Departure

The deep orange sun was big and glowing over the evergreen trees, with a wondrous pink sky surrounding it like a blanket.

His hand reached out for hers, and she took it, twining their fingers together. His deep-sea blue eyes looked endlessly into her own emerald ones,

"I love you…" He said, with a content smile on his rounded face.

"I love you too…" she said, but her smile did not quite match his. He saw the sudden upset in her face and knew what she was thinking.

"I'll be fine!" he exaggerated the word "fine", putting more emphasizum on it so that maybe she would believe him this time.

"How do you know?" she asked so quietly that it was less than a whisper. "It is a one month mission in which you could be attacked or ambushed at any time, at any place. You honestly think I am going to believe that you will be fine?!" She let go of his hand and sat up. She pulled her knees up to her chest and put her head between her legs.

Naruto could hear the muffled sniffs and sobs coming from Sakura's curled up body. But, he wouldn't have her cry. No, this was not the he wanted to remember her, with tears in her eyes and a cherry-red nose. So, he too sat up, and crawled behind her, wrapping his arms around her in a comforting embrace.

They sat like that, but only for a moment. She slowly turned around, and looked at him, deep into his eyes. She saw the love that he had for her in them. She let her eyelids shut, and she leaned in, knowing that he would do the same.

It took mere seconds before a pair of soft, warm lips met her own. Not too long after, their lips had a mechanical rhythm between them. They moved with each other, at a slow pace. Soon, hands began to caress the bodies that they knew so well. Sakura, first have her hands knotted in his hair, made her way over his neck, and through the lengths of his muscular shoulders, before running her hands down his chest, which was only covered with a thin black t-shirt. So, her nails on his chest sent a shiver down his spine.

Meanwhile, one of his hands was making a circuit from just below her arm, to the underside of her calf. He made this circuit over and over again. While, his other hand caressed her face and neck, his fingers barely touching the sensitive skin on her neck.

Just as he was laying them back down into the grass, he felt his pocket vibrate. He let out a sigh and took his hand away from her face, reaching into his back pocket for his cell phone.

He only caught the first part of what Tsunade was saying about his departure time and how it had been moved. But, he didn't catch what time it had been moved to, as he was too distracted.

He was looking at Sakura's face, and the way it seemed to glow in the setting sun. Her eyes were closed and she was barely moving, except for the slight rise and fall of her chest. She looked bliss. Naruto finally snapped out of it when he heard Tsunade yelling, no screaming into the phone.

"What?" was all he had to say…

She let out a frustrated sigh and told him that he needed to leave ASAP, as the enemy had moved quicker than they had thought. He let out a disappointed "okay…" and then Tsunade hung up.

"Hey" Naruto said as he shut his cell phone, touching Sakura's check. Her eyes fluttered open and she sat up.

"That was Tsunade, my departure time has been moved to… well, now." She nodded, and rose to her feet and took his hand, "I'll walk you to the gates." She said, obviously disappointed they did not have another 10 hours to say their goodbyes.

They walked in silence until they had gotten to the gates. Sakura was just about to turn around to look at Naruto, but she couldn't… because he already had her off of the ground and was squeezing her.

"I love you so much, and I will be fine!"

"Hmph, and I guess I love you too!"

And just as she had expected, her lips began to shape themselves around his yet again. Then he pulled away and smiled;

"You will always be on my mind and I will never, not even for one second forget how beautiful you are…" Sakura could see the sadness of departure in his eyes, assuming that they matched hers.

"And I will miss you also; now go before Tsunade comes out here with her hands in the air!"

Naruto quickly pecked her on the cheek and called to her as he was walking away; "I'll be back before you know it!"

She just smiled and waved, she knew it was going to seem like forever… but she had no idea how long forever would actually be.