Chapter 2: The Unexpected

"What are you doing here? You've never come by my place before. Heck I wasn't even sure you knew where I lived." Naruto asked, perplexed by his teammate's uncharacteristic appearance. Never mind her use of the 'kun' suffix, her appearance was the weirder part to him.

"There's a first time for everything Naruto-kun." She simply told him.

"That's another thing, why are you calling me kun? You've never called anyone but Sasuke that before as far as I know." Naruto added.

Sakura just smiled. "Maybe you deserve it more than he does."

Now Naruto was suspicious. "Alright, who are you really? The Sakura I know would never say that."

"The Sakura from three years ago, yes. The Sakura that's right in front of you on the other hand would."

"And why would she do that?" Naruto asked, still suspicious.

"People change Naruto-kun. You're not the only one who grew up all this time you know." She told him.

"So what changed with you?" Naruto pressed.

Sakura looked a little pouty right then. "Naruto-kun, am I bothering you right now?"

"What? No. I'm just confused."

"I'll gladly explain, but can I come in first? It's a long story."

Naruto nodded. "Sure. I was about to make dinner, would you like some?"

"Absolutely. I haven't eaten all day. What are we having?" Sakura asked enthusiastically.

"I was going to have ramen, but if you're here I could make something different."

"That's good. Would you like me to help?" She offered.

"Oh you're a guest. Even I know guests shouldn't have to help." He told her as he went back into the kitchen.

Sakura looked around and saw his front room could use a little tidying up. It wasn't a pigsty, just some pieces of trash left behind and some things out of order. Not wanting to risk disturbing his personal stuff she settled for picking up the trash and taking it to his kitchen where she assumed the garbage can was.

She was right, but when she got there Naruto looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry, all I've got on me is ramen and frozen dinners."

"That's okay." She said as she threw away the trash. "If you want I can order us something."

"You don't have to." He insisted.

Sakura shook her head. "No, but I want to if you want. Friends do this all the time Naruto-kun. Sometimes Ino buys me food we share and sometimes I do the same for her. Why can't I do the same for you?"

"Because I'm not sure when I can repay you." He said, using the first excuse that came to mind.

'Probably thinks he has to do more for me.' She thought, pleased by his generosity. "Did I ask to be repaid?"

"But-"

"It's okay Naruto-kun. Consider it something I owe you for all the good things you've done for me over the years. And if you feel you must repay me, you don't have to do it right away or even with money." She told him.

Naruto looked confused. "How else could I then?"

She waved his question off. "Oh don't worry about that right now. Let's just get something to eat. How about some Chinese? I know a good place that delivers."

Naruto shrugged. "Sure. Could I get some fried rice and sweet-and-sour chicken?"

Sakura smiled and nodded. "Do you have a phone?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, I never had anyone to talk to. Not anyone who wanted to talk back without yelling that is."

Feeling a bit guilty, Sakura came up to Naruto and gently put her arms around him. He tensed, which she noticed, but it didn't last long. "Naruto-kun, I want you to know I'm sorry I was one of those people. I think when I was younger I took your friendship for granted. That was wrong, friendship is too valuable to take advantage of and shinobi like us have an even harder time finding someone we can truly trust. I want to be the kind of friend I should have been from the start. I want you to trust me again."

"I do Sakura-chan." He told her.

"No Naruto-kun, I mean really trust me. I know you'll keep me safe and be good to me, but on some level of your mind you can't return the gesture because of my past behavior. You want to trust me, but a part of you can't help not trusting me because of what I've done. I mean, if I were to hold a kunai to your neck, what would you do?"

"I'd defend myself." He answered.

Sakura nodded. "I know, but if the roles were reversed I'd know it would be a trick, a genjutsu. I trust you enough to know that there's no way you'd ever try to hurt me like that. Can you say the same for me? That's what I mean by trusting each other Naruto-kun."

"How can you trust me Sakura-chan?" He asked. "I hurt you on our last mission. Remember the-?"

"I remember Naruto-kun. I still have a scar from when your tail hit me." She said moving his hand to her side to feel where Naruto had hit her during his four-tailed state. "That wasn't you. That was Kyuubi's instincts controlling you. Had it been you, you never would have swung your tail at me."

"I still feel like it was my fault." He said, sounding like he expected punishment.

Sakura surprised him by leaning forward and planting a light kiss on his left cheek. "It wasn't."

He just looked at her shocked by what she just did. Never would he have foreseen that happening to him. "Sakura-chan...?"

She pulled away. "If you don't have a phone I should probably go use a payphone to place the order. Be right back." She said as she left the room, teasing him by acting like she hadn't done what she just did.

Naruto just stood there, his mind on a sort of disbelieving lockdown.

Sakura came back after fifteen minutes, needing some time to find a phone, place the order, and confirm the address. When she got back she saw Naruto right where she left him. "Wow, I think I broke him."

Thinking of how to snap him out of this, she came up to him again and waved her hand in his face. "Naruto-kun?"

He snapped back. "Sakura-chan? Did you really just-?"

"You mean this?" She asked before giving him another kiss, this time on the lips. Again he was too shocked to respond, but she made this kiss longer then the other one, and more passionate too. Almost like a wife greeting her husband kind of kiss.

She let go and Naruto again was stunned silent, but this time he wasn't catatonic. "Sakura-chan, what's gotten into you?"

"I was giving you what you always wanted, wasn't I?" She simply answered.

"But why do you want it now? Why me and not Sasuke? And what about if you see Sasuke again?" He asked.

Sakura surprised him by not looking bothered by his questions. "Naruto-kun, Sasuke is always going to be important to me. But I'm not important to him. I offered my heart to him and he tossed it aside, like I did to you when we were kids. When you were gone, I realized I missed you more than I missed him, I worried about you more than Sasuke. I even wanted you back more than I wanted Sasuke back. It just didn't sink in right away, and on our mission to find Sasori's spy, I realized that if I had to choose between coming back with you or coming back with Sasuke, I'm happier with you being around me."

"So if Sasuke came back, you wouldn't break up with me to go after him?" Naruto nervously asked.

Sakura shook her head. "Not anymore. And I'm willing to do anything to prove it to you Naruto-kun."

"So if I were to ask you out on a real date?" He tested.

Sakura's smile brightened. "Name the time and place and I'll be there."

"Really?" Naruto asked, not sure he had heard her right?

Sakura nodded. "Yes. Would you rather I date Lee? I mean, he's got a great heart and all but it would feel too much like I was really dating Gai-sensei instead. No thank you."

Naruto chuckled. "Can't blame you there." He then decided to change the subject. "So what were you doing today?"

They chatted for a while waiting for their food to arrive, talking like old friends. Naruto was glad to have a conversation with Sakura where she didn't hit him or tell him to shut up. To test her he called Tsunade an old drunk and to his surprise the pinkette just offhandedly agreed with him.

In no time the food arrived and Naruto paid with Sakura chipping in despite his insistence he cover the whole cost. They sat at his table and began to eat. Sakura felt this was a good time to bring up something she had been thinking about. "Naruto-kun, I was wondering something. Why do you want to date me? I mean, why me? Why not a girl who treated you right from the beginning? What made me so special?"

"You talked to me." He answered.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "And?"

Naruto looked more confused than she did. "And what?"

"That's it? Simple as that? Your entire desire to be with me started for no reason other than I at least spoke to you?"

"Sakura-chan, when you're ignored, you take any kind of attention as a good kind."

"But was the negative attention really worth the feeling of not being ignored?" Sakura asked.

Naruto ingested a piece of chicken before responding. "At the time, yes."

"And is that still the main reason you're interested in me?" Sakura added.

Naruto swallowed before answering. "Well you're not the only person who talks to me anymore, but I've never really seen any reason to stop trying."

Sakura carefully put down her chopsticks. "Naruto-kun, can I give you a little opinion on this?" He looked cautious but didn't stop her, nor did he stop eating. "I'm not a therapist, my specialty in diagnosing is for the body, not the mind, but I was taught some things about how people think for when a patient isn't just sick or hurt. You following me?" He nodded and she continued. "I don't think your mind is sick per say, but a bit malnourished."

"Malnourished?" He repeated like he had heard wrong. "You meant I didn't get enough brain food growing up?"

The pinkette shook her head. "No, what I mean is you haven't had all the right interactions and information to make proper choices. Like a body deprived of nutrients, a mind deprived of knowledge is not healthy and can't perform as well as one given what it needs."

Naruto lightly frowned. "So you're saying I'm stupid?"

"No, you're a victim of circumstance Naruto-kun. You didn't have the same upbringing the rest of us had so you didn't learn the same things we did. And because of that, you don't make the same decisions I might make or for the same reasons I would if you do. Normally this is not bad at all; what makes it bad is that you tend to use the simplest reasons for your choices. Like your pranks, you did it simply to get attention. Sure it involved some skills you put to work as a ninja and it showed your talents like traps, infiltration, and deception, but you weren't doing pranks for that. Instead you simply wanted to be noticed, nothing more nothing less."

"What's your point Sakura-chan?"

"My point Naruto-kun is that if having someone to talk to is the only reason for asking me out, then you don't really want a relationship with me, or anyone for that matter. What you really want is just pleasant company, not love."

Naruto looked bothered, maybe a bit offended. "So you're saying there's no chance of us being together? I'm just fooling myself and you're just humoring me?"

Sakura looked surprised he said that and waved her hand and head negatively. "No Naruto-kun, I'm not saying that at all. There is a chance we can become boyfriend-girlfriend later on. But right now as you are it wouldn't work. Because you don't know what you want in a girlfriend."

"I'm pretty sure I know what I want." Naruto replied.

"Naruto-kun, you said your only real reason for pursuing me was because I talked back. If any other girl instead of me had talked to you back in the academy, you'd be asking her out instead, not me. Am I wrong?"

The whiskered blonde wanted to refuse her claim, to say she alone had his eyes, but deep down he knew that was a lie. If any girl had been kind enough or brave enough to say anything more to him then an insult, then he probably would have fixated on that girl instead.

"So what? This doesn't change anything." Naruto complained.

"Actually Naruto-kun, it can change things if you act on it. Since the only priority you have in having a girlfriend is finding someone who talks to you without insulting you left and right, you haven't bothered asking yourself what else you'd like in a girlfriend. For all we know there might be a girl out there that would make you happier than I could."

Naruto shrugged and ate some rice. "Maybe, but I'll take what I can get."

Sakura shook her head. "Naruto-kun, I'm flattered you think I'm worth it, but love isn't something you should settle on. If you're going to find a girlfriend, find one that really makes you happy, not one that just keeps you from being alone."

"How would I know who's who then?" Naruto asked.

Sakura ate some more of her dinner before answering. "I have an idea. It's a weird one but please hear me out. Okay?" He needed. "I could teach you about the different types of women and what they want from men, but you're not likely to listen or grasp the message because that's not how you learn best. The best way for you to learn what kind of girl you would be happiest with... is to date more than one."