Hello! Back again for chapter 6! I'm so sorry, it's been ages! I know I said I'd update right away, but that didn't happen. I don't rly have an excuse…lack of motivation/inspiration…sorry…sigh…well here it is. :P Read and review plz! So again, I don't own Naruto *crying*…and here ve go!

Recap: He wasn't sure what had happened that night. Only that he had gone out to rid himself of strange, unwanted feelings, and came back with twice the number roaring over him like a truck. What was he going to do? He sighed again, and clapped his hands once. Soft, tinkling music filled the air with a sweet melody. A second time, and the curtains closed. He clapped one last time. The lights winked out. He didn't move. Gradually, lying there, he finally succumbed to sleep. Sakura's face was the last thing he saw.

Sasuke woke to the sound of someone trying – and failing - to be quiet in his room. He opened bleary eyes and sat up stiffly. His clothes were now stuck to him, crumpled and still a little damp. He looked around for the intruder, and spotted a short someone moving towards him. Sakura? No. 'Sasuke! There you are!'

'Good morning Mother.'

She spun over to the curtains and yanked them apart, filling the room with bright light. He squinted in pain and shaded his eyes against the glare. Clucking her tongue, she swept over to him, and eyed him critically.

'So you were in that storm last night I see? I did wonder. I was looking for you, you know. And I was so surprised when I realized you'd gone out…' He looked at her.

'If you must know Mother, I was feeling a bit stressed so I went out. I was caught in the rain but my phone was dead, and so I…found somewhere to stay until I could get back.' She looked relieved.

'Good good. I just thought…no, no. Of course you were fine.' She smiled and patted his hair. And with that, she turned and left the room.

Sasuke sighed, running his fingers through his hair as soon as the door closed. He was a little irritated. True, he had done some stupid things after Itachi had left with her, but that didn't mean that every time he went out he would come home more bruises than skin, or so drunk that he couldn't walk. He got to his feet, and shuffled to the bathroom unbuttoning his shirt as he went. Perhaps a shower would clear his head.

As he stood under the spray, his first thought of the morning sprang unbidden to his mind. Sakura. He wondered at himself. The last time she had entered his bedroom she had slapped him. However, the thought of waking up to her made him smile. He snorted suddenly. If being slapped like that is my idea of a pleasant wake up call, I must be turning into a regular masochist.

He twisted the water off, toweled dry, and padded into his room. Sasuke opened his wardrobe and surveyed the suits within distastefully. It was Saturday and he simply didn't feel like working. Instead, he chose black training pants and a blue muscle t-shirt, feeling strangely drawn to the color. Sasuke decided that he knew how he was going to spend his day. He retrieved a duffle bag from the top of the wardrobe and opened a wooden chest to its left, revealing all manner of weapons. When he had stuffed the bag to its limit, he flung the door open and strode purposefully out into the hall. He'd better find Naruto.

Twenty minutes later he was outside Naruto's apartment knocking hard. Silence. Sasuke bounced impatiently on the balls of his feet. Finally he rolled his eyes and muttered 'Screw this.' He tried the handle. The door swung open. Another eye roll. Surprise surprise. Naruto was going to get some unwanted visitors one day if he kept leaving his door unlocked. Sasuke stepped gingerly into the dark passage.

A loud grunting noise came from within the house. He followed the wall with his fingertips, entering the kitchen. The smell of rancid milk assailed him, and he covered his nose, gagging. Eventually he reached Naruto's bedroom.

He moved in cautiously, stubbing his toe on something warm and fleshy. He swore loudly. In the gloom, he realized he'd tripped on Naruto himself. He was at least six feet away from the bed, snoring like a foghorn. Sasuke slid his duffle bag off his shoulder and let it fall onto Naruto's stomach. No reaction. Sasuke was getting annoyed. This was his excuse for a best friend? He kicked Naruto. Naruto shot up mumbling 'I didn't eat your ramen!' Sasuke chuckled. Typical. (A/N: sorry M.V. XD)

Naruto smacked his lips loudly and wiped a strand of drool from his mouth. 'Sasuke?' he said, looking up. 'What are you-'

Sasuke thwacked him on the head. 'Get up dobe, we're gonna spar.' Naruto gave him an incredulous look and then stared at the clock. 'At 10:30 in the morning? It's so early! And you mean to tell me you're not working?' Sasuke glared at him.

'My next sentence will be very rude so I suggest you move. How did you even get onto the floor anyway? And is that a teddy bear?' Naruto rose slowly, scratching his head.

'Yeah it's a teddy bear. Sakura-chan won it for me.' He stuck his tongue out at Sasuke. 'And I'm…a violent sleeper.' Sasuke smirked.

'You sleep with it every night?'

'No! Not every night…' Sasuke burst out laughing, and flicked on the light.

'Alright dobe. You've got ten minutes and then I'm off.'

'Yeah yeah teme…how'd you even get in here anyway?' Sasuke just laughed louder and walked out.

He continued turning on lights and stopped in the kitchen. Stacks of dirty dishes were piled in the sink. He edged closer. The topmost one had an interesting shade of blue fuzz growing on some unidentifiable piece of what might have been something resembling food in another life. Dozens of empty instant ramen cups littered the table and counter. There was a pair of crumpled boxers covered in little ninja penguins in a heap near the table. Sasuke grinned. Even Naruto must get some from time to time.

Naruto finally emerged, dressed, from his room, blinking, like a bear coming from its cave after a long winter. He opened the fridge, took out a carton of milk and chugged. And then spat it all onto the floor.

'Bleargh!' he cried. 'When is the expiration date on this thing? Ah. Two years ago.' Sasuke retched in his mind, as Uchihas didn't show such vulgar expressions of disgust.

'Naruto, I would say that I would hire a maid for you, but one look at this mess would kill any person in their right mind.'

'You're not dead.'

'Who said I was in my right mind?' Naruto smiled.

'Ramen it is then.'

'Is that all you ever eat?'

'No! Sometimes I eat soba noodles instead.' Sasuke groaned.

'C'mon dobe, get your stuff. I want to get there before all the good fields are taken.'

'Alright alright. Pushy in and out of the office.' Sasuke muttered something very rude under his breath. Naruto held up his hands in mock surrender, tossed the milk to the side, picked up his own bag, and led the way out the apartment.

The two of them finally arrived at the sparring fields, after having stopped at Ichiraku's. Sasuke headed straight to field 17, Naruto close behind. He stopped and shook the contents of the bag onto the ground. Naruto did the same. After they had both finished arming themselves, they looked at each other, nodded, and flash-stepped to different parts of the field. Sasuke flattened himself against the ground, trying to sense Naruto's chakra signature. Nothing. He crept silently forward to the very edge of the brush that was concealing him. It gave him a 270 degree view of the open space of the field, a fact that he planned to use to his tactical advantage.

Suddenly he spotted a flash of orange. There! He could see maybe thirty Narutos spreading out, everywhere, trying to find his own chakra signature. He snorted in his head. Amateur. No way Naruto could find him if Sasuke didn't want him to. With a series of hand signs too fast to be followed, he leapt high into the tree above, landing nimbly on a middling branch. He inhaled, chest swelling. 'Katon: Gokakyuu no Justsu!'

A blistering wall of flame roared toward the clones, incinerating them as soon as it hit. He grinned. The real Naruto shot out of the trees barely out of reach of the fireball below him. Sasuke quickly threaded three shuriken with metal threads, and flung them with deadly accuracy to stick in a tree that placed the threads directly under Naruto. He held the ends in his hands and whispered 'Chidori Nagashi!' A blue stream of electricity immediately crackled along the lines from his fist, filling his ears with a sound like birds chattering.

Naruto rolled in the air and yelled 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!' Immediately two clones landed beneath him on the wires. He pushed off one of them. They absorbed the full brunt of the lethal current and POOFed! into identical clouds of nothingness. Naruto used his second jump to throw something downwards.

Suddenly roiling clouds of thick, black smoke obscured any view Sasuke had. He swore. He squinted into the smog…was that…? Naruto was racing along the wires at full speed, chakra from his feet striking sparks against the chidori still running from Sasuke's hands. Damn! Sasuke jerked backwards and up, shoving off the trunk of the tree into the canopy above. Naruto's head whipped up, easily spotting Sasuke against the green, now that he had moved.

He sent four kunai rocketing towards Sasuke, as Sasuke formed a blur of seals. The kunai hit first, but Sasuke repelled them with a series of kicks. 'Katon Housenka!' he shouted. Little bursts of flame catapulted at Naruto. He recoiled, only to be confused when the fiery spheres disappeared. Instead, shuriken, streaking tails of smoke took their place. Sasuke landed gracefully on the ground and watched Naruto drop suddenly, and grab the strings, pulling them down sharply with his weight. All of a sudden he let go, and somersaulted to the ground. They snapped back, hitting the shuriken dead on. They spiraled off, thudding to the ground. 'Nice one teme!' called Naruto.

Suddenly the tip of a kunai pressed into the small of his back. He stiffened. Naruto's voice said happily from behind, 'Got you!' Sasuke rolled his eyes, and in his place a log clattered to the ground. Naruto swore. Sasuke ran at Naruto from his new position making no sound until the split second before he attacked. Naruto back flipped, aiming a kick at Sasuke's stomach. Sasuke rolled away and charged again. The clash of kunai resounded throughout the field as the two men struggled against each other.

An hour later, sweat pouring off both of them, Naruto called a temporary truce. Sasuke signaled his agreement by dropping to the grass laughing. 'Does this mean I win dobe?'

'No chance teme!' said Naruto toppling over next to him. 'That was great. It's been too long.' Sasuke nodded, sighing.

'Very impressive Naruto, Uchiha-san!' hailed a familiar voice. Both of them turned. Sakura's pink hair shone a little way off as she walked to them. She was wearing long, tight black pants and a sleeveless purple shirt. 'Sakura-chan!' exclaimed Naruto, bouncing to his feet and bounding to her. Sasuke observed this, suddenly feeling embarrassed. Naruto spun her around in a hug from which she extricated herself, giggling. Sasuke got to his feet.

'Miss Haruno.' He said. She waved.

'I didn't know you were trained as a ninja Mr. Uchiha!' she said. He shrugged.

'I've been training since I was a child. And you Miss Haruno? Were you training?' She smiled and nodded. 'Yes actually. With Tenten. I've been training since I was little too.' Naruto, unhappy at being ignored, said loudly,

'Did you see me cream teme, Sakura-chan?'

'I'm not sure cream is the word Naruto…'

'What are you talking about! I totally had him beat!'

'Looked more to me like you were the one who called time out.'

'You were watching the fight, Miss Haruno?' Sasuke asked. She looked at him.

'I wouldn't even have known it was going on but then there was suddenly this massive fireball…kind of hard not to notice. So I checked it out.'

He began to scrutinize the grass in front of him. He was suddenly very aware of the sweat running down his face and staining his shirt. She had seen the whole thing? What did she think? Was...Wait what? Where did that come from? He was close to smacking himself before he remembered she was still there, watching. Naruto, again annoyed, protested 'I promise I was about to beat him Sakura-chan!' She grinned.

'Were you?'

'You bet! I could take anybody!'

'Oh? Could you take me?' she challenged.

'Watch it Naruto! She's a vicious bitch in a fight! Thanks to her, I now have more bruises than I get in a month of training!' declared Tenten approaching them. Naruto made a skeptical noise in his throat. 'I've gotten better! I'm sure I could beat Sakura-chan.' Sakura stepped forward, adjusting her gloves.

'I believe the gauntlet has been thrown down Tenten. Mr. Uchiha, I will return your…whatever he is in a box.'

That said, she slammed her fist down into the ground. A crater rippled along the earth in a circle, shockwaves knocking Naruto over.

'No fair Sakura-chan! I wasn't ready!' he whined, picking himself up. She simply smirked and darted forward in a blur. She was there before he could react, and punched him solidly in the stomach. His whole body collapsed inwards and he flew back a good fifty feet. He crumpled, moaning.

Showing no mercy, she dashed at him again, grabbed his arms and swung him in a circle, releasing at the last second. He soared, flailing wildly. She pushed off the ground, corkscrewing in the air until she was above him, straight up. Then she dropped like a stone, driving her feet into his back. A huge dust cloud enveloped them. It cleared slowly, revealing a new, even larger crater. Sakura's head appeared. She pulled herself up, over the edge of the hole, and strode over to them dusting her gloves.

Tenten whistled. She was standing beside Sasuke by this point. 'Fifteen seconds. Wow.' Sasuke simply stared at her, openmouthed. Sakura stopped in front of them. 'And that is how you crack a nut.' She declared. Sasuke could practically hear the shock written all over his face.

'Damn. This means I owe you how much? I thought he'd be able to last at least thirty seconds.' Tenten grumbled.

'You can buy me lunch.' Said Sakura. Sasuke finally managed to speak.

'Miss Haruno- That was…amazing. I've never seen anything like that! To take Naruto out so easily…I mean, he's an idiot but he's very strong…' Sasuke trailed off. Sakura went pink.

'Thank you Uchiha-san. I-I don't know what to say…' she too, stopped and looked away. Tenten looked at the two of them interestedly. She cleared her throat. 'Is Naruto alright?'

Sakura glanced at her hurriedly.

'Yes…he should be. I didn't hit him hard enough to do more than batter him a bit.'

'More like bruise his ego.' Tenten remarked pointing. Naruto was limping slowly in their direction. Sakura rushed over to help him, wrapping his arm around her neck.

'You didn't have to be so rough Sakura-chan…'

'You shouldn't challenge girls.' She retorted. He looked like he was about to cry.

'Sasuke-teme just saw me get beat by a girl…oh he'll never let me live this down.' Sakura jostled him roughly, saying 'What does it matter that I'm a girl? Sexist pig.'

'Sorry Sakura-chan.' When they had finally hobbled all the way, Sakura let him down gently. 'Anything need healing Naruto?' she asked.

'I think you broke every bone in my entire body.'

'If your thick head's okay, I'm sure the rest of you is too.' Naruto responded to this statement by flopping back and lying still. Tenten said solemnly, hand over her heart 'Sakura, thank you. I promise I will never, ever let him live this down.'

'I agree dobe.' Sasuke said.

Tenten studied Sakura. 'Now what about lunch?' she said. 'Mr. Uchiha? Naruto? Come with us?'

'Sure Tenten!' Naruto had already brightened at the thought of food, as he had had only had three bowls of ramen for breakfast. 'How about ramen?'

No one bothered to say anything. 'C'mon Sasuke! Let's go with them!' Naruto had jumped to his feet. Sasuke looked askance at Naruto.

'This coming from he who was groaning all over my shoes five seconds ago?' Naruto grinned bashfully as Tenten stifled a giggle. 'As for your invitation Tenten, I'm not sure we-'

'He agrees!' exclaimed Naruto. 'Lead the way!' And he jogged off ahead. The rest of them followed, exchanging knowing looks.

The waitress placed an absolutely enormous, steaming bowl of ramen in front of Naruto, who was sitting next to Sasuke. He rubbed his chopsticks together gleefully. 'Itadakimasu!' he cried. Sakura stared at him, exasperated. 'You didn't even look at what else they served!' she said, ignoring the loud slurping noises Naruto made as he practically inhaled the noodles. Within seconds, he was finished. 'Not as good as Ichiraku's but it has its merits.' Sakura gave up. She laughed, shaking her head. Tenten simply rolled her eyes.

'Excuse me!' she called to the waitress, who had walked away but quickly re-appeared at their table. 'One sukiyaki please.' The waitress nodded and scribbled on her notepad. 'Miss?' she asked, addressing Tenten. 'Um, shabu shabu please.' More scribbling.

'And you sir?' she said, looking at Sasuke, fluttering her eyelashes. Sasuke merely replied, 'Onigiri.' without looking up. She left, swinging her hips left and right. Tenten coughed, and giggled. 'What?' asked Sasuke, irritated. She lifted her hands in a placating gesture. 'Nothing, nothing.' He rolled his eyes and looked away, trying to tune out the noise Naruto was making.

He looked back at the table, wondering why he had let himself be pulled into this, and found his eyes drawn to Sakura. Instantly, questions flooded his mind. First, he had seen her in battle, now knew her to be a woman of incredible strength, and obviously a trained fighter. If she had those skills, then that night, why hadn't she simply fought off her attackers? They had been drunk and none too skilled themselves if he remembered correctly. And it wasn't as if she would simply hold back. Just look at that delivery man. Could the experience have changed her that much?

She caught his gaze suddenly, and reddened a little, dropping her head. He looked away as quickly as possible, trying to feign disinterest. He glanced at her again after a second. She was still focused on her knees. He suddenly felt Tenten's curious stare. She was looking from him to Sakura and back again. He flinched, and glared at Naruto. 'Dobe, must you make so much noise? Didn't someone ever teach you that slurping is rude?' Naruto looked at him, unfazed by his outburst. 'And didn't your mother ever teach you that interruptions are rude?'

Tenten and Sakura snickered. Sasuke opened his mouth to reply, when the waitress returned to their table. She smiled widely at Sasuke, and placed the plate of onigiri in front of him, bending unnecessarily low so that he would have a full view of her impressive cleavage. He nodded his thanks, ignoring her not-so-subtle flirtation.

Seemingly unperturbed, she straightened and placed the other two dishes in front of Sakura and Tenten with considerably less ceremony before marching off to her other duties, but not before she had winked outrageously at Sasuke.

The two girls were having great difficulty restraining their laughter. 'Looks like you have an admirer Uchiha-san.' said Tenten. 'You might want to watch that drink. She looked pretty serious.' Sasuke shot her a death glare, and she promptly shut up, still giggling. Naruto, who had been completely engrossed in his fourth bowl of ramen, and hadn't noticed the waitress, voiced his confusion.

This simply earned him a smack to the back of the head. Sakura shook her head at Naruto, and broke her chopsticks apart delicately. As she began to eat, she wondered why Sasuke had been staring at her so openly. She watched him surreptitiously, without raising her head. He was wearing a blue shirt, she noted. One that showed off his muscles. She wouldn't have guessed that he owned anything so bright, especially after having been through his wardrobe. Come to think of it, she had a shirt of exactly the same shade. Hadn't she been wearing it last night? She shrugged it off as coincidence. The rest of their lunch passed with comfortable banter going back and forth.

When Naruto finally declared himself satisfied, (or too full to move particularly well) the group rose from the table after the bill had been paid with good natured muttering by Tenten. Sasuke had found a phone number encircled by little hearts causing more laughter from the two kunoichi and Naruto as well. (He'd finally cottoned on, and was hurt that the waitress hadn't given him the same treatment.) They walked the same way for a bit, until Sakura reached her turn off. 'Well, this is me. Thanks for lunch Tenten.' Tenten smiled.

'No problem.' Silence stretched between them for a few seconds. 'Hey Naruto!' exclaimed Tenten suddenly. 'We have that thing that we have to go do. C'mon.' She grabbed his upper arm with a vice like grip, and dragged him away waving cheerily, ignoring his loud and vehement protestations. Sakura had put out a hand to stop her, but either she hadn't noticed or purposely left anyway. She thought wildly Oh no! I'm alone with him…It was ok while the other two were here, but what do I do now?

Almost as if he could hear her thoughts, Sasuke faced her, and cleared his throat. 'May I walk you home Miss Haruno?' he asked. Sakura stared, caught off guard. That had been unexpected.

'Um, y-yes. I suppose so. But isn't it in the opposite direction from your home? I don't want to inconvenience you.' Actually, I'm just afraid to be near you right now. She thought unhappily. 'Oh no, it's no trouble.' He said. He wanted to ask her all the questions that he'd thought of at lunch, but not in the presence of the others who knew nothing of the incident. He wasn't exactly sure how best to approach the subject though, and began to walk, deliberating. Sakura caught up with him after a few steps. There was quiet between them for a few minutes, until Sasuke said,

'I was very impressed by your skills earlier today Miss Haruno.' She looked up at him, a little surprised, but smiled anyway.

'Thank you sir. I was quite impressed myself. I didn't really see you as the ninja type.' He chortled softly. 'I was taught to fight from a very early age. In fact, I wanted to be a ninja, but my father died, and I had to take over the company. That was my first sparring match in…well, a very long time.'

He looked at the pink head bobbing next to him. 'And you Miss Haruno? Why are you the assistant to a businessman if you can fight like that?' She smiled ruefully. 'That, sir, is a long story.'

Sasuke studied her. That question had been a veiled one. He had been trying to get information about why she hadn't fought off her attackers. But apparently she wouldn't let herself get caught so easily. He scanned the buildings around them. They were almost there. He looked up at the clouds, scudding windswept across a clear blue sky, and then back at her. Oh screw it. He thought. I'll just tell her the truth. He stopped.

She stopped too, a few paces ahead, and looked at him questioningly. He ran a hand through his hair. 'Listen – Miss Haruno – Sakura…after seeing that display, I know you are very capable of fending off an attack. That night…why didn't you simply get rid of them?' She dropped her head immediately.

'I don't understand sir,' she said quietly. 'I thought you were just passing by. Why does it matter to you?' He winced.

'I-I lied earlier…' he explained, hurriedly, embarrassed. 'I had been out for a few drinks and I heard a scream…normally I would have ignored it, because, I mean screaming drunks aren't exactly uncommon…' he was aware that he was babbling, and tried to continue more coherently. 'Anyway, I could just tell that something was different, and then I saw what they were doing to you and…' he paused, examining her.

She had hunched her shoulders, withdrawing into herself, and was still staring at the ground, her face turned away. Her shoulders shook. Too late, he tried to repair the damage. He reached out to her. 'Are you alright? I apologize…I…'

'No.' she whispered. He started. 'You…lied to me?' There was a strange noise, and Sasuke realized she was laughing, albeit a little hysterically. 'No,' she said again, 'You have a right to wonder…after all, you did rescue me.' Her voice was odd, and sounded flat, without feeling.

She continued, still not meeting his eyes, sounding emotionless. 'I was training as a medic-nin. There was a large squad returning to the village that day with several serious injuries. By the time I left that night, I was completely exhausted and had I used up any more chakra I wouldn't have been able to move. I hadn't brought any soldier pills with me. No one would have heard me if I had called for help. I was useless…' Her whole body was shuddering; an awful contrast to her tone, which was still completely lifeless.

'Totally helpless…' she whispered. Sasuke stared, horrified at what he had made her tell him. She looked broken. A powerful urge to wrap his arms around her and tell her that it would be all right struck him, but he knew he couldn't…shouldn't touch her. Not now. Not like this. He struggled to speak 'I…I'm so sorry.' He mumbled, lamely.

She shook her head violently. 'It's alright.' she said. 'Thank you for taking me home sir.' She looked at him, and smiled, though he could see the pain in her eyes. He ignored the little voice telling him that he shouldn't, and moved forward, hugging her hard. She let out a little gasp of surprise. 'I'm so sorry.' He said to the air above her head. 'Please forgive me for bringing it up.'

She pulled away, and peered at his face. This time, when she smiled again, the pain had receded. She murmured her thanks once more, and went up the stairs to her door, leaving Sasuke standing in the street below with a strange ache in his chest.

Hello! I hope that was alright! please r&r! sorry about the fight scene…I'm kind of bad at describing them, but I think it worked out alright. and also, sorry that I made it turn serious all of a sudden. I promise the next chapter will be mostly funny. Lol. review review review please! They keep the chapters coming.:) Flames are also welcome. Until next chapter!