I'm sorry that this one took me a while to update on!

So enjoy and remember that the little things called "reviews" are good for my health.

Let me be the one who never leaves you all alone

I hold my breath and lose the feeling that I'm on my own

Hold me too tight

Stay by my side

And let me be the one

Who calls you baby all the time

-Smother me, The Used

--

"Hey, Sakura-chan, are you tired?"

"N-no, let's keep moving. We should get there in a few more minutes."

Naruto nodded but suddenly stopped causing Sakura to bump into his back. "Why did you-"

"They came back." He answered. Sure enough a few treetops rustled slightly when there was no wind to move them.

Sakura winced and fell to her knees. It was strong poison and she hadn't brought along a strong enough antidote. Her injury wasn't fatal but it wasn't just a flesh wound either. Naruto saw her fall and helped her back up.

The nins had gotten ambushed, like Yamato had predicted. There weren't many opponents at first but as they kept moving closer and closer to the their destination, Naruto and Sakura realized they were up against an army. With deadly poison in their arsenal. One of them had struck the kunoichi in the leg with a kunai dripping in poison. They had retreated after that, leaving the nins to deal with their injuries. Naruto had scratches and bruises, nothing serious. But Sakura's injuries where different. Her breathing was heavy and her heart was beating too fast to be normal. Since then, they had been stopping on and off so that Sakura could catch her breath. It had been quiet since their last encounter.

Until now.

"Come on, Sakura-chan." Naruto tried to reassure his friend. "Maybe we should go back and let Granny Tsunade heal you."

"We're almost there...and I'm fine." She barely managed the words out.

Naruto didn't know if he should listen or if he should drag her back whether she wanted to or not. Well, he was never one to listen in the first place so the second option didn't sound so bad. Sighing, Naruto picked her up (A/n: you know, the way someone throws someone else over their shoulder, don't really know how to describe that...) and began the long way back home.

"Naruto! What are you doing?!" This move caught Sakura off guard. Not to mention in an awkward position too.

"Going home." Naruto responded. He was looking around, trying to spot any movements in the trees. They couldn't risk another ambush.

"I said I was fine." Sakura said stubbornly. "I can walk, put me down." She didn't really mind being able to be this close to Naruto but she had to pretend she hated it. She couldn't give herself away.

Naruto smiled a little and didn't say anything.

"Naruto, are you ignoring me?"

His smile turned into a grin. "Sorry, what was that, Sakura-chan? This wind is really loud, it's hard to hear you over it."

"There's no wind!"

"Relax, I'll carry you all the way back to the village."

"I said I can walk, Naruto."

"Maybe I enjoy carrying you."

She was suddenly thankful Naruto couldn't see her face. "Maybe I don't like it."

"That's too bad."

"There's no changing your mind, is there?"

"One track mind, remember? You said it yourself."

Sighing, Sakura decided it was no use to try and convince them that they should finish the mission. Or that the blonde nin should put her down. No, he wasn't the type to think about anything other than two things: Becoming Hokage and ramen.

She didn't know it, but there was one more thing Naruto thought about too. One more person on his mind.

And that was who he was thinking about as he tried to pretend he wasn't tired. After all those people who attacked them, it wasn't easy to be standing. Let alone walking or carrying someone. But that's what he had to do and he would.

Something broke his thoughts suddenly.

Naruto stopped walking and listened. He had heard a distinct noise, the noise of someone's footsteps. He shook his head. It was probably his own footsteps he had heard. Since there was no one around, noises would seem louder. It only made him more paranoid to think that he was hearing things. Either way, Naruto knew he needed to find help for Sakura soon.

He continued walking while the kunoichi wondered why he had stopped.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about what flavor ramen I should order at Ichiraku when we get there." Naruto lied, he didn't want to worry her.

"Oh...Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"You're a bad liar." She said smiling.


Night was falling and so were Naruto's hopes of getting there quickly. He was guessing Sakura had fallen asleep since she had stopped talking a while ago. There was no other choice then to find somewhere to spend the night.

The nin looked around and found a small cavern. Very small. It looked like it could only hold one person inside. Laying Sakura down inside, Naruto had no idea that she was awake. He decided to sleep under a tree not to far from her. And while he walked over to his destination, he dropped something that he had kept in his pocket ever since he got it.

Sakura had noticed it fall when Naruto hadn't. She was about to call out to him but realized that he was exhausted and must be craving sleep. So she let him lie down and soon his breathing slowed down and steadied.

Slowly, the kunoichi stood up. She didn't want to wake Naruto and she didn't want to re-open her wound. It turns out her antidote was working after all and the poison wasn't fatal. But it did cause excruciating pain, Sakura thought. She made her way silently to the object the jinchuuriki had let fall. When she got there and saw what it was, she almost let out a gasp.

It was a piece of paper.

That looked exactly like the piece of paper that she had written her poem on.

And sent to the person she admired most...

It can't be the same one, Sakura thought. But at the same time, she wanted it to be.

Only one way to find out.

She bent down and picked it up. With shaky hands, she opened it up a little.

Don't think I'm lying

What I'm about to say is true

Naruto, would you ever believe?

I'm in love with you

Another gasp almost escaping, Sakura stood there, frozen and numb to everything else.

It was the same one. The exact same one she had written.

Looking over to where Naruto was sleeping, one thought went into the kunoichi's mind. A thought that terrified her.

Maybe he knew who wrote it? Maybe he knew it was her? But how? He couldn't have. She was so careful and made sure no one had seen her at Naruto's door. So careful to not give herself away. And, most importantly of all, was careful enough to not a lose a friend.

But he kept it.

It suddenly occured to Sakura.

If he had found out who had wrote it, why would he keep it if it wasn't important to him?

With that thought, Sakura carefully laid it next to the blonde nin. She quietly walked back over to her sleeping spot and smiled all the way.

They had gotten attacked, injured, and on top of all of it, they hadn't even completed their mission. She herself had gotten poisoned and been unable to stand or walk. And despite of all this, she could still smile at the end of the day.

Because Naruto hadn't thrown her love note away.

He had kept it.

And that was the only thing that mattered in the world to Sakura.

--

Yeah! I finished all of it in one day! I wrote a few words a couple of days ago and then lost my inspiration.

But it's back and I'm really happy.

As you can tell, this is going to be three chapters long. I wouldn't just end a story like this. It would be cruel and unusual punishment to leave you guys hanging like that.

It'd be fun but still cruel XD

Hope you enjoyed and please review!

-Tsuki Uzumaki