There once was a boy named Uzumaki Naruto. He was the King's son. His mother had died when he was a baby. He had blond hair that looked gold and blue eyes that could rival the sky. He was the exact replica of his father except for the 3 whisker marks on each cheek. They were birthmarks that gave him a look that made him look like a fox. Maybe that's why the animals loved him so much, or maybe because he was gentle with everything and everyone. Either way, everyone and everything loved him a lot. Well everyone except his step-mother, Sakura.

Sakura was very vain; she had bubble-gum pink hair and emerald-green eyes. She was very rude and full of herself. All day she would either be in front of her magic mirror asking it, who was the fairest of them all or she was yelling at Naruto because he had not swept. You see, she had seen that he was better-looking than her and she decided that she would make him a slave and dress him up to make him look ugly. But Naruto had somehow made it work out that he looked even cuter than before. Sakura was very angry and would always make him do everything, but despite that, he remained gentle, kind, and beautiful.

One day while he was having a little break from cleaning he was sitting beside a well with his bird friends. He looked down the well and sighed, "I wish that I could find love and become happier." He sighed again and sat there.

On the opposite end of the yard there was a prince walking by with his horse. He saw the blond and was instantly hooked. He was very attractive (the prince with the horse), he had red hair that was so red that it looked like blood, teal-green eyes and very pale skin. Oh and do I need to mention his drop dead gorgeous body and a red symbol tattooed on his forehead. He was as built and almost as lean as the blond. His name was Sabaku Gaara.

He walked up to the blond in time to hear his wish and in return he smirked and said, "How about today?"

Naruto froze and then turned around slowly to see this gorgeous creature of God and jumped up and ran, leaving a stunned Gaara in his wake.

The queen had been watching all of this. She glared at the blond and decided on how she was going to get rid of the blond because his father was gone now. (Naruto's father had died when he was 13 and he is now 17).

'Hmmmm…' Sakura thought as she looked Naruto, who was still running in the direction of his room, over again. But just before she called to him he disappeared into his room. "Ah, whatever, I put my plan into action later." Sakura said under her breath, 'First I have to ask my mirror who the fairest is.'

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?" Sakura asked.

"Your beauty is known, my fair queen, but it isn't your beauty that I see," the mirror answered.

"Who is more beautiful than me? Who is it?" The queen yelled enraged.

"His hair shines gold like the sun and eyes as blue as the sky, a golden tan set on his skin and 3 whisker marks on each cheek."

"No, it can't be, Naruto?" The queen gasped. 'I never thought that my mirror would see him as a beauty!!'

And then an evil plan hatched in her head. She quickly summoned her hunter, Shino. He had dark brown hair and tinted glasses so dark you couldn't see his eye colour. The bottom half of his face was covered by the collar of his shirt which was raised high.

Shino bowed, "You summoned me, majesty?"

"Yes, I would like you to take Naruto out into the woods to play with the animals, and when you are deep enough, I would like you to stab him to death with this knife," Sakura pulled out the knife and handed it to a very surprised Shino.

"I cannot do this, Majesty, he is our Prince," Shino protested.

"If you want to feed your family, I suggest you do it, and as proof of your deed I would like you to carve out his heart and stick it in this box." The evil queen said, smirking evilly.

Shino reluctantly agreed and went outside in search of the prince. He found Naruto playing with his friend, Kitsune the fox.

"Naruto, the queen said that you wanted to go for a walk in the woods, she told me to accompany you," 'And kill you,' Shino sighed, "Would you still like to go?"

"Yes!! I would love to go, and Kitsune looks like she would like to come as well." Naruto said his eyes big and shining with excitement.

"Alright let's go." Shino said while thinking, 'He's so naïve, he looks so innocent like he doesn't know that the queen hates him and wants to kill him.'

So they walked and walked, deeper and deeper into the woods. When they got to a clearing the huntsmen stopped and turned towards Naruto, knife raised. "I'm sorry my prince." And he plunged the knife downward.

He stopped the knife before it went into the blond prince and started to shake. "I am so sorry, I can't kill you. Even if the queen said I must, I can't. Even if she demands your heart I can't. She can threaten me all she wants, I will not kill you."

"Shino, if you have to kill me to feed your family, then do it. I don't want you to suffer because of it, wait. My step-mother wants me dead?"

Shino who was still in awe of Naruto's kindness answered without hesitation, "She is jealous of your beauty. And your kind heart, wait. I have an idea, I will go to the slaughter house and get a pigs heart and she will believe that it is yours, Naruto, you have to run. Run as far away as you can. Don't turn back, run!"

"My beauty? Oh, ok! Goodbye Shino." Naruto yelled as he ran off into the woods.

Naruto ran and ran, he ran until he felt the burn in his calves and lungs and then he ran longer until he was hopelessly lost and frightened. He collapsed on the ground when he saw glowing yellow eyes peering out at him feeling frightened.

The glowing yellow eyes turned out to be an owl who was trying to help him. The owl summoned the deer, birds, squirrels and rabbits to help the poor boy because they could tell that he was very kind and gentle.

The rabbit was the first to nudge him, and when it did, he looked up and saw that there was nothing to be afraid of so he wiped away his tears (yes he was crying) and looked at all the animals that wanted to help him.

"Can you help me find a way to get out of here and a place to stay?" Naruto asked quietly as to not scare off the animals.

The deer nudged him with its nose and its eyes seemingly said, 'Come with me' and with that, they set off.

They walked for a few minutes before Naruto thought that maybe he was getting himself more lost, but he quickly dismissed that thought because he knew that the animals had no reason to trick him. They walked for a few more minutes when suddenly the deer in front of him stopped and turned, its big brown eyes looking at him and then turned to look off to the left. Naruto also looked to find a small clearing. And in that clearing there was a small cottage. It may have looked run down, but to the blond it looked like heaven.

"Thank-you, thank-you, THANK-YOU!!" The ecstatic blond yelled loudly causing the forest animals to jump and the nocturnal animals to wake with a start.

Naruto turned and ran to the cottage to find that there was laundry in the empty wash basin and on the roof were dirty clothes. When he entered the building he saw dirty dishes, socks, and other miscellaneous items on the floor, in the cupboards and on the counter/table tops. Dust was everywhere.

"Hmmm, not very clean is it? Good thing that I know how to cook and clean." Naruto said optimistically, "I wonder if anyone lives here. And if they do, will they let me stay? Oh well, even if they don't, I can still clean up house for them and maybe cook some stew, if anyone lives here."

And with that thought in mind the charismatic blond set to work. He had the whole house cleaned by the time the sun was setting.

'I'm awfully tired; I wonder if they will mind me using their beds? The stew will need a little more time so I guess it won't hurt.' Naruto thought yawning and stretching. As soon as he checked to make sure that everything was good and clean he made his way up the stairs and into the first room. (In this fic, all the dwarves excluding Hinata sleep in the same room. And there are two rooms upstairs.) Naruto saw that there was one bed. It had the name Hinata inscribed into it. It included a carving of a pretty, young girl with hair that was down to her waist and she looked rather shy. He couldn't tell colours because they were carved into wood. This made him curious as to what the others looked like. He had seen everyone's room and made their beds but he hadn't actually looked at the carvings.

So he went into the room across the hall to see the room filled with 6 beds. On the bed closest to the door was a picture of a… girl…? She had long hair that went down to her waist that was tied in a very low ponytail. Her name was Neji and she looked very serious.

The next bed over was of a boy with long hair that was tied high on his head that made him look like a pineapple head. The name inscribed was Shikamaru and he looked totally uninterested in anything.

On the next bed over was a picture of a very grumpy looking boy that had short hair. His name was Sasuke.

The next one had a portrait of a boy that had a bad haircut and bushy eyebrows. He looked incredibly energetic and happy. His name was Lee.

The next one had a carving of a very fat boy that had spirals on his cheeks and short hair that spiked up into 2 spikes, one on either side on the top of his head. He looked about ready to sneeze. His name was Chouji.

The last bed had the name Kiba designed into the wood and he looked incredibly stupid. He had short brown hair and 2 upside-down triangles on both of his cheeks. He also had a dog that was jumping to lick his face. And next to his bed was a little cardboard box that had the name Akamaru drawn on in what was just about illegible print in black marker.

As soon as he saw all of the beds, he decided on connecting 3 of them together and sleeping (I don't know why because they would all be too big for him anyways). It only took him about 5 minutes to do so and then he was asleep, little did he know, the dwarves were on their way home.

The dwarves led a simple life away from the villages. They mined diamonds and other precious gems for a wage and then went back to their little cottage that was nestled deep in the forest where no one but a lost soul went.

When they were just outside their home, Neji stopped and looked to see that all the lights were on.

"Did we leave those on, Hinata?" He asked his cousin.

"N-no, I-I don't thi-think so N-Neji-nii-s-san," She stuttered out.

"Come my youthful friends, let us see who has entered our house!" shouted a very loud Lee.

"I don't care who's in our house, I just want to sleep," replied a very lazy Shikamaru.

"I want whoever it is out of here!" exclaimed Sasuke folding his arms across his chest and frowning.

"W-W-WACHOOOO, *sniff*whoever they are, we have to find them, and lighten up Sasuke," Chouji then sneezed again.

Kiba just nodded eagerly and laughed when Akamaru decided to lick his face. (I bet you can guess who everyone is, can't you ;))

So the dwarves made their way into their cottage cautiously. They jumped at every noise and looked around. Now let's do a count down to chin drops… 1…… 2…… 3…..

Everyone's chin dropped and they all shouted, "EHHHHHHH?" into the otherwise silent house.

"N-Neji, did you do some cleaning while we weren't looking?" Lee asked still in awe of the beauty of the clean cottage.

"No, if I did, you would have seen it when we got up or before we went to work," Neji said slightly annoyed.

"L-let's ch-check upst-upstair-rs," Hinata started to head up the stairs followed closely by Neji and the rest of the dwarfs.

First they checked Hinata's room, they found the room spick and span, not that it wasn't anything less than neat before minus the dust bunnies and the ruffled covers, but now it was like it had always been like this. The bed was made, all of the dust bunnies and cobwebs gone, the curtains were washed, and if she had checked her drawers in her dresser she would have found clothes her size all washed and mended.

They then moved onto the boys' room. It too, was spick and span. Before the room had been left in an atrocious mess. Everything was either on the floor or hanging from the rafters above. But now what they saw was a room filled with 6 beds, excluding the box, and the dresser drawers all in their rightful place. The beds were made, except for 3, on those three there was a large lump. They were all about to see what it was when the lump moved.

"Some one should poke it to see if it is alive," Sasuke said looking around to see if anyone was brave or stupid enough to do it.

Kiba was stupid enough; he had his hand waving madly in the air.

"All right, Kiba, do it. Poke the lump," Sasuke dared smirking.

And Kiba did so, tripping in the process falling flat on top of the lump.

The lump grunted and slowly pulled the covers back from his face to see a brown haired, brown eyed boy looking up at him.

"You must be Kiba. I am sorry that I startled you all, I was looking for a place to stay and I found this place, and well…" The blond tried to explain to them all.

"Who *yawn* are you?" Shikamaru asked, "And how do you…" Chouji sneezed, "know who Kiba is?"

"Well, by your beds. You are Shikamaru, I'm assuming, and you are Chouji, Sasuke, Hinata, Lee," Naruto was interrupted by a loud, "How right you are my friend," before finishing off with, "And you are Neji, oh and how can I forget, Akamaru." Naruto laughed when the dog leapt into his lap and started to pet the little white dog. Sasuke watched all of this and couldn't help but think, 'How cute.'

"You are very good, you remembered everyone. But that still leaves the question, who are you?" Sasuke asked grumpy once again because 1) the shock wore off and 2) Naruto's butt was on his bed.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto, it is a pleasure to meet you all," He said with an irresistible grin. In fact it was so irresistible that even Sasuke had to smile back a little.

"Well, what's your story? Wait, I think I've heard of a Naruto-kun before… ACHOO! … you're the… prince???!!!" Chouji gasped in shock.

"Yes, I am. My step-mother, Queen Sakura, wanted to get rid of me so she ordered Shino to take me out to the forest and kill me. He said something about her being jealous of something… I don't remember what though. *scratches his head* Oh yeah, he said that she was jealous of my beauty and my kindness, or something like that. I don't know why though. I just treat everyone the same. Hmmmm… whatever. I don't really need to know but I still need a place to stay. I can cook and clean and fix up the house. Please let me stay!" Naruto pleaded.

No body could say no to Naruto or his plea, not even Sasuke.

"Alright, you can stay. But please refrain from doing anything weird, we already have Kiba for that." Sasuke said, trying to keep a frown in place, but Naruto saw through it and hugged him. Everyone was shocked and scared of what he might do.

To everyone's surprise, Sasuke hugged the blond boy back.

"Sasuke's got a soft spot after all… and he's back," Lee added as he got the famous Uchiha Death Glare.

"Ummm… would you guys like some stew? I made some before I went to bed." Naruto said looking from face to face.

"S-stew? D-d-did we ha-have any o-of the in-ingredients f-f-for that?" Hinata stuttered and blushed.

"No you didn't but I went out into the woods to find herbs and vegetables. You guys have very good vegetation out here," Naruto smiled.

"FOOD!!" Chouji exclaimed before he broke into a fit of sneezes.

"Hinata, tomorrow can you go and find some things to make Chouji stop sneezing? It is really annoying." Neji asked.

"Of course, N-Neji-nii-san," Hinata blushed as Naruto looked over at her and all she could think about was how nice and hot he looked at the same time she also noticed that Sasuke was eye-fucking Naruto so she decided that she wouldn't do anything to gain all of Naruto's attention. Note that she said all. She still wants Naruto to notice her.

***

Once they finished their stew, Naruto did the dishes while Sasuke dried them and Hinata put them away. Neji was reading in the living room, Kiba was outside with Akamaru (yes at night) and Chouji, Lee, and Shikamaru were star-gazing. Well, trying to at least, it is kind of hard when you have 3 loud beings around you (Kiba, Lee, and Akamaru).

"So, how did you like the soup?" Naruto asked.

"I-it was g-g-good, than-thank y-you Naruto-sama," Hinata said.

Naruto waved his hand dismissively when he heard her add sama to his name, "No need to get all formal, Hina-chan. It is alright if I call you that, right?"

"Y-yeah, i-it's alr-alright." Hinata said. She was a little uneasy with the glare that she was receiving from a certain raven-haired male.

"Why are you glaring? You looked a lot better when you were smiling." Naruto said.

Sasuke turned pink and immediately stopped glaring. 'He noticed my smile?' was his only thought and, "Hn," was all he said.

Naruto just grinned and shook his head; he thought that the handsome boy with the onyx eyes was jealous of him because Hinata was staring at him. It hurt him slightly to know that, he didn't know why though.

***

Later that night everyone was getting ready to go to their beds except for Naruto. He didn't know where to go, so he just stood in the living room that had nothing but a wooden bench and a small coffee table.

"Neji, where am I to sleep?" Naruto asked tilting his head ever so slightly to the right.

"You'll have to share a bed with one of us. How about… ummm… guys who is willing to share a bed with Naruto-kun?" Neji asked, 'I know who will,' he thought.

And just like he thought, Sasuke said, "I'll share with the dobe."

"Dobe… I am no dobe… you teme!!" Naruto said loudly.

"Whatever, dobe. Come on." Sasuke said smirking.

"Teme," Naruto said under his breath before following Sasuke up to the boys' room and then he stopped suddenly, whirled around went over to everyone else and hugged each and every one of them. "Good night."

"Good-ni… HINATA!!" Neji yelled catching the fainted Hinata. Then he shivered, all of them except Naruto did. They all (except Naruto) turned slowly to see a glaring raven.

"Hina-chan, Hina-chan… what's wrong with her?! Neji do you know what happened?" Naruto asked panicked.

"Y-yeah, I think that you shocked her when you hugged her. It's alright, we can take care of her, you go to bed. Good-night Naruto, Sasuke."

"Good-night… but are you sure?" Naruto asked pure concern showing on his face.

"Yeah, and if you don't go now we'll all start on fire!" Lee said glancing nervously at Sasuke.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Naruto asked confusion evident on his face as well as in his blue eyes.

"N-never mind, just go to bed." Neji stuttered, feeling a bit like Hinata.

"Alright, holler if you need anything. G'night everyone!" Naruto said grinning widely.

As soon as the duo left Neji, Lee, Chouji, and Kiba all let out heavy sighs and Shikamaru just shrugged and said, "Why is he so protective over Naruto?"

They all looked at Shikamaru as if he were stupid except for Hinata who was still out cold.

"You can't be as dense as the blond now can you, Shika?" Neji asked, "Wait never mind, you are still oblivious to that co-worker of ours at the mine."

"What co-worker? Hey Neji… that is so unfair… awww whatever I don't care it is too much of a bother to do anything about it anyway," Shikamaru said before heading upstairs to go to bed.

***

Meanwhile in the bedroom…

"Sasuke, where am I sleeping again, not in the same bed as you surely," Naruto said uneasily.

"Unless you want to sleep next to Lee, I suggest that you get your ass to bed."

"You have a point," Naruto said as he moved toward the bed and then stopped.

"What's wrong now, dobe?" Sasuke asked slightly annoyed.

"Stop calling me that, teme, but I need a pair of pajamas. Or something else that I can sleep comfortably in." Naruto stated.

"One second, I think that Lee may be the same size as-" Sasuke started.

"I am not wearing any of that green spandex. I already know that that is his because he is the only one out of you bunch that wears green." Naruto added as Sasuke stared at him weirdly.

"Fine, you can try some of my clothes, here." Sasuke tossed a t-shirt that he knew was too big for Naruto and shorts that he knew were also a bit to big.

"Thanks, Sasuke-teme," Naruto said grinning widely before he went into the adjoining bathroom to change.

At just that moment Shikamaru came in through the door looked at Sasuke and then looked at the door that lead to the bathroom before he laid down on his bed and asked, "Do you like Naruto?"

Sasuke nodded and then audibly said, "Yes," because the lazy genius's gaze was on the ceiling.

"Do you like him more than you think you should?" Shikamaru asked.

"Shika, that is absurd. Why would I… alright I do," He said defeated when he saw the look on Shikamaru's face.

"Oh, now I know why you were glaring at us when he hugged us," Shikamaru laughed lightly before closing his eyes and falling asleep before he could even take off his shoes.

"You are so oblivious," Sasuke said as Naruto came out of the bathroom.

"Who is oblivious?" Naruto asked tilting his head a little in curiosity.

"He is, he doesn't realize that there is a co-worker that likes him and he also di-…" Sasuke said and then realized what he was about to say before he shut his mouth, 'Why can't I guard my tongue around him, he's too damn easy to like and talk too.'

"Oh, alright, g'night Sasuke," Naruto said hugging him. And with that they both went to bed, Naruto curling up into Sasuke's chest and Sasuke hugging him in return. And they fell asleep like that after only a few minutes.

When everyone came into the room the last thing they expected to see was Sasuke hugging Naruto, but when they did see that all they could think was 'How cute,' and with that, everyone went to bed.

***

'Why is my arm numb? And why does it feel like both of them are being tugged?' Sasuke thought while opening his eyes, the last thing he expected to see was what he saw. 2 sky blue orbs looking at him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, but you weren't letting me go and, well, I need to go and cook breakfast, Neji and Hinata are hungry," The blond boy explained.

"Fine, sorry to keep you," Sasuke grumbled before he sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"Alright, see you downstairs," said a bundle full of energy before it bounced downstairs in the shape of a blond fuzz ball.

'I wonder how he gets all that energy, I wish I had half as much,' Sasuke thought before he went to change and go downstairs.

Neji was sitting on the bench again with Hinata and Kiba, who had just returned from a morning walk with Akamaru.

"Neji, Hina-chan, Kiba, do you guys want pancakes for breakfast?" Naruto asked giving them all huge smiles.

"Th-that w-will be f-f-fine, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata stuttered blushing.

"You know, you should really get some help with that stutter, I could help if you want," Naruto said trying to help. This only caused Hinata to blush even more.

"You look like a tomato," Sasuke said coming down the stairs.

"Sasuke, that was really mean, apologize right now!" Naruto said angrily.

And to everyone's surprise, Sasuke did just that, "Sorry."

Everyone just stared except for Naruto who thought that it was perfectly natural that he would apologize.

After a few minutes Naruto yelled, "Breakfast is on the table," and everyone was seated almost instantly, except for Shikamaru who was still asleep.

"Shika, you're going to be late if you sleep in too much longer!" Naruto said loud enough that Shikamaru would stir from his perch on the steps.

"Y… yeah, yeah… burgers," Shikamaru, who was still not fully aware, said groggily.

"Burgers? What the heck?" Chouji inquired from his seat in a chair.

"Huh? Oh hi guys, sorry, still a little sleepy I guess." Shikamaru said laughing a little, "And hungry," he added as his stomach growled.

"Good, I made a lot of pancakes," Naruto stated happily.

Earlier at the castle…

"Shino, did you do as I asked? Where is the heart?" the evil queen asked when she saw that Shino had returned.

"Yes, here you go majesty. Now may I be excused to go home and wallow in guilt over the prince's death?" Shino asked, faking a small sob.

"Yes, tell Tenten I said hi, and to get the weapons ready before nightfall tomorrow," Sakura smiled sweetly, as if nothing had ever happened to the prince and she had never ordered it, "Oh, and one more thing, you are never to tell anyone about this. If you do, you will "accidentally" die of food-poisoning and your family will not have enough to eat this winter."

"Majesty," Shino bowed before he took his leave.

As soon as she was alone, Sakura opened the box and saw the pink heart. She cackled evilly, and went over to the mirror and said, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"

"You are quite a beauty I must admit but it is someone else's beauty I see," The mirror said, "He lives deep in the woods in a cottage, with 7 others, his hair shines gold like the sun, he is tanned and has eyes that could rival the sky, that is who I see."

"Naruto's alive?! Shino lied to me! I will have to do something about that, but first, I will have to do something about that brat in the woods," Sakura said scheming, and then she suddenly got a plan. Sakura smirked and thought, 'Naruto's a little blind at peoples evil intentions, so I will just play the part of the sweet old lady,' and with that in mind the evil queen set off to find all of the supplies she needed.

Back at the cottage…

"Now remember Naruto, don't let anyone in, it could be the queen in disguise," Sasuke said.

Everyone was past the surprise of Sasuke looking out for the blond so they said and did nothing.

"I know I won't. G'bye everyone, have a good day at the mine, and Kiba, don't get all scraped up this time," Naruto warned Kiba, Naruto had been at the cottage for about a week and yesterday Kiba had had a bit of a cave in at the mine, he came back with lots of scrapes and bruises.

Kiba just laughed and left, waving good-bye. He was soon followed by the rest of them. Akamaru didn't go today because he felt the need to stay by the prince, and he was ordered to by Sasuke.

"Well, Akamaru, what should we do first? Bake a pie, or go for a run?" Naruto laughed when Akamaru jumped in his excitement to go for a run, "A run it is then," and with that the dog and the prince went outside, only then did Akamaru pick up a scent that he couldn't recognize; the scent of the queen.

"Whoa, Akamaru, what are you doing? Don't you want to go for a walk?" Naruto asked while being pushed by the overgrown dog, "Alright, alright, I'm going. No need to push me."

Once they were inside Naruto heard a knock on the recently closed door. When he turned to look, he saw an ugly old peddler woman. She smelled of fish and oil.

"May I help you miss?" Naruto asked politely.

"Yes, I would like to know if you would like to buy one of these apples," The old woman, who was queen Sakura in disguise, said in her rough voice, producing a baskets full of the reddest and most mouth-watering apples that Naruto had ever seen.

Akamaru barked very loudly, "Shush, Akamaru, it is not very friendly to bark at people," Naruto scolded and then smiled sweetly at the old woman, "I am very sorry, I haven't any money with me," Naruto apologized.

"That is alright, I don't need any money for one, if you'd like to try it, then next time I come, and if you have money, I could give them to you for a fee," the queen reasoned.

"I guess I could… but I might not have money for a long time, I suppose I could ask Sasuke, Neji or Hina-chan, when they get back… hmmm," Naruto said to himself.

"Here, try this one. It is the ripest in the basket," the peddler said pulling out the reddest apple that she had, this one also happened to be the poisoned one.

Naruto took the apple and took a bite out of the soft fruit. And before he could even cry out, he was on the floor. The witch cackled and then heard voices, looked around and saw that the dog was nowhere to be found.

'That damned dog, he probably went to warn the others,' Sakura thought before she limped away from the cottage as fast as she could. Her idea of fast wasn't fast enough though, before she could even go 10 steps Sasuke and Neji were already around the bend and could see the cottage, and the witch right beside it. The raven-haired male took one look at her and looked at the still body of Naruto that was half in and half out of the door before he broke into a run trying to capture the evil woman.

Sakura was already running away. They chased her down until they came to a cliff and a huge boulder.

"Why, why did you have to end his life? He was so you-thful!" Lee's voice cracked.

"Well, that is quite simple, my good subjects, he had to, he is simply to rude," Sakura lied as she calculated the distance from the cliff's edge to the bottom of the ravine. 'That should leave enough time to change from a peddler to a crow,' she thought as she went near the edge and jumped. Little did she know, her calculations were a little off and she plummeted to the bottom of the ravine to her death.

"She's gone," Shikamaru sighed.

"B-but she s-still g-got Na-Naruto-k-kun," Hinata sobbed seeking refuge within her cousin's embrace.

Neji, who was now hugging Hinata, cried softly to himself though he would deny it later.

Then a really loud howl of grief, everyone looked around to find that there was no Sasuke among them. Then they all took off in the direction of their cottage to find Sasuke weeping over the body of Naruto.

Then Lee got an idea, "I read a story once that we relate to. It was a story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. And at the end it was sort of like this, we have to build him a coffin of glass and gold and then wait for his true love. The prince. Or princess, I guess, Snow White's a female."

"That's actually a pretty good idea, but who is his true love?" Neji asked.

"Maybe I could help," said a deep voice from behind them. And when they all turned around they were faced with a red-haired male who was none other than Sabaku Gaara.

"Yes, please try! This could help him!" Lee practically shouted, "That would be lovely my youthful friend!"

So with that Gaara leaned down and kissed Naruto who was laying limp in Sasuke's grasp. The whole group waited, and waited, and waited, they waited for several minutes with still no change.

"This is strange, I thought the prince was supposed to save the day, hmmm, maybe someone else has stolen Naruto's heart," Shikamaru pondered out loud.

"Hinata, why don't you try?" Chouji asked.

And it went on like this until everyone but Sasuke had tried.

"Well, I guess it's my turn, huh? Here goes nothing," Sasuke said just before he sealed his kiss with the unmoving blond. They waited holding their breath, even Gaara who hadn't really gotten a chance to know the blond all that well. After a few seconds ticked by, Sasuke sighed, "He isn't going to open his eyes," He stated simply looking up at everyone who in turn had their eyes wide open with grins on their faces.

"Who's not gunna open his eyes," asked a groggy Naruto while rubbing his eyes. The Uchiha who was holding him snapped his head back down and broke out into a humongous grin and all but squished the air out of his blond friend.

'Wait, isn't it that whoever kisses him and he opens his eyes, they are his true love?' Sasuke thought and then smiled, "I'm glad you're okay, dobe."

"I thought I told you to sto-…" Naruto started before he was cut off by another kiss from a certain raven-haired boy.

And, well, I guess I don't have to tell you that they lived happily ever after, oh wait, I just did. Oh, whatever that's the whole magic of it.

The End