She was crying again.

He could hear her soft sobs from behind the thin wall. He took in a deep breath and leaned back to the wall, the sound of tattered breathing reaching his ears. His heart wrenched painfully at the sound of her crying.

"Are you okay?" He spoke out loud.

For a moment the sound of her crying stop and he could hear the muffled sounds of her moving about. He waited for a moment and asked again, hoping to receive an answer.

"I'm fine." She would say, her voice naught but a whisper. Though he couldn't see her face, he knows that she's far from fine.

His teeth clenched in restrained anger as he took another calming breathe.

"Do you want me to come over?"

A few moments passed with no reply. He sighed and stood up from his bed, intent to go over next door. She didn't say yes.

But there wasn't a no.

She needed him.

...

He spotted the red colored moving truck outside his apartment complex a block away. With a tired sigh he tossed the plastic bag of his groceries over his shoulder and headed towards the elevator.

"Ah! Uzumaki-kun," The old landlady greeted him.

"Konnichiwa Obaa-san."

She sent him an approving nod, obviously proud of his polite greeting. "We got a new tenant today! Finally have someone to fill that empty room next to yours."

He nodded in acknowledgement and excused himself with a silent goodbye. He stood and waited for the elevator doors to open while checking his phone for messages.

-Mom—

Hey sweetie!

Your Dad and I wanted to let you know that our big homecoming will be delayed—

-Kiba—

ICHIRAKU. 7PM! Me and Shika are—

-Shikamaru—

Don't listen to Kiba.

He closed his phone shut and stuffed it in his pocket just in time for the doors to open. He stepped inside and punched in his floor and waited for the doors to close.

"Hold the door please!"

...

The door was unlocked.

It had always been for him.

He let himself in and removed his shoes at the entrance. He called out her name letting her know he was already there. He passed the kitchen and saw that it was a mess; it was unlike her to make a mess. Her living room was untouched, another oddity—seeing as it was a Saturday and she loved spending it in here with music in the background and a good book on her lap. Speaking of books, her bookshelf was a mess. Sighing, he picked up the fallen books and stacked them onto her coffee table and headed towards the last place he knew she'll be. With a soft knock, he pushed open the door and leaned by the frame.

"Hey."

...

His hand shot out and blocked the doors from closing, dropping his groceries in the process. He let out a soft curse and glared at the fallen noodles.

"Damn it…"

His head dropped in disappointment and turn to glare at the person responsible for it, only to find the culprit hidden behind a giant box.

"Thank you so much!"

The culprit was a girl… or sounded like one, seeing as she was still blocked by the giant box.

He muttered a barely audible 'No problem' then released the door letting it close on its own.

Crouching down to pick up his fallen things he sighed once more. There goes dinner… and breakfast.

"Oh no!" He felt another person drop down beside him. "I'm sorry! This is all my fault if I hadn't—"

"It's okay." He cut her off feeling like she was about to cry. "I can just get some later on. The convenience store is just a few blocks—"

"Have dinner with me!"

"…Huh?"

"I mean—for an apology! Since I ruined your meal a-and it would really make me feel bad if I don't do anything because it really was my fault and I'd hate to think that you'll starve to death tonight because I became inconsiderate and didn't do anything to make it up to you and—" She was rambling. And he was ignoring her while she was rambling. He stood up with his—now ruined—groceries and stared at the numbers overhead thankful that his floor was up.

"—so you can come over to 506 later, okay!?"

He blinked to see a flash of pink running out of the elevator, the giant box in tow. He stared at the wall, processing what had just happened and sighed.

Looks like he won't be needing to head over to the convenience store after all; He stepped out of the elevator and pulled out his keys, staring at the door—

"—so you can come over to 506 later, okay!?"

And he's going to have dinner with his new neighbor.

Peachy.

...

"Hey."

He greeted the giant lump of sheets on top of the bed.

"Go away." Came a muffled reply.

He smiled a little and sat on the foot of the bed. "I would, but I'm hungry and Obaa-san is out at the moment so I need someone to cook for me."

She threw a pillow at his head.

He feigned hurt and saw the sheets ruffle a little as she peeked to see if he was okay. He smirked. "Just kidding."

Of course that earned him another pillow to the face. He chuckled and picked up the pillows and placed them on top of the bed. He sat next to the giant lump and poked it.

"What's got you depressed right now?"

She didn't answer.

He poked it again.

Still no answer.

Another poke.

…

And another one.

…

And again.

…

"STOP POKING ME!"

...

Pink.

That was what came to greet him when he rang the doorbell on apartment 506 later on that evening. He stood awkwardly in front of her door staring at the smiling pink haired girl who greeted him warmly and invited him inside with more apologies and thanking him for actually letting her do this even though they just met. She asked him if curry was okay. He shrugged, thankful just to be having something to eat. She beamed at him and ushered him towards the dining room. His eyes roamed the room similar to his, albeit more decorated and cleaner compared to his own.

His eyes wandered until it landed onto his host for this evening.

Her hair was long… and pink, but obviously not dyed. She was wearing gray sweatpants built for comfort and not fashion and a plain white t-shirt a size too big for her. She was short for her age, he guessed that she was roughly around the same age as him or maybe younger. But what was really eye catching about her—aside from the fact that her hair was pink—was her eyes. He didn't realize that he was staring until she turned and smiled at him.

"Would you like something to drink?"

He blinked and nodded slowly. She disappeared into the kitchen while he settled himself onto the couch and chose to look around some more. A loud crash followed by the smoke detector beeping loudly made him jump up to his feet and run over to where the sound came from. He then found his host with their supposed to be dinner sprawled on the floor.

She laughed with an embarrassed grin and kicked the pan behind the counter. "Sorry… curry suddenly went off the menu," She laughed once more "Will ramen be okay for you?"

He smirked. "I'll live."

Maybe tonight's dinner won't be so bad after all.

...

It hurt seeing her cry.

"H-He didn't call me." She sobbed into her stuffed bear, hugging it tightly to her chest. "I-I waited for him to come b-but—!"

He bit his lip in frustration and sat down beside her and pulled her into his warm embrace.

"I tried calling him b-but he won't pick up his phone."

He ran his fingers through her hair telling her to calm down.

"I-I haven't seen him since—"She broke down into sobs once more.

He stared at the ring on top of her dresser and bit his lip.

It hurts so much that it kills him.

...

She stretched with a satisfied groan and grinned at him from across the table. "That was delicious, if I do say so myself!"

He smirked and brought his glass up to his lips. "I've had better."

She gave him a blank look as she stood up and gathered up their used plates. "Jerk."

That only made his smirk grow wider. He stood up and took his empty glass and handed it over to her as she headed for the sink.

"So how long have you been living here?"

He grabbed a sponge. "Konoha? My whole life I guess."

"Hmm. That's cool. Konoha seems like a great place. So much trees and flowers."

"Konoha does mean leaves you know."

She elbowed him. Hard.

"So where did you come from?" He asked as he rinsed the glass with water.

She took it from his hands and began to dry it with a rag. "I've lived in Suna for a short time, then Oto. I was hoping to make permanent residence here."

"Well the food's not so bad and the people are freaks but they can grow on you."

She smirked. "Talking about yourself?"

"Trust me, your definition of normal won't fit in this town."

She laughed at that. "Speaking of normal, I believe it's customary to give one's name before having dinner with a complete stranger, let alone doing the dishes with them." She smiled and held out her still soapy hand.

"Haruno Sakura."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

...

"Naruto!"

He turned around to see her running up to him. Her long pink locks tied up into a pony tail, she was wearing a black tank top with matching shorts. A water bottle on one hand, a towel on the other. He slowed down to let her catch up to him.

"Hey!" She greeted with that smile of hers.

He smiled back. "Hey yourself,"

"So listen! Sasuke—"

Ah, Uchiha Sasuke.

The dreaded boyfriend.

He hid the small frown and listened to her go on about him apologizing to her. A story he heard a thousand times.

"—and he wanted to take me out some place tomorrow, and I was hoping you could come too!"

Wai—what did she say? "Huh?"

She pouted and pinched his ear. "I said if you wanted to come with me and Sasuke-kun tomorrow!"

He pondered over it for a moment.

Spending time with Sakura—Good,

Spending time with Sakura and Sasuke—Bad.

You see, Sasuke never really liked the thought of his precious Sakura spending time with anything particularly male.

"You cheated!"

"Did not! You owe me ramen!"

"No! I was seriously winning until you kicked the controller out of my hands!"

"I didn't kick it! You were just too clumsy to hold onto it!"

"I'll show you clumsy!"

She tackled him onto the ground and trapped him in a headlock. Sakura laughed as Naruto tried to pry away her arms from his neck.

"…Sakura?"

Let's just say Naruto's first meeting with Sasuke was not a pretty sight.

After all, how would anyone act if they see their pajama wearing girlfriend hugging—it looked that way at that time—another guy?

"Naruto!" She yelled to get his attention. "Will you please come with us tomorrow?" She asked with such a hopeful look on her face. "Please?"

He let out a nervous chuckle and smiled. "I'm sorry Sakura, I would love to spend some time with you but—"but that teme is going to be there "—but I already promised Shikamaru to get this… thing with him."

Her face fell. "Oh…"

"But we could catch a movie this weekend if you want! I hear that there's this horrible cheesy romance about a guy who's in search of his true love."

She gasped at that. "But you hate cheesy romance films!"

He grinned and ruffled her already messy locks. "And you love them, and I guess I could stand two hours of torture for my favorite girl."

She laughed and gave him a one armed hug. "You're the best."

"That I am." He grinned. "And that is why you are treating me to Ichiraku's for lunch today!"

She laughed and looped arms with him. "How lucky am I to have you in my life?"

"The luckiest."

She laughed and beamed at him with that heartbreaking smile of hers.

I'm happy that you're happy.

"Yo! Naruto." A certain spiky haired brunette greeted with his usual lax expression.

Naruto grinned and approached the Nara. "Nice to see you Shika."

"Not hanging with pinkie tonight?"

"Not tonight."

He raised a brow in confusion. "Seriously? Usually it's been spending time with princess rather than hanging out with the guys." He pulled out a cigar and placed it in his mouth. "Is she making you go to some lame event again?"

He shrugged as he pulled out a chair and called over the waitress. "Nope." He placed down his order for the usual and sighed. "Besides even if I do come, his royal jackass would be there."

"Ahh, the chicken ass." Shikamaru pulled out a light and offered him one. Naruto declined and picked up his glass and brought it to his lips for a drink. "Speaking of chicken-ass, I saw him last week with that sound-chick."

He then promptly spat it out.

"You what!?" He yelled between coughs.

Shikamaru threw him some table napkins in disgust and scooted away from the sputtering blonde. "Like I said, I saw him hanging out with that Kin at the mall last week."

His fist clenched in uncontrolled anger and a scowl occupied his usually calm façade. "…That teme."

…

"Hey Sakura?"

"Naruto?"

"About tomorrow," He took in a deep breath. "I suddenly became free."

"Really!? That's great! I'll see you later then!"

…

Shikamaru stared at him in disbelief. "Dude… Are you sure about this?"

He placed the payment for his meal on the table and left without another word.

"…Troublesome"

He never really liked it when Sakura drags him to some unknown place with the intent of 'trying something new' in her mind.

Once, she made him take belly dancing lessons with her only to quit after a week she'd been taking lessons… it was too bad though, the aunties in the class were trying to win younger audience with a pretty little thing like her. But it was truly amusing to see her surrounded by a bunch of old ladies cooing at her then scolding her for dyeing her hair pink. He got a laugh out of it until the old women started talking about how cute it would be if Sakura dated their nice and available grand kids. But today was one of those rare days where she would prefer a normal source of entertainment.

"Naruto!"

He smiled seeing her dressed in a pale yellow dress with her hair braided. She looked so cute standing there, waiting for him. "Hey princess."

She pouted at that. "I told you to stop calling me that."

He laughed and pinched her cheek. She whined and swatted his hand away, though a smile remained. He looked around with a frown noticing that the boyfriend was not present.

"Chicken-ass not here yet?"

That earned him a painful slap on the arm. "I told you to stop calling him that!"

Now it was his turn to whine. "Ow! But his hair does look like a chicken-ass!"

"Speak for yourself spiky!" She smiled, obviously proud of her attempt to insult him.

Naruto smiled. She was just too cute for her own good. "Fine, I'll stop calling him chicken-ass…"

She beamed at him, proud of his decision.

"…I say he's more of a duck-ass."

And he earned another slap.

Yup.

Too cute.

...

It was one of those afternoons that Sakura decided to be spontaneous and Naruto, as usual, was on the receiving end of it.

"Why don't you have a girlfriend?"

Naruto choked on his drink and stared at the genuinely curious girl. "W-what?"

"Why don't you have a girlfriend?" She repeated. "I mean, you're not bad looking or anything…"

"Thanks… I think." He reached for a napkin and tried to clean up the mess he created, ignoring the look the waitress was giving him.

Meanwhile the pink haired girl decided to go into the topic, oblivious to his discomfort about the subject.

"I'm serious Naruto!" She huffed. "You're one of the nicest guys I know and it's a shame that you don't have a girlfriend!" She slammed the table.

"Why don't you have a girlfriend!?"

He winced at the loudness of her voice and ignored the way the people around the café seem to stare at their general direction. "Calm down princess!"

"Don't call me that!" She whined, sitting down. "You know how I hate being called that—And don't try to change the subject!"

Naruto sighed and stared into his now lukewarm coffee. "It's not like I don't want one…" He mumbled. "It's just that…"

"Just what?"

He grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his head in an embarrassed manner. "Girls tend to steer away from the whole—"He gestured to himself, unsure how to continue.

She stared at him blankly at that.

"What's with the face?" He asked. Eyes wary.

"I'm going to find you a girlfriend."

"What!? Sakura-chan, I don't need a girlfriend! I like being—" and of course, he never got to finish that statement when the pink haired genius stood up, her chair falling down in the process, and proceeded on screaming on top of her lungs.

"LADIES! THIS BEAUTIFUL MAN IS SINGLE AND IS CURRENTLY IN SEARCH OF A GIRLFRIEND! PLEASE CONTACT 09XXXXXX FOR FURTHER INFORMATION! I REPEAT THIS BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL MAN IS IN SEARCH OF A GIRLFRIEND!"

To add to his embarrassment, after they were escorted out of the restaurant by two heavy muscled security guards, three old ladies handed him their phone numbers and quote "what time we can meet up, cutie."

He could never forget the face of Sakura trying to hold in her laughter as they planted a big wet one on him.

Priceless.

...

He couldn't stand it.

He hated moments like this.

Here he was, standing in front of a vending machine.

Torn.

Was goopy grape better that lala lemon?

Curse humanity.

"Sakura!" He turned his head to the girl who sat on the bench a few feet away from him. "Should I get grape or lemon?"

She sent him a blank look and stuck out her tongue.

"I'm serious here! It's a matter of life and death!" He cried.

With a sigh, the girl stood up and walked over with an unreadable look on her face. Naruto had to take a step back when she stopped a hairsbreadth away from him, an angry look occupying her normally cheerful face.

"Uhh…Sak?"

With a fierce glare, the pink haired hellion slammed her hand on the vending machine, effectively pushing a random button. With that she returned to the bench with a huff ignoring the shell shocked blonde.

"WHAT THE HELL!" He yelled scrambling to get his drink. "Sakura! Why did you do that!?" He whined.

"And what kind of flavor is Tootie turnip!?"

Ignoring him the girl stood up from her seat and began to walk away with an angry huff.

"Sakura! Where are you going?" He yelled running up to her. "You better buy me a new drink! I'm not drinking this stuff!"

"Will you shut up!?" She yelled at the top of her lungs. People around them turning to see what the commotion was all about. She then proceeded to curl up into a ball leave him standing in a crowded park with the entire population glaring at him for making a young girl cry. Panicking he did the first thing that came into mind.

Pick her up and run.

...

She was mad at him.

He never really understood how she could be smiling one second then crying like a new born baby the next. sigh. Women.

"Sakura?"

She pouted and turned away from him. Damn it. She's really mad at him.

"Ne, Sakura-chan…" He put on his best 'I'm sorry, look at me—I'm so cute—forgive me' face and rested his head on her shoulder.

Said pinkette just growled and shrugged him of and proceeded back onto sulking. He sighed in defeat and plopped down onto the floor with a miserable groan.

"I'm sorry Sakura-chan!" He yelled. "I won't do it again I promise! It was an accident—"He never did got to finish that sentence when a pillow hit his face. "Ow!"

"Shut up you pudding eating jerk!"

Naruto shot up and threw the pillow back. "Grow up! It was just pudding! I'll buy you some more!"

"You can't just offer to buy me some pudding I spent two hours on looking for!"

"It's pudding!" He growled. "You can get some at the convenience store!"

"That flavor is hard to find!"

"Who buys banana-peanut butter pudding!?"

"Don't act like you didn't like it!" She yelled. "You finished the last pack!" with that she stood up and darted to her room, slamming the door behind.

"Sakura!" He yelled running up to her door. "Open this door! I'm not done arguing with you yet!" He banged on the door repeatedly.

"I'm not talking to you until you buy me some more!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

Turns out banana-peanut butter pudding was a hard to find flavor. He ended up going through every available convenience store and supermarket in Konoha, not having such luck he ended up having to phone one of his buddies from Suna who happened to have some at hand. So with enough coaxing and begging on his part. He got him to drive all the way to Konoha to deliver his special order. That day ended with him delivering the pudding to Sakura who was already enjoying a bowl of coffee flavored ice cream with chocolate sprinkles and a movie running in the background. In the end it was worth it to see the way she reacted when she saw him on her doorstep with a bag of hard to get pudding. That was one of his most favorite memories with his favorite girl.

...

"Sak… please stop crying! Look I'll drink the turnip juice okay!?" He yelled and downed the drink in one swift motion. He had to resist spitting it out the moment the flavor landed on his tongue. Ugh. What kind of people would buy this crap?

"See—cough—I drank it all! I'm sorry!" He pushed the can forward, showing it's empty content.

She looked up for a second, teary emerald eyes staring up at him. Then she ran away, hands covering her tear-stricken face. "Wait—Sakura-chan!"

He followed her under her namesake tree that rested on top of the many hills in Konoha park. She curled up like a ball in despair and cried silently.

"Sakura—huff—what the hell?" He huffed.

"Just leave me alone…"

Naruto frowned at that. "Sakura, you invite me to your date with your boyfriend and now you're telling me to leave you alone?" He sighed and collapsed beside her. "Where is Sasuke? I know you guys assigned the time and place but we've been waiting for two hours—"

"He's not coming."

"—already isn't he…" His sat up. "What did you say?"

"He's not coming…" her crying started once more. "Sasuke… Sasuke's not coming." She tried to restrain herself from crying as he spoke, but it was just to pitiful. "He-He… I-I caught him w-with another girl… T-that's why h-he hasn't been seeing me for the p-past two weeks." She sobbed and rested her head on his chest.

"H-He told me that I-I was a burden and—and I was too boring to be with…!" His fists clenched at his sides.

"S-Sasuke didn't ask me out… I-I was testing him." She clutched onto the material of his shirt and cried. "I told him if he didn't show up… He c-could consider this relationship over…"

She let out a bitter laugh.

His heart cringed at that. He never heard such a sound come out from this sweet girl. It didn't belong to her.

"I-I guess, it's over… heh."

His arms wrapped around her. Tightly.

That… He made her cry again.

He made her feel miserable again.

That…

"I'm sorry for making you see this Naruto…"

That…

"I'm making myself a burden to you… again."

That…

"Maybe Sasuke's right… I am too much to handle."

"That teme."

Okay this one-shot is inspired by G-dragon's That XX :3 Epilogue will be up... by whenever x)

Merry Christmas to all!

Consider this as a late gift to all my wonderful reader out there.

Okay so I know that I've been gone for a long... long... long... time.

But yeah, I've been trying to figure out my writing style, because seriously I get frustrated reading my old works. Some are serious then it shifts to bat-shit-crazy.

sigh...

Any ways this is just to show you guys that I am not dead... :D