...Finally... it is done...

Yeah... writer's block sucks... as does moving, as does losing my job three times... but I'll just call it all research...

As always... characters aren't mine, and I'm not making any money off this sadly... but I do claim the storyline for this as my own, and if anyone but Kishimoto tries to steal it from me, I will hunt them down...

(This chapter is un-beta'd in my rush to post it, so if there's any errors, please let me know... :) )

Burning Leaves – Chapter 7

"Sakura…"

There was time for their eyes to meet before he pushed her away, sighing and shaking his head. "I'm sorry. We shouldn't be doing this…"

"We only broke up because I didn't know if I was coming back, Naruto… I'm back now." Sakura's forehead wrinkled as she reached up to touch his face, only to have him turn his head away.

"I know that, but it's been a long time. Things have changed… I'm engaged now."

"Oh!" she exclaimed, somewhere between surprised and excited for him. Then it sunk in, in the moment of silence that followed. "Oh," she said again, much quieter and more concerned now. "I see."

Her eyes fell to the floor, though she looked up to Naruto's hand, wondering if there was a band there, something she should have noticed to save herself this embarrassment. No, of course not – he'd never been the type to spend money on himself, only his girlfriend and his car; his babies. Still, she felt stupid over it, and hated how quiet it was, hated the way she could feel him trying to find something to say as he rubbed the back of his neck.

He hadn't changed a thing in those years… nothing at all, except for getting a fiancé. Of all the things.

"So who's the lucky girl?" she asked quietly, trying to break the heavy silence. "Anyone I know?"

He seemed to perk up at the thought of her, and instantly Sakura felt sick – not with jealousy, but with anger at herself for feeling jealous at all.

"Probably by name only… Hyuuga Hinata." He pulled the lanyard from his pocket, showing a small photo keychain hanging from it. The plastic was well-worn from time amongst the keys, but she could still make out the smiling, blushing face of an Asian woman, her head tucked close against Naruto's blond one.

"She's lovely," Sakura said, trying her best to mean it. "You're really lucky." That one, she meant. There was another pause as he put his keys back in his pocket, a grin plastered across his face, her own lips pressed flatly together.

He'd moved on, she hadn't. So much for Med School making her more mature.

"When do I get to meet her?" It was a half-hearted offer, but any conversation was welcome right now. She was back in town more or less for good now, and she didn't want to start off on the wrong foot.

"Well, actually..." He looked over at the door, making a face before checking the time on his cell phone. "She should have been here by now. We were supposed to go to dinner tonight..." He thought for a second, still pressing buttons on his cell phone, then holding it to his ear for a moment.

Sakura could hear the faint buzz of the rings from her spot six feet away, but before she could find something to distract herself from any potential conversation, he'd already hung up the phone again. "She's not answering," he shrugged.

"Maybe she just went on over to the restaurant?"

His face lit back up. "Yeah, that's probably it. We usually meet here first, but maybe she just went straight there. I wasn't very clear." She just nodded... how many times had he neglected to tell her where they were meeting? "I guess I should get changed and head over, then."

"Changed?" But she knew the answer as soon as she asked it: he was covered with oil and grime from his car, and his outfit was nothing fancy - with a car like that, he probably had the money to treat his girl to prime rib every night of the week. She hated guys who thought they had to spoil their girlfriends like that.

Oblivious to the slow criticism going through her mind, he went to get his clothes from the trunk.

"Yeah, we're going to The Monarch tonight."

...Well there was a name she hadn't heard in a while. "Really?"

Naruto's head jerked back up at the surprise in her voice. "Yeah, why? You've heard of it?"

Heard of it? She'd worked there for half a year before they dated, all those years ago now, and she had... well, a few friends there, to say the least. "Yeah... Actually, there's someone who works there I should probably drop in on sometime."

"If you want a ride, you can tag along."

She blinked. "I wouldn't be interrupting your date?"

"Hinata'd understand, and that way you can meet her. Besides, it's not like you'll be following us home or anything."

She didn't know if it was his laugh - as genuine and playful as ever - or his words that scared her, but she just shook her head. "I'll come along, but I'll drive myself. I need to get the hang of navigating town again."

-********-

Temari snapped her phone shut, still snickering to herself, then leaned back in the booth and picked up her wine to give it a swirl. "That idiot," she muttered, chuckling to herself and taking a sip. Idiot, indeed...

"What's so funny," came a soft squeak from her brother's other side. She leaned forward to look around him, blinking in realization.

'Oh yeah. Matsuri.' The girl was so quiet that she tended to nearly forget she was there at all, even though she'd become a permanent fixture on Gaara's left arm. "Hmm, what do you mean?"

"Whatever you two were talking about, you kept on laughing. What happened?" She seemed to barely be bothering to lean forward far enough to actually see Temari, her face scrunched in concern. "Did you actually go kill that guy last night?"

Temari started to laugh harder. "No, no. He got what was coming to him, but I'm sure he'll be fine... in a day or two." She sighed in amusement, taking another sip of her wine before setting it back down. No, she probably wouldn't hear from or about him again for a while, unless their lovely waitress decided to open her big mouth. There was better news to be had.

"What's going on, then? You keep looking at our waitress like she's a clown." Matsuri made a noise that definitely sounded disapproving, then finished, "It's kind of rude."

The blonde actually snorted as she tried to hold back her laughter at that one. Her, rude? Compared to Ino? "Oh, Matsuri... you're so cute. No, that waitress and I go waaaay back. She and I talked for a bit last night, actually."

"Oh." The younger girl hummed to herself for a moment, thinking, then started to ask more, when she found Gaara's face rather close to her ear suddenly.

"I think it's best you leave her alone for right now," he informed her in a low rumble, to which she could only gulp and nod. "If Temari wants something to be known... it will be known."

"Now now, be nice to her," his sister smiled, placing a hand on the Kazekage's shoulder. "She's still young, and so new... she doesn't know what happened before we left. She'll find out." A soft beep came from under the table, and Temari's pulled her phone back out, smiling at the message. "In the mean time, our brother seems to have forgotten how long we've been gone."

Oh, the stories TenTen had to tell...

-********-

Hinata could claim she wasn't upset all she wanted, but not even as dense as Kiba tended to be, he knew that a girl didn't wail for most of an hour without reason. Every attempt he'd made to wander into his room to check on her had been met by insistent "I'm fine, I'm fine!"s, so in the end he had just decided to leave her alone, though not without letting Akamaru into the room so there was someone there to comfort her. Now he sat sprawled in the armchair closest to the hallway, trying to pick out any noises that floated from the crack beneath his door. He knew she was talking quietly, and guessed it was about Naruto, but the only noises that were loud enough for him to understand were whimpers, and he couldn't tell whether those were from her or the dog anymore.

Inside the room, Hinata had exhausted herself from fretting and simply lay collapsed against Akamaru, her face buried between his shoulders. The big fluffball obviously didn't understand why she was crying, but he'd occasionally nose the shaking girl anyway, whining as if to ask, "are you okay yet?" And each time, she'd give him a slight smile and a pat on the head, and he'd wag his tail a couple times, and she'd be able to relax for a couple moments before the memory struck her again.

"I don't know why I'm letting it get to me, Akamaru..." she whispered, managing a smile again as he tilted his head at her. "Oh, you're so lucky. All you need is a warm place to sleep, a bowl of food now and again, and someone... anyone... to scratch you behind your ears..." She sighed and pressed her face to him again, her voice muffled by his fur as she continued. "I... don't even know if I have a home anymore... I can't go back there. Not while he's there anyway..." For a moment she was silent, and nearly dozed off, her eyelids heavy and swollen from the evening's crying. "But, I have to go back," she whispered to herself, eyes fixed on middair, "everything I have is there..."

She let out a little groan as the tears started to well up again, her hands holding tighter to her companion's thick fur. "Why did I think this would last, Akamaru? I have no idea how long this has been going on... hopefully not long, but... Oh, I know that girl, he was with her before me... Who knows if he ever even really left her..." She chewed on her lip and tried to take another deep breath, but only managed to inhale a round of tears and wound up coughing slightly. "I really thought it was true, though," she whispered, her eyes falling on her left hand... "But I must just... not have been enough for him... after all..."

A familiar melody suddenly filled the room, and her breathing stopped entirely as she nearly panicked at the sound. "Oh gods... he's calling me... Akamaru, what should I do?" she whispered harshly, sitting up so quickly she made herself a bit dizzy. For a moment she just stared in the direction of her coat, debating whether or not to answer. After a moment, though, the ringing stopped and she was left to just sit there, heart pounding in her throat.

When it began again, just as she was starting to cry once more, she couldn't do anything but sit there biting her lip, one arm still looped around Akamaru's neck. "I... shouldn't make him worry... but..." Hinata looked down at her friend, who merely looked back at her with a halfway guilty sort of canine expression. When the music stopped again, she started to move to stand up, but found a giant white head in her lap instead.

"You're right..." she whispered, scratching behind his ears softly, leaning back down to lay against him. "I'll call later to let him know I'm alright, at least, since I did miss our date... but... I couldn't talk to him yet..."

Akamaru made a soft noise of objection to the idea that his cuddle-buddy planned on leaving any time soon, but by then, she was already sleeping to the soft sound of his heartbeat.

-********-

"She's not answering," Naruto sighed, closing his phone. "I'm a little worried... The restaurant was closed and I don't see her car anywhere... I hope she's alright."

Sakura nodded, glancing around to help search, even though she honestly had no idea what the girl's car looked like. "I'm sure she's fine and something just came up, that's all," she tried to assure him. The poor boy was clearly distraught, but she had no idea how to help him at all – he just seemed beyond words. On the inside, however, she was wondering what kind of a fiance didn't show up for her anniversary dinner – hadn't Naruto said he'd booked this a few weeks in advance?

"Yeah, you're probably right," he sighed, then grinned suddenly. "Or maybe when she found out the restaurant was closed, she ran home to cook something nice, and she's waiting for me at home with it! But she got so excited that she left her phone in the car, and-"

"Then you better go check for her," Sakura answered a bit roughly, interrupting him before his fantasy went anywhere graphic. She sighed and shook her head, her back turned towards him as she tried to force herself to calm down before saying anything more to him. 'This is what you deemed better than me?!' her mind demanded her to ask, her hand clenching and unclenching, 'A defenseless little rich brat who can't even be bothered to answer your calls? She must really be something, I'm sure.' She snorted out loud in annoyance, drawing Naruto's attention suddenly.

"You okay, Sakura?" he asked, leaning over towards her and looking over her shoulder, his face a little too close for her comfort.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine," she insisted, crossing her arms. "I'm just a little mad I didn't get to meet her tonight, I guess. You've told me so much about her, then she wasn't here, and I don't even get to check up on Ino. Tonight feels like a total wash."

"Ah, c'mon Sakura, it's not so bad," he chuckled, leaning back against his car. "If you want some excitement to make up for it all, meet me back here later and you can come along on a race, just like old times!"

'Yeah... old times. Right.' She rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh out of spite, turning to give him a smile. "Yeah, maybe, but not tonight. I've got an overnight at the hospital, so it'll have to wait. I'll give you a call, though," she promised, backing away slowly. "You hurry home before your dinner gets cold!" she added, trying to distract him into letting her complete her escape.

"Oh, you're right!" he half-shouted, a grin spreading across his face. "Oh, this'll be so great! Yes, call me when you have a night off, we'll hang out!" he called after her, waving, then turned around to unlock his car. "Hinata's home cooked dinners... Yum, I can hardly wait!"