She wasn't sure what had come over her, but after she left the club she had been hit with a wave of sadness, attempting to drag her under the icy waters of depression. Ever since she'd become a Genin Naruto had been there for her, guiding her every step of the way, whether it was by advice or his selfless actions. He'd always been there for her and no matter what problem they faced he'd managed to find a way to make everything well again. She didn't mean to go to him, but when the harsh loneliness started to kick in it was her first instinct to go to him for support. She knew he wouldn't fail her. He never had. Snapping from her thoughts, the pink haired medic slowly cracked her eyelids open and took a look around her friends room. 'Jesus, he doesn't have many possessions, does he?' As she scanned the room she realized to the full extent of Naruto's recent loneliness as well. He didn't have any photos except for the one of team seven that he kept on his bedside table. She took her time to reminisce on past memories as she stared at the silver haired Jounin in said photo. She could feel a solitary tear blazing a path down her left cheek and before she could wipe it away, her blonde haired companion did it for her. 'You know Sakura, it's not good to dwell in the past. I know that for a fact. Come on, trust me. If anyone knows the pain of loss, it's me.' He didn't intentionally mean to make her feel bad, but she did. She was making a big deal out of losing her lover for three years while Naruto managed to keep his calm after losing so much. His parents died the night he was born so he never really knew them, until he met them inside him of course, but that was a brief encounter. And then one of his closest friends and mentor Jiraiya was killed by Pain. And the countless others he'd watched die on the battlefield. As if reading her mind, Naruto said, 'Sakura, I'm used to the pain by now, don't take it so hard. You and I are different. Everyone has their own perception of pain and losing Kakashi, even if it is only for three years is a tremendous loss for you and I understand that. So don't worry about me judging you for being weak Sakura. You're my friend first and a ninja second in my eyes. It's understandable for you to feel the way you do.'
She chuckled to herself; he really had grown up into a fine young man, just like the Fourth. He always knew just what to say to heal her pains, if only a little. For years she'd taken him for granted and abused his feelings for her, all while chasing after her foolish dreams of Sasuke and she hated herself for it. 'It's just, you've lost so much Naruto, I don't mean to be cruel when I say that but it's true. I don't know how you cope with it all. I just, I can't even cope with the temporary loss of Kakashi. Then there are the deaths of Sai and Yamato still fresh in my mind. I got them killed.' She wasn't lying. There was a constant pain in her chest and weight on her heart every moment of every day. She knew that it was her fault they'd died but making up with Kakashi had made some head way into healing those painful wounds. Unfortunately, in his absence, the feelings of grief and self hatred have all tumbled back into existence, spurred on by the feelings of loneliness she was suffering.
'Sakura.. Shit, I wasn't there so I can't know for sure. But from your mission report it wasn't your fault. We all have our weaknesses and our failures. You and Kakashi just made a bad decision on the wrong day. Stop blaming yourself for it, it's over now. It's done. There is nothing we can do about it.' She watched as he sat up in bed and pulled her into a tight hug, flowing all of his comfort and care into her through the physical connection. He muttered into her ear, 'no one blames you except yourself Sakura. So stop it, please. As your friend I'm asking you and as your Hokage, I'm ordering you.' He pulled away from the brief embrace and gave her a trademark Naruto smile, able to lighten anybodies day in an instant. It had the desired effect and she managed to pull her lips into a weak smile as he spoke again. 'Anyway. unfortunately, now that I'm Hokage I can't just chill out all day and give you moral support. Baa chan will come looking for me soon and I really don't want to piss her off. You know what that's like, aye Sakura?' He laughed and gave her shoulder a friendly push.
'Yeah, she's a scary one alright. Not exactly someone I enjoy making mad.' She shuddered at the memory of last time she pissed of Tsunade. It ended with a hole in the roof of the Hokage's office and a heavy mahogany desk showing up on the other side of Konoha. A few people weren't very happy with the sudden appearance of said desk and the people's complaints had only furthered Tsunade's rage. 'I don't particularly want to re-live the whole desk incident.' Of course Naruto knew exactly what she was talking about and laughed while rubbing the back of his head, a habit he was yet to grow out of.
'Oh man, I'd prefer to avoid that sort of situation. Especially right now. I mean, I'm hardly even dressed and I definitely don't want to go on a scavenger hunt for furniture throughout Konoha without my shirt.' His features slowly tugged into his special grin again. She still couldn't believe she had a friend as understanding as Naruto. Here she was showing up at his house in the middle of the night in tears because she missed her boyfriend. It was a pitiful excuse for such sadness and they both knew it but he didn't care. It's didn't matter what the conditions were. She was in pain and as her friend, he sought to give comfort and support whenever he could. Naruto was her emotional pillar of strength. Ever since they were kids and Sakura watched as Naruto and Sasuke surpassed her and grew up to be fine, powerful ninja's while she slowly faded off into the background. Despite his power though, Naruto remained humbled and always remembered his friends. He lived by a philosophy. He believed that if you could do good things for other people, you had a moral obligation to do those things. He didn't want to see anyone suffer how he had suffered for so long. That was the responsibility he had taken upon himself to fulfill in order to become Hokage of the Leaf. 'Oh and Sakura, I told you about me and Ino right? I think I did. But I'm not bruised anywhere so you must not have hit me. If I told you. I might have. Did I?' He was rambling on and much to Sakura's amusement was beginning to get a bit flustered, embarrassed by his cute little relationship with Ino.
'Yeah you told me alright. And I didn't hit you because in case you don't remember, I wasn't exactly in the best of moods last night and to be completely honest, I'm glad you and her finally made it official. The rest of us have been talking about you two for a while now Naruto, much to Hinata's displeasure.' She laughed as Naruto's eyes squinted and his mouth flat lined. She silently awaited the outburst of shouting she knew was coming. Just as she thought, not a moment later Naruto went off. 'What do you mean you talk about me and Ino! And what about Hinata? She doesn't still like me does she? Oh no, now I feel bad. Ugh. Her and Ino aren't fighting now are they?' He was up, out of bed now and pacing around his room in a frantic panic. She thought it was pretty cute.
'Naruto, man. Calm yourself the fuck down dude,' she laughed as he turned and squinted at her again. 'Hinata is fine with it. She only wants what makes you happy and if that's Ino then she's not going to argue with your decision. And yeah, sure we talk about you. I mean, you're Naruto after all. You're all anyone talks about these days. Once upon a time you were the demon child who everyone hated with a burning passion, and yet here you are, the highly esteemed Hokage of the Leaf Village.' What she said was true, it was pretty ironic how a child who grew up around so much hatred and loneliness was able to rise above and beyond the expectations of his peers and become the Hokage, just like he'd always dreamed. He was no average child, oh no. Naruto was especially unique in every way shape and form.
His mind was racing at a million miles an hour. Women were talking about him behind his back. That's never good when the women congregate to discuss a certain topic. As Shikamaru would say, it's troublesome. 'Atleast Hinata doesn't hate Ino I guess, I mean, she's an amazing friend and I'd hate to have something as trivial as this destroy our strong friendship.' He decided that now that he was out of bed he may as well find a shirt to slip into before going to find Tsunade. Knowing her she probably had a shit ton of work for him to do today. He sighed before picking up a black muscle tee and slipping it on. 'Yeah, fair enough. I'm glad Hinata isn't going to make a fuss about this because I really do appreciate her friendship. God. I sound so corny and cliché but it's true. There was a time where I thought I'd developed feelings for her but in the end I came to realize that the way I felt towards her was a strong friendship, nothing more.' He felt slightly bitter after speaking those words because it wasn't quite fair to Hinata. She'd been chasing after him since they were kids and here he was, completely disregarding her strong feelings towards him and choosing to be with a girl who'd almost single handedly made him childhood a living hell, second only to the Kyuubi of course. When he thought about it, things didn't really add up. Hinata was an almost perfect match for him and Ino was, well, Ino. Loud mouthed, bold, stubborn and easy to anger. Who'd pick her to date Konoha's legendary knucklehead who just happened to be as loud mouthed and bold as her. He was also pretty high on the stubborn side which probably wasn't good. He shook his head to rattle out any unwelcome thoughts, he loved Ino and nothing was ever going to change that. 'Hear that Uzumaki? There was no hesitation there, you truly do love her.' He smiled to himself before turning to Sakura who had also gotten ready to leave, mostly by fixing her hair. 'Always fussing about your hair, aye Sakura chan?' He smiled in her direction as she finished tying the knot on her Hiat-ate and laughed, 'you know it Uzumaki.' He laughed again. She always was good company as long as you kept in mind not to make her angry. He thought back to when Sai used to call her by her nickname, 'ugly' and entice her rage. Often he'd end up a bit worse for wear. He laughed at the memory. In the beginning he wasn't particularly fond of Sai but now without his pale face around, always plastered with that smile of his, Naruto finally realized how much he'd begun to cherish the young ninja's friendship. Naruto gave a small and silent nod in honour of his fallen comrade before grabbing his backpack and heading out the door, aware of Sakura's presence right behind him.
Another shitty short chapter and I apologise for that, but I've been so bogged down with work and study recently I have barely been able to find any time to write. I hope you guys forgive me though and I promise, my next chapter will be longer. This chapter was pretty much just a bit of insight on character emotions and how they're all feeling about events that are going on around them.
Anyway, read and review.