Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
They dropped Aika off 2 days ago, and were currently tree-hopping back to the Leaf. And for 7 days straight, Naruto only spoke when spoken to. Something was extremely wrong with him, but he wouldn't talk to her. He'd already told Sasuke, but he said Naruto made him promise not to say anything to her. What was troubling him that was so confidential that she couldn't hear about it? And was it that serious that Naruto didn't speak for a week?
She was curious, but she was also hurt. When Sasuke was gone, they'd become almost best friends. They were each other's solace, and now he told Sasuke about his problems over her. She felt betrayed that he would confide in the one that hurt them for so long and not the one that stuck by him through thick and thin.
"What did you do on that trip?" she asked.
"A lot of things." Sasuke replied cryptically.
She sighed. They'd talked about everything: their memories as a team, Naruto's feats, his own feats, how Ayame liked Iruka-sensei, and many other things; but he wouldn't talk to her about the trip he went on. She knew he had a run in with a dojutsu user, something that they had trouble with back at the village. Other than that tidbit of information she had no idea what he did.
It was time to sleep, and, of course, Naruto had already gone into the tent. They found a clearing in the forest that gave them a clear view of the moon and its surrounding stars. Sakura brought a blanket with her, and spread it out on the ground for them to sit on.
Sasuke laid down on it, as far from Sakura as he could, without it being an abnormally large space between them.
When he was a genin, all he cared about was finding his brother. His brother, the one that slaughtered their entire clan along with the help of Obito. His brother, the one that claimed he did it under the pretense of testing his limits. His brother, the one that sacrificed himself and his reputation to save the village. He shouldered everyone's burden, and he protected the village from the shadows. But once he learned about his brother's truth, all he felt was rage. White hot fury. No Hidden Leaf citizen, civilian or ninja, deserved to live. They all took Itachi's sacrifices for granted, and saw him as a traitorous rat. They didn't deserve to live, not with the way they looked at his name with disgust.
But the First Hokage gave him a reason to question his anger. The village system was made to keep children from being sent off into battle like machines. To prevent warring clans from breeding generations of hatred. His killing of the village would create more hatred. It would go against what his clan and the Senju united for. Most importantly, it would nullify and disrespect Itachi's sacrifice. After hearing that story, he felt as if he matured. He didn't want to destroy the world, but rather to change it. He wanted to change it just like Hashirama did.
The Sharingan bred hatred as well. The loss of love turned all of the existing love within a wielder into darkness. But Sasuke felt as if he'd conquered his darkness; conquered his Sharingan. Now he saw the world in a new light. He saw Naruto in a new light. He saw Sakura in a new light.
He was starting to like her. He liked hearing her voice as she recounted all of her and Naruto's adventures. He couldn't help but sneak glances at her beautiful hair, while trying to get a glimpse of her sparkling green eyes while she spoke. He stayed quiet while she spoke, and offered a thought, or just grunted when necessary.
He didn't like talking about what he did, and the things he thought while he was away, but if there were two people in this world who wouldn't judge him, it was Naruto and Sakura. Now, he understood why Naruto liked her.
Admittedly, Ino was much prettier, but he felt more comfortable with Sakura. That could be attributed to not ever talking to her, but there was a certain warmth to Sakura that attracted him.
But if he liked Sakura, you're probably wondering why he was trying to move away from her. Before they set out for Konoha again, Sasuke pulled him aside and asked him what was wrong with him.
"I spoke to Aika-san." he started solemnly.
"Okay, and?" Sasuke replied, irritated.
"She made me see the truth. Sakura sees me as a brother. She'll never see me as a romantic partner. Clearly, the sibling kind was the kind of love she showed me, but I was trying to deny it and play it off as her playing mind games with me." He put his hands on his knees and bent over so Sasuke wouldn't see the tears that were forming in his eyes.
Sasuke just stood there. After all these years, he still liked her. It was pathetic. But it was wholesome, in a bittersweet way. Everything made sense. He had barely eaten anything on the trip there, and he hadn't spoken. He always tried to go to bed early, presumably so he didn't have to see him and Sakura interact for any longer than he had to. He was devastated, and most likely depressed.
He noticed tears falling on the ground in front of his best friend, and he gingerly put his hand on the blond's back. He'd forgotten how to use physical affection, but now was a time that called for it.
"Promise me you won't tell Sakura." he said, and stuck his pinky out.
"I promise." Sasuke said, hooking his pinky with the outstretched one, sealing his word.
He was feeling guilty for flirting with the woman his friend loved. He couldn't willingly snuggle up to her. It would also be out of character for him, and he was most certainly too prideful to do something like that. What he could do is not react when she does it, and just enjoy it without any acknowledgement of it.
As if on cue, she did. She's so predictable, he thought. They looked at the moon and instantly remembered the goal of all three of their enemies: Infinite Tsukuyomi. She turned to look up at him and he looked at her, doing his best to keep his face void of emotion, despite the crows that were flying around in his stomach (he didn't use butterflies because crows were cooler, and it was a tribute to his brother).
She bit her lip, as if debating whether to speak, which she did.
"I'm glad we're all okay."
His face softened a little, much to his chagrin.
"Yeah, me too." He paused for a moment or two before adding something. "I'm sorry. For all the shit I put you all through."
She offered a small smile. "We forgive you."
"I know sorry won't cut it, but that's the best I can offer until I get to prove my allegiance."
"I know." she said, and that was enough for both of them. They stared at the sky, lost in their own thoughts.
—
Little beams of light trickled into the tent, which Naruto left partially open the night before. His eyes fluttered open, and for a second, all his troubles were missing. But only for that brief second. In a flash all his most recent memories came to him, and got out of his sleeping bag depressed.
When he was talking to Aika-san, he was hoping she'd give him some foolproof plan to win her over, not bring his world crashing down. When he heard her utter those words, his heart shattered. Had he really been that stupid? It all made sense now. She'd been his best friend for years, so why would she toy with his feelings? Of course it was sisterly love.
That first day was more numb than anything. Until Sakura scooted over to him and asked him what was wrong. He wanted more than anything to tell her, to cry on her shoulder, but he couldn't. He felt her arm around him, and it amplified his pain, knowing that it wasn't in the way he wanted it to be. And then when she gave up and kissed him on the forehead, he almost broke down. But he held it together, in order to fool himself into thinking that he was okay. That everything was okay.
It'd been 7 days, and he was starting to either become accustomed to the pain, or he was accepting the fate that he'd been given. He couldn't judge his feelings now, but he knew that it was hurting a bit less. As much as he wanted to believe it was the latter, he couldn't rule out the former. He liked her for 8 years, and at some point in that journey, it morphed into love. There was no way he'd be starting to be okay with it within a week: he still could only see himself with her, and there was no end in sight for that notion.
His comrades weren't in the tent with him, and he panicked a bit. He stepped outside, wondering if maybe they decided to sleep out there, but they were nowhere to be found. He activated his Nine Tails chakra and immediately recognized their chakra, side-by-side. There was another stab to his heart, but he couldn't fall apart now.
He was hoping against hope that he wouldn't see them cuddled up together, and he was slightly relieved to see them sleeping in separate bedding, but not far from each other. Sasuke was in his sleeping bag barely 2 inches away from Sakura, who was wrapped in a blanket.
He nudged Sasuke with his foot, and the man stirred. He looked up at Naruto and fear set into him (1) because of his and Sakura's proximity to each other that Naruto had walked in on, and (2) because Naruto was using one of his modes, which meant to him that there was danger.
He quickly sat up and looked around, activating his Sharingan, scanning for another presence. Naruto knew what he was doing and assured him that nothing else was near them.
"Why are you in that mode?" Sasuke asked.
"You guys weren't in the tent or outside, so I had to use it to find your chakra." He explained softly.
Sasuke felt like a moron. He hadn't bothered to drag Sakura back to the tent, instead opting to bring his sleeping bag out there to her. Because of that they fell asleep vulnerable, and he'd essentially lured Naruto here to find them in their compromising position.
"Sorry." He said lamely.
"It's fine. Wake Sakura up and let's get going."
Since when did Naruto start leading? Oh, yeah, that's right. Since he started sulking. It was almost like his eyes had been cleared. He stopped letting his emotions blind him, and he was on track to becoming a proper shinobi, not that he wasn't already extremely dangerous.
He shook Sakura a little, and she woke up with a jolt. She saw Sasuke getting up, grabbing a sleeping bag. It disappointed her that he didn't cuddle with her on the same blanket, but she remembered from 5 seconds ago that she was wrapped in the blanket, so at least he had taken the effort to make sure she was warm.
She pulled herself up, and she and Sasuke headed towards the tent. Well, the place where Naruto had set it up. When they got there, it was already packed up, and he was leaning against a tree, waiting for them.
She hated this Naruto. Sure, she used to like it on Sasuke, but that was when she was a kid. And it was different on Naruto. It didn't fit him. His normally bright and bubbly personality seemed almost dead, and it scared her. It was as if someone close to him had died. Someone that was close to all three of them, but maybe she would take it the worst and that's why they wouldn't tell her. Fear gripped her. Tsunade-sama? But she quickly discarded that thought when she realized there was no way he could've found out after they'd left the gates, and if it was before, the whole village would've been in panic. On top of that, the Mizukage would've offered condolences when they went to greet her. She couldn't think of anyone else that meant more to her than to them. Maybe Shizune? No, he couldn't have found out outside the gates. If it had been inside, Izumo and Kotetsu would've brought it up. Kakashi? No, the whole village would know since he was Hokage-to-be. And then it hit her, and her heart broke in two.
He'd found out how close she and Sasuke were. He had to find out firsthand that they were close enough to have meaningful conversation. She was close enough with him that he was okay with her touching his hair. Why did he have to like her? And what was stopping her from liking him back? She wanted to, just to make him happy, but maybe that was why she couldn't. Being with him wouldn't make her happy, and although he would get something out of it, she'd be wasting their time in a relationship that would most likely not last.
He jumped in front of them, and they both knew to lag behind this time. He was just hoping that this day would go by fast enough so he could just reach home, have a nice 2 or 3 bowls of ramen (he didn't feel like he had much of an appetite), take a long, hot, shower to try and burn away some of his pain, and finally fall asleep in the comfort of his beloved bed.
—-
Ino wanted to go to Ichiraku's today. She thought it would be too often if she went again after she went twice in a day, so she held off for the rest of the week. But she wanted it again and she wanted to go back, but her friends wanted to try the dango shop Gaara wouldn't shut up about. Little did she know she would miss an interaction with Naruto that night.
—
Night had fallen by the time they got back to the Leaf. Naruto reached the gates and greeted Izumo and Kotetsu. They asked if the mission was a success, and when Naruto said yes, they asked why he seemed so down. It wasn't like him to not walk into the gates and start screaming.
"Nothing's wrong. I'm fine." he said, not meeting their eyes. They didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable and start prying, so they let him go.
He headed to the Hokage tower to report their mission. When he arrived Tsunade greeted him with a huge smile and asked him how his first mission with his old team was. He put on a forced smile and nodded.
"What's wrong?" she asked, getting up to look him over.
"Baa-chan, how do you get over a girl?"
"Is this about Sakura?"
He nodded. She let out a large sigh, and part of her regretted sending him on that mission, but she guessed if he hadn't gone he never would've learned that Sakura wouldn't see him as a romantic partner.
She heard Sakura's voice in the hallway and immediately rushed over to her chair, barely making it in time before they entered. Naruto picked up on what was happening and told her the outcome of the mission.
"The mission was successful, right?" she asked the two that just entered.
"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Sakura confirmed.
"Then I'll get you your pay." she said as she reached into one of the drawers and pulled out an envelope, handing them three ziplocks of money.
"Thank you, Baa-chan." Naruto said, and he turned to leave as quickly as possible.
At the thought of finally being in the comfort of his apartment, his legs felt weaker and weaker. All he wanted was to just be alone. He vaguely remembered seeing the girls try to get him to talk to them outside a dango shop, but he kept going since he really didn't want to talk to them.
He reached his apartment and made his way to his room. He grabbed his stuffed fox and his stuffed toad, glad that he had them, and that they wouldn't judge him. Laying down on his bed, he pulled his covers all the way over him and just sat there in the dark. The tears weren't really threatening to spill, which surprised him. It wasn't wet, just sad.
He felt broken, and he didn't want to move for a while, but his stomach grumbled. If he didn't eat now, he'd regret it later when Ichiraku's was closed. He pulled himself out of bed and trudged down the hallway to grab his wallet. He left his apartment and made his way to Ichiraku's. At least he could talk to them about his problem, as long as nobody was there.
He reached the stand and heard Teuchi laughing, so he figured someone was already in there. Oh well, he'd have to talk to them another time. He entered the stand and saw who was eating there, and his face lit up.
"Iruka-sensei!" he yelled as he wrapped up his old sensei in a huge hug.
"Naruto? I haven't seen you in a while. Is everything okay?" Teuchi said.
"I was on a mission. But no nothing is great."
Iruka straightened and turned to look his surrogate little brother in the eye. "Why, what's wrong?"
Naruto plopped into the seat next to him and stared at his hands for a moment. "Sakura-chan will never like me."
"Where did you get that idea from?" Iruka said as if it were the most absurd thing he'd ever heard.
"The lady we were escorting analyzed the way she talked to me. She said it was sisterly."
"Well, we don't know that for sure do we?" Ayame asked. She wanted Naruto to give Ino a chance, but if he wanted Sakura, she'd support his decision.
"Yes we do. It makes sense. She always turns down my date offers. She still shows me affection, but I don't think she ever flirted with me."
"Maybe she's just playing hard to get." Iruka offered.
"She's not. You didn't see the way she acted with Sasuke." he paused. "And realized on that trip that if she was, she wouldn't have made a very good girlfriend."
The other three people in the stand. They knew he was right. Their hearts broke at the quiet and depressed Naruto. They all loved the loud one, who could diffuse any awkward or dangerous situation by saying something stupid; the happy one, who always lightened the mood by just being himself; the optimistic one, who always saw the silver lining. The last time Iruka saw this Naruto was when Jiraiya died, and it was something he never wanted to see again, but here it was.
Teuchi did the best thing he could think of at that time. "It's all on the house today, Naruto."
He smiled a bit at that, and muttered a thank you.
He ate 7 bowls, since he barely ate anything on the trip there and back. No matter what mood he was in, Ichiraku's could always cheer him up. As he was leaving, Ayame told him to maybe talk to Shikamaru.
"Why?" he asked.
"He's a genius isn't he? He'd be able to help you get over her."
He nodded, changing his route to go to Shikamaru's.
He rang the doorbell, and Shikamaru stepped out, already in his night clothes. "What do you need?" he said, rubbing his eyes.
"I need your advice." Naruto said. Upon hearing the tone of Naruto's voice, Shikamaru straightened up and started listening.
"With what?"
"How do I get over Sakura?"
"What happened?"
"I'm like a brother to her apparently. Seems like she still likes Sasuke."
Shikamaru didn't say anything, and just put his hand on Naruto's shoulder to lead him into his house. He asked Naruto to send a clone to Choji's house to tell him to come over, and he went to his kitchen to make some tea.
After 15 minutes of Naruto sitting alone and thinking, Shikamaru's mother came to the living room. She instantly recognized him. "Hi Naruto, what brings you here?"
Her son stepped out of the kitchen with a teakettle and answered the question. "Girl troubles."
She took a seat, and asked him what happened, which he explained. Choji walked in the door as if it was his own house, and greeted the three of them. The clone with him dispelled, and Naruto received memories of telling Choji about his problem.
"There are plenty of other fish in the sea Naruto." Choji said.
"I don't want another fish. That's the problem."
Shikamaru sighed. "So troublesome. What would Jiraiya-sama say if he saw you like this, moping over one girl?"
"Shikamaru," his mother admonished. "Women are not objects."
"Sorry." Shikamaru mumbled.
"He'd tell me that I should be like him: not fall for a woman's charm, but make a woman fall for mine."
Shikamaru's mother laughed at this. At Naruto's questioning face, she explained that Shikaku had told her about the Toad Sage's tendencies, and that he acted in a completely opposite manner to how Naruto said.
"Naruto, all I can offer is that you distance yourself from her," she said. "You can't see that you're not meant to be with her if you're always around her."
"And spend more time with your friends without her, especially your female ones." Shikamaru added.
"We can go eat BBQ if you want." Choji added good-naturedly, getting a laugh out of Naruto.
"Yeah, sounds good." Naruto said, already feeling a bit better than when he got to the village knowing that he had friends that were there to help him. He got up to leave when Shikamaru spoke up. "Oh, Naruto."
He turned around to face Shikamaru.
"Kurenai-sensei wanted to invite you to her daughter's birthday party, but you were gone. She asked me to let you know if I saw you. Wednesday at 6:30. Sarutobi grounds."
Naruto smiled at this, nodded, and opened the door. "Good night."
"Goodnight." They all said, standing by the doorway watching him go.
"He just can't catch a break." Shikamaru's mother said, shaking her head.
—
The next day, Ino and Temari went to Ichiraku's. When they arrived, Ayame took their orders and told them that Naruto stopped by last night. Ino turned to glare at Temari, who had the decency to at least look sorry.
"I didn't know he was coming here. Besides, he didn't look like he wanted to talk to anyone when we waved to him." she reasoned.
"So why did he come here then?" Ino pressed.
Ayame cut in. "He was a mess. The worst part about it was he wasn't even crying. He didn't seem to be sad, just broken."
Ino's eyes softened at the mention that her Naruto was hurting. Not my Naruto, stupid Ino. she thought. "What happened?"
"I think it finally hit him that Sakura didn't like him."
Ino didn't want to say anything, in order to not come off as selfish, but Temari voiced her thoughts.
"It's about damn time."
Ayame laughed. "I didn't think he'd ever figure it out. Sorry Ino, but we tried to find a loophole, and convince him that he still had a chance, but we just wanted to bring the old Naruto back in that moment."
Ino nodded; she understood, she really did. If there was anything scarier than a laughing Sasuke, it was a sad Naruto. Naruto was more resilient than anyone she'd ever met, and if something could bring him down to the point where he stopped being a ray of sunshine, he was probably hurting a lot.
"He closed off every pathway we tried to take, so we know he's giving up on her." Ayame continued. "It seems that he finally understands he needs to stop chalking her rejections up to 'playing hard-to-get.'"
Ino knew he'd never get over Sakura, so she tried to date other people. That turned out terribly, and she still had insecurities from it, one of the biggest things stopping her from just walking up to Naruto and asking him out. But now, she was hearing that he was giving up on her, and she ignored her guilt and let a smile creep onto her face.
They both noticed, and despite their sympathy towards Naruto, they smirked and started teasing their friend about it. Ayame began telling them about an odd customer they had in the morning. After a few minutes, she served them their food.
"Where is Teuchi-san?" Temari asked.
"Oh he's gone out to get more ingredients, he should be back soon." She said. They ate for a few more minutes in companionable silence.
"Are you guys going to Mirai's birthday party?" Ayame asked.
Ino and Temari looked at her with question in their eyes. "Yeah. Do you know them?"
"Yes. Naruto brought her in one time to try ramen, and Kurenai said she wouldn't stop talking about it, so she and her mother became regular customers."
"Aww," Ino and Tenten said.
—-
Flashback:
[Land of the Sea Filler Arc]
Sakura was telling Ino about how hard she was training when Naruto ran up to them.
"Speaking of lazy." She muttered, but Naruto heard her.
"Oh yeah?! Last I checked you were sitting around a flower shop!" he said. "Where are Choji and Shikamaru?"
"They're off on a mission with Asuma-sensei." she replied despondently.
"Ino came down with a cold, and they went on a mission without her." Sakura explained.
"And I'm totally recovered. If I don't blow off some steam, I'm gonna lose it!" Ino said.
"Hey, nothing a little training won't fix." Naruto suggested.
"Not at my house. If my family finds out I don't have a partner to spar with, I get roped into helping around the flower shop." Ino said.
"Whatever. They know you'll just skip the training if you were on your own." Naruto said.
Did Naruto just insult her? That was a low blow. Naruto would risk his life to save a traitor, but he still had room to make fun of her.
"Wait a minute! That's not true at all, take it back!" she said, embarrassed. "I train by myself all the time!"
Just then, Shino appeared out of nowhere and informed them that they had a mission together. A mission with those two? The only bright side was learning more about Naruto, and getting back at him for that joke he made.
Their mission was to rid a sea of a monster, and their captain was Anko. What was Tsunade thinking? This was the weirdest team ever. It baffled her to think that Naruto was the closest one to normal here.
Speaking of Naruto, she thought she should keep some insults ready for him. He was loud. But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, was it? That just meant he was passionate. He was dumb, that's for sure, and she could use that to her advantage. But did she want to? He couldn't control that. And it was kind of cute when he didn't understand something. She wanted to say he was a terrible ninja, but he by no means wasn't a good ninja. He beat Neji and Gaara in the same day; he fought Sasuke while he was using his curse marks; took an A- rank jutsu created by Kakashi, which should've killed him, and came back to tell the tale (though he wouldn't talk about what happened). There was no other person who she thought could do any of that.
She sighed. She was developing a soft spot for him. She couldn't even insult him without feeling bad and justifying his flaws.
Their mission was definitely dangerous, and she almost died, had it not been for Shino.
But what surprised her most was what she heard about Naruto. He summoned the Chief of Toads? The Head of a Summon? She realized she could never call him a bad ninja again. He just kept getting better and better, and nobody knew when he'd cap out.
When the mission was over, they were all at the ship waiting for their leader.
"Where's Anko?" he asked.
"I don't know, she just left this note saying she'd be back." she said.
"Can't she sit still for one second?" Naruto complained.
She saw this as an opportunity to return his quip from earlier.
"There's the pot calling the kettle black." Ino said. She expected him to quiet down since she was so used to her teammates doing that, but she should've known better. He got in her face and started screaming, and no one screamed at her and got the last word in.
They would've continued if Isaribi hadn't interrupted them.
"Uh, are you sure? I can really come with you?" she asked timidly.
"Of course you can! And she's a little scary, but we've got a top notch medical ninja back in the leaf." Naruto said.
"Right, Lady Tsunade is actually a medical specialist." Shino added.
Ino felt it was her turn to add something. "Yeah, the Hokage is simply amazing. I just know she'll find a way to help you. You can relax now, you'll be in good hands with us."
"Thank you all." she said.
"Hey! Come on!" Anko said from the boat. "What's the holdup? The boat's about to leave!"
"WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?! WE'VE JUST BEEN STANDING AROUND WAITING FOR YOU!" Naruto screamed.
"Oh sorry." she laughed.
As they were sailing, he started yelling again.
"Seriously, you've been spinning like a top from start to finish on this journey. Don't you know the meaning of tired?" she said.
He turned around, not mad, but annoyed. "Ok, what's that supposed to mean?"
"It's a compliment." she said, and her face softened, even allowing a little smile. "You really came through today."
"Really? Oh come on, you're embarrassing me." He said, a blush evident on his cheeks.