A/N: If the chapters suck, it's because I'm writing this during the opening and ending songs of Bleach. That's like working for about 1 minute and 30 seconds at a time… So, uh, yeah! Sorry about the bad quality!

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"See you later, Sai!" Naruto waved enthusiastically at the dark haired boy, who merely cocked his head and smiled a bit. He raised his hand and turned away, leaving him with Sakura.

"Well, we'd better get going, hm, Naruto?" she smiled lightly and walked away briskly, making the blonde have to run to catch up with her. His hair flew around his face as he did so.

"Where to, Sakura-chan?" the blonde asked as he bounded to her, a small pack of his belongings carelessly being thrown onto his back. He skidded to a short stop when he caught up, that smile never leaving his face.

"To buy some flowers!" she replied, just as cheerfully.

"Flowers? For what?" he inquired while taking absurdly wide strides. His arms were tucked behind his head in typical Naruto strut.

"I enjoy having flowers around the house when it's springtime. It's really pretty. Don't you like it… Naruto?" she paused deliberately when they reached their destination.

As expected, it was a flower shop. Or to be more specific, the Yamanaka family's flower shop. Sakura went inside, waiting for Naruto to do the same. He flounced it, causing Ino to look up from the counter.

"Ah… Sakura, here again for some more flowers? And Naruto! How are you feeling?" she asked politely, smiling all the while. The pink haired girl only nodded at her friend before going over to look at the flowers.

"Ino!" he sprinted over to the counter, nearly knocking over some vases in the process. "I'm great! Thanks!" he replied cheerily.

The girl smiled at him. The bell at the door rang and she looked up to see who the customer was. The sun outside didn't allow them to see who it was, except for his silhouette. When he was finally inside the darker room, Naruto's eyes widened.

"Sasuke-teme! What are you doing here!?" he exclaimed, pointing accusingly at him.

"Hn…" his lips went lopsided until his face resembled an emotion of annoyance. Without another word, he turned on his heel and went out quickly again, his hands in his pockets.

"Eeehh…." Ino and Naruto stared at the retreating figure, confused.

"Hey, what's wrong, you two? Huh? What happened?" Sakura walked over to the counter with an armful of flowers.

"Nothing, nothing…" Ino said strangely, quickly counting the flowers and calculating their prices.

After Sakura paid and they had a short conversation, they were about to leave, but when Naruto turned to go, Ino slipped something between his ear. It felt wet and cold.

"Huh?" his hand went to his hair, where the thing was stuck. He felt soft petals brush against his fingertips.

"A flower for you, Naruto," the blonde girl giggled and turned to go into the storage room, leaving them.

He laughed. "Thank you, Ino…"

"It looks nice on you," Sakura said, suppressing a giggle.

The pink lily clashed terribly with Naruto's yellow hair and made him look horribly girly, but the boy couldn't see what type of flower it was, since it was behind his ear.

"Eh…" he tried to pull the flower from his ear, but Sakura stopped him.

"Don't. It's a gift from Ino. Don't take it off.

"Ah… Okay," he answered, leaving the flower be. He hooked his arm with Sakura's and they both left the store.

---

"Sorry, Naruto. My family's out for a while, so it'll just be you and me. I hope you don't mind the emptiness of the place. Usually, it's so noisy I get irritated," she explained as she unlocked the door with the arm that wasn't occupied with flowers.

He shook his head. "Naw, I'm usually by myself at my apartment anyway. I'm used to it, Sakura-chan. It's fine," he chirped, shaking his head. "Excuse me for the intrusion!" he said, removing his shoes and scrambling, making his shoes scatter.

Sakura smiled a bit at the childish behavior, bent down, fixed his shoes, and removed her own as well. "You can explore for a while if you want, Naruto. I'll get the vase for these flowers ready, okay? Just don't break anything!" she called out to him.

"Okay!" was faintly heard as she walked into the kitchen and set down her bouquet on the table. She hummed lightly to herself as she washed out a vase and filled it up with water. The kunoichi carefully arranged the flowers in the vase before carrying it out to the living room.

Naruto was sitting crossed legged on the floor, reading a giant scroll. "Hm? What are your reading, Naruto?" she asked absentmindedly as she placed the vase in the middle of a low table. She crouched down next to him and examined the text.

"Oh, this? I found it on your bookshelf. I think it's called 'Modern Day Scientific Discoveries' or something like that…" he murmured, somewhat interested in the scroll. He looked up when Sakura laughed loudly.

"You're actually reading that monster of a scroll? Mother bought that to make our family seem smarter or something. No one's ever touched it since it went onto the bookshelf. Are you even understanding any of it, Naruto?" she asked. If she had read it, she surely wouldn't have even gotten past the first line of words.

"Eeh… Somewhat," he replied truthfully. "Something about molecular bonds or something… Are you sure these people aren't just making random things up and ripping people off, Sakura-chan?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure either. With something with 'Modern' in its name, it could be anything! Come on, help me with dinner, okay?"

"Yes, food!" he yelled, throwing the huge scroll in the air.

---

"Did you enjoy dinner, Naruto?" Sakura asked whilst rinsing out a dish.

"Ah!" he replied, nodded his head enthusiastically and scrubbing out a bowl with a vengeance.

"Uh, Naruto, you don't have to abuse my dishes…" she laughed and nudged him with her elbow.

"Ah…" he repeated, lessening his death grip on the bowl and scrubbing with less gusto. "Sakura-chan?"

"Hm?" she replied, her mind not quite focused.

"Tell me more about me. How did I meet everyone?"

"Oh… Well, when you joined the Academy, you were the class clown. Don't get mad at me, but you really sucked with everything. Your grades were terrible, your accuracy was backwards, and your speed wasn't anything to brag about," she paused and looked over at him. Well, quite obviously, he wasn't all that happy… "Eh, you want me to continue?"

He didn't say anything but nodded.

"But somehow," she went on, "you were able to graduate from there. And you joined Team Seven… We were pretty weak back then, but you…" she stopped again and laughed. "You were so impatient and loud! We had troubles dealing with you because you were so eager to prove your worth. Eventually, you proved it though, and we accepted you as an equal, but you still continued to strive for Sasuke's acknowledgement. 'Acknowledge me! Acknowledge me!' you kept saying…."

Her voice grew softer as she turned off the water and wiped her hands clean. Naruto watched her and did the same. Suddenly, she smiled at him. "Come on, Naruto. It's late. We'd better get cleaned up and go to sleep! Try to get some more information out of Sasuke or something."

"Eeh!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Tomorrow's his day, isn't it!" he yelled, panicking. "He's going to be so mean, Sakura-chan! Save meee! Uwahh, I don't want to get killed!" Naruto clung onto her sleeve and started dragging his feet, making Sakura have to struggle to walk.

"Calm down, Naruto. He's not a murderer! Maybe you'll find out that he's even kinder than before," the pink haired girl took his hand and made him release her sleeve. Her green eyes darted over to an open window just in time to see a shadow pass by.

Naruto didn't notice anything, but only continued muttering about tomorrow.

"I think you should shower first, Naruto. You'll have to sleep on the couch though. Is that alright with you?" she asked, ignoring the passing shadow.

"That's fine, Sakura-chan!" he snatched his bag from the table and started to dash into the bathroom.

"Ah, Naruto, wait!" she called out to him, and waved him over.

"Huh?" he trotted back to her and watched as her hand came nearer and nearer to his head.

She smiled and pulled her hand back, now clutching onto a slightly wilted pink lily. "You forgot this."

"Ah… It was a pink lily?! Wah, Ino is so mean to me! And you said it looked good!" he wailed and took the lily. He brightened when Sakura stroked his hair.

"It did look good! Now go shower," she told him.

"Oh, right! I forgot I had to do that!" he rushed into the bathroom.

She laughed at his forgetfulness, but didn't move from her spot. The kunoichi stood there for a few minutes in the dark before walking over to get some lights. "Sasuke-kun," she said into the darkness. "How long will you stay in the shadows? Don't you know that it's impolite?"

---

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto called out as he laid in the darkness.

"Hm?" the girl stopped walking away from the living room and turned back. "What is the problem, Naruto?"

"There's no problem… Just…" he stopped. His awkward laughter filled the room for a few seconds. "Never mind, Sakura-chan. I don't think I should bother you now. It's late, isn't it? And I have to deal with Saskue-teme tomorrow…"

Sakura smiled a bit as she heard him growl. "Yeah. It's late. We'll have to rest up for tomorrow! After all, we should live our lives as if tomorrow isn't granted and promised… Right?"

"Ah…" he nodded and she could sense him nodding.

"Good night, Naruto…"

"'Night, Sakura-chan… See you tomorrow morning…" he trailed off and started to snore lightly.

"Geez, he falls asleep so quickly…" she laughed and walked back into her room.