Chap. 1

Everything about her made him weak at the knees. Her hair blew in the soft wind as she raced towards him to give him the great news about their new mission. This mission would be the first one Naruto and her would have to go on, without Sasuke

"Hey, Naruto!" she raised her hand and waved to catch his attention, not noticing his attention was already fixed on her as she made her way to him. She stopped and smiled at him. "Naruto you'll never guess what mission Tsunada-sama wants us to go on. We are going to go to the village hidden in the cloud to protect a merchants daughter."

"A merchants daughter? But Sakura, that doesn't sound 'great'."

"But wait, I'm not done. The girl has been known to give her protectors a hard time, plus it's a B rank mission."

"She sounds like a pain in the ass." Naruto still could not find was so 'great' about the mission. A hard hit attracted him from above, and caused him to land on the ground. He placed his hands over the bump that had already formed on his head.

"Naruto. This is our first mission in a long time." Sakura's fist was red and pounding from the impact. She put her fist down and water built in her eyes. "Plus, it will get our minds off of..." She closed her eyes to keep the tears from leaving her eyes.

"Don't cry Sakura," Naruto stood in front of her, and pulled out a handkerchief, and handed it to her. "I hate to see you cry." He gave her a smile, and she slowly took the handkerchief.

"Thanks, Naruto," she smiled back. She like the nice Naruto. Now, since Sasuke turned his back on them all Naruto ever did was train. He even stopped eating Ramen...alright not completely, but he cut down on it. He was all muscle now, and she couldn't help being attracted to him when he was serious.

"So, if we accept this mission, who will join our team?"

That question never crossed Sakura's mind, but she was sure Tsunade-sama would know who. "To tell you the truth, I don't know," a cartoonist sweat drop appeared on Naruto's forehead. "We should go see Tsunade-sama, and ask her. Come on." She grabbed his hand, and ran through the streets of Kanoha with Naruto behind. Naruto blushed. Never had Sakura ever held his hand. He had a feeling it was nothing to look into, but he still loved it. He noticed she was smaller then she was four weeks ago, when he left for his intense training.

Naruto and Sakura sat on the couch in front of an empty Hokage desk. "Wouldn't you know it, she's not here. She's not much of a hokage." Naruto braced himself, but nothing came.

"Naruto, don't talk that way about Tsunade-sama." Sakura turned to Naruto, looking as if she was going to burst with laughter. She gave him a smile.

The door opened, and in walked Tsunade. "What's so funny Sakura? Is Naruto being stupid, again?" A smile crossed Sakura's face. Tsunade was shocked. Sakura had been in and out of her office everyday for the past four weeks, and the session would always end in tears.

Tsunade never actually listened to her talk, and she would always feel bad when Sakura would leave in tears and she wouldn't know why. It wasn't her fault she didn't list, she had other things to do...hokage things.

"What can I do for you two today?" She asked sitting down in her big chair.

"Tsunade-sama we came here to ask a question concerning our mission."

"Spit it out already Sakura. What is it exactly you want me to do?" Tsunade was busy at the moment.

"Who is our third member for this mission you want us to go on?" Naruto just blurted it out, and Sakura couldn't help, but feel as if Naruto had just offended Tsunade

"Third member?" Tsunade looked at her two favorite children sitting in front of her.

'I can't believe she honestly thinks me and Naruto could handle a B rank mission on our own.' Sakura was feeling left down by her teacher. First, she had not paid attention to any of their conversation for the past 28 days, but she didn't care she didn't have anyone else to talk to since Ino left for her mission with Ten-Ten, and Choji.

"Granny, don't tell me you think we can do a mission without Saskue." Naruto stopped, and turned his gaze to Sakura, to see how she would react. Ever since Saskue left neither one ever said 'his' name.

"Of course, I know you can do the mission without Saskue," Tsunade stood up out of her seat, and walked to the front of her desk. "But I didn't forget to get you a third member. He'll meet you at the gates tomorrow. So, go home, pack, and get some rest. Leave everything to me. Now, get out of her, you both leave tomorrow." Tsunade rushed them out the door.

"So, I guess I'll talk to you ." Sakura gave Naruto a don't leave me look.

"I guess." Naruto didn't want to care. He never wanted to trust anyone, because he didn't want to be stabbed in the face.

"Good-night Naruto." Sakura walked up to Naruto, and kissed his cheek, and ran off into a crowd of people. Naruto was shocked, and touched the cheek Sakura had just kissed.

'Sakura must be really desperate.'

'Or lonely.' the voice was all too familiar. It was the only voice Naruto would listen to for the past 28 days.

'Shut up.' Naruto began to head home, but found himself taking a detour to his training spot. He began to practice the moves he was so sure he had mastered in 4 weeks. The sweat dropped past his head protector. He sighed, as he turned to the sun set, and watched the sun disappear behind the hills. He decided to head home to take a shower. Thefull moon was the only light, and unfortunately his only company.

'What a shame that all you can do is fight. It doesn't matter how many times you will save this village, they will never trust you. Not as long as I'm around.' The kyuubi had repeated his same stupid saying he had said for the past month. The saying that kept Naruto training for 28 days straight without stopping, not even for Ramen.

'You know I was enjoying this walk until you began to talk.'

He made it to his house. A small figure sat on the porch, crying.

As he got closer he realized it was Sakura. "Sakura, what's wrong?" Sakura lifted her head, and handed him a note.

The Hyuuga clan was killed today, after a robber had robbed their house. The clan was held captive, until the house was cleaned out. After the robbery, the robbers separated the adults from the children. The adults were killed, while the children were left tied up in a empty room. The survivors included; Neji, Hinata...

The words no longer made since to Naruto. 'Poor Hinata. She had to be feeling so alone in the world, with no family.'

'Well, she always has you.' The Kyuubi's laughed echoed in Naruto's head. Naruto's mind raced to the last time he had last seen Hinata, and that was not exactly a pleasant experience.

"Hinata." Naruto said it so softly, not even Sakura heard him. "What's wrong with you?" Naruto didn't want to sound mean, but this was about Hinata not her.

"Everyone is leaving. Naruto, I can't lose anyone else." Sakura stood up, and ran into Naruto's arms.

"Sakura," Naruto placed his arms on her shoulder, and softly pushed her away. "Would you like to stay with me?" Sakura shook her head up and down. "In the morning we'll get your things, and leave all of this."

"Thank you, Naruto. Thank you." She leaned in and kissed Naruto's cheek, again. Sakura turned around to walk inside, but Naruto grabbed her arm and turned her around. Their gazes meet, and they leaned in, till his lips locked with hers. He had dreamed of this moment ever since he had first seen her, but, for some reason, he was certain that he had dreamt it would have been better.

Little did either one of them know, a dark shadow watched as the two of them found comfort in the others lips.

The Next Day

Sakura and Naruto stared at each other as they patiently waited for their third team mate. 'Well kit, you got what you wanted she's in love with you. She even slept in the same room as you. You don't get any luckier then that.' Naruto wanted so, bad to tell him to shut-up, but he was right. Sakura was now his girlfriend, and now they would spend a few months together, on a vacation to baby-sit some brat.

"Boss!" Naruto looked for the voice. Only one person called him 'boss', but were was he. He spotted him in a small crowd. He was running towards him, and Sakura. "Boss, Tsunade-sama told me I could come with you on your mission."

"WHAT?!" UR THE THIRD MEMBER OF OUR TEAM?!"