Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own Naruto. ::sobs::
Title: Child at Heart: Harsh Reality
Notes: I was having trouble writing this chapter. When I first started I was so sure I was going to finish within one day, but damn that brain of mine and writer's block. They seem to always prevent me from updating this story…of course my job and chores also prevent me from writing, but oh well whatever. ^_^ A little warning, this chapter contains a bit of Jiraiya and Tsunade coupling, and a bit of Sasuke's flashback. ::insert evil laugh here::

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Closed fists turned white which roughly pounded into the mattress, quiet sobs filled the room that broke the uncomfortable atmosphere.

"Tell me please…I need to know, please…" Sakura choked her words out.

Her uncontrollable sob had already stained her face, leaving behind red puffy eyes and wet trails of salty tears.

"S-Sakura-chan…" warm arms engulfed her in a tight embrace, squeezing the air out of her lungs.

"Y-you didn't get raped," his voice slightly quivering, mentally slapping himself for not sounding convincing enough.

His brain thought of ways of telling the young woman what really happened in the forest without breaking her. Ways that would not frighten her so that she would not result into hurting herself because of the truth. She was a very emotional creature and had trouble coping with many things, and he certainly didn't want to be the barrel of bad news.

Naruto stroked her hair, silently hoping that his comfort was enough to convince Sakura, although his soaked shirt from fresh fallen tears told him otherwise.

"You…you have got to be one of the worst fucking liars I have ever met Naruto," puffy eyes slowly peering from behind the embrace, green challenging cerulean.

"I-I'm not lying, I swear."

He broke the embrace to look at her, her expression was that of a broken yet angered woman.

"Sasuke, you asshole, why aren't you saying anything?!" Naruto hissed.

Sasuke quickly shifted his attention back on Naruto, noticing his pleading look; he decided to take it upon himself to tell Sakura the truth.

"You didn't get raped," he exhaled, "you-"

An image of pale creamy thighs and round perky breasts flashed through his mind breaking his concentration on what he was intending to say.

Damn it! Why am I thinking about that now?!

"I what?" she muttered.

He coughed, the image before him was slightly arousing him. Pink disheveled hair, shirt hung loosely on her body displaying long legs and collarbone, rosy lips still somewhat swollen from his hungry kisses.

"You have nice legs," he whispered and quickly turned his gaze somewhere else.

Smoot just smooth Sasuke.

Naruto immediately slapped his forehead, mentally cursing Sasuke for his lack of self-control. It was obvious now that Sasuke couldn't keep his mind focused on anything else besides Sakura. Sakura on the other hand felt herself fuming. None of her teammates were giving her any details from the battle, not only that but she had to deal with an extremely sex-deprived Sasuke who was apparently on mating season and had chosen her as his bride.

She felt something tug at her heart, making it heavy. She certainly did not like being used, especially if it was Sasuke who wanted her. How long had she waited to be recognized by him, how many nights had she cried to sleep hoping he would look at her more than just deadweight for their team?

Of course reality was always cruel to her. It had a habit of slapping Sakura right on the face, shattering her hopes and dreams for the future then roughly setting the harsh truth before her eyes.

Sasuke was not interested in her in any way or form and he would never be, he would never love her. She was just someone to be used and discarded like a cheap whore.

"Don't…" she whimpered, "don't do this to me Sasuke…"

Slightly surprised at her comment, he turned his attention back to Sakura who was clinging onto Naruto. Confusion was apparently one emotion he was feeling, but somehow guilt managed to surface throughout all the confusion from Sakura's pleading.

"Huh?"

"Please don't…I'm not interested, so please don't do this to me..."

His eyes softened upon realizing what she was implying. He had hurt her so much in the past that she was probably just avoiding him and a possible heartbreak.

He reached out to touch her, but held back when he noticed she was crying again. Naruto once again held her in a tight embrace and offered Sasuke a sympathetic look.

Sasuke nodded and quietly left the room, leaving behind Sakura crying in his best friend's arms.

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Gazing from behind the paper work and seeing no one near to disturb her, Tsunade immediately opened a folder containing information on the Haruno incident.

The file contained many pictures of butchered bodies lying in pools of crimson blood. It had reports of Haruno Kana's strange behavior months prior to the incident; his background information was also present accompanied by his family's history of any mental illnesses.

Tsunade frowned upon this, something didn't seem right. All the information was right before her eyes with probable causes to his massacre, but none made sense.

Why would anybody of his status want to murder his clan, excluding women with green eyes?

"It doesn't make sense, huh?"

Startled, Tsunade whipped her head up to glare daggers at the person who disturbed her thinking.

"No, it doesn't." replied Tsunade somberly, "I still don't understand what this has to do with Sakura or why someone like Kana would want to kill his own clan, let alone spare the women with green eyes."

Jiraiya sat across from Tsunade then softly replied, "Sakura has green eyes."

She brought her hands up to her temples and gentle rubbed them to ease the upcoming migraine.

"So what if she has green eyes, Jiraiya?"

"You're confused as to why Sakura is involved in some way, correct?" he saw Tsunade nod, "Simple, she has green eyes and the women whom Kana spared happened to have green eyes as well."

Tsunade threw her hands up in exasperation, face scowling at Jiraiya's explanation, "Well, thank you Mr. Obvious! I don't know what I would have done without you!"

Jiraiya's face quickly grew into a happy facade, amused at Tsunade's frustration.

"Why, thank you Princess Tsunade. I always do what comes naturally to please beautiful women," winking suggestively at her.

Tsunade blushed, tinting her pale cheeks a rosy pink.

"Jiraiya not now," she exclaimed.

He made mock hurt face and patted his left chest, obviously pointing to his heartache from Tsunade's request.

"Alright, alright I can take a hint," he leaned closer to her, "You know, it could be a quickie?"

His smile broadened wider, eyes glimmering with hope and happiness, although Tsunade's brow twitched in annoyance.

"JI.RA.I.YA." pronouncing each syllable deathly, Tsunade swiftly landed a blow on his head.

After a moment of being unconscious by a gruesome blow, Jiraiya immediately hopped on his feet and bowed to Tsunade.

"If it's alright with you, may I request something from you?" he asked politely.

She glared at him and muttered darkly, "I thought I said not now Jiraiya. Can't you understand that at this moment I am worried sick over my top three ninjas and-"

"Ah, Princess Tsunade tsk, tsk. That's not what I want," he interrupted, "I wanted you to temporarily place Kakashi as captain for the ANBU search party for tomorrow, well?"

She reluctantly nodded, "Fine, but make sure he isn't late, understood?"

With thumbs up and a wide grin, somehow reminding Tsunade of Gai, he hollered affirmatively then dashed out the room to find Kakashi.

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A warm hand slowly stroking Sakura's pink hair made it harder for her to stay awake. She was still in a protective embrace, which she enjoyed a great deal.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" she whispered.

"Sakura-chan…" he began, "I-I don't know what happened exactly. Sasuke was the one that found you, he seemed really scared and worried about you-"

"Don't. Whatever it is you're doing, just don't do it. I don't appreciate it when my best friend is trying to get me fucked by his buddy," she spat.

"But-"

"No buts Naruto! As the saying goes: fool me once you're to blame, fool me twice and I'm to blame."

"Oh, Sakura-chan," he rested his chin on her head, "he never left your side when you had that fever. I had to drag his sorry ass for everything…you name it, eating, sleeping, and even bathing."

Naruto felt Sakura stiffened in his embrace and he began chuckling softly.

"You know I would have kicked his ass if he was planning on using you like some slut, but he isn't that's why I'm letting him get close to you."

She squeaked in embarrassment and tried to break free from his embrace.

"He really does care about you, more than a friend…"

"Well, good for him," she shot back never able to get away from Naruto's strong arms.

A wicked smile found its way on his face.

"He's horrible when it comes to expressing his feelings verbally, is he good showing his emotions physically?"

"S-shut up!" she yelled back, face growing hot in embarrassment, which earned a small chuckle from Naruto.

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I should head back…

A long walk out in the town would have most likely cleared Sasuke's mind in the past, but this time he found no peace.

His mind kept wandering back to Sakura. He couldn't stop thinking about her, the way she moved towards him and the way her hips swayed with each step. The way she slowly striped off her clothing in front of him, touching herself in the process arousing him to no end. The way her tongue taunted him, licking and biting him everywhere while her nails raked his shoulders and back.

He shook his head from those thoughts. He wasn't supposed to think about that, especially when she was clearly unstable.

But still…

Another image of her exposed creamy skin and plump juicy lips flashed through his mind, making it harder for him to keep breathing.

Deciding to head back and immediately take another cold shower before seeing either of his teammates, Sasuke took one last look at the sky and swiftly went back towards the hotel.