Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Talking: “…”

Thinking: ‘…’

Chapter 21: His Unexpected Message

“I see.. so that’s what happened...” Shizune exclaimed after hearing the whole story from Tsunade and Jiraiya.

The group had returned to Konoha, and Tsunade had to go back to her role as Hokage. She invited both Shizune and Kakashi to let them know what happened.

“What about Sasuke?” Kakashi asked.

Tsunade closed her eyes as she rested her head on the top of her hands. “He escaped, together with Orochimaru and Kabuto.”

Shizune looked down while Kakashi showed no emotions. “I see...” He replied.

“But we completed the mission,” Jiraiya said, breaking the silence. “we rescued Sakura.”

Tsunade opened her eyes, but her head was still resting on top of her hands. “Yes, thank God we did...”

There was a silence again in the room. Tsunade sat up straight and broke the silence; “That is all. Kakashi, Shizune, you both are dismissed. I will call for you when needed.”

“Yes!” They both said as Kakashi disappeared, leaving an cloud of dust behind. Shizune made her exit using the door.

After they were both gone, Jiraiya turned towards Tsunade; “What’s on your mind?”

Tsunade stood up and walked towards the window which was behind her desk; it viewed whole Konoha. “You can tell?”

“Well, I can tell there is something on your mind.” Jiraiya replied, his eyes following her every move.

“We rescued Sakura... but why do I have the feeling that we have done absolutely nothing to help when we were there?”

“What do you mean, Tsunade?”

“Did you see those kids, Jiraiya? Their faces when the battle began? Especially Naruto’s, which said, don’t worry, leave this to me! I’ll be fine!...” Tsunade said while she continued to look outside.

“Yes, I have seen them.” Jiraiya replied. “And you have the feeling you’ve listened to what his face said?”

Tsunade only nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“Don’t you think I feel the same way? But we couldn’t do anything, Tsunade. You know that.”

“But why do I still feel so useless now? They were both getting hurt, both mind and body.”

“They are ninja’s, Tsunade, they have to take care of themselves. We can’t protect them all the time.”

“I know...” Tsunade sighed. She turned around so she could look at Jiraiya.

“Now...” Jiraiya said as he stretched his arms out to her, “Shall we hug? Maybe you feel much better after that.”

Tsunade squinted her eyes, “You are dismissed, Jiraiya!” She said, trying not to smash him into the ground.

Jiraiya sighed, “Oh well, maybe next time.” As Jiraiya said that, he lowered his arms and walked past Tsunade, towards the window. He opened one and climbed through it to get outside.

“There are other ways to get out, Jiraiya!” Tsunade said, her fist now shaking.

Jiraiya pretended he didn’t hear her. “Well then, I’ll go get some research for my new book. See you later, Tsunade!” Jiraiya said as he went from roof to roof to get down.

“You Ero-sennin...” Tsunade whispered, with a little smile on her face.

“Ah, Sakura-chan! Were you waiting for me?” Naruto happily asked as he went through the door of the hospital. Sakura was waiting for him outside the gate, as a surprise.

She shook her head, “No, I just got here. I thought I’d surprise you.”

Naruto had an enormous smile on his face as he heard that. He practically run towards Sakura to give her a hug.

“Thanks, Sakura-chan.” He whispered in her ears as he gave her a little peck on the cheek.

“N-Naruto! Don’t... don’t give me a kiss like that... Not when everyone can see...” Sakura said as she tried to push him off.

Naruto didn’t seem to be taken aback by this; he kept on smiling. “Why is that, Sakura-chan? Now I can actually hug you without getting hit!”

“You big dummy!” Sakura said angry as she smacked him down.

“Ow, ow, oowww... That hurt...” Naruto said as he twitched on the ground.

“Oh, oh my gosh, Naruto! I- I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it! Are you ok?” Sakura said, her voice full of concern, as she kneeled down besides Naruto.

Naruto held himself up with his arms as he looked at Sakura. “Hehe, don’t worry, Sakura-chan. It hurt, but I had bigger smack-downs then this.”

He gave Sakura and innocent smile, but Sakura wasn’t happy.

“You idiot, you idiot, you idiot!” Sakura repeated again and again. “I thought I really hurt you!” Tears started to form in her eyes.

“S-Sakura-chan...?” Naruto asked confused and concerned. She never acted like this, and she often hit him much harder than this.

“I... I’m sorry Naruto...” Sakura whispered as she quickly wiped her tears away. “It’s just that... when you fought Sasuke... I thought I’d lost you... I was really scared!” Sakura said, not taking her eyes off of him.

Naruto’s eyes grew soft as he understood, “Sakura-chan...” He scooped her on his lap as he buried his head in her hair. “I’ll never, ever leave you, you know that, right?”

Sakura liked this warmth coming from him. It was soothing; she really felt save in his arms. She nodded; “I know, Naruto... I really do... But just to make sure... Will you stay with me?”

Naruto smiled, “Of course, Sakura-chan. I’ll stay with you forever.”

Sakura sighed a happy sigh as she suddenly realised in what kind of position they were in. She quickly stood up with a blush as she let out a little cough.

Naruto also stood up, with a little smile that was not leaving his face.

“A-anyway, how was your check-up at the hospital?” Sakura asked, changing the topic. Walking away from Naruto and the hospital. Naruto quickly followed.

“Ah, well, I only have a few cuts and bruises, but I’m totally fine!” Naruto said. He had to come to the hospital after they heard his ‘coming-back-from-the-death’ story. But of course, they didn’t find any suspicious things.

“That guardian angel really saved me!” Naruto said. “I told you, right Sakura-chan? About a beautiful guardian angel with long red hair and such?”

“Yes, you told me, Naruto. I’m really glad that she helped you.” Sakura said, knowing more about his guardian angel than Naruto knew.

‘Should I... tell him?’ Sakura thought, looking at him. But before she could give it any more thought, it was interrupted by something warm holding her hand.

It was Naruto’s hand, clasping her hand, not planning to let go.

‘His hand is so warm...’ Sakura thought, blushing a little.

“You know, Sakura-chan?” Naruto suddenly said, interrupting her thoughts again.

“Mh?” Sakura said, looking at him.

“I’m really glad I was able to come back.” Naruto stopped as he turned his head towards Sakura. Naruto was a little bit bigger than Sakura, so he had to look down.

He didn’t let go of her hand.

“Yes, me too, Naruto.” Sakura nodded as she gazed into in deep, blue eyes.

“I felt like... there was something I had to do here, or actually more things than one, so I couldn’t go yet. I think she understood that.”

“And what were the things you wanted to do?” Sakura asked.

“Well,” Naruto didn’t needed to put much thought into that. “I still want to save Sasuke from Orochimaru, I won’t stop trying that.”

Sakura nodded; that was also one of her goals.

“Second, I want to become Hogake.” Naruto proudly said.

Sakura giggled; Well, that was pretty obvious.

“And my most important reason... is to be with you.” Naruto softly said, his grin didn’t disappear.

“Naruto...” Sakura smiled. She noticed that Naruto’s face was getting closer to hers, and she knew that he wanted to do something she also wanted to do.

Sakura closed her eyes and also moved her head towards Naruto. She was so close to his lips; she could feel his breath softly on her lips.

‘I don’t want to stop...’ Sakura thought. ‘I really want to ki-‘

“Hey, Naruto-kun!” A voice interrupted her thoughts again as both Naruto and Sakura released their hands and quickly parted from each other.

Their eyes looked for the person whom the voice belonged to.

“Ah! Iruka-sensei!” Naruto happily said as he saw Iruka walking towards them.

“Oh, Sakura is with you? Oh...wait... ” Iruka said as he gave a few soft elbows in Naruto’s ribs.

“Hey, are you two...” Iruka whispered towards Naruto as he showed his little finger, going up and down.

Naruto blushed, “No! No, we are not-!”

Sakura coughed angrily as she looked at Iruka. “Excuse me Iruka-sensei, but I heard and saw everything you just did. Now if you two will excuse me, I have some errands to do.” Sakura said as she walked past Naruto and Iruka, towards the market.

“A-ah, Sakura-chan!” But Sakura didn’t heard his call. Naruto sighed, getting down all of a sudden.

“Hey, hey, Naruto-kun. Were you two about to kiss?” Iruka asked, sounding like a little schoolboy.

“Iruka-sensei...” Naruto whined, not really wanted to answer to that.

Iruka laughed and patted Naruto on his shoulder. “What do you say, want to get some Ramen with me? I wanna hear all about your mission.”

Suddenly, Naruto’s head perked up and he had one of his big grins on his face. “Your treat!” as he dashed off towards Ichiraku’s Ramen.

“Yes, yes...” Iruka sighed with a smile, following him, knowing he can’t compete with him when it comes to that.

“Ahh... we were about to kiss.. again!” Sakura sighed as she walked past the shops of Konoha.

‘I really wanted it, though...’ Sakura said, touching her lips. Somehow, she was still unsure about how she felt about Naruto. She loved him, of course, he was her friend. But she was terrified that she would lose him forever. If it wasn’t for his guardian angel, who knows what she would have done. She probably would have died as well. She would have died of loss...

She suddenly stopped as she remembered something.

‘I should go to the monument to thank her...’ Sakura thought as she dashed of towards he monument that was placed there in memory of the victims that were created because of the nine-tailed fox. It wasn’t that far away as she arrived after a few minutes.

She kneeled down before the monument, as she clasped her hands together and closed her eyes.

“Kushina Uzumaki... I want to thank you for everything you have done. You have helped me so much, you’ve helped Naruto so much. Well, I think that’s obvious, he is your son after all.”

Sakura smiled as she continued, “Thank you for bringing someone who is so dear to be back, I really wouldn’t know what I would have done if he wasn’t here anymore. Thank you for having such a great son, who makes me laugh, makes me angry, but most of all... makes me feel save. I really hope he can stay with me forever and that I can stay with him forever. Thank you so much, Kushina Uzumaki.”

Sakura opened her eyes as she finished talking. She stood up, looking at the monument.

Suddenly, a little, yellow bird landed on the monument. Sakura looked at it; it was a really cute bird. It seemed like someone took care of it; it looked really healthy and it’s feathers were shining in the sun.

The bird flew towards her and landed on her left shoulder. ‘Mh? A message bird? That’s strange, it doesn’t even look like a message bird. What makes it even more strange is that it’s not one of ours or other countries.

The bird began to chirp as if it wanted the attention from Sakura.

“Oh? You got a message from me, little birdie?” Sakura said as she unhook the case that was attached to his right paw which had a little sheet of paper inside. Once Sakura had the case, the bird flew up and landed on her head, making itself comfortable in her hair.

“Hey, hey, I’m not a nest, got it?” Sakura said, but the bird didn’t pay attention to her.

Sakura sighed as she opened the case and took the paper. She unrolled the paper to see there was a message on it.

Her eyes went wide as she read the first few sentences;

Sakura...

I need to talk to you...

Explain you everything...

She quickly went to the end of the letter without even reading the rest. The one who send it wasn’t someone she expected it to be.

Sasuke.

To Be Continued