skin felt. That brief powernap she'd inadvertently taken had taxed her body even further. She was definitely in no shape to attend any learning lessons today…maybe not for a few days.

Sakura chewed her bottom lip viciously. The Hokage was going to skin her alive for this. Maybe even throw her back into the academy for basic training, or maybe just strip her of all ninja status for good measure. Her stomach clenched at the thought of it.

But she still had to meet up with her and explain all of this, regardless of whatever punishment might be in store for her. Taking another shuddering breath, Sakura jammed her hands against the ground and started to push herself up, once more using her good ankle as a leverage point. She'd barely gotten her bum off the ground though when the muscles in both her arms and thigh—the good one—began to painfully cramp up, the feeling akin to doing one too many push-ups. She'd experienced those pains more then once during previous times in callisthenic classes and she'd learned the hard way that trying to force through those warning signs involving strength exercises was an injury in the making. And since she hadn't been doing any push-ups as of late…

Sakura snorted angrily. She was fooling herself. Her body seizing up like this had nothing to do with strength training. It was the goddamned rain, pure and simple. She'd spent too much time in it and now it was having an adverse effect on her body. Every article of clothing she had on was pretty much damp in some way. Of course that was going to lower her body temperature eventually and cause all sorts of problems like drowsiness and muscle fatigue. It didn't help that she hadn't been in the greatest physical condition starting out either. And as far as Naruto was concerned…well she'd already made her decisions concerning that matter. She wasn't going to blame him for her ankle injury, but she would never go out of her way to help him or anyone that wasn't family ever again. Caring about people beyond reasoning was one of the reasons why she was in this mess to begin with.

"And lets not forget about that all-magical pen you just had to get back," Inner Sakura mockingly added.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the admonition—and immediately wished she hadn't done that, the pounding in her head once again taking precedence. Wincing, Sakura slid backwards like she had done so earlier until her back was up against the fence—no pun intended. Straightening her mud-caked legs, Sakura mechanically drew her raincoat around her chest in an almost pointless attempt to keep the shivering at bay, wearily considered what she could do at this point to salvage this wreck of a situation, but nothing reasonable came to mind. She'd already determined that she'd ruined any chances of apprenticing for the Hokage at this point. She couldn't walk—couldn't rely on her ankle or the rest of her body to get her to the Hokage's tower without the possibility of causing further injury. And even if she did some how get there, the older women would only have to take one look at her and determine that the whole thing was a waste of time. Sakura didn't need a mirror to know that she looked like something that had crawled out of a sewer and died; she felt like it too.

The other problem was she didn't know what the time was, or rather she'd lost track of it. She'd had a general idea of where she was at a few minutes ago, but that foray into slumber land had screwed that up. She'd already assumed that it couldn't have been more then a few minutes at most, but without a clock to verify those suspicions she couldn't know for sure. The endless stretch of dark cloud completely hid the sun from view as well, making it impossible to use that as an indicator point. She hadn't thought to bring a watch with her because…well, she hadn't expected things to go as haywire as they had.

Pulling her hood further over her face, Sakura slowly shook her head at the irony of it all. Out of all of the girls in their graduating class, she'd been the one that had been praised as one of the brightest young minds to come out of the academy. Yet here she sat in the mud like that lost and helpless girl she once was—unable to accomplish anything on her own. For so long now she'd stood behind Naruto and Sasuke-kun as they walked ahead of her, both guided by their own individual hopes and destinies. One of her greatest fears was that they would get so far ahead of her that they would forget that she was still behind them and would thus leave her to be on her own. The very thought had petrified her enough so that she had tried to be the glue of the group, had tried so very desperately to hold them together even during the roughest times, yet it was clear that she had completely and utterly failed in this—her personal mission. When it came down to it all, she was nothing but a façade; a terrible ninja in every sense of the word.

Upon this revelation, an inevitable cloudburst of tears quickly seared her vision. Sakura bowed her head, covered her eyes with both hands and coughed, feeling miserable and utterly torn. Her previous determination began to wilt away like that cosmos flower Ino had given to her for good luck earlier in the morning. With that memory recalled, a pang of guilt immediately touched off inside of her for forcing Ino to make time for her when she'd already been busy with her own duties. Hell, she'd even asked Ino to lie for her…and in the end, all that time had been for naught. She'd let the blonde down…and it had been all Sakura's fault. In her mind's eye, she could see Ino kneeling before her, offering her hand out, those compassionate green eyes radiating like sunlight piercing through dark clouds…

"I'm s-so s-sorry for wasting your t-time, Ino," Sakura found herself mumbling through pursed lips, her eyes still closed. "You've always been there for me when I've really needed somebody to help me through the rough times…it's always been like that, it seems. You've been a better friend to me then I've been to you. Maybe that's why I argue with you so much because, deep down, I know you're a better person then…" Sakura's bottom lip began to tremble, "…then I'll ever be."

A recollection of events abruptly rose to surface like a dead fish. She'd told Ino that she would attend the party she'd been planning for Chouji and had promised to put in a eventual good word for her if the training went well. She couldn't do any of that now though. She'd botched things up too badly to make any of that a possibility. Sakura had little doubt that Ino would end their friendship the moment she found out about this betrayal. More tears followed. Sakura drew her good leg up toward her chest, covering her face with her arms. She felt as alone and deserted as she had back when those mean-spirited kids had deliberately antagonized her with hurtful words, pointing at her oversized forehead that she'd tried to hide underneath her fringe. She was slowly turning into dust now. Sinking into the ground below. Sinking deeper and deeper—

"…kura-chan…"

A strange noise in the wind brought Sakura out of her self-induced penance. She glanced around wearily, mentally noted that she was still the only person out here in this wet hell. The noise wasn't repeated, and Sakura vacantly figured it had some correlation with influenza or whatever the hell she was currently being plagued with. That or her imagination was just playing tricks on her. Maybe both. Sakura hesitantly reached out to probe her ankle again, trying to determine if its condition had improved or not—

"…akura-chan…."

—And Sakura paused in mid-motion, frowning somewhat. There it was again—somebody's voice…out in the distance…calling for someone. It didn't appear to be something she was conjuring up in her head. Maybe a concerned parent was out looking for a lost child? Or perhaps trying to retrieve a dog or cat that had gotten loose like the two culprits who had tripped her up moments ago. She looked around the alley again as far as her eyesight allowed but there was nobody in sight…and yet she thought she could hear something else as well. The sound of water splashing…yet it wasn't the nature-steady sounds she'd become so accustomed to. There was an erratic-edge to it—a disruption of some sort from…her left? Sakura used a small burst of chakra to fortify her hearing. Almost immediately she picked up on the noises and the source behind them: the sound of determined footsteps bounding through the street…footsteps that seemed to be rapidly zoning in on her location.

Sakura's forehead creased in suspicion, her stomach tightening as if were a rubber band. Something wasn't right here. Up until now she hadn't seen or heard anybody else out here. The weather was far too shitty for anyone to just be out here on a whim…but somebody was. For a brief moment she considered trying to stand up in an attempt to save face, but decided against it. She'd landed on her ass enough times for one day. The splashes grew louder in proximity, and Sakura knew that she would be spotted at any second now. She chewed on the bottom of her already-ravaged lip, heightened hearing catching the sound of the approaching party's voice mumbling something under their breath.

It was a voice she'd come to know very well.

Umbrella in hand—her umbrella—Sakura stared in total disbelief as Naruto finally came into view, feet propelling him into a dead run. His initial expression had been one of stern determination, but quickly softened the moment he laid eyes upon her, his pace shifting into an easy jog. Rain and perspiration had pasted his short hair against his forehead, giving him a sort of frenzied look. His eyes, normally bright and optimistic, bore a look that was best described as weary cautiousness; not a natural expression for him. Possessing enough foresight not to kick water at her face as he finally reached her, Naruto glanced down at her with slightly labored breaths, carefully licked his lips as if he'd been rehearing what he was going to say to her but hadn't been given enough time for such a arduously sensitive task.

After brief hesitation, he held out the open parasol that she'd forgotten in her haste in front of him, the look on his face equivalent to that of a prisoner standing before a judge in a court of law. "H-hi, Sakura-chan. You, um, you forgot to take y-your umbrella with you…when you, uh, left," Naruto sheepishly muttered, his small Adam's apple notably bobbing with tension.

Sakura simply stared at him as if he'd just stomped on a litter of kittens, her mind shifting and churning in an attempt to process this transition of events. The entire world had seemingly plotted to thwart her and her efforts in any which way this morning and she'd had little choice but to swallow her pride and do the best she could without giving into that temperamental side of her; that would have been detrimental. She'd already been peevish with Naruto for the way he'd treated her in the apartment; that had been the start of it. From that point the animosity had been steadily growing inside of her like a balloon set to pop. She had tried to mentally work out some of the reasons as to why Naruto had lashed out at her a few minutes ago but had eventually abandoned that plan, ultimately refusing to take responsibility for Naruto's current state of mind. In some sense she'd been glad to get away from that dummy. Concentrating on her life instead of worrying about someone else's was a lot simpler in the long run. But now here he was again like a pimple on the nose. And he would just have to show up at her absolute weakest right now. Again, it was like the grotesque punch line to some cosmic joke that she'd been involuntarily participating in this whole time.

Well she was officially done playing that game. Dimly aware that Naruto was still in the midst of babbling over something involving the umbrella, Sakura's present frustration boiled over in a wicked burst of anger and she viciously shrieked: "AND JUST WHAT GOOD IS THAT GOING TO DO ME NOW, YOU STUPID ASSHOLE!?" Naruto visibly flinched as if she'd physically struck him, and Sakura took an almost perverse sense of satisfaction from that. After all of the crap she'd just endured, seeing somebody else suffering was a refreshing change of pace.

"I j-just figured t-that ya—you'd w-want it back since it's r-raining an' all," Naruto stuttered while rubbing the back of his head with his free hand, clearly at a loss for words.

"W-well I'm a-already soaked s-so it d-doesn't d-do me any g-good at t-this point, stupid!" she retorted in a mockingly cruel tone. The need to hurt this boy in anyway possible was getting tangibly irresistible by the moment and she was willing to comply via any means necessary. Based off of Naruto's current downtrodden expression, she appeared to be off to a successful start in that department.

Shifting his feet and glancing at the ground, Naruto's curiosity gradually got the best of him. "Why are you s-sitting on the ground? I thought you were supposed to meet with Tsunade-baa-cha."

Sakura sharply glared at him as if he didn't have the right to ask any questions. "Maybe I like sitting on the ground," she snapped at him. "Maybe I'm just taking a break. What's it to you?"

Naruto slouched his shoulders in a shrug, didn't answer her, not that she expected him to. By now she'd made it crystal clear that he was treading in very murky waters and that any sort of quirky response or misinterpretations could potentially be hazardous to his health. And despite whether her responses were rational or not, Naruto clearly understood that the same notion applied there as well—even more so then usual.

"And speaking of who-what-why, just what are you doing out here?" she demanded, digging the kunai a little deeper. "You didn't run out here just to bring me my goddamn umbrella."

Naruto swallowed again, looked up at the folding canopy. "N-no, you're right, it wasn't the only reason. I, uh, I wanted to a-apologize for what I said in the apartment. It was w-wrong of me a-and—"

"YOU GODDAMN RIGHTS IT WAS WRONG OF YOU!" Sakura bellowed at him again, abruptly cutting him off, the sore spot clearly evident. Having experienced this response already Naruto immediately fell silent; his facial expression a little more controlled then the last outburst though he still appeared quite anxious and rightfully so.

Sakura continued to glower at him, her nostrils flaring. "You had absolutely no right to say any of those things to me!" she continued in a reproachful tone, the urge to hit him quickly rising. "Not after I took the time to check on you and bring you some snacks to eat! I thought I owed you that much after keeping you up like I did. Now you turn around and have the absolute gall to insult my integrity and question my motives. Is that how you say thanks to people, Naruto?" she asked him, jabbing a finger up at him to emphasize her point.

Naruto quickly shook his head. "N-no, Sakura-chan. I just thought that—"

"You just thought what?" Sakura sneered. "You thought it would be okay to make a couple of baseless accusations towards me and then act surprised when I reprimand you for them? Well let me spell it out for you: shitty things happen to people all the time, whether they see it coming or not. If you think life stops just because you have a couple bad dreams, then you have some serious growing up to do."

A strange yet intense expression came over Naruto's face, and Sakura thought that he was going to argue the point with her for a moment. It wouldn't go well for him if he did…and yet the way his jaw was set…Sakura held her breath—

—And then his eyes abruptly lowered as if he'd finally understood that he'd be chastised. "Yeah, you're right," he said in a quiet, humbled voice. "I dunno what I was thinking."

Letting her breath out slowly, Sakura shrugged her shoulders as if she were an unconcerned bystander. She might have been more sympathetic if her brain wasn't trying to squeeze its way out of her skull. "You certainly weren't, but that's not up to me to figure out at this point," she explained sternly. "I gave you a chance earlier to explain what was going on with you and you didn't take it. Instead you questioned our friendship by putting words in my mouth and trying to make me to look like a complete fool."

Naruto's brow wrinkled in frustration and his grip on the umbrella wobbled somewhat. "S-Sakura-chan," he stammered, "Y-you have ta know that I didn't m-mean what I said."

She threw her arms up in the air in an expression of disbelief. "How do I know that?! You were the one that said you didn't want to be around me—that I was only pretending to like you because of Sasuke-kun's absence. How was I supposed to react to an accusation like that? W-was I supposed to just giggle about it and pretend like your convictions didn't bother me? I was already feeling self-conscious about how people perceived me beforehand, Naruto. Being told that I'm basically a bitch wasn't something I needed to have thrown in my face."

"I never said that!" Naruto exclaimed and there was no mistaken the desperation in his voice. "I never said anything close to that!" He ran a hand through his hair in a helpless gesture. "Why would you accuse me of saying something that hurtful?"

Sakura planted her fists against her hips, glanced in the opposite direction, snorted twice in long exhalations as if she were on the verge of crying again. She really hoped not. Her eyes felt like they were nothing more then smoldering sockets at this point. "Do you really want to know?" she asked him in acid-laced tone.

Knowing that the question wasn't up for debate, Naruto made a soft noise of confirmation.

She slowly looked back at him. "Do you remember what you said to me last night…when we were standing at the bridge, and you were telling me about Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto frowned slightly. "I…I said a lot of stuff there."

"You told me that you knew that I loved Sasuke-kun—that I deserved to be happy, and that he was lucky to have somebody like me caring for him. You also asked me if Sasuke-kun was really worth shedding any tears over. Basically, you forced me right then and there to question my feelings for him."

Naruto eyed her steadily, recognition touching his face. "I didn't mean to."

Sakura shrugged. "Whether you meant to or not is irrelevant. What is relevant—or what I thought was—is that all of this came from you. It wasn't from somebody older or somebody in an actual relationship. You said all of this…and it was one of the most intelligent things I'd heard in a long time. I'd been in a depression for the last couple days and what you told me really hit home with the way I was feeling. It gave me hope that maybe I could go on without him being around…and that life would eventually improve."

She shook her head, laughed in a bitter sort of way. "I went over to your place last night trying to convince myself that I needed you to explain what you meant by all of that…but the truth of it all is that you reminded me that there are people out there that really do care about your well-being. It's easy to forget that when you're busy putting ingrates on pedestals. I didn't want to lose what you had unintentionally given me, but then—"

Sakura abruptly halted in mid-confession, her memory regressing back to earlier in the morning when she'd still been in Naruto's bed. It had been just after five or so when the nosy belch of an aged furnace coming to life had jarred her out of a dreamless sleep. For a moment she'd simply laid there on her back in a motionless state, blinking the gumminess out of her eyes, allowing her mind to slowly push out the lingering dregs of sleep and gradually acquiesce to present reality. Amidst the semidarkness and present shadows, Sakura caught the peaceful sound of falling rain lapping against the roof like a tranquil lullaby. A few strands of hair had fallen against her eyes and she'd started to lift her right hand up to brush them away, found that she couldn't lift it—or rather it was being pinned down. Even more peculiar was the sound of somebody snoring—a guy, she determined—directly next to her. Instantly becoming awake, Sakura's free hand squeezed into a fist as she turned her head sharply to stare at this brazen pervert who had somehow managed to sneak his way into her bed. A growl rose to her lips as she brought her hand up—

—And froze, her eyes gradually taking in the individual sleeping peacefully next to her. The events of the last couple hours came flooding back to her just as quickly, and she began to calm down. Taking a very careful breath to drown out the brief rise of adrenaline following perplexity, Sakura slowly brought her slightly quivering fist down by her side. Creaks and various noises issued from the attic rafters above her as Naruto's portrait slowly took shape, her eyes gradually adjusting to the gloom of his room.

The expression on his face was slack from exhaustion but he appeared to be resting comfortably. His arm, she noticed, was draped across her abdomen in a gesture that was borderline possessive though probably unintentional. Despite knowing that, an oddly warm and pleasant feeling radiated in her stomach like a family of butterflies. Moving with meticulous litheness, Sakura rolled over on her right side and gently laid her hand on a vacant space of pillow that Naruto's head wasn't occupying, his rhythmic exhalations brushing against her face like a warm ocean current.

She'd watched him for a bit, her attentive eyes taking in every aspect of his face from his tousled hair right down to the curve of his unblemished chin. He made a low sound of sleepy content and pressed a little closer, his hand unconsciously tightening around her side. Sakura's eyes widened in slight surprise at the abrupt action yet she didn't get revved up nor did she make any move to disperse him. It wasn't anymore awkward then when she had sat at the edge of his bed trying to have a one-sided conversation in an attempt to clear her conscience. At least, this time around, he'd known she was in his bed.

She couldn't stay in it very long though. Sakura knew that she had some loose ends to tie up before she could begin the next phase of her plan. A sense of disquiet touched off in her chest at the thought of asking Ino for help but there was no other reasonable options. Her parents were considerably flexible in most cases, but telling them that she had spent the night at a boy's house did not strike her as the smartest idea in the world. She'd already gotten a few oddball lectures from her mother regarding the birds and the bees and was in no hurry for a rehashing on the subject. She just hoped Ino was awake. She usually was on days when she had to help out in the flower shop.

Sakura decided that she would leave Naruto a note so that he at least knew where she'd gone to incase he woke up and was all panicky for whatever reason. She sincerely doubted that that would happen, given how content he looked, but it wouldn't hurt to take the extra step. Sighing in resignation, Sakura started to shift away from him, one foot already dangling out of the bed—

—And as if sensing she was leaving, Naruto arbitrarily learned forward in his sleep, his grip on her waist tightening considerably. "Please don't…no, sorry—I'm sorry…" he mumbled in a child-like tone.

Sakura's heart thumped loudly in reply. Naruto's involuntary actions had brought him much closer in proximity—so much so that the tip of his nose was nearly grazing her own. Instinctively, her right hand had risen to cup the left side of his scalp just above his ear as if to stop him from progressing any further while her other hand clasped his forearm. For a moment she thought he was going to wake up, but then he relaxed again, nuzzled against her as if she had been mistaken for a pillow.

Silently releasing a breath that she didn't realize she'd been holding, Sakura began to calm down again, her gaze a mixture of tenderness and defeat. For a few seconds, she contemplated just settling back and drifting off to sleep again. She felt warm and safe in this place, content beyond words, invigorated at the sense of healing that had been slowly transpiring within her over the course of a few hours. Sakura wanted to stay…but deep down, she knew that it wouldn't accomplish anything in the long run. She would come back and visit him later today after she'd gotten her priorities in order. She'd spent too many days in bed as it is. It was time to start acting like a ninja again.

But only once she left this bed. Naruto moved again, this time drawing back a little, his head tilting slightly back—and Sakura noticed that his lips were slightly parted. The temptation to stir things up on a more personal nature had already risen once last night when she'd been talking to him while he'd been sleeping. The innocent expression on his face had nearly prompted her into doing something sneaky…as what seemed to be the case now. The mere idea of it was making her head spin in anticipation. Her inner persona had strongly urged her to make a move while Sakura herself had had her reservations on the idea. She'd been having a tug-of-war with her trepidations and emotions, and it just didn't seem like the right thing to do at the time. But now that she was more relaxed and in-charge of her thoughts…

Sakura swallowed hard. It still didn't seem totally ethical yet his mouth came closer and closer into view, her heart abruptly deciding to take charge over the matter. A million and one thoughts scattered through her brain like mites of dust, but not one of them was enough to be deterring as her own eyes began to close. Silently adhering to the notion of keeping this private caress feather light so that she wouldn't wake him, Sakura mouthed an apology as she covered the final gap—

"Sakura-chan?"

Naruto's present voice reached in and pulled her out of the recesses of her memory like a violent tug. "W-what?" she barked.

He blinked innocent eyes at her. "I asked if you were okay. You stopped talking and looked like you were lost in space or something. I, uh, hope I didn't interrupt anything."

Sakura scowled up at him, quickly growled, "No, you didn't. And even if you did, it's none of your business anyways. What goes on in my head is not your concern," she added for good measure; a sarcastic rephrasing of what he'd stated to her when she'd asked him about his nightmare.

"Y-yeah, I guess," he said, then quickly asked, "So, um, what did you mean about that whole unintentionally giving thing? I'm just wondering since it seemed kinda important to you."

Sakura shook her head at the question and stifled a sigh, wondered what she could possibly contribute to this conversation that wouldn't come off as being completely vindictive at this point. That she was pissed off with Naruto for getting her feelings all screwed up? That she was angry with herself for expecting more out of somebody who wasn't a viable option in the first place? That it was Naruto and Sasuke-kun's stupid rivalry that had started this whole mess in the first place? That she hated them both for making her feel so useless and lonely these last couple of days? That she hated all boys in general now and would never allow herself to feel anything for them again? That love was an absolute crock of shit and should be abolished from the world? That she couldn't keep her appointment because she'd messed up her ankle, was sick as a dog, and looked completely unpresentable? That she wanted to be home in her warm bed and out of this never-ending rain? The range of topics seemed endlessly deplorable.

The real and bitter truth of it all was that Naruto had picked the absolute worst time to show up at. She'd been in the process of feeling sorry for herself and simply hadn't been given enough time to process everything that had gone on. The fact that he was here now in the flesh only added to the ire that was currently plaguing her. She wanted him to leave her alone in the worst way right now and that wasn't going to happen unless she gave him probable cause for it. She'd been off to a fine start so far, but even she wasn't so sure she could succeed in chasing him off. Especially considering that she probably looked like an absolute fool at this moment. She'd managed to deflect a couple of his questions so far, but it wasn't going to last forever unless she did something productive.

Which left her with only one option. She looked at him and said in a deadpan tone, "I want my umbrella."

Naruto quickly nodded, leaned down, handed it to her without hesitation.

She snatched it out of his grasp without apology, immediately closed the canopy. Her left hand sliding along the wall, Sakura dug the end of the umbrella into the ground while bringing her good leg back and used both to push herself up into a standing position yet again, panting slightly with the effort. Her head throbbed maddeningly at the movement, but she refused to let the pain show on her face. Quickly looking down, she briefly shut her eyes as tightly as she could, opened them hard, repeated the movement and relaxed, trying her absolute best to will some of the headache away. She then drew herself up as regally as she could possibly manage. "Well thanks so much for bringing me my umbrella. It was awfully kind of you," she said, her voice heavily laced in sarcasm. She opened it up again, immediately felt somewhat relieved that she was finally sheltered from the treacherous downpour that had succeeded in leaching so much energy out of her. "But I'm fine now, as you can see, so you might as well go on home."

Fully exposed to the rain now, Naruto nodded. "Are you going to see Tsunade-baa-chan now?" he asked.

Sakura looked at him. "Of course I am," she said stiffly, though she really had no idea what she was going to do at this point. She'd lost so much time out here now that it was practically a pointless venture. Whatever impression she'd made with the woman—good or bad—was virtually ruined now. She would make a decision once Naruto left…if he ever left. She skewered him with a meaningful glance in an attempt to urge him on his way. "You can go now," she announced to him in a tone of admonishment.

Another nod. "I will, Sakura-chan. There is just one thing I want ta ask you though."

Sakura rolled her eyes towards the canopy and beyond in an impatient gesture. "What?"

The question was blunt and to the point: "What's wrong with your ankle?"

Sakura instantly gawked at him as if he'd just slapped her in the face. "W-what did you just say?"

Naruto pointed down at her leg. "Your ankle. I noticed you were straining to get up off the ground. It looked like you were in pain or something. Is that why you were sitting down?"

Sakura shot him a deep look of contempt. "There's nothing wrong with my leg."

Naruto eyebrows lifted in puzzlement. "Then how come you were sitting down?" he asked again.

She pointed a finger at him in warning. "I told you it's none of your damn business! What I do and don't do has nothing to do with you whatsoever!" she replied hotly, completely agitated at this point though it had more to do with Naruto being spot-on with his observation. Nevertheless, she felt like taking a swing at him. "Now if you're finished here—"

"Sakura-chan, why are you being such a bitch right now?"

The pointed insult immediately spurned Sakura into action. Eyes blazing with anger, she pivoted on her heel and instantly launched a fist at Naruto's nose, seeking retribution. He hastily backed up two steps to evade her attack, forcing her to pursue him. She immediately knew it was a mistake, but the impulse to do some quick damage was too great to resist. She lunged at him, ended up coming down on the foot that was harboring the bad ankle. Pain swept through her like a bolt of lightning and she swore despondently as it gave way, the velocity pitching her forward—

—And Naruto quickly intercepted her, propping her up by firmly grasping her shoulders, managing to halt her descent.

The gesture did little to derail the bout of anger she was clearly exhibiting though. Sakura knocked his hands away, angrily shoved him as hard as she could manage, dropping the umbrella in the process. He staggered backwards but was able to stay on his feet, his right heel digging into the mud. Sakura stood her ground in an automatic fighting stance, nostrils flaring with unbridled rancor.

Brushing himself off, Naruto looked at her, immediately caught the angry look on her face. "Sorry," he said, sounding genuinely apologetic. He took a step forward, held his hands up to display his innocence. "I didn't mean to hurt you but I had to see—"

"—You take one more step, Naruto, and I swear I'll beat the living shit out of you," Sakura rasped, her ardent tone possessing all of the assurance of a woman committed to doing some harm.

Naruto slowly nodded, took a careful step back, then two more for good measure. One hand came down and he gestured towards the ground. "You dropped your umbrella," he offered softly without being patronizing.

Keeping her eyes on him as if he were some stranger she'd never seen before, Sakura bent low and snatched it up, grimacing in pain. Her leg felt as if were hanging by a thread. "You always were a genius," she retorted hotly.

"How bad is it?" Naruto solemnly asked, keeping his position.

Sakura regarded him with a scathing look. "You tell me? You seem to get a kick out of calling somebody's bluff. You want to know how bad it is? Well me put it to you this way: This is the first time ever where hurting you would hurt me even more!"

Naruto nodded, showing no apparent reaction to the thinly veiled insult or else just missing it entirely. "So that's bad?" he probed for clarification.

"Bad enough that I can't come over there and kick your ass," she shot back in simpler terms.

Naruto pursed his lips slightly, a somber expression appearing on his face. "How did it happen?"

"I tripped," she answered, annoyed by the question—or questions for that matter. "I was running through the street, hit a soft spot, came down on my foot the wrong way, and that's about it. Happy?"

He shook his head. "Not really. I don't like seeing you hurt. Plus, I feel like it's my fault that this happened."

Sakura shrugged apathetically. She briefly considered telling him that it was his fault for the sake of animosity, but he seemed to be riding on a guilt trip all on his own at the moment. There didn't seem to be much point in adding to his inner turmoil but she sure as hell wasn't going to convince him otherwise or attempt to pacify him. Let him sweat a bit. "It happens," she muttered roughly.

Naruto nodded in reluctance. "Yeah, you're right. I-I'd like to help though." He took a careful step forward. "I just—"

"Stop!" Sakura snapped at him, her free fist rising in a threatening manner. "Not another step. Just stay right there and keep back."

The hands went up again. "I'm not going to hurt you, Sakura-chan. I promise I won't."

"You're right. You won't be," she admonished him sharply. "You're going to turn around and go home right this minute. You've 'helped' me enough for one day."

Naruto's jaw tightened. "I can't do that. I can't just go home and leave you out here when you're hurt like this. It wouldn't be right."

Sakura snorted. "That's rich coming from you. Twenty minutes ago you told me flat-out that you didn't want to be around me. Now, all of a sudden, here you are—waving a flag of chivalry, trying to be mister nice guy. You're nothing but a hypocrite, Naruto."

His forehead notably creased in puzzlement. "W-what's a—?"

"—Someone who lies," she answered his unfinished question with obvious disdain. "Somebody who says one thing but really means something else. They talk big when it comes to plans like changing the world but when push comes to shove, they're nothing but cowards."

Naruto's face fell, and Sakura realized that she'd struck a nerve. She figured that the comment would have warranted some sort of rebuttal—be it desperate or angry—from him, yet he remained silent as if he'd known that there was nothing he could say at this point that would earn him a civil response. Using a word that was beyond Naruto's vocabulary skills had been a dirty move on Sakura's part—she'd known that—and somehow she just didn't care. She had erected so much emotional armor around her active mind and weary heart over the last few minutes that she was unable to make herself feel compassionate. Even though she knew deep down that Naruto was trying so hard to be apologetic, her unyielding pride refused to allow herself to open up to him again. Not now, not ever. That feeling of total emptiness grew more encompassing with each growing second, and Naruto being here wasn't making it any better. That was probably why she was trying so hard to hurt him right now—to push him away instead of admitting that—

"That you need him?" Inner Sakura bit in.

Sakura clenched her teeth hard, mentally told the voice to butt out. She'd die of pneumonia before that happened, both figuratively and literally. "You need to go home, Naruto," she finally said to him, literally forcing herself to ignore the hurt in his eyes. "I don't need your help here. I can take of myself. Go and have a rest. No point in both of us catching a cold. Just…just go home."

Naruto folded his arms, a guarded expression appearing on his face. "What will you do then?" he asked.

Sakura meet his gaze evenly. "It's not important—"

"—If it's not important," he said, cutting her off, "then you might as well go and see Tsunade-baa-chan." Clearly he'd been anticipating the nonchalant response.

She scowled at him, slightly surprised at his determination. "I told you that what I do or don't do doesn't involve you in anyway."

"She can heal your ankle with medical jutsu," he said, ignoring the comment. "Wasn't that why you were going to see her in the first place? To have her train you to be a medical ninja?"

Sakura issued him a warning look, but it wasn't like she could dispute the questions. That was basically the reason she'd wanted to learn from her. She'd already deduced that that was the best and only way she could improve her decidedly limited abilities. Chakra control was one thing, but that wouldn't do her much good if she were captured and locked up someplace in enemy territory. So caught up in her own problems and musings, she had all but forgotten about the Hokage's healing abilities.

But then that meant a meeting was inevitable.

A lump of ice instantly formed in Sakura's chest at the thought of being chastised for her actions and tardiness but she'd gone through this enough to know it was a pointless response to authority. She already felt disenchanted with herself over everything that had transpired. Even the Hokage couldn't make her feel any lower about herself then she already felt. Renewed thoughts of demotion touched off in her mind like a growing bonfire but what else could she do? Couldn't sit out in the rain all day. Couldn't disappear with it, for pity's sake.

"And I don't exactly have a choice either," she considered bitterly. Again, she could be dealing with a potential fracture here. It had to be looked at by someone with medical expertise. Letting something like this go too long might be…well, not good.

"I'm going," she stated with finality.

"Good," he said, began walking up to her. "I'll come and give you a hand then—"

Sakura quickly swung her umbrella at him menacingly, forcing him to pause in mid-step. "Get lost," she growled. "I'm perfectly capable of handling myself right now."

He frowned at her. "No you aren't. If you were, you wouldn't have been sitting on the ground. You'd already be at the tower."

"Go home!" she shouted at him, fervently hoping that the loftiness in her tone would be more then enough to send him into a hasty retreat. Sakura glowered at him darkly, furiously determined to make him back down again despite the fact that she was shaking right now, yet he stared back at her in maddening defiance. If anything, it looked like he pitied her. If she could lunge forward and slap the hell out of him without further injuring herself, she would have done so in a heartbeat. "Naruto—!"

"Why are you acting like this?" he asked her in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "I-I know that you're feeling hurt right now…and that it's all my fault for you ending up this way. I know that I won't be forgiven no matter how hard I apologize to you. I just…I-I just want to make this right somehow, but I need ya to tell me how to do that or what to do." He offered her a hopeful look.

At the pleading sincerity of his words, Sakura felt some of the hostility swing out of her like dirt being snapped off an old towel. He was humbling himself for her…but it wasn't enough. "Sorry," she said to him in a flat tone. "You wouldn't let me help you earlier so you don't get to help me now." The comment reeked of petulant immaturity but she refused to let it dampen her resolve.

"Please, Sakura-chan. Tell me what to—"

"Tell me about the dream," she abruptly demanded.

Naruto's face went rigid. "The dream?"

She issued him a stern look. "Yes, the dream. The one involving me that had you spooked so badly that you kicked me out because of it. I want to know what it was about." Sakura caught the look of protest on his face— "And don't you dare attempt to insult my intelligence and try to give me the runaround with falsified facts. Not unless you want me to kick your head in." Those were rather bold words considering that she could barely stand right now, but the threat would help her achieve the answers she was seeking

Naruto looked decidedly uncomfortable at the idea, but he obviously knew better then to press her at this point. He took a deep breath. "I dreamt that I was in some strange forest in the middle of nowhere. I pushed through a couple of bushes and ended up in front of the ninja academy. I was trying to get inside for some reason, but it kept stretching away. I kept trying but ended up tripping and falling over things. Went I got up, it was gone. Instead there was a burial casket there—the same type Orochimaru's goons used to transport Sasuke away." Naruto chewed his lip. "I didn't want to open it but something inside me told me I had to. I took the lid off and looked inside, he wasn't in there though. It was you…and you looked…"

"Dead?" she asked.

Naruto shrugged softly. "I think so. I couldn't tell though. I-I tried to lift you out, but there was an explosive tag on the side of it. You kept slipping away from me. I—the explosion—I managed to get away from it, but you—I couldn't—"

"—I couldn't get away," she finished for him; some of the pieces to this strange puzzle finally coming together. So that's why he had been so uncomfortable with her presence this morning. He'd felt some sense of guilt for being unable to 'save her' so he'd taken it upon himself to push her away instead of accepting her attempts to comfort him…just as she was doing to him now. But why wouldn't he have come out and said all of that instead of treating her like she was portentous? Didn't he know that she was somebody who wasn't going to shatter like fragile glass? Surely he had to understand that. Or was this some other egotistical/machismo thing that she wasn't aware of? She didn't know, but at least she'd gotten some partial understanding as to why he'd been miserable.

The only problem was she didn't know what to do about it. Reassuring him that she was fine seemed the most likely option. What else could she say? It wasn't like she could reach inside his skull and rearrange his brain until he was all fixed up as if he were a robot. She certainly didn't have the time or patience for ego stroking. She had her own issues to deal with. Perhaps Naruto had known that prior to and had chosen to withdraw. Hell, she didn't know…

"Look," she found herself saying, "Thanks for telling me what was going on, but you need to understand that bad dreams are just bad dreams. They can't hurt you…or anyone around you. I wish you had told me this earlier when I still had time. I'm sorry I can't help you right now, but I need to go." Tossing him one last look of finality, Sakura turned and began to slowly limp away. Only a few seconds had passed when she felt the inevitable touch of his hand on her arm. She firmly brushed him aside. "I told you I'm fine," she growled, the automated words slipping out of her like blood from a cut.

"Your limping," he replied back, taking her arm again, "And you're gonna do even more damage to your ankle if you don't get the weight off of it. Besides, you'll catch a cold if you stay out here too long."

"I don't need a lecture," Sakura argued, well aware that it was far too late for that. Even now, with just a few steps, she'd grown dizzy again. The rise of adrenaline had hidden some of the more obvious symptoms, but her chest was getting somewhat heavy. It was no surprise that her breath felt wheezy too. Sitting down, she'd been able to catch her breath and recover some of her stamina. Moving again…it was almost torture. Despite the chill of the rain, her entire body felt like it was burning up like a volcano. She shoved Naruto again as if he were a hindrance and pressed on, somehow managing to keep herself from toppling over.

Naruto, with all of his idealistic persistence, once again came at her side, grabbed at her hand with desperation. "Sakura-chan—please!" he rasped. "Stop being so stubborn and let me help you!"

She swore under her breath. Naruto's patronizing presence was utterly beyond annoying at this point. Could this guy not grab a frickin' clue already? She did not want his help. "Leave me alone!" she yelled. "Just leave me alone! I said I'm fine!"

He did as instructed; looking chastised and confused, and Sakura ambled off, feeling torn between apologizing, a need for haste, a need for restraint, a need to insult, and bunch of other factors that were trying to take prominence atop of one another. She felt like she couldn't get her thoughts together properly and that it was her continual frustration that was causing that. Deep down, she knew it was sickness-related. Sakura briefly glanced back, seen that Naruto was still standing there, wearing the same disappointed expression.

"Girl, what the hell are you doing?" Inner Sakura demanded.

Sakura ignored the voice.

"Oh no you don't," the voice warned. "You aren't going to shove me aside like you did with him and think you can get away with it. Why aren't you letting him help you? He can see that your hurt, plus he's finally being open with you. Why can't you do the same for him now?

Again silence.

"You have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Can't you see he cares about you enough to try and prevent you from further injuring yourself? Why are you trying so hard to push him away now? What else can he do for you that he hasn't done already? You were so quick to be all smoochy-smoochy with him this morning. Now, all of a sudden, you're tossing him aside like he's yesterday's garbage. He doesn't deserve this treatment."

Sakura nodded at this. "No, he doesn't," she agreed.

"Then why are you going out of your way to treat him like shit?" Inner Sakura demanded.

"Because he needs to let me go," she mentally replied.

"Why?"

Sakura swallowed hard. "Because I'm no good for him."

Inner Sakura seemingly paused to process this. "Explain why."

Sakura braced herself. "Because I've made a mess of his life. You heard what he said when he was describing his dream. Hell, he's probably had other ones that were just as bad as this one involving me. By being in his life right now, I'm just hurting him. He doesn't deserve that. He needs to be free of all of that. He deserves someone who will love him with no complications.

"We went through this last night," the nagging voice reminded her firmly. "You were beating yourself up over the way you've treated him over the past. You wanted to make amends for that. You wanted to show him that you care about him—"

"—And look what happened there!" Sakura mentally shrieked, a fresh wave of emotional pain flooding through her. "I tried to be nice to him, tried to help him, and I ended up making him feel insecure about everything. Now he's out here trying to be courteous, and I know he's just doing it because of the way he's been acting. I know he's trying to help—dammit I know that!—but it's just making me feel worse about myself then I'm already feeling. He's treating me like a pity-case, so I end up yelling at him to get him to leave me alone, but he won't go. He's too goddamned stupid for that and he—"

Sakura was jolted out of her inner turmoil by the abrupt sight of Naruto kneeling down in front of her, facing away as if he were scouting the street ahead for potential hazards. As such, she nearly collided into him, triggering a warning spasm that quickly darted up her leg.

"What the hell do you think your doing?" Sakura gasped, instantly pissed at him for this latest hindrance.

Naruto glanced back. "Just adjusting my sandal," he casually announced. "It was feeling a little tight earlier so I figured I'd take a moment to do something about it."

"Well do that somewhere else!" she growled, then cringed, felt her head pulsating once more in maddening waves. She made her way around him, unceremoniously bumping his shoulder with her hip for good measure. He immediately counter-balanced and stayed locked in position. Continuing forward, Sakura had only gotten a few staggering steps in when Naruto casually slipped past her as if he were out for a morning walk. He'd went about five firm steps in front of her before knelling down again, this time fiddling with the other sandal. Again, Sakura moved around him, this time bumping his shoulder as hard as she could possibly manage. Naruto staggered slightly yet refused to fall. She stepped forward a few steps again, but he again walked around her in an unobtrusive fashion, once more knelt down in front of her under the pretence of adjusting one of his sandals. Sakura vehemently glared at the back of his head.

"You know what he's doing, don't you?" the persona asked.

Sakura acknowledged the voice with an unladylike grunt. She knew.

"He won't stop either," the voice pressed on. "He'll keep hounding you like this because he wants to protect you as best he can. You can try and hurt him as much as you want, but he'll never stop caring about you because that's the way he's programmed. By not letting him help you now, all you're doing is displaying your immaturity."

She tried to ignore the insistent voice and the reasoning behind it, found some of her diamond-hard resistance beginning to falter. "H-he can't…"

"He can...and he will," Inner Sakura gently admonished. "Don't drag this out by fighting with him. You can't take much more of this. Use your brain and accept the lifeline he's trying toss you."

The inner-monologue was beginning to pierce through the cycling chain of her worn-out thoughts. Sakura felt her mouth go dry. "I…I…"

"Stop wrecking yourself, girl. This once—just this once—let go of your pride and ego," the voice seemed to whisper in a tone that was almost a plea. "Just this once…for both of our sakes."

A soft sigh slipped past her wind-burnt lips. She looked over, her neck jerking with the effort as if it were stuck in a vice, wearily took in the sight of Naruto's kneeling profile. His head was turned off to the right just enough that she was looking at the back of his pasted scalp. His gray sweatshirt and pants were totally drenched from rain, yet he continued to work at his façade without showing any signs of being affected by the hindrance. He looked like an absolute fool in every aspect of the word—he probably knew it, too. But he was doing it anyways.

And he was doing it for her.

"Girl…please…"

Pain leapt across her leg in unbearable icy-hot tendrils—and Sakura abruptly declared she'd had enough of this shit. She limped behind Naruto's hunched form, placed her hands on his shoulders, grasping them firmly. "Let's go," she muttered roughly.

Accepting the command he'd been patiently awaiting, Naruto slowly encircled his arms around the back of her thighs, pulling her in close. He then stood up in a deliberately slow fashion, pulling her up with him in a piggyback ride. Making a slight adjustment with his hands to balance her, Naruto began to stride forward at a composed pace, taking care to keep the bumps to a minimum.

Sakura barely noticed his concerns. Finally free of the torment she'd been foolhardily causing herself, fatigue slammed into her like a ton of bricks and she hung her head, totally wrung out. Her breath came out in harsh, repeated gasps that nipped at her lungs painfully, her heart roaring within her eardrums at the exertion of it all. Sweat seemed to escape from every pore she possessed, saturating her entire body as if she'd just taken on ten kilometers at a dead run. She angrily mused that was what one of those dreaded hot flashes must feel like. That was really something to look forward to when she hit sixty.

Naruto glanced over his shoulder in mild concern. "Are you okay? You're shaking."

Sakura coughed, waved his concerns away. "M-my problem," she rasped. "Just g-go."

Nodding acknowledgement, Naruto continued on without further questioning.

His gentle probe quickly renewed that loathing sense of crippling helplessness—not that it was far from sight anyways. Nevertheless, her ineptitude flashed through the entirety of her being reflexively like a beacon off the top of a lighthouse.

But she knew that it wasn't Naruto's fault; she'd known it all along. As much as she had tried to pass the blame on like a scared child, her current condition had nothing to do with him. She'd been frustrated at botching everything up and had chosen to lash into Naruto as if he were the central antagonist behind all of her problems. It had been totally wrong on her part to hurt him that way, just as it had been wrong to call him a hypocrite. He was the very opposite of that definition. She had deliberately tried to hurt him in an attempt to push him away because of her insecurities…

"And it didn't work," she mused in wretched despondency. "I couldn't convince him that I wasn't worth helping, that I wasn't the sort of person who was deserving of his good opinion. He's always helping me—always treated me with respect…and all I ever do is end up using him or else hurting him for it."

The worst part was that Naruto had probably known he was going to be in for a serious backlash the moment he'd approached her. He'd known…yet he'd willingly entered that storm with the intentions of swallowing his pride and admitting he'd been wrong. If that didn't force her to question her overall personality and its quirks, she didn't know what did.

Her irritated lungs brought a halt to her musings, sent an involuntary impulse to cough. After doing so, she leaned down, muttered, "A-am I heavy?"

He shook his head without looking away. "Light as a feather."

Sakura shot him a dubious look but didn't question his reply. Her raincoat and clothing had absorbed a fair bit of water weight by now. Probably not enough to make a huge difference but it certainly felt that way to her. She sighed, said, "Thanks…for helping me out. S-sorry I yelled at you."

"I probably deserved it," he softly answered. "And I'm used to it anyways."

Sakura winced as if stung. "You didn't…I—"

"We'll be there in a couple minutes, Sakura-chan," he said, gently cutting her off. "Try and save your energy until then. Tsunade-baa-chan will fix you right up. I promise."

"Y-yeah," she muttered grimly, her lips pinching shut with emotion, but it wasn't at the thought of facing the Hokage this time. Something in his voice gave her the impression that he didn't want to discuss this anymore, and she almost couldn't blame him for it. She'd probably exhibited enough mood swings to put him off girls for the rest of his life. Sakura had no doubts that he just wanted to drop her off as quickly as he could and get on with his life. Something about that made her emerald green eyes sting, but she had nobody to blame for that but herself. Her inability to curb her temper—both here and at his home—had cost her dearly and now she had to live with that. And for all of her brainpower and intelligence she possessed, Sakura couldn't think of a single way to make amends. Even now she was hindering him—

Sakura suddenly noticed that she wasn't shivering quite as bad as she once was. Despite the fact that the weather had not shifted even once, she seemed to be getting…warmer? Naruto, whether it was his body heat or chakra, seemed to be dulling some of the chill that had penetrated deep within her bones. She felt herself drawing closer to him until her chest was pressed up against his back, furiously considered wrapping her arms around his neck as well—and she might well have had she not been holding the umbrella already, but she didn't dare. She'd pushed her luck enough for one day—for one lifetime if anything. Still…

"Naruto," she abruptly whispered, her grip on his shoulders tightening slightly. "Could…could I…" She closed her eyes and—despite the intense argument with her intrusive persona—silently mouthed, "Could I have another chance?"

He looked back at her, an unreadable look lingering on his soaked face. "Did you say something, Sakura-chan?"

She quickly shook her head no, loosened her grip on him. "Nothing…it's nothing," she mumbled, feeling so utterly clumsy and pathetically small. Adjusting the angle of the parasol so that it was sheltering the both of them a bit better, Sakura fell silent as Naruto trudged on through the rainstorm without a word of complaint…or a word of anything else for that matter. As much as it might have frightened her to know, Sakura couldn't help but wonder what was going on in Naruto's head right now. Did he hate her? Pity her? Still like her? Wish she'd never been born? He'd probably never say and she was better off never knowing.

'Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.'

Sakura found herself remembering Obaa-san once saying that to her several years ago. It was just after she'd given her the pen but just before that faithful meeting with Ino that had succeeded in changing her life. Obaa-san had been at home visiting with her parents when she—Sakura—had run into the house crying, having been on the receiving end of being bullied once again. She'd ran straight into Obaa-san's awaiting arms—who'd quickly proceeded to gather Sakura up in a lovingly warm embrace, whispering comforting words and stroking her hair in practiced sweeps. It had taken a few minutes of gentle persistence on Obaa-san's part before Sakura had finally been able to calm down. Only after the tears had been wiped away did Obaa-san grasp her then smaller hands and whisper that quote to her. She'd taken some comfort in it then…but now…everything was more complicated. Everything.

And there wasn't a thing she could do about it.

Tears sprang freely from Sakura's irritated eyes as her emotional control wavered and slipped over. Automatically, she pressed her free hand against her quivering mouth to prevent herself from sobbing, her short kept fingernails digging painfully into her cheek. With the Hokage tower coming closer and closer into view, Sakura was rapidly becoming aware that she had to get her shit together in a hurry. She bowed her head as much as she could into her own coat so that Naruto wouldn't be able to see or hear her, using the time she had left to pull her composure together.

Unfortunately, Sakura had only succeeded in hiding one of the two variables from him. And one of them was a moot point.

He didn't need to see her to know that she was crying.

---

Seated in the well-worn chair of her newly appointed office, Tsunade stared at the wavering stacks of papers on her desk in front of her and wondered for the umpteenth time now just what in the hell had she'd been drinking to think that getting roped up into this bureaucratic mess had been a good idea?

Well, whatever it had been, clearly she had consumed more then enough of it because taking on a task of this magnitude was something only a person completely blitzed out of their noggin would agree to…as a joke! And even then, you almost had to stay intoxicated in order to put up with the consistent onslaught of demands from signing this to agreeing with that and vice-versa. She was definitely having a drink the moment she had a spare minute to herself; no one should have to work a job like this and remain sober.

Tsunade interlocked her fingers behind the back of her head and let out a sigh. Then again, it wasn't like she could really turn around and act surprised by what had been in store for her. Being the granddaughter of the First Hokage, she'd been somewhat privy to a few of the hardships he'd undertaken during his time spent in office as one of the founding fathers of the village. Considering the significance of the figures he'd had in his ear at the time, it was a wonder it had worked out at all. At least she didn't have somebody like Uchiha Madera breathing down her neck over how the village was being currently handled. Homura Mitokado and Koharu-sensei were doing a considerably fine job of that already.

Tsunade rolled her eyes at the ceiling. That was going to be another problem in the making as well. She had only assumed this position for a few days now, but it had been long enough to determine that those two were going to be a consistent nuisance in the years to follow. Growing up, she had never really been a fan of the Konoha Council for the simple reason that they were often content to remain behind the scenes delegating opinions to the Hokage on village matters without actually going out and physically accomplishing some of these tasks themselves. Clearly though, their opinions had held some merit otherwise The Third wouldn't have kept them around for all of these years, despite the fact they'd grown up on the same team together. It also didn't help that Sarutobi-sensei's grasp on patience was worlds beyond hers in terms of sturdiness.

Of course he'd always been like that. Even when he'd been her teacher, Sarutobi-sensei had always displayed the steadfast tenacity of a leader wanting nothing more then to see his students succeed in their studies. With the exception of Jiraiya's prodding, it had been a very rare occasion to see any sort of crack in his calm composure.

And now he was gone.

Tsunade sighed again. When Jiraiya had first explained to her (and Naruto) the reason behind their visit, he had been careful to express to Naruto why she was the ideal candidate for being the new 5th Hokage, but it had been more of an exaggeration on his part to quell the boy's apprehensions. Realistically, Jiraiya was a far better candidate for the role of Hokage then she could ever be. His overall talents and diplomatic abilities were far more diverse then hers. She'd known full well that Jiraiya had been approached on more then one occasion to take the reigns as the village leader, yet he'd refused. That wasn't a particular surprise considering it would have interfered with his 'research' habits. She shook her head. That perverted old fool.

But it didn't change the fact that the Council would have preferred to have him as the Hokage then her. She'd never been the sort of person who played politics, nor did she have the patience for that bureaucratic runaround that often accompanied decisions. Her methods at getting things done had always been straightforward and oftentimes…brutally rudimentary. She'd been around long enough to know that those qualities in a leader were not necessarily the most desired…at least not in the eyes of those that had to share office with them.

She mentally shrugged. Well, that was too damn bad. She was here now and that was that. They—and by they, she meant the Council—had been so desperate for a Hokage to run the village; well now they had one, and they had best get used to the changes she was going to bring to the table. And if they didn't like it, they could run the show then.

"Assuming I get through this goddamn paperwork," she sourly remarked, the brief surge of determination draining out of her. She had already expected that there would be a number of issues that would have to be taken care of rather hastily, but Orochimaru's attack had caused an onslaught of longstanding problems both within and outside the village. The number of casualties, ranging from villager to ninja, had created a notable loss of manpower, forcing all active Chuunin and Jounin to multitask and serve in various other missions in order to handle the growing number of requests from neighboring towns affected by this tragedy. Besides that, she also needed to write several formal letters expressing her condolences to the families of the villagers who were killed in the attack. They might have been ninja in service, but that did not lessen the fact that those who cherished them would be affected by their presences. By tending the flame of memory, Tsunade could only hope that the people would grow stronger from this experience and strive forward with bolstered spirits. Grief was good, but guilt was pointless.

But that didn't make her want to pulverize Orochimaru any less for his greedy actions. If that self-centered son of a bitch so much as glanced in the direction of the village and she was there to spot it, she would take it upon herself to personally ensure that that piece of snake shit suffered until his last breath. There would be no leniency from her whatsoever.

Tsunade chewed on her bottom lip in annoyance. That was if she ever managed to get her hands on him. The ANBU squads would have had a conniption fit if they ever found out she had taken such matters into her own hands. Plus, the chances of even finding him now were slim to none. His exceptional abilities at stealth and disguise were ranked supreme even amongst seasoned Jounin, making him extremely difficult to track. And with his arms injured as they were, she had no doubts that he would do everything in his power to remain hidden. Especially now that he had the young Uchiha boy with him…

Slowly pushing herself off of the chair, Tsunade turned and faced the sweltering window, clasping her hands behind her back, temporarily putting the pile of paperwork on ignore. Her thoughts—which she was clearly aware, had been dancing between various subjects—reverted back to Jiraiya's last conversation before he had left to prepare a few things for Naruto's upcoming training regiment. He'd explained to her his investigations regarding the Immortality Jutsu that Orochimaru was planning to invoke on Sasuke, how he'd already switched bodies before the boy's arrival, and how it would take approximately three years before he could use Sasuke as a vessel. Why it took this long to switch bodies hadn't been made clear, but both her and Jiraiya speculated that it had something to do with the integrity of the technique and the formula in which it was created. At least it would keep the boy safe for a while.

He'd also stated that he'd explained all of this to Naruto in an attempt to curb him from doing anything foolish/leave the village in an attempt to retrieve Sasuke. Considering the extent of his recent injuries, it was amazing that he would even consider such a task. Then again, she'd witnessed enough of his determination to know that once the boy set his mind on something, it would not be deterred. In so many ways he was like a younger version of Jiraiya. She shook her head at the absurdity of it all. Anger and determination—young determination in particular—had to have an outlet, or it would eat away the heart.

Unfortunately for Naruto, she was still the boss, and—along with Jiraiya—had issued the boy a strict warning about leaving the village under his own foolish whims. He'd accepted her terms with surprising grace, but she'd still taken it upon herself to have him kept under surveillance until Jiraiya returned. She hated taken those kinds of measures on somebody she openly cherished, but she would not allow him to throw his life away either. Although he still had much to learn, Naruto—along with the other young men and women residing—was already an essential part of the village and would no doubt go on to do many great things. If being strict with him kept him safe until he could master the latent abilities that resided deep within him, then so be it.

She was still in the midst of her ponderings when the door into her office was quietly opened.

Reflexively, Tsunade grimaced; the thought of somebody walking in with the intentions of plopping more paperwork down on her desk made her writing hand throb with ghostly aches. Light but recognizable footsteps made their way forward, and Tsunade found herself relaxing somewhat. Glancing over her shoulder, she quietly regarded Dan's niece as she glided forward, cradling Tonton in her arms like a loving mother would.

"If you stopped by to drop off any more documents, you might as well drop 'em on the floor because there isn't anymore room on my desk," Tsunade tossed in sourly.

Shizune frowned mildly. "Perhaps there would be room if you made more of a steadfast effort to sit down and dedicate yourself to them," she offered in a nonplussed tone. Clearly she didn't approve of her mentor taking a break.

Tsunade smiled inwardly but kept her face deadpan. "Actually I've reached a decision on the majority of these papers. For every page that I decline to sign or disagree with, I'm going to shred them or else…" she paused for dramatic effect.

"Or else what?" Shizune put in suspiciously.

Tsunade's eyes took on a fiendish edge. "Or else feed them to Tonton."

Shizune and Tonton simulteniously shot her looks of comical scandalization—and Tsunade immediately burst out laughing, unable to keep her poker face intact. This break in tension was exactly what she needed. Shizune's insistence often worked against her good intentions at the best of times.

"Tsu-Tsunade-sama!?" Shizune stuttered. "H-how can you be so blasé during this time of crisis?"

Quieting down, Tsunade ran a hand over her brow. "Calm down, Shizune. I agree that it's bad, yes, but it isn't a complete disaster. The village is still standing, repairs are being made, and things are gradually returning to normal."

"But the villagers…" Shizune pressed.

"Are going to recover," Tsunade insisted firmly, her resolve on the situation breaking through the gloom of it all. "I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but it seems like the villagers have developed a stronger bond since we were last here. Things are a great deal calmer now as well. It's as if some hidden ball of tension has been gradually released."

Shizune bent down and allowed Tonton to slip free from her arms. "Do you have any suspicions as to why that would be?" she asked, following through with the change in subject.

Tsunade folded her arms, bringing a hand up to cup her chin. "If I had to guess," she slowly considered, "…I would say that Danzo being removed from the Konoha Council might have something to do about it."

Shizune stared at her. "Danzo," she repeated softly. "I've heard stories about him—"

"—And a lot of them aren't very good," Tsunade cut in grimly, her recollection of the man leaving an ugly taste in her mouth. She knew that he was a borderline extremist—the sort of individual who preferred to conduct his business through disreputable means instead of using negotiation tactics. She had little doubt that this was the template that his organization 'Root' followed as well. She was definitely going to have to take it upon herself to look into both him and this…branch that he had created once things gradually settled down here. She had enough on her plate to worry about without some rogue group going around causing a potential internal fracas.

"I'm not overly concerned with him for the moment," Tsunade finally declared, capping off the discussion though it was more for her sake then Shizune's. "Dealing with the immediate situation of the village takes priority before anything else. I'll worry about distant threats once I've gotten a better handle on things."

Shizune nodded. "I'm relieved to hear you say that, Tsunade-sama," she said, and looked it. Clearly she was still in the midst of adjusting to this change in stationary atmosphere as well.

"Have you retrieved the medical reports from the clinic in regards to Rock Lee?" Tsunade asked, suddenly remembering the reason why she had summoned Shizune here in the first place. She had already reprimanded the boy harshly for his reckless antics, especially after undergoing such a difficult and delicate surgical procedure that could have killed him had she botched it up. Now she needed to make sure that he hadn't inadvertently created a backlash of side effects that would cause him problems in the long run. Seeing that he was one of Gai's students, her prognosis lead her to believe that there shouldn't be any debilitating issues so long as he took the medicines she'd prescribed for him. Taijutsu practitioners were very good at keeping their bodies in proper shape; that included making time for rest and recovery as well. She had little doubt that Gai would do everything in his power to ensure that Lee would return to his previous fighting shape in due time, provided it be done safely and correctly.

Shizune handed her the folder containing the papers, cleared her throat. "I also checked on Chouji and Neji as per your instructions and am happy to report that they are both medically fit enough to be released from the care of the hospital…unless you say otherwise."

"I trust your diagnosis, Shizune," Tsunade said, her eyes remaining glued to the page she was currently scanning over. She'd already deduced that they had recovered sufficiently enough to be discharged from her care but it never hurt to have another opinion on the matter, especially considering the number of patients she was currently looking after already. The fact that she was still trying to learn all of the duties associated with being Hokage made her appreciate having Shizune by her side all the much more…though she wasn't sure if telling her that would be the best idea. The younger woman possessed an overall reprimanding nature that was overbearing enough as it was. Strengthening that trait would only be annoyingly detrimental in the long run…at least in her case it would be.

"Is there something bothering you, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune abruptly asked.

Tsunade calmly glanced up from the medical report, briefly considered if Shizune had somehow been able to read her mind. "Not particularly," she said. "Why do you ask?"

Shizune pointed at her own forehead. "Your eyebrows are knotted up. That normally doesn't happen unless something's troubling you. Is there something in that report that's concerning?"

Tsunade fractionally shook her head. "No, there's nothing in the report that troubles me. Everything is fine in that aspect."

Shizune mildly frowned in concern. "Then what is it?"

Tsunade sighed and abruptly gave up. "It's this whole job that bothers me. Ever since I took on this position, I've dealt with nothing but a nonstop slew of paperwork and officials telling me what I should and shouldn't be doing. The whole thing's been nothing but a strain on my patience and you and I both know how much of that I have."

"Tsu-Tsunade-sama!" Shizune squawked in alarm. "W-what are you saying?! Y-you simply can't just up and leave the villagers because this clashes with your own personal interests!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes. Although it wasn't much of a surprise, Shizune's reactions to some of these candid conversations made confiding in the woman a messy chore on occasion. "At ease, Shizune. Nobody said anything about leaving these people to fend for themselves. All I'm saying is that if I could go back in time, I probably would have vetoed this whole idea from the get-go. It's a wonder Sarutobi-sensei didn't have to deal with occasional bouts of hemorrhoids from sitting in this friggin chair all day."

Shizune's face looked utterly scandalized. "W-well I…I honestly can't say what his dietary habits consisted of t-to know if that was ever an issue—"

—"It was a joke, Shizune," Tsunade growled, a note of impatience in her voice. "You don't have to take everything I say so literally. All I'm getting at is that Jiraiya passed this job on for the same reasons that I should have. I probably would have, too, had he not brought Naruto along. Sometimes I wonder if that wasn't the main reason he had Naruto accompany him from the start," she quietly wondered, shaking her head. "He knew that the boy would jump all over the chance to learn a new jutsu—that's obvious—but sometimes I think there was an underlying motive behind it. Jiraiya knows me well enough to anticipate my responses to most matters."

Her composure recovered, Shizune shook her head at the assessment. "I think you're reaching a bit, Tsunade-sama. Jiraiya-sama would never have deliberately used Naruto in such an underhanded fashion to coerce you into returning to the village, nor would Naruto have allowed himself to be used in such a way…if he had known, that is. A boy that passionate would never resort to unsavory tactics to reach his goals."

Tsunade held up her hand to still the conversation. "Calm down, Shizune. I love Naruto just as much as you do and would never allow myself to believe that he was capable of anything that underhanded. I'm just feeling a little frustrated right now and talking out loud. I have a lot on my plate and I'm just struggling a little on how to deal with it all. "Besides," she added, "anyone who can master the Rasengan in a week is not someone who lives their life by resorting to unsavory tactics."

Shizune nodded, her eyes full of compassion and apology. "I understand, Tsunade-sama. If there's anything I can do to make things easier for you…"

"You're already doing a fine job in that aspect," Tsunade cut in, wanting nothing more then to bring an end to this shift in conversation. "No, I'll figure this job out in due time. You'll just have to excuse me if my frustrations get the best of me on occasion."

Shizune eyebrows lifted slightly. "What's the change?" she asked with a touch of uncharacteristic sarcasm.

Tsunade offered her a scathing look in return. "Spare me the cheekiness and grab me my bottle of booze, will you? I'm taking a much needed break."

This time it was Shizune's turn to frown. "This early in the morning? It's not even ten-thirty yet. Shouldn't you—the Hokage—wait until the afternoon before indulging yourself? Especially when you have such a huge stack of paperwork on the desk?"

Tsunade smiled in a way that she knew would annoy the woman. "Well you have nice penmanship, Shizune. How about you forge my name while I take a booze break." She winked. "Sure wouldn't be the first time you've done that."

Shizune's eyes almost bulged out of her head. "I only did that because you were still half cut!" she practically yelled in a defensive, simmering tone.

"And you did a perfectly adequate job handling those matters," Tsunade replied in a smooth tone. "Just think of it as fulfilling your duties as my assistant in a more complete way. After all, the role does require a certain amount of leniency and I certainly wouldn't want to put it in my head that you're not capable of fulfilling your end on this matter." The look on Shizune's face had Tsunade partially convinced that she was going to hear a couple of choice words that were very much unladylike very soon if she continued on with this playfulness.

"Are you really sure now is an ideal time to be drinking?" Shizune asked her again in a frosty, almost unargumentative tone. "Especially since you'll be taking on a potential new apprentice today?"

Tsunade's comical demeanor abruptly froze at the reminder and she quickly muttered, "Oh crap." After all of the running around she'd done this morning with patients, reports, delegations and everything else, she'd practically forgotten all about the young lady—Haruno Sakura—and her request to be her student…well, maybe not completely forgotten, but she had put it on the backburner of her mind until other more pressing matters had been taking care of. She had managed to get a quick glance at both her school and personal records and had been somewhat impressed with her high marks. Her resistance to genjutsu was notable as well and the girl—based off first impressions—did seem to possess a lot of heart and passion, both of which were very important prerequisites for this sort of hellish training, but there had been something…amiss about her. Tsunade hadn't been able to put her finger on it then but a part of her had felt somewhat convinced that she—Sakura—wouldn't quite fit the role of apprentice…at least not hers. She'd almost been prepared to dismiss her request and might have gone through with it had Kakashi not shown up to drop off his mission report. Despite her giving him the gears the day she'd healed him after battling with Uchiha Itachi, Tsunade had a great deal of respect for the man and his world renowned abilities. She felt convinced that him or somebody similar would take her place the day once her time was up. That being said, his recommendation that Sakura be given a chance had been more then enough to convince Tsunade to take the matter under firm advisement. She'd told her to be here sometime between ten-fifteen and ten-thirty for their first official meeting, but now Tsunade was wondering if she hadn't been overly presumptuous in her considerations. She had her own extensive workload to consider and right now there really wasn't much free room in her schedule. Maybe after a couple weeks, after things lightened up a bit, she might be more lenient to the idea of taking on a student or two; things were simply too inconvenient right now to take on any additional tasks that would require her full attention.

"I'll probably have to send her away," Tsunade slowly announced to Shizune with finality, a tone of genuine regret in her voice as she steepled her fingertips together. "I know I told her that we would begin her training today and I'd really like to, but it's simply not a feasible time. I'll simply have to explain this to her when she arrives. After that last mission I sent the boys on, I'd really like to train a few students on how to use medical jutsu. I believe we'd have a greater success and survival rate…" Tsunade shook her head and sighed, old arguments she herself had once presented to the council swirled in her mind. "Well, I just hope she'll be somewhat understanding of my current situation," she finished.

Shizune nodded very briefly, her arms slightly folded. "I think she will be, Tsunade-sama. She seemed like a very rational young woman for the most part." She paused as an idea popped up in her head. "If you'd like, I can start her off with the basics until some of your time frees up."

Wishing that she could jump on board with the reasonably good idea but knowing she couldn't, Tsunade firmly shook her head. "We're both busy and both needed right now, Shizune. In addition, I need you to be errand girl and delegate my authority while I'm busy in here handling paperwork. I know it's the shits but I'm really counting on you right now. Once I get things better established and feel comfortable enough to branch off other duties to the people I know that I can rely on, then I'll be able to cut us both some slack." She eyed the younger woman hopefully. "Okay?"

Shizune smiled brightly. "Of course, Tsunade-sama! My loyalty to you is first and foremost."

Tsunade sighed inwardly. She should have known better then to ask that question but it really was the truth. Until she got a keener grasp on the village officials and their idiosyncrasies it was simply better, at least stress wise, to stick with what she knew and gradually feel out the people that she could depend on and trust. It would take time and patience on her part but this would work out better for her in the long term. And speaking of dependability…

"Well, Shizune, since you're here, you might as well take this release form down to the hospital for Chouji and Neji—along with their prescriptions," Tsunade said, handing the sheet over to her. "Instruct them to take the medicine as directed until it's used up. There shouldn't be any side effects that would cause them any notable discomfort, but if there are problems of any sort, then please have them contact me, you, or one of the physicians—"

An abrupt pounding at the door brought Tsunade to a growling pause. She should have known that that the peacefulness wouldn't last. If anything she was surprised it had lasted this long. Sighing ruefully, Tsunade gestured for Shizune to open the door. Might as well get this latest annoyance over with. It was probably another prissy official needing the confirmation sheet to some work order or declaration that she hadn't gotten around to looking over and signing because it was presently buried with the rest of the other papers on the top of her desk. Holding her breath somewhat while simulteniously wishing she'd had that snort of sake, Tsunade watched as Shizune opened the door—

—And let it out in whoosh as Naruto abruptly exploded into her chambers like a cyclone set out to do some damage. "Good morning, Shizune-nee-chan!" he exclaimed in a boisterous tone. "Boy you sure do look pretty today!"

From the couch where she lay sprawled out, Tonton oinked in a sound that resembled surprise.

Caught off guard just as Tsunade had been, Shizune struggled briefly with her initial reply before recovering. "G-good morning, Naruto-kun. How are you on this…well, not so lovely morning I suppose? Are your injuries still bothering…oh? Sakura-san? What's happened to you?"

Tsunade frowned at Shizune's change in questioning. "Is there something wrong Shizune?" she asked, feeling instantly poised to give some unlucky recipient supreme shit for this unwelcome disturbance but couldn't be sure of whom just yet; she surmised that Naruto, by default, was going to take the brunt of it for both good and non-existing reasons. Her suspicions were quickly confirmed as she watched Naruto walked up to her desk with somebody else clearly in tow. Taking in a pair of dirty rain boots and a folded umbrella, Tsunade felt her lip twist in unfathomable annoyance at the sight of her supposed latest protégé who, at present glance, looked to be completely unfit for teaching or training of any sort. Goddammit anyways.

"G-good morning, Tsunade-baa-chan! How are you doing today?" Naruto asked her in the same tone he'd just used on Shizune.

"Can the sweet talk, Naruto," Tsunade barked, refusing to be charmed by his deliberately disarming antics. She simply wasn't in the mood for it. "Why are you up and roaming around when you should be at home resting like you were told to do?" she pointedly asked, filling her voice with significant notes of disapproval. "And why exactly are you playing piggyback with Sakura? You do know that she was scheduled to be here today for our first official training session?" Despite already nixing the idea of taking on a potential student due to time restraints Tsunade allowed the conviction to ring forth regardless. She would express her current hesitations on the matter to the girl later on once they had some privacy. Nonetheless, she wasn't pleased with either of them right now.

"Yeah, she did tell me that," Naruto replied in a slightly humbled tone. "Umm…well, w-what happened was I was walking down the street and saw Sakura-chan heading over here. I started bugging her about some stuff and she ended up chasing after me. Making a long story short: she ended up tripping over a puddle and hurting her ankle. All of it was my fault so I carried her over here so that you could heal her."

From behind him, Sakura raspily protested, "N-Naruto! Th-that's not what happened at all! Tsu-Tsunade-taichou, it—it wasn't his f-fault. It was mine and—!"

"—It was my fault, Sakura-chan," Naruto admonished, firmly cutting her off. "I'm the reason you tripped over and got sick in the first place. None of this would have happened if I hadn't…said what I'd said. You've got nothing to apologize for. The important thing is that you're out of the rain and now in the care of somebody who can help you feel better." He glanced at Tsunade with hopeful blue eyes. "You will help her, won't you?"

Tsunade shot Naruto a 'don't test me' look but it was more of a reflex then anything else. She knew that sending the girl down to the clinic for a diagnosis wasn't going to pacify Naruto in any way and would probably end up creating a potential argument between her and the boy. She knew that Naruto carried a strong bond with his teammates and friends and wanted nothing but the best for them. And since she had already personally treated Sasuke and Kakashi for injuries…

"Put Sakura down and let me do a visual inspection on her," Tsunade irritably conceded as she slowly pushed herself off the chair, suppressing a moan in the process. She privately vowed that this goddamn chair was either going to be reupholstered or else be fired out the window. No way was she going to deal with muscle cramps, hip pain and the potential threat of hemorrhoids on top of everything else here. If she was going to spend the majority of her time here in this office, then she was damned sure going to have some comfort to go along with it.

By the time she had made her way around the desk, Naruto had already lowered Sakura to the ground; her right arm was slung over the back of his neck while Naruto had his left arm wrapped securely around the side of her waist in a stabilizing position to keep her upright. At first glance, Tsunade could already tell from the way she was shaking that Sakura was suffering from a certain degree of hypothermia.

"How long were you outside for?" Tsunade asked her, trying to get a general idea of what she was looking at here.

"Twen-twenty minutes or so," Sakura stuttered, her speech coming out in a slight slur. "Sum-something like that. I-I'm not really sure."

Tsunade nodded quietly. "Okay. Naruto, take and help her to that chair over there. Let's get her seated down" She then looked over at her assistant. "Shizune, please go and retrieve a couple large towels and a small tub of hot water. We need to get her warmed up as soon as possible. Bring a thick robe as well." A mild look of puzzlement came over Shizune's eyes, and Tsunade already had an idea of what the woman wanted to say yet said nothing to contradict the other's orders. At least not in front of Naruto and Sakura.

"Right away, Tsunade-sama," Shizune replied as she bustled off to retrieve the requested items.

Hearing the girl cough loudly, Tsunade assiduously watched as Naruto gently ushered Sakura over to the empty chair with all of the tenderness that a boy caring for a girl could muster. Despite the fact that she was supposed to be presently pissed off, Tsunade couldn't help but smile somewhat as she recalled the slight look of jealousy on Naruto's face when he'd watched Sakura hugging Sasuke in the hospital. She'd known right then that the boy had a sizeable crush on the girl. It seemed strangely fitting, somehow, for Naruto to be the one helping her now when she probably would have preferred it to be Sasuke at her side, even though he was the one who had turned rouge. That seemed to be the consistent sad norm of event these days: the one who typically cares the most about somebody was more often then not pushed away by that desired person in the hopes that the person they initially wanted by their side would eventually notice them. Terrible.

"You said she hurt her ankle," Tsunade asked Naruto as she walked over to join them, recalling his account of events from earlier. She supposed she should have been asking Sakura that question, but she knew Naruto better and didn't have to be overly formal with him.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. It was her left ankle." He quickly looked at Sakura for confirmation. "Right, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura nodded without bothering to give a verbal confirmation, her weary eyes taking in the floor as if it was the only thing in the world that mattered right now, her trembling face a mix of misery and weariness. To Tsunade, the girl looked as if she wanted to be anywhere else except here in this very room. That seemed kind of strange since she was the one who had desired to be here originally; apprehensiveness, Tsunade suspected, was probably the culprit here. That made sense considering that this was only their third official conversation and Sakura was in complete disarray from her trials. She could pretty much guarantee that this wasn't how Sakura had envisioned things turning out.

"Can you please describe your other symptoms," Tsunade mechanically asked as she gently grasped Sakura's shoulder for assurance while simulteniously placing the back of her hand against the girl's forehead to check for fever, her other role as a doctor taking charge of the situation.

Sakura sniffed. "Sore throat, c-coughing, headache, aching all over, cold, feeling crappy in general." She glanced up at Tsunade. "Sorry…I'm just—"

"—Feeling crappy in general," Tsunade repeated the blunt comment, deviating from traditional bedside manners with a knowing smirk. "Yeah, I get that." Releasing her forehead, the present Hokage knelt down in front of her. "I'll need you to take these boots off. Do you think it'll be too painful to take the left one off? I'm sorry, but I need to be able to examine the described ankle without any visual obstructions." She then looked up at her. "If you don't think you can manage it, then I'll make a small incision in the boot so that we can slide it off. Okay?"

Sakura wearily nodded in acknowledgment. With Naruto's help, she was able to pull the right boot easily off. Water seeped down her ankle and foot in a steady drip the moment it was free from its confines. He went to help her with the other one but Tsunade quickly placed a hand over his, stopping him.

"Better let her do this one, Naruto. If Sakura's foot is swollen in any way, then it probably won't come off easily—at least not without causing her a lot of pain," Tsunade carefully explained as she reached for Sakura's other boot and placed it aside. "Just be sure to tell us if it hurts too much though and I'll do my best to make it easier for you."

Clearing her throat in confirmation, Sakura bent over and gingerly attempted to pull the boot off while using her other foot to assist her. Pain and determination strained her young face as she struggled to remove the offending article. Naruto's expression was one of deep concern, and Tsunade knew full well that he wanted to help in the worst way; the possibility of causing her further distress though was probably the only thing currently holding him back. A minute or so passed and Tsunade was contemplating creating a chakra scalpel when Sakura finally managed to shove the boot off with an agonizing gasp, finally exposing the damaged leg. Naruto quickly squeezed her shoulder for support as the girl fell back against the chair in exhaustion, wheezing in obvious pain.

Assessing the damage with a practiced eye, Tsunade could already gather from the initial swelling that the limb was in bad shape. Bruising along the area wasn't good either. That indicated that she was probably dealing with at least a grade two sprain with one being mild and three being severe. Taking hold of her foot with professional gentleness, Tsunade began to palpate and check for range of motion. "Which side of your foot did you come down on, Sakura?" she quietly asked. "Was it the outside portion or the inside?"

"T-the outside," Sakura croaked, her voice subdue in pain.

"Inversion ankle sprain," Tsunade muttered to herself as she began to concentrate on the indicated area. Gut instinct told her that the damage revolved around the anterior talofibular ligament, a commonly injured ligament in most of these cases. Tsunade's hands took on a grass-green color as she slowly but very carefully rotated the ankle in a direction that would accurately confirm her suspicions. She also mentally noted that there was some partial looseness in the foot, which meant that that the ligament was torn to some degree. Certainly not all the way through, but it was enough that she definitely wouldn't be able to put any weight on it.

"Baa-chan? Is her foot going to be okay?" Naruto hesitantly asked.

Tsunade waited until she completed her diagnosis before answering: "One of her ligaments is partially torn. It's not a complicated injury from what I can deduce, but I do need to fix the tear before I can do anything about the swelling. I'm also concerned that she might have contracted pneumonia in her lungs to a certain degree. Whether it was from being outside for an extended period of time or before that, I can't really say for certain, but she does appear to have some other physical aliments that I'll need to have addressed and treated before I allow her to leave. I trust that you're both fine with this decision?" she asked in that ironclad voice that left no room for argument. Reminding them that she was making a rather large concession seemed somewhat pointless, but she needed to make them aware that her usage of time was important and couldn't necessarily be spent on duties that other people were just as capable of handling. Had she not needed to have a conversation with this girl concerning other matters, Tsunade probably would have sent her down to the hospital despite Naruto's urgings. Nevertheless, she received hasty nods from both of them.

It was at that moment that Shizune stumbled into the room, carrying a steaming tub of water with both hands while somehow managing to balance a thick layers of towels atop of her head. The cotton robe Tsunade had additionally asked her to retrieve was securely wrapped around her neck like a monk having an identity crisis of some sort. "Tsu-Tsunade-sama! C-could I have a little help here please!"

Tsunade's eyes flickered in surprise. "Well that was quick. You could have asked somebody to help you with this, or at least have conjured up a clone," she exclaimed, chastising the presently struggling women for her lack of imagination.

A sharp glare that instantly turned into a look of warm gratitude appeared on Shizune's face as Naruto quickly ran over and took the towels and robe off of her head. "Need me to carry that, Shizune-nee-chan?" he asked, pointing at the tub.

"I'm fine, Naruto-kun," she answered in a sincere tone. "Just take those over to Tsunade-sama."

Taking the towels from Naruto, Tsunade placed them aside and give Shizune some space to place the tub down in front of her. Tsunade then adjusted the tub so that it was in front of Sakura's good leg.

"I'll need to bring this swelling down and repair the ligament before I allow you to soak your ankle," Tsunade stated in warning. "What I'd like you to do is put your opposite foot in the water so that we can gradually start to bring your body temperature back to normal. I'd also like you to take your raincoat off, along with your shirt and shorts. They're not doing you any good right now and this way we can give them a chance to dry off. "

Naruto looked completely aghast at the idea. "But B-baa-chan! S-Sakura-chan can't just take her clothes off! At least not in front of me she can't!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes in response and casually stood up.. "No, she certainly can't. That's why I'm sending you out on your merry way. You've helped out more then enough here. Shizune and I can take it the rest of the way. Besides," she added, pointing a finger at him, "you should be at home recuperating. After all of the injuries you just sustained, you're damn lucky I even let you out of the hospital early!"

Naruto scowled at the older woman. "You know I don't like being cooped up in that place, Tsunade-baa-chan. And you know I heal fast as well!"

Tsunade frowned back at him, immediately knowing full what he was implying. "Don't you sport an attitude with me, little man," she growled, her maternal instincts taking charge of her end of the conversation. "You and I both damn well know that if I'd left it up to you, you'd be running out of this village in the hopes of finding your friend. Well you can just forget it. I won't have you further risking your health or life on selfish intentions." She jerked a thumb at her chest. "Not as long as I'm in charge."

Naruto took two steps forward. "Damnit Baa-chan! I already promised—!" he started to yell in contestment, but then he looked at Sakura, who was glancing at both him and Tsunade with nervous eyes. Clearly she did not want to be caught in a scuffle between the two. For all intents and purposes, Tsunade did not want to argue the matter in front of Sakura—especially considering that the girl had no knowledge whatsoever of what resided within Naruto. There would come a time when that conversation would take place, but not now!

Abruptly reaching a conclusion of his own, Naruto stalked past Tsunade and made his way to the door. "I don't wanna fight with you about this, Tsunade-baa-chan, so I'll just let you do what ya gotta do and be on my way," he said, his clearly angry tone reeking of classic teenage injustice. "Thanks for taking the time to look after Sakura-chan's injuries. I really do appreciate it. Hope you and Shizune-nee-chan both have a good day." He glanced back briefly, quietly added, "You're in good hands now, Sakura-chan. These guys will look after you. Take care." He opened the door, started to leave—

"Na-Naruto?" Sakura quickly exclaimed, extending one hand towards him. "Y-you don't…I don't want you t-to—please, I'm—"

Tsunade quietly watched as Naruto offered a smile of reassurance. "Like Baa-chan said, I'm just in the way now. You'll be fine, Sakura-chan. I promise that you will be. Thank you again for checking on me this morning. Good-bye now." Offering a final wave to the three of them, Naruto turned and left the office, quietly closing the door behind him.

From beside her, Tsunade heard Sakura—her potential student—sniffing in response. Tossing a quick glance at her, Tsunade could see a small trickle of tears running down Sakura's quivering face as she slowly lowered her hand to her side…almost as if she'd tried to keep them hidden this entire time and was just now beginning to allow them to unravel. Tsunade shot Shizune a peculiar look, got the same look back, followed by a bewildered shrug. The problems never seemed to end around this place. And the way Naruto had left here concerned her as well, though she couldn't explain why.

"Help Sakura with her clothes, Shizune," Tsunade finally spoke, breaking the awkward silence. "I'm going to go lock the door so that we don't have any uninvited guests or peeping toms barging in on us. That's one thing I don't need to deal with right now. If it is somebody important though, Shizune, you'll have to deal with him or her. Once I start working on her leg, I can't stop or else I'll risk causing further damage."

Shizune nodded without question. "Of course, Tsunade-sama. You're a doctor, first and foremost, and patients take priority over anything and everything else. If the council can't grasp that concept, then maybe they need to take those sticks out of their asses and understand what it means to be compassionate…my lady."

Tsunade coughed and shook her head in an attempt to fight the grin that was trying to paste itself on her face as she made her way to the door. It wasn't often that Shizune said something totally off-kilter, but when she did…well, it came off as rather humorous.

She peaked her head out in the hallway and made sure that there was nobody actually heading in her direction before actually closing up shop. Plus she wanted to make sure that Naruto had actually vamoosed and wasn't just hanging around like some lovesick teenager. Seriously, what in the hell had gone on between these two to create such an emotional tiff of this degree? An adolescent conflict of some sort, though the word 'conflict' didn't seem like the correct way to address the situation. Teenager angst seemed like the better description, but the way they'd been interacting with each other the last couple of minutes certainly raised some questions. For a couple of kids, they were sure displaying some strange adult-like behaviors.

"There's no two ways about it, woman: you need a drink," Tsunade quietly admonished herself as she pulled the door firmly shut and locked it. "This job is definitely going to get the best of you if you don't get your shit together and smarten up already."

With her clothes already removed and now replaced by a modest underlining of towels and the robe along with her foot—the uninjured one—soaking in the hot water, Sakura was talking quietly with Shizune, who was in the process of hanging the wet articles over a heated vent, but fell silent and looked up, a mixture of trepidation and misery adding at least ten years to her dirty face the moment Tsunade returned.

Taking a clean handkerchief from her pocket, Tsunade bent down and completely dipped it in the water. "You should use this to wash your face," she told Sakura in a patient voice as she wrung the cloth out and handed it to her. "It'll give you something to do while I'm working on your foot. Shizune will help you dry your hair in the meantime." Sakura took the cloth without a word and gently began to dab at her face, wincing a little in the process as windburn had clearly left its mark in places. Shizune took a towel and began to blot and squeeze her hair in sections like an older sister would, taking care not to hurt her.

Taking her green haori off and placing it aside, Tsunade bent down and once again cradled the injured limb in her hands as if it were a baby bird, her fingertips tracing along the area that she'd earlier perceived to be the trouble area. "You're going to feel a little heat in your ankle as I gradually repair the damage," she carefully explained as her hands once again took on a vibrant green, "but it won't hurt or feel uncomfortable at all. If it does feel uncomfortable, then let me know and I'll adjust things on my end." Tsunade waited until she got a nod of acknowledgement before proceeding with the treatment. Realistically it shouldn't have hurt her at all, but Tsunade felt the situation needed to be treated with kid gloves right now. Sakura seemed in desperate need of reassurance right now and Tsunade felt totally obligated to give her at least that. A blanket of chakra submerged Sakura's lower leg in a shimmering pool of light as she got down to business.

Tsunade hadn't gotten very far into the procedure when she heard Shizune casually exclaim, "Oh dear! It looks as if Naruto-kun forgot his umbrella when he left here. Now he'll be soaked to the bone by the time he gets home."

"Well that's his fault for not remembering to take the stuff he brings with him, Shizune," Tsunade unsympathetically replied without deviating her attention. "You know how forgetful he can be when he's got his mind centered around one thing, whether it be food or training or—"

"It's not his umbrella," Sakura sniffed, a poignant look of defeat etched on her lips as she turned her attention to the older woman. "I-It's mine, Tsunade-taichou. Naruto was just b-bringing it back to me. He…w-what he said to you earlier…it wasn't true. Naruto wasn't the reason that I got hurt. It was all because of m-me. I tripped in a puddle and ended up screwing up my ankle in the process. It was my fault, not his."

Tsunade didn't even twitch. "Yes, I figured that."

Sakura's mouth dropped open in surprise. "You did? B-but how did you—?"

"There are a lot of admirable qualities about Naruto, Sakura, but being a good liar takes some underhandedness that he just simply doesn't possess. Women are naturally better at it then men are and, thus, can usually tell when they are being lied to. Now hold still please. I need to concentrate."

"Y-yes," Sakura mumbled, her voice practically a dead monotone. "I…I am sorry, Tsunade-taichou. I should have just…"

From above her, Shizune gently grasped Sakura's shoulders, bringing her to a pause. "Sakura-san," Shizune said softly. "Please allow Tsunade-sama to treat your injury. You're quite sick right now and need to take this time to rest and recover your strength. I…we can both tell that you're upset about something right now. If this is about your friend Sasuke…or Naruto for that matter then we'd be glad to—"

"—It is about Naruto!" Sakura abruptly wailed, completely and unapologetically cutting Shizune off, her face completely wrenched into that of a lost and frightened child.

Shizune almost recoiled back in surprise at the younger girl's outburst and had to dig a heel into the floor to keep from inadvertently sliding her backwards. Whatever sort of angst Sakura was dealing with or had been dealing with, she'd clearly reached rock bottom of some sort with her emotions. "Tsu-Tsunade-sama!? What should I—!?"

"Just keep hold of her shoulders like you're already doing, Shizune," Tsunade ordered in a deliberately steady voice. "I've already sutured the ligament. I just need to bring the swelling down now and then I'll be done here." She looked up at Sakura with a look of disapproval, briefly considering chastising the girl for letting her emotions get out of control, but then seeing the pained look on her face quickly made her think better of it. There'd be time for that soon enough during the 'student-teacher interview' she and her were going to have after this was finished. It took a little longer then necessary, but in the end she was finally able to take the inflammation and protuberance down. Maintaining hold of her foot, Tsunade took it and brought it over to the tub, where the other foot remained submerged."

"There," she announced to both of them. "The ligament is mended and I've brought the shape of the leg back down to normal. In standard situations, I'd have you ice this down and keep it elevated afterwards, but I've essentially brought you pass all of that already. Now," she said sternly, "I'd like you to let this foot soak in here for a while. I don't want you going anywhere until I've made sure you're healthy enough to do so. And I believe you and I need to discuss a few matters in the meantime. Understood?"

Blotting more tears away from her face with the handkerchief, Sakura simulteniously nodded and coughed as she obeyed and lowered the foot into the water while Tsunade maintained her gentle grip on the foot, ensuring that her treatment was complete and that there were no complications that needed to be addressed. Upon asking and receiving confirmation from Sakura that there was no detectable pain on her end, Tsunade finally let go with instructions to keep her informed if there were any physical changes that needed to be addressed. Only once that was done did she finally decide that it was time to move on to the decidedly pertinent issues that seemed to be plaguing this girl more fiercely then any present physical wound. Over thinking seemingly nonsensical matters seemed to be the norm when it came to teenagers.

Thankfully it was Shizune who decided to broach that subject. "Would you like to tell us what's wrong, Sakura?" Shizune asked in a soothing inviting voice, deliberately leaving out the honorific. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, of course, but, as already mentioned, we can easily see that you're quite upset about something. Perhaps if you tell us what's on your mind, maybe we can do something or tell you something that might help."

Sakura slowly shook her head in reply. "I-It's too late," she muttered remorsefully, her voice catching in her throat. "I screwed it up—screwed everything up, and now I can't…it can't be ever fixed now…because of me."

Shizune smiled gently, squeezed her shoulders again for reassurance. "No situation is ever so far gone to ever be considered unfixable. You just have to have faith and hope that—"

"—Hope in what, Shizune-san?" Sakura sharply demanded, a simmering look of agitation looming brightly within her watery green eyes. "That good intentions and proper manners are enough to persuade somebody into seeing the good in you after treating them like crap for so long? Thanks, Shizune-san, but I've had all morning to put that theory to the test and I can tell you right now that it doesn't work."

"You're talking about Naruto," Tsunade asked, confirming the direction of Sakura's present diatribe.

Sakura nodded miserably. "Yes."

Tsunade cocked an eyebrow at the girl. "Well why don't you tell us what it is you did that would have you convinced that you've created a situation that can't be fixed. After all, it was Naruto that brought you in here in the first place. Surely that should convince you that the idea of something unreconciling hasn't completely taken place here."

Sakura shook her head, refusing to be pacified by the theory being presented in front of her. "I-I know it looks that way, Tsunade-taichou, but Naruto was only doing that because he felt obligated to do so. I-I didn't want his help in the first place, but h-he refused to just walk away and leave me alone."

Tsunade and Shizune exchanged brief glances. "Why would you want Naruto-kun to not assist you with your injury, Sakura?" Shizune gently probed. "As your teammate and friend, he would obviously feel compelled to do everything he could to make things easier on you." She smiled softly. "You have to know that what I'm saying is the truth."

Sakura's lip twisted in an agonized look of distress. "I know all of that, Shizune-san! Really, I do! But I…still, I—"

"—You didn't want him to see you as you are now," Tsunade finished for her, gaining a small bit of understanding at what she was getting at. "He said or did something unintentionally—I'm partially assuming unintentionally—hurtful to you that ultimately resulted in your feelings taking the brunt of it all. He ended up feeling bad about it and decided to try and make amends only to find you'd hurt yourself. Naruto figured that your injury was somehow his fault so he ended up bringing you here even though you probably kicked and screamed every step of the way." She cocked an eyebrow at the recipient. "Does that sound about right?"

Sakura swallowed, reluctantly nodded. "It…it's a little more complicated then that, but yes."

Tsunade offered a sympathetic look. "Yes, these things usually are. So then, what exactly was it that prompted this situation to take place in the first place?"

Her potential student looked away, a guarded expression appearing on her face like the countenance of some lonely statue. Tsunade sighed softly. This was almost as bothersome as trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together with one of the pieces not fitting properly. But she also knew that she couldn't push very hard with something like this otherwise it could prove to be very damaging in the long run. If she did eventually plan on taking this girl in as a student, then there would have to be some trust shown, and it would have to be on her part.

"Sakura," Tsunade quietly said. "You don't have to tell us anything that makes you feel uncomfortable to do so. I'm not some interrogator that's going to torture you or sentence you to prison because of your refusal to divulge any information. We both know that's not going to happen here. But it does concern me when somebody walks into my office carrying his or her teammate, and asking me to just drop everything and heal that person when the injury itself isn't life threatening. I'm not sure if you're aware or not but I'm still in the process of learning this job and everything that's involved in it. I don't have the option of being able to just toss everything aside and act on somebody else's whim just because they wish it so, especially when I know that it's going to backlog me a great deal."

Tsunade then reached up and took Sakura's hands into her own. "So when I do grant somebody this kind of personal time to assist them, I expect them to reciprocate the favor with honesty. I can promise you that anything you say here will be kept in confidence between Shizune and me. I'll tell you upfront that I'm no psychiatrist, but I have seen and dealt with my share of problems over the years and, as your…your future teacher, I want you to leave here feeling mentally better as well as physically. Does that make sense?"

Traces of sadness and disillusionment still lingered on Sakura's face, but something in her eyes had Tsunade convinced that her words had carried enough weight for reassurance.

Seconds passed before Sakura finally gathered the nerve to say the words that lingered across her mind like a moldy wet blanket.

"I hurt Naruto," Sakura uttered in a quiet voice.

Tsunade frowned thoughtfully, released her hands and said, "I don't think that's possible, Sakura. I've seen that boy absorb tremendous amounts of punishment and still manage to go on fighting. He's got more guts then brains at most times."

Sakura fractionally shook her head. "I know that. I just mean…I've always hurt him in some shape or form. Everyone else seemed to be doing that for whatever reason so I thought I should have just followed suit…even though I always knew it was wrong most times."

Tsunade pursed her lips. The Jinchuuriki were often shunned for obvious and not so obvious reasons. Clearly this was still considered a common practice to this day. The adults that had been involved in that battle with the Kyuubi should have been more lenient in their treatment of Naruto over the years. Considering that both of his parents died in order to protect the village, it seemed only right that the boy be considered a hero for their actions. Unfortunately, it seemed that a fair portion of the people had never come to see it that way. A part of her wished that she had been there for the boy when he'd been growing up instead of serving out her own selfish whelms. She'd known that her predecessor had deliberately hidden the boy's identity by using his mother's last name in order to keep him safe from harm. Had that been the right thing to do? Would she, herself, have made the same decision had she been Hokage back then? She honestly couldn't say for certain. All she could say was that she was glad that the boy's heart had not soured along the way.

"But things started to change, didn't they?" Tsunade said in a therapeutic attempt to move the conversation along. "You, Naruto and Sasuke became a ninja squad and started going on missions together. Regardless of any issues that existed beforehand, you obviously started to befriend Naruto after a while. The point I'm trying to make is that our perceptions of people tend to change over a period of time. In your case, your tolerance for him softened to the point that you began to start caring about him."

The corner of Tsunade's mouth crinkled. "I was the same way too when I first met him. At first I thought he was just some loudmouthed brat with nothing relevant to say. I made a bet with him that he couldn't master one of Jiraiya's techniques within a week, but the little brat ended up showing me up and winning my necklace as a result—I'm sure you've seen it. His work ethic and never-give-up attitude convinced me to believe in change. Hell, if it weren't for him I probably wouldn't be sitting here right now, having this conversation with you."

Her last couple of sentences should have drawn at least some speck of a smile from the young kunoichi, but it seemed to accomplish the opposite. Looking up at the girl, Tsunade's expression became puzzled at the sight of fresh tears cascading down Sakura's swollen cheeks. "Sakura—?"

"I-I was standing over at the bridge in the middle of town last night, f-feeling sorry for myself and missing Sasuke-kun, when N-Naruto came walking by," Sakura slowly confessed. "I…he talked to me for a little while—ended up cheering me up and making me feel better about myself when I didn't think it was going to be possible anymore."

"So what happened then?" Shizune, not Tsunade, asked her.

"He left t-to go home," Sakura continued, "and I should have been okay with that…but the truth was that I didn't want him to go. I wanted him to stay—to stay and talk to me some more. I didn't…I didn't want to go home and be by myself anymore." She glanced down, looking somewhat bashful in spite of her present behavior. "I went to his apartment and we ended up talking until he eventually got tired and went to sleep. I ended up staying there the night…because of the rain."

Tsunade threw her a suspicious glance. "You didn't…you two didn't do something that—?"

Despite her overall emotional condition, Sakura had the presence of mind to roll her eyes. "No, we didn't do anything that you would consider inappropriate. We just…the only thing we did was sleep in the same bed, that's all," she blurted out quickly. "We didn't…I didn't…"

"Okay, okay," Tsunade said in a somewhat hasty tone. There was no sense in lecturing the girl about adult behaviors. Sakura was clearly feeling self-conscious right now about a lot of things right now. Tossing that back into her face wasn't going to make matters any better. "So what does this morning have to do with last night then?" she asked, urging her on.

Sakura chewed the bottom of her lip. "Naruto wasn't sleeping very well when I was there. He was having some really violent nightmares at the time. They were bad enough that I had to wake him up a couple times just to get him to calm down. I could…I could tell he was going through some personal issues of some sort. I felt bad that he'd been dealing with something like this so I went back to check on him after I'd gotten a few things taken care of, but it…it didn't go well at all."

Having the overly distinctive feeling that they were about to hit the crux of the situation, Tsunade straightened up. "So what went wrong?"

Sakura closed her eyes in defeat and shook her head. "I got Naruto some snacks from the downtown bakery in an attempt to cheer him up. I mean, it was the least that I could do considering everything that had happened. I thought that if I…I did something nice for him, he'd tell me what was going on, tell me what I could do to make everything better. I thought that whatever rifts might have existed between us would have been torn away." Her voice began to tremble again. "B-but it didn't work, Tsunade-taichou! All I ended up doing was making a bad situation even worse by sticking my nose in it."

"How could you have made it worse?" Tsunade gently probed. "It sounds to me like you were doing everything you could possibly do to make things better."

Rubbing the cloth she'd been given across her blurry eyes, Sakura muttered, "I…I asked him about the dreams he was having. I thought t-that if he talked about them, maybe we could come up with a solution that might help them to go away…but he didn't want to tell me about them. He said they were none of my business, and that I had no right to ask him about personal stuff when I'd never shown any interest before. It wasn't until I figured out that I was the one who…who'd been causing his bad dreams in the first place." Sakura's lower lip began to quiver at the recollection of it all. "It's b-been me who's been hurting him all of this time. By pushing and prodding him, all I ended up doing was making everything worse."

Shizune patted Sakura's shoulders in an attempt to reassure her. She seemed genuinely distressed to see Sakura suffering over something she couldn't possibly have done on her own accord.

"You mustn't be upset over something that's out of your realm of control, Sakura. Naruto isn't the type of person to blame somebody for his own insecurities. Surely you must understand that," she tried to explain, but the words were falling on deaf ears now.

Sakura's entire body began to shake now. "H-he told me t-to leave, Shizune-san! He said that it was f-for the best if I just left him alone. I tried so hard to make everything right, but all I ended up doing w-was screwing things up…like I always do." She inhaled raggedly. "I c-couldn't k-keep Sasuke-kun from leaving and I couldn't make Naruto happy. No matter how hard I try, I just k-keep screwing things up for the people I'm around. And now I know that N-Naruto won't talk to me ever again because h-he knows what I've really been all along."

Tsunade touched Sakura's knees. "What's that?"

"T-that I'm…I'm a bad person."

Upon that dank revelation, the walls around Sakura's already-limited defenses began to shatter and the tears that she'd been subduing now swept down her face like a ruptured storm. The handkerchief fell to the ground as Sakura brought her blemished hands across her eyes and began to openly cry, her shoulders heaving in unbridled despair. "I'm—I'm a bad person, Tsunade-taichou!" Sakura uttered in wretched sobs against her open palms. "I'm a r-really bad p-person!"

Reaching the evident conclusion to the story that had been troubling the girl so strongly; Tsunade slowly sat back on her haunches and quietly exhaled a breath of air while at the same time taking this moment to analyze everything that had just transpired here. Really, there wasn't a whole lot to consider in the grand scope of things. She'd already gone through the blueprints of this escapade and it was simply this: Sakura had pined after Sasuke in the hopes of him coming around to see her as something more, while Naruto had essentially done the same thing that Sakura had been doing. It was a classic teenage triangle scenario of unrequited love…only it didn't fit the typical pattern. Sasuke's departure, whether it was clear to Naruto and Sakura or not, had created a void that had seemingly affected the both of them in different yet equally negative ways. Sakura, with hurt feelings, had clearly sought out Naruto in an attempt to soothe some of the hurtfulness she'd clearly been dealing with. Unfortunately, Naruto—who had obviously been wrestling with some personal issues of his own—had not taken kindly to Sakura's good intentions/advances and had taken it upon himself to arbitrarily push her away so that she couldn't see how badly he might have been hurting. Boys, in her experience, would sooner take a thumb to the eye and push somebody they cared about away then admit to that same person that something was bothering them, as seemed to be the issue here. In Naruto's case, it was all the easier to act this way because he'd spent the majority of his youth forging his own path through life without the guidance of his parents to fall back on. He'd probably learned to bury his personal problems deep within himself instead of opting for any sort of disclosure.

Considering what had happened to his family and clan, Tsunade somehow anticipated that Sasuke was the exact same way. Perhaps it was those similarities that made the two boys such well-versed rivals…and why Naruto missed him so. His guilt-racked conscience over being unable to bring him back was probably the main reason he was feeling the way he was now. The promise he made to Sakura probably only made the matter worse. Add to the fact that she herself had strictly forbidden Naruto from leaving the village to pursue Sasuke…

Tsunade sighed again. As much as she loved that boy and what he represented, she had blatantly refused to acquiesce to his selfish whelms for the sole reason of keeping him safe. No human being deserved to be treated like a sheep or cow ever, but to turn a blind eye and simply allow someone she cared about to put himself at harms risk…no, she couldn't do that, not if she could prevent it somehow. She only hoped that Naruto would someday forgive her for her overbearing maternal instincts. Perhaps seeing Sakura in this current state of dejection was the universe's way of punishing her for the role she had played in all of this. And the girl was still crying…

Fervently promising herself that she was having a drink once this was all over with, Tsunade motioned for Shizune to move her hands from Sakura's shoulders, replaced them with her own. "Sakura," Tsunade crooned in a gentle motherly tone. "Look at me, Sakura."

Hands still over her eyes, Sakura vigorously shook her head.

Tsunade smiled wistfully. "Sakura, please. I need you to look at me. It's important that you do so." She waited patiently until the girl gradually complied with her request before continuing: "You're not a bad person, Sakura. I've met and fought with more then my share of those types over the years and I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that you don't fit that description at all. Do you know how I can tell you're not a bad person?"

Sniffing loudly, Sakura tentatively shook her head again.

Tsunade reached forward and brushed Sakura's cheeks with her thumbs, wiping her tears away. "Because a bad person wouldn't be crying the way you have been just now." She then touched the skin underneath her lower eyelids. "You're also far too young to be developing these bags here." Conjuring chakra, Tsunade traced her fingertips across Sakura's face, starting at her eyes and making her way down until she reached the bottom of her jaw. The puffiness that had started to accumulate across her face over the last several hours began to smooth itself over like a carpet being pulled. "That looks better," Tsunade casually remarked after she was finished.

Sakura hesitantly brought a hand to her face in mild shock. "Tsu-Tsunade-taichou…?"

Maintaining eye contact with her patient, Tsunade placed her hands back on Sakura's shoulders, smiled reassuringly. "I know that this hasn't been an easy time for you. I know that you feel like everything in your world is falling apart right now. You do your best to try and mend things together only to find it doesn't help or else just makes things worse. In turn, you become dejected with the people closest to you and find you just want to give up, turn and walk away from them without another glance backwards. I know you feel that way because…I was the same way too once."

Sakura's still eyes widened with surprise. "R-really?"

Tsunade nodded slowly. "I lost a great deal of family and friends when I was growing up. Two people especially—my younger brother Nawaki and my boyfriend Dan—convinced me that anybody who believed in dreams were nothing more then simple-minded idiots." She shook her head at her past foolishness. "I turned my back on the village and wasted a great deal of my life on that cynical way of thinking. I might have still been that way had Naruto not come into my life and helped to change my perception on things." She glanced at Sakura. "He's changed your perception on things too, hasn't he?"

Sakura pursed her lips. "Yes," she whispered, clasping her hands together. "I…he's one of the biggest reasons I wanted to be a medical ninja in the first place. When him and the others went after Sasuke-kun…I really put him on the spot because I knew I couldn't contribute or do anything useful with the way I am now. I had hoped that if I could receive training from somebody like you, then maybe I wouldn't be a burden in the future next time." Sakura sighed deplorably. "But I ended up botching all of that up in the end. If I had just left him alone instead of bothering him in the first place, then none of this would have happened and I wouldn't be sitting here wasting your time."

"You didn't screw up, Sakura. Not at all."

Sakura looked at her in puzzlement. "I…I didn't?"

"Of course you didn't," Tsunade said, a minor note of scolding in her tone. "You felt bad for somebody you cared about and made the decision to check on them. Your intentions might not have been completely honest, but you still took it upon yourself to do what you thought was right. There's no shame in doing what any other decent-minded person would have done."

She then took Sakura's hands into her own, gripped them firmly. "People will always be important, Sakura. Don't you ever—and I mean ever—be afraid to care about someone who means anything to you. The shinobi world is a hard enough place as it is. Don't make it any harder by walking around with a cold and callous heart. There's enough of that crap going on as it is already. Is that understood?"

Sakura carefully nodded her head in acknowledgement. "Yes, Tsunade-taichou. B-but then, what about—"

"—We'll get that to that in a moment," Tsunade said as she released her hands and placed one of her own on the center of Sakura's chest, willed it to glow. "Now please hold still and relax. This will only take a moment." There was a quick flash as Tsunade directed healing energy in the direction of Sakura's lungs and upper body. She then waited a few seconds before slowly pulling her hand away.

"How do you feel now?" Tsunade asked her.

Sakura touched her nose as if to smell it, rubbed her throat, her torso. "M-my chest cold…or whatever it was I had. I-It's gone!"

Tsunade grunted in satisfaction. "Good. That's good."

Shizune shook her head at the older woman. "I'd wondered why you didn't choose to do that sooner, Tsunade-sama."

Sakura eyes shifted from woman to woman. "You…you could have done that sooner?" she asked in bewilderment.

Another nod. "Yes, I could have," Tsunade admitted, "but it wouldn't have been near as beneficial to simply heal your injuries and kick you out. I figured that you and I needed some time to get to know one another." She cocked an eyebrow at her. "Especially if you were still planning on being my apprentice."

Sakura froze, eyed the woman with flabbergasted eyes. "Y-you would still allow me to be your student?"

Tsunade sighed loudly. "In all honesty, I was initially going to send you away the moment you showed up," she said in a candid voice. "It's not because you were hurt or anything like that. This new position has been an uphill battle from the start and I've barely had any time at all to fit anything new into my schedule. Teaching students to learn medical jutsu is a very time consuming process that simply isn't feasible for me at this particular juncture."

She lifted a finger to forestall any potential protests. "However," Tsunade quickly added, "you've also reminded me as to why I ever took this damn job on to begin with. I became Hokage so that I could live out both Nawaki and Dan's dream for them. Naruto and the future generation are ultimately going to be the ones that inherit and protect this village after us old fogies are dead and gone. Shikamaru and I had previously talked about the idea of having more medical ninja involved on missions in order to boost survival ratios in a group. At the time, I was still convinced that dedicating that sort of time and energy was an impossibility of sorts. But after looking at your previous school achievements, the dedication you've shown in book studies and the ability to grasp information quickly, and now after all of the passion you've just displayed here…I would be an absolute fool to send you away now."

Sakura's green eyes glittered in astonishment. "You mean…a-after all of this, you'll still…?"

Tsunade smiled. "Yes. After all of this, I'd still like you to be my student. But like I told you earlier this morning when Kakashi was here, I—and Shizune can attest to this part personally—am not going to go easy on you in the slightest," she warned her earnestly. "I'm telling you this upfront because I know that you, Haruno Sakura, can handle it." She grasped her forearms and looked her dead in the eye. "Can you?"

"O-of course, Tsunade-taichou!" Sakura enthusiastically declared, but then her expression took on a somber edge. "But…but what about your other responsibilities as the Hokage?"

"Shizune's going to be busy assisting me in my duties," Tsunade evenly replied. "But eventually I'd like to have you inserted into that role of assistant as well. You're more then intelligent enough to handle bookwork without somebody glancing over your shoulder every ten seconds. And it'll also give you a chance to see what goes on behind the scenes. It'll be a very encompassing and challenging role for you, but also very rewarding as well. I'll work out more of the details with you later once we've gotten a few other things figured out. I'll also give you a list of study books to take from the library as a means of getting the ball rolling. Since this morning is already decidedly shot, we'll begin your official training session tomorrow. Does that sound feasible to you?"

"Yes, of course!" Then Sakura added: "My friend, Yamanaka Ino, had also asked me about the possibility of her being taken on as an apprentice as well. I had promised her that I would ask you about it."

Gathering up her haori and putting it on, Tsunade briefly contemplated the request. The Yamanaka clan was well versed in the art of sensory techniques and gathering information. Her father, Yamanaka Inoichi, was a well-seasoned ninja who excelled in this area. She presumed that Ino, being teamed up with Shikamaru and Chouji, had integrated some of those techniques into her ninja arsenal. Considering the degree of chakra control needed to successfully use those mind control skills in battle, it might not have been a bad idea to have her onboard as well.

"Let's see how you do for now," Tsunade said at last. "After a couple weeks, once I'm able to determine your overall strengths and weaknesses, I'll probably have her come in. I presume that the two of you are naturally rivals so this will work out even better. Shikamaru will probably be fine with this as well. Ask Ino if she'd be able to come in with you tomorrow too. This way I'll be able to explain a few things to her in person."

Tsunade then turned to Shizune. "Her clothes should pretty much be dry by now, Shizune. Could you go and gather them up please? I'd like to check and see how Sakura's foot is now. Nobody's knocked on the door yet but that sure as hell isn't going to last wrong." Receiving a compliant nod from Shizune, Tsunade took Sakura's hands once more. "Let's get you up and on your feet now. I'd like to see if you could stand up and walk."

Sakura sucked her upper lip into her mouth in an unconfident gesture. "Are you sure I won't be in any pain?" she hesitantly asked.

"I'll hold you up until we're certain of that," Tsunade promised as she slowly guided the girl upwards. Sakura naturally resisted at first, the physical pain she'd previously endured weighing on her psyche, but gradually she allowed her now-official teacher to pull her up. With the majority of her weight cemented on her right ankle, Tsunade uttered soft words of encouragement until Sakura finally gained enough confidence to lower the other foot down, albeit gingerly. Slowly letting her hands go, Tsunade took hold of her waist instead and lifted her out of the tub as if she weighed no more then a feather and placed her on the ground in a standing position. She then waited until Sakura slowly, slowly, slowly transferred weight to the other foot. Upon realizing that the pain she'd been both anticipating and dreading was nowhere to be found, a growing look of awe began to appear on Sakura's face.

Coming to her side now, Tsunade placed her arm around the girl's waist just as Naruto had earlier. "Let's go for a nice easy walk now. Just to the other side of the room and back." Moving at a snails pace, Tsunade gently steered Sakura in the indicated direction. She limped on instinctive impulse at first, but then, gradually, she started to gain confidence and began to place one foot in front of the other. Tsunade carefully watched her face for any signs of discomfort, yet there was nothing but a steadfast look of growing determination.

They reached the other end of the office without a hitch and Tsunade was about to help her walk back when Sakura patted the older woman's hand. "Let me try this one on my own, sensei."

Accepting her decision with ease, Tsunade folded her arms and watched Sakura walk back to Shizune under her own power, this time putting even more weight on the balls of her foot. She reached the tub of water, looked back at Tsunade and, with a beaming smile, began to jog towards her. Not walk, but jog.

A sense of genuine delight stole over Tsunade as Sakura returned to her side, the back of her robe fluttering out behind her like a fiery tail.

"Well it looks like the procedure was a complete success," Tsunade announced. "There's no pain at all?"

Sakura smiled again. "None at all, sensei. And I'm not coughing or feeling crappy anymore either," she added as well. "This is what I want to learn. I want to be able to treat injuries and help people the way you do. I want to get stronger in every way possible." She looked up at Tsunade with a firm look of confidence. "This is what I was meant to do, Tsunade-taichou."

Tsunade leaned forward and laid a hand on Sakura's head. "I want you to learn all of this as well among other things, too. And with patience, dedication, and a lot of hard work, you will. Now go and put your clothes on because I'm going to be sending you out on your first official mission today."

"A mission, sensei?" Sakura asked, perking up.

Tsunade nodded, an oddly tight look appearing on her face. "Yes. And it's an important one so please hurry."

Shizune stood up, pleased that everything had gone well. "I'll go and dump this water down the sink, Tsunade-sama."

The younger women needed little urging. Leaving Sakura to get dressed, Tsunade went to the door, unlocked it and peaked outside once more, then moved to allow Shizune some space to slip by her with the now lukewarm tub of water in tow. Strangely enough the hallway was still vacant. Up until now it had never been this quiet, this peaceful. Maybe there would be time to get a belt or two in before business picked up again. Maybe Sakura's youthful energy had chased all of the mean and nasty bureaucrats away. Tsunade made a scoffing noise. It was no wonder that people called her the legendary sucker.

Waiting until Sakura was fully clothed again before unlocking the door officially, a lingering sense of dread instantly tugged at Tsunade's stomach as she made her way back. After everything that had just transpired here, there was still one matter left that needed to be resolved. Woman intuition had served her well over the past years. And right know it was telling her that Naruto was going to do something potentially foolish. She'd seen the look on his face—had heard the tone in his voice when he had left here and it had not been encouraging at all to say the least. They were the expressions of somebody who needed to take action on something or anything. Despite her best warnings and threats, the situation had all the likeliness of something going terribly wrong. And the worst part about it was that there wasn't a thing she herself could do about it. No, the only person right now who could potentially derail him if he had to be derailed was—

"So what did you need me to do, Tsunade-taichou?" Sakura asked in a pleasant voice. The transition she had clearly undergone filled Tsunade with a certain degree of hope that maybe she was going to make the right decision here. She hoped so anyways.

"I need you to do something that's very important to me," Tsunade said in a slow voice. "I don't think you'll want to do this after you hear me, but I can easily say for certain that you're the only person capable of accomplishing this task for me."

Sakura quickly straightened up. "Anything, sensei. Just tell me."

Tsunade sighed and smiled ruefully at the girl's enthusiasm. "I need you to go and talk to Naruto for me."

As she'd initially predicated, a mixture of shock and fear and confusion instantly played across Sakura's face like a vicious wave crashing against a beach. "W-what? You want me to talk to N-Naruto?"

"Yes," Tsunade replied softly. "I need you to go and check on him for me."

Sakura's hands shook. She fought to still them. "B-but, sensei, why?" she stammered. "H-he's not—he won't—"

Tsunade touched the top of Sakura's head again in an attempt to relieve her anxiety. "I know that what I'm asking of you is hard," she whispered, "and I wouldn't ask you this if I didn't think it was imperative but I'm worried about Naruto. I worry that he's going to do something very stupid and possibly drastic."

Sakura nervously licked her lips. "W-what could he possibly do that would be considered stupid and drastic?" she asked, that question having been contemplated numerous times before obviously.

Tsunade's reply was simple and brutally honest: "Possibly go rogue and leave the village."

Sakura abrupt trepidation came to a screeching halt. "Why would Naruto want to leave the village?" she whispered.

Tsunade folded her arms over her haori. "You told me earlier that he'd been having nightmares and that he wasn't feeling like his normal self. Do you want me to tell you why?"

Setting her jaw, Sakura slowly nodded her head. "Yes."

The Hokage sighed softly. "It's simple really. It's because he feels guilty about everything that's happened since the hospital incident."

Sakura blinked woodenly. "H-he does?"

"Yes, he does. Based off the report Kakashi gave to me, what you've already described, and Naruto's overall demeanor, I strongly suspect that he somehow believes it's his fault that Sasuke left the village in the first place. Naruto's improved abilities—whether it was accidental or on purpose—convinced Sasuke that he needed to gain strength by any means necessary. In this case, he sought out my old teammate Orochimaru. And then the issue only escalated itself even further when he failed to bring Sasuke back to the village. He feels that he let everybody down and thus has resorted to punishing himself as a response to it all." She shot Sakura a tight looking smile. "Just like you've been doing."

Sakura stared at Tsunade in disbelief, the pieces of the puzzle she'd struggled so hard to put together these past hours falling suddenly into place. "I…but…w-why, Tsunade-taichou?" Sakura protested in confusion. "W-what happened wasn't his fault at all! Why would he blame himself like that?"

"Because he considers the people that matter most to him more important then anything in the world," she quietly explained. "And he'll do everything in his power to keep them safe and protected, even if it means dying for them."

A downcast look appeared on Sakura's face. "I—I got upset with him yesterday for making a joke like that," she said. "He made it seem like his life meant nothing and I took some offence to it. At the time it just sounded like a joke but the more I thought about it, the more upset I got. And now, after listening to what you just said…"

"He has a big heart, Sakura," Tsunade said, "but in my experience, people who care the most are often the ones that suffer the most, too. Tell me, Sakura, how well do you know Naruto? I mean, really know him?"

"You mean as in his lifestyle choices?" Sakura asked, thrown off a little by the abrupt change in topic. "Well, I…I honestly can't say for certain, sensei. Only what I've seen I suppose. Why do you ask?"

Tsunade contemplated the enormity of that question. Kakashi had already taken the liberty of explaining to her that Sakura and Sasuke knew nothing about Naruto being a Jinchuuriki and that it was best kept that way until an appropriate occasion. At the time she had been in sole agreement, but that had been before this idea of apprenticeship had even been tossed around. Now that she was going to be overseeing Sakura's training, it was going to be imperative that she eventually comes to know the truth of it all—for both Naruto's safety, and hers especially.

Instead she said, "Because he'll soon be leaving the village to undergo extensive training with Jiraiya, an old colleague of mine."

Sakura's mouth almost dropped to the floor at the mention of such a legendary name. "J-Jiraiya-sama?!" she squeaked.

"Yes."

"You mean Naruto is actually going to be leaving?"

"Yes."

"And Jiraiya-sama himself is going to train him?"

"Yes."

"W-why?"

"Because right now his life is in great danger," Tsunade calmly answered, recalling Jiraiya's detailed analysis. "There's a group of extremely powerful ninja who consider Naruto to be a great deal of interest to them. They wish to abduct him for their own personal purposes. They've already made one attempt to capture him already, and it's highly anticipated that they'll try again."

Sakura's forehead crinkled as she frowned in appropriate confusion. "N-Naruto? Why Naruto?" she demanded, clearly unprepared for all of these new factors and variables to be tossed about. "What do these guys want with him?"

Ignoring the nagging notion that she shouldn't have said anything in the first place, Tsunade continued, "There are…certain things about Naruto that I think it's important that you know. I'm not going to say anything now, though, because the conversation itself will be time-consuming and very extensive. But I think you'll gain a much better understanding of Naruto, why he does the things he does and, more importantly, see why he is the way he is. I promise I'll tell you everything eventually, but it's important for now that you trust in me to go and check on him."

Sakura bit her bottom lip hard in apprehension. "But he won't want to talk to me, sensei!" she argued, falling back on her feelings of pessimism. "Not after everything that's just happened! He'll just want to be left alone again and—"

Tsunade abruptly took Sakura by the shoulders, stilling her explanation. "How do you feel about Naruto, Sakura? Do you care for him?"

"O-of course I do," she answered.

"Good. I do too. And I think—no, I know—that deep down he has strong feelings for you. That's why you're the only person I know of who can possibly prevent him from doing something irreversible should it cross his mind. He will listen to you, Sakura; I know he will. As your teacher, as your friend, I'm asking you to please go and check on him for me. I know that you think that I'm throwing you into the eye of the storm here, but I would be most sincerely grateful if you would do this favor for me. Sakura, please!"

The girl visibly gulped, and for a bleak moment Tsunade thought she was going to refuse the request. It wasn't as if she could coerce the girl into doing something she didn't want to by means of authority. Telling Sakura how Naruto felt about her had been emotional blackmail on her part yes, but Tsunade had to think that Sakura also possessed certain feelings for him as well. A girl did not cry over a boy without the possibility of love being a factor.

Finally Sakura looked Tsunade in the eye. "I'll do it, Tsunade-taichou," she announced, a new note of firmness in her voice. "I'll go check on him and make sure he's okay."

Tsunade slowly released a breath that she wasn't even aware she'd been holding. "Thank you, Sakura. He really does need a friend right now, someone to be there for him during this time. Being there for somebody who pushed you away is very hard, but I have faith in everything working out in the end." She smiled at the girl. "And so should you."

Sakura nodded fractionally. "Well I guess I'd better get going then, sensei. I've monopolized more then enough of your time now, and Naruto's probably off some place getting soaked to the bone. I'll let you know how everything goes either later today or else tomorrow." She then took two steps backward and reverently bowed her head. "Thank you again for allowing me to be your student, Tsunade-taichou. I promise you with all of my heart that I won't let you and Shizune-san down."

Tsunade smiled proudly. "I know you won't. Now don't forget your umbrella on the way out, and don't be pushing that ankle too hard today either. Ligaments take much longer to heal then bones do and I don't want to have to take the time to redo the work on an injury that could have been avoided in the first place, especially when the healing is still taking place. I'll reexamine it tomorrow when you return to make sure everything is mending properly and I'll also prescribe you some exercise routines to help maintain flexibility and strength."

Putting her raincoat back on and locating her boots that Shizune had taken the foresight to turn over to let the water drip out, Sakura was picking both them and the umbrella up and about to leave the office when Tsunade stopped her. "Sakura?"

Sakura turned back to her fully, a patient expression on her young face. "Yes, Tsunade-taichou?"

A no-nonsense look appeared on the older woman's face. "As your teacher, I expect you here tomorrow morning at ten o'clock sharp, Sakura. Tell Ino this as well." Tsunade paused. "And Sakura?"

"Yes?"

Tsunade's expression softened. "Good luck."

Giving her one last smile and a quick nod of confirmation, Sakura turned and left the room, pausing briefly to offer a polite word of thanks to Shizune who was just returning. Shizune returned the gesture with a quick pat to Sakura's shoulder as she entered the office.

"Well that seems to have gone well," Shizune casually remarked as she walked over to the couch to check on Tonton, who had seemingly fallen asleep.

Tsunade rubbed at her forehead. "Yeah, it did. Excuse me for a moment while I go and pour myself a drink. After all of this excitement, I could sure as hell use one…or a couple. You thirsty?"

Shizune shook her head as she gently gathered the pig up in her arms. "No thank you. I think one of us should be sober at the moment, don't you?"

Tsunade didn't even bother replying as she walked back to her desk, instead deciding that Shizune could personally deal with the next adolescent crisis that waltzed in here. Finding the white bottle and her faithful cup, Tsunade flipped the cap off, poured herself a generous shot and downed it in a single gulp, sighing with relief at the way it instantly warmed her stomach. She poured another cupful before recapping the bottle and putting it away.

"That really could have gone bad in a hurry," Tsunade admitted as she reflected on everything that had just transpired. "It's been a long time since I've seen anyone that upset."

Shizune nodded gravely. "I agree, Tsunade-sama. But you kept your composure and handled it better then anyone else possibly could have in your position. Maybe this is a sign that you made the right choice in accepting the mantle of Hokage," she said with a small smile, bringing up their conversation from earlier.

"Yeah, well, you did pretty well yourself," Tsunade tossed in, not wanting to take full credit for everything. "Having you in the background keeping things kosher while I fixed Sakura's leg was important. That's why I hope you understand how important it is to have you by my side while I'm busy doing things like that. I don't know what other surprises are going to turn up in the near future, but I sure as hell hope you're willing to face them along with me."

A look of astonishment slowly appeared on the face of her long time apprentice. "O-of course, Tsunade-sama!" Shizune stammered, slightly in awe at hearing such unprecedented praise. "My dedication to you will never waver!"

Tsunade nodded and took a casual sip from her cup. "Good to hear," she neutrally commented. "Since I'm going to be quite busy training Sakura and possibly Ino, I'm going to have to assign even more duties to you in order to make up for the backlog. It is for the good of the village." She waited until Shizune's face reached a particular shade of red before grinning mischievously. "I'm only kidding."

Shizune made a flustered noise. "Why do you insist on tormenting me this way after you've had a drink or two? It's bad enough that I let you indulge this early in the morning."

"Well you have to be flexible, it comes with the damn job," Tsunade teased. She finished her drink and was strongly thinking about pouring another when there was a solid knock at the door. It then opened to reveal Shiranui Genma, one of the proctors from the Chuunin exam and an elite Jounin in his own right.

"Oh. Good morning, Genma," Shizune said in a cheerful tone upon recognition. "How are your injuries healing?"

Trademark senbon in mouth, Genma touched his ribs with a bandaged arm. "They're okay. Should be healed up in another day or so."

Tsunade put her cup down. "I suppose you're hear to drop off something that needs to be signed in the worst way possible," she asked.

Genma pulled the folder he'd had tucked underneath his arm without embellishment. "What was the tip off?" he asked with a slight smirk.

Tsunade walked over and took it from his grasp. "Because you are always dropping off paper work," she said with a scowl before returning to her desk.

Genma shrugged, the senbon bobbing slightly between his lips. "I just do what I'm told around this place, ma'am. I get told to deliver something—I deliver it. You know how it is." He looked back at Shizune and shrugged again.

Looking for a pen on her completely overcrowded desk, Tsunade's peripheral vision caught a flicker of movement. Looking out the window she quickly spotted Sakura walking outside in the pouring rain towards the marketplace, her umbrella completely folded open. Tsunade looked on for a bit with all of the attention that a mother hen might give to her own chicks, watching as the young girl's pink bangs gradually grew smaller and smaller with distance before finally disappearing like ice in a heated sink.

Well, that was that then. Like it or not, she had irrevocably cemented her dedication to this role. Considering how badly she'd screwed up the past several years by forsaking her duties as a shinobi, it seemed only fitting that she would be the one to help usher in a new generation of ninja by passing on her skills. Although this did not completely alleviate her own personal trepidations, Tsunade knew now that those would fade away in due time once she gradually settled into this role and made it her own. It was no different then what her predecessors had done before her.

Still, a part of her had not been joking when she'd earlier considered abandoning this job out of fear of being way over her head. She could never reveal that to Shizune now for obvious reasons, but the temptation to amscray had nevertheless had been there. In some way, Sakura had inadvertently prevented that from happening. When it came down to it all, the universe really did work in strange ways.

As for her suspicions towards Naruto, Tsunade desperately hoped she was wrong. Summoning an ANBU squad on a whim wasn't a particular ideal way to go about handling business, but Naruto's personality was so similar to Nawaki's that she couldn't help but base some of her hunches on the things her younger brother used to do. He, too, was the sort of boy that wanted nothing more then to do what was right and protect the village. Sheer optimism had, too, been one of his greatest virtues.

But it had been sheer recklessness that had gotten him killed.

Tsunade bristled. If she were truly wrong in the grand scheme of things then she would be relieved. She had gambled more then enough times in her life to know that the world wouldn't end on a bad bet or two. But that was money related, and if her instincts were correct in this—

"Tsunade-sama?"

She quickly glanced over, seen Shizune and Genma looking at her expectantly. For the briefest of moments she considered telling Genma what was on her mind, but quickly abandoned that notion, again not wanting to stir up a commotion. This problem—whether it was potentially one or not—could only be resolved by the person she'd currently assigned to the task. All she could do now was give the situation a chance to work itself out and hope for the best. But if there was one thing she'd learned over the years, it was that nothing was ever guaranteed in this world—especially in the shinobi world.

"But you can't really stop love now, can you?"

Shaking her head at the abrupt mental thought, Tsunade quickly snatched a pen off the table, opened the folder and began the repetitious task of signing her name once again. "Yes, Genma. I definitely know how it is," she absently murmured, effectively summarizing the morning in one foul swoop. Things would definitely work out in the end. She knew they would. After all, hope was being able to see that light existed despite all of the darkness.

She hoped the sun would pop out soon.

To be continued…

Author's Note: Hello there. Nope, I'm not dead or zombified or anything horrific like that. And no I wasn't abducted by aliens for four years either, although that would have been a really cool experience to write about. Nope, I'm still around and still kicking up dust for the most part. On par with the last note I wrote, life ended up getting in the way and I more or less abandoned this story for quite some time without doing any writing of any sort. How long you say? Well…let's just say I left Sakura out in the rain for a very, very long time before I had Naruto come to her rescue. Urgh…

But I honestly did give up writing for a really long time. I went through a wicked bout of depression that ended up taking a lot of time and effort to get over. And when that happens, you basically lack any passion over anything or anyone. A person always thinks that they're the ones going through problems in life, but then you realize that it's a lot more common then initially thought. You never really realize how important mental health is until you or someone you care about is dealing.

Anyways, I didn't really sit down and do anything with this chapter until this year. I received a few reviews and notes from people asking if I'd abandoned this story. The honest answer was no, but I didn't want to reply to anybody either because I had absolutely no idea when I would get this chapter done. For putting those people on ignore like that, I hope you can accept my apologies and understand my reasoning behind it.

I know that the main manga series is long done and over with but I'd still like to finish this story, especially for the few people that are still following this. I had honestly hoped that Naruto and Sakura would have gotten together as a couple in the end (I think they really are cute together), but I can kind of understand why Masashi Kishimoto chose the direction he did. It still doesn't change the fact that we're such love-starved suckers when it comes to pairings. Anyways, hopefully you guys enjoyed the chapter. If it got repetitious in parts, that's my bad. I always feel like I have to explain the hell out of things but that's just me. Take care and have a great day.