A/N: Seriously, fuck my life…
(imsabbel) – Thank you for the criticism. I mean it.
For one, you'd be right. Sakura is sort of OOC. However, keep in mind that she is in love (true love, not the boyish love-at-first-sight kind of love) and that she's losing her lover to somebody else. Obviously, she wouldn't just tank through her depressions. However, just for you, I'll toughen her up a little bit in this chapter.
I really don't see how I could make Naruto love Robin more than Sakura without Robin having a tragic background.
I'm really sorry for not writing Sakura right, but I'm a NaruHina fan at heart. Throughout writing this story, I've stumbled into sections where I made Sakura stutter "N-Naruto-kun" many times, so you'll have to excuse me for making Sakura a little OOC.
(kidloco) – I hope you feel better, bud. What happened to your account? Why are you a guest?
(butterflyV) - Actually, what Naruto said IS true. He does love Robin. Keep reading to find out how that changes ;)
(Guest) – I never get tired of people saying "I'm sooo exited." It really makes me think my story is worth reading. Thanks.
(Zatheko) – It's not going to be easy lol. However, you have my word that Naruto will end up with Sakura.
(The Keeper of Worlds) – I'd really love to spoil the ending for you right now, but I won't. Just remember that "nothing is as it seems" ;)
(Everyone) – You guys should know that I love you guys. A lot. When I first made this story, I never would've imagined that it'd be this successful. I mean, c'mon, over 30,000+ views and 128 reviews? That's more than I would've dreamed for this story! Thanks guys, I mean it.
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"Here," Sakura said calmly as she gave Robin her bento. Robin smiled at her and thanked her for it. Team 7 had just left the village two days ago to continue their mission. Naruto begged his team for Robin to come along, and the group agreed, even Sakura.
Sakura held no more hate for Robin. They've actually been getting closer ever since Robin's backstory was revealed. Sakura treated her like a little sister, carrying her stuff, giving her advice, making her laugh. Robin was ecstatic when Sakura had the sudden change of heart. Sakura reminded her of her old friend, Minzi.
"Hold still," Sakura commanded her as she wiped away some crumbs on Robin's face.
"Stop treating me like a child!" Robin said innocently.
"You act like a child, you get treated as a child," Sakura said with a smile.
"Guys, we're back," they heard Sasuke say. Naruto trailed up right behind him.
"How many animals did you kill?" Sakura asked them.
"We killed twenty two in total, but…" Sasuke started to say.
"But what?" Sakura asked him with a mischievous glare.
"Let's just say that they aren't in any condition to be eaten right now," Sasuke said as he looked down at the floor. Sakura sighed as Robin started to laugh.
"How did you kill them to the point of being inedible?" Sakura screamed at him.
"Amaterasu and Rasen-shurikens do a lot of damage, you know," Sasuke calmly replied.
"You don't need high tier moves like that to kill a bunch of animals!" Sakura scolded him.
"Robin, are you alright?" Naruto asked her as he walked past Sakura. They haven't said a word to each other since their big "fight." Actually, Naruto was the one ignoring Sakura. Sakura was just letting him calm down before she decided to talk to him.
"I'm fine, Naru-kun," Robin said with a bright smile. Naruto reached down and gave her a little peck on the lips as he sat down next to her.
"Here," Naruto said as he handed her a small box.
"What is it?" she asked him.
"Open it."
When she did, she gasped in excitement. It was a shiny pearl.
"Naruto, where did you get this?" she asked him. Sasuke answered her question before Naruto could react.
"He dived into a bay and scooped it up from the bottom of the basin. But you want to know what the best part is?"
Robin nodded her head in anticipation while Sakura crossed her arms in anticipation.
"He fought three sharks underwater."
Robin stared at Naruto with wide eyes. "You fought three sharks underwater…to get this for me?" Naruto blushed.
"You want to know something better?" Sasuke asked her. Naruto glared at him.
"Don't you dare tell her!" Naruto screamed at him.
"Sorry, I gotta. It's what 'brothers' do, right?" Sasuke rebutted with a heavy smirk.
"Teme, if you say one word—"
"A SHARK BIT NARUTO'S HIP!" Sasuke shouted before Naruto could react. Robin dropped her smile immediately after those words came out. Ignoring Naruto's protests, she lifted his sweater to find a bite mark on his left hip. The shark got him deep.
"Oh my god!" Robin said in horror. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Naruto said to her with a smile. "It's just a minor flesh wound."
"How do you call this a 'minor' flesh wound?" Robin asked him in disbelief. "Sakura!"
"I'm already on it," Sakura said as she pulled out a bag of medical supplies. "You guys need to leave. This needs to be done alone."
Naruto looked as if he was against the idea, but Robin nodded quickly. "Sure! C'mon, Sasuke!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Sasuke said before she could pull him out. When they left, Sakura sat down next to Naruto and lifted his sweater up to get a good look at the wound. She didn't notice it before, but Naruto had a really muscular torso. Looking up, she saw him blushing, which in turn made her blush as well.
She dropped the dirty thoughts she had and took out a healing balm she bought from the Konoha Market. She scooped up a piece of the balm with her fingers and gently smothered it on Naruto's wound.
She heard him sigh in relief, which meant that it felt good. "That should do it," she finally said when she was done with the treatment. "Don't wash or wipe it away for a whole twenty four hours and you should be fine."
Naruto nodded silently at her. Probably guessing that Naruto didn't want to be anywhere near her, she decided to pick up her supplies and leave. To her surprise, however, she felt Naruto tug her back. His head was still down when he talked to her.
"Here, this is for you," he softly said. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a beautiful pearl. It was exactly like the one he gave Robin.
"For…me?" Sakura asked him in shock. She bit her lip at the sudden gesture. "Wait, I thought you were mad at me."
"Well, at first, I was mad at you. I think I still am a little bit. But I guess it's not entirely your fault."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked him.
"It's just that…when Robin came, I started to completely ignore you. Not only you, but Sasuke as well. In all honesty, it's probably my fault."
Sakura smiled at him. "Don't weigh yourself down like that, Naruto. It's not all your fault. Some of it was mine, too. I guess I…kinda got jealous, and in the process, became spiteful towards Robin. Maybe if I treated her like I treat her now, this would never have happened."
Naruto smiled back at her. "Well, no point reveling in the past. It's the present and future that matters!"
"I hope Kakashi-sensei will be part of 'our future' as well."
"We all do, Sakura, we all do."
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"What do you think about this one, Naruto?" Sakura asked him, giving him the kunai to look at. The two of them were at a weapon smith, buying new weapons for their crew. Sasuke and Robin were going to the food market to buy more food surplus.
After closer inspection, he smiled. "Perfect! This kinda reminds me of my father's kunai…"
"You know what you're father's kunai looked like?" Sakura asked him in surprise.
"Yeah. It's mounted on a wall in the Hokage Mansion. It's one of the only things looted from his body after he—" Naruto stopped himself.
"You don't have to tell me, Naruto. I know how much it pains you."
"Thanks."
They continued through the store, scavenging weapons worth inspecting. They found a very well-crafted sword made back during the Third Shinobi War. It had a golden handle with the head of a lion on it and had the blade of a curvy, zigzag like-sword.
"Hmm, this looks like a nice sword for the teme," Naruto said sarcastically as he brought the sword to his eyes.
"You have a point," Sakura added. "Sasuke's sword is getting rather rusty these days."
"Alright then, I'll buy it. Ossan! How much is this sword worth?"
A wrinkly old man with glasses stared at him for a while before answering. "100,000 Ryu."
Naruto and Sakura were taken back by the man's unfair sense of mercantile. "100,000 Ryu?" Naruto asked him in horror. "For this?"
"Boy, do you realize how valuable that sword is?" the old man nagged him. "It was said that the sword was used by Izuna Uchiha himself!"
"Who the hell is that?" Naruto asked him as he scratched his head.
"He said an Uchiha wielded it," Sakura reminded him. "More the reason to buy the sword for Sasuke."
"100,000 Ryu, Sakura-chan!" he complained. "I don't have that much right now!"
Sakura bit her lip as she turned to the old man. "Is there any other way we can take this blade off of your hands?"
The old man glared at her, but eventually nodded. "Why yes, there is something you can do for me."
"I swear, if you have any pervy thoughts right now, ossan, I will shove—"
"Calm down, boy! I'm not like that! In fact, the favor requires the both of you."
Naruto nodded in acknowledgement and waited for the old man's response.
"There is a festival in town right now. A competition is taking place during the festival and the winning prize is rather intriguing to me. Go win it."
"Why don't you?" Naruto asked him.
"For one, I'm old as hell. I can't compete in a competition. Secondly, the competition requires a couple."
"A couple?" Sakura asked him, swallowing a bit of saliva in the back of her throat.
"Yeah. You know, like a boyfriend or girlfriend."
"Is it required to join the competition?" Sakura questioned him. She didn't know why, but she started to feel kind of…happy.
"Yes, it's required. Some of those…games require the two to be romantically dedicated to each other."
Sakura looked over at Naruto, who she could see smiling a bit. When he saw her looking at him, he turned his head away from her.
"Okay," Sakura agreed. "We'll do it."
"Good, now scram!" the old man shooed them.
As they exited the building, Sakura turned to talk to Naruto.
"So, should you go get Robin…or…"
"She's like an hour away from here."
"Then…"
Naruto got down on his knees and held her hand. "Be my girlfriend?"