Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters have been spawned from it's creator Masashi Kishimoto. Likewise, Ryouga is a character from Ranma 1/2, by Rumiko Takahashi. I had nothing to do with either one of them.

Orange Blossom

Prolog

Well, that's it. It's all over... finally. After so much loss, after so much death, it was finally all over. The only thing left to do was to take that final walk into the light, and Naruto can finally be reunited with everyone.

It was pitch dark, except for the light, whatever fear or anticipation Naruto felt before then dissolved into nothingness. All he had to do was walk into the--

"Excuse me," Naruto heard a voice call to him. He stopped turned around to see a man, not much older then himself wearing a yellow tunic and bandanna. "Can you tell me how to get to the Tendo dojo?"

Naruto blinked. Thoughts came flooding back into his head... Pein, Madra, Sasuke, but nothing regarding a place called the Tendo dojo. Perhaps this young fellow died too, but doesn't know he's dead. Well, never let it be said that Naruto wasn't about to help someone in need, even on the way to the other side.

"Walk with me, I'll take you there," said Naruto to the stranger.

"Gee, thanks," said the stranger. He went on to explain how there was this girl that he liked, and he wanted to get back to her, but there was this other guy who was a womanizer and was leading her on. They walked, lost in conversation for what seemed like hours when Naruto suddenly realized he lost the light.

Startled, Naruto turned back to the stranger, only to find nobody there. What the hell, after all he lived through, he was going to be stuck in limbo forever?

No fucking way!

Naruto began to run, searching for a way out of the darkness.

After what could have been hours, or days, or minutes, Naruto finally came upon another light. Without bothering to slow down, Naruto ran into the light and everything began to blur. He was finally free.

Naruto suddenly began to choke, water filling his lungs.

Instinctively, Naruto pushed upwards. Naruto coughed up water only then realizing that there was hand trying to hold him down into the water. Naruto tried to fight, but he was bone weary and out of breath. Naruto struggled to live, but someone was pushing him down, back into the water.

Suddenly the pressure disappeared, and Naruto rolled over to dry land and coughed up whatever water remained in his lungs. Lying there, Naruto felt weaker then what he could ever remember. Wiping his mouth, Naruto looked up to see a young blond girl take a swing at a young, but older... or at least taller brown haired girl.

"You stupid cunt," she yelled venomously at her downed opponent, "if i ever catch you picking on anyone again there won't be an ANBU in this village that would be able to find your body!" She then kicked the other girl in the ribs before she ran off.

Naruto was still trying to catch his breath when the little blond girl turned towards him. She looked somewhat familiar but...

"Ino?!?" Naruto yelled out. "You're Ino!"

The blond girl rushed to him trying to help him stand, "Yeah, I'm Ino!"

Naruto was confused... this couldn't have been ino..."Ino?" Ino was dead... died years ago... and she was also so much older... "You're... Ino?"

The blond spoke, "Shit, that bitch must have hit you harder then I thought."

Nothing was making any sence, what the hell is going on? "Ino?"

"Yes, me Ino, you Sakura."

Wait... Sakura? "Sakura?"

The blond looked wearily at Naruto. "Shit, you're worse then I though, you really need to see one of the mednins," she muttered as she lifted Naruto up to his legs. "I'm taking you to the hospital, I think you have a concussion."

Naruto felt his arm being pulled around Ino's shoulder as she lifted him up. Nothing was making any sort of sence. "Ino?" There were more words that were suppose to follow, but they seemed to evaporate before Naruto had a chance to say them. Leaving Naruto even more confused then he was before. Wasn't he just dead a minute ago? Was he still dead?

Naruto felt his vision get blurry, then everything started getting dark.

"Damnit! Don't pass out on me, Sakura we'll be at the hospital soon. Don't pass out on me!"

Naruto could feel the mini-Ino starting to panick. This was a different Ino then he remembered. Always so calm and level headed. No... wait, that didn't seem like Ino at all. No, Ino was always confident in whatever she did, now, she sounded so unsure.

Well, Naruto had to calm her down, "Is alright Ino... I'll be fine in the morning."

Someone screamed and then there was darkness.

Chapter 1

Naruto started to awaken slowly. He remembered a fight.... who was he fighting again? He died.

Died?

From the throbbing headache that was... throbbing... he didn't seem to be dead enough.

Messed up dream though... for a second he could have sworn he was

"Sakura!"

No... that wasn't it...

"Let her sleep, she might still be a little groggy from the surgery." Surgery? "Just let her sleep, you can visit her tomorrow. Visiting hours are from 11 to 5."

Sleep... yeah... sleep sounded pretty good... since when did the hospital have visiting hours though?

Naruto jerked awake. The morning sun shining into his eyes didn't lessen his headache any. He slid out of the bed and stumbled towards the window to shut the shades. Naruto was disoriented. He remembered a fight... he hoped he won because he sure as all hell he didn't want a rematch anytime soon.

"So, sleeping beauty awakes."

Naruto turns around to see to see a nurse with a clipboard in her hands. "Relax, dearie. You're at the hospital, do you remember what happened?"

Naruto thought for a moment. There was a fight he remembered. "There was... a fight?"

The nurse just nodded, "Yes, there was a fight, do you remember anything else?"

Moment of truth... "Did I win?"

"Visiting hours will start soon," said the nurse, not so subtly changing the subject, "I'm sure your mother can fill you in on what happened when she sees you."

Confusion again. Just made the headache a little worse, "Mother?"

"Yeah, it's sorta policy to call a girl's mother whenever their 7 year old daughter's get beaten up to an inch of their lives. Don't worry, I don't think she's mad at you if that's what you're worried about. She is just a bit worried," said the nurse as she continued doing.... whatever she was doing.

Wait a second... "Girl... ?" Naruto squeaked. It was only then did Naruto notice a change in tonality in his voice.

The nurse just looked the pitiful little girl who got the stuffing beat out of her, "You poor dear, the medication we gave you must have made you pretty loopy. Don't worry though, in a couple of hours you'll be right as rain."

Things weren't making sense. Unless... of course, this was hell? There was a stranger, he remembered vaguely. Could the stranger have lead Naruto here on purpose?

No, that was crazy talk.

Of course, that in itself could be an answer. Maybe he was always Sakura, and he just dreamed he was Naruto? Perhaps he should just leave this thinking thing to Shikamaru, it just wasn't working for him.

That was when he felt two arms wrap around himself. Time to start paying attention to the world again, it is.

"Oh Sakura, oh baby, are you OK sweetie. We were so worried, maybe it would be better if you just quit this stupid notion of being a ninja and transfer back to regular school. You're a smart girl Sakura you-"

"Quit being a ninja?" Why would anybody not want to be a ninja? Ninjas were awesomeness personified!

"Baby, you got real hurt today. What happens when you have to do this for real?"

"Well, of course stuff like this is going to happen sooner or later, s'no reason to stop being a ninja. I'll just have to get stronger and start kicking some ass!"

"Sakura, language please..." before the pretty lady could continue with her spiel, there was a knock at the door. A little blonde head peaked through the door, before in stepped chibi-Ino with a bouquet of flowers.

The two pink headed females stared at the blonde girl with the barrette in her hair. "Hi Sakura, I came to see how you were doing."

"I'm doing fine, I guess. Got a bit of a headache though"

"A bit of a headache," said Sakura's mother. "You were nearly beaten to death and all you can say is you got a bit of a headache? You really should stop this nonsense and quit being a ninja! It's dangerous, what if you next time you aren't so lucky?"

"Can't quit now, haven't become Hokage yet," Naruto murmured.

Sakura's mother just frowned a little, took Naruto's hand and gave it a little squeeze. "We'll talk about this later, I have to get back to the store right now. Get better soon, baby." Naruto then got a kiss on his cheek. Things were beginning to get a little weird for Naruto.

After Sakura's mother left the room, Ino spoke again, "Are you sure you're ok, you look awful."

"Hrm?" Naruto responded less intelligibilly.

Ino took out a little compact mirror and gave it to Naruto. Naruto gasped, he was Sakura!

"It's not that bad, you could use a little concealer to cover up the bruises and stuff."

"What the hell happened?" Naruto exclaimed..

"It was Ami again. I don't think she was happy about you showing her up in math class today." Math class? Since when was there any math class? It was only then she realized that Ino was brushing her hair back, "There, much cuter! You can keep the ribbon!" Huh?

"I know people like to make fun of your forehead but you really do have such a cute face. Just covering it up with your hair makes you look like a ghost. "

Ino then got a thoughtful look on her face, "You know, you got beaten pretty bad yesterday. If you wanted to quit... no one would think

"NO!" Naruto interrupted, "quitting just isn't an option! It was never an option," Naruto smiled and scratched the back of her head. "I just need to get stronger is all."

Naruto felt as Ino squeezed her hand. "I never thought I'd see someone with this sort of determination from a civilian family. If you want, I'll help you." Ino then leaned over, with a smirk on her face and whispered conspiringly, "You know, the academy won't teach you everything you'll need to know. If you want, I'll help you. Then we'll show that little bitch Ami what it means to mess with the future Hokage, right?"

Naruto looked at Ino with a surprised look on her face. He didn't think he said that aloud. "Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret if you want. I'm not sure where your ambition to become Hokage comes from, but I'll do what I can to help."

Ino misunderstood Naruto's expression, but that reminded Naruto that he never did become Hokage.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. It wasn't until well past noon when the doctor finally decided to may Naruto a visit. The doctor seemed somewhat surprised that Sakura healed so fast, but she was eventually cleared to check herself out, as long as she rested to replenish her chackra reserves. Why the girl's chakra reserves were so low, he didn't really understand, but he didn't really need to. He had another dozen patients to see, and as far as he could tell, she was in perfect health. Even the bruises were starting to fade.

Author's notes:

I make no secret of liking the Time Loop fic. I've read lots of Naruto fics where either Naruto or Sasuke go back in time, or Naruto coming back as Sasuke, or Sasuke coming back as Naruto. Though, it looked like nobody wanted to come back as Sakura. Heck, it seemed as if Sakura didn't even want to come back as Sakura.

In case people were wondering, I'm still working on Stepping Stones, though I'm planning on changing the name soon. Haven't thought of a good one yet, but I've decided to change the name of take 2. That whole princess thing was suppose to be a joke, but I decided to take it too far, so the orginal stepping stones will be the official stepping stones again.