A/N: This is actually my first Naruto Fic in years. Unfortunately I'm still the shitty writer that I was back then.

Summary: Naruto Uzumaki was a frightening force to be reckoned with, she gulped in realization. Even when he was most vulnerable, with just a glance he was slowly breaking her out of her shell.

Rating: T [I'm a bit of a sailor in the Author Notes, so let's stay cautious]

Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto-I don't.

Notes:

'Thoughts'/Flashback

'Inner Thoughts'

"Come on, hurry,"

"Wait, no, take that off first."

"Wait, no-!"

"Actually, Naruto-"

The small voice squeaked so loudly in its authoritative tone, that it sent cold chills and ripples along the other child's spine. Young, scrawny, and blonde, the boy's hesitant gaze met his savior's large green eyes, apprehensively. His dirt and grime filled nails clipped the bottom hem of his dirty shirt, and his fingers stayed there, frozen.

"Y-Yes?" He peeped, voice hoarse. Obviously lost and confused under her string of orders.

Sakura pressed her lips into a frown at the sight of him. Where was he? She wondered. Where was the boy with the incredibly big mouth? The one that stuck out his time mouthing off to bullies that had nothing better to do than beat him up to a bloody pulp? Where was the boy who would smile toothily, despite being all roughed up?

Light pink lashes softly brushed ivory cheeks as the girl stood, arms crossed across her chest in thought. The memory spurred like a bad stomach ache.

"Demon!"

"Spawn of Satan brat!"

"Did you really think that you could get away?! You can't fool us like you do the Hokage!"

A terrible coincidence it had been indeed. Soft spoken Sakura had not expected to find herself squished between the walls of an alleyway; baby face pressed against its paint smeared surfaces. Her parents had left, and of course she wasn't one to be left alone with her thoughts. So she went out for a walk.

"You retched thing," a slap that left a ringing sting in her ears could be heard. And Sakura's eyes that were large already-well, she didn't possibly believe that they could widen even further-were big as ramen bowls at the sight. It was a terrible coincidence that she was stuck watching her blonde haired classmate get berated and harassed by some mean-

Very very adults.

She was even more shocked by the fact that he and his big mouth stayed put. Naruto hadn't even moved an inch after the slap; his eyes were downcast, bangs hiding his tearful blue orbs from his attackers.

Sakura had never seen the Blonde boy so quiet before, not like she saw much of him outside the classroom and playground anyway.

Her parents wouldn't even let her get close.

He's a troublemaker. She concluded eyes ready to turn away.

But even troublemakers don't deserve inhumane treatment.

And just like that, there were on him like starved Vultures. It was horrifying in every way. They were doing all kinds of things: pulling, hitting, and kicking at the young boy. Blood pooled around the ground that he laid on. Her head whipped around, despite the tight space, and her ears began to pick up a small noise. The pink haired girl could feel her hands tightening into fists. It didn't take an idiot to know…what forced back whimpers sounded like.

And once she caught a glimpse of his tears, clear as day- her inner thoughts seemed to resonate even louder than before.

It was the craziest thing that she would ever do. Heck, she didn't even know if her Chakra reserves could hold for such a feat! Yet, her pink lips moved with affirmation and her voice didn't shake in the slightest!

"Henge!"

Without a train of thought, Sakura stepped into the clearing, which felt more like a cult gathering, taking in the scent of fire and sweat into her more adult like nostrils. The white smoke that engulfed her faded away with every step she took. Her white hair defied all things logical and looked up to the heavens, while the dog mask stationed on her built face was the center of all things mysterious.

She approached the huddled villagers, not caring in the slightest about masking her loud footsteps. Thankfully as she began to close the distance between herself and the little cult gathering, one by one, she clashed eyes with the terrified looks of crazy eyed villagers.

"I'm getting tired of repeating the words of our dear Hokage," she started off in a lazy tone, hand already reaching across her broad back for the hilt of her sword. "A fair warning- I will not hesitate to start cutting off hands if I see one more pair on that brat." She said calmly, slowly retracting the sword from its hilt.

The Villagers all grimaced at the threat and scampered away from the boy, running off, but not without leaving a string of curses at the blonde kid behind. Sakura barely missed the look of betrayal and avid anger in their eyes, but she brushed them off, focusing on the tired and strained gaze of the boy in front of her.

She took two steps and fell to her knees. Much to her displeasure, the henge dropped immediately.

His ocean blue eyes widened at the sight of his savior and Sakura could do nothing but smile weakly as she attempted to lift him up from the ground. With a soft grunt, she heaved one of his arms over her shoulders, ignoring the exhaustion that the henge had left behind. Naruto could barely read the words on her lips as the moved to whisper a feeble-

"Come on," he raised his head to glance at the direction of the softened voice. Sakura was lending a hand out to him, pink bangs falling into her eyes. He found that his fingers were still holding his shirt and loosened his grip.

A few seconds passed and Sakura took a step forward.

"Come on, I'll help you." She said again.

A few seconds passed and Naruto inched backwards.

Sakura's cute little button nose scrunched up at the sight of the defensive boy before her. Was he always this unapproachable? Where did his shameless attitude go? Where did all that screaming about being Hokage go? Who was the shell of the Naruto that she'd seen supposed to be?

And that was when she heard it.

Sniffle.

Sniffle sniffle sniffle.

The blonde haired boy that sat uncomfortably in her tub wouldn't even look at her. His mouth slightly shook, making it impossible to ignore the trail of blood residue that slightly dyed his teeth. The girl could only feel her own mouth frowning once she realized that he was about to release another ton of tears from his sapphire orbs once more.

No, she mused to herself, this is the real Naruto.

He was just a normal kid, just as vulnerable as she was, yet going through something a gazillion times worse. The loud mouthed boy had simply been a barrier, a shell meant to keep things from fazing him. Sakura immediately felt silly. How could she believe that such an indestructible person could exist?

She drew in a small breath, a small breath of confidence and finally looked at Naruto. She actually looked at him.

"Naruto," she said playfully while a wide grin itching its way onto her face. Naruto, on the other hand seemed like he was able to catch a hint on what was running through her mind. He inched even further away, back pressed against the cold tiles of the Haruno Household's bath.

"U-Um, I can…um take it off myself…" The small boy said, staring down at the white tiled floor of the girl's bathroom, cheeks and neck flushed pink. Now a small red liquid stained the bottom of the tub, and he frowned a bit, feeling wave of guilt.

"I'm sorry that I'm being such a bother…I got your tub all dirty." He mumbled, tears returning to his eyes. "You must hate me too right…?"

Oh no! They're coming! The tear works are definitely there! The small girl thought with caution. Sakura herself was a master of crying, especially when it came from trying to fish something out of her Mama and Papa.

Say something! Say something, Sakura!

The pink haired girl only smiled widely. "You're not being a bother- so, let me take it off for you, okay?"

The pink flush was starting to look more like a red rash.

"Bu-But I'm a b-"

"They call me a tomboy all the time, you can just think of me as one of your buddies." She said dismissively. Naruto could feel his jaw slacking at her words. He in particular didn't see her as such. Sakura-Sakura to him was, well she was-

"Naruto," she called him in a gentle voice. Said boy could do nothing but look at her with eyes wide with embarrassment.

"Y-Yes?" He squeaked again, suddenly aware of the situation.

"You can trust me." And with that, her small chubby hands that she was so used to being called chicken fingers and useless humps of meat by those who bullied her relentlessly flew towards him, faster than he could comprehend. They stopped right in front of his face, and then her index finger extended out.

"You're my patient for the day, OK?" She added, waving her index finger at him, in a scolding fashion.

Naruto sputtered nonsense, but it was all useless. The blonde haired boy pressed his lips into a firm line, sniffled, and lifted his arms up once he was told to. Sakura made sure that she wouldn't let her grin show too much.

Once the girl had succeeded in ridding him of his shirt and trousers as well, she leaned over his bowed head and turned on the faucet. She did it just the way her mother would whenever she wanted to take a warm bath after she got home from work. Just slightly turn the hot water on…and slightly turn on the cold…and success!

"There!" The pink haired girl retreated from the faucets in delight. She watched with curious emerald eyes as the blonde spiky haired boy sunk into the tub, the only visible thing being his nose and above. The pink haired girl crouched at the side of the tub and leaned her arms over it, and resting her chin upon them.

She stared at the boy who refused to face her, and failed to notice the faint hue of pink adorning his whisker marked cheeks. Weird, I've never seen a boy with whiskers before. I wonder if they're real…she patted her cheeks, curiosity pooling in her emerald eyes. I wanna know how I'd look like…with whiskers on my cheeks too! They look kinda cool...She mentally mused to herself.

Noticing that besides the running water from the faucet, and the boy's occasional sniffles, the pink haired girl deduced with impatience, that it had become too quiet. She strummed her fingers against the side of the tub, contemplating on whether she should strike a conversation or not.

What should I say…?

Something like, "Why were you wondering out so late?"

Or maybe, "Why were you being chased by villagers?"

Actually, "What did you do to get such a beating from the adults?"

Or maybe I shouldn't ask anything at all…he doesn't look like he wants to even talk to me…Mou…what should I do?

"Um, Sakura-Chan…why are you being so…nice…ya know, all of a sudden?" Said girl blinked twice, with a surprised look on her face. It took a few seconds for her to also notice that the faucet was no longer running, and the blonde haired boy sat in the tub, with a conserved look on his face.

She brushed a heap of pink strands of hair away from her face, and tucked some behind her ear so she could get a better look at the distressed boy. "Well, I have a dream too, ya know! Not to just be acknowledged- I wanna be a great medic one day. And what medic would I be if I didn't help those in need of treatment?!" She half said half yelled at him, quite innocently, face brimming with bright determination.

For a second time that night, Naruto's jaw slackened. Sakura's eyes seemed to be gleaming with tons and tons of determination. More than he had ever seen on the usually mundane and depressed girl. Somehow, he didn't know how, his lips seemed to be curving.

It was like looking at a reflection. Another him. But not him, because this radiating girl was Sakura.

And boy, were her eyes really green...

And really, really pretty.

Sakura cocked her head to the side once she saw that he was staring off into space, an unreadable expression on his face. Sakura then saw a small smile break out on his face, and-

Damn him.

It was so damn infectious that she was beaming too. Just this once, she concluded, she'll be the motivating shell that he needed.

Her sudden increase in brightness seemed to work some magic on the poor blue eyed boy. He squeaked and squawked once he had realized he had been staring too long and hid his invasive blush under the water that she ran for him. Sakura blinked at his weird behavior, taken back in surprise.

Maybe this is his weird way of asking for privacy…?

You weren't just gonna stand and watch him, right?

…knowing him, he might trip and bump his head…

...And when exactly did you want to be a medic?

"Alllllllll right." She drawled, quickly pushing herself up and away from the side of the tub and her thoughts. She walked over to the sink, and snatched the pink towel that had been folded neatly at the edge. Turning to the shy boy, Sakura placed the towel in the basket near the tub, as it was nicely folded. Once she had done so, she retreated to the door, and twisted the knob.

"I'm gonna find some clothes for you, OK? Clean up and dry up and I'll check up on you in a bit." She said, with his scuffed up clothes in hand. The blonde haired boy, nodded slowly, without making any eye contact, letting his gaze fall on the pink towel, uneasily. The pink haired girl cocked her head to the side, and decided that it was her cue to leave.

Once the boy saw that Sakura was gone, he sunk his face farther into the water, trying to submerge his blushing face under water.

"How embarrassing…" He mumbled into the water with a sniffle following afterwards.

A/N: This was literally sitting in my files and I swore to myself that I would publish it-regardless of how shitty it was-when I completed my first semester in college. And I did! So I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

As for ages, I originally planned for Sakura to be 6 and Naruto to be close to turning 7. Sakura's still getting bullied because of her forehead and hasn't had much interaction with Naruto. Naruto, on the other hand, has been an admirer of afar.

I hope that makes sense.

I'm also quite terrible at writing children. So at times, they might sound like they're older than their age. An apology in advance about that flaw.

Again, thanks for reading. Hopefully my author notes don't take up too much space. And please leave a review!