Hey everyone! Nothing really going on besides updating EVERY STORY WITHIN THREE WEEKS. WOOT. (Even though Forgotten Memories was just an announcement.) So happy about this guys, you have no idea. Once upon a time, my stories haven't been updated for like...6 months. xD Anyway, hope you enjoy the forth installment of SFP! LOTS of fluff this chapter. Sorry for any mistakes. :(

Chapter 4

The Confrontation

"S- Sasuke?!" Naruto asks, unable to contain his obvious surprise. The raven-haired widened his eyes at his former ally also, but, due to his momentum, he was unable to decelerate. The two ungracefully clash in the midst of particularly dense trees, thankfully just outside everyone's line of vision. Like in their childhood, the ninjas accidentally brush lips. During the little confrontation, one decided to take a taste of the other's mouth, resulting in a small, high-pitched, hiccup-like noise from the victim.

Gravity, finally deciding to act, brings the couple to the ground of the earth. The Konoha ninja from which the noise was produced touched his lips sheepishly. Sakura, being squeezed tightly in the explorer's tense arms, stays unconscious- even through the violent shaking she receives when the Uchiha lands clumsily, but upright, on the dirt ridden ground*.

Naruto lands in a crouched position with a kunai gripped in a shaking hand. His face is mortified and heated, his body anything but still. Sasuke's face resembled that of one of his favorite foods**. Completely and utterly embarrassed, the young man decides to turn back and flee as soon and as quick as humanly possible.

'No.'

Large church bells seemed to ring in his head, creating a massive, intense headache. The pain is so immense, the dark haired teen drops Sakura, as the signal telling his brain to carry her had all but disappeared.

'Go the opposite way. Go towards Konoha. Take me. Hurry. Before it's too late.'

Sasuke's eyes flicker from Sharingan to dark and conflicting; maybe if he were to cast himself into a genjutsu, he would be able to break free from this stupid curse. On the other hand, whatever Sakura gave him was working like a charm, which, of course, pissed the Uchiha even further. When he tried to disobey, this would happen?

'Resisting is futile.'

'Thanks,' the teen thought dryly. This annoying, nagging voice that vocalized ever since the pink-haired ninja injected him with that liquid has been giving him irrefusable orders to follow. Now and then, it even had a little snarky comment to make on the situation. It reminded Sasuke of old times when the voice belonged to his emerald eyed teammate.

Tsking at the resurfacing memory, the genjutsu user pushed the thought to the far, far recesses of his mind, hoping it never came to light again.

The events which took place after the fall fell within the span of exactly five seconds. These five seconds were witnessed by none other than Kakashi, Shikamaru, Hinata, Sai, and Kiba, who were eyeing Sasuke with expressions of disappointment and stupidity.

Sasuke, his face growing even redder upon get learning this and receiving their glares and glances, proceeded to pause, turn, pick up Sakura, and sprint dead ahead, leaving the loyal ninja far behind him. Within a few seconds, the group was out sight. He breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. He looked down at the pink-haired teen in his arms, eyeing her physical state.

Sasuke almost tripped over his own two feet.

The woman was practically naked, with only a few strands of cloth clinging to her small frame. Her chest, covered only by a cloth no wider than the width of his arm and a few strands of bubblegum hair, was visibly bouncing as he ran through the forest. Wide coal eyes slowly ran down her slender body, taking in all the dips and curves. His ravenous eyes had just reached her plump backside when...

"Um, S- Sasuke-kun!"

Snapped back to reality, and with a light headache, the Uchiha's eyes returned to the blushing ninja's face. "What are you doing, Sasuke-kun?!" she asks more forcibly.

The runner blinks. He was...dreaming rights! Apparently he was...the kunoichi was completely clothed. He looks down at the woman. Dread catches in his throat and chokes him. How the hell does this happen?

The hand supposedly holding Sakura was now gripping her in a certain other area. A pale hand was squeezing the surprisingly firm backside of a rapidly increasing blushing Sakura, whom had resorted to little squeaks of anger and surprise to express emotion. Slowing down from his zippy speed to a sound, steady gait, Sasuke finally released the soft flesh his still held onto tightly.

Breathing hard, and not only from the exhaust-inducing run, the Uchiha let down his "baggage". The Konoha ninja was completely red. She felt her behind, dusting off any remains of his groping. Glaring at Sasuke (although anyone could tell she did not really mean it), the ninja solemnly declared, "Never mind, I'll walk. You are to stay close behind me- don't get any ideas!"

Grunting, the missing-nin had no choice but to follow...when his legs suddenly give out. Sakura turns towards the sound from her position five or so feet in front of the young man. She crosses her arms and sighs deeply. "Oh, right, you were injured. I guess I have no choice..."

The teen gets to work healing the Uchiha, completely unaware of the six stares from nearby bushes.

...

"What was that about, Naruto? Talk about lame," Kiba taunts, laughing at the ninja's unnerved body language.

Naruto had taken a major hit to his manly pride. After the incident at the waterfall, where he ended up kissing Sasuke for a second time, Naruto had vowed for it to never happen again. He was interested in girls...well, girl, only! He casts a side glance at the intended. Hinata was eyeing him steadily, worry plain and clear in her large, pale eyes. The blonde blushes lightly at the intense stare and half smiles, half smirks- a special smile reserved only for her. This throws Hinata's senses into overdrive, resulting in her clutching her reddened face and squealing as she dizzily walks away.

Shikamaru ignores the two lovebirds, focusing on his conversation with Kakashi. "What do we do, Kakashi?" the Jounin asks. "Sasuke was literally feet away from us, yet he managed to get away so swiftly. He carried Sakura, clearly unconscious, in his arms. Yet..."

The older, masked man nodded. "Yeah. I felt no ill intent being emitted from him as we usually do. What's going on?" The mini intelligence unit of the group think in silence for a bit.

Sai was quietly observing Naruto's interaction with Hinata. 'Interesting...' the pale, seemingly emotionless ninja muses. He sat upon a tree stump, pencil clenched in hand, his sketchbook opened before him. The former foundation ninja had been startled when the Hyuuga had squealed. He smiled slightly, a genuine one, while observing their interaction. Then, the black clad teen went back to the drawing of the nature before him.

The Mini Intelligence Unit finally came to a consensus. Shikamaru called the group over and, along with Kakashi, explained the very simple, yet crucial game plan. They were to cloak their chakra and very, very, very (this last very was thrown pointedly in Naruto's direction, who frowned) silently trail Sasuke and Sakura. Five quick nods and one confused glance later, the group of went on the move.

About ten minutes of running later, Naruto had arrived first.

With wide eyes, he witnessed the deed.

The face Sasuke had made had almost blown his cover, he was laughing so hard.

The rest of the Konoha ninja, who arrived about a minute later, spread apart around their targets who had, for some reason, stopped. Naruto debated doing something stupid, unreasonable, and unthinkable. He threw the pros and cons onto a scale. The cons looked pretty heavy until Sakura spoke.

"Never mind, I'll walk. You are to stay close behind me- don't get any ideas!" she says.

Naruto's cons got lighter, and his pros, heavier. They were now about neck and neck.

It was Sasuke's actions, however, that stopped orange-clad ninja in his tracks. He actually began to follow her, as if listening to her instructions. The dark, spiked locks of his past teammate suddenly fell to the ground, and Sakura, after a little complaining, began to heal him.

The same thought ran through all of the ninja's minds- Why was she helping him?

Suddenly, Kakashi leaps from the shadows. Hinata and Kiba follow him, kunais at the ready. Huh? This wasn't part of the plan...

Someone taps his shoulder, and Naruto turns to face a very pissed Shikamaru. "What are you doing, Naruto? That was your cue!"

"Oh."

Naruto jumps out of the bushes and takes his place, causing the tense air around the three standing in the spotlight to vanish.

Sakura looks up at the group in surprise. "You guys! Since when..." she trails off just as she finished wrapping the last wound on Sasuke's body. She finishes the treatment by giving her patient the same blue substance from before, which escapes the prying eyes of everyone minus the intelligence unit.

"Sakura-san," Hinata starts, eying both the man on the floor and the addressee. "We are here on a top secret mission from the Hokage of the Fire Country to put you under arrest and bring you back to the village."

"Any attempts to escape or struggle," continues Kiba, narrowing his eyes and crouching, bending his fingers into claws and crossing his arms, "will be considered as betraying the Fire Country and, as a result..."

Kakashi adjusts his mask. "...you will become a missing-nin. Your name will appear in the Bingo Book. If you do not want that, I suggest that you-"

Sakura stands up from her position on the floor near Sasuke. With shadowed eyes, the pink-haired woman faces her soon to be ex- comrades. She opens her pretty mouth. Tears slide down her face. "I," she begins, screaming. Her panicked voice rises above the heavens, "am going to-!"

"-follow Sasuke and the Akatsuki until further notice," comes the weak, yet loud, voice of the young teen at her feet. "Sasuke-kun!"

Sakura gives him a look of utmost gratitude, one that urges him to continue. Thanks to the medical ninja, his wounds do not hurt as much now, and standing comes easy. He looks at his village's ninja and proclaim, "Sakura will stay by my side. Don't look for us. Don't follow us. Don't you dare try to track us down." The Uchiha grows more confident by the word, finally regaining his pride.

He glares at each of the visible ninja in turn, lingering particularly on the blonde. Naruto blinks, and a wicked smile comes onto his face. "So you don't want us to follow you so we don't intrude on any more of your little, um, moments, huh Sasuke?"

There goes his pride for the third time within the hour.

Sputtering over words, Sasuke scoffs. "J- Just don't f- follow u- us! G- Got it, stupid usuratonkachi?" Naruto doesn't even hear his words- he simply doubles over on the ground, laughing until tears. An embarrassed and angry blush slightly creeps onto Sasuke's pale cheeks. He turns on his heel and, carrying Sakura, runs.

*Basically, they kissed midair. Sasuke dived a bit deeper into his mouth than Naruto did. Sasuke had more momentum- he was sprinting, and had just came off from a branch, while Naruto was still in the air, about to land. Get it?

**One of his favorite foods are tomatoes!

SOOOO updating within a month. I am slowly getting better and better updating times. I am actually really happy with how it turned out, even though I feel like this is one of my more crappy chappys. HA. I ALMOST SKIPPED UPDATING THIS TO WORK ON INTENSE EMOTIONS. I HAVE SUCH HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR THAT STORY. We had to read Great Expectations for a class...didn't like it. O.O My mind is just everywhere today. And this is such a long ending Author's Note...anyways! R&R&F! Thanks for reading, see you in ch 5!