The Nefera Bazaar

Chapter 13 - Akatsuki Festival

Naruto P.O.V.

I awoke to the sound of loud shuffling and things being tossed around the room. Pulling the covers off of me, I rolled out of bed and slid onto the floor. From upside down, I could see Jiraiya moving about in our small apartment, throwing clothes in every direction and searching through piles of junk and knickknacks. He seemed wild to find some item that was lost in the jungle of trash and dirty laundry. As he ripped apart his bed, Jiraiya noticed me, wide eyed and awake, lying on the ground.

"Did you see a gray coin pouch anywhere?"

I pulled myself off of the ground, racking my brain for where the purse might be. Sure I had seen Jiraiya with it but I wasn't attentive enough to remember where he might have placed it.

"Check your pockets?" I advised uninterestedly as I moved towards the bathroom to brush my teeth. I was in the middle of squirting toothpaste onto the brush when I heard him exclaim enthusiastically.

"I guess I just missed it!" More shuffling could be heard from the other room then suddenly the noise stopped; Jiraiya had managed to compose himself. "I'm heading out for a few minutes. I'll be back real soon!"

Just when I thought he was about to leave, Jiraiya stuck his head through the bathroom door.

"This apartment is a mess. Clean it." Without warning he closed the door and I could hear him exit the flat. I mentally sighed. Though he had made a mess just a few minutes earlier, I couldn't argue with the command since most of the mess was my own I began picking up garbage off of the ground and throwing it into a basket in the corner of the kitchen. Once that was done, the next step was to grab all of the laundry. Jiraiya's clothes were, of course, already put away and neatly folded. It was just my own dirty laundry, in dire need of washing, that littered the floor. I scooped it up and shoved the clothing into a bulging laundry bag. The final task was to place the miscellaneous items I had thoughtlessly purchased during my time in the bazaar onto shelves. I grabbed a small frog figure and smiled as I examined it. Hinata had seen my coin purse and knew that my mentor was the great Frog Hermit so she thought it would be fitting to buy me the little green frog and as usual I didn't have the will to say no.

I went to place the figurine on the windowsill next to my bed. Setting the frog down, I noticed another memento I had kept among my cherished objects. This one was a small stone and written on it were the words 'For we will meet again'. As I went to pick up the object an icy chill fell over me.

The charm was given to me by Sakura the day I had left the Ruts. It was her way of letting me know she would miss me and a reminder for me to come back home once my mission was complete. But it wasn't the memory that had me frozen. It was the fact that I hadn't once thought of Sakura in the last week.

Ever since I had met the pale pink beauty, my every need and desire was only for her. I couldn't and never stopped thinking about Sakura. Every thought and action during my time at the academy was dedicated to impressing her. My motivation and drive existed only to pursue her. Sakura Haruno was my self proclaimed true love. Here was the girl that I had dubbed the goddess of my heart and for the first time in several years, I no longer held the same longing obsession for her. My devotion to Sakura wasn't out of true compatibility or affection, I now realized.

As I turned the charm over in my hand, I thought a little more about how I felt for my teammate. I had always said I loved Sakura Haruno but what did that really mean? I fell for Sakura because she was extremely beautiful and incredible smart, both qualities that I respected. But her temper towards me, and only me, was disagreeable and her own obsession with Sasuke was off-putting. Looking back, Sakura and I never had a true 'moment'. There was never a time when sparks flew between us or my heart stopped. It raced of course, but never stood still or sent a jolt through me the way people said it would when you looked at someone you truly loved. On the off chance that Sakura and I were alone together, she spoke to me like a little brother and treated my advances as jokes either laughing at me or threatening me. When she did this I felt sad but it wasn't true disappointment. Her rejections never had a lasting impact and felt more like games or challenges rather than a serious love affair.