Sakura and Sakumo's first date was not in any way traditional. They had made plans to go to the village's annual festival, though it would be smaller than previous years it was still being held to keep up morale. They had agreed he would pick her up from her apartment and they would spend the evening together. Sakura had gotten a little excited at the thought though she had tried to squash it; still she hadn't been to a festival in years, and it had been even longer since she had been on a date, so she had gotten a little dressed up. She had bought a new yukata, she did need one after all, and had done her hair nicely. He had picked her up at six on the dot, dressed in his own yukata a small smile on his face. He had offered her his arm and she had taken it. They had been walking for all of five minutes when an ANBU had dropped down in front of them ordering them to the Hokage's office. They had dutifully reported only to gain a smile and a mission from the Hokage.

They had quickly returned to their respective homes, changed and met at the gate. It was once again just the two of them, and Sakumo once again used their travel time to formulate his plan. Sakura was starting to sense a theme with the man. They stopped a few miles before their destination where he explained the plan, and she agreed. They were to stop a group of Kumo chunnin from breaching the perimeter; of course things very rarely went as planned in war. They arrived on the scene three days later to find the Hachibi's jinchuriki rampaging out of control. For a moment it had shocked Sakura, her memories of the tailed beast and its future host and she had gone to move forward only for Sakumo to stop her, his face clearly puzzled as to why she would even try. He didn't understand, very few people did. Jinchuriki were often hated, but she had grown up around one, her best friend almost brother had been one and during the war she had gotten to know Bee, and A for that matter. Both men had told her about the many trials the village had gone through trying to stop the Hachibi, about Fukai and his uncle and father. As she stared out at the field her eyes zeroed in on the two boys standing to the side watching, she recognized A almost immediately, even as a teenager, and next to him stood a boy preparing to be sealed, which she knew in her gut was Fukai. She quickly scanned the field again to see the former host lying dead on the ground and A's father trying to subdue the Hachibi with a squad.

She continued to watch, Sakumo's hand on her shoulder as a reminder to stay back. She watched as once again Gyuki was sealed, and without realizing stepped back into Sakumo's arms feeling helpless, knowing that this had to happen in order for Bee and Gyuki to team up. Once the sealing was complete, she felt Sakumo grasp her arm and lean down to whisper in her ear "They've lost too many men, their chakra's low and they can't risk continuing with a new jinchuriki, and we can't take out the Raikage or his son or they'll be no chance of peace. Our mission is done." Sakura nodded and turned to leave.

Sometime later he signaled for a stop and they dropped to the forest floor for a short break. For a while Sakumo was silent and then he asked a strange question, "What's your favorite flower."

She had looked at him confused for a second before answering "Daffodils."

He had smiled before asking another "Color?"

"Blue."

"Animal?"

"Dogs, I had a very good friend who had a pack of nin-ken. They were very loyal and I couldn't help but want one of my own."

Sakumo nodded before starting in on a story from his youth involving him and one of his father's own less than friendly summons, a cat. While Sakumo was telling the story Sakura would realize that he was trying to distract her, he knew that for whatever reason, witnessing what they had just seen had upset her and since he had promised not to ask about her past he had asked about trivial things in order to find something to distract her. It made her smile. That night as they took turns sleeping Sakura said her prayer again and couldn't help but think that it had turned out to be the best first date she had ever been on.

Chapter 3 is done! Yes! Next chapter will be up soon, most likely with a time skip . . . not sure yet. Leave a review and let me know what you think!