Two more days, two more days before the final stage of the chunin exams. Two more days before the Hidden Sand attacked. Two more days to train. But of course, with your luck, you're spending the day in Sakura's room hidden under blankets and blowing your nose. It was hot under the blankets but it was cold without them, Sakura's mother had forced you to cancel your plans for the day. You wouldn't have if she hadn't, you didn't have time to lay in bed and let people baby you all day. You couldn't let your mind wander like it was now doing, you've kept yourself busy up until this point and you weren't yet ready to accept that maybe, just maybe, everything was too much for you to handle alone. The deadline for the plans you had yet to prepare for was creeping closer with every day. There was a gentle knock on the door, different from the knock Sakura's mother does. It was more hesitant, someone was here to visit you.
"Come on." You force yourself to sit up and shiver when the blanket falls away from your shoulders. A familiar blonde-haired boy with blue eyes opened the door slowly, he walked into the room nervously.
"Sakura? You remember me right? I'm your teammate, Naruto." You stare at him, how were you supposed to react to that? Was he trying to be funny? Should you play along? Laugh maybe?
"Naruto... sounds familiar." You bite back a smile, you honestly hadn't spent much time getting close to Naruto and you almost regret that now. "What brings you here?"
"I heard you were sick, I bring presents. Look," he holds up a silly little stuffed bear and you can't get the smile back anymore. "It's a teddy bear, to help you get better.... somehow. That's what people do when the people they care about are sick right?" You forget about the upcoming events and laugh a little, not at him of course.
"I just have a silly cold Naruto, I'll be okay."
"But you're all alone, I brought you a card too. I got people to sign it, see?" It was true, the card had been signed by several of your friends. "Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei weren't around to sign it and Gaara just glared at me until I left him alone but uh, the rest of your friends were more than happy to." You look at all the names, most people wished you a good recovery but Neji.. you weren't even close to him but he still scribbled his name on it. His name and a sweet little note telling you that you're dramatic and you'd be fine. One thing you noticed though was the absent of several names.
"Where's your name?" You had done all this and yet forgot to sign the card himself?
"Oh, well I didn't want to ruin the card for you or anything. I saved the spot under the text for Sasuke because he's your best friend..."
"But your name should be there, I want your name on this card Naruto. Why would you think it would ruin it for me?"
"Well, you're close to everyone on our team except me I guess. You're even close to Kakashi, it's like you all have this huge secret and I'm the only one who doesn't know it. I figured it was because you all hated me or something." You should tell him, tell him your secret. Include him.
"I'm not Sakura." But you can't, "I mean I'm not the Sakura you knew before. I've changed a lot. You liked the Sakura I was before... who's to say you'll the Sakura I am now?"
"Who cares if you've changed? I have too, we all have."

"Of course, you're not the same snot-nosed brat that you used to be anymore. You have a headband now." You smile to yourself as you reach out to tap the metal around his forehead.
"You've changed everyone you've met, I wish I was like that." He couldn't hide the emotion in his voice but you weren't positive what it was. Envy? Longing? Anger?
"But you are like that, you're Naruto Uzumaki. Your greatest power is your power to change people's hearts with your kindness."
"I've never changed anyone's hearts, I haven't done anything worth remembering."
"I remember everything you've done, I also remember everything you will do. You're heading for greatness, you could be Hokage if that's what you want to do."
"I hate that you admire who I will be and not who I am now," he's getting upset. You didn't want to argue with Naruto, you didn't want to make enemies out of anyone.
"I do admire you for who you are now, why wouldn't I? You're great."
"I'm not great Sakura, you and Sasuke are the same.."
"What? Naruto I'm not.. I don't understand." You admit, you can't really counter his accusation if you don't know what he means.
"You both don't see me as an equal, I can be great too. Neither of you will leave me behind," he seems to have made up his mind on something and everything about him has changed in a matter of seconds. His voice went from uncertain and doubtful to confident. His face, which was close to breaking, now held his signature grin. "You, Sakura Haruno, are my rival! Do.... do you accept?"
"Do I accept.. to be your rival?" You're not sure you understand yet.
"Yes!"
"Aren't you rivals with Sasuke?"
"Yes! Wait, can I not have two rivals?"
"I'm not sure, if we're rivals does that make me and Sasuke rivals too?"
"It might, would that be a problem for you?"
"It might be, yeah. What if we're rivals in a certain thing. Like origami or line dancing."
"That could work, what would we be rivals in though?"
"What's something we both do? Maybe we could be rivals in cooking? Do you cook?"
"No, not really... What about drawing?'
"You draw?"
"No, not really." You both let out your own hums and you think harder, what's something you both do? "What about winning battles without violence? You said I'm supposed to change people's hearts or whatever cheesy line that was, you already do that. We could be rivals in kindness."
"Laame."
"You're lame, that's what we're doing. You, Sakura Haruno, are my rival in kindness!"
"Okay, fine."
"You have to say it back to make it official."
"You, Naruto Uzumaki, are my rival in kindness. Yucky." He looks satisfied with your efforts.
"I brought ramen for you mom to heat up for you, by the way. Because soup is good for colds and it tastes best heated up." He looks like he's preparing to leave.
"Do you want to stay? We can play some horribly boring card games and talk about ramen, you might get sick but I'm sure it'll be worth it." You had him before you even tried to convince him, he hops on the foot of your bed. "That was my foot." The evening goes fairly well after that, you both enjoy yourselves despite your newfound rivalry, splitting the ramen he brought you between the two of you. You push any occasional thoughts about your unfinished plans away as they come up, feeling better about them. You've ignored all the warnings from friends that you're taking on too much and now you're ignoring your own subconscious trying to warn you of the same. You don't have a choice in that, at least there doesn't seem to be one, you have to save everyone and your own mental health shouldn't keep you from doing that. People are depending on you.... if you fail someone else will finish what you started, that someone being Naruto most likely. You watch him leave your room, there will be no more distractions tonight. You go straight to bed, thinking about it makes you feel so hopeless..