Thank you reviewers!
Warnings: Sakura angst. Doubts of Yesterday
Chapter 7: His Smile
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKSakura couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it before. The odd behavior, the unspoken fury… it all made sense. So much sense, it was almost scary. She wouldn't have thought it possible. Naruto was…. Well, Naruto. The reality she had lived in for so long was twisted. She was supposed to love Sasuke. Naruto was supposed to love her. It was supposed to be this vicious cycle, but this new twist made it… wrong. All wrong. Or was it just different?
She could already feel Naruto breaking away from her, going towards Temari. She could feel it, and she couldn't stop it. She couldn't stop any of it, even if she tried. She was a helpless bystander as the reality she knew was changed. Completely and utterly changed.
True, the sun would rise, same as always. She'd go on missions and train regularly. Nothing was different on that perspective.
But the relationship between herself and Naruto was changing. And would never be the same again, she lost her chance. She lost it because she was chasing after something she could never have—something she wasn't meant to have. She knew her mistake, and she knew it was too late to correct it.
Gaara was relieved when the group came back, and even more relieved when he realized Temari was with them. He obviously had felt that looking for Temari had been a wild goose chase and nothing more.
Naruto had been grinning widely at Gaara, his personality obviously back from its little vacation, "I kicked their asses." He responded immediately to Gaara's response to the group returning. He carefully set Temari on her feet, and Sakura went to work at fixing her side.
Kankurou stood aside and watched this. He wasn't sure what was going on between Naruto and Temari, but it was something different. Something entirely different. He didn't know what it was, but from the expression on both Temari's and Naruto's faces, he assumed it was something good. Had something happened between them? Something he should know about? Sakura seemed to have a pretty good idea what was going on, she had been silent the whole way back…
The thing that Sakura, Temari, Gaara, and Kankurou all noticed was the smile on Naruto's face. It was a real smile, not one of his goofy grins that covered up the pain he was feeling inside.
& & & &
Temari waved goodbye to Gaara and Kankurou as the three took off, headed back to Konoha. Gaara had agreed to allow Temari to return to her post in Konoha, also seeming to have noticed the relationship between Naruto and Temari. It was farther proven when Naruto and Temari had spent Temari's recovering time together.
"Oh wait a minute!" Gaara called to the three retreating shinobi, "I have a present for you, Temari." He walked up to Temari and handed her some papers, "These are the papers you need to transfer to Konoha."
"Transfer?" Temari asked, a bit taken aback.
"Yes. Transfer." He assured her, looking mildly pleased with himself for finding out Temari's and Naruto's relationship before Kankurou had. "So you can stay in Konoha."
Temari didn't know she had done it until she had her arms wrapped around Gaara in a hug. "Thank you so much." She told him, breaking away from her younger sibling. She waved one last time before turning and heading to Konoha with the two other Konoha ninjas.
Naruto grinned back at Gaara, who nodded in return. It was this simple exchange that told Naruto that Gaara was going to kill him if he didn't take care of Temari. Naruto couldn't help but grin at this. He didn't need to be told to take care of Temari; he'd do it anyway.
"Thank you, Gaara."
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A/N: I think its pretty much done. There's not really much left to write about is there? I think covered everything. Unless you want some Naruto angsting or Temari angsting or something, but its not like there's anything to angst about. So yes, I think its done.