Save Me | A Naruto Fanfic

Chapter One

This story is undergoing a minor overhaul as I attempt to finish it. I'm hoping to make improvements along the way as I wrote this quite some time ago. I hope you all enjoy, and I apologize for taking so long to return.

No One's POV-

Sakura Haruno sighs, pressing her slightly-larger-than-average forehead into the cool, wooden countertop. Beside her, Naruto Uzumaki blabs away between slurps of the ramen that sits in front of him. Hinata Hyuga sits on his other side, nodding and smiling politely as he chatters, taking comparatively minuscule bites of her noodles. She casts a side-long glance over Naruto's shoulder, noticing Sakura in her state. Naruto remains oblivious.

"Sakura," Hinata's soft voice cuts through Naruto's, and he stops. "Are you alright?"

Sakura stifles a groan and pulls her head up off the counter. She couldn't stand the look in Hinata's eyes, and the same one in Naruto's as he also glances at her. Pity. It made her stomach churn. She offers a small smile to them both, before moving off her stool.

"Yea, I'm just not feeling well. Ramen's not hitting me right, I think," she pushes the noticeably untouched bowl towards Naruto. "I think I'm going to head home. You two have fun."

Naruto glances between the bowl of perfectly plated noodles and Sakura, skeptical, but he takes it anyways. "Feel better, ya hear?" he says with a genuine smile. Hinata nods in agreement, eyeing Sakura steadily. Sakura wished she wouldn't.

Eager to escape her gaze, she hums a quick agreement and ducks out of Ichiraku's.

Sakura's POV-

Third wheeler.

That's all I was anymore. The one that tag's along on everyone else's outings, destined to watch her friends all find happy endings in each other's arms. And I don't see a light at the end of this tunnel.

CHA! Sasuke will come back!

That devil's advocate of a thought always tries to break the sorrow. It always fails. He hasn't been seen or heard from in over a year. He could be dead, and we wouldn't be any the wiser. Shameful tears prick my eyes at the thought. I was always so easy to tears, I hated it.

Sasuke is alive! Don't you dare think he's dead.

I kick up dust from the dirt road under my feet. A tear slips down my cheek, and I brush it away hastily. That's quite enough of that.

Get your shit together Sakura. Maybe you should just move on. Hasn't there been enough pain? Enough suffering? Enough tears?

Head down, I continue along another empty street. My mind battles itself, forever stuck in this unending war. A war of the heart is no place for the mind, just makes everything so confusing. I don't know how much longer I can take this.

A voice snaps me out of my thoughts, "Sakura?"

It pipes up from behind me, and I whirl to see Ino standing there, a worried look twisting her pale face. I had stopped moving, not noticing from where I was buried deep inside my own head. I was just kind of standing in the road, staring at my feet.

The worried look was justified.

I knew my eyes were glossy, knew my cheeks and nose were red – the most betraying signs of tears. And there comes that look, even worse on Ino than it was on Hinata. Pity.

"You've got to stop this. He isn't worth it." She always knew exactly what I was deliberating over, but to be fair nothing gets me in a state quite like he does. Not hard to tell when he's on my mind.

I don't answer, just cast my gaze back in the direction I was walking. This conversation was routine. She knows she can't change my mind.

Well... maybe one day she can.

"He doesn't deserve you, Sakura. And you don't deserve this suffering. No one does. Your suffering hurts all of us, you know that," she begins. I whip around, unbridled fury coming out of nowhere. I could see in Ino's eyes immediately that she knew she misspoke.

"Hurts you?" I repeat incredulously. "Are you kidding me?" I spit, my voice louder than intended.

She winces, but makes her way towards me, placing both hands firmly on my shoulders. "You know what I mean. I cannot stand watching you tear yourself apart over a moron like Sasuke. I cannot watch him destroy my best friend any longer. If he came back today, I'd kill him myself."

"Get in line," I mutter, fury dissipating as fast as it appeared. She chuckles.

"There she is. I thought I'd lost my Sakura for a moment there. C'mon, let's get you home." She ushers me along the path with a firm grip, quickly changing the subject to other matters, carefully avoiding any talk of anybody but us and work and town gossip. No Sasuke, no Sai, no males.

Men just cause pain.

But I guess you could call me a masochist, then.

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Welcome, or welcome back.

- Aleyna