this is for alex, my dear naruto buddy.

disclaimer naruto is not mine. sasuke is.

EDITED oct 10.

chapter one.

Sakura walked briskly through the walls of Konoha's central hospital with an air of irritation. Those who scurried past in a desperate attempt to go by unscathed knew it was because it was a Tuesday morning. As in the day after Monday, when most missions were assigned. Therefore, the village was relatively void of ninja. This category unfortunately included injured ninja, thus the workday of a medical-nin such as Sakura Haruno was a relatively dull one, filled with tedious paperwork and the occasional patient or two, tops.

Sakura fumed especially today, a sunny April 4th in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, because Tsunade had not assigned her a mission in weeks. The Godaime had insisted that the village needed their best medic present as often as possible, and had recently decided to send her only on top priority S-rank missions and required delegate visits to other countries these days. She narrowed her eyes viciously at a bubbly intern skipping down the stairs with a stack of papers in hand, who halted at her cold look, bowed respectfully (while staggering a bit) and bolted back up the steps she came from in an effort to avoid the sour shinobi for the rest of the day.

Sakura continued on, turning a corner sharply while tearing off her signature fingerless gloves and stuffing them roughly into the left pocket of the white lab coat she was required to wear over her usual outfit of a red top and training shorts. Unlike her colleagues in the hospital, she wore hers unbuttoned so that it fluttered behind her as she stormed through the building. She used to wear it closed like everyone else, but since her shorts were rather short it had appeared as though she was wearing nothing underneath the thin jacket. Not that she was super curvy or breathtakingly beautiful, but she was undeniably pretty, well-toned, respected, and easily the best-liked kunoichi around. She was intelligent, social, nice (to most), and an exceptional ninja. It was natural that she was a favorite of the villagers, and had more than a few suitors. But alas, her buttoned coat proved to be a distraction to the male employees in the hospital, so much to the dismay of the male population of Konoha, Sakura now left it wide open for all to see that she was fully clothed. Well, not fully. That outfit was convenient for missions, though, so it stayed.

The medic barged into a brightly lit room to see that her patient was asleep. She smiled. His treatment, which consisted of weekly healing to a nasty poison-induced arm injury obtained on an A-rank mission a month ago, was always a torture for her. Not because it was a complicated or tiring procedure, but because he was so obnoxious. Exactly like Naruto, right down to the fang-flashing grin. But while Naruto's was bright and warm, her patient's smile was mischievous and had an animalistic ferocity to it. As did his voice. And demeanor. This was to be expected, considering his clan's style of jutsu. Sakura had at one point secretly believed he was a werewolf.

She looked him over for a moment. He was fairly attractive, she supposed. Were the red lines on his face painted there, or tattooed? The latter was more likely. He was far too careless about his appearance to take the time to draw those stripes on his face on a daily basis. His spiky dark hair was a brown replica of Naruto's. And a lot like Kankurou's. And Gaara's. Come to think of it, Sasori's and the Akatsuki leader had hair like theirs too. Weird.

Sakura didn't realize she had been appraising the supposedly unconscious form on the bed for about five minutes until it cracked open a cat-like eye.

"Are you gonna stand there checking me out all day, or are you gonna make a move?"

Sakura pressed her left hand onto the forehead she had finally grown into and shifted her weight onto one foot. The other hand rested on her hip.

"Kiba," she began in a dangerous voice, "do not annoy me today. I will kill you."

There was definitely some serious threat in her tone, despite the exasperation and exhaustion that seeped through to try and sabotage the message she was attempting to get across. Although the green-eyed girl could never quite master the deadly way Gaara spoke, lacking sarcasm and full of promise, anyone sane would have backed off. However, Kiba was not totally sane (what shinobi was?), so he remained unfazed, openly leering at her.

"Now, Sakura. You know there is some irrefutable attraction here"—he gestured to the space between them— "and it's obvious we were meant to be. When are you going to give up this silly charade and sleep with me? You know you want to."

The ever present growl in his voice didn't diminish the blatant confusion in his question. He was so oblivious. But his canine conduct secretly comforted Sakura, like he was a sweet animal. Which he was not. He was a crazy, loud, easily angered animal. Okay, so she kinda was too. But at least she didn't bark.

"Mhmm. Right. Okay, well, until that fateful day, you need to let me heal you so that I can get out of here."

Kiba gave her a fake hurt look that quickly turned mocking.

"Hot date?"

Sakura smiled.

"Yes, actually."

The dog-boy's eyes narrowed as he sat up to give her full access to his wounded arm. He was shirtless, and the medic couldn't help but notice the defined muscles of his torso as her glowing green chakra passed over it.

He's pretty hot.

"Huh?" she asked Kiba.

"I asked who you were going out with tonight," he repeated through clenched teeth.

"Neji," she replied absentmindedly while repositioning her hands.

"Hyuuga?!" he exclaimed indignantly. "What with you and the apathetic bastards? Do you like, only dig broody emo kids? Because I'm pretty sure that's unhealthy for your emotional being."

"My emotional being is none of your concern," she muttered. "Now shut up. I'm trying to concentrate."

Kiba frowned but remained silent for the next ten minutes.

The pink haired girl straightened and smiled brightly, brushing nonexistent dust off her hands.

"Alrite! I'm free to go! Oh, you too," she added to Kiba when she remembered he was still there.

"In a hurry to suck face with the Hyuuga?" he questioned, tone laced with malice.

Sakura looked offended.

"I do not 'suck face' with anyone."

"Oh, I think there are a couple guys who would beg to differ."

At this, her eyes darkened. She leaned forward, her face inches from his.

"I defy you to name one," she challenged, her breath swirling into his face.

His sharp nose detected coffee, mint and something sugary-sweet he couldn't quite place. Mixed with her flowery-fresh rain scent, he barely resisted leaning in to taste. Instead, he answered her question. With an impressive list.

"Gaara, Shikamaru, Kakashi, Genma, Izumo, Kotetsu, Lee—"

"I did not make out with Lee! It was a peck on the cheek!"

"—not to mention like, half the Akatsuki—"

"Not true! Why would I kiss an S-class criminal?" she protested.

"So you wouldn't kiss Sasuke, given the chance?" Kiba asked.

"Sasuke-kun is not in the Akatsuki." Sakura's voice took on an icy, flat tone.

"But he is an S-class criminal," he pointed out. "In the bingo book and everything."

"I killed or helped kill half the Akatsuki," she persisted, avoiding the topic of her former teammate. "Besides, Itachi's the only one who would come near the Leaf, and he was spotted two days ago in the Rain village."

"Aha! So if he were around, you would suck face with him!" he accused triumphantly.

Sakura turned and stalked out, but not before pausing at the door and bouncing back with a smile on her face. Mood swingy much?

"Couldn't leave without saying goodbye?" Kiba teased, but his expression turned to one of surprise when she headed towards him with a nod. He puckered his lips in anticipation as she leaned down to…

pet Akamaru. "Bye Akamaru!" she called before shutting the door violently behind her.

Kiba frowned at his companion, who had barked and wagged his tail in reply. Then, as his pet turned his snout up to look at him from his spot on the floor, he wiped the irritated look off his face and replaced it with a confident grin.

"She wants me," Kiba assured Akamaru.

The massive white dog only snorted in reply.

r&r is trés appreciated, s'il vous plaît.