Sakura's Realization

DISCLAIMER: Naruto doesn't belong to me.


Chapter 2: Departure

Sakura lay in bed, worried about what was to come. 'This mission sounds hard… we’re going deep into enemy territory and making contact with spies… this isn’t a Genin-level mission. I wonder what will happen. The last hard mission we had was the Gaara incident during the Chuunin Exam.' Sakura’s thoughts drifted back to the Chuunin Exam and the battles she had witnessed…

“Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!” the examiner announced.
'He… He did it,' Sakura thought. As she looked around, the applause for Naruto increased in volume. Down on the stage, a panting Naruto began to look around, as it slowly dawned on him that the applause and cheers were for him. Naruto began running around in celebration, basking in the glory of finally getting recognized by the villagers.
'Naruto is getting stronger and stronger,' Sakura thought.
“He’s pretty good,” one of the onlookers behind Sakura said. The other nodded, and grinned. “He’s pretty strong. And he might be kinda cute.”
Sakura blushed ever so slightly, and looked back at Naruto. 'I’m a little envious of you, she thought. When I see you fight, it makes me think that I should try my best, too. That’s an amazing thing.'

Sakura opened her eyes. 'He always pulls something off. And he manages to motivate everyone around him. Its incredible what he manages to do. I guess we’ll be OK.' With that thought in her mind, Sakura fell asleep.

The next morning, Sakura woke up, and visited Sasuke and Kakashi in the hospital. She didn’t know why, but to her, Kakashi always seemed like a burnt out coke addict. It looked like he could barely keep his eye open, and was bored all the time. And his hair… His appearance when they first met didn’t help things either…

Sasuke looked up as Sakura demanded, “hey! What are you doing, Naruto?”
Naruto laughed as he jumped down from the chair, where he closed the door on a blackboard eraser. “It’s his own fault for being late!”
Sakura colored slightly, then glanced over to Sasuke. Turning back to Naruto, she sighed and shrugged. “Fine, I’m not involved.” 'Actually… I kinda like this sort of thing!'
Sasuke spoke. “Please. Like a Jounin is going to fall for such a simple trap?”
“Yeah, yeah!” Sakura said. “Naruto you are so stup…”
A hand reached for the door. The hand opened the door to admit a masked face, which looked up just as the eraser fell on him. Hitting him right on the nose, the chalk dust that remained on him made it look like Kakashi had been snorting up before he came here.
“Hahahaha! You fell for it,” Naruto pointed and laughed at the masked man.
Sakura blushed. “G…Gomen-nasai, sensei,” she said. “I tried to stop him, but Naruto-kun was…” 'awesome,' she thought.

'It all keeps coming back to Naruto, doesn’t it?' she thought. Putting her hand on Kakashi’s forehead, she stroked his hair before she left. Standing outside of the hospital was none other than the person she found herself being drawn to.
Naruto stood by the entrance to the hospital, leaning up against one of the double doors. “So,” he asked as Sakura walked outside, “how are they? Any change in their conditions?”
Sakura jumped, and scolded herself for letting herself get caught unaware. “No… no change. I just wanted to make sure they’re comfortable,” she replied gloomily.
“Hey, if you have nothing to do, do you want to get something to eat? You haven’t eaten yet, have you,” Naruto asked. When Sakura shook her head, Naruto seized her arm and dragged her to Ichiraku.
“Welcome to Ichiraku no Ramen,” the old man said. Smiling, he saw Naruto with Sakura in tug. “So, Naruto… that’s very nice of you…taking your girlfriend out for lunch.”
As Sakura blushed furiously, she prayed that no one would notice. At the same time, Naruto shook his head. “No, no. It’s nothing like that. We’re teammates, and we’re going on a long mission tomorrow.”
Sakura’s eyes widened slightly as she sat down and began to eat. 'Naruto has changed! Before now, whenever someone assumed we were dating, he’d try to confirm that assumption. Now, he’s being… more… mature.'
“Ano… we’d better get an early start tomorrow…” Naruto said. “So why don’t you bring your stuff to my place, and we’ll check our packs for anything we missed, go to sleep, and leave early in the morning?”
Sakura’s face turned from the light pink color of her hair to the deep red color of her outfit. 'Spend the night at Naruto’s? What is he thinking? Does he…? No. I couldn’t imagine him just trying to get into bed with me like that. Maybe before. Not him now. But why his place?' “Naruto,” she asked. “How about you come to my house instead?”
Naruto stammered and looked down at his empty bowl. “Ano… I’d prefer my house… It’s kind of… eto…err…”
Sakura realized what was making Naruto feel uncomfortable. 'He’s never had a family. It must be hard for him to see other people with their families.' “OK,” Sakura said with a small smile. “Your place it is.”

“Alright,” Naruto said, putting Sakura’s backpack down. “Looks like we’re all set to go. Just have to wash up and go to sleep.”

Naruto unrolled his sleeping bag onto his living room floor. Since he gave Sakura his bed, he would sleep in the living room. But he was more comfortable in his sleeping bag than on his couch, so sleeping bag it is. Naruto laughed. Hell, he was more comfortable in his sleeping bag than in his own bed. Soon, as he settled down and quiet blanketed the apartment, Naruto could hear Sakura breathing. Faster and slightly erratic at first, it slowly became more and more slow, deep, and regular. Once he was sure Sakura was asleep, he, too, closed his eyes and let sleep wash over him.
The next morning, Naruto opened his eyes to two of the most beautiful sights he’d ever seen. The first one was Sakura’s smiling face. The second was what Sakura held in her hands: a hot bowl of ramen. Together, these two images nearly brought him to tears. “Come on, Naruto. Time to wake up. We have to go soon,” she whispered to him.
He rose from bed, took his shower, and changed into his normal outfit. Walking back into the living room/kitchen area, he glanced at her as he sat down to breakfast. “Wow. You’re really going to make a great wife for Sasuke.”
Sakura made a small realization. 'He’s accepted that I’m not going to go out with him. He’s come to just take it for granted that I’m going to marry Sasuke-kun.' Though that almost made her happy that she didn’t have to deal with him asking her out all the time, at the same time she felt a bit sad for the same reason. And somehow, Sakura couldn’t quite see herself waking Sasuke up and making him breakfast like this.
As Naruto finished up, she stood, and picked up her pack. Naruto washed his dish, and did the same. “Let’s go, Naruto,” Sakura said.

“Sakura-chan,” Naruto asked while they were on the road. “How good is your shuriken technique?” After getting a confused “huh?” as a response, he explained. “There’s a gambling town up ahead. Some of the games are skill games. No ninjutsu allowed, but some games are basically shuriken target practice. We could invest some money and time, and then not have to worry about being strapped for cash later.”
“That’s not a bad idea, Naruto,” Sakura replied.

Tossing the plastic shuriken at the target, Naruto got the highest score possible for the fifth time in a row. As he collected the money he won, he looked at the targets, paid the vender for another go, grabbed the plastic shurikens, and ran away from the stand. Using a very familiar hand seal, Naruto murmured, “Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.” Shadow clones appeared all around him. The clones moved to clear a firing path between Naruto and the targets. Once it was ready, the vender shouted to him, “Oh! Looking for a challenge, eh?” Turning to the crowd, he called, “Place your bets now! See how well this kid does! He’s a good two hundred yards from the target, now!”
Once he got the signal from the vender, he smiled and said, “Well then… Let’s get wild!”

Sakura was looking on and suddenly remembered something from the trip to Wave Country. Naruto had just flinched in pain from his self-inflicted kunai wound, while trying to stand up before Zabuza’s water clone. His headband was knocked off, and Zabuza was standing on it. Suddenly he charged at Zabuza, much to everyone else’s dismay.
“Baka! Stop,” Kakashi called out.
“Ah! Naruto! What are you thinking!?” Sakura yelled.
No one quite saw what happened. The next thing Sakura knew, there was a splash of blood, and Naruto tumbled away from Zabuza, kicking up a cloud of dust.
“What are you doing jumping in all by yourself!?” Sakura demanded. “Even Sasuke-kun couldn’t do anything. No matter how hard we try, we Genin don’t stand a chance…” She trailed off as the dust around his hands cleared. Tightly held in his bandaged hand was the symbol of his coming of age; that which represented all he had worked for up until now. Naruto firmly grasped his forehead protector as he brought himself up into a kneeling position.
As he slowly tried to get up, it dawned on Sakura that Naruto just proved to everyone that Zabuza was *not* invincible or all-powerful. He had made Zabuza move. As he got up, hair and shadow covering his eyes, he started to taunt Zabuza. “Oye, you eyebrowless freak… Add this to your handbook. The man who will one day become Konohagakure no Hokage.” He straightened up, and took in a deep breath. He continued as he put his forehead protector back where it belonged and as Zabuza visibly shook with rage. “Konoha style ninja…” Light finally revealed the strength in his eyes, hidden by shadow until this moment. “Uzumaki Naruto!”
Meanwhile, it almost appeared as though Naruto wouldn’t have to fight Zabuza at all. Zabuza was trembling with anger so much that Sakura didn’t understand why his head hadn’t exploded yet. “Sasuke!” Naruto called. “Lend me your ear!”
“Nandayo,” Sasuke demanded.
“I’ve got a plan.”
Sasuke did his trademark grin and laugh. “Teamwork? From you?”
Meanwhile, Sakura was staring at Naruto, blushing profusely. 'What… What’s this feeling? This is Naruto?…'
“Well then…” Naruto said as he wiped the blood from his mouth. “Let’s get wild!”

Sakura was brought back to the present by another round of cheers for the young ninja. After doing some quick calculations in her head, she walked up to Naruto. “That’s enough for today, Mr. Big shot.” Without stopping, she grabbed Naruto by the arm, intent on dragging him back to the hotel room. A few of the onlookers approached Naruto.
“Hey, man,” one of them called to him. “You won us a lot of money today! Howz about we buy you a drink or two? That beautiful young lady you’re with is welcome to come, too!”
After a moment’s consideration, Naruto smiled. “Sure. Thanks a lot, guys. Come on, Sakura-chan.”
“Naruto,” Sakura whispered. “We’re not old enough to drink.”
“If we’re old enough to go on a mission alone, we’re old enough to drink,” Naruto whispered back. Sakura came along, despite some misgivings.

End of Chapter Two

AFF Reviews:

TVO : This is supposed to happen right after Naruto found Tsunade, the Sannin fought, and Naruto planted his Rasengan in Kabuto’s stomach. If we follow the storyline properly, Tsunade and Naruto would have come back to Konoha at the same time. But, I took a little license in order to keep Sasuke and Kakashi out of the picture so Naruto could be alone with Sakura. If Tsunade had come back, the very first thing she would do would be healing Itachi’s victims. So, I made her make a stop on the way back to Konoha.

Jaques: Yup… just as you’re imagining. But not right away. I’m going to build up to it.

Church: I’m shocked. How could a man of God such as yourself be found on such a sinful website? Lol

Bloodywolf: Thanks, man. Hopefully, this will be the first of many…

Smiter: I totally agree with you. I think that everything has a better impact when there are emotions tied behind it. Their first real kiss, for example. Readers will be expecting it, (hopefully) emotions building along with the characters. When the kiss finally happens, all those emotions building up will flow out, and the kiss has so much more of an effect.
As far as monotony for the mission goes, I plan on skipping over the every-day type things. You know, “They got up, made breakfast and got back on the road.” I can only write it so many times, and you can only read it so many times. Why bother? I’ll try to give the impression of time passing in between each incident.

Jon: Yeah. Not to mention those unbearable SasuSaku fics out there, especially the ones that portray Sasuke as having feelings. I know twigs that would give more emotional response to Sakura's attention!

Please note: I had this part finished for a long time. So all I had to do was cut and paste, add some comments, and hit Add Chapter… so it didn’t take much effort. Please don’t expect every update to come nearly as fast as this! Once I’m done with what I have, it may take several weeks to get to my next chapter.

Thanks to you all!