Bring the Hammer Down

13

It was a rare day off for Naruto and TenTen and they had decided to spend it training on his new hammer in the morning and then goofing off the rest of the day. Naruto was somewhat annoyed that he had to retrain slightly in his dance with the hammer, due to it having more spikes, but he was managing. TenTen leaned against a tree, enjoying the view of a shirtless Naruto grumbling because he kept dragging the spikes against the ground. She was about to get up and tell him to call it a day when she caught a blob of pink out of the corner of her eye and frowned. It was their day off, what could Kakashi want with them now?

Naruto stopped his dance and wiped the sweat from his brow. He'd been at it since he and TenTen arrived and he was ready for a bit of fun. He had planned on taking TenTen to dinner in the next town over and maybe even catch a movie or just have a nice quiet walk. He just wanted to relax. As he was slipping his shirt back on, he saw the grimace on his girlfriend's face and saw Sakura walking slowly toward them.

'Well, there goes my good mood.'

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Sakura was nervous as all get out. She'd asked Sasuke on numerous dates when she was younger and had gotten used to rejection. She'd gotten stronger as the apprentice of the Hokage. She'd been reassigned to Team Kakashi when Naruto came back from his training trip and had been ecstatic to see him. She'd been devastated when she learned of his status as a jinchuuriki and that it couldn't be extracted without killing him. She'd even told him that she'd save Sasuke for him, not that he remembered that.

But underneath it all, she wanted Sasuke back more. She didn't want to see Naruto killed because of it, but he'd made a promise to her and she expected him to keep his promises. Naruto didn't seem concerned about whether he lived or died anymore, so after a while she just...stopped caring as well. She fell back into her illusions about Sasuke easily since she wasn't doting on Naruto.

She'd nearly lost his friendship several times in her life, but she'd never come so close as she had now. Sakura hated to grovel and beg, she'd done it too many times in her life. And here she stood, ready to ask for forgiveness. The only question was whether or not he'd accept her apology.

She didn't really know where to begin as she stood before the two, her face downcast, her hair falling over her eyes so they couldn't see them. TenTen was beginning to get impatient with her and Naruto looked disinterested. TenTen's patience finally ran thin.

"What are you doing here Sakura? Naruto and I have places to be."

Sakura slowly raised her head to look at them and inhaled a deep breath.

"I...need to talk to Naruto."

"Well, say what you gotta say. Me and TenTen are hungry."

"I need to talk to you...in private."

TenTen and Naruto both frowned. Whatever she wanted to talk about couldn't be good.

"You can say what you need to say to me in front of TenTen. I have no secrets with her."

Sakura's eyes began to tear and she looked at him with soulful eyes.

"Please Naruto...I can't ask you this in front of her."

Naruto turned to TenTen, who shrugged and sat down against the tree again with her arms and legs crossed. He turned back to Sakura, not at all happy.

"You've got five minutes. That's it and the clock is ticking."

She nodded vigorously and motioned for him to walk a little further away, under a shade tree. He complied and stood with his hands in his pockets, waiting for her to begin.