A/N: I do not own Naruto… but I did come up with the story and I'm just borrowing the characters ).

So yeah. This chapter took me a LONG time to write. Well actually not. I finished this a while ago, it just hasn't met my hopes of making it longer, but I've been too busy lately to continue it, so therefore I just cut it really short and I'll just either edit this later and make it LONGER or I'll just write a new chapter. So. Yeah… enjoy?

When it gets cold

And it feels like the end

There's no place to go

You know I won't give in.

Avril Lavigne

Naruto lay on his bed staring at the ceiling blankly, lost in thought. He hadn't slept at all for the past two nights, and could hardly think properly anymore. He let his head hang off the side of the bed and he stared through the door at the dimly lit room across the hall.

'Nee-chan…'

Drips of water hitting the cold wooden floor broke the silence in the lifeless house. Naruto wiped his tears with his arm and curled up into a ball on the bed and fell into a listless sleep.

Ino rolled over on her bed and looked blankly at the ceiling. She couldn't get the image of Naruto out of her head, the way he sat at the park and how lonely he seemed. 5:00… still have lots of time before the funeral…maybe a walk will help clear my mind and kill some time.

Ino put on warmer clothes and grabbed her coat as she walked out the door. She watched the way her breath puffed out and disappeared into the sky. Damned chilly mornings…

The chilling air seemed to pierce through Ino's skin, but she still continued to wander aimlessly through the streets of Konoha. She soon came upon a familiar sight, where the ground began to slope down slightly and she followed it with her eyes until she saw the river. Leaning against the tree at the top of the slope, she couldn't help but smile.

"Ino-chan!" Ino turned around and saw Sakura smiling at her but she noticed somethingor rather someone

"Who's that behind you Sakura-chan?"

"Oh! This is my new baby brother!"

Naruto shyly looked from behind Sakura, "H…Hi."

Ino was annoyed by Naruto's shyness and grabbed his hand and pulled him out from behind Sakura. "Get out from behind there! So. What's your name?"

"N…Naru…" Ino glared at Naruto and he hid behind Sakura again.

"His name's Naruto. He's kind of shy." Sakura turned around and began trying to convince Naruto to not be afraid of Ino.

"Well… I hate boys that are shy like that.Tthey should be more outgoing!"

Naruto then jumped from behind Sakura. Gathering his courage, he managed to shout, "MY NAME IS NARUTO! And… and I'm going to become a ninja to protect my sister!!"

Ino began to giggle and then she gave Naruto a big smile, "I'm Yamanaka Ino, and I'm going to become a ninja too so I can protect weaker people like SAKURA!!!"

"HEY!!" Sakura pouted, "Well I'M going to become a ninja too then! And I'll become a better ninja than you YAMANAKA!"

"Then it's a challenge eh? Well let's see who can become the best ninja out of all of us!"

Ino put her pinky forward showing the other two that it was going to be a promise. Sakura quickly put her pinky around Ino's and Naruto hesitantly put his forward too.

"Then we'll see whose gonna win!"

Ino felt tears streaming down her face and she watched them land in the snow. The best ninja… I wonder who that really was. We all have come a long way, but Naruto and Sakura have gone beyond me. She wiped away the last of her tears with her hands and let herself fall slowlysitting on the tree. Naruto… Sakura...

Naruto sat up suddenly and turned to look at his clock. '7:29...Still got some time.' He slowly crawled out of bed and put on his funeral attire. He glanced at the picture by his bed beside him, and picked it up. The picture was of him, Sakura, Ino, and Sasuke, when they all went to the beach a few weeks ago. He looked at the way everyone was smiling and how Sasuke was the only one who was acting all cool in the picture, no matter how much Sakura was pulling at him. Naruto grinned to himself as he remembered the last time all four friends were together. Whatever happened to all the happiness, why did this have to happen…?

Naruto got up from his bed and slowly made his way to the door. He opened the door and found Ino standing at the door, looking back at him. She blushed lightly and quickly looked away from him. Naruto did the same and just looked at the gorund, realizing what he had been putting her through for the last few days. Taking everything upon himself, secluding himself from the world, especially from his friends.

"Hey… Ino…"

"Naruto…" Ino looked up at Naruto who was trying to avoid looking at her.

"I was just about to…" Naruto stopped short as he felt Ino put her hands around his neck and embraced him a hug.

Naruto froze and he slowly looked down at the blonde whose face was buried into his shirt. He began to feel something warm on his shirt and which seem to spread. His arms hesitated to move but they slowly wrapped around Ino and hugged her back.