Aki here! So, this is the fourth installment of my continuing thingy. The first installment was Blood of Orochimaru, second installment was Konoha Days, and the third was Hibiscus. I highly recommend you read those before you read this.
"I'm gonna be late!" Sakura yelled jumping out of bed after slamming her alarm clock. She had set the alarm clock to go off at five; it went off at seven, two hours later. She rushed over to her bag and began shoving things in it; a brush, a comb, some pants, shirts, undergarments and finally her Kimono. Throwing off her pajamas she donned a simple pink dress, threw a red belt around it, patted her hair and added her forehead protector. She ran from her room bag around her arms. "Mom! Buy me a new alarm clock! Bye, love you!"
Sakura burst from her house and began running towards Tsunade's office, she had to meet there in ten minutes to leave with Naruto, Guy, Lee and Shikamaru. Shikamaru didn't want to go, but was being forced into it by his duty to report to Gaara with news of the Chunin exams and Temari hassling him.
Her feet hit the dirt hard and she jumped up the side of the building and landed softly on the top and walked inside. Knocking on Tsunade's door she heard a come in and opened the door to find Tsunade reading through a scroll. "Good morning Tsunade-sama."
"Hello Sakura. Have a seat," she said calmly setting the scroll down. "Excited for the festival?" She asked smiling.
"Uh, hai. You seem very happy today, Tsunade-sama." Sakura said nervously, the last time she saw her master smile like that, she was pelted with baseballs. Tsunade just smiled more.
The alarm clock went off in Naruto's room at 7:07. He looked at it for a second and shut it off. He waded over to the bathroom throwing his shirt off and closed the door. A minute later he emerged stretching his neck. "It's way too early…"
There was a knock at his door, he went over and opened it, and there was Shikamaru, arms folded with a bag on his back. "You're not ready, as I suspected."
"So," Naruto yawned and threw a shirt on and grabbed his jacket. He picked up his bag and threw it on over his shoulders. "I'll just be slee….py." He yawned again.
"Baka…. Alright then, let's go." Shikamaru said and Naruto slipped on his shoes and followed Shikamaru as he vaulted over to the next building. They bobbed along for a bit, each time Naruto woke up more, and finally was screaming.
"Alright, off to Sunagakure!" He landed on the building top and ran down bursting into Tsunade's office. "Yosh, let's go!"
"Naruto! Calm down." Tsunade said getting angry at him. Shikamaru walked in and she stopped. "Naruto, Sakura, go in the hall for a moment." She said and opened a draw pulling out a file. They headed out and Sakura closed the doors behind them.
"Always about the Chunin exams." Naruto complained and leaned against the wall facing the doors. "It's not like she has to give him special instructions. 'Hand this to Gaara.' It's that easy."
"He does a lot more then that Naruto, he's also the liaison between the two countries, he's in charge of more then the Chunin exams… Which you have yet to pass." He hung his head as she was happy in proving a point.
"Shikamaru, you five aren't the only ones going from Konoha. There's a sixth going in disguise, if needed, they will contact you and enlist your help. We've received a threat on the festival from a group calling themselves 'Kage'." Tsunade said handing him a folder. He took it, "if needed you will have to grab Guy and Lee and protect the festival along with a specialized group from Sunagakure in crowd control."
"What about Naruto and Sakura?" Shikamaru said shoving the folder in his backpack. "Are they going to fight too?"
"No, I believe the group may be after Sakura." She said quietly.
Shikamaru was taken a back. "Why Sakura? Shouldn't they be after Naruto?"
"There are some things about Kage you may not understand, but they collect the bodies of medical ninja. It's a disturbing practice what they do to them. Which is why you're going to send Naruto in alone next. But one more thing, a request from Kakashi and Yamato…"
Shikamaru heard the words and smiled. "Well, if that doesn't beat all. Wasn't expecting that. Alright, well, I'll send him in." Shikamaru shoved his hand in his pocket and opened the door. "Naruto, you're next."
"What?" Naruto said as he walked in the room past Shikamaru. Shikamaru closed the door and Naruto stood nervously. "If this is about the yelling Jiraiya always said that…"
"Naruto, Sakura may be in danger." She said quickly. Naruto stopped and starred. "There's a group going around collecting medical ninja's, therefore, if you are not with Sakura, she is to be with Temari. She is never to be left alone, got it?" Tsunade roared in a low voice.
"I got it, I got it." Naruto said nodding quickly. "So, anything else?"
"One more personal thing…" Tsunade said standing up, she walked over and stood next to him. "If you touch my Sakura I'll kill you." She said and smiled. Tsunade walked over to the door and opened it. Naruto didn't move a muscle, but started to sweat. "Alright, everyone in! Guy get off my ceiling!" She yelled and Naruto heard a thud, but still remained motionless.
As they filed in, no one really noticed. 'Granny's…. still scary….' He thought as he felt himself being knocked on the floor. "What the Hell?"
Shikamaru snickered, "you've been out of it for the past five minutes. Come on, it's time to go." Shikamaru began walking out the door; Sakura looked at him awkwardly as Lee offered a hand to help him up.
"Thanks, Lee." He said and took the hand and got up. He looked over at Tsunade; she slowly drew a line across her neck with her finger, her smile clearly evil. "Let's go!" Naruto yelled and ran from the building, knocking Shikamaru over on the way out.
Guy was making a barbeque out of stick and kunai, "See, just because we're camping doesn't mean we can't eat properly! Now Lee! What's the first rule in cooking!" Guy yelled standing up next to the fire. Lee jumped up beside him. In synchronized movement, they pulled out white aprons with 'kiss the cook' on them.
"We put on our aprons, making us clean and irresistible, right Sakura-chan?" Lee asked bending over the fire.
Sakura rolled her eyes, "your apron's on fire." She said blandly and pulled out a box of snack bars. "You guys didn't bring any food, did you?"
"Uh…" Guy dropped his pose, "no… I forgot." He suddenly perked up, "we can have whatever we find in the wild!" Guy and Lee began prancing about.
"I brought snack bars and some dried rations." Sakura said.
"Three days worth of sandwiches." Shikamaru said pulling one out.
"I brought Ramen…" Naruto said pulling out five thermoses. "They are cold, but it's still Ramen!"
Guy and Lee stopped as they all began to eat what they brought; Guy and Lee began muttering and headed out into the forest complaining.
"All but four of the contestants have arrived, the guys from Konoha, Sempai." Matsuri said flipping through the papers. "Anything you want done, I'm sure they'll arrive on the starting day."
"No, everything's set." Gaara mumbled looking over the city. The wind blew hard, the banners that had been hung around the city were flapping in the breeze. "Let's hope we're not in for a sand storm. Get the meteorologists looking into the possibilities."
"Hai, Sempai." Matsuri said jumping away into the city.
Gaara watched her disappear and looked out over the horizon. The sand seemed to be unmoving, the only thing besides the buildings that were. "I'm waiting for our rematch, Lee…" He said and disappeared.
"So, how'd it go?" Yamato asked as he and Kakashi waded into the Hokage's office, papers everywhere on the floor. She was sitting in front of her desk, a book on her head and a pen in her mouth.
"Huh…" She muttered and took the pen out.
"Yamato wants to know what you did about Naruto and Sakura, although it should be left alone. Personal business is personal business." Kakashi said upset. "You both know how wrong it is to dabble in people's personal lives."
"Not in this case! That is my apprentice! I should thank Yamato for telling me, unlike some people." Tsunade growled over at Kakashi.
"I'm positive that the more you press them apart the more they'll come together. Think about it." Kakashi said pointing a finger up in the air. "Tsunade, when you tell Sakura to stop training and go home, what does she do?"
"She goes home and trains."
"Yamato, when you tell Naruto he can't attack someone because it's to dangerous, what does he do?"
"Uh, he usually beats the crap out of them." Yamato said trying to think.
Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "They do that in all aspects of their lives, if you push them one way, they'll push back or find a way around. There fore, you two just shoved them together."
"WHAT?!" Tsunade yelled jumping up, the book fell off her head, "so that's where I put that. Quickly, get me Navi!" Tsunade roared.
"I'm right here Sempai." Navi said leaning in the window, "so, what little love tangle are we getting ourselves wrapped in?" Navi smiled cheekily and Tsunade picked up the book.
"Keep Naruto and Sakura apart!"
"Why would I do that? I asked to be able to protect Naruto and his interests. So sorry," Navi said shrugging, "if she's an interest I support it."
"Just do it! They're in Sunagakure, make sure nothing funny happens!" Tsunade said and pitched the book at Navi, she caught it. "Got it?"
"One condition," Navi said stepping inside. She handed Tsunade the book. "If she makes any moves, I don't stop them, only his. Got it?"
"Navi…." Growled Tsunade.
Navi crossed her arms and made a sad face. "What, don't you have belief in Sakura-chan. Are you saying you don't trust her judgment? You wouldn't do that to an apprentice, eh, Tsu-nad-e-sem-pai." She said slowly.
"Fine!" Tsunade roared. "All of you just get out!" They all disappeared leaving her upset in the middle of the piles of papers. "Uh… they grow up too fast."
It was a starry sky through the trees. Sakura stood up at the top of the trees and looked out over the vast expanse of blazing lights. She heard a noise behind her to see Shikamaru had joined her. "It's a lot bigger from her then from Konoha, huh?"
"The sky's always the same sky." He said stiffly. He put his hand behind his neck and craned his head back. "It does look a lot better though. Chouji would love to see this."
"A lot of people would."
"While everyone else is passed out, Tsunade gave me two extra assignments; I feel I should warn you about both. One is that there is a threat to all medical ninjas attending the festival, Tsunade's sent a special ninja to watch out over you while you're there. She's told Naruto to always stay by your side, so that's one side of it.
"The other assignment is a little different."
"Different?" Sakura asked still star gazing.
"Apparently, some one knows about you and Naruto getting closer and told Tsunade." Shikamaru said quietly. "I thought only me, Temari and Kiba knew, but apparently it's bigger then that. She's asked me to check in on you guys every now and then, to keep you apart but close enough so Naruto can protect you if needed."
Sakura dropped her gaze and clasped her hands together. "So, what are you going to do?"
"Nothing," he said and smiled over at her, "It's not my place."
"Thank you, Shika." He nodded.
"So, does Naruto know you like him back?" Sakura shook her head. "That's going to be a pleasant surprise for him, he really likes you. Well, I'm off to bed, don't let anyone know I told you." Shikamaru dropped from the tree.
Sakura returned her eyes to the stars taking them in with a giant, warm smile. "Funny…" Sakura hopped down from the trees carefully and landed next to Naruto, she turned quickly to Shikamaru who turned over facing away from them.
She grabbed her pillow and sleeping bag and moved it over next to Naruto's. She step them down and crawled into her sleeping bag, looking at Naruto. He was sleeping quietly, his mouth open a little of drool. Sakura laughed in her head and fell asleep staring at him.
Gently on the trees above, a figure landed, the white ANBU mask starring down at them, she spotted Sakura and observed for a second before jumping away into the darkness.