Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own and such.

Naruto rowed the boat back onto the shore and took Sakura's hand
helping her to get out.

"Thank you Naruto." she looked at her watch "Oh man it's almost
midnight my parents are going to kill me." she said shaking her head.

"Well Sakura-chan let me walk you home, maybe your parents won't be to
mad if they see you walking home with the great Uzumaki Naruto!" he
said with his goofy grin that made her heart melt.

She smiled at him "Naruto that's a lovely offer but I think they would
be more upset with me if they saw me come home with a boy." she shrugged
then looked up and smiled at him "Oh well Mum and I never get along so
I will take you up on your offer she can't get any angrier with me then
she already will be."

Naruto jumped up and grabbed her hand intertwining his fingers with
Hers. She smiled brighter then she had all night and they walked off
towards Konoha hand in hand. About halfway to Sakura's house he looked at her
with his puzzled look that he seemed to always have on his face.

"So Sakura-chan why is it that you just now realized that you had
feelings for me?" he asked her, and she smacked him.

"BAKA! I told you on the boat." she yelled at him

"Ow Sakura-chan, I know you told me I just wanted to hear it again. It
made me feel good." he stated rubbing his head.

"Oh well you should have said that first silly. Every time something
went wrong in my life you were there for me no matter how many times I
ignored you or yelled at you, you really cared unlike Sasuke or anyone
else for that matter. So all your bugging me and selfishly helping me all
these years finally paid off." she smiled, they had been walking for so
long she didn't notice that they were right in front of her house.
"Well here it is, thank you Naruto this really helped." she leaned in and
gave him a quick kiss. "I'll meet you tomorrow outside your place ok?"
she asked

"Yeah thats fine Sakura-chan." Naruto told her as he ran off saying
"Yes she likes me she likes me she likes me!" Sakura smiled and turned to
go into her house "That Naruto is something else, and I wouldn't have
it any other way."

Naruto woke up the next morning to tapping on his window, he rolled
over and looked at his clock. 9 in the morning. Unheard of on days where
he stayed up untill midnight and didn't have a mission the next morning.
"Damn birds" he muttered under his breath and rolled over and looked at
his window then closed his eyes. "Damn pink haired birds." That took a
second to set in then he shot out of bed "SAKURA-CHAN!" he screamed and
ran to the window not looking where he was going and tripped over the
massive pile of Ramen cups. He stumbled for a second then fell the wrong
way and crashed out the window in a very Naruto like manner landing on
his back on the street below. Sakura gasped and jumped down to help him
as he was staggering to sit up.

"Oh are you ok Naruto-kun?" she asked her voice full of worry but that
soon melted as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"Yeah, that's not the first time I've done that but I really should
clean up those damned Ramen cups."

"How many could you have up there? I don't think even you could eat
that much Ramen." she stated

"Come up and see for your self." he told her as they started walking up
into his apartment. When they got in Sakura didn't know what to say, it
was a studio apartment that was actually cleaner then Sakura thought it
would be with just a bed in a corner, clothes in a hamper, a wall had a
hanger full of ninja tools hanging off it, all in all it was better
then she would have thought minus the corner that had to have about 100
old ramen cups in front of a broken window. She laughed.

"Better then I would have thought Naruto, even your bed is clean." she
said as she ran her hand through his hair.

Naruto put a hand behind his head. "A regular bachelor pad eh
Sakura-chan?" he asked sticking his tongue out.

"Actually no, I've seen Kakashi's place and it's a dump, and the horror
stories I've heard from the other girls I'm really shocked that your
place is so clean. Now come on lets go on a little date, SHOPPING! she
said not really giving Naruto a chance to say yes or no.

"Ok Sakura-chan." he sounded a little sad but it was a chance to spend
a whole day with Sakura and that made up for everything. He picked up a
clean pair of shorts and a clean shirt and went into the bathroom
to change. He came out and Sakura was please to see him in something
other then his orange jumpsuit. At that moment Naruto noticed that Sakura
was wearing something different then her normal red dress, she had on a
blue skirt with a yellow tank top. Naruto blushed.

"Ah Sakura-chan you look nice today." he said smirking and she blushed.

"Thank you Naruto-kun it's nice to see you in something different as
well." she said in her sweetest voice she had. Then once again Naruto
laced his fingers with hers and they stepped out of his apartment. As fate
would have it the first person they ran into was none other then there
sensei, Kakashi.

"Well well what have we here? Did Naruto do something stupid and get
his hand stuck to yours Sakura?" he laughed at his own stupid joke.

"Ah Kakashi, well if anyone finds out first it should be you. Naruto
swept me off my feet last night and I finally saw what he was trying to
get me to see all along." she told him smiling at Naruto

"Well then that's good, just don't let it get in the way of your
training. Romance on the battlefield can be a fighting bonus or it could mean
your death. Don't let it cloud you when fighting. Congratulations
though now maybe I won't be breaking up as many fights. he gave them his
trademark smirk that no one really saw and vanished in a puff of smoke.

"He is a weird one isn't he Sakura-chan." Naruto stated

"I HEARD THAT!" sounded off in the distance, Naruto and Sakura both
laughed.

Kakashi was jumping from roof to roof as he thought to himself "This
better be a blessing in disguise and not come back to hurt both of them."
he shrugged it off as he got to the book store, the new Icha Icha
Paradise came out today and every pervert in the village was there ready to
buy it.

Sakura hauled Naruto around all day running from shop to shop asking if
things looked cute on her, or if she should get something for her room.
He really didn't care what she was making him do he was glad all the
villagers got to see he wasn't just some screw up and after 10 years of
trying he was finally on a date with Sakura. After a hard day of
shopping Naruto was about to pass out but the prospect of ramen brought him
right back into the world. As Sakura sat sipping her ramen and Naruto was
downing his bowl by bowl, when Jiraiya popped up behind him.

"Hey kid got a second?" he asked Naruto but instead of waiting for an
answer he started dragging Naruto off behind the ramen bar. "Listen
Orochimaru is gaining strength with the Uchiha, you need to train to be
ready for the assault. Three years is what I ask of you then you can
return to Konoha and wait it out until then but you need to train, the fate
of your village depends on it." he said more serious then Naruto had
ever seen him.

"Ok, I may not like the idea of leaving for three years but if it means
I can protect Sakura and my village I'll do it. Just let me have one
night here and we can leave tomorrow." was all he asked of Jiraiya as he
returned to Sakura.

"What was that all about Naruto?" she asked him a questioning look on
her face.

"Nothing, old pervert just wanted to see what was going on in my life
lately." he paused "So you wanna hang out at my place tonight?" he asked
her plastering a fake smile on his face.

Her eyes lit up. "I hope your not thinking what I think your thinking
Uzumaki Naruto." she said with a crooked grin.

"AH no Sakura-chan just hanging out, it would be nice to just talk to
you for a while without anyone around." he told her keeping that fake
smile on his face. So they once again took up hands and walked back to
his place. When they walked in he placed her on the bed and grabbed a
blanket to place over them. Sakura leaned on his shoulder.

"This is really nice Naruto, we really should do this more often." she
said that as she buried her face into his chest and sighed once again
everything was perfect for her.

"Sakura-chan you have no idea how I feel right now, I feel like I could
fly around the world, beat any one, or learn any jutsu just as long as
I have you by my side." he looked down and she was already asleep. He
kissed her and whispered into her ear. "I love you Sakura-chan." Then he
got up and got a sheet of paper then wrote down where he was going and
why he was leaving. He finished signing it and left it next to her on
the bed, then grabbed his gear and left through the window to go find
Jiraiya. The local club would probably be his best bet.

Sakura woke up the next morning, alone. She leaned over and picked up
the note which read.

Sakura,

I may not be the best writer but I have to tell you what happened.
Orochimaru is gaining strength with Sasuke, this is a dangerous situation
for all of us and I am going away for three years to train with Jiraiya
to be able to fight them if I am needed. I will return to you and I
will be thinking of you every night. However I can't write to you as we
will be moving around to much and for fear of being caught, this is a
secret but I can't keep it from you. I will be back don't forget me
Sakura-chan.

See you in three years,
Your Naruto-kun (I love you Sakura)

"How could I ever forget you Naruto..." she whispered to herself then
pressed the letter up to her chest and sobbed.

AN: Chapter 1 is done shorter then I thought it would be but the next
one is sure to be longer. As always R&R!