DISCLAIMER: No matter how much I want it, I do not own Naruto. I am still only borrowing the characters and promise to return them in good condition – well, maybe slightly battered! Hopefully this chapter meets with everyone's approval - I agonized over it for quite a while. Thanks to imaginativefool for going over it with me!

Chapter Six:
What are Friends for?

And the shadow of the day
Will embrace the world in grey
And the sun will set for you
~Linkin Park~

"You want to talk about it?" Sasuke asked.

"Nope."

"Not that I really care, but it would probably help to talk about it," Sasuke mused.

Naruto turned his glare on his teammate. "Oh? Really? Then I guess you'd like to get a few things off your chest."

The scowl Sasuke sent his way was answer enough. He mumbled something before turning his attention back to the scroll he was studying. Good. He didn't want to talk about Sakura anymore than Sasuke wanted to talk about any of his problems. As long as Sasuke kept his ass close by so that he could manipulate the bastard into talking to Sakura for him when she got back then he didn't care if his roommate was sulking or pissed. He had his own shit to deal with and didn't...

"She's not Sakura," Sasuke said softly, grabbing his attention in a big way.

"What?" he asked, frowning at his friend.

"I ended things with that last woman because she's not Sakura," Sasuke admitted.

"Oh, I see," Naruto said slowly as his brain struggled to comprehend what Sasuke said and when it did he found himself on top of Sasuke and beating the shit out of him.

"Stop!" Sasuke snapped. He had to activate his sharingan just to avoid the fast and furious punches the blond inflicted upon him.

But Naruto couldn't stop… wouldn't. He knew Sasuke would be the better man for Sakura and that he should just step back and wish him well, but jealousy won over common sense and currently had him beating the hell out of his best friend.

The fight quickly turned into a wrestling match with Naruto trying to get a few more shots at his roommate while Sasuke did his best to shove Naruto off and get away. Kiba; who had been invited over to discuss the orphanage plan, walked into the apartment at the same moment Naruto broke a lamp. He glanced curiously around at the damage - the fist-sized hole in the wall, the broken table, and bloodied combatants. "I'll come back later," he said, hastily shutting the door.

"What the hell is your problem?" Sasuke demanded as he finally managed to get in an elbow shot to Naruto's gut to get him off.

"You want Sakura," Naruto said, moving to throttle the bastard.

Sasuke's horrified look gave him pause. "I don't want Sakura!" he snapped, sounding disgusted and looking close to vomiting at the very idea.

"What the hell is wrong with Sakura?" he demanded, pissed at that look of revulsion on Sasuke's face.

"She's my teammate, idiot! I have never felt that way about her. Now get the hell off of me!" Sasuke said, shoving him away so that he could get to his feet.

Naruto got to his own feet, noticing the blood dripping from his nose for the first time. Well, it looked as though Sasuke got in a few shots. Thankfully the man hadn't broken his nose, but it still stung like a bitch.

"What the hell is your problem?" Sasuke demanded as he wiped blood off his lip with the back of his hand.

"What's yours?" Naruto demanded right back.

"You are!" Sasuke snapped, looking ready to leap at him. "What did I do?"

"Sakura!" Sasuke shot back, shoving a frustrated hand through his hair as he started pacing Naruto's small living room.

"What about her?" Naruto asked, wondering if Sasuke knew what he had been feeling about her.

"You're a fucking idiot," Sasuke practically snarled.

"You want to explain that?" Naruto bit out tightly as he took an aggressive step towards his friend. Between the stresses of learning the Hokage duties, the argument with Sakura and having her gone for nearly two weeks without any word, he was in no mood for any more bullshit.

"You have a woman who is beyond perfect for you, loves you, and who would walk on glass for you and you don't even see it," Sasuke spat out.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto lied, wishing like hell they weren't having this conversation.

"Bullshit!" Sasuke snapped, getting into his face. "You love her. I know you do and she loves you. I've seen the way you look at her. I know that the two of you have a connection that anyone would kill for," he said before muttering, "I would kill to have a woman who made me feel the way Sakura makes you feel."

"How exactly do you think you think she makes me feel?" Naruto asked, wondering how the hell they ended up here. He didn't want to have this conversation and was more than willing to go back to trading punches to avoid it.

"Whole," Sasuke said, hitting the nail on the head and damn near making him stumble.

That's exactly how she made him feel. When she was around he felt complete, happy and at peace and when she wasn't around he felt lost. He hated being away from her and hated knowing that it was something that he would have to get used to.

"I want what you're refusing to see," Sasuke explained. "I want a woman that makes me feel complete, makes me happy and someone I couldn't imagine living without."

"We're just friends," Naruto said lamely as he tried to ignore the ache in his chest. He missed her, wanted her and he was too afraid to go for it. That was the biggest kicker for him. He faced the ten-tailed bijū, Madara, possibly the end of the shinobi world and yet this one female had him running like a scared little kid.

"Bullshit! She's everything to you and you damn well know it. While I would kill to have my own Sakura you're throwing yours aside like it's nothing. What the hell are you going to do when she finds someone else? You don't think that will kill you to watch her with another man, knowing it could have been you?"

"Yes!" Naruto roared. "It will fucking kill me to watch her with another man. Are you fucking happy?" he demanded, ignoring the look of pity on his friend's face as he scrubbed his hands down his face. "I'm not good enough for her. I wouldn't have the first clue about how to treat her. She's not like those girls I have sex with… she's… well… she's Sakura."

"What the hell are you talking about? No one would ever treat her better and we both know it."

Naruto let out a humorless laugh at that. "Really? Whatever gave you that idea? I sure as hell hope it's not based on how I treated all my old girls because we both know that's exactly how it will be with Sakura. I'll grow bored and it will be over and I'll lose her forever."

"So you claim that you're avoiding being with her because of your past? Is that really what you expect me to believe?" Sasuke asked, looking at a loss for words when Naruto nodded firmly. He shook his head in disbelief. "You really are a fucking idiot. Where's your nindo now? I thought you vowed to never give up."

Naruto's mouth dropped open, ready to argue some more and then snapped shut as he considered his friend's words. Sasuke had been in this village for a year now under close scrutiny and suspicion and yet he never wavered in his belief that this was where he belonged. He was through with letting the past control him. Sasuke wasn't giving up.

If that Teme won't give up then why the hell should I? Naruto's signature look of determination molded his face.

"So what are you going to do?" asked Sasuke rather smugly… the bastard!

His mind raced through endless possibilities and suddenly, the dissatisfaction and general malaise that he had been feeling lately finally lifted. He felt free. And now he knew exactly what to do. He had a mission…

"Baa-chan asked me to go on a mission to escort one of the Daimyō's chief counselors here in a couple of weeks for his yearly visit. She said that a medic always goes as well as a combat shinobi. She did suggest that I choose Sakura to go with me. Maybe she was right after all… maybe Sakura and I do need some alone time. The old man has his own retinue of guards and the journey will be slow so we would get lots of time together."

"You might want to drop the harem first."

"It's not like that," defended Naruto. He frowned as he thought back on Sakura's words to him and then cringed. God, he couldn't believe she actually heard him. He quickly agreed, "Yeah, I guess you probably have a point there."

~o~O~o~

"OH, GOD."

Thump.

"Oh, God."

Thump, thump.

Naruto possessively cupped her breasts and rubbed his thumbs over the fabric covering her nipples. He squeezed them slightly and then moved the fabric down. His mouth trailed hot wet kisses down the column of her neck. Grazing her here and there with his teeth. He nipped her along the way, just a little bite to build the excitement. At last his mouth covered her nipple and suckled it. The girl's body ached as though it was on fire. His hands skimmed over her skin, raising goose bumps.

His actions became rougher and more insistent; grinding his hips into hers and pressing his erection into her core. She began to moan with the pleasure. He lifted her up and pressed her harder to him. She clutched him tight against her body, wrapping her hands around his muscled arm and her legs around his waist in a silent plea for more.

Naruto moved to her neck and kissed it, leaving a small red mark stamped upon it. He raised his head and looked at it smugly. "All mine," he said possessively right before he covered her mouth with his. The kiss was hot and ravenous leaving them both gasping for air.

She flung her hands back and grabbed the headboard as all the sensations overwhelmed her. She had never gone this far with a man before and now couldn't understand what she'd been waiting for. His hand drifted lower, down into her wet panties.

"Oh God, Naruto!" she screamed…

…and then woke up with her hands tightly grasping the headboard and her body throbbing in anticipation.

Sakura moaned as she hastily brought her hands down to her side in tightly clenched fists. She laid there, breathing raggedly, covered in sweat, and panting for several minutes until she could pull herself together. After turning on the bedside lamp, she could clearly see the damage done to the headboard from where her hands had been.

Damn him…

"This is going to be a long day," thought Sakura as she searched through her medical supplies for the tweezers.

"Stupid splinters…" she muttered under her breath. She glared at the headboard and snarled, "Stupid, cheap bed!"

~o~O~o~

Sakura and Sai glanced at each other in disbelief. Slowly, they turned around and sure enough there was the third member of their team, a medic named Daichi vomiting all over a dead bush.

Sai shook his head sadly as Sakura asked on a heavy, drawn out sigh, "Why must you embarrass us? At least aim for the man on the ground."

There were three of them lying there in various stages of pain; men who thought they had an easy opportunity to attack a hapless trio of travelers. They had no idea what they were up against. Sai and Sakura took them down before Daichi could even blink.

He wasn't a combat medic. In fact, this was the first time he had even left Konoha. A decision he was regretting even now. He wiped a shaking hand across his mouth, bowed low to Sakura, and then resumed his work of tying the thugs up.

Sai dragged his eyes away from the fascinatingly awkward medic and asked, "Are you being cranky because you are shedding your uterine lining?"

"What?!" Sakura's head whipped around to pin Sai with a look of shock and disbelief. Every time she thought he couldn't get any worse - he would inevitably prove her wrong.

"I asked if you are cranky because…"

"I know what you said," she snapped, "And that's none of your business."

"We are teammates so I think that knowledge of your cycle is my business."

Sakura's forehead began to throb rather painfully at this point. She glanced over at the third member of their squad. He wouldn't look at her, but his shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter. She growled, "One word out of you mister and you'll be on bedpan duty for the rest of the year."

Sakura sighed to herself. The mission had been going on this way for the past week. Everything went well, as long as you discounted the traps Daichi stumbled over by mistake or the spoiled rations caused by a bad sealing jutsu, or having to deal with Sai's weirdness every day, and now this ambush by a gang of inept thugs …

Yup, she was glad to be on her way home. She missed her apartment, she missed her job at the hospital, she missed… "Yeah," she mentally sighed, "I miss Naruto."

"You are thinking about him again, aren't you?"

"What… thinking about who?"

"Naruto."

"No, of course not… why would I be thinking of him?" she asked quickly. "I mean he was my teammate, so of course I miss him even though I'm still mad at him. I miss Sasuke too. That doesn't mean anything."

"If you do not care for him, then why are you sad?" he murmured softly.

She stiffened at his unwelcome perception. "What makes you think that it makes me feel sad?"

He leaned closer, his eyes strangely hypnotic. "I can feel your sadness. It embraces you like an old friend."

Feeling very uncomfortable, Sakura tried to change the subject. "Well, I don't miss him. I miss my bed. So what about you and Ino?"

"What about us?" he asked.

"What! Oh come on, you two have been going back and forth like little children. You spit in her tea last week. And what was that at the bar?"

"Well, she put stubble from her shaving razor into my rice ball. I read that it is an honor to share a part of one's body with another, hence the saliva."

"Are you trying to tell me that you did that just to be nice? Oh Sai… you really need help."

"Perhaps I do, but that doesn't pertain to the subject at hand…"

"No, you tell me about the bar."

Sai shrugged indifferently. "I overheard that man talking about her when your group arrived at Shikamaru's celebration. When he followed you all out, I did as well to ensure your safety. I only interfered due to the fact that Ino Yamanaka had imbibed in far too much alcohol to make any sound rational decisions."

"Why do all men seem to think they need to rescue a woman?" asked Sakura, getting all worked up. She stood up and began pacing the campsite, her mind not really on the subject at hand but the dream from last night. It was all just so complicated and perplexing and the more she thought about it, the more frustrated she got. She gritted her teeth and stomped back to the man who was now leaning nonchalantly against a rock. "Tell, me, hmm?"

"Well I did not mean to…"

"We kunoichi are completely capable of rescuing our own damn selves!" she interrupted hotly, "I - We have trained our whole lives to become the kunoichi we are. I trained under Lady Tsunade - one of the legendary three. I certainly don't need you or any other man coming to my rescue like I'm useless little girl that can't even tell the man she loves how she feels. You got that, Sai? If not, I can tattoo it on your body with my fists if you want!"

Sai gave her a bland look and asked, "Are you speaking to me? Because if you are, then I am afraid I am rather disinclined to acquiesce with your request."

"What?"

"That means no. I do not wish for you to tattoo anything on my body, especially given your current state of mind." Sai's dark eyes studied her for a moment before he asked, "Does this have any relation to the events that occurred in your quarters last night?"

"What are you talking about Sai?"

"Well, you were quite vocal early this morning…"

"Vocal? What are you talking about?" Sakura blinked in confusion. Her words spoken in anger finally caught up to her and she flushed. She said a lot more than she had meant to, especially to Sai of all people. She took a deep, calming breath and sat down. "Oh… uh… never mind, I was thinking of something else - that has nothing to do with this. Let's get back to the other discussion. So tell me why you announced to the whole damn bar that she was really a man?"

"It seemed the easiest way to ensure his cooperation at the moment; and furthermore, I felt that due to her inebriated condition she would not remember said events." Dismissing the subject, he waved his hand and stated, "I still believe that you miss Naruto. That is what that senseless tirade was about, was it not?"

"Ugh, back on that again? Okay… so why do you think I miss him? It's not like I'm upset or anything. We all know that he's most likely off having a good time at home."

Sai thought about her words for a minute trying to imagine what the proper response should be. "Well…" he said slowly, "Perhaps you are upset because you are obsessively picturing him engaged in unprotected coitus with other women. Is that it? Did I get it right?"

Sakura's forehead was no longer throbbing, it was pounding. "You can stop talking any time now."

"I know for a fact that he always uses condoms. He keeps a rather large box…"

"Please stop, Sai. That's way more information than I need."

"So I didn't get it right? But what about your dream last night? Your room was right next to mine and I heard you screaming out his name. As I said before, you were quite vocal. Did you have a nightmare?"

Large emerald eyes flashed in the firelight. Sakura hissed, "You heard that?! Oh my god… Sai, I swear if you tell anyone, I'll kill you."

Sai could be clueless sometimes, especially in social situations; however, he was not a stupid man. A brief glance at her furious face and he hastily said, "Duly noted."

He watched her again, much to Sakura's increasing discomfort. After she sent him a quelling look, he said, "Did you know that a nightmare is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong emotional response from the mind, typically manifesting as fear or horror but also despair, anxiety and great sadness."

"Yeah, I knew that, Sai. I am a medic you know…"

"Your dream probably contained situations of danger, discomfort, psychological or physical terror."

"Um… yeah…"

"Sufferers often awaken in a state of distress and may be unable to return to sleep for a prolonged period."

"I'm fine," she snapped. "It was just a… an um… bad dream."

"Nightmares can have physical causes such as sleeping in an uncomfortable or awkward position, having a fever, or psychological causes such as stress, anxiety, and as a side effect of various drugs. Eating before going to sleep, which triggers an increase in the body's metabolism and brain activity, is a potential stimulus for nightmares as well."

Sakura shook her head and sighed. Honestly - two weeks with Sai seemed like an eternity at this point. While she always enjoyed an intelligent conversation, this was just too much. She knew that she wasn't acting like herself lately, but she just had so much on her mind. She sighed as she realized that she needed to do something - especially after she ran from Naruto that last night in the village. She knew she should have just ignored his condition and told him how she really felt.

Yeah, right… How can I tell him how I really feel when it could ruin what we have now?

What do we have now?

Not what I want.

You're being a coward, Sakura Haruno.

I know, I know. What do I do?

"Great…" muttered Sakura under her breath, "Now I'm arguing with myself."

~o~O~o~

Sakura breathed a long sigh of relief when the gates of Konoha came into view. It was so good to be home. She couldn't wait to get to her apartment, feed her cat, and forgive the idiot. While it had angered her that he was still trying to protect her as though she were still a weak genin, she knew that he didn't do it on purpose. That was just the way he was. She would just have to set him straight.

Ino was right. She had to talk to Naruto. She had to tell him how she really felt…

"I'll see you guys later," she said as they entered the village.

I have a new mission to accomplish.

AN:

Anyone catch that quote from Pirate's of the Caribbean? I just couldn't resist - it's one of my favorites...

Thanks to everyone that followed/favorited/commented on the last chapter!

This weeks recommendation is What The Future Holds by Alexander The Average. With the war's conclusion, the world as he knew it changed drastically. Things had become overwhelmingly dull for Naruto Uzumaki, despite his recent promotion. Even with the occasional mission, he found himself becoming increasingly laid back; his thoughts often returning to the past, and contemplating the future. His toughest battle was yet to come.

Ja Ne,

AZFAERYDUST