Leaving Her Alone

*Chapter 4*

Naruto inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with as much fresh air as he possibly could before exhaling in a happy sigh.

"Ahh, sweet freedom..." he breathed, stretching and shaking out his limbs. "And now, it's time to -"

"To go home." Naruto's gaze snapped up toward the sound of the semi-stern words; his coral blue eyes immediately landed on Kakashi, who stood casually at the front gates of the hospital.

Naruto huffed, but didn't respond. Instead, he laced his fingers behind his head and proceeded to walk toward the gates. Kakashi watched his student through a narrowed gaze as he walked past, turning right once he exited the grounds.

"You are going home, right Naruto?"

Naruto snorted, pausing briefly to glance over his shoulder at the jonin. "Tch, of course I'm going home, sensei." he muttered as he turned around and started walking again. "I'm going straight home to rest like the doctor told me to..."

Then, without warning, the blonde took off running. "That is, I'll go straight home right after I get something to eat!" he shouted over his shoulder with a laugh.

Kakashi rolled his eyes at the boy's antics before taking off after him. Within seconds, he'd managed to capture his blonde student, nabbing him by the collar of his jacket and lifting him just enough so that his feet could no longer touch the ground.

"Hey!!" Naruto yelled as he struggled to free himself from the jonin's vice grip. "C'mon, let me go!!"

"The doctor also instructed you to not do any strenuous activities for the next 24 hours at the very least." Kakashi spoke casually. "Wouldn't running...and struggling...be considered strenuous activities?"

"But sensei, I'm starving!! I literally haven't eaten anything all day!! Just let me get some ramen first, then I promise that I'll go straight home and rest. Pretty please?!"

Kakashi thought for a moment before setting Naruto back down on his feet. "Fine...you can go get your ramen, but you are to go home right after."

"Alright!!" Naruto cheered.

"And to make sure you do just that, I'll be accompanying you." the jonin added.

Naruto arched an eyebrow at the man before shrugging. "Fine, suit yourself." he said as he started walking once more.

Kakashi shook his head as he followed after the blonde boy.

"Ya know, sensei," Naruto spoke up after a few seconds of silence, "if I wasn't still technically in recovery mode...you wouldn't have been able to catch me so easily. Just sayin'."

"Heh...well if it makes you feel better, I'll let you believe that." Kakashi replied smugly.

Naruto huffed, his cheeks puffing slightly in offense to the Copy Ninja's quip. He opened his mouth to retort, but closed it almost immediately when he caught sight of someone he hadn't expected to see again that day approaching them.

...Sakura...

Having seen the approaching pink-haired girl and immediately picking up on the sudden shift in Naruto's mood, Kakashi's visible eye instantly landed upon the blond-haired boy. His head had dropped slightly, and what he could see of his expression had become almost unreadable. An awkward silence settled in the air around them, growing heavier the closer Sakura got. Kakashi frowned slightly as Naruto's declaration from earlier came to mind.

"...I'll back off and leave her alone."

"I can do it...! I know it won't be easy, but I will make it work!"

...Time for the moment of truth... he mentally mused as he looked on in silent anticipation.

To the jonin's great surprise, Naruto's gaze remained trained in front of him; not once did he make any attempt to glance over at the pink-haired girl, nor did he utter a single word to her as she walked past.

Wow...he actually did it...

As they walked on, Kakashi heard the girl suddenly stop walking, and the scrape of her sandals as she turned to face their retreating forms.

"Wow, that's a first." she spoke as if she was intentionally attempting to draw their attention to her. "No cheesy compliments? No lame attempts at asking to go out on a date? Really?!"

Naruto paused in his trek then, prompting Kakashi to do the same. Wordlessly, he glanced over his shoulder, fixing Sakura with a blank stare that chased away every ounce of smugness that had decorated her own expression. After a couple seconds of stifling silence, the blonde boy turned away from his pink-haired teammate and continued his trek, their stunned-silent sensei following after him. The silver-haired jonin glanced briefly over his shoulder at the girl being left yet again in his wake, noting that she looked every bit as shocked as he felt.

Well...this is gonna take some getting used to, for sure...

"...Sensei..."

Kakashi's attention was immediately drawn back to Naruto then. "Yes? What is it?"

Naruto released a deep, quivering sigh; uncertainty hung precariously within his frowning expression. "...That...was way harder than I thought it would be..."

"I can understand why it would be...it is against your norm after all." Kakashi replied.

He then moved until he was walking next to the blonde boy, and placed a hand on his shoulder. When coral blue eyes finally lifted to meet his face, he smiled through his mask.

"I would ask, though, that you not focus on how hard it was to do. Instead, focus on the fact that you did it, and that you can and will do it again. Okay?"

A small smile slowly worked its way onto Naruto's face. "Yeah...I can do that, believe it."

Kakashi's smile grew slightly in return as he lifted his hand from the boy's shoulder and put it back in his pocket. "Good. Now, let's get you that ramen so you can go home."

Naruto's small smile instantly morphed into a face-splitting grin. "Yeah! It's chow time!"