"Naruto sure has grown up a lot, hasn't he? He's actually quite handsome now." I looked up from my clipboard to see the voice had come from Ino. Everyone in the village was at work to fix up the destruction that had happened during the attack, and with Tsunade-sama still in a coma, there was a bit of chaos with the village repairs. Not that it was my responsibility to bring in organization. I just wanted to be helpful, naturally.

I hadn't talked to Ino for a while. Occasionally we would go out with our friends to eat, but such times seemed so long ago with this war at our hands. It hadn't been that I had not seen Ino. The two of us were often working together at the hospital. It was just that we hadn't actually had a conversation that wasn't work related in eons.

I saw that she was looking at something behind me. A quick turn of my head discovered it was Naruto, talking to an elderly couple. He waved goodbye at them happily, not looking where he was going as he was backing away from them and hit his head on the length of a board that someone else was carrying.

"Too bad he's still an idiot," Ino commented, seeing the same scene as I did.

"Naruto's always been the same," I agreed as I went back to my clipboard.

"So, Billboard Brow," I felt myself frown at the old nickname. Ino was the only one that could get away with calling me that. I found myself not being able to punch her pretty little face in as much as I would like to. I don't know what held me back. "What do you think about Naruto? Now that he's the village hero, he'd look mighty pretty on your arm, don't you think?"

I fumed. "Naruto's not some trophy or object for me to display!"

Instead of wiping the smirk off her face it grew. "Look at you. So, you do care."

"Of course, I care! He's my teammate and my friend. It's nothing like whatever you're implying. Naruto's like a brother to me." A brother that I fucked with occasionally. But no one knew about that besides Naruto and me. I was pretty sure anyway. "You're just trying to get me to let you have Sasuke-kun, aren't you? No way Ino. I'll never let you win!"

Ino frowned. "Actually, no Sakura. I was hoping you'd let go of Sasuke, you know, since he's like, gone." Of course. Why did I bring him up at all? It had been so long since I talked to Ino like this, that it just came out habitually. "Hey, when we're done here, hang out with me for a little while! I miss you. We never talk anymore," Ino said, noticing my change in mood.

"I don't know. I have a lot of work to do."

"Come on, you've been doing things nonstop. When's the last time you relaxed? I know that we're in hard times here, but you gotta take some rest."

"I know." I gave her an annoyed look. "I was going to see Naruto after I was done here."

"Oh? And do what?"

Talk about Sasuke-kun, of course.

"We're just friends," I said coolly to Ino, an evil gleam in her eyes.

"Just friends that fuck each other?"

"No!" I lied. Besides, that had only happened on two separate occasions. "We do other things." I didn't want to say, 'cry about Sasuke-kun together.' That would make the both of us look insane. "Sometimes we eat. Go shopping. Naruto helps carry my bags."

"Really? Tell me how I can get my teammates to do that!"

"Just ask them."

"No, there's no way in hell they'd do anything like that. I don't know if Naruto is just so hopelessly in love with you or you brainwashed him."

"It isn't always about me, you know," I said feeling suddenly ashamed of myself. Was I using Naruto? Was I leading him on? No, it was impossible for Naruto not to realize how much I still loved Sasuke-kun. That was all we ever talked about! "We're friends. We help each other out. We talk to each other. Talk out our problems. We do things friends do!" I was finding it hard explaining what Naruto and I did do with all the time we spent together.

"Like tell each other your dirty secrets and paint each other's nails?" Ino said sarcastically.

"Well, yeah, but of course I don't paint his nails."

"But he paints yours?"

I held up my hand to show Ino the newly painted mint green nails. "Only because he was interested in the color. Naruto doesn't know his hues. He hadn't heard of mint green before, or lavender. He didn't even know lavender was a word. It makes me really wonder about him."

"Yeah? Me too. When did Naruto replace me as your best friend?!"

"Naruto didn't replace you!"

Ino began listing things on her fingers. "You tell him your secrets. He goes shopping with you. He paints your nails! It's like he's the perfect gay best friend that every girl wished she had!"

"Trust me, Naruto's not gay, no matter how much I wish it! It would be a whole hell of a lot easier to be friends with him if he were gay."

"Why? Because you like him!" Ino accused.

"No."

"Sakura, you're a terrible liar. There's no way in hell that the two of you haven't fucked yet, unless he's gay. Which also seems like a strong possibility. You two are attached at the hip, but it's Sasuke-kun this, Sasuke-kun that! It's like the both of you are in love with Sasuke."

I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to rebuttal this attack. If I claimed that I knew Naruto wasn't gay because we had had sex, then Ino would think she was right. She'd think that I had romantic feelings for Naruto. I didn't. I did not!

Sex was just that, sex. It was a form of comfort. A fucked up form of comfort because apparently both Naruto and I were fucked up, but it was nice all the same. Yet, I didn't want to try to explain all this to Ino because it would make me seem more like a dirty slut.

I was a dirty slut.

"Maybe Naruto is in love with Sasuke-kun," I said, turning back to my clipboard.

Ino laughed heartily, hopefully taking this all as a joke. I didn't actually want to betray Naruto's reputation. Naruto had never betrayed mine. Still. What the hell was I saying? "So, he has replaced me! He stole you right from under my nose! You've found another blond best friend to rival your love." Naruto was a thief after all. Maybe he had stolen me away from Ino.

I rolled my eyes. "Ino, you will always be my best female friend, and one true rival for Sasuke-kun's love."

"If he ever finds Sasuke, he can keep him! That jerk's done enough." Ino said in a fit of bitterness. Ino acted very much over Sasuke-kun these days, but sometimes I would wonder if such annoyance to his name could be hiding something. Whatever it was though, she seemed to deal with it better than I ever did, and even though I half thought her snap was based on her own frustration, I felt somewhat judged for still feeling the same way. Ino noticed and gave me a worried look because my expression must have changed from her response. "Hey, I'm really hoping that you're just playing around when you still talk about Sasuke like that. Right? We're just playing."

"I am. Of course, I'm playing. I'm over him. Well, I mean, I still want him to come back, but-"

Ino let out a huge sigh. "You know, I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish that damned bastard would come back too. It's just with both Orochimaru and Itachi dead, I really don't think he is. Maybe he found someone else out there."

"Like... to love?"

"Yeah, maybe."

Oh, that placed a sickening feeling in my gut. I needed to stop thinking about Sasuke-kun. I should be happy if the reason Sasuke-kun wasn't back was because he found true happiness. If I loved him, I should be happy. I needed a distraction.

"Actually, I'm thinking about seeing you tonight instead." I grinned. If I hung out with Naruto, he would surely want to talk about Sasuke-kun. If I hung out with Ino there was a chance of talking about something else like, how I was still better at medical ninjutsu than her, or how my forehead was still rather large. Whatever topic would come first. Of course, I was just trying to run away from one problem by addressing another. "You're right. We need to hang out more. Naruto can survive one canceled playdate."

"I am so honored that you would choose me over the Hero of the Leaf!" Ino addressed, a hand over her chest. "I hope I can meet your expectations." She winked at me.

"Sure! Sure!" I waved my hand. The corner of my eye caught Konohamaru heading toward Naruto's direction. "Oh hell no. Hold on Ino. Naruto and Konohamaru are about to pull their old tricks again. They can't do that here out in public! That poor old couple is still there!" I marched away from Ino, at the time, not noticing Ino's annoyance that I was again choosing Naruto over her.

I was able to grab Konohamaru's blue scarf before he got Naruto's attention. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Sa-Sakura?!" I was satisfied to see the little bit of fear in Konohamaru's face, before it fell back into its normal stubbornness. "Whadda ya want?! Let me go! It's none of your business!"

"Oh, no! I know what you're up to! You're going to try to practice one of your ridiculous jutsu with Naruto!"

"It's important training!"

"It's a waste of time, is what it is! I stand by what I said in the past! There's no way those types of jutsu would be useful in a real fight!"

"The Sexy: Boy on Boy Technique seemed to work just fine on you before!" he accused, bringing up a dreaded memory.

"That-!" I let go of him in my anger. "First off-!" But I didn't even know what thing I wanted to say first. So many comebacks were trying to escape my mouth all at the same time. "Maybe!" I admitted, because it didn't seem like anyone else was paying attention to us. " But why would you take the time to put together a jutsu designed specifically against me, of all people!?"

"Well, maybe because you're terrifying as all hell," Konohamaru grumbled in a low, quiet voice.

"What was that?!"

"Who said that jutsu was designed specifically for you?" Konohamaru said instead, yet still taking a careful step away from me. "That's pretty self-important for you to think. From what I hear, both Sasuke and Sai have what all the girls want. Whatever the hell that is. That jutsu was made in order to distract any female enemy, or man that swings that way, and lets you get in a hit that could determine the outcome of the entire fight! It's good to be prepared, you know. Sure, the Sexy: Girl on Girl Technique is important, but what if you came across an enemy immune to its charms? It's good to have a backup plan."

I glared at him. "Has it ever occurred to you that maybe some people can actually control themselves!?" Not that I was really one of those people, but still. There had to be people out there! Like Sasuke-kun. He had never fallen for Naruto's dumb Sexy jutsu before, finding it just as stupid as I always did. Unless of course, it was because he wasn't attracted to females. I had never seen him in front of the Sexy: Boy on Boy-NO! That wouldn't have affected Sasuke-kun either!

"Sex is a very powerful thing," Konohamaru defended stubbornly, hands on his hips. "Such teachings have been passed on from Naruto onto me! It honors the great Master Jiraiya, even more so now, now that he's past-"

"Oh, shut up!" I nailed Konohamaru on the head with my fist. "How much do you even know about sex? You're just a twelve-year-old boy!"

"I bet I know more than you! Seriously lady, you're never gonna ever get a boyfriend. You're way too scary!"

"WHAT?!" And here I was, in a dilemma of being a woman. I didn't care how much porn Naruto had told Konohamaru, when going on real experience, of course I had more than this boy. I had done the deed twice now, but that wasn't something I could just shout out with pride like any man could do, especially since my partner had been Naruto! I would be labeled as a classless slut. But if I lied or kept quiet, I was a naïve, ignorant bitch! Keeping this secret that Naruto and I had was proven to be somewhat tough. It wouldn't be too bad if I could have talked about it more with someone, Naruto himself even, but he and I didn't speak of it.

I decided to go with the title of 'Bitch', grabbing onto Konohamaru's blue scarf as he was in the midst of trying to scramble away from me in a panic.

"What did you say to me?" I growled in a dangerously dark and low voice.

Konohamaru screamed.

"How many people would miss you if you were to suddenly disappear?"

"Naruto nii-chan!" Konohamaru cried out like the true hopeless genin he was. Of course, so was Naruto, but I forgot that most of the time.

"Sakura-chan! What's going on here?"

I sighed, slightly disappointed that Naruto had come to Konohamaru's rescue. I was looking forward to teaching him a lesson. "Naruto!" I said, now directing my anger towards him. "You need to teach this brat some manners!"

Naruto smiled nervously when he realized what this fight must be a product of. He held up his hands apologetically. "I'm sorry Sakura-chan! You know the kid's still young. He doesn't know what he's talking about!"

"Naruto nii-chan!" Konohamaru exclaimed, still trying to get his scarf free from my iron clad grip. "Don't let her win! She's the one that's being rude! I was minding my own business when she started to talk down on all the training I've been doing! The training that you were teaching me!"

"Why are you teaching him this shit!?"

"Now wait a minute," Naruto stuttered out. "Konohamaru has a more active imagination than-"

"Wait a damn second here..." My eyes narrowed at Naruto who was looking at me in panicked horror. I released Konohamaru as the thought came into my head. "Did you teach Konohamaru the Sexy: Boy on Boy Technique?!"

"Yep!" Konohamaru supplied brightly.

My glare darkened onto Naruto. "No! No! No! It was Konohamaru's idea! Sakura-chan, really! I would have never thought that outside the box! Seriously, I'm kind of amazed that Konohamaru was thinking so far ahead!"

Then I was glaring back at Konohamaru. "Aw, come on, boss! Sure, I came up with the initial idea, but you taught me who to use. Naruto knows what the girls like." Konohamaru elbowed Naruto while wiggling his eyebrows. I wanted to hit one of them. I couldn't decide on who though, so my fists stayed with me. I was leaning more toward Naruto at this point, maybe solely because of the pure satisfaction it always gave me.

"So, you decided to tell him the two people you knew that I thought were most attractive!"

"I mean, everyone knows that Sasuke used to be the hottest guy in the academy when we were kids! And now Sai seems to be having his own fan club! It was nothing against you Sakura-chan! And besides..." Naruto's voice faded as he made a grimace. "I didn't expect Konohamaru to make them have sex with each other," he grumbled. "That was gross Konohamaru. That was too far!"

"You gotta hit them hard boss! In a real fight-"

"Still, it's weird," I interrupted Konohamaru and accused Naruto. "Konohamaru doesn't know Sasuke-kun and Sai very well, especially Sasuke-kun!" I turned to Konohamaru. "When's the last time you've even seen Sasuke-kun, Konohamaru? And how could you have any idea on what he looks like now?"

"That's what I've been saying! Naruto taught me!"

I looked back at Naruto. His face was beginning to panic again. "So you did it first to show him?!"

"Sakura-chan!"

"You-" Konohamaru had done a rather realistic job, though some of it I hadn't gotten a good look at because of the after smoke of the transformation. But what I was able to see, couldn't have been off only guessing work. Sure, Naruto and Konohamaru could have used pictures of the anatomy or other photographs of other people to patch up the missing information, but even that seemed too weird. Why would they look at such pictures so intently just to get all the details of such an absurd jutsu? What Ino had said to me was coming back. I really didn't care about Konohamaru's preferences, but she was right about Naruto. Naruto did some oddly peculiar things for a straight man. "Have you seen Sasuke-kun naked?!"

"For crying out-At the hot springs! " Naruto shouted. "I can see what you're thinking! I can see it on your face!" He raised a finger accusingly. I lifted a hand to cover up my face. "Sai too. At the hot springs. We're men, Sakura-chan. Of course we've seen each other. And, as men, we're comfortable with ourselves so that it's never been weird. Sai's the only one that's ever made it weird. Go yell at Sai!"

"Right. I'm sorry. Of course." I didn't know how Naruto was able to turn the tables around in this conversation. If I wasn't so flustered all of a sudden, maybe I would have noticed the blush on Naruto's face. It also suddenly came to mind of Naruto's brief transformation inside the Hokage's office. If Naruto knew just exactly how Sasuke-kun looked without clothes on... then he could have... If I had only said yes... "In the Hokage's office...?"

"Regretting your decision, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked in a low, serious voice. Konohamaru was looking back and forth from us, confused.

"What are you guys talking about?"

I was finding it hard reading Naruto's expression when normally it was like an open book. Was he angry at me? It was rather insulting that even now, I still wished that he had been Sasuke-kun. But Naruto never directed his anger at me. Was that why I was finding it hard believing that he was mad? That he was hurt? Why did it look more like lust in his eyes?

Naruto put a hand on top of Konohamaru's head. "You can show me your training later, Konohamaru," he said, without taking his eyes off of mine. "I'm busy right now."

"Aw, come on!" Naruto gave Konohamaru's head a push. "Okay. Whatever."

Naruto grinned at me. It was the normal happy one, though there were still traces of bitterness in it.

"I'm sorry!" I exclaimed. Why was I always so insensitive to Naruto's feelings all the time? "I didn't mean-"

"Why are you apologizing?" Naruto asked, the grin becoming more friendly than it was a few moments ago. "You picked me over a fake imitation of Sasuke, which means, I won!" he said, jutting a thumb into his chest. Then pointing to his crotch, he said, "That bastard can suck my dick."

My words caught in my throat. It wasn't that I was surprised that Naruto could forgive me so easily. That was the way Naruto was. It was just, "You mean not lit-"

"Not literally!" He threw his arms into the air. "Sakura-chan! Come on!" Naruto was blushing again, but I was also embarrassed so I decided to quickly change the subject. "I told Ino I'd hang out with her tonight."

"Oh. Okay."

"Maybe I'll see you later, or after."

Naruto nodded his head. "Of course." Maybe there was something wrong with me. I was the one with the dirty mind. And I had never even been Master Jiraiya's student.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Ino exclaimed, holding her cup of tea with both hands. The low lighting of the tent we were in put shadows on her face as she laughed. We were inside one of the provision tents, but it being later in the night, not many people were still around looking for a meal. "Konohamaru, did a Sexy: Boy on Boy Technique?! With Sasuke and Sai?! How come you've never told me about this!?"

"It never came up!" I said, embarrassed now.

Ino was still laughing. "No, tell me. You gotta tell me. Did you see them?"

"See what?"

She held the teacup to her mouth, pale eyes gleaming with slyness over the rim. "The dicks," she said bluntly.

"Well, I mean," I rolled my eyes. "Sasuke-kun's was like, you know... inside," That put Ino into another burst of giggles. "And Sai's, I didn't get a good look because of all the transformation smoke."

"Oh, come on! That's not fair!"

"I'm sorry. That's all I can tell you."

"You think if I attack Konohamaru, he'd try using that jutsu on me?" Ino mused, setting the teacup down and tracing the edges.

"You would be the only one that would be eager to fall into a jutsu."

"Shut up!" She gave me a small shove. "Don't tell me you didn't enjoy seeing both Sasuke and Sai naked. Dammit! I'm so jealous."

"I'm not shameless enough to admit it, though!" I said with a huge grin and hand over my chest.

Ino pressed her face into my shoulder. "I can't help it! I'm sexually frustrated!"

I scoffed at that as I took a gulp of my own tea. "I can't believe that. How can someone as pretty as you be sexually frustrated?"

Ino pushed herself up, swinging an arm around my shoulder. "These are tough times, Sakura. Face it, the men out there are too busy with the war. They have more important things to be thinking about." That hadn't stopped Naruto and me. "But even before all this war shit started, you're right; I'm gorgeous. Why can't I snag myself a man? I'm not getting any younger. I feel like I'm running out of time!"

"Ino," I sighed with a laugh. "I'm sure you'll get a boyfriend in no time. But like you said, we're in some dark times now."

"Are the times dark enough for a night of romantic forbidden passion? I'm up for that too. Even if it ends in heartbreak, because it's better than trying to survive my boring existence."

"What are you saying here?" I asked. I was leaning into her, trying to steal as much body heat as I could. The nights were a bit cold without electricity and heat. "Like, you just want to get laid?"

"Hell yeah! Shouldn't be this hard for a girl to get some."

I laughed. "It shouldn't be. Especially you. I don't think you're doing it right."

"Oh," Ino shifted, making it uncomfortable for me to continue to lean into her. "You're an expert now, are you?"

"I'm just saying that sex is a lot easier to find than true love."

"Maybe with ugly people. I'm not lowering my standards, no matter how desperate I get. Promise me, Sakura. Don't ever let me get to that point. Kill me before it happens."

I chuckled. "I can't imagine you ever reaching that point."

"You have more faith in me than I do." Ino began listing names with her fingers. "Sasuke, out. Neji, fail. Shikamaru, no interest in me. I'm running out of boys!"

"There's lots of boys!"

"I mean there's Naruto..."

I narrowed my eyes at her and pushed myself a little bit away so I could face her better. "Hey, I don't want you playing with Naruto's feelings. He's already been through a lot." The only one to play with Naruto's feelings was me. End of story.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to go near..." Ino made a vague hand movement, "with whatever the hell is going on with the two of you." I frowned at her. "But what about Sai? He doesn't have a special someone now, does he?"

I sighed. "I don't know, Ino. I don't think he'd be a good match for you."

"We're talking about sex right now, Sakura. Forget compatibility. This is just lust, and lust alone. You saw him naked. Is he worth banging?"

"But even if you just fucked Sai, Sai has a really hard time understanding normal things. With a normal guy, they'd love to be able to sleep with a girl like you, but I'm not even sure if Sai knows what sex is. And if he does, he knows nothing sexy about it."

"He's what, sixteen? A sixteen-year-old boy has gotta know about sex. Besides, he's the only one that's ever called me beautiful before. At least anyone who would matter."

I grimaced. "Okay. But give him a romance novel first before you try to bang him."

"Why?" Ino asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Sai likes to read. He takes everything really literally. Maybe it will backfire, and he'll act like a cheesy embarrassing character, but without it, it's going to be like making love to a robot."

"Oh yeah, how do you know this?"

"Just trust me, Ino. I know how Sai is."

Ino sighed as well. "Maybe your warnings have dampened that idea. What about you, Sakura? How are you faring in these troubling times?"

"It's not like I'm getting any sort of action either," I lied. "You know, Sasuke-kun being gone and all." Ino was staring at me like she didn't believe me.

"Well then, let's make a pact, to make sure I don't get too desperate. If I can't get a boyfriend by the time I'm eighteen, and for you, if Sasuke never comes back and Naruto turns out to be gay for him, we both become lesbians!"

I narrowed my eyes and stared at Ino for a few seconds. "Okay, deal."

Ino laughed at me. "I was just kidding! I didn't expect you to agree so easily! You better hope I'll meet a new handsome soldier soon, because I'm pretty sure Naruto's gay." She didn't even address the possibility of Sasuke-kun coming back.

"Naruto's not gay!"

"Who's gay?" I heard a familiar voice and my stomach dropped when I realized it was Naruto's. "Is it Sai?" he asked lowly as he pushed up the flap of the tent we were in.

"What are you doing here? I told you I was going to spend time with Ino tonight," I said more annoyed that Naruto almost heard me defend his sexuality, than him interrupting my time with Ino. I was glad that he thought we were talking about someone else, but I didn't want to bring up Sai again in front of Ino, so I decided changing the subject was the best route to take. I glared at Naruto as he stumbled next to me and sat down.

"I know, but I got lonely."

I rolled my eyes. "You're so needy!"

Ino waved at Naruto, too excited from our conversation to be annoyed with him as much as I was. "Hi, Naruto."

"Yo. So, what are you two girls talking about? Give me all the latest gossip."

"Oh, you wouldn't be interested in it," Ino said easily. I relaxed a little besides Naruto.

"Why not? I wanna know!"

"Because it's girl talk. You're not a girl," Ino said a little more forcefully back.

"Oh man, that's not fair! That's sexist! I can like girl things."

"I wouldn't announce that so proudly aloud if I were you," Ino said back.

"Why? Girls are pretty!" I felt Naruto's eyes land on me. I bit back my sigh and tried not to roll my eyes again. "Look how nice I made Sakura-chan's nails!" Before I knew it, Naruto had grabbed my left hand and dragged it on top of the wooden table. "I hardly got any on her skin. For my first time, that's pretty good, right?"

I yanked my hand away. "What's your point?!"

"So, you gotta let me into your secret girl club!"

"Naruto, it's not a secret girl club!" I shouted. Ino was giving me a suspicious look and I knew what she was thinking. Naruto always wanted to be a part of everything. It didn't matter what it was, and it didn't matter how many friends or things he was a part of already. He always had to get himself into more. It wasn't because Naruto was gay. He was just too stupid to realize when he was making a fool of himself.

Naruto and Ino continued to bicker for a while, until she had had enough of him. It was late already, and Naruto had the tendency to drain everyone else's energy. After Ino headed back for the night, Naruto offered to walk me home.

I walked slowly beside him, trying to kill as much time as I could. If I had any luck tonight, both my parents would be asleep before I arrived at our temporary living arrangements.

"Okay, tell me what you two were talking about!" Naruto demanded excitedly. "It's Sai, right? He's totally gay!"

"I sure hope not," I replied, thinking about Ino's interest in him. At first, I thought the idea was no good, but I did want to see Ino happy, and if she could find herself a boyfriend, I would feel less guilty over not spending as much time with her as I used to. If she had a boyfriend, she'd have no time to see me as well. Ino and Sai would make an attractive couple. If only Sai wasn't so... himself. In fact, I was more worried on him being asexual than gay.

"Why, 'cause you like him?" Naruto asked snottily.

"I already told you I don't like him like that! Ino might like him," I snapped.

Naruto grunted, scratching the sides of his torso with both his hands as he thought for a moment. "I suppose they could both be bitchy together. I'm pretty sure Ino'll kill him though. He wouldn't even think to run before she sliced him open."

"Yeah, I know."

"Then who's gay?!"

I gritted my teeth. Maybe just telling him would be worth him shutting up. Maybe he would be more aware of his actions if he realized how much of a fool he was making himself look. Though that was a long shot. Naruto never seemed to care what other people thought of him.

"You! She was saying that you could be gay."

"W-WHAT?!" I expected Naruto to be bummed out by the news, another failure of him up against the opposite sex, not that Naruto still had many of those. If only he knew how charming girls, even Ino, could now find him. I knew Naruto would be unhappy with what I told him, but I hadn't expected him to be so agitated. He was blushing madly and sputtering over his words. "W-what?!" he cried out again. "Why? Why does she think that? Did you tell her about the Sexy: Boy on Boy technique thing, because I already explained that to you and it would be really easy for her to misunderstand! Dammit Sakura! Oh wait. Maybe it was something else. Was it something else?! What was it?!"

"Calm down. I know you're not gay." Naruto did seem to calm down a little.

"I like girls," he told me anyway.

"I know. That's been quite obvious since the day I met you."

"Then what was it? Is it because I wanted to be in the girl club? Why is it such a crime for a guy to want to be around some pretty girls?"

"No not really." I sighed. "It's ... because I said that we weren't fucking," I said in a quiet voice.

Naruto stopped walking to stare at me. "So you lied."

"I just don't want people to know! And you know if I tell her, that loudmouth Ino pig is going to tell everyone! She was only implying it because she thinks we're too close to be simply friends."

"Are we more than simply friends?" Naruto asked quietly as he continued walking. I had trouble starting up again.

"What do you think?"

"I think we're friends," Naruto grinned at me. "But like this," he crossed his fingers together and held them up to my face.

"I suppose so. I can't lie to you. I can lie to Ino, but I can't lie to you." Naruto's grin grew. He threaded his arm around mine.

"We gotta stick together, Sakura-chan. It's the only way we will be able to bring Sasuke back."

Right. Sasuke-kun. Shit. I think I had been happy for the few moments I was with Naruto, not thinking about Sasuke-kun. Not wanting to dwell on my misery, I dumbly said, "Ino also said you were gay because we must both be in love with Sasuke-kun." I said it as a joke, because I was hoping to feel happy and lighthearted again.

That was when the two of us came to an abrupt halt. Naruto had stopped walking, and with his arm through mine I couldn't go any farther. After about a second and a half of silence, Naruto burst into a fit of nervous laughter. "What a silly thing to say! That's so... funny."

I laughed along with him too, but uneasy now. "It is pretty funny, isn't it?"

Naruto didn't seem to be thinking it was funny anymore. "That's absurd. It's... stupid! I'm not gay!"

I didn't respond and Naruto started walking again, a little bit faster than we were going before.

"Why would I...? With that bastard? Sasuke's not even a girl!" He continued to rant, even though I had given up on talking for the rest of the night.

Sasuke-kun certainly was not a girl.