Another hot summer day was upon Konohagakure. Everything was green and peaceful, except at the village's gates that is.
"What do you mean I can't leave the village?!" Sakura's face was turning a pretty shade of pink. Fighting with Naruto was taking a toll on her temper stick.
"I mean that this mission, the one that you begged the old lady for, is going to get you killed. It's too dangerous for any one person. I don't want you to leave the village unless you have someone to go with you." For once Naruto was actually calm. Instead of throwing a hissy fit, he was trying to be reasonable.
"Hm, let's see, you can't go anywhere because the Akatsuki is all over the place looking for you, Kakashi-sensei can't go because he managed to break his leg on his last mission. No way in hell am I going with Sai and Sasuke isn't exactly here." Sakura's crush on Sasuke had warn out when she realized that he didn't want to come back and yet, she still treated Naruto more like a brother than anything. "So, who do you propose I take?" Naruto thought for a moment. It was true that everyone that would or could help Sakura was unavailable. The Rookie Nine were all out on missions and/or not really around.
"Please Sakura…" Naruto's eyes were forming tears. I hope this works. "Please don't go. I don't want to lose another precious person." He tilted his head down and looked up at Sakura from underneath his eye lashes which made her breathe catch. She walked forwards and put her arms around his waist.
"I have to. If I don't do this, then who will?" Sakura let him go and walked out of the Konoha gates.
Sakura rushed through the trees. Did he have to cry? Her heart throbbed for a certain blonde shinobi. Now I feel bad. A sudden flash of black and red made her come to a halt. Why is Akatsuki around this area? There would be no cause for Naruto to come this way and they know it. Just how curiosity killed the cat, curiosity was killing Sakura. She shrugged to herself. Can't hurt to take a look, make sure it's not a couple of kids playing a nasty trick. She started up again and jumped from tree to tree, and eventually coming to a small clearing. She double checked that her chakra patterns were hidden and moved in the line of trees around the clearing, trying to see if anyone was in or around it.
"Good morning, Sakura." She jumped and whirled around, not expecting a pair of Sharingan to be looking her straight in the eye. Her last thought before going down: Please leave Naruto alone. Just kill me instead so I don't have to look at the his face. Oh-so peaceful. I couldn't bare it.
Author's Note: I know that it's short but I liked how it lined up perfectly to skip to another chapter. Please review, I am very proud of this peice.
