A/N: I'm back, baby! I hope you like this new chapter!

Dumpster Flower

Chapter 4

The past few days felt like a blur despite being the worst days of my life. My body might have been present, but a misty fog obscured my mind. Being on autopilot seemed to be the only way to get through the days. The home that I grew up in was gone, the home I came to love regardless of its imperfections, was gone.

My parents and I stayed from hotels to hostels, money growing thinner each night. We all had to sleep in the same cramped bed. The cracked walls of the hostels were so thin that I could hear the other occupants wrestling or what my Mom would call "ninja training." I was smart enough to know that whatever they were doing was not that. The only time of peace that I had was when we were able to eat at a restaurant for the first time in what felt like forever. It was cheap ramen, but it was better than living off of ration bars.

This morning, I heard my parents whispering amongst themselves. I pretended to be still asleep to listen.

"What do you mean we don't have enough money to stay another night?" Mom asked.

"I miscalculated, honey. I'm sorry," Dad said.

"We shouldn't have eaten at that restaurant. This is the cheapest hostel that we could find…What are we going to do?"

"We would not have enough even if we didn't go to that restaurant, but we still have enough for supplies. I know where to find cheap tents and if we are unable to get that, I know where to find some tarps to make a makeshift tent," Dad said, trying to comfort my mom. "We can just tell Sakura that we are going to have a fun camping trip that has nothing to do with money. I can snag some expired chocolates and other treats from that store that treats us so well,"

I could hear Mom begin to cry.

"You always know what to do… I just don't know if the money can last until my next paycheck," Mom whispered. "I don't even know if we can make enough to find another home,"

"Of course, we will. You do not need to worry. I will do extra D rank missions. Worse comes to worse, we can forage," Dad said.

The conversation was becoming too difficult to listen to, so I got out of bed to witness my parents' fake smiles. They wished me good morning. I simply nodded to them before getting ready for the day. It was a struggle. I really thought that we were getting better since we went to that restaurant. A part of me felt guilty since I insisted that we go and how hungry I was. I shouldn't have complained.

When I got out of the bathroom, my parents were waiting for me, all packed and ready to leave the dilapidated hostel.

"Don't forget your lunch, sweetie. Meet us at the laundromat where I work after school. We love you!" Mom cheered before giving me a kiss on the cheek and another ration bar.

I made sure to hug her back just as tightly. I gave Dad a hug as well.

"Aww, thanks my little Dumpster Flower. Guess what, we are going camping! We are going to find the perfect spot to chill for a few days," Dad laughed, ruffling my hair.

"We are going to be okay, right?" I whispered, snuggling my face into his shoulder.

He hugged me tighter.

"Of course, baby. You will be okay as long as I live. Don't worry about any of this. I will make things right. Just focus on becoming a Genin!" he cried.

I wished that everything were fine and that I could focus on my schooling, but my world seemed to be crumbling around me. I don't want to just be a Genin. I was going to be Sasuke's wife. That way, not only would I have a comfortable life, but I would have enough money for my parents to live comfortably as well. Nothing was going to stop me. Everything will be better once my dream came true.

The only place that had a semblance of normalcy was at school. I had to bring all of my belongings with me since I had nowhere else to keep them. If anyone asked why I brought so much stuff, I would tell them to buzz off.

Mr. Mizuki still sucked.

It was as if he wanted us all to fail. He made sure to give us pop quizzes and provided no time to work on our projects in class. Just piles upon piles of work. He was also a harsh grader. I hoped that Mr. Iruka was back by now. Some of my classmates thought that he wasn't going to come back for the rest of the year, which would suck even more. This was all Naruto's fault. That idiot was nowhere to be found. He had been skipping class ever since Mr. Iruka left. The project was becoming overwhelming with everything that was happening. Not that he would be of much help, but at least he would be there. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind so bad.

I put my head down on my desk as students around me talked amongst themselves. I was grateful that Hinata and Kiba, who sat by me, didn't talk to me. All I could do until class started was gaze at Sasuke. He was looking out the window, cool as ever.

The classroom door opened. I expected it to be Mr. Mizuki, but Mr. Iruka strolled in, looking completely fine. It was as if the prank never happened. The classroom erupted into cheers and complaints about the project. A girl even leaped from her seat and embraced him.

Iruka chuckled and told everyone to settle down.

"I'm alright class. I'm alright. The swelling went down after a quick shower and the rest of the time was a much needed vacation. I hope you all weren't having too much trouble with Mr. Mizuki," he said.

"We were!" the class said unanimously.

"This project sucks!" Choji shouted.

"Well, I thought that Mr. Mizuki's project was an amazing idea. Not only does it garner teamwork, but it also improves your writing skills," Iruka said.

"But I have to work alone! What kind of teamwork is that?" Kiba cried, Akimaru barking in agreement.

"I'm sorry Kiba. That was uncalled for on Mr. Mizuki's part. You can join a group of your choosing then,"

Iruka clasped his hands together, ready to begin class.

"Any other complaints?"

Ino raised her hand.

"The paper is way too long!"

"Sasuke, how far has your group got on your paper? The 10 pages are due the day after tomorrow,"

I inwardly gushed when Sasuke turned his attention to Mr. Iruka. He was of course the best student in the class. If he was having trouble, then the class was screwed. My group only wrote 2 pages. Why was writing so hard?

"Ino is in my group. We only got to 4 pages since my teammates are so slow," Sasuke replied. "I would have done better alone,"

That was when the other students chimed in. Some cried that they only had 1 page done. I was happy that there were those who were doing worse than me.

"Then let's have the page limit be 5 pages then," Mr. Iruka said, proud of himself. "Now, I will give you class time to work on it before we have lunch and taijutsu training after,"

Some of my classmates groaned that there were still a lot of pages, but I was relieved. This made this project much more doable.

"Wait a minute, where is Naruto?" Mr. Iruka asked, his voice starting to sound irritated.

"He has been skipping class again," I said.

"But I haven't heard of any more shenanigans around the village," Mr. Iruka said, sounding worried.

Now that I thought about it, Naruto's overwhelming presence has always been somewhere. Naruto tended to cause chaos wherever he went. He is doing something for attention either inside or outside of the classroom.

"M-my group can check up on him?" Hinata asked, nervously raising her hand.

I wanted to pull Hinata's hand down, but it was already too late. Why did my group have to do the most? I hoped Mr. Iruka didn't hear.

"Great idea, Hinata," Mr. Iruka said.

Of course, he heard.

"Who else is in your group?"

"Sakura and now Kiba and Akimaru," Hinata said with a small smile.

Akimaru barked happily when he heard his name. I groaned. At least I could tell Naruto off once we all got there.

"Now with that settled. Sakura, you and Ino are going to stay after class to clean up. You still have that punishment for that fight the other day,"

"What? Ah man!" Ino cried.

I should have known today would be terrible.

After school, Ino and I were left behind to clean up the classroom. It was a lot messier than usual because of the project. Wadded up paper and pencils littered the floor, and everyone seemed to have forgotten that we had a trashcan. We decided to split the work equally.

"Eww!" Ino cried when she had to sweep up some half eaten melon bread from the floor. "I cannot believe how messy our classmates are. Were they not trained in home economics?"

"You will be surprised at how few people study that," I grumbled, not planning to talk to her.

"Well, they should" Ino sighed, throwing the trash into the trash bag. "Done!"

I looked back and saw that her side was spotless while I was still finishing up. One would think a snotty rich girl like her would at least suck at cleaning since she has a maid that does almost everything at home. Nope. She was good at everything. When I was younger, I thought that her perfection was just her superpower. It wasn't like she flaunted it back then. I remember when Ino would help me a lot and tell me about all sorts of amazing things. Those were the days. Now, she really pissed me off as my rival over Sasuke.

"Hey, Sakura?" Ino asked, sounding a bit nervous.

"What?" I demanded, just wanting to be left alone.

"Let's end this rivalry. It is honestly really stupid. I…miss being friends with you,"

That caught me off guard.

" What? Is this some sort of trick to let my guard down?"

"No. After collaborating with him on our project, I realized that Sasuke is so mean and so uncool. He's so rude!" Ino complained. "I thought that he was like Duke John in "Mystic Memory". A ruthless man on the outside, but a chivalrous puppy on the inside but I was wrong,"

"Hey, you take that back," Sakura said. "Sasuke is the coolest. Maybe he was only like that with you,"

"I am only being honest. He is like that with everyone. You can have him,"

"Alright!" I cheered. With my biggest rival out of the picture and best friend back, it was only a matter of time before I got to team up with Sasuke and start our life together.

"How far are you in "Mystic Memory" anyway?" I am already on book 12!"

"I am still on book 3," I said, having no time for reading anymore.

"What?! You are missing so much. So much drama is happening. Especially since Mary and that flirtatious maid that always—"

"Hey, no spoilers!"

Ino laughed.

"Sorry. I cannot gush about my favorite novel with Shikamaru and Choji. They think it's stupid, you don't. I missed this."

I smiled a little.

"I missed talking to you about stuff too," I said.

"You can borrow some of my copies, so I can finally have someone to sob with!" Ino said, with her arms out.

We hugged. Her embrace made me feel so warm. It was nice.

After a few more minutes of cleaning, we were done. Ino even helped me with my side, saying how she just wanted to get this over with and was never going to leave me behind. Once everything was spotless, Ino and I went to the front of the Academy, arms interlocked like when we were kids. I assumed that Hinata and Kiba had left me behind to visit Naruto. I have already finished my part of the project and Ino and I took our time cleaning and catching up on things.

"Hey, I know this really yummy pastry place nearby. It's to die for," Ino enthused.

Sadly, I got my hopes up. There was Kiba and Hinata, waiting for me by the gate.

"Hey Sakura, what took you so long?" Kiba asked, his arms crossed.

"I thought you were going to leave without me," Sakura said.

"Well, Hinata insisted we wait for you,"

Hinata's face turned red with embarrassment.

"W-we need to stay together as a group, so…We can all see Naruto together,"

I sighed and turned to Ino.

"I guess we can go out another time. How about going out to celebrate when we become Genin?" Ino asked.

"Sure," I said with a small smile.

"Come on!" Kiba ushered. "I don't want to be out too late. My mom would kill me,"

I said my goodbyes and went off with Kiba and Hinata. Hinata hummed to herself as we walked down busy streets and crossed a bridge. That was when the scenery began to change. There were nowhere near as many people and not in the way that it was in upper class neighborhoods with their gated communities. The buildings looked abandoned. It gave me the creeps.

"Wait a minute. Do we even know where Naruto lives?" I asked.

"Of course, I do," Hinata said.

"How?" Kiba asked.

Hinata looked away, her face red and that was the end of that conversation. I could see her crush on Naruto from a mile away and I felt for her, but why did it have to be that dummy of all people?

We made it to what looked like the nicest building in the whole place. It did not look rundown like my old home, just old and well taken care of. It actually looked quite nice. I could not understand why it was mostly deserted. I knew a lot of people would want to live there.

"What are you children doing out here! "an old lady cried.

The woman waddled over to us, supported by her crooked cane holding her groceries. "Don't you know the demon child lives there? Anyone who enters would be cursed. Stay away,"

Kiba furrowed his brows.

"I know Naruto is a lot of things, but not some demon," Kiba argued.

"R-right," Hinata said.

"You poor dears. If only the law wasn't so. You should run along home,"

I knew that the woman meant well, but how she talked about Naruto rubbed me the wrong way.

"I don't care about any sort of rumors. Do you even know Naruto? Mind your damn business," I said, swatting her away.

"My word. You brats. It's your funeral," She hmphed before walking off.

"That was weird," I said as we all entered his building.

"P-people always say that sort of thing about Naruto," Hinata grumbled. "I never understood why,"

"It's because of all those pranks he pulls. Remember when he painted the Hokage Monument's faces? That was a whole world of disrespect right there. I can see why people don't like him," Kiba said.

Hinata glared at him.

"But that was a bit harsh," he continued with a nervous chuckle.

We went up too many flights of the stairs and to Naruto's apartment. My legs felt like lead when we reached his floor.

"We made it to Naruto's house! I can't believe I am here," Hinata's face red, her breath hitched. "At Naruto's house,"

Kiba had his hands out as if he were about to catch her.

"Hey, take a breath. You don't want to—"

Hinata fainted into his arms and Kiba sighed like this happened all the time. He simply took out a scroll which contained a mat and a fan that he laid her on top of.

"Watch her, Akimaru,"

Kiba's companion barks before picking up the fan with his mouth and fanning Hinata's face.

"Does that happen often? Fainting is not good if you are going to be a ninja," I said, facing Naruto's door.

"I'm worried too, but it only happens when it has anything to do with Naruto. Since it did not get in the way of ninja training, she never went to the Medical Nin about it" Kiba said.

"She should,"

I knocked on the door again. There was no answer.

"He is ignoring us!" I shouted, banging on the door this time.

I fiddled with the doorknob and realized that it was unlocked. I wasn't about to have this whole journey be for nothing.

"Sakura, wait," Kiba cried.

I barged in.

"Naruto you are so dead," I cried.

I did not expect to smell death when I opened the door. Trash and cockroaches were everywhere. I screamed. I have always hated bugs. Naruto definitely would fail at home economics if he had a brain cell to take it.

"What? Are you back for round two? I am definitely going to beat you all up, ya know!" Naruto cried.

"Not if I beat you for this mess first!" I said before maneuvering toward his room.

I assumed so many things as I made my journey. Naruto must had been so lazy that he never cleaned and he was just playing or something. Of all things, I wasn't expecting him to be injured. It was as if Naruto dragged himself into his house with only an inch of his life. He laid in his bed, sprawled out with trash surrounding him. He was covered in poorly wrapped and bloodied bandages with a black eye. He looked worse for wear.

"What…happened?" I asked.

I had never seen Naruto so injured. He needed to go to the hospital.

"Looked like you got jumped," Kiba said, looking sorry for him.

"Kiba? Sakura? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, struggling to get up.

"You skipped class for days and we were doing the project without you," I said, my voice trailing off.

"I was out for that long?" Naruto asked while rubbing the back of his head.

"Naruto…"

Did the village really hate him that much? I looked at Naruto and the trash and I was starting to get a clearer picture of what was going on. My mom used to be a housekeeper and she would deal with things like this a lot, especially with ill ninja. A depression den. He had been through so much. I thought back to all the times I bashed him and began feeling sick to my stomach.

"Kiba, help Naruto with his bandages," I said.

"I am already on it," he said, taking out some fresh bandages.

"Come on guys, its worse than it looks. I can do this myself, ya know," Naruto said.

"Like hell! Where are your cleaning supplies?!" I shouted.

"Gah! Under the kitchen sink," Naruto said, flinching.

I walked out of his room and into the kitchen that was even worse. I maneuvered under the sink to see that there was more than enough cleaning supplies, even gloves. Using all of my pent up aggression, I began to clean.

"Sakura, you really don't have to do that." Naruto cried.

"Just let her be. I know women, Naruto. I have a mom and an older sister. There is no stopping them when they get like this," Kiba sighed.

I clean top to bottom, every nook and cranny. In the past, whenever I got super upset, I would clean my house. I never in a million years would have thought that cleaning a house would be a privilege. Now that I had no home, it was. I was lucky to have at least some knowledge of cleaning fast and diligently due to helping my mom with her housekeeping job along with the laundromat. I might never understand what he has been going through, but knew enough that he wouldn't be able to do this by himself uninjured or not. It took me what felt like hours to pick up all the trash, clean all the rooms, and even the bathroom. I also just didn't see him living like that. That was why I was doing this. I just didn't live how he had been living. Naruto owed me big time.

I lastly cleaned his room. I saw that Naruto now had fresh bandages on his body and now had a clean set of clothes on.

"You really didn't have have to do this ya know," Naruto said, getting up to help.

I kept the cleaning supplies from him with a hmph.

"Of course, I don't, your knucklehead! I just can't imagine when the place is so dirty. If I see this place as a pigsty again, I will never come back," I said.

Naruto flinched.

"I'm sorry. I— wait, you guys want to come back?"

"Oh, course we are. We need all the help we can get if we want to finish this stupid project on time. Or we could do it at my place," Kiba said.

Tears began to form in Naruto's eyes.

"Man, I… I never thought…I don't know how,"

"Just help us with the project," I said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Akimaru walked into the room with Hinata.

"S-sorry for intruding. I noticed that there were a lot of trash bags outside. Thank you for—What happened, Naruto?!"

"You don't even want to know," Kiba said, taking out the project supplies and some paper. He wrote something and handed it to Akimaru.

"Let my mom know that I am going to be late for dinner working on a project," Kiba told his dog.

Akimaru left. We all began to take out our supplies for the project. Scrolls about the history of shadow clone jutsu unfolded before us with our essay papers. Naruto looked at it deep in thought. Akimaru came back a few minutes later with a scroll.

"Good job, Akimaru."

Kiba opened the scroll, a large stacked bento box appeared from the smoke. Kiba read the note.

"Alright, thanks mom. Dig in everyone," Kiba said, and he opened the bento boxes and handed everyone chopsticks

"I-I love Mrs. Tsume's cooking," Hinata said happily.

I remembered seeing Kiba's mom. I was very scared of her dog who wore an eyepatch. She did not look like someone who would cook for Kiba and others. Kiba opened the boxes and a delicious aroma filled Naruto's room. The aroma of the pork cutlets filled the room. Everyone immediately began eating.

"Delicious! This is almost as good as Ichiraku's Ramen," Naruto cheered.

"Yeah, my mom loves to cook. She always makes too much," Kiba chuckled.

I ended up eating a lot, not realizing how hungry I was. Maybe hanging out with them wasn't so bad after all.