A new beginning of the end.

I felt something pressing against my cheek. It was a consistent stab with something dull. I could hear two muffled voices. One of the voices belonged to a female and the other to a male.

"Is he dead?" The jabbing at my cheek stopped.

"I don't think so. I'll poke him with the stick some more." The jabbing started again. I slowly opened my eyes to see two people hovering over me.

"Look, he opened his eyes!"

"So he wasn't dead after all."

Slowly I inched my way up and placed my back against the tree's trunk. My entire body was in pain. I sat there for a moment trying to figure out how I even got under this tree. Everything was hazy until I remembered I seen her. I saw her under this tree.

"Where is she?! Where did she go?!" I stood up even though my body was pain, looking around franticly for her.

"There wasn't anyone here…" The male spoke softly to me. I could sense some fear is his voice. "We were walking up the street when we saw you crawl under the tree and pass out."

"She was here. I swear to you she was."

"What did she look like?"

"Long pink hair, green eyes, and fair skinned."

The female started to talk.

"Someone by that description did walk by! She was standing here with us for a short period of time, but she didn't say much. She said "She couldn't stand here and see you like this." Isn't that the girl that works at the flower shop?"

"She is." I nodded.

"Yeah that was her that walked by then. She asked us to stay here with you until you woke up, but we thought you were dead or something. Your face was covered in dirt and petals, but she wiped your face clean with her hands."

I pressed my hand against my cheek.

"Now that you're awake, we can be on our way. I hope you feel better!"

"Wait before you go can I have your names. I want to thank you both properly."

"I'm Tenten."

"Rock Lee."

"I'm Naruto. Thank you, Tenten and Rock lee."

They walked away and I walked across the street to my house. From my neck down I was still covered in dirt and crushed petals. I closed and locked my door behind me. As soon as I locked the door I got undressed. I hopped in the shower to get all of this dirt off of me.

I don't even know how long I was passed out for, but I'm happy. Sakura touched my face. It's been so long since she touched me. I'm saddened at the thought of it too. I wasn't awake to experience it. Her hands are so soft and warm. I miss the feeling of her touching me.

While I stood in the shower, my head was lowered. I was watching the dirty water running into the drain.

When I finished up in the bathroom, I got dressed. My stomach was growling strongly. I needed food. The last time I ate something was yesterday before I went to work and that was early in the morning.

Once I finished up in the bathroom. I got dressed and went out to get something to eat.

I wanted some ramen. That's all I ate is ramen if I don't feel like cooking and since Sakura was gone. She usually cooked for us. There was a good ramen spot some-what near the flower shop. I planned on walking by to see Sakura. I should at least thank her for asking those people to stand there with me and cleaning my face.

I left out the house and made my way to the ramen place. My stomach felt like it was twisting up into a ball of nothing. The walk was only about fifteen minutes to get there. Once I got there, I ordered my usual ramen bowl. Ichiraku's Ramen is the only place I could eat freshly made ramen at. Sakura and I came here a few times together on dates.

After finishing up, I left some money on the counter, and left. I felt a bit refreshed after having some good food. Now it was time for me to make my way over to the flower shop to see Sakura. I don't even know if she was going to talk to me, but it was worth a shot.

While walking to the shop, I noticed the small sign for a rehab center placed off in between two buildings. I stood there for a moment and looked at the doors. This place, I never noticed it here before. Maybe they just opened up here.

I didn't want to go inside of there. It would be embarrassing. Not many people knew about my addiction. Only a selected few knew and those were the people that were closet to me and Sakura. After all of this, after all that's happened, I never told Sakura who was supplying me my drugs and pills.

Sakura only knew Sasuke as being my best friend, but she didn't know that Sasuke was the one who got me on the drugs. I went from selling them to using. When Sakura and I bought the studio, my half was the money I got from selling drugs for Sasuke. Sakura thought that Sasuke and I worked at a junkyard, but it wasn't true. I needed a cover up story. That's how secretive everything was when it came to the drugs... Until she found out.

"Naruto…" Sakura walked out the bedroom with one of her hands balled up in a fist.

"What's wrong?"

"What is this?" She threw a small baggy full of white powder and a few pills at me. "What is this shit?! Are you using?"

"Sakura listen to me..."

"IS IT TRUE? IS IT FUCKING TRUE NARUTO!? PLEASE TELL ME IT ISN'T…"Sakura was yelling with frustration in her voice.

"Sakura, listen…"

"ANSWER MY QUESTION!" Her voice was getting louder. I could see the tears building up in her eyes.

"It's true… I didn't mean for things to get like this Sakura. I swear." I had no other choice, but to tell her the truth. I couldn't lie to her anymore about what was going on.

"How could you ruin something that we took so much time to build together? And you started using it too?" Sakura stood there in silence waiting for my answer. The tears that were building up in her eyes finally rolled down her cheek. She stormed away from me running towards the front door. All I could do was stand there and watch her leave.

She returned that night. When she walked in the door she walked straight to the bedroom and sat on the bed. I followed behind her.

"I've been selling it also along with the using." I spoke softly. "It was quick money and it was easy for me to access."

"What does our relationship even mean to you, Naruto? How did you even start selling and using that shit in the first place, huh?"

I couldn't admit that Sasuke got me into it. She would have been hurting even more. Two people that she thought she could trust hurting her. Sasuke, Ino, and I were the only people that Sakura had when the relationship between her and her parents had a fall out. Sakura's mom would only think of herself and her father ran away with another woman.

"It just happened okay."

"Nothing just ever happens. There's always a cause and an effect. Your actions don't just affect you. They affect everyone around you and you've been lying to me... I wouldn't be surprised if you cheated on me too."

"I would never cheat on you! I love you too much to cheat on you with anyone. There isn't a girl in this world that would make me change my mind about you. You're the only girl that I love."

"It seems like you love the drugs too."

This is the first steps to my recovery.

I walked into the building and started to look around. The a.c was on which made is freezing in there. I walked up to a counter. On the counter there were pamphlets. I grabbed one. Inside the pamphlet it was explaining how things worked around there and how they would try their best to help anyone recover. Towards the bottom of the pamphlet it said "Take the first step and check yourself in."

I stuffed the paper in my pocket and walked out of the building quickly before anyone had the time to talk to me.

It started to get dark and I continued to make my way over to the flower shop. I moved quickly. They would be closing soon. I wanted to catch Sakura before she left.

I made it five minutes before closing. Sakura was standing over in the corner at a desk snipping the thorny stems off roses. I walked over to her. When she turned around after she heard the footsteps, we were face to face.

The atmosphere was tense.

"Thank you… for asking those people to stand there with me and wiping my face off."

"You're welcome." She turned back around and went back to snipping the stems. I grabbed one of her hands. Going into my pocket, I pulled out the rehab pamphlet, and placed it in her hand. She looked down at it and looked back up to me.

"I'm doing to do it for you and me. So things will go back to normal."

"Naruto…" Her voice softened when she said my name.

"You should start getting ready to close up." I smiled at her and let go of her hand. "I'll see you later." I stuffed the pamphlet back in my pocket and walked home. She talked to me. She actually talked to me. I'm so glad. My heart was racing like the first time Sakura and I went on a date.

When I made it home my door was unlocked again. I walked inside to see Sasuke walking around. He was pacing back and forth.

"Oh, you're home. What took you so long?"

"We're you waiting for me or something?"

"No. You're usually home earlier than this." Sasuke started sniffing around. "Did you stop at that shitty flower shop again?"

"Why do you care?"

"You fucking stink. You smell like flowers."

I shrugged my shoulders at him and walked passed him. As I walked passed him he pulled the pamphlet out my pocket.

"What is this?" He opened it up and took one good quick look at it before he ripped it up. "Rehab? You're not going to rehab. I won't let you go." He threw the ripped up pieces of paper all over the floor and stepped on them.

"It's not about what you want Sasuke…"

"Of course it is. You care about what I think. You're not going."

'Yes I am. I'm going whether you like it or not."

"We'll see about that… You're really determined to get your shitty girlfriend back, huh?" Sasuke pinned me against. He had his hand wrapped around my neck. "You're so cute when you're determined." He licked his lips at me.

I clenched my teeth together as his grip around my neck started to get tighter.

"Sasuke… Stop it." I was starting to lose consciousness. My vision was fading out.

"I enjoy seeing you like this. It makes me feel good." He laughed. "You're making a big mistake defying my word. You won't have to worry about her or anyone else ever again." Sasuke let go of my neck and brushed his thumb against my bottom lip. I dropped to the floor gasping for air. He walked away from me, disappearing in the living room. He left me there on the floor without a care.