Much Too Early; Much Too Late.

Author's Note:

I hope you like this, and if you do, please rate and review!

The timeline is set somewhere during their later teen years... let's just say they're around 17.

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Maybe it was the full moon; perhaps it was the latest "date" that she had gone on that spurred her into insomnia; it could even have been her neediness that kept her awake. A thousand factors ran through her over-analyzing mind until she couldn't stand it anymore.

No, she thought. It was something else… something about today.

Sighing heavily, Sakura stood up and walked lightly to her window. It hadn't been that long since Naruto had come back to town after a particularly important mission, and though it wasn't as long as he usually was gone, she had still missed him. He changed every single time he came back, but he was still alone, still up in his apartment day after day, still going to eat alone; she felt sorry for him.

Mentally shaking herself, she looked around at the village; the moonlight was beating down, bright enough for every detail, every nook and cranny to be lit up, yet distorted in the black and white starkness. It made her want to go for a walk, just to clear her thoughts.

Although she didn't really want to admit it to herself, it was... it had been... the report. She tried not to think about it. Every single time Tsunade-sama brought it up, Sakura turned herself off; only her analyzing mind remained working. That's what she told herself, anyways. Every time she left Tsunade-sama’s office after the reports, though, the ripping, throbbing hole in her chest was torn a little wider, a little more salt added to the wound, and her thoughts went back to how she couldn't stop him; how, no matter what she envisioned herself doing differently, he had intentionally left her, knowing full well what she had felt.

That flame had gone out a long time ago, but her pride was wounded; she felt inadequate, thinking of how she was unable to stop her friend from destroying himself whilst hellbent on revenge.

She sighed again and turned around. A lack of sleep and a little bit of frustration drove her to quickly throw a pair of pajama pants on and sneak downstairs. Listening carefully at the door, she slipped her old runners on, the ones she used mostly for training now, and slipped out of the house. Delicately closing the door, she strode purposely down the street towards... well, she wasn't sure. In the back of her mind, she thought she knew, but in all reality, she had absolutely no idea what she planned on doing.