Beautiful World

"Naruto? Are you home?" Sakura slowly pushed the door open and peeked inside. "Mou... Naruto... if you're home, then say something," she sighed as she saw him in the dining room."

No response.

"Naruto?"

There he was at the dining table with his back to the apartment entrance. He was hunched over something, and he wasn't wearing his usual orange jacket but just a black t-shirt instead. Was he eating? That could explain why he hadn't heard her knocking. Ramen could do that to the guy.

But she didn't smell it... the ramen.

"Naruto? I'm coming in," she announced as she took off her shoes, but she still got no response from him.

As she neared him, she felt something. It was as if something were troubling him. Then she noticed the pieces of paper in his hands. A letter? "Naruto... what's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

What she did next caused Naruto's eyes to widen in shock. He felt her slender arms slide in around his shoulders and her breasts press down against his hunched back. He turned his head slightly to see who it was, but as he did so, the roughness of his cheek inadvertently caressed the smoothness of hers. And his blue eyes met her green ones, eyes filled with shock met eyes filled with concern. Then her fingers slowly intertwined through his, forcing him to immediately drop what was troubling him. As those papers floated to the table, he felt his heart jump, and his lips widened into the most idiotic grin ever.

"Sakura-chan..."

Then it was gone as suddenly as it had come. She released him from the surprise hug from behind and picked up the papers that he had previously been mulling over.

She fell silent after she realized what those papers were. It was yet another reminder that they weren't kids anymore... especially Naruto. Naruto was always so cheerful and childish that times like these really made her appreciate how mature he really was. He has much more mature than even she.

"The rent... the water bill... and the electric bill..." she finally murmured. Then she gasped when she saw how much the monthly apartment rent came out to. "A hundred and twenty thosuand ryou a month?" She didn't know much about real estate so she didn't have anything to compare it to, but she did know that a hundred-twenty thousand ryou was a LOT of money.

Naruto then realized what kind of position he was in and put on that fox grin that he was so famous for. "Aw, don't worry about it, Sakura-chan. I have plenty of money saved up to cover it," he laughed.

"Liar..."

Naruto blinked. "Sakura-chan?"

"Don't lie to me!" she accused, slamming her fist down onto the table. "And don't you EVER use that fake fox smile on me again! I know you, Naruto..."

Naruto's shoulders immediately slumped as that fake grin of his made way to a more genuine but also a more bittersweet smile. "Really... I'm not lying, Sakura-chan..." he said softly as he took out his checkbook and wrote out checks for the different bills. He did it so efficiently that it impressed her. She didn't even know how to write a check. Writing checks and paying bills were things reserved exclusively for the world of the adults. Children like her weren't allowed into that world. Naruto wasn't a child like she was.