First off, I would like to say sorry for the delay in between chapter releases. It's harder to find time with school wrapping up for the year XD

Second, thanks again to AbaraiSuki for helping me with the first part of this and then helping me look over it. It's appreciated as always.

Chapter 4:

The sun was setting on Konoha about the time Sakura was supposed to get off of her shift that day. She had to make up for the time she had spent with Naruto that morning and had had to pull a later than normal shift. Not that she regretted it. She enjoyed her morning with Naruto. She just hated how tired it made her feel. And now, just when she wanted to leave, she couldn't. All because he had decided now would be a good time to try to ask out the head of the hospital.

There were very few people in Konoha who could manage to not stop and stare at Yuki. Some of the girl's hearts skipped a few beats when he grinned at them. His perfectly toned body was topped off by a literally breath taking smirk. However cliché breath-taking may have been, little gasps of surprised pleasure followed him where ever he went. And a few of the lighter-hearted girls actually fainted once or twice. And many of the girls had trouble with coherent thoughts and speech near him. He had long eyelashes that encased glittering eyes that always seemed to be welcoming and warm. In some horribly seductive fashion he always managed to make it seem like he was smiling for one person only: you. To the girls in Konoha, Sasuke had been very attractive, but this man blew him clear out of the water. Things were made worse by the fact that he was good at his job. He was a caring and attentive medic nin with fairly decent skills. Certainly he didn't hold a candle to Sakura but that wasn't reason enough to find fault with him for most people. There was an added measure of safety knowing that he could take care of you in many ways...

And now, here he was, trying to get the head of the hospital to go out with him. Sure, if Sakura had been the same as she was when she was twelve, she would have gone out with him in a heartbeat. But she wasn't the same little naïve little girl anymore. She had grown up, learned the harsh and cruel side of love. Then she had fallen in love with someone else. Someone who had always been there for her but, because of her ignorance, had gone unnoticed until it was too late.

Yes, Sakura was in love with Naruto Uzumaki, the hokage of Konoha.

The twelve year old version of Sakura would probably have screamed at the Sakura of now, completely unfazed by the seemingly perfect man in front of her and falling for the idiot who was always dead last.

But Sakura knew he was more than that. Her love for Sasuke had died out long ago and she had fallen in love with that idiot. Then Naruto had become Hokage. He had achieved the greatness that Sakura had known he was capable of for years.

Sakura was suddenly brought back into the conversation by someone calling her name.

"Sakura-san. Are you okay?"

Sakura turned her gaze to meet Yuki's. She inwardly cringed as she remembered how easily that same gaze would have made her younger self weak in the knees.

Sakura smiled politely. "Ah, I'm sorry Yuki-san, it's been a long day."

Yuki nodded. "Oh well…I was just wondering if you weren't too busy whether or not you would want to go get something to eat with me. My shift just ended as well."

Sakura smiled at him again. He was a great guy. But he was expecting too much from her. Besides, she just felt the need to go home and relax for the day.

Just as Sakura was about to turn down his offer, a voice called out to her startling them both.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura turned and smiled at the young hokage, who was making his way down the hallway towards them. He was no longer wearing his hokage robes and was just dressed in the usual outfit of a Konoha Jounin. "Hey Naruto, how's it going?"

Naruto gave Sakura his usual radiant smile. Sakura felt her heart rate speed up and fought desperately to keep the blush off of her cheeks. Even after years of knowing and being near him, he still had this effect on her. Apparently this wasn't lost on Yuki as he raised an eyebrow, looking back and forth between the two teammates.

"Ah Sakura-san, I guess I will talk to you later" he said before walking away, slightly disappointed.

Naruto turned and watched him go, frowning slightly.

Sakura gently placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to turn to face her. He smiled his usual radiant smile, but Sakura felt like there was something missing from it today. It was just a feeling she was getting from him.

"Naruto, are you okay?"

Naruto seemed a little surprised by the question, but he quickly recovered and smiled again.

"Of course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

Sakura shrugged. "Just a feeling I guess."

Naruto shook his head and smiled even wider to reassure her.

"So Sakura who was that? Was he the guy?" Naruto asked. Sakura could've sworn she heard him sound a little angry, but it was only for a second before his voice became its usual cheery tone. "No, Yuki's a nice guy, but he's not the guy I'm interested in" Sakura said, letting her eyes wander over Naruto as she said this.

"Oh really? But from what I could see, he seemed to be really into you." Naruto said. He felt a little bitter as he said this, but did his best to keep it hidden.

Sakura sighed and began to walk towards her office. She couldn't understand why she even tried to send Naruto hints at times. It's not like he ever caught them. She had been trying for years after all.

"It doesn't matter if he's into me," she said, "I just don't feel that way."

Naruto began to follow her along. "Wow, this guy you like must be really great if you chose him over that other guy."

Sakura gave him a small smile before continuing on her way. Hopefully Naruto would just drop this conversation.

"So who is it?"

Of course he couldn't. Sakura just ignored him and tried even harder to get to her office. Naruto then sped up himself, trying to keep up. "Sakura-chan" he said, pouting playfully.

As they reached her office Sakura sat down behind her desk and began preparing to leave for the day. Naruto stood in front of her desk. She didn't dare look him in the eyes because she might just end up giving in to him right then and there. Even after years of being with Naruto, she just couldn't get used to those puppy dog eyes he gave someone when he wanted something.

"Sakura-chan" Naruto repeated.

Sakura sighed before looking up at him. "It's no one Naruto."

Naruto was unconvinced. "What? That's not fair Sakura-chan."

"Naruto, can we just drop it? Please?" Sakura asked, her tired eyes meeting Naruto's shining sapphire ones. He grinned but stopped pestering her about it. "So anyway, what was it that brought you all the way down here? Or was it just so you could annoy me?"

Naruto's grin disappeared immediately. He closed his eyes for a moment, probably to sense if anyone else was near the room. After he opened his eyes he moved towards the door, locking it. Sakura raised an eyebrow at this unusual behaviour. But before she had a chance to ask anything, Naruto's eyes met hers and she could tell he was silently asking her to just trust him.

Naruto sighed and scratched the back of his head. "What I say doesn't leave the room. Okay? Not even Ino can know about this," Naruto said with an unusual seriousness. Sakura nodded in response.

"Well, Shikamaru has obtained some information that says that Iwagakure and Kirigakure have both begun preparing for war. I've got him and Sai investigating and we all hope that this is just some big misunderstanding, but it is possible that we may soon be at war."

Sakura gasped. "What? Why? Why would they want to start a war now?"

"I don't know," Naruto said. But Sakura frowned. There had been something wrong with how he had said that. It felt like he was hiding something. She narrowed her gaze at the young Hokage.

"Are you sure you don't know?"

"I-I really don't Sakura-chan."

But Naruto began to feel nervous under Sakura's piercing gaze. He looked away now, finding anything else in the room more interesting than her eyes at the moment. Sakura's gaze narrowed even more and she got up from her chair and began to slowly close the distance between them. She didn't like it when Naruto kept secrets. Whenever he did, it usually ended up with him ending up in the hospital. "Naruto. Tell me the truth," she said as she came within a meter of him.

Naruto still couldn't look her in the eyes. "What? I-I don't know what you're talk-"

"Naruto," Sakura growled. As she came within inches of Naruto, she could see him visibly tense up. What was he hiding from her?

Finally, after a few moments under her glare and a very uncomfortable distance, Naruto sighed and looked her right in the eyes. "Shikamaru thinks that they want to either capture or kill the Kyuubi."

Sakura gasped, before her anger seemed to come back in full force. "Okay, and what were you planning to do if this war actually happened?" she asked quietly.

"Uhh…fight?"

Sakura's eye twitched. She grabbed the front of Naruto's vest, pulling him down to her level. "You idiot! Why would you do that? It's you they're after isn't it? You can't fight if it comes to that! That's exactly what they would expect you to do!"

"Oh yeah? You just want me to sit back and watch you fight my battles for me? I'm not just going to sit back while Konoha fights a battle that was started over me."

There were very few times when Naruto would ever argue with Sakura. But during any one of those times, he would never back down without good reason. Sakura knew she had to be serious about this if she wanted to change his mind. She wasn't going to let this baka run off and get himself killed just so that he could protect others.

"You think we can't handle ourselves? Trust us! You're our leader. If we can't even defend you then we are failures as shinobi. And it's not just Konoha. I'm sure Gaara and Suna would help you for sure. You're not alone in this you know. You have all of us. You have the Konoha 11, Sai, Kakashi-sensei. You have me," Sakura yelled, her eyes filling with tears. However, she refused to let them fall. Not yet anyway. Naruto seemed shocked by her words and just stared down at her with wide eyes. After a few moments he gently grabbed one of her hands and she released his vest. He smiled down at her, still holding her hand.

"Ah, thank you Sakura," he said, dropping the chan from her name to show her just how serious he was being.

Sakura continued to glare up at him for a few seconds before looking down and allowing a few tears to fall. "Idiot. Why can't you trust us to protect you?" she whispered.

Naruto was surprised when she began to cry. Unsure of what to do, he decided to pull her into a hug, gently embracing her smaller frame. She responded by hugging him back and placing her head on his shoulder and allowing a few more tears out.

"It's okay Sakura-chan, this whole thing might not even happen."

Sakura looked up at him, glaring once again through her tears. "That's not the point. The point is that if it did happen, you would run off and get yourself killed. How the hell would that make me feel?"

Naruto stared down at her with wide eyes. Then he smiled gently. "I would be fine, Sakura-chan. I didn't learn all of those techniques for nothing you know. Besides, I wouldn't want you or anyone else getting hurt for me."

Sakura was beginning to get impatient. It was clear that no matter what she said Naruto was just not going to listen. It was time to use her trump card.

"Fine Naruto. I don't want to argue with you. So instead I want you to promise me something."

Naruto's smile grew into his usual radiant one. "Anything, Sakura-chan."

"I want you to promise that we will face it together then."

Naruto looked down at her, blinking for a few seconds. She was looking up at him with a determined expression. "Um… well you see-"

"You said anything"

Naruto sighed but chuckled anyway. "Fine, I promise that we will do it together then."

Sakura smiled up at him and his eyes widened as he gazed down at the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.

Sakura pulled away from him now and walked towards her desk, wiping away a few tears that were still on her face. "Well then, how about we go get some dinner then?"

Naruto gave her his trademark grin. "Okay then. Where do you want to go?"

Sakura looked over at him a little confused. "What? I would have thought that you would want to go get some ramen."

"Well I just wanted to do something different for once."

Sakura giggled and said "Sure I guess. I know a good restaurant nearby."

Naruto nodded and the two of them left the office, heading for the hospital exit. As they walked down the hallway, Sakura put her arm around Naruto's and smiled at him when he looked down at her with a surprised expression. He smiled back and they continued to walk down the hall. As they left the building, a few people around them began whispering and sending glances their way. No doubt rumours about what was going on between them would be all over the village by morning. Not that either of them minded, the two of them were perfectly happy at that moment. As they neared the restaurant, Naruto glanced at Sakura. She noticed and turned to look at him again. "What?"

Naruto beamed at her. "Thanks for always looking out for me."

Sakura grinned up at him. "Well of course I would. We're best friends." She said. However, as she said that, both of them tried to ignore the small pains their chests. 'I guess that's all we'll ever be,' they both though solemnly.

But both of them quickly hid their pain, and they continued to smile at each other. They walked into a small restaurant. It was normally for couples, but the two of them didn't mind. In fact, it even allowed the two of them to imagine what it would be like if they were a couple.

As they sat waiting for their food to arrive, Naruto noticed Sakura staring at him. "Sakura-chan? Are you okay?" he asked, shaking Sakura out of her trance. She blushed slightly but smiled up at him.

"I'm fine. I'm just so surprised how much you've changed over the years. You're so much more...handsome I guess." Sakura blushed after she said this and turned away, glancing over at another table.

Naruto was surprised to say the least. He stared wide eyed at Sakura while she looked away, obviously in embarrassment. Then he smiled at her. It wasn't his usual, big, goofy smile. This was one he used only for her. It was special, though he wasn't sure if Sakura could tell the difference.

"Well you should know that I've always thought you were beautiful Sakura-chan," he said, receiving a blush from Sakura. She turned back but kept her head down, watching him through her bangs.

"Th-thanks" she muttered.

Just then, their food arrived and they found themselves simply enjoying each other's company. They talked for a while, eating their food happily. To anyone watching, they would've looked like the perfect couple.

Eventually, they finished their food and the bill arrived. Naruto paid for both of them, insisting on it. Sakura eventually reluctantly agreed, and the two of them began to walk towards Sakura's apartment. As they walked, a comfortable silence took over. No one said anything until they reached Sakura's apartment.

When they reached her front door, Sakura turned around and gave Naruto a smile. "Thanks for dinner Naruto. I enjoyed it."

Naruto smiled back and gave a small chuckle. "Well it's not so bad to eat something other than ramen every now and again."

The two of them laughed at the small joke. When they stopped, Sakura looked into Naruto's eyes and was surprised to see some emotion that she couldn't read within them. It bothered her, since she was usually able to read him well. She was his best friend after all.

Ignoring the sting that the thought 'best friend' caused her, she raised a hand to Naruto's face, cupping his cheek. He seemed startled at the touch.

"Naruto? Are you okay?"

Naruto grinned. "Haha, of course Sakura-chan. I was just thinking I guess."

Sakura smirked. "Well we all know how dangerous that can be right?"

Naruto chuckled at the joke. "Yeah, sure. I know I'm an idiot."

Sakura still wore a smirk. "True. But you're my idiot," she said before her face became slightly more red and she hurried inside. Naruto's eyes went wide as he watched her.

Sakura unlocked her door and began to step inside. But as she put her first foot in the doorway, she turned around and said, "Goodnight Naruto."

Suddenly, Naruto was right in front of her. She barely realized what was happening as she felt his arms wrap her in a warm embrace. "Goodnight Sakura-chan" he said, before removing his arms and walking away from the apartment.

Sakura stared out after him for a few moments before stiffly closing the door and sliding down with her back to it. 'What was that?' she thought to herself. 'Could he possibly- no, that was just Naruto being himself. Right?'

Sakura sighed and placed her head on her knees. She sat there for quite a while, trying the calm the fluttering she felt in her chest.

A few blocks away, Naruto was sitting on a bench on one of the streets of Konoha. He ran a hand through his blonde hair, sighing. 'Dammit, why did I do that?' he thought to himself. 'Because you love her. And you don't want to lose her to some other guy,' another voice inside his head said. Naruto sighed again and got up, moving towards his own apartment. What was done was done. His feelings for Sakura were getting stronger every hour. They were almost to the point that they had been as a teenager at this point.

Naruto groaned as he began to realize this. "Well this is getting complicated," he said to know one as he continued to walk off to get some much needed rest.