Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Twice Shy - Story Completion ❯ Testing 1-2-3 ( Chapter 3 )

Twice Shy - A story completion

By eternalshiva

 

DameWren has given permission to anyone that wants to continue her wonderful fic Two Halves. Even if there are 3 chapters to Twice Shy, I decided to straight up start it from chapter 1, some of the development I think is too fast and didn't flow right. I've read a few floating around and I wanted to do my own since I didn't feel very satisfied with some of the direction they had taken.

 

AN - This... chapter was really hard to write. Took a long time to get what I needed to say correctly! Written exams are boring :P Tried to make it interesting but meh, this focused on different things.

 

Thanks to HinatasHuband on Deviant Art for the quick corrections :P I appreciate it very much.

 

Naruto is copyright of Masashi Kishimoto.

Sora, Yasu, Miki, Dango, Kaze Clan, Shivani are all copyright of DameWren.

 

Chapter 3

Testing, 1-2-3

 

The fifth Kazekage walked slowly towards Konohagakure leader's chambers for the Chuunin exam, his face was stoic but he felt a small spark of excitement brewing inside his calm demeanour. This is where he, three years ago, had met a ninja that respectively put him in his place with a very precise head butt to the face and set his life path in a different direction. As a result of this humbling encounter; Gaara had taken the role as his village protector instead of the village's weapon.

 

The sand ninja had hoped to take time aside and see the yellow haired loud mouth before he had to return to his village duties; he had been informed after a few initial inquiries that he had returned to Konoha recently after a long mission; he was looking forward to seeing his old and oddly enough, very first honest friend. He straightened in his white kage robes, adjusted his wide brimmed hat with the symbol of the Wind to cover most of his face and knocked on the door.

 

“Come in.” Tsunade's voice called him in behind the wooden door. She stood up from behind her desk and walked around it as he entered the room and closed the door behind him. They both bowed in respect and he mentally noted that she was not ready. She felt his judging stare at her lack of appropriate kage clothing and she snorted at him, ignoring the thick black lined glare questioning her.

 

Over the years, the two had become good friends; his attitude had morphed quite a bit since Naruto had literally knocked some sense into him. He was still very independent and it seemed to her he didn't think anyone cared for him; she knew that his village's own attitude had changed towards him; he was just too stupid to figure it out. When all that stuff went down between Naruto and Gaara, she hadn't been Hokage back then but it was the second thing reported to her after she had heard that the third had died from the sound's attack and had passed on the title to her.

 

She looked over her shoulder and smiled at the stoic and serious sand ninja. Today was going to be an exciting day for both of them, not only was Naruto participating in these harsh exams but she was going to win a bet. The world just might spin off its axis on the notion of Tsunade winning something she wagered on. Gaara lifted an eyebrow in curiosity as she put on her own wide brimmed hat, centering the Fire symbol in the mirror before she answered his silent question.

 

“Gaara, I do believe you will be pleasantly surprised at our exams this year.” Her eyes twinkled in mischief as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He paused for a moment, considering her words, if he knew anything about the Hokage is that she doesn't normally say something unless she's got everything figured out in her favour. She seemed quite pleased with herself so he decided to go along with whatever she was planning.

 

“A surprise is it? Are you setting up a bet Tsunade?” She could hear the slight humorous tone to his question; her face pinched in response and she nodded.

 

“Yes, I'm willing to bet that you my dear are going to crack a smile today if it kills me.”

 

Gaara opened the door as Tsunade approached; she bowed to him before she pressed on through the opening while continuously adjusting her hat, looking for the comfort zone. Gaara narrowed his eyes slightly in wonder at the obsessive gesture.

 

“Your pigtails are uneven, that's why the hat keeps tilting.” He pointed out before she stopped in her tracks suddenly; he barely had time to respond before ramming into her backside. Embarrassed, he apologized quietly and she nodded, ignoring it even happened.

 

“Are you taking my bet or what?” she looked at him seriously as her finger lowered the elastics on the right side to even out the hair. He nodded.

 

“Yes I'll take your bet; you always lose so I'm sure to win.” He said flatly, matter-of-fact like.

 

“Oh dear sweet Gaara.” She said in between bouts of laughter. He glared at her again, not appreciating her current nickname for him; he was far from sweet, or nice. “If only you knew the terrible mistake you just made.” She grinned at him, her eyes glinted with a sense for foreboding Gaara hadn't anticipated; she put out her arm and laid it across his shoulders like an old friend would and pulled him along. Her steps fell in with his own as she ushered him down the hallway before he could protest at the familiarity between the two.

 

***

 

There was no question about it; it was hot in the exam room. Naruto could feel the heat build up in the small stuffy room and sweat was forming under his heavy ninja gear. Shifting from one foot to the next Naruto considered his options on what to do to stay cool; he looked around noticing tables and chairs positioned in the middle. Everyone stood around the room, up against the walls; each stayed with their partners, some were looking around but most were keeping to themselves, wanting to get this over with.

 

Naruto eyed them curiously, there were maybe 30 people waiting for the exam to start and noticed that most of the ninjas here were from different villages. He sensed the smaller kunoichi move up to his back; a nervous habit she'd develop over the years. This always gave him the subtle impression that he was her shield, her knight in shining armour. Good thing she couldn't see him because he was grinning like an idiot at the feeling it gave him. He knew that she would settle down once the exam began and she had her mind focused on the mission.

 

“Leaf ninjas?” he heard to his left. The voice was unfamiliar and Naruto wasn't in the mood to get in a friendly detailed conversation with a competitor.

 

“Yeah what about it?” he retorted, keeping his voice neutral. He looked over his shoulder and saw a redhead ninja with the Hidden Rock headband around his left arm. He had a pleasant smile on his face, but with ninjas, you never know if this was genuine or a ploy to gather information on enemies.

 

“I've never seen a Leaf ninja at this age and still in the chuunin exams.” Naruto couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or if he was being honest. To be on the safe side, Naruto shrugged and acted uninterested.

 

“We got held up by a long term mission, about to fix that rank issue.” The other ninja nodded to Naruto understanding the meaning.

 

“Same here.”

 

Naruto quickly glanced to the ninja and made a soundless “ah” motion with his mouth, faking interest. Seriously what did this guy want?

 

“Are most of the gennins here in the same situation?” Naruto asked, eyeing the redhead who had a sudden interest in Hinata, he frowned openly to the Rock Ninja. The Rock Village ninja, noticing the look Naruto was giving him looked away from her and nodded. He was about to say something else but the classroom fell quiet as the doors opened above them on the second level. Naruto saw Tsunade and another kage step onto the floors and bow to the gennins, to which they all bowed in response.

 

“Welcome allied gennins of the Fire Country.” Tsunade's voice boomed across the room, once she had everyone's attention she continued. “Today's exam will consist of a written test. This is a modified version of what you are used to with the lower level gennin exams.” She continued, her eyes scanned the room and landed on Naruto. He was paying more attention to her companion then to what she was saying; she held back an annoyed sigh as she motioned to the juunin below to come forward and explain the rules. To Naruto's pleasant surprise Temari stepped forward.

 

“Please sit down.” Her voice protruded authority; the gennins sat down and looked at the sheet of paper sitting before them. “This test will consist of you answering ten questions. One of you is in fact a dummy tester who will have all the answers.” She began to walk around the room, passing out pencils and continued to speak. Naruto looked over to Hinata who seemed to consider the same thing he was: Temari was already giving away the answers, something was up.

 

“Your mission in this exam is to obtain all the answers by any stealth means possible. You have 45 minutes to finish.” She gave a quick scan in the room, watching the faces. “If any of you are sensed or caught by the dummy tester, your exam will turn red. This will mean that you have been caught and disqualified. Stealth is something a ninja must master, even if your specialty isn't information gathering.”

 

Naruto gave her a quick nod when her eyes settled on him. She gave no indication she knew who he was as she gave the command to begin. Naruto flipped over the page and was surprised to see that he already knew the first question. He immediately felt relieved; maybe Sora had been correct in forcing him to learn every book in that god forsaken library. He glanced over to Hinata who had activated her Byaakugan with the camouflage; she winked at him as she began to write.

 

As the test went on he felt a few surges of chakra as people tried to find the dummy tester. To their dismay, pages began to turn red and consequently Temari would dismiss them. He watched the angry faces of the gennins as they walked out of the room, knowing it would be another long year as a low level ninja. How were they getting caught? Naruto wondered and was tempted to use his own chakra skills to figure out the mystery but something stopped him.

 

He felt Hinata's binding jutsu on his hand and she carefully wrote “Do not use Chakra” on his test. He carefully looked over to her and quickly nodded to her. He wasn't sure what the trick was but he trusted her judgement and figured she probably had the exam figured out. Hinata filled in the blank areas of his test and was deep in concentration, minimising the amount of chakra needed as much as possible, not letting it seem more then her blood limit needed. She was secretly thanking Sora for teaching her so much chakra control as sweat began to break out on her forehead. Taking control of Naruto's chakra in his hand to copy her own answers was tough; he was practically made of the stuff and it was hard to make it bend to her will.

 

She had found the dummy tester thanks to her Byakuugan's special ability to see echoes of chakra; she noticed that each test had a long string of chakra connected to one point, a “gennin” seated in the middle of them. She also soon realized that he would pulse out chakra every few seconds. She had panicked a little when it became obvious that he was testing the levels and tracking down the highest chakra output to redden the paper. She had to warn Naruto to not use any since he would stand out like a sore thumb. After a few close calls she had managed to learn his pattern and would pull down her chakra to an unnoticeable level, in fact she would nearly stop all use of it, just enough to keep up the camouflage on her eyes and keep her control on Naruto. So far it was working.

 

She quickly corrected some of Naruto's answers before releasing the jutsus on both her byakuugan and the bind. She sighed in relief as she watched the clock, they had a few minutes to spare and the room had lost nearly half of its people. She felt pride as she smiled to herself; Naruto winked at her acknowledging her success, a grin breaking out on his face.

 

“Your time has ended.” The sheets disappeared from the tables in a puff of smoke. He was going to have to ask Hinata what the trick to this exam was. A lot of the gennins had been dismissed and luckily, he thought sarcastically, his new red-headed friend was amongst those that passed. It seems as though most of the ninjas had kept their partners, some would have to go alone since they lost part of their team.

 

“Those who no longer have a partner, you may forfeit if you choose or make arrangements with the other partner-less ninjas to complete the exam.” He heard a mumble amongst some of the examinees; this seemed to be something they were expecting. Temari's voice brought their attention back as she continued with the rest of the rules for the second part of the exam. “You have a week to gather supplies and prepare for the next part of the exam, the Forest of Death.”

 

She abruptly turned and bowed to the two Kages, sitting at the top level and left the room. Naruto looked up to Tsunade and focused his attention on her companion; he seemed familiar but he couldn't quite put his finger on who that was.

 

Gaara stood up and walked to the railing, looking down on the remaining group of gennins; he was glad to see the sand ninjas had made the cut. His eyes fell on a certain yellow haired man who had his eyes narrowed in confusion. Tsunade heard him snort. “Well well, I guess you win for once.” She grinned, his face was hidden bit for him to admit he was surprised was a more than enough proof for her.

 

“Ah!” the yell echoed in the quiet room. The gennins turned to look at Naruto who was shamelessly pointing to the Kazekage as a grin broke across his face; he finally recognized the figure in white.

 

“Kuso is that you Gaara?” he inquired loudly. From the corner of his eye, he saw Tsunade stiffen and a strong killing intent began to radiate off the busty blond. Before Gaara could acknowledge him, Naruto quickly put down his hands to his side and looked to the ground; a sweat had formed over his face as he genuinely feared for his life, bowing again apologetically wondering in a panic why his body couldn't bend down any further or faster.

 

He could hear Hinata's muffled giggle as the two kages stepped out the door and he groaned as he straightened up after the door closed. God he picked the worst time to be an idiot.

 

***

 

Hinata walked behind Naruto as they made their way out of the building the exam was held in. She was thinking on the possibilities that they would encounter in the Forest of Death. This exam had focused on the ability to hide chakra and use massive stealth against a ninja that could detect any level use of chakra. They had to come up with a plan to repress Naruto's immense levels due to the Kyuubi. Naruto was terrible at reducing his chakra, he was better at over producing and overwhelming opponents with the pressure from it.

 

“Maybe that was a strategy in its own right?” She carefully considered that fact. “Maybe if he were to let his chakra levels leak out at a high output and then suddenly suppress it to his normal range, it might make him invisible?” Hmm this was all confusing. There must be a way to...

 

“My treat since you did all the work today” he shouted back to Hinata as he pointed towards the infamous ramen stand. She was ripped out of her unnerving problem by the sound of his voice.

 

“Was it possible for someone to sound like he was salivating at the mouth?” She thought as she watched him walk faster to his destination. Naruto was doing just that, he could barely keep it from dribbling down his chin just thinking of those... luscious... noodles. He was about to burst.

 

“Ano... Naruto” she spoke softly, catching the starving ninja's attention. He turned around to look at his girlfriend who was still frowning, deep in thought over something.

 

“Hai Hina-chan?”

 

“Don't pack any ramen for this exam.” She said flatly, in a tone that left no room for argument. His face dropped in a pout and his shoulders drooped. He looked defeated and nodded weakly before continuing towards the ramen stand for a late lunch. Hinata giggled at him and followed.

 

***

 

Jiraiya stood before the two kages, his eyes going from one to the next as he prepared to report his findings. “Akatsuki is on the move.” Tsunade's eyes darkened as her old team-mate spoke the words she did not want to hear.

 

“How long until they come our way?” she spoke quietly but the rage could still be felt in her words. Jiraiya shook his head slowly and added “They're not in Fire Country at the moment from what I can tell.” Gaara considered the ero-sennin's words carefully; this was a matter also very important to him since he was the one-tail vessel.

 

“In either case, I will try to gather more information on what they plan to do with the demons. I heard rumours that they had planned to capture all the vessels” Jiraiya glanced over to the Kazekage and saw no reaction. “... and use that raw power for unknown reasons.” He finished.

 

Tsunade had turned her back to him, looking out her office window. This was a sensitive time for the village; she did not want a repeat of what happened three years ago. Orichumaru had devastated the village in his attempt to claim Sasuke as his own new vessel and quest for Jutsu. She was worried for Naruto and what Akatsuki would do with the power of the nine-tails.

 

“They won't strike out anytime soon I don't think” Jiraiya closed his eyes as he crossed his arms in thought over what could potentially happen. The rumours of three members dying in the last few months had circled heavily underground. Itachi had been gravely injured and Kisame had been killed.

 

There were rumours that it was a demon that had killed him. Jiraiya had seen the battle ground, it was a mess and the earth had been wounded by an evil chakra; it still burned the ground. All the older sage could think of was that something desperate had happened here and this chakra had been released from deep emotional trauma.

 

No one remained in the destroyed farmhouse from what he had seen; toys lay scattered on the grounds and old blood soaked in the dirt. He could see several footsteps on the dried mud, the shape of a figure imprinted there on the ground, retelling the story of a soul lost in this heated warfare. The battle had been fierce; that much he knew. Unknown to him this is where Naruto had decimated the water ninja and unleashed his own personal hell for Hinata to see; Sora had experienced a deep sorrow and had to triumph over it at all costs to help save her partner's soul from the despairs of her husband's death.

 

“Jiraiya -“ Tsunade spoke her words low. He shook himself free from the memory before grunting in acknowledgement. “Keep looking for their hideout. We need to seek and destroy this organisation, there's more at stake than just Naruto's life.”

 

Her eyes followed a bright orange blob below in the street; too far for her to confirm it was indeed the ninja she had begun to consider as her own grandson. Her eyes narrowed, hidden from her guests as her mind set a new resolve to protect the boy and his precious people. “Hinata's own sense of worth depends on this too.” she thought.

 

The Sennin opened one eye to look at her figure staring out the window; he was still consumed by his thoughts on Akatsuki's plans.

 

“Now what are you implying Tsunade?” he asked her.

 

Gaara had turned to look at the Hokage, following her gaze out the window but failing to see orange blob she had been tracking. It had already disappeared into the busy crowds of the streets by that point. She turned her attention from the window and smiled at Jiraiya but said nothing to answer his lingering question; which greatly annoyed him.

 

***

 

Kakashi sat up from his perch on the roof of a house across from Naruto's apartment, reading the latest Icha Icha Paradise novel released. He was waiting for Naruto to return from the exams to speak with him. The last time he saw him, he had been the recipient of a hostile glare.

 

“Naruto-kun I think we should invite Sakura for supper tonight” Kakashi peered over the edge of the roof and looked down where the voices were coming from. He watched Hinata begin to climb up the wobbly staircase that led to Naruto's place.

 

“Why?” he asked her, annoyed at the intrusion. Kakashi watched Hinata turn to Naruto with a look he'd never quite seen on the kunoichi before. She was outright glaring at him he observed with amusement.

 

“She helped me out and Sasuke's out of town on a mission. She's lonely and you of all people should know better.” She pointed at him from her much higher position on the stairs.

 

“But...” he stammered “I wanted to spend the evening with just you.” He whined. Hinata blushed and to Kakashi's surprise, saw Naruto pull her to him and nuzzled her stomach as he hugged her tightly before tugging down on her shirt and shushing her complaints in a chaste kiss.

 

“Ok ok we'll invite Sakura.” His laughter bounced off the walls; her flustered state only increased as he passed the small kunoichi and pulled her along by the hand up the stairs. The rest of the conversation was out of earshot as he watched them disappear into the apartment.

 

Kakashi grinned to himself. A small thwack echoed in the alley as the juunin shut his book before putting it away in his pocket and leapt off the roof, towards his favourite reading tree. He decided that for today he would avoid an unwanted confrontation with Naruto and leave the little lovebirds alone. Such is the way of the lazy ninja.

 

***

 

Naruto grumbled as he walked along the market street; Hinata had kicked him out of his apartment to pick up items for supper with Sakura.

 

“Naruto!” Kiba shouted at the ninja struggling to balance bags of food. Akamaru barked loudly, swept up in the excitement of seeing him. Naruto's eyes became huge, surprised to see the puppy carrying his master like a horse.

 

“Ah Kiba! How are you?” Naruto put down the bags of food as his friend walked quickly over to him.

 

“What are you up too?” Kiba asked, curiously looking into the bags of groceries. “Heh, Hinata asked me to pick up a few things for her. We're having Sakura over for some supper.” He added non-chalantly. Kiba blinked.

 

“That sounds... pretty domesticated.” Kiba narrowed his eyes at him. Naruto rolled his eyes at him as he picked up his bags and continued to shop, ticking off items on the list.

 

“Yeah well, I'm not one to mess with Hinata.” He added in a low tone, she could be worse than Sakura is she really put her mind to it... which scared him. Kiba raised an eyebrow in wonder as they continued to chit-chat. Naruto hadn't seen them yet since coming home. Hinata had managed to meet up with her old team a few times; she mentioned Shino seemed a bit friendlier then before but he'd yet to come across him, Konoha was a large village.

 

“What are you doing here anyways Kiba?”

 

“I'm meeting with Shino, we have to go over some mission details.” He answered.

 

“Shino?” Naruto said in surprise. “Where is the old fellow? I haven't seen him yet.” Kiba gave him a flat stare and pointed behind him. Naruto looked over his shoulder and noticed a dark figure following them, there was something gloomy about it.

 

“Ah... who's that?” Naruto asked Kiba while looking at the well covered figure behind them. A hand shot out of the stranger's pocket and adjusted a pair of dark glasses on his hood hidden face, a clear sign of irritation to Kiba.

 

“Baka... That's...” Kiba started but was interrupted by the stranger's low voice, laced with irritation.

 

“Naruto... how can you not recognize your own comrade?” Naruto swallowed hard as it dawned on him. He pointed at the fellow and shouted out, annoyed at the shinobi.

 

“Shino, how is anyone supposed to recognize you with that getup? It's boiling hot out here and you're dressed like we're in snow country!” Shino only humphed at Naruto and looked away, clearly annoyed for not being recognized. Kiba sighed and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder to calm him.

 

“Now he's sulking!” Naruto added, looking over to Kiba. The dog ninja only laughed as his two friends continued to argue. Akamaru barked at the two trying to shut them up but the shinobi ganged up on the dog, now one was pointing at it and the other yelling. It had been a long time since he'd seen Shino happy.

 

***

 

Sakura watched the stars as she strolled to Naruto's; he had looked thoroughly annoyed by the time he asked her to come so she couldn't say no. She turned down his alley, very few lights were on down this way since this alleyway had pretty much been abandoned. She's wasn't too sure why, from what she understood from Kakashi, it used to be full of people but it changed when Naruto moved there, once he left the orphanage. She knew her friend had been a trouble maker in the early days but she doubt it would have caused the whole area to uproot themselves. There had to be something else at play here.

 

She started up the stairs; she could smell the fish cooking and various sounds of plates being put out. Naruto's voice was drowning out Hinata's own as they seemed to discuss something important. She couldn't quite make it out over the noise in the alley, she watched the shadows play against the light on the curtains, they were facing each other in conversation. She paused her climb and wondered why Hinata seemed to be pointing at Naruto's stomach.

 

“... to fig... out how to su..ess the kyu... kra..” Hinata's voice drifted down from the window. Naruto touched his stomach. “...thing I can... trol, Kyuu... takes ov... when I get emot...” Sakura frowned at the last bit that made its way to her, was Naruto the Kyuubi vessel? She moved up closer to the window, listening intently knowing full well she shouldn't.

 

“I only beat one of the Akatsuki that time because I let my rage consume me, I let the Kyuubi take over and I injured you because of it” He touched her arm, where the wound still lingered. “I can't suppress that chakra, we'll have to figure something else out in case they track by those means.” Naruto added.

 

Hinata shook her head, Naruto was right, that chakra was mixing with his own, always increasing it. She would just have to be extra vigilant, that's all it really meant in the end. She sighed and turned to pull open the curtain in the kitchen to close the window, it was letting in the cool October air and she wanted to warm up the place before Sakura arrived.

 

Naruto was watching Hinata and noticed a shadow beyond the curtain, it was creeping up to the window and the wind movement showed to him that the window was open, this meant whoever it was out there had heard their conversation. He knew he should have put the sound blocking justu up!

 

In seconds he was next to the raven haired woman, and pulled open the curtain. Azure blue met with emerald green and he looked dumbfound at the sudden angry and frightened glare that looked back at him. Sakura had been caught eavesdropping, she was embarrassed first of all; she wasn't expecting to see Naruto there and it surprised her. Then she felt angry with him for keeping a major secret from her and she was about to give him a piece of her mind until she saw the pained expression on his face.

 

It confused her, why did he look like that? “Naruto.” Sakura hissed at him. “Why in god's name would you have not told me you were the vessel? That's kind of an important detail for a team mate to know!”

 

She was more annoyed with him than anything else, Naruto being the vessel didn't faze her really, and it explained a heck of a lot; the quick healing, the endurance, the stamina, how people treated him in the village. The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she got. She crossed her arms, squishing the desert in her haste and continued to glare at him, not realizing she was making the awkward situation worst.

 

Naruto on the other hand, was completely taking it the wrong way, he mistook her annoyed glare for hatred and this struck a chord deep within him that he had managed to bury away many years ago, he feared rejection and he thought that his best friend was rejecting him. He wanted to run but Hinata was in the way; he was backing up from the window, looking for a verbal way out of this. How could they cover up THAT conversation, there's was no way really. His mind was going a million miles a minute, panic was overwhelming him and he shut down. He knew she had heard everything, he wasn't ready for her to know; he didn't want to lose Sakura!

 

“Naruto! Wait!” Hinata yelled as she watched his retreating form, running for his bedroom. This was quickly escalating into something she had no control over and all over Sakura's annoyed look. She peeked outside the window and shot Sakura a glare that made the medic-nin swallow hard.

 

“You. In the house. Now.”

 

Hinata shut the curtain and unlocked the door before knocking on the bedroom door, she spoke softly, soothing his childhood fears away, trying to convince her lover that Sakura didn't hate him. She glared again at Sakura as she placed the squished desert on the table and sat down sighing in disappointment with herself; by the looks of things, she had royally screwed up.

 

***

 

Sakura pulled Hinata away from the door and pushed her away. “I screwed this up, let me at least get him out of the room.” Sakura whispered to the smaller ninja.

 

“Naruto, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get annoyed with you.” Well she really -was- annoyed with him, for very good reasons and his reaction wasn't unwarranted. Being a vessel to a powerful demon like the nine-tail and living with the idiots of this village would make one fearful of your friends' reactions when they would find out.

 

“Naruto, I don't care if you have the Kyuubi inside you.” she said softly, trying hard to take out all the stress in her voice. “It explains so much in fact, I'm almost relieved.”

 

Naruto didn't trust his voice at that moment, he listened to her apologize and trip on her explanations, trying to avoid making him feel uncomfortable; he held back a small laugh. She was trying to make -him- feel more at ease. The irony was little uncanny.

 

“I mean, I always knew you had some kind of freak thing about you Naruto and it made me worry about you all the time. Naruto, you're you no matter what. I'm sure Hinata has said the same thing to you. It's not going to change our friendship.” She continued, he voice was starting to break up as unshed tears build up.

 

“I'm pissed off you didn't trust me enough with the truth.” She spat out. Naruto was taken back momentarily to Hinata's own reaction when he told her about the Kyuubi. She had said something very similar. He heard Sakura move away from the door, her tears had finally come out and she was thinking about leaving; maybe she had gone too far. The door opened behind her and Naruto stepped out of the room; a bit more composed then the panic he showed a few moments earlier.

 

He bowed to her deeply, falling to his knees awkwardly, his forehead touching the floor. He was feeling great remorse by keeping the truth from her. Sakura smiled at his trembling form on the ground and she kneeled down next to him and pressed her forehead to the back of his head and whispered his name to him.

 

“Naruto, I love you as my brother and nothing will change that. Now stop bowing to me like an idiot and tell me you forgive me for being a bitch all these years to you.” She heard him laugh they both straightened up and Naruto suddenly gathered her up in his arms in a big hug.

 

“I forgive you for falling in love with Sasuke-teme and ignoring my obvious charms.” he said between bouts of laughter, he was glad she accepted him as well. She shot him another glare before she heard Hinata cough slightly, getting both their attention.

 

“The food I spent all day cooking is getting cold.” she said softly. Sakura smiled and dragged up Naruto off the floor and guided him to the table. They had a lot to talk about.

***

 

R&R Please!