Amnesia

Chapter 9: Training Time

"OK!" Naruto clapped his hands together and stood tall, addressing her proudly. "Sakura-chan! My wonderful student, tell me all you know about chakra! Go!"

Sakura giggled before turning serious and reciting, "Chakra is energy that a ninja needs to use to utilise a technique. That energy comes from the body energy that is collected from every cell in the body and from the spirit energy that comes from training and experience. In other words, techniques come from these two energies that are squeezed out of the body and moulded together. This process is known as moulding the chakra, and with this chakra, one is able to execute a technique by forming a seal. Medical chakra is-"

"Wo wo wo, slow down!" Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "You've lost me."

Sakura paused and raised an eyebrow at her teacher. Lost him already? She'd barely touched on the basics. He had told her before that he didn't understand medical chakra, though. She'd give him the benefit of the doubt. Others had found the thought of him teaching her amusing, but at least he was willing to teach. Being willing to try put him leaps and bounds above all her other potential (but reluctant) teachers.

"I thought you didn't know anything." Naruto pouted, looking truly letdown. "I was about to impress you with my knowledge."

The knowledge was the bit she found easy; it was the doing that she found difficult, impossible even. She could tell him all she knew, drone on about it for hours, or she could play the part of eager apprentice and make him feel better about himself (and hopefully learn something too).

Sakura smiled apologetically. "I've been trying to learn all I can whilst you were away, sorry."

Naruto gazed back at her, his smile almost dreamy. "Don't apologise. You're amazing for learning that in such a short space of time. It took me years and I still don't fully understand it."

She smiled back at him. She didn't think she would ever get used to the amount of compliments he paid her effortlessly, all the time. He didn't even seem to realise how much he praised her – or the amount of time he spent smiling at her. She'd smile about it later when he wasn't there, it was always a comforting thought, but right now she wanted to be all about business.

He continued to smile.

Sakura cleared her throat and shuffled awkwardly under his affectionate gaze. "Naruto?"

"Mmhmm?" He grinned, tilting his head at her.

"What now?" she questioned, returning to her serious mode.

Pulling himself out of thought, he pointed to the tree. "We climb a tree!"

Sakura was about to agree with all the people that had laughed, when she told them Naruto would teach her to use chakra, until he added: "With no hands, we'll climb it vertically with chakra only."

She nodded slowly, not sure where he was going with this, watching him with interest.

Naruto walked up to the tree and placed a foot on the trunk, instructing her as he went along. "Gather your chakra at the bottom of your feet and make it attach to the tree trunk."

She watched as he walked up the log vertically, then upside down across a branch above her head. "The main purpose of this training is to accumulate the right amount of moulded chakra in the right location."

Her eyes widened. While it wasn't as fast-paced or as crazy as some of the fighting she'd seen her ninja friends get involved with, it was strange to think of herself dangling in trees like that. Having no current chakra controlling skill, it seemed quite complicated. She'd love to be able to do that though – just proving she could do it to Tsunade would guarantee her medical training.

Dropping down and swivelling in mid air to land on his feet, Naruto smiled. "Your turn."

Determined to try her best, she nodded. "Right."

Sakura walked up to the tree he had climbed, she placed the sole of her shoe against the wooden trunk, as comfortably high up the tree as possible. She looked back at her friend and Naruto nodded encouragingly. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, mould chakra, climb tree... Here goes nothing. Sakura lifted her other foot and placed it above the first.

Could she do it?

No.

Gravity took over and she fell back down into two strong arms. She pouted and looked at the male who had caught her bridal style.

"Good try, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said, not at all discouraged by her failure. "You did better than me on my first go."

"Really?" she asked in disbelief.

He placed her on her feet and nodded. "Yeah! I ran at the tree and fell straight back down."

"A run up huh?" She looked at the tree, studying it, in thought. "Think I could do it with a run up?"

Naruto shrugged. "You could try."

"Does it help though?" she questioned.

"I always ran at it." He grinned.

With that knowledge, she turned away from him and walked several metres, then looked back. "Does it help the further you are away?"

"Sure!"

She stepped back several more feet. "Here?"

"Maybe a little more!" he shouted.

Raising an eyebrow, she continued to step backwards until he held up his hand to signal for her to stop. She narrowed her eyes at her target and bobbed back and forth on her feet, ready for action.

"Go!" Naruto grinned and pointed his finger in the air, as if starting a race.

Sakura broke into a run, going as fast as she could. When she reached the tree, she jumped at it, hitting it foot first before bouncing back slightly. Quickly, she put her other foot on the bark, but similarly to the first time, slipped and fell back down.

Naruto caught her again.

Sakura frowned. "I got no further than the first time."

Naruto giggled.

"Is that funny?" Her frown increased.

"No, Sakura-chan, it's just I'm really enjoying this teaching thing, telling you what to do and all." He smiled and shrugged.

She looked at him. "...Did I really need that much of a run up?"

Putting her back down to the ground, he mumbled, "I always took a long run up."

"I didn't need to though did I?"

"No."

She frowned.

"Let's try again!" Naruto grinned at her. "With as much as a run up as you'd like."

Sakura nodded and walked a few steps away, before turning around and running at the tree again, still determined to get a result. She was not going to let a tree beat her, especially when so much depended on her succeeding.

For the, what must be a billionth time, she fell down. Naruto caught her once more and placed her on her feet, still as encouraging and happy as when they started – she on the other hand, was annoyed with her lack of progress.

She sighed. "I can't do it. The first time I tried, I went up about four feet, I'm still going up about four feet!"

Naruto stroked his chin in thought.

"Any tips?" she asked, increasingly desperate.

Naruto smiled and recited, "First, chakra uses your spirit energy, so don't get tense or too eager. Relax, concentrate on your energy and collect a constant amount of chakra at the bottom of your feet."

That was useful. At the start she had been nothing but eager and the more she tried, the more frustrated she had gotten with herself. She took a deep breath before letting it out slowly, calming herself.

She nodded before smiling. "OK. You're quite knowledgeable really, aren't you?"

Her friend grinned. "I only remembered that because you told me, Sakura-chan."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

He nodded. "When I was having trouble with this, I asked you for some tips and you really helped me out, I memorised it word for word. You're a great teacher, Sakura-chan."

Sakura smiled. "Thanks, you too... How long ago did we do this training activity then?"

"Six years?" Naruto said with a shrug.

Her eyes widened again, surprised it had been so long ago and yet he still remembered what she said perfectly. "That's a long time. You still remember what I said?"

He smiled. "I always remember everything you say, and everything you do for me."

Sakura smiled back at him... That was really sweet. She couldn't have had more support behind her than right now. But when she looked back at the tree, she sighed again.

"You can do it! I believe in you!" Naruto spurred her on.

Taking it slow, she tried one more time, but with the same results.

When Naruto caught her she looked up at him. "What now?"

"How about a break?" he suggested, still holding her in his arms. "We've been at it for hours."

She nodded and then asked, "Hey, Naruto?"

"Yes?"

"Why do you catch me every time I fall?"

His smile widened. "I'll never let you fall. I don't want to see you get hurt."

She looked at the ground down by her side. "It's not very far."

He shrugged.

She smiled up at him. He wouldn't even risk her getting a small scratch or bruise. She really felt safe with him. The amount of trust she had in him was so comforting. In her technical mind state, she had not known him that long, but he easily made her feel like they had been friends for all those years. If he wasn't here right now, she would be so much more frustrated with herself.

"...And I like carrying you," he added.

"All right, put me down." She frowned.

"Aww." He didn't move, just looked at her with a puppy-dog pout.

"Naruto!" she raised her voice.

Truthfully, she wasn't that annoyed, but she'd found herself having an ever-growing short temper. Being carried by him wasn't a bad thing, though a little embarrassing and she didn't want him to feel too comfortable. She didn't want him to feel rewarded every time she fell down!

Naruto laughed and started to run. Her eyes widened, she squeaked and grabbed onto his jacket to hold on tighter as he began to run up the tree while still carrying her. He stopped on the next branch up, that was big enough to support them, and placed her down on her feet. He then sat down on the branch and offered her his hand to help her do the same.

Trying to keep some of her pride, after the noise she made on the way up, she ignored his help and sat down herself. However, she leant too far back when sitting down and began to tilt backwards. Naruto quickly placed a hand behind her back to steady her; therefore she avoided an embarrassing fall. She blushed and cursed inwardly herself – could she not do anything simple right?

Naruto ignored what nearly happened and smiled at her. "Hey look, you climbed the tree."

Sakura looked down at the floor below them and laughed, swinging her legs back and forth in the open air. "Oh yes, that was easy."

He grinned.

"So...when we did this the first time, did I catch you when you fell?"

Naruto laughed. "No, but that would have been amazing!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"You didn't ever really let me get that close, or talk to me much. You catching me is the sort of stuff my dreams were made out of!" He giggled to himself.

That didn't sound that nice to her. It wasn't giggle-worthy.

"Why didn't I let you get close?"

He shrugged. "I probably made a fool of myself and embarrassed you too much."

"I doubt that."

He smiled. "Trust me. If you think I'm an idiot now, you should have seen me as a child."

She hummed, looking away from him. "I don't think you're that much of an idiot."

"Really?" Naruto's eyes widened before he grinned at her.

She thought about it. He had done some idiotic things in the past few months, but mainly he was funny or cute when he did so.

"OK," she admitted, shooting him a teasing smile. "You are a bit of an idiot."

He pouted.

"But you're a sweet idiot."

Naruto grinned again. "That's me! I'm sweet!"

She laughed and hit him playfully on the arm.

Unprepared, he fell backwards, she went to grab him but missed and he fell to the floor with a thud.

"Naruto?" She peered down to see him lying on the ground. "Are you OK, Naruto?"

She was prepared to jump down when he burst out laughing again.

This guy was a little crazy.

"Are you hurt?" She watched him for signs of pain.

He stopped laughing and smiled up at her. "Nah! Don't worry, Sakura-chan, that was nothing!"

Sakura smiled down at him. He placed his hands behind his head and smiled back.

They watched each other for a while, enjoying each other's company.

She looked up at the blue sky. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and it was warm, but there was a gentle breeze that made it just the right temperature. If she wasn't supposed to be learning something important, it would be a perfect day just to relax and spend time together.

Naruto closed his eyes and she watched him again.

While she hadn't made any progress with chakra, she had a lot of fun. Was it just her, or did she find herself smiling twice as much when Naruto was around? She couldn't stop smiling at the way he looked at her, she had been failing epically yet she wasn't upset, he cheered her up when she was sad. Heck, he cheered her up before she had the chance to be sad.

Naruto could read her so well; he knew what to say and what to do... Despite her teasing, he'd been a good teacher really. She ran a hand along the trunk of the tree she was sat on – the stupid, impossible tree. Who knew something so simple could make her so embarrassed?

Naruto tried so hard to help. It was just a shame she had to go and disappoint him by learning nothing at all. She looked back down to see Naruto had opened his eyes and was looking at her again.

See! He just knew - if she ever thought negatively about herself or was worried about something, he was working out how to make her feel better.

He tilted his head at her.

"What?" She watched him.

"You," he smiled, "this reminds me of when we were kids... You got way up the tree on your first try. I looked up from the floor and you were giggling on your high branch. It was amazing! You were amazing, so skilled... Although I was slightly jealous, I couldn't scratch what you could do. Your chakra control was perfect and I couldn't even give the definition of chakra."

She watched as he sat there smiling to himself - he always laughed or smiled when he was talking about her past self, he almost made her jealous of herself. He kept telling her she was amazing. He was the amazing one in her opinion.

"And just look at you now," she said teasingly, "teaching me."

He giggled.

"But you did fall out of the tree," she added.

"Ah, but you pushed me, Sakura-chan!" he countered.

"Could you not block or something?"

"I was distracted." He smiled.

"By me?"

"Yes."

"So you're blaming me?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I could have dodged if I wanted." He shrugged.

"Really?" Her eyes widened.

"Sometimes." He grinned.

Sakura thought about all the times she apparently hit him. Even recently she had given him the odd playful nudge that had come off stronger than intended – and sometimes her push was supposed to be that strong.

"Then why do you let me hit you?"

"Because..." He tilted his head again. "You'd probably only try again if you missed... I guess I kind of like the attention... Plus you say I deserve it anyway."

"You like being hit?" she repeated, surprised.

He grinned. "Only when you hit me softly, even then it still really hurts, but if I pout at you, you sometimes heal me or feel sorry for me and that's the best bit."

"I see," Sakura replied thoughtfully, raising an eyebrow.

"You do hit me a lot though... I don't know why," he mumbled.

"Because..." she trailed off and looked at him. She didn't know why she hit him so much, she kind of just found herself doing so.

Naruto looked up at her, waiting for an answer.

She hit him when he did stupid things, got himself into trouble and worried her - or when he had been sweet, but then said something that made her mad, or if he was too sweet. If she couldn't handle it, the embarrassment came out in a controlled flailing of her arms in his general direction.

"Because you're an idiot," she concluded after a long silence, not being able to put how she felt into words.

He smiled.

"Do you like being called an idiot too?"

"Of course not," he said with a mock pout. "I'm crying on the inside, Sakura-chan."

Her smile fell a little - it was kind of mean.

He laughed.

"You really do like making me feel sorry for you don't you?" She frowned.

"No," he answered unconvincingly, his smile giving him away.

He did, he was doing it on purpose surely, playing with her emotions. She watched him smile... No, Naruto was Naruto, he didn't mean to make her feel like this. He just did. He really confused her. She must have sustained some kind of other brain damage when she hit her head or something, to make her feel this way. Maybe she was thinking of him when she got her injury and that left some strange impression on her.

She shook her head. She knew that wasn't how brain damage worked.

"Whatcha thinking about, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked her.

"Brain damage."

He sat up and raised an eyebrow.

"You know about brain damage right? Ino said you'd discuss some medical things with me."

"Uhh" -Naruto scratched the back of his head- "sure."

"Do you think your last thought can be remembered, even if everything else was forgotten, if you sustained a brain injury?" she wondered out loud. "And therefore, that thing can make your brain confused? Then he, uhh it, can make you feel, just so... No that's silly."

"It's not silly," Naruto spoke quietly. "Feelings can still be remembered even after a brain injury."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? I didn't think that was possible, the brain has input, process and output, right? One thing doesn't escape if everything else is suppressed."

"Love is never suppressed. You can take as many blows to the head as you want, you're still going to feel the same for him deep down, no matter what he does." Naruto smiled.

Love?

She frowned in thought. "That's not a very scientific argument, Naruto."

"It's true, trust me." He smiled.

She'd never read a book on that. She would have thought even if you felt really strongly towards someone, a simple knock to the head could eliminate that stimuli. She was trying to explain her confusion with science and that was just making her even more confused. Yet Naruto seemed to know exactly what she was talking about.

Wait... Did he think she loved him? He always seemed to know what she was thinking about. Had she just confessed to him, in a really weird way? She hadn't even confessed to herself. She didn't even know how she felt. She felt everything, if that was possible. She felt differently depending on how he looked at her. Like right now, he was looking at her oddly and that made her feel awkward.

She laughed weakly to herself.

"Are you OK, Sakura-chan?" Naruto studied her.

Did he now think that her loving him made her sad?

"I'm great!" she replied. Her jaw locked in an over-wide smile.

Naruto smiled back. "Want to get back to training then?"

"Yes," she answered immediately, glad for the topic change.

She needed to stop thinking about this. She needed to forget it and conclude that whatever emotions she was currently feeling were down to brain damage.

Naruto stood underneath the tree and held out his arms. "Jump."

"Huh?"

"Jump, I'll catch you," he told her.

She measured the distance in her head.

"Trust me," he added softly.

She looked him in the eyes...and pushed off the branch. She wasn't in the air for very long, she was soon in his arms. She wrapped her legs around his back and placed her arms around his neck, hugging him. Of course he caught her comfortably. He didn't need to ask her to trust him.

He hugged her back, a little surprised.

They stood there for a moment.

She pulled back and smiled at him.

He smiled back.

Their faces were pretty close together. The adrenaline from the fall had her heart beating fast - it also made her blush apparently.

Naruto swallowed.

"Umm...training?" she said awkwardly.

"Yeah" -he nodded dumbly- "umm, Sakura-chan? You're kind of-"

Oh. She quickly unwrapped her legs from around him, which was probably why he couldn't put her down.

He placed her on her feet and she quickly turned around, walking straight into the tree behind them.

"Oww..." she mumbled and slowly pulled away, cursing her idiocy.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan!" Naruto apologised instantly.

"It wasn't your fault." She rubbed her nose and turned back to face him.

"Are you hurt?" He asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," she smiled and lowered her hand. "Honestly."

"I should have stopped that," he mumbled.

"No it was my fault," she repeated. "I was distracted."

He studied her face for damage and she pushed him back. "I'm fine! Let's train!"

After making sure she wasn't bleeding or anything, Naruto nodded and their training session resumed.

Frustration returned when she tried to walk up the stupid tree again. Naruto wasn't talking as much as before and therefore she grumbled to herself more frequently. He still caught her, but put her down straight away. She couldn't even begin to relax; she was more than tensed in annoyance.

She pouted at the tree before turning to Naruto and asking, "Can you show me how it's done again?"

Pulling himself out of thought, Naruto nodded. "Sure, Sakura-chan."

"Are you OK?" she asked as he began to walk up the trunk. "You're quieter than you were before."

"I'm fine, Sakura-chan." He smiled. He walked upside down across the middle of the branch, until his face was level with hers.

"Not tired of me or something? Disappointed with me?" Sakura questioned seriously.

"Never," Naruto smiled affectionately at her. "Never ever."

She nodded and smiled back.

Her heart was beating really fast again. His smile was just as bright and warm upside down.

She took a step towards him and placed a hand on his face, tracing a finger gently along a whisker shaped mark on his cheek. She looked him the eyes and bit her lip. Something about him made her want to kiss him, for some reason he was really cute upside down. He was right there. She couldn't stop herself from leaning just that little bit closer. She placed her other hand on his other cheek and stood on tiptoes, about to kiss him.

"Hey, Sakura!"

Startled, she stepped back and tripped. Naruto lost his balance and fell out of the tree also. They both collapsed in a heap, next to each other on the ground.

Ino ran up to them and raised an eyebrow. "What are you two doing?"

Sakura shot up. "Nothing!"

A smirk crossed Ino's face. "Mmhmm. How goes the training?"

"Well, I still can't mould chakra, I can't walk up the tree." Sakura sighed.

"Can you even form chakra?" Ino raised an eyebrow. "If you can't feel chakra how are you supposed to mould it?"

Sakura looked at Naruto, who was still sat on the floor, and he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. She offered him and hand and pulled him up to stand by her side. They looked at each other for a moment, neither of them knowing the answer.

Ino looked between them and realised she wouldn't get a reply."Right... Naruto, you do know Tsunade was expecting you to report to her hours ago?"

"Oh," Naruto mumbled.

"And, Sakura? What happened to us having lunch together?" the blonde continued.

"Oh." Sakura looked away from Naruto. "Sorry, Ino, we lost track of time."

"I bet." Ino smiled before looking at their hands.

Sakura's eyes widened. She was still holding Naruto's hand! She let go and stepped back.

"Do you have something to say to each other or something?" Ino asked. "Or are you going to stand there and look at each other like lemons?"

Sakura laughed nervously and Ino watched her friend very closely.

"Thanks for trying to teach me, Naruto," Sakura smiled. "I'm sorry I wasted your time."

"It wasn't a waste of time, Sakura-chan, I had a lot of fun."

"Me too."

It had been a lot of fun. She'd really enjoyed her time. She had smiled and laughed, heard all about her past-self, had some pretty awkward and embarrassing conversations and moments. The smile on her face grew and then she was laughing, so was Naruto. They were a couple of dorks.

Ino watched them randomly burst out laughing, when they appeared to slowly come down from their giggle fit, she spoke, "You two do this sometimes."

"What?" Sakura replied breathlessly, rubbing her eyes that were slightly teary.

"You both just laugh and nobody knows what you're laughing at." Ino shook her head.

Sakura smiled and looked at Naruto. "I guess we just share the same sense of humour."

"Yeah..that's it." Ino rolled her eyes before clapping her hands together at Naruto. "Now come on, lover boy! Tsunade wants to see you and I want to talk to my friend."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura-chan?" Naruto smiled.

Sakura smiled and nodded back, watching him as he ran off in the direction of the Hokage tower.

"We need to talk." Ino grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her along.

"About?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Medical theories."

"Really?" Sakura got slightly excited. Had her friend finally decided to humour her?

"No, about Naruto, you airhead." Ino rolled her eyes. "What is wrong with you today? You're so slow."

She was wondering the same thing. She wasn't looking forward to this conversation. Then again, she needed to get some things off her chest, who better to discuss her feelings with than her best friend?

Author Notes:

The original author notes on this chapter were over 1500 words long, so I've just cut out 95% of it:

'Whilst this was planned to be mainly NaruSaku, Sakura wasn't going to be so confused and awkward with her feelings :P I don't know how I feel about it XD. The last 2100 odd words were written on my iPod whilst I was in bed and I finished writing at about 2am, so I don't know if the quality dipped or it turned weird towards the end.'

I've left in the personal thank you to all that reviewed (good or bad), in order:

raidersfan777 (x8) – first reviewer and you've reviewed every chapter? Nice! :D
dbzgtfan2004 :)
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NaruSaku means logic (x2) :), thanks for the birthday congratulations!
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Everyone gets a smiley face, thank you :P.

Sakura's explanation of chakra in the beginning was copied out word for word from the episode where they climb trees :) I do do research before I write and post these things – the medical topic on the bookshelf last week was a real medical topic, I ended up looking through a medical keyword alphabet – I do actually learn things when I write these stories and I do try to keep it somewhat realistic, as I said previously, the whole type of Amnesia that Sakura has is based on my Psychological knowledge and memory research.

Thanks for reading!