A/N: I'm back and I am pleased to inform everyone that I successfully passed the term! Cripes. I was almost positive I would fail this one class. Whew! Sorry this was late guys. Had to fix up my life and set the world back into order before I could release this. Please forgive me TT~TT

So I was wondering... do you guys want to see how Naruto looks like in this story? Not that she's much different from her female form in the series or anything but I tweaked her a little bit to personalize the character. Anyway, if you're curious or anything just give me a message. I'll find a way to post it somewhere. Let me warn you though. I ain't the greatest artist out there. Haha!

Just here to inform everyone that BTW has a lot more chappies to go. Ahehe. Sooo yeah. Hopefully you guys stick with me til the end. But just to give you guys a little hint of the time range of this story: Sasuke and Naruto don't reach past midtwenties. That's all I can give you guys. I don't want you expecting the drama.

Anywhoooo. Sit back, relax and enjoy the SasuNaru while we're still here :D

*DISCLAIMER APPLIES*

BEFORE THE WORST

Say the Words That I Can't Say

Part III

The first experience of heartbreak would always be a milestone in anyone's book. By instinct, a person would usually allow oneself to cry it out (chick flicks may or may not be involved) because it was true that having a good cry was an essential part of acceptance; to accept that you've been hurt. Of course the pain had to be let out in some way. Thus crying was the conceived solution.

Naruto, however, did not cry.

She sat outside the front door of her home and simply stared out at the street. She'd stayed that way for the past couple of hours now; unmoving and silent. She watched the smaller neighbourhood kids enter their respective houses as the mothers called for dinner. She'd watched the streets turn dim as the day was replaced by the night. She had even watched the lamp posts flicker to life one by one, lending the residents the artificial light.

Watching.

She was just watching.

Just as she had at the school lobby.

The sound of the front door opening behind her indicated that Jiraiya had decided to join her outside. "Food's getting cold, kiddo. Are you just gonna stay here the whole night or what?" A hand was suddenly atop her head; a gesture that had come naturally throughout the years.

"I'll pass on dinner tonight, Pops. Don't really feel like eating." She rested her head on her folded arms. In fact, she actually didn't feel like doing anything right now. Tch. It was all stupid Sasuke's fault... Making her miss dinner. Jiraiya made ribs! How dare Sasuke ruin such goodness! ... But it wasn't really Sasuke's fault though, was it. Nor was it Sakura's. Geez. It freakin' sucked being a teenager.

"You wanna talk about it, kid?" These were the rare times Jiraiya actually acted like a parent. Heck, the guy couldn't act his age; but it was times like these that Naruto cherished because she guessed this was exactly what it would feel like if her parents hadn't passed on. The old pervert was a really great guy and an okay parent. She looked up and was greeted with the sight of her concerned godfather. Yep. He was definitely an a-okay parent. "Nah. I'm fine, Jiraiya. I'll get in the house in a bit. Just needed some air."

The older gentleman sighed. "Whatever you say, Naruto. But if you want to talk, you know where to find me." He then ruffled his ward's yellow hair vigorously in the hopes that the motion would make her feel better. Fortunately enough, it did. Finally, after days of sulking, Naruto had smiled. It wasn't the smile Jiraiya was used to seeing but at least it was something. Sometimes, the small gestures were all it took to make someone feel somewhat better.

"See you later, kiddo."

"Yup. See ya, old fart."

She really was lucky to have Jiraiya. Naruto let her fingers run through the spot on her head where Jiraiya had messed up. Her bangs had gotten out of place but that wasn't an issue. One benefit to having naturally unruly hair was that you could care less about styling it and people wouldn't be giving you funny looks on the street.

While she was making her hair somewhat presentable, she vaguely heard their landline ring from inside the house. She paid no heed to it, however. Why would she? There wasn't anything strange about people calling your home. What she did deem peculiar was the fact that not soon after Jiraiya had answered the phone, the man came rushing outside.

"Naruto, you'd know where Sasuke is, wouldn't you?"

The question confused her. "What?" She tilted her head curiously.

"It's Kakashi. Sasuke hasn't been answering his phone. Kakashi's tried to call you but you didn't answer either so he called here."

"Oh, sorry. Phone was probably on silent or something. Tell Kakashi I don't know where Sasuke is." Another weird occurrence. It wasn't like Sasuke to disappear like that without informing anybody.

Jiraiya placed the phone back to his ear. "Kakashi, she doesn't know where he is. Maybe he went out with other people and forgot to check his phone?"

Wrong. Sasuke always checked his phone. And as if he hung out with other people! This wasn't the twilight zone.

"The arcade?"

Sasuke wasn't too fond of going to the arcade. He found the buttons and devices on the machines gross. Naruto usually had to force him to go with her. He'd much rather play video games at home than in public anyways.

"What about the mall? He could have gone shopping."

Sasuke shopping for fun? Ha! That was rich!

"Did you see him leave the school this afternoon?"

... Aaaaand three, two, one.

"Fuck!" Naruto jumped from her spot and began to run. "He's a fucking idiot!"

"Naruto! Where are you going?" Jiraiya shouted after her. Now was not the time to be joking around! Couldn't she see that her own best friend was missing in action?!

She stopped moving away just as she was about to leave their property but assumed a jogging in place motion. "Tell Kakashi not to worry. I know where the bastard is. I'll go get him now." And at that, she zoomed away to God knows where.

Now that was more like it. Jiraiya knew it was too surreal for Naruto not to know where Sasuke was. "She's got him Kakashi. You can calm down now."

llllllllllllllllllll

"SASUKE!"

The sight of Naruto sprinting towards him greatly pleased him. It was understandable though. Try waiting for someone for at least three hours. See how you like it. He removed himself against the wall and waited for the girl to get to him. Che. Let her run. She deserved it for making him wait.

" 'Bout time you showed." He said once Naruto was beside him. The girl was hunched over as she panted like mad.

"You stupid shit! Why didn't... you go.. home?! And why in flipping hell... weren't you answering your phone?! You had Kakashi... and Jiraiya worrying about... you!" Naruto scolded him in between breaths. She straightened herself and decided to thump the jerk on the arm. "Inconsiderate ass!"

The boy frowned at her. To retaliate, he painfully flicked her on the forehead.

"OW! Stupid motherfu-"

"Bad word." He flicked her again but with less intensity.

"Tch! Yeah, yeah, whatever! Let's just go." She led the way back with Sasuke finally in tow. "Can't believe you actually stayed here. Who waits around for another few hours after being ditched?" It was obviously a rhetorical question but Sasuke chose to answer nonetheless.

"Obviously someone who cares. Wouldn't you have done the same if it were me?" Naruto clicked her tongue at the unwarranted response. Of course she would have! In truth, people would expect Naruto to have pulled a stunt like this. Not Sasuke though! Sasuke didn't have the patience. You'd think the guy who snapped at kids for not understanding the basics of algebra would have given up and left after the first five minutes of waiting.

"Shut up. I just wanna get back home. I'm exhausted." Sasuke fell in step with Naruto and looked at her at a new light.

It's Naruto, isn't it?

He heard Sakura's voice echo in his head.

"Hey, I spoke with Sakura."

Naruto almost stopped breathing. Sasuke was gonna break it to her that quick? Well, shit. She wasn't ready for that yet. In fact, she'd never be ready. What kind of numbskull wanted to hear the person they loved talk about their developing relationship with someone else?

"About?" Yeah. She was fairly convinced that she was a masochistic moron. Of course Sasuke would be telling her about his newfound relationship with Haruno Sakura. That was the blessing and the curse of being a best friend. They were the first to find out about these things.

"I won't go into detail but I just wanted to let you know that..." Here it goes. Brace yourself, Naruto. "She's going to speak with you tomorrow about your little cold war. Something about talking things out."

Eh?

"Whu? Seriously?" That... that was the best news she'd heard so far. To hear that Sakura was willing to speak with her regarding the situation, well, it was Christmas! Naruto grinned at the prospect of being able to fix things with Sakura. The mirth reached her eyes and it brought Sasuke a sense of calm and accomplishment. It was nice to see her smiling again.

"Sasuke, whatever it was you did, I can't thank you enough! God! I could kiss you right now!" The blonde crazily spun herself out of sheer joy. The things he did for this girl...

"Don't say disgusting things, moron. Who'd want to kiss you?" As if to contradict what he'd just said, Sasuke immediately held Naruto's hand. What? It wasn't suspicious at all since they were best friends! It wasn't as if this was the first time! It was perfectly legal to hold onto your best friend's hand.

But was Naruto really just a best friend to him?

It's Naruto, isn't it?

Hn. You know what?

Maybe Sakura was on to something then.

In fact, cut the uncertainty off because yeah. Sakura was spot on.

It was Naruto.

"Sasuke rocks my socks!" The blonde shouted as she returned the grip on Sasuke's hand.

And people thought Sasuke was a genius.

It was crazy how he hadn't realized it sooner.

llllllllllllllllllll

The next morning, while Naruto was having breakfast, something unexpected had happened. Sure she was expecting to have the talk with Sakura today, but she never expected for the older female to come knocking at her door at seven thirty a.m. in the morning.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto stared dumbfounded at her visitor. The piece of toast unflatteringly hung in her mouth precariously. What a total goof this one was.

Sakura meekly smiled at the younger girl. "Walk with me."

Minutes later, both of them were in step with each other as they made their way to school. This was awkward... How could Naruto strike up a conversation? Uhhh. Start with the weather? People didn't seriously do that, did they? Errrr. What about her shoes? No. Those were the same shoes she wore to school every damn day. Latest boy bands? ... fuck that. Naruto didn't know a thing about boy bands. Shitshitshit! She had to say something soon!

"So how about that 'N Sync, huh?"

"About Sasuke."

They spoke at the same time.

... Naruto was a dumbass.

Luckily, her random ice-breaker topic had Sakura giggling. The sound of which immediately put her at ease. She missed this. Most would say that a week was nothing but Naruto wasn't most people. She honestly missed having Sakura around.

"Aheh. So uhhh. Yeah. Ignore what I said. Let's talk about the thing... with Sasuke." The way Naruto brought the situation back into context was a bit shaky, which was to be expected. As far as she knew, they were still walking on thin ice.

Sakura had immediately gone back to being earnest from lightly giggling in a snap. "I... I confessed to him yesterday after school."

Of course. Naruto couldn't forget even if she'd tried. But Sakura didn't know she had seen the events of yesterday so she remained quiet and let the other finish the story.

"I told him I loved him."

Naruto, for lack of anything better to say, merely remained silent. The point of Sakura telling her all of this was sort of a territorial declaration, wasn't it? This was to let her know that Sasuke was off-limits. Sakura made the message quite clear and the fact that Naruto had nothing to say was a sign of compliance. Sakura had won.

"He rejected me."

She said what now?

"He what!?" Well, that was a complete and utter surprise. "But you guys kissed!" Naruto slipping up wasn't too much of a shocker though.

"You saw?!" Sakura looked mortified at the thought that her move of desperation was seen.

"Sorry! Sorry! I... I saw you two. But I left immediately after you two... y'know. Sorry..."

Feeling quite ashamed of herself for telling the taller female that she had seen some of what had transpired, Naruto lowered her head. In reality, Sakura wasn't even the least bit angry that Naruto had seen. The more prevailing emotion the pinkette was experiencing was one of shame.

"Wish you hadn't seen that though. It was a pretty low move. The kiss was one-sided just so you know. I wasn't pulling your leg when I said he rejected me." Not that Naruto wasn't slightly relieved when she heard about Sasuke's retained single status but... What was Sasuke thinking? Sakura was The Perfect Catch! Hot damn! Was Sasuke secretly gay?

"Sakura, he's a dumb genius. I honestly don't understand why he keeps on rejecting you. Probably doesn't even know what he wants. I think he may be gay. He has to be if he keeps turning someone like you down. I mean, come on! You're like... perfect!"

The unorthodox words of comfort surprisingly did the trick as Sakura was giggling again. The thing about Naruto was that she focused too much on everyone else's light that she sometimes failed to notice her own. Naruto was an exceptional friend that way; and it was wrong for Sakura to wrongfully accuse her of so many things.

"I disagree. I think Sasuke knows exactly what he wants." And Sakura was staring right at the blond idiot. The older teen knew when she had been completely beaten. It was painfully clear that there was no way Sakura could compete with Naruto. "Hey, whatever happened between us, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I let my emotions get the better of me. So not cool. Forgive me?"

Just from hearing Sakura call a ceasefire made Naruto's day infinitely better. "Heh. As long as you accept my apology then you got yourself a deal." Naruto extended her right hand. "Truce?"

Sakura ignored the extended limb and swooped for a tight embrace instead. "Truce."

And all was well with the world again.

Mmm...

Actually, not quite.

"Okay. Since I got my closure, it's time you got yours too, wouldn't you agree? Tell him already!" Now it was Sakura's turn to be the supportive friend. Sasuke and Naruto were already halfway there! All they needed was a little push.

"Meh. I'll pass for now. Maybe some other day." Timing was essential. There was a perfect time and setting for everything. A person didn't just pull confessions out of their ass. Confessions were made when there was an overpowering sensation of emotion, when the ambiance was warm and calming, when everything in general just felt... right. To some degree, Naruto could really be considered a hopeless romantic.

"Do it now! It's not like he'll reject!" Honestly, some girls had that tendency to blab without meaning to.

"Huh? Why?"And some girls just couldn't take the hint even when it was smacking them right in the face.

Knowing she'd spoil the surprise if she'd said anything more, Sakura winked furtively at her companion. The older girl then suddenly skipped down the street to silently taunt the other. She knew something Naruto didn't know and she wasn't telling!

"Sakura-chaaaaan! Stop keeping things from me! It's uncool!" The blonde pleaded as she tried to run after her friend.

Sakura only continued to skip away all the while laughing at Naruto's misery. Heh. It was only a matter of time before those two ended up together. One day in the not too distant future, one of them would surely cave.

And who'da thunk that that day would come on Naruto's birthday.