Hi guys. I am back with another update. I hope you find this one as entertaining as the previous ones. Everyone has done an absolutely amazing job in regards to giving good reviews and providing thier opinions. It is all very much appreciated. I hope I can count on you guys to continue doing so.

Disclaimer: I do not own naruto.

Sakura's head quietly peaked through the door and revealed a room that had not been tread into for years. However judging by the cleanliness of the place, one would have never realized that the apartment had been abandoned for seven long years.

That left only one important question burning in the medical ninja's mind. Why was Hokage-sama so hesitant in letting Naruto back into his own apartment so soon? What was the need for all those delays?

She looked around and absorbed the quality of his multiple room setup. For a bachelor who rarely cooked, he had a nice enough kitchen. The living room was a decent size, suitable for entertaining a guest or two. As for the bedroom, well she hadn't seen that much yet. Frankly it was probably a little bit better than the apartment she had been staying at.

Naruto soon followed the kunoichi into the apartment and looked as a nagging familiarity was soon pulsating throughout him. How strange must it have felt to return to a place that served as a house but rarely offered the warmth and comfort of a home.

The blond ninja looked around nervously for a few moments before he allowed his mind to relax.

"It looks like Tsunade-sama has been taking good care of your apartment while you were gone. It must have been expensive to keep a place like this rented out for seven years with no one using it." Sakura looked over at a now 'calm' Naruto. His previous demeanor upon entering the room was enough to cause her to raise an eyebrow as she proceeded with her enquiry.

"Naruto-kun? Where you expecting something else? Did they change something about this place while you were gone?" The returned ninja just continued with that great big smile of his as he went about rediscovering portions of his lost residence. This was a time for good memories.

"Forgive me Sakura-chan, but would you like something to drink?" Jiraiya may have been a pervert, but he didn't fail to pass on the more noble ways to treat both a lady and a guest. Hopefully drinks didn't go bad. If they did, well she was a medical ninja, wasn't she?

"No that's ok. I'm not really thirsty right now." She turned around and began her own exploring of his nice place here.

"Actually we wouldn't mind some tea" Both ninja's glanced towards the window where they say two familiar yet smiling faces looking back upon them. Well one could only assume Kakashi was smiling underneath that mask. It was hard to judge his expressions based solely upon one lazy exposed eye.

"You're late" This time only Naruto would point out his teacher's tardiness. Sakura had no idea her former sensei was supposed to show up now. Damn. That meant her plans would have to be delayed just a little bit.

"Should I even bother with an excuse right now?" After so many years, a guy does run out of reasons for being so tardy.

"Not this time Kakashi-san" Rin diverted her attention away from Kakashi and toward the two 'children' within the apartment. They entered casually and took a seat upon the apparently new furniture that had been placed here. "So Naruto-kun, how have you been enjoying life back in Konoha?"

How has he been enjoying life here? Or perhaps a better question could be how much has he been enjoying the lie here? Many years had passed and all should have been forgotten. The attack upon this village by an evil demon fox should be but a memory to even the most vengeful haters.

And yet what was happening around the village could not be ignored. People still whispered whenever he walked by, though now they were less likely to take action against one who could defend himself.

Members of various powerful clans still awaited just outside his apartment complex in order to get the jump on the boy who contained a demon, yet no one would dare make such a move when the apprentice of the Hokage herself was accompanying him.

It was as easy to love someone as it is to hate them for an eternity. The sad truth was that with this prolonged passage of time, many forgot why they despised him so much. Now they acted only on past experience and the desire to promote their image within the town by trashing the hopes and dreams of someone who only wanted to belong.

Even the affection he well received from his beloved Sakura-chan could be nothing more than a temporary farce. True he realized that the pink haired girl did indeed love him, but the possibility of it being anything more than a friendly love was too slim for it to even be hoped. It was more likely to see the head of the Hyuuga household come down and offer their sincere apologies for their part in Naruto's mistreated past.

The time they had spent together was absolutely blissful. A memory to be cherished in all those dark times that would come now that he was back here. But all it took was one little piece of happiness, one tiny candle in an unlit room to drive the darkness away.

Soon Sakura would have to go back to working her regular shifts at the hospital while Naruto returned to active duty for missions. Time would become scarce and days that one hoped would continue for an eternity would come to pass and linger as memories.

So how did he enjoy the lie he had been living since his return? How would he answer the question poised by Kakashi's companion? The same way he always would. He brought out his wide smile mixed in with a little dopey laugh as one hand reached behind and rubbed the back of his head. "There is no place like Konoha!"

Well it wasn't a lie. Not really.

"That's good Naruto-kun. Maybe with you around, we can convince Kakashi-san to stop taking so many dangerous missions and spend more time here as well." That particular genius ninja couldn't be bothered for a response as he was preoccupied with a book no one had seen him pull out.

No, it wasn't the same Icha Icha series he carried with him wherever he went. He would have woken up one morning missing some valuable parts if Rin ever caught him with one of those books again.

"Sorry, but you can't keep a good ninja down!" He heroically thrust one fist into the air to do a manly pose as he continued his monologue! "If ninja's like us didn't go out and do dangerous missions like protect the princess, fight off the evil ninjas, save the village, and…"

"Cut the grass." Sakura added in dryly.

"And cut the grass!" The overactive shinobi stumbled over his feet at the casual mention of such a lame chore. A ninja of his caliber could not be forced to undertake such menial labor. "Huh what? What are you talking about Sakura-chan?"

Kakashi's one visible eye moved away from his reading material and towards the pink-kunoichi as she offered her explanation. "Well, you missed the last 14 chuunin exams right? So that means you're still a genin and genins get those kind of missions. Unless of course you wanted to be treated differently again and ask for special permission to take more advanced missions."

"But….I….err..." Once again Naruto was at a loss for words. It seems he hadn't thought out his return to the home village as well as he would have liked to think.

Rin stifled a laugh that was sure to escape her mouth otherwise. Indeed it was easy to see who held the control in such a relationship. Kakashi was right.

Sakura didn't mean to strangle his hopes of undertaking such perilous high ranking shinobi missions, but it was once again one of those times where it was ok for someone like her to be a little selfish.

If Naruto started taking missions that sent him far away from Konoha again, there was always a chance that one time he wouldn't come back. There was always a chance he could end up dead, but the greater threat lay in the fact that he may just discover that there is something better for him out there. The fact he failed to come across this something better during his travels with Jiraiya was nothing short of a miracle.

At least she wouldn't tell him that the next chuunin exam wasn't for another 5 months. That would send him off the top.

"Well the next chuunin exam is in a little over 5 months. You could take it then." Crap…

Kakashi's timing was always a little lacking.

To everyone's amazement the outburst of downright indignation from a certain loudmouth ninja never came. There were no temper tantrums thrown about as if from a newborn infant nor any complaints over how it was unfair he was being treated this way since once again none of this was really his fault.

Instead Naruto merely coolly looked over everyone in the room and said with a smile. "Well then I guess I better prepare for those exams huh? Wouldn't want to stay the only genin from the rookie nine, now would I?"

Dear god. The boy's maturity had once again shown its calm collected head and didn't cease to amaze anyone in the room.

In a hushed manner, Sakura tried to slip in a few words to her old sensei. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei, is it just me or…"

"No, its not. The boy finally grew up." Was this one of the signs that the end of days was near?

Everything would be fine now for Sakura. If Naruto went back to taking those meaningless missions and training around Konoha, then she would get her opportunities to spend more time with him and finally create that bond with another that she had been seeking her whole life.

Maybe she could get Naruto to agree to train with her whenever they got the chance. She had plenty of days left on her vacation and sick leave so it shouldn't be a problem to take a day off every so often in order to do so.

She could just imagine spending the day working so close with him for hours at end. Working, running, sweating together while they create a deeper emotional need for each other's company. Then there would be lunches together to get some ramen during the day, but once their training was over they would share an evening picnic to gather their strength once dinnertime rolled about. Yes this plan looked as if it would work out perfectly if she just played her cards right.

Unfortunately playing her cards right didn't mean watching Naruto all starry-eyed and thus make him self-conscious that there was a stain somewhere on his shirt. To hide her embarrassment, she began collecting the empty dishes from the table once everyone had finished with their tea as general casual conversation began to ensue once again.

However very little ever escaped the all seeing eye of Kakashi.

"My my Sakura-chan. You almost look like a good housewife for Naruto by taking care of him like this and collecting the dishes like that when company is over." A loud crash was heard as all the china quickly met with the floor once introduced to the concept of gravity.

Immediately sensing impending danger, Rin hurriedly grabbed Kakashi as they made their way towards the window. "Well thanks for having us over! It was so nice to see you again. I will need to talk to you sometime tomorrow Naruto-kun, it's important!" As surprisingly as they had arrived, both were already gone.

That left poor and unfortunate Naruto to deal with the wrath that had been stirred up in Sakura. It had been a very long time since she last felt so 'energetic', but her body was quickly refamiliarizing itself with how to handle the situation.

Rolling up imaginary sleeves, the pretty pink girl stomped her way towards Naruto with a look that would frighten children upon her face. Was it wrong for the blond ninja to be absolutely turned on by all of this? Who doesn't like a feisty woman with a little zest in her?

"So you think you can just show me off as some trophy housewife do you? Do you?" To hell with the tailed demons that akatsuki were chasing. If they got hold of an angry Sakura, the world was screwed.

"No! Of course not! I would never show you off as some sort of trophy wife!" Now most women would probably bring up a remark like 'so that means I'm not pretty enough to be a trophy wife', but Sakura was hardly the standard female. When Naruto was around, she never had any doubts what her appearance alone did to the male species.

"I'll show you a good little housewife!" This was bad. He was about to lose something valuable. Perhaps he could convince Sakura to just cut off his hair. If she had to cut something off, that would be the best choice. Hair always grew back.

Instead the impending doom never came, though the shock that followed came close to claiming his life.

She stood in front of him and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving herself the valuable leverage needed to pull herself closer to him. She first placed a soft kiss on one cheek, and then the other to follow suit. Then it was time for that finale, where she brought her lips to his to engage in a contest of sorts as they felt each other out while locked within a kiss.

It was a long time coming, and their patience made the moment that much sweeter as their deepest longings could finally be released and their most secret of hopes reached the surface. Finding herself the initiator for such an unexpected turn of events, Sakura decided it was up to her to determine when all great things must come to an end.

And so it was she who ended the kiss, making sure to tug upon Naruto's lip just a little bit before breaking away altogether. With their kiss broken, so was their hold upon one another, which allowed Sakura room enough to turn around and reach inside her purse.

"That's how a good little housewife may act, don't you think? Don't forget that I'm your doctor, and that means…" She pulled off a cap from the syringe kept in her purse and allowed the metal to shine directly into his eyes. The big baby turned out to be afraid of shots. He had been sliced, attacked and nearly gutted in the midst of battle, and yet receiving shots actually gave him the willies.

However it was doubtful Naruto heard or saw anything after the actual kiss had ended. His mind had shut down from the overload of information while his body refused to react to the world around him. His eyes slowly closed as he fell backwards stiff as board while overcome with shock over what happened. It would take much convincing to reassure Naruto that the events of the day did take place. Then again, maybe it was better for him to think such things were just part of some twisted fantasy.

It looked like she would have to put him into bed herself. Thank god for all that strength Tsunade-sama had blessed her with. At least now that he was asleep, she would finally be able to find time to organize the torrent of thoughts that were exploding in her mind. It wasn't fair that boys should have it so easy.

Once he was asleep in his room, Sakura went about preparing a makeshift bed for herself in his living room. There were no underhanded or secret motives behind such an action. She was supposed to be his personal doctor until he was fully healed, and the best way to do that would be to remain as close to him as possible at all times. It was really for the benefit of the medical community.

She tried to move the couch from its current position towards the other sofa. Together they should have made a decent sized yet comfortable bed. However the inanimate objects seemed to have other plans. It appears that it was bolted down. Strange, theft wasn't really an issue in a hidden village like Konoha.

Casting the strange signs aside, Sakura used her limitless strength to pry the couch away from its locked location, only to discover a very surprising fact about Naruto's apartment. It seems that much of the wallpaper had dried itself onto the sofa itself. That meant everything must have been done recently and in a hurry. Perhaps that's why Tsunade-sama wanted Naruto to be kept away from his home for so long.

Except the world is rarely that kind to the boy who never stopped smiling. Behind the rashly placed wallpaper she found the signs of his shame that he never wanted revealed to anyone. It wasn't the only set of wallpaper placed there in recent history as layers of different patterns underneath could always be found.

And it appeared, on each new layer of wallpaper, a whole new slue of insults could be found that would strike at the core of anyone's beings.

"You are Yondaime's curse!"

"We will kill you in your sleep!"

"Get out of Konoha, Bastard!"

"You were never a part of this village!"

"Your family didn't want you. Neither do we!"

"Failure!"

"Monster!"

On and on went the insults on just a small portion of the wall. Could the people from this town really hate him so much for things that were never his fault? Wasn't it enough to attack and beat him senseless on the street, but now to invade his home and trash the place that should have been his safe haven?

Did the people here have no sense of justice and honor? Was the great city of Konoha really nothing more than a village for those who knew no limits to the feelings hate provided?

Sakura began using her medical training and collected tiny amounts of chakra within her eye. Normally such a procedure would allow her to see within a ninja's body without the need to cut it open, but here it allowed her to see all the things people had written over the past twenty years.

The more the young woman continued to read, the harder she found it to contain the tears. "What kind of ninjas would…would do this?"

"It wasn't always ninjas, not after the chuunin exams at least. Every once in a while the villagers would come over and torch the place. Thankfully I always got warning enough to escape before anything got out of hand." Truthfully many ninjas never looked upon Naruto with scorn from the very beginning. The more powerful and high ranked the ninja, the more they respected Naruto and what he had been chosen to do in order to ensure the safety of the village. Unfortunately the sad truth was it was wrong for ninjas to use their techniques against their own civilians. The best they could do was warn the poor boy whenever they got the chance.

"Naruto-kun…I….you…I didn't" However Naruto wasn't going to listen to the mindless ramblings that she spoke. It would be best if he just explained things his way instead of responding to her emotionally driven comments.

"Someone always gave me a warning when they were coming over to do something like that. I found out later who it was, but that's not important right now I guess. I dunno. I guess after a while you get used to this kind of thing. If I am going to get attacked outside of my home, why should I feel any safer inside?" Those sniffles, those tears, for once they weren't coming from Sakura.

Naruto had finally come to show how much of a man he had grown up to be, by finally crying. Hiding one's true feelings was the result of immaturity and youth that only foolish children had.

The ninja crashed down to his feet as the sobs freely escaped the prison of his eyes. Sakura quickly made her way over to him and wrapped her own arm around him. Maybe it wouldn't take away all the hurt, all the pain he had been forced to endure as the years went on, but at least now he would know that he was finally not all alone.

"Naruto-kun, baka. You should always feel safe in your home." Slowly she began stroking those wonderfully soft golden locks that rested upon his head. How they managed to smell like sunshine was beyond her. "And all those years, whenever we went on missions or trained, you always greeted us with a smile. You never told us what was going on? How could you not hate everyone? How could you look at us everyday and still smile?"

His crying slowed down until it reached to a stop. His eyes shimmered as water continued to fill up, but the time for that had passed. His owns hands were now tightly wrapped around Sakura with no intention to let her go. If she had other plans in mind, that was too bad for her.

"Hate the people of Konoha because they hate me. And then they hate me more because I hate them. How is that supposed to solve anything? How was that supposed to make my life any fairer? That's what someone very wise once wrote to me." It was an amazingly profound perception on life, almost to the point where it didn't sound right coming from Naruto. That much meant Sakura was still getting used to the new mature version of himself.

"Who Naruto? Who wrote that to you?" Who cared for Naruto so much while many others wanted nothing more than to cause him pain, to make him the scapegoat for al their own misery. More importantly, Sakura had to deal with the fact that the person comforting Naruto back then, wasn't her.

The tears continued to stream down from Sakura's emerald green eyes as she couldn't overcome the sorrow. He had yet to say it, but she played a huge role in creating the grief he had to come to terms with before he even reached his teenage years. When it became obvious he that he wouldn't answer her question just yet she continued on. "You were lonely weren't you? You were always sad even though you were smiling? All you wanted was someone to be your friend, didn't you."

Even now, all he could do was grin and nod his head slightly. "Idiot. Moron. Jerk." Frankly that wasn't exactly the comfort from Sakura he was expecting or looking for.

"How could I have been such an idiot? Naruto-kun, will you forgive me for…for everything?"

The blond shinobi smiled at her in his award winning way and once again simply nodded his head. Already she was figuring out the difference between his false smiles, and the real genuine looks of pleasure. Like that moment after they kissed, that was true bliss.

"I'll let you accept my apology on one condition." Somehow she made it sound like she was doing him a favor by letting him accept her apology…

"And that is?" Again, conditions typically never went favorably in his way.

"Will you be my friend?" And yet, screw statistics.

"Well, May-" Before he could finish with whatever clever response he had lined up, Sakura kissed Naruto again. There was no deception, no false pretenses, just love.

In the end, what else really mattered?

If anyone is wondering when Aya is gonna pop up, most likely next chapter.

If anyone is wondering about Naruto's new moves, you will most likely see at least one in the next chapter.

If anyone is wondering when i will divulge into Rin's past, maybe next chapter, or possibly the one after that.

If anyone is wondering about any tsundae/jiraiya moments, maybe next chapter.

Other pairings are still being considered.

Also i am thinking about what to do in regards to Sasuke. Oh well.

Well guys, thast all for now. Please take the time to review and provide your thoughts. Until next time, take care.