Chapter Two

Naruto yawned and stretched his body, there was a knock on his door. He felt confused, who would knock usually everyone just came in.

"Come in." He replied. The door slowly opened and Hinata came through the door.

"S-S-Sorry to both you N-N-Naruto-Kun, I just wanted to see how you were doing since you woke up." He gave her a bright smile.

"Thanks Hinata." She placed flowers on the nightstand and sat down in the chair across from him. It became silent in the room, she felt too scared to look up at him but it was just them so surely she couldn't stay silent forever. She looked at his arm.

"You're arm." She whispered. He looked at it and nodded.

"Yeah, Tsunade-Baa-Chan fixed it for me. I still have to get used to it." The door burst open startling them, Sakura stormed into the room and glared at Naruto. "Hey Sakura-Chan." He rubbed the back of his head laughing sheepishly. She placed her hands on her hips.

"Don't hey Sakura-Chan me, Naruto I told you while you were here in the hospital no ramen, you have to eat properly." His eyes widened and he looked towards the door as Kakashi snuck away.

"Kakashi-Sensei that's not fair! He brought it to me."

"He told me you asked him to bring it." His face faltered, he was definitely being set up but he figured Kakashi didn't want to be chewed out by Tsunade's apprentice.

"G-G-Gomen." He mumbled. Sakura then looked at Hinata and smiled.

"Hi Hinata."

"Good morning Sakura-Chan." She smiled.

"I'll leave you two." She then turned back to Naruto. "If you even dream of ramen while in the hospital bed I'll break your other arm." Naruto swallowed in fright as she walked out the room.

"Excuse me Naruto-Kun." Hinata got up and quickly left the room. "Sakura-Chan." She turned and watched the raven haired girl walked over to her.

"Hinata, what's up?" She looked down gripping her fists.

"H-H-How do you feel about Naruto-Kun?" Sakura's eyes widened before she looked away. She wasn't sure how to answer her question. "I only ask because I want to confess to Naruto again." Sakura quickly looked at her.

"Again?" Hinata nodded her head.

"I confessed while fighting Pein because I thought I was going to die, but I want to confess again. My dream is to stand by Naruto's side and watch him succeed at whatever he wants to do." Sakura stared at her in shock before looking away. She forced a smile on her face.

"Ganbatte." Hinata's eyes widened as Sakura walked away. She slapped her forehead. Even though she just wished Hinata luck for some reason her heart began constricting.

Sakura sat in the office writing some updates about patients. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in." She looked up hoping not to get any more surprises for the day. Ino opened the door smiling.

"Konnichiwa!" She giggled as Sakura smiled.

"Hey Ino." She closed the door before sitting in front of her.

"So how's the two biggest bakas in history doing?" They both laughed.

"Naruto is doing really well but Sasuke is still out." She looked down at her papers. Ino looked at her.

"Everyone is worried about you Sakura, are you sure you're not overworking yourself? I mean you monitor Naruto and Sasuke back to back around the clock and you get no sleep."

"Ino, I'm fine…thank you." She slowly nodded her head.

"So…what are you going to do when Sasuke wakes up?" Sakura slowly looked at her. "Are you gonna tell him how you feel?" Sakura looked out the window.

"Yeah, I mean I do love him after all." Hinata's words kept playing in her mind. She shook her head and looked at Ino. "I'm gonna stand by Sasuke's side no matter what." Ino nodded.

"What about Karin?" Sakura didn't reply and began writing. Ino decided to leave it be. "Hey I know let's go get lunch."

"Ok, but I have to check on Shikamaru, he has an appointment now."

"Ooh I wanna come." Sakura shook her head and stood up.

"Let's go."

"So I'm telling to stop!"

"It was just one."

"One leads to several! I'm definitely going to tell Sakura because this is ridiculous, we're supposed to be concentrating on healing and you wanna kill yourself."

"One isn't going to kill me."

"One everyday could kill you!"

Sakura and Ino walked in on the arguing couple. Ino began laughing she loved watching Shikamaru get chewed out by Temari.

"Hi Shikamaru, hi Temari." Sakura made her appearance known they both looked at her. Temari placed her hands on her hips.

"Sakura tell this idiot smoking cigarettes is not good for him at all!" Sakura looked at him as he sighed deeply rubbing his head.

"Shikamaru, Temari's right, you shouldn't smoke."

"It's just one." He tried defending himself.

"You shouldn't smoke Shikamaru and with your intellect I know I don't have to explain."

"Man, what a pain." He grunted folding his arms. Ino placed her hand on Temari's shoulder.

"I feel so sorry for you Temari, please take care of this knucklehead for Choji and I, we know he's not the easiest to deal with."

"Tell me about it." She snapped.

"Ino, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on a date with Kiba or something?" He snapped as she stuck her tongue out at him.

"He's a mission so I'm free to hang out with you guys."

"Oh nice." Temari smiled as Shikamaru sucked his teeth.

"What a drag." He hated being surrounded by women.

Sakura returned to the hospital after lunch, she decided to stop by Sasuke's room. She was about to entered until she saw Karin sitting next him sobbing uncontrollably while holding his hand. Her heart began constricting, she knew how Karin felt about Sasuke and Karin knew how Sakura felt and because of that she's always avoided being in his room at the same time. It was just awkward. They both didn't have much to say to each other but they're goals were common. She leaned against the wall sighing deeply not knowing what to do.

"Sakura." She looked towards the voice and Sai walking over to her. "How is he?"

"He's still sleeping." He peeked inside before looking at her.

"Karin's there is that why you're not going in?" She forced a smile on her face and began walking as he followed.

"Not at all, I just finished looking over him so I was going to see how Naruto was doing."

"You're only hurting yourself." She looked at Sai. "You're not being honest and you need to."

"I'm fine Sai, besides it's almost time Kakashi-Sensei is going to be named Hokage." She turned and began walking away. Sai watched her fading back before sighing deeply as he followed her.

Naruto sat in the room pouting he wanted to be a part of Kakashi becoming Hokage, it wasn't fair he wasn't allowed to leave the hospital yet. He got out the bed and decided to take a walk. His legs were a bit shaky still but he's been walking a bit every day.

"Naruto." He stopped short and gasped when he saw Gaara smiling at him. "Gaara!" He walked over as fast as he could but Gaara met him half way to help his friend out. Naruto gave him a big hug making him sigh deeply. After some time Naruto released him. Gaara straightened out his clothes.

"I have to say if anyone else attempted that I'd have to kill them." They both shared a good laugh.

"Well, as you know I'm not just anyone."

"That is true. Where are you heading off to?"

"I just wanted to take a walk, I was hoping I could reach Sasuke's room to see how he's doing each day I get closer and closer." Naruto then noticed the beautiful woman standing behind him. His mouth opened a bit.

Her beauty was almost a bit overwhelming, her pin straight flaming red hair stopped at her waist, her hunter green eyes were filled with mystery. She seemed to be gentle but Naruto had a feeling she was a woman that could stand her ground. She had on a green and gold kimono.

She noticed Naruto staring at her and she giggled walking over to them.

"Gaara, are you gonna tell your friend to stop staring? He looks like he's falling in love." She teased as Gaara looked at him. Naruto quickly closed his mouth and blushed before bowing his head.

"S-Sorry, you're just really beautiful that's all." She giggled looking at Gaara.

"He really is charming."

"I guess." He folded his arms shaking his head.

"Are you gonna introduce us Gaara?" She asked as he cleared his throat.

"This is Uzumaki Naruto of the Hidden Leaf Village and Naruto this is Tsukimi she's originally from the land of the waterfall but she's moved to the Sand Village to become my assistant and…"

"And…" Naruto repeated.

"She's my wife." Naruto's mouth flew open in utter shock.

"Wife?!"

"Oh Gaara, it's time." She told him.

"I have to go Naruto but I'll be back to see you before I go back to the Sand Village." Naruto watched as they walked away.

"Wow Gaara is really married? I would have never thought." He chuckled. "Wow, it must be nice to have requited love." He looked down sadly before looking towards Sasuke's room. He turned around and went back to his room.