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Emeralde + FMA-lover16 + wally's girlfriend + BlackVampire14 + rianifitria + Crimson Aries + sasukelover911 + Ari Hikari + chibiryuji + PIE IS FILLED WITH AWESOMENESS + Guakamori + Darkest Moon + Syciara-Lynx + otaku22 + pUppetEEr-NiNja + SilverOfTheMoon + loveisharmful + necro omen13

Disclaimer: Muahaha? That is the way I'll laugh everyday if I am really the mangaka of Naruto

Remember Me Chapter 5- End of another's journey

With sweat glistening on his forehead, only one thing was on his mind.

"Is there any place where I can work during my stay here?"

He had run out of money. The only thing he could afford at the previous town was just a train ticket to this town.

Is searching for a needle in a bunch of hay as hard as what he was trying to do now?

XXX

"I'm sooooo happy, Naruto!!" Tsunade squealed happily.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and stopped his hands from arranging the flowers, turning his head towards Tsunade. "What happened?"

The older lady smiled at him, "All thanks to you bringing Sasuke to work for me, I have gained a lot of customers!!"

Naruto stared out of the shop and snickered. "Heh heh.. Serves him right." He mumbled softly.

Tsunade frowned, "Did you say something, Naruto?"

Naruto smiled sheepishly and shook his head. "Nope!" He grabbed the bucket of flowers. "I'll put this out."

Just right outside the shop, where all the fresh flowers were being displayed, it was currently crowded with a bunch of girls. However, their attention was not on the flowers but rather on one person.

"Neee.. Sasuke, which flower does you think suits me?"

"How should I take care of it?"

"Do you think that flower matches my pink room wall?"

Sasuke could feel that he was about to reach his limit. He had been working here for just about 3 months and every working day, he was disturbed by almost the same bunch of girls. He folded his arms and an obvious twitch formed on his head, though it went unnoticed by the girls.

"Girls, it's time for Sasuke's break now." Naruto called out as he placed the bucket of flowers down at the empty spot between the flowers. All the girls turned to Naruto and then pouted.

"But Narutoooo… You always say the same thing…."

Naruto smiled warmly at them, "But I am telling the truth. I'll serve you all.. Or am I not enough?" He gave them a puppy look.

The girls shook their head. "Of course not!" Slowly, the crowd changed their target from Sasuke to Naruto.

Sasuke stared at them a while before entering the shop. When he closed the door, he heaved out a sigh.

"Tiring?" The old lady asked.

Sasuke smiled politely at her. "A little.."

She took up a cup of tea and offered it to Sasuke, who gladly accepted it on such a hot day. "Thanks."

The lady quietly sipped her tea and then placed it back on the table. Then, she looked out through the window at Naruto with a gentle smile.

"He's such a good kid, isn't he?"

Sasuke turned his head towards Naruto too.

"Yeah…" He muttered.

"To think he was so dull looking when Sai brought him here 2 years ago.."

Sasuke turned his head back to the old lady, clearly interested.

"How was he at that time?"

"I can still remember it. Among all the people I met, I can feel that he has been through a lot... Probably even more than this old body too." She patted her own body.

Sasuke nodded, "And then?"

"Everyone who saw him that way would probably sympathize with him and treat him specially but my daughter thought that if he were to be treated that way, he might never recover. So she treated him just like a normal person, shouting at him, making him do all kinds of things whenever she comes by to help."

She took her cup of tea and drank it. Then she supported her hand on her lap and continued. "Slowly, Naruto began to smile again. Though it's not really a full one but when you came along, we knew that we'd see it someday." Sasuke eyes widened a little in shock as he stared at the lady's gentle smile.

Sasuke lowered his head with bangs covering his expression, "… I can?"

"Of course you can. He looked happier since you arrived. I'm sure you are able to. Don't give up, Sasuke-kun." The old lady encouraged him.

Sasuke looked up and nodded, "I will." Then he stood up, "I guess I'll go back to work now. Thanks for telling me that, aunty. I really appreciate that." He smiled at her and then went to help Naruto with the customers.

One question lingered on his mind though, when did Naruto get so good at handling girls?

XXX

Sometimes, he wondered why is he not as persistent as he thought he was.

Currently, Naruto was going back to Tsunade's shop after running some errands for her.

"After just one night, he refused to tell me anything about my past… Did something happen? But I guess that's not surprising at all. I'm the surprising one. I didn't even pester him to tell me…Not even once in these 3 months. It's as if my past isn't important at all… Is it?"

Naruto sighed. "Should I do something?" He unconsciously said it out aloud which attracted all attention to him. He turned around and gave out an embarrassed laugh before continuing his way out of their sight -fast.

After turning at the corner, he slowed his pace down. Then, a small smile plastered on his face.

"But life seems more interesting since he arrived... He feels so close. I wonder if we were best friend in the past?"

XXX

"I'm hot…" He thought in his mind. No matter how tolerant he was towards heat, 3 hours under the sun and almost 6 hours without a drop of water down his throat is definitely pushing his limit. On top of that, he failed to find a job. Seems like no one in this town was willing to hire him because he was a traveler.

"We wanted permanent worker." That was their excuse and turned him away.

"Hmph… Pathetic excuse…"

He was about to cross the road to the shops across to try his luck but stopped. For a moment, he spotted something familiar that had just turned around the corner. Without thinking twice, he quickly ran after it. When he turned, he found it. No. He found him.

XXX

"Naruto!" A voice shouted from behind which caused the blond boy to turn around. Once again, he was shocked by a complete stranger who hugged him.

"It's been a long time, Naruto…" The stranger muttered and hugged Naruto tightly.

Naruto widened his eyes in shock.

"Wha…? Who is this??" He frowned for a moment and finally regained his composure.

"Erm.. Okay… I presume that you know me, right?" Naruto said. This made the figure pull away and look at him in confusion.

"I know that it might be confusing but I actually have amnesia.. Therefore, I don't remember you even if I did know you.." He trailed off.

Naruto felt bad. The person in front of him seemed as if he had just received a huge blow of shock from the news he had just told him. Suddenly, he thought of Sasuke.

"Maybe Sasuke knows him… Wise not to ask or trust him now."

"Erm.. Do you want to follow me back? You looked tired. Maybe we can do some explaining later?" Naruto offered to the stranger.

The stranger nodded. Naruto smiled at him. "Good."

They began their walk back to the shop in silence because neither of them knew what to say.

XXX

Sasuke folded his arms as he leaned against the hard wood of the door. Naruto had been gone for more than an hour already and yet, he was still not back yet.

"What is that idiot dawdling about for? It's been more than an hour."

Perhaps it was because of what happened before, he felt worried when Naruto had to run errands alone. He was afraid that Naruto would never return once he let him out of his sight. He did not want it to happen again. Not while he was still alive.

"What are you doing here, Sasuke?" Naruto called out and broke him out of his thoughts.

Sasuke turned to him and said with a stoic expression. "Nothing. You took so long just to run an errand that I almost believed you were lost."

"What do you think I am? A three year old kid?" Blue eyes eyed him furiously.

Sasuke smiled at him, "Yeah."

Naruto glared at him for a moment before suddenly remembering the person who had followed him back.

"Ah! I forgot." He turned around and found the stranger glaring in his way furiously.

"Erm.. Are you okay?" Naruto asked his newfound friend.

"Uchiha Sasuke." The stranger hissed with anger.

Sasuke stared at the red head calmly. "Gaara.."

"Oh.. You both know each other? Great, that means I know you too, right?" Naruto asked the red head boy but was ignored by the angered Gaara.

Slowly, Gaara made his way towards Sasuke and held up his fist in an attempt to punch Sasuke.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock at it. Almost instantly like a reflex, he went up in front of Sasuke to shield him.

Naruto shut his eyes, waiting for the punch to come but it never did. Instead, he heard a loud 'thump' of something hitting the wooden door. Slowly, he opened one side of his eyelids and found Gaara's fist connected to the door with his head lowered, making Naruto unable to see his expression.

Naruto cocked his head sideways, "What should I do…? Maybe I should try to get his attention… It seems like his name is Gaara." He swallowed his saliva back, "Err.. Are you okay, Gaara?"

The blond boy waited for a reply but all that greeted him was just silence. He let out a silent sigh.

Suddenly Gaara whispered hoarsely as if he was trying to control himself from crying, "Why…?"

Naruto looked at him with a confused expression, "Why?"

"Why do you always do that? Always protecting someone…" Gaara looked up and stared into those blue eyes sadly.

"Tch!" He turned around and ran off.

Naruto wanted to chase after Gaara but Sasuke stopped him by pulling him back.

"Wait."

"Why? He looked bad. If we don't chase after him, who knows what might happen to him!" Naruto started to panic.

Sasuke smiled and tapped his shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll go after him." He went back into the shop and took off his apron. Then, he went to his bag pack and took out a letter.

Before going off in the direction where Gaara went, he reassured Naruto that everything was okay.

"I'll be back soon. Take care of the shop, Tsunade is not around." He winked at Naruto and went off.

Naruto frowned worriedly, "Why did Gaara try to punch Sasuke? Did something bad happen before? Another thing… Why did I try to protect Sasuke from the punch just now? That incident feels familiar too.."

Suddenly, he felt a piercing pain at his head that made him drop to his knees, panting hard.

"Ouch… It hurts…"

The door opened and Tsunade's mother came out. "Naruto? Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

Naruto turned his head and smiled at her, "Yeah. Just dropped something. Don't worry."

The old lady did not seem to be convinced but she decided not to enquire further. "Okay… I need your help with something."

Naruto stood up and dusted his pants. "Sure, coming right up!"

XXX

It was a fine day but definitely not for Gaara.

"He's just right in front of me… But he doesn't even remember me. What happened to you, Naruto?"

"It was due to his mental state." A familiar voice broke him out of his thoughts.

Gaara stood up and glared at the intruder, "Uchiha…"

"It's been a long time." Sasuke said solemnly.

"Why is he with you? What happened to him?"

Sasuke held out an envelope. "Before I tell you anything, I think it's best you read this letter. I've been carrying it with me since I thought that we might meet during our search for him."

Gaara stared at the letter for a moment before he hesitantly took it. The envelope had signs of being folded into half and on it was his name. He recognized the writing.

"Naruto…?" His muttered softly.

"Yes.. It was written before he was kidnapped. I found the letter when I was going through his stuff."

Gaara nodded and took the letter out from the envelope. He began reading what he was supposed to have read 2 years ago.

-End of Remember Me chapter 5- End of another's journey.-

I know it's a cliffie.. But don't kill me. I'll try to update soon so that you get to know what's in the letter and on what will happen next. Oh ya… The old lady is Tsunade's mother.. She is the owner of the shops but slowly, Tsunade starts to take over it recently. So basically, she is boss now on. That's all. Hehehe.. I noticed.. Each time I write a new chapter, I often need to rewrite it a few times since I was not satisfied with it.. Hehe… Well.. Hoped that you all enjoyed this chapter as well. Sorry for the late update and also if there is any grammar or spelling mistakes. Please review!!!

Oh ya.. I posted a new story. You can try reading it and leave me a review. It's called Forbidden Reincarnation. Thanks!!!!