NaruSaku A-Z

This is set after 'D', by the way. 'F', however, will be beforehand. As for Sasuke, I apologize at his OOCness. We dunno how'd he react if he was saved by Naruto and once again with Konoha, but I have him rather mellowed out.

E: Expiration

"Hey, Sakura-chan, come over here with me!"

The pinkette blinked at her blond haired friend. He was rushing off, with a childish and excited look on his face.

The happy aura around him, however, drew her into a walking pace, watching him with half lidded eyes and an odd smile.

Thank God Ino and Karin weren't around like they were yester-

"Hey, Sakura!" a voice called out.

Instead of replying verbally, she responded to Karin's wide smile via sharpening her half lidded, dreamy gaze towards Naruto.

A certain raven headed Uchiha stared blankly at the exchange between the two, before rolling his eyes and diverting them to Naruto.

"Are we interrupting something, Sakura?" he questioned dryly.

The girl's newly acquired reflex to redden when her and Naruto were mentioned in a sense like that kicked in, and, embarrassed, she turned away from the two. Karin laughed in a not so discreet manner, while Sasuke merely retained his expression focus on the other female.

"No...I'm just looking after him because he's an idiot..."

To this, Sasuke smirked.

"Must take a lot of dedication."

"Ooh. I knew you'd get into the swing of things Sasuke," Karin chirped merrily.

His smirk immediately slipped off of his face. She sighed and pouted, glancing away.

Then realized Sakura had ditched them and was making a getaway to Naruto. In turn, she turned her attention back to Sasuke.

His facial features creased ever so slightly.

"No. You can go and bother them, but you are not dragging me into wasting my time."

"But you can't tell me you don't want to go any witness their ever developing romance!"

"See it? I don't even want to stomach it. I can't, regardless."

"I swear I'll leave you alone for a whole week."

This made him consider her offer. Of course, he could care less about Naruto and Sakura's lovelife. He already knew they'd get over it one day, and he'd find them getting ramen. Naruto would be a dobe, and Sakura would go over to him annoyed, but kiss him instead of hitting him to vent her frustration. Naruto would forget his ramen and place concentration on returning certain things.

He himself would 'hn' and then go and eat somewhere else.

His eyesight was already damaged, thank you kindly.

"You won't get me involved in anything besides watching them, will you?" he asked cautiously.

"No! Leave that stuff up to me!" Karin exclaimed cheerily.

She was quite offended to realise Sasuke had also ditched her. Well, he hadn't completely gone away like Sakura, but was hanging back, giving her a mildly annoyed look.

"Are you coming or not?"

"Naruto...your apartment is even messier than it was last time I was here. Which was literally less than a week ago..." Sakura's eyebrows began a dangerous slant downwards which implied to Naruto he'd better answer with tact and brace himself.

"I haven't had time to clean it..."

"Why?"

"...Cause I've been with you a lot this week..."

"Oh..." She flushed a bit, before shaking her head and casting the fridge a thoughtful look. "Do you have any fresh stuff in there?"

"Um..." He knew Sakura was quite the perfectionist, so he really didn't know how to tell her she might get swarmed by expired smells.

Without waiting for his answer, she wrenched the door open and peered nosily inside.

And promptly screamed.

Naruto, taken aback, nearly fell over.

"W-w-what is it Sakura-chan?!" he yelled in alarm.

"That cockroach again!" she shouted, powering up a fist.

Naruto's eyes shot open.

"Sakura-chan! What are you-!?"

"Shannaro!"

"Sakura-chan, that fridge wasn't cheap y'know," Naruto said mournfully.

Crimson in her mortification, she could only scratch the back of her head and look anywhere but her friend and his dampened spirit.

But it wasn't possible to ignore. She had learned that if Naruto was upset, the whole atmosphere would follow suite.

After a while of looking at him and then away, she approached him with a small smile.

"I'll make sure I get you a new fridge," she declared.

'...Another present to add to the Christmas list...,' her mind told her.

"Nah, s'ok Sakura-chan. You could just gimme a kiss instead," he said.

Her smile was instantly replaced by a scowl. He was being less subtle about it every chance he got. He had gotten cocky after the accident that had left Karin and Ino interrogating her for what seemed like a lifetime.

"Or a punch under the misletoe. I'm deciding," she threatened.

"Heh...I was just kidding..." He seemed to deflate even more.

Her lips curved downwards and guilt broke its way into her heart.

'You...fox my arse. You pull too many puppy dog faces,' she inwardly moaned.

"Look Naruto..." The addressed looked at her, face pulled into a pout. "How about for now...we...go on a picnic?!"

'Picnic? Oh no...he'll think it's a...why did I-?'

"W-wha? You're asking to go on a date with me?!" Naruto queried, flabbergasted.

"N-n..." His dreadfully hopeful eyes and general look gutted any chances of her saying 'no'. "...Yeah, I guess..."

She was startled when he hopped to his feet and encircled her in the warmth of his embrace.

"Sankyuu Sakura-chan," he murmured into her hair.

She stood there motionless, before returning his hug in a loose form, accompanied by repeated and awkward patting on his back.

"You're welcome."

She then noticed Naruto stiffen. "What's up?" she wondered.

He did not reply. Sakura began to move away but he merely tightened his grip. She blinked. "Naruto, tell me what the-GAH!"

The cockroach was rapidly making itself up her leg. It paused momentarily, seeming to tilt a bit towards Sakura's horrified face in triumphant, before the girl yelled, pushed Naruto away and had combat with it while the room was filled with Naruto's yells of 'Sorry I didn't say!' and 'I didn't want the hug to end!'

"I'm not even sure I should do this after you endangered me like that..." Sakura growled through gritted teeth as she walked alongside her bashful friend.

"Aww Sakura-chan...it's only a cockroach."

"Insensitive jerk," she sniffed.

He blanched.

"Ah...I'm sorry?"

"It's ok. We don't have spicy food, so that's good enough to cheer me up," she replied merrily.

"...Ok? Sakura-chan...so easily?"

"...What? So now you think I'm easy!?" she bellowed.

Naruto ducked out of the way, hands shielding him.

"Ah! What did I do now Sakura-chan? I didn't mean it like that. I just-"

Sakura's face looked quite perturbed, and she was no longer reacting with anger. In fact, she more resembled a statue. Naruto inched closer. "Sakura-chan?"

Her face furiously lit up in red and she shook her head.

"I...give me a second Naruto. There's something I need to deal with."

A little distance away, Sasuke was bewildered.

"Why is she acting like that?"

Karin was enjoying splitting her sides with laughter, despite her painful it sounded.

"What a great time of month! Not that you'll be agreeing at throughout the next week, eh Naruto?!"

"Hey~ Pass me some milk Naruto," Sakura said.

Happy to oblige, he rummaged through the basket until his hand came into contact with a carton. Within moments Sakura was poured a glass and had it handed to her. She couldn't help but smile a bit at Naruto's pleased grin.

"I wonder if they're gonna wind up kissing again," Karin mused.

Sasuke caught her words and his eyes widened a miniscule fraction in apparent surprise.

"If they've already kissed, why are they not together?"

"The denial within Sakura is strong," she said gravely. "Though, Naruto seems to be becoming more adventurous~"

"...Sakura's slaps will most likely be doing the same."

"Oh, party pooper. Well, let's keep our eyes on them!"

"Hey...this tastes a bit weird, you know..." Sakura murmured.

Naruto shrugged at her.

"Maybe it's just the stress you've had today."

"Yeah...maybe. Well..." Sakura put her glass down and immediately fell into a lying position, closing her eyes and smiling peacefully up at the sky.

Naruto waited for a bit, before settling next to her and tensing, wondering how she would take it. She made no movement, so he took the next step of lying down next to her.

Her eyes opened at this.

Naruto froze.

But then she turned on her side to face him, propping her head up with her hand and elbow, smiling.

He blushed heavily at the expression on her face and Sakura giggled a bit. "Geez, not like I'm plotting anything," she told him.

"Ah ha..."

The two lay in companionable silence for a while, gazing up at the clouds. Karin, and even Sasuke, were beginning to become irritated.

"I'm going," he stated.

"Wait!" Karin dived and latched onto his arm. Sasuke paused and looked over his shoulder, glaring.

"Get off me."

"I have a feeling something is going to happen."

"You also had a feeling I'd fancy you. See why I'm tempted to go?"

"Aww Sasuke! That's a low-"

"Hey...Sakura-chan?"

His voice was soft and subdued. Sakura may not have caught it if the presence of tranquility was not upon them.

"Yeah?"

Karin and Sasuke immediately halted their squabbling, listening intently.

"You know...is it ok...?"

"Is what ok?"

"Is it ok for me to be scared?"

"What? Of course. Naruto? What's wrong?" she asked worriedly, peering at him. He smiled ruefully.

"Well, a lot has happened...I'm still being targeted...and it seems every time they come, I lose more and more of my life. Remember last month?"

Oh yes, she had the misfortune of recalling that event in very vivid detail. Of watching a hand thrust through Naruto's chest, simultaneously breaking both his and her hearts. Of his eyes, usually so robust and frightfully alive dull to a greyish blue. The flash of despondence on his face when he looked at her, before the hand through his chest retreated and Naruto collapsed to his knees.

Her voice had been hoarse from her repeated crying and screaming, but she'd be unwilling to leave his side, even getting into an argument with Tsunade, who wasn't taking it well at all either. Eventually Tsunade had forced Sakura home to rest, but the successor to the Godaime's teachings had found, no matter how her eyelids and limbs felt weighted down and how her bed's comfort tried to circle her, she could not find rest.

"I...you've been through a lot, I know...but you don't like expressing your feelings of pain at all, do you? You prefer to keep your own woes silent and take everyone else's burden," she said after a while. She'd sat up, clasping her hands around her legs and pulling them to her chest.

"Ah, well, other people suffer too, so there's no need to worry about me! Heh, it's fine after all! I'm used to it by now!" Naruto suddenly tried to cut off the subject and assure Sakura he was fine when he wasn't, seeing the sadness flickering in her eyes.

He wasn't expecting her to duck her head and start trembling. "S-Sakura-chan? Ah damn...I-I'm sorry!" he yelled, crawling over to her. He tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder. It shook violently under contact.

And he was even less expectant of the walloper she sent his jaw. Landing on his back quite a distance away with an 'urf', a dazed Naruto gazed up at the sky. What was with her today?

"You...honestly..." While her voice was very quiet, a very severe tone in it set off alarm bells. Naruto scrambled to sit up, and pretty much as soon as he had a very delicate and feminine hand that could so much as flick at him and kill him grabbed him by the collar and yanked him forward.

She was looking down at the grass, pink bangs shielding her expression. Naruto sat with her there in silence for a bit, before she began to tremble for a second time. She gritted her teeth to the point he was about to tell her to stop unless she hurt one of them, and abruptly raised her head. He was disraught to her green eyes muddled with tears, which were speedily making tracks down her face.

"You-you complete idiot!" she declared. "Why should you have to suffer alone just to try and make people feel better? Don't you know that if we know you're in pain but won't open up hurts us more? Don't be so selfish!"

"S-Sakura-chan, I-"

"You did the exact same thing when I learnt what'd happen to you if the Kyuubi was extracted! You could see my sadness and tried to change the subject so I'd stop crying for you. Don't you know that just hurt me and you more?! Damnit Naruto, you aren't some sorta monster. You aren't the Kyuubi; you have every right to be worried for and cared for! We want to worry and care for you! And you'll be damned if you try and hide your pains again!"

Sakura was gasping heavily by this point, staring intently at Naruto who had taken her earlier, huddled stance. Her fingers twitched in surprise when something wet made impact.

'Oh shit...'

"Ah Naruto...don't...I..."

'Was I too harsh? Oh damnit, I-'

Naruto fell back on the grass, an odd smile on his features, tears resting at the corner of his eyes.

"If you say so, Sakura-chan..."

"Idiot," she practically plonked herself atop him, circled his neck with one arm, and his back with the other, tears swarming her vision again, "you can cry as much as you want."

"Oh! They're so cute I want to pinch their cheeks and stow them away in my pocket."

"You don't have any," Sasuke stated.

Karin suddenly turned to him, batting her eyes flirtily.

"You been paying close attention to my clothing, which is very much wrapped around my body, Sasuke?"

"Not nearly as much to a possible mental asylum to ditch you in."

"Oh, why must such wit be so sharp to my ears?" she moaned.

"Should we leave them now?"

"Well-"

"Ngh...Naruto..."

"Wait. Something's happening," Karin cut in. Sasuke followed her gaze to the two, who remained blissfully unaware of their stalkers.

Well, blissfully unaware as of a moment ago.

As Sakura pushing off Naruto gently and clutching her stomach didn't indicate optimum bliss.

The blond looked up at his companion with interest and bewilderment.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I...my stomach. S'like someone's trying to murder my intestines or something...GAH."

"Sakura-chan!" he was by her in an instant, eyes scanning the nearby picket basket for the culprit. "Want me to take you to the hospital?"

Sakura's hand began reaching frantically towards the grass, as though she was trying to occupy her mind and take the pain off of it. After a few grasps to thin, green blades, she grabbed something else.

The milk carton.

The milk carton that had tipped over and spilt all over the grass.

The milk carton she or Naruto must have knocked over at some point in their frenzy of tears.

The milk carton which had expired one month ago.

"You...you..." She squashed the milk carton in her hand, and turned her attention back to Naruto, whose thought patterns when seeing the milk carton had been the same as Sakura's.

"I...eh...one month? Silly me..."

"Naruto! I'll-gack!"

"Sakura-chan, just lemme find you a toilet or something-"

"I'll do it myself, before you find me an expired, germ ridden one or something!"

"Aww Sakura-chan!"

"Oh dear. Well, that's that," Karin chimed, hopping over to Sasuke.

"Just looking at them made me want to dart to the toilet, but actually seeing one of them wanting to go there has the opposite effect," Sasuke uttered absent-mindedly.

"Oh, well, after Sakura has gone there and you're better...wanna go to the toilet's with me~?"

Oh. So Sasuke had completely left her this time.

Oh well. She still had Naruto and Sakura to-

Oh. They'd buggered off; Sakura with an apologetic Naruto in tow.

No matter. She'd go harass Suigetsu.