Alone Together...

Memorial Stone

"No. I'm here for my friend." I said with absolute resolve and smiled warmly towards the small child. Naruto's eyes widened and the few unshed tears that he was fighting back finally fell down his little round cheeks.

"Oh? Right, tell us about him and we'll help you find him." One of the villagers offered. I smiled and closed my eyes in thought. An image appeared in my mind of Naruto eating ramen with a big smile on his face. His content face expressing all that was needed to know about how he was feeling.

"My friend...he has pretty bright blonde hair, beautiful sapphire colored eyes that sparkle when happy. He loves ramen more than anyone I know—which will probably become his obsession one day—and his name, is Naruto Uzumaki." I informed and opened my eyes after finishing up his description. I looked over to Naruto—he was sobbing—but he didn't show his face as he continuously rubbed at his eyes with his sleeve. The villager's faces however, only returned to their vicious annoyance with the boy.

"That demon child?! Little girl don't associate with his kind!" I narrowed my eyes at her demand and walked towards Naruto. Ignoring the villagers as I walked past them. I stopped when I was at arms length away from Naruto. As much as he tried to stop his tears, they fell endlessly down his face.

"...sniff...Sakura-chan...I-" He stopped his sentence when I placed a hand in front of him to make him stop.

"Not here Naruto-san." My words seemed to cause him some confusion, for his brows furrowed. I began to walk around him and when he didn't move, I poked him in the arm.

"Come on." He soon followed me and thankfully his tears had stopped so the villagers wouldn't be able to see his sorrowful face. Every time I looked back to make sure Naruto wasn't falling behind, Inner kept insisting that he looked like a lonely lost puppy. I shook my head and told her to be serious in such situations. She would then pout and deny the fact that she wasn't being serious.

I lead Naruto all the way to a training field. Earlier in the week, when I was walking around the village, I took note of the commonly used fields, as well as the more secluded ones. No one would find us for a while. Just in case, I told Inner to be on the look out for any chakras nearby. This was another thing we were working on. Instead of just me training, we decided that just like Inner's secret ability, we would enhance our skills more. Now we could both sense chakra. When Inner or I both sensed without the other's help, our distance decreased by half, but it was perfect for short distance sensing such as now. When I reached the center, I turned to face Naruto in all seriousness. He looked at me as well, but unlike mine, his eyes held hurt, confusion and a bit of hope.

"There's someone in a few trees away." Inner informed me. I smiled at both of them.

'Thanks. It's probably that guard.' I commented. Ignoring the hidden ninja for now, I focused back on Naruto. Before I even got to say anything, he beat me to it.

"Why?...I...Why are you so nice to me?" His voice was filled with confusion and hurt. I felt like I was having a déjà vu moment.

"Naruto-san-" he cut me off again before I could finish.

"I left you!...So why do you keep being so nice?!" He shouted at me, wanting answers for my actions. I suppose he was referring to our second meeting when he ditched me. I knew that day would be brought up some day, I'm glad it's today. I was ready to be acknowledged as his friend and not just some weird, debt-repaying pink-haired girl.

"What's wrong with being nice?" I asked him just as I did to Gaara. He frowned and was about to say something, but I stopped him this time.

"Please let me finish Naruto-san...I'm nice to you because I consider you my friend." That's all I could say before he intruded in once again.