Another update! I want to thank everyone who reviewed, especially long, contructive reviews! You have no idea how motivating they are! Thanks so much.


Chapter 2: CPR

The next day was as hot as the last, so Team 7 didn't mind too much when they learned their assignment was to clean up the beach. It gave Kakashi the perfect opportunity to lay back, simultaneously acquiring the tan he knew those female ANBU loved and catching up on some Icha Icha (And later when he took off his mask he woud discover one twisted tan line).

Each teammate was completely drenched with sweat. Heat waves were rising from the sand and baking their skin either golden brown or tomato red. Sakura was suffering from dehydration; she was now standing on the dock, staring into the water with a dazed look.

Naruto paused to look at the spectacle, a funny haze creeping in the corners of his vision due to mild heat exhaustion. He noticed her lagging posture that seemed to lean foward with every second.

And then splash, she fell full frontal into the green blue ocean that wasn't even all the way cleaned yet.

"Wow Sakura, swimming doesn't seem like such a bad idea," Naruto said, taking a few steps foward. His head was still in a fog, and he reached behind his back for a waterbottle he secured to his pack. Sasuke, on the other hand, was standing rigidly at the shore line. A few seconds passed and the girl, he noticed, didn't surface.

He cursed, ran to the dock, and dove in. Naruto's eyes widened and he splashed water from the bottle over his head.

"Is she...?" Alarmed, he ran to the dock. A mess a wet hair broke the surface over the water, both black and pink. "Sakura!" he exclaimed, and was about to dive in as well.

"Save it, I already got her," Sasuke snapped, and dragged her to the dock. He handed the unconcious girl over to the blonde, who gently layed her down. Dripping wet, Sasuke slimbed over the edge of the pier and examined her.

Some miniscule part of Naruto's brain told him it was all a ploy to get Sasuke's attention, but his heart wouldn't let him let go of the image of his precious Sakura drowning in sea water.

"She-unconcious-she-CPR!" Naruto stuttered dropping to his knees.

Okay, The very concious Sakura thought, Any second now Sasuke is going to give me CPR and-Oh My God! His lips-they're touching mine-Oh My God! She opened her eyes to capture the impossible moment.

"AH! NARUTO!" she screamed and bolted upright. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" The confused blond jerked backwards.

"Saving your life!" He exclaimed. Sakura stared from him, to Sasuke, who was simply staring.

Her eyes screamed, Why? Why not you, Sasuke, why?

And his: As if.

"Be careful, Sakura. If you can't handle the heat, stay off the beach," Sasuke said shortly in a scolding manner, no joke intended. Calmly, he left.

"Sakura, was that a clever trick so you could try to seduce Sasuke?!" demanded Naruto, clearly upset. The girl sighed, planted both hands on the dock and stared out into the unpromising sunset.

"No Naruto, no it wasn't." It wasn't clever. I should have known Naruto would be the one try and help... Ugh.

Next time, oh, next time.

AFTER THE MISSION ENDED

"Uh, good job. See you guys tommorow." After Kakashi bid his farewells he became engulfed in a plume of white smoke, and disappeared to who knows where. Sakura, for one, was glad he disbanded so quickly. She was too depressed about the earlier events to even bother chasing Sasuke right now. No, right now she decided, she would go home and rest. Tommorow woudl be a new day.

Taking a deep breath, she accepting these facts peacefully and began to be on her way.

"Bye, Sasuke," she said, and added as almost an afterthought, "Naruto."

There was a small "hn," and footsteps.

"Bye Sakura," said Naruto. "See you later, Sasuke. Don't forget: Six." And then, the peaceful, accepting state of mind Sakura was just previously in froze.

Hold UP, She thought, the world around her perfectly still. What does he mean see you later at six? She whipped around to face her teammates retreating back, dawning a sickly sweet smile.

"Oh, what are you guys doing at six?" She asked innocently.

"Taking care of some business," Naruto said nonchalantly. Unfortunatly for Sakura, she was too paralyzed to remember to say anything coherent. She only watched as the two boys went their seperate ways, leaving her to wallow in the mysterious words.

SASUKE CAN'T BE GAY! She cried inwardly and began hyperventilating. Wait. Don't have a nervous break down... But why didn't Sasuke say anything? Business, what the hell is 'business?' What was that supposed to mean?

THATS IT! This... means... WAR.

LATER THAT NIGHT

As promised, there had been a wild sparring match between Sasuke and Naruto, and it threatened to careen out of control if they didn't stop soon. Eventually, they did decide to stop, only because at that point they were evenly matched and they had traning tommorow so they didn't want to stay out too late.

"Hey," Naruto called, hesitance in his voice. He was debating with himself over his latest scheme. "Do you.. wanna go for ramen? I mean, the deal was if you won, I'd buy you ramen. If I won, you would buy me ramen. So it's kind of like we both won, right?"

He was sick with himself just for trying to get Sasuke to go out to eat with him. Every word was another drop of poision in his stomach, but another step closer to Sakura.

"No... First of all, neither of us won," Sasuke said shortly. What IS his problem? The odd behavoir of his teammates was baffling him to the point of distraction, and Sasuke... Did. Not. Like. Distractions. Maybe I should go.. Just to see what the hell they're up to.. "And second of all, we never made that bet."

"Come on," whinted Naruto half heartedly.

"Fine. But you're paying for yourself," Sasuke said, leaving Naruto speechless. He didn't think it would actually work.

I.. I have a date with Sasuke?

While date would definetly not be Sasuke's word of choice, he still found himself sitting with Naruto at Ichiraku's, ordering the bowl of ramen that he was sure he wouldn't like. In fact, he hated ramen. He had to remind himself why he was even torturing himself in the first place.

"Naruto," he said coldly, folding his hands under his chin. "What's going on?"

Naruto perked up and turned his full attention on the boy. He cocked his head to the side.

"What do you mean?" he asked innocenty, batting his eyes once or twice. Big blue eyes stared at Sasuke, holding open a net and waiting for his small, shriveled heart to jump in.

Little did he know, Sasuke had no such heart that would dive into any kind of net. Especially one held by Naruto.

"Lose the act, Naruto. I don't know what you and Sakura are up to, but leave your personal problems at home. I don't need any distractions, and if you two are going to be distractions you won't be a part of Team 7. Got it?" He got to his feet and pushed in his chair.

SASUKE YOU IDIOT!! WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO KICK US OFF THE TEAM? HOW COULD SAKURA LIKE THIS GUY?!

Deep breaths. Big, deep, long, patient breaths.

"Nothing is going on," Naruto said in the calmest voice he could muster. He was talking to Sasuke's retreating back. Then, he added in a loud voice, "Unless you want there to be." He swore he saw Sasuke freeze for a moment. He almost looked back-almost, but instead continued on his way.