Author's Note: This is my newest chapter written this year. I think the writing has changed in these years. I hope so at least. But I hope the tone of the story doesn't change too much. IMPORTANT Author Note at bottom explaining why this is unbeta'd and how I'd like it to be :D

Chapter 7

"Ahhh," her patient said obediently sticking out his tongue.

Sakura peered into his mouth, knowing she was taking an unusual amount of time, but she was trying to exhibit self-control. There was no reason for her to glance at the clock again. She knew when she looked it was going to be 1:52, because it had been 1:51 the 51st time she looked at the clock since it hit one o'clock.

"Today has just been a long day," she reasoned. 'Yes, that's it, I just can't wait until my shift ends because I'm tired.' Inner Sakura smirked, and she gave her subconscious a swift punch that sent her flying thru the recesses of her mind before she said something about the real reason Sakura was anxious for 2 o'clock.

"Uhh Sakwah," her patient got out around the flat board pressing his tongue down. ""Is evything ahwight? Am ah sickh?"

Sakura pulled back guiltily. She couldn't stall in his mouth forever. Her traitorous eyes looked up at the clock. 1:53! She smiled in victory. 'Hah my trick worked. Just 7 more minutes to go now.'

Her patient was looking at her like she was crazy now, so she put on her best doctor face. "Everything's fine Henzo. You're my last patient of the day so you just get a little extra attention."

He perked up at that and she restrained herself from rolling her eyes. 'Men, so easy to distract.'

Looking one last time at the clock, she finished up her examination. At 1:59 she finished her last 2 tasks at breakneck speed.

She stepped back when she was done. "Again everything looks fine Henzo. One of the nurses will come in with your paperwork and you're free to go." After giving the dazed looking man one last dazzling smile she walked out the exam room.

She was trying to make it to her office to spruce herself up when she saw him rounding the corner. She smiled inwardly. She should have known he would have been early, it was technically going to be their first date. 'Wait— date,' her mind shrieked. 'Uh no it can't be a date just because I assume it's a date. I mean we kissed the night I cooked for him. He never actually asked me out. So what is this? Friend outing? What?' her mind considered all this.

"Ah Sakura! I thought you were going to be stuck with a patient. Trying to get you out of the hospital is always a pain, and I didn't want to waste a minute on our first date," he announced once he reached her.

And at that her mind went at ease. She didn't even have to worry. This was Naruto. There would be no typical guy behavior of playing it cool, leaving her second guessing everything he said from what he really meant.

Outwardly she rolled her eyes. "You can't just assume it's a date," she huffed. "You have to ask me beforehand, what if I had took an extra shift?"

He grinned knowingly, and she knew she didn't fool him. It didn't matter, she knew he would get her. That's what she loved most about Naruto. Besides she was the one who told him what time she got off.

"I would have created a diversion and helped you escape or smooth-talked one of the nurses," he said smugly. The look of horror on his face that followed showed he realized how that sounded.

Sakura lifted one of her brows, "Really then? You would smooth-talk another woman before our date?"

He cleared his throat and shifted guiltily. "It'd have been for a good cause. You know you're the only one for me. You don't have to be jealous," he pleaded.

At that she couldn't hold back her snort. "Don't worry Naruto I'm not jealous. I know all too well how you flirt your way into finding out my schedule." Naruto was the object of many a woman affection in Konoha, and she had to put up with a lot of her coworkers chatting about him, and using his words, his 'smooth talking" skills. "And actually how did you know what room I was working in?"

He put an arm around her shoulders and started steering her towards the exit. "A gentleman never kisses and tell."

She tried and failed to hide her smile. "Don't you feel even a little bit ashamed, Naruto? You just admitted to your girlfriend you flirt to other woman."

He faltered in his steps and looked at her in shock. "Girlfriend?!"

She paused too. 'Oh no. What did I just say? Is that wrong? Ino is right, I'm so hopeless in these types of situations.' "Uh...well." 'Wait a minute,' she thought, 'Why am I acting so hopeless? Does he think I'd just let him kiss me and date me without being his girlfriend?' "Did I overestimate your intelligence by thinking you'd know that's what I meant when I said I'd be yours," she asked dryly.

He just kept looking at her and then his amazed look fell and he smiled. "No I knew exactly what you meant. I just never connected it, I suppose. That's right. Sakura is my girlfriend."

She decided he looked a little too pleased with himself, but since his face was reflecting what she felt inside, she decided to let it pass.

"Which means this is a date," he continued.

She sighed. He was equally the smartest and the most stupidest person she knew. "Yes, I guess so," she admitted reluctantly. "So if we're going to go eat ramen can we at least go to a different stand." She started to keep walking but when he didn't move with her, she looked over to him expectantly.

His eyes twinkled with mischief. "Ha! I knew you thought we were going to go eat ramen." He put a sorrowful look on his face. "You think I"m so unromantic I'd let our first date be a ramen stand."

"Yes," she responded without hesitation, "I do."

He grabbed his chest. "Ouch you wound me." Yanking her closer to his side he said, "For that I'm not telling you. It's a surprise."

"Oh no," she said fervently. "Oh no!" Naruto was full of surprises as a person and a ninja even when he didn't plan it. Now if he planned a surprise..all it lead to was-

"Don't worry it won't be a disaster." he finished for her.

She did her best to wipe the worried look off of her face. "Now Naruto I know you mean well with all of your surprises. But remember your surprise to Konohamaru for becoming a chuunin? And your surprise for Gaara when he visited that almost caused all of us to be buried alive," her voice rose with each declaration.

"Hey! They turned out alright in the end," he objected.

She stared at him. "Naruto, there are still people in therapy from you and Konohamaru's actions!"

"Yeah, yeah. But this is nothing like that. I guarantee you'll enjoy it. You doubt my Casanova skills?"

She sighed, and leaned into his side. "Fine Casanova, I'll trust you."

He squoze her again and started dragging her along. "Awesome!"

"I did just update my emergency contact info so I should be good," she said in all seriousness. But he was too excited to hear anything she just said. So she resigned herself to her fate.

On her way out the door she signaled one of her aides to sign her out and waved goodbye to everyone. She was puzzled as to why no one was looking at her and Naruto with interest. Gossipers and busy-bodies were legendary here and rivaled Ino's rumor mill. But then she realized that it was common for her to be seen with Naruto.

She bit her lip and shifted her gaze towards him. 'That means I get to have him to myself for awhile.' But then she got an image of Naruto standing on top of Hokage mountain declaring that Sakura Haruno was his girlfriend. She snickered.

He cocked his head down at her. "What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing," she shook her head. It was something that she wouldn't put pass Naruto of doing, so she definitely didn't want to implant the idea in his head.

"What? Keeping secrets from me already?" He pouted his bottom lip out.

She decided to cave in and tell him.. It wasn't because he looked adorable, but because no grown man should go around making faces like that she told herself. "Fine. If you must know I was just thinking of the ways that we could tell people we're dating." She purposely emphasized the we so that he would get the point it's something they should do together, not some crazy idea of his.

He looked thoughtfully at her. "Hmm...well when you told me you were my girlfriend, my first thought was to send out the postcards I purchased some years back. I always knew you would give into my charms."

"Oh really," she scoffed playing along with his joke. But then she breathed in relief. "Well actually that's not so bad."

"Ha ha, I bet you were thinking I was going to do something ridiculous like stand on top of the Hokage Mountain and tell everyone we're dating."

She smiled wryly. "Actually yes I was."

He threw back his head and laughed. "Oh that would have been priceless. Worth getting socked by you."

"As much as you like to rile me up Naruto, I think you like the abuse."

He shrugged in feign innocence. "I think you like to abuse. It's win-win."

That took her by surprise and she giggled. And then she whacked him with her arm.

"Ooof," he cried out. "But you can go easy on the love taps Sakura," he said rubbing his arm. She never pulled any punches.

She imitated his shrug. "Like you said it's win-win." She looked around and noticed they were going in the opposite way of her apartment. "Um—Naruto. Weren't we going to stop at my place first?"

"Huh," he asked confused. "Why'd you think that?"

She looked pointedly at herself. "I'm wearing work clothes! You should know that a woman likes to dress nice for a date, Mr. Casanova."

He still looked perplexed. "What are you talking about? You look like you always look."

Her eye ticked. "Not exactly what I want to hear, but exactly. You know? Brush my hair, lip-gloss, change my shoes. Like normal people do for dates." She was wearing a modest black skirt and a green shirt, something professional and comfortable enough for work.

He rolled his eyes. "Oh..all the extra girly things. You don't need all that stuff. You're naturally beautiful."

The casual way the words rolled off his tongue warmed her, but of course this being Naruto he always continued and ruined it.

"Unlike Sasuke. Did you know he actually spends fifteen minutes every morning doing his hair and moisturizing his face?! Fifteen minutes primping. I don't know what girls see in him." He shot her a look.

She raised a brow. "What are you looking at me like that for like I'm his fan girl? I know all too well how long he spends. It's actually sad that he spends more time than me and I'm the girl." She looked put out.

"Exactly," Naruto exclaimed. "You just wake up looking perfect. You roll out of the bed looking like a goddess."

She looked at him like he sprouted three heads. "Uh—Naruto? Have you picked up any strange new berries from the forest again? You're talking nonsense! You've seen what my hair does in the morning! Do you not remember all my rants growing up that it's unfair how beautiful you two look in the morning?"

He grinned, "Of course not. But I had to keep you distracted until we got to our destination."

"Naruto," she said in warning and looked up. "Why are we on the south side of Konoha. There's not much over here. Um-I just want to know one thing. Will there be anything jumping out at me? You know I don't react well to surprises." By not well she meant she attacked whatever came at her. It was instructed in Konoha Academy now to never suddenly approach Sakura-sensei without her knowledge. Poor Ruka.

"Nope! We're going to Fuyuama."

Sakura was taken aback. "Huh? How'd you get reservations there? It's like a four month reservation list."

"Oh yeah. The owner said I can come in anytime on the house. I just never got around to it," he said.

"Wow. Are you sure you can go anytime. I mean, have you at least called in." she asked.

He shook his head. "No, didn't think of that. I don't think it's necessary though. Oh look there it is."

Not too far north of them was a small red building with a wind and fire symbol on the glass. The place had only been here for just over a year and it was insanely popular. Apparently the owner was a famous chef from Wind Country and had taken up refuge here. Sakura had heard that the food was amazing but she rarely knew her schedule a week in advance so she never bothered making a reservation.

"How'd you get the owner to agree to that," she asked curious.

"Oh. I was on the mission in a Wind village and part of the team that went to stop a rogue rebellion and we rescued him and his daughter. He comes from a pure civilian line. His wife was killed during the fighting, and he said he couldn't live in his village anymore. I worked it out with Tsunade and he was allowed to come here andset up a restaurant," he told her.

He made it all sound so simple. But Sakura knew with Naruto it was anything but. It was not easy to gain citizenship to Konoha , so who knew what he had put at stake to bring him here. Naruto loved his Village with every fiber of his being, but he also loved everyone who needed to be saved, even if from themselves, like with Sasuke.

"You're the most amazing person I know Naruto," she said and she meant it. "Actually I think you're my favorite person in the world," she said and seemed surprised at it herself. But he was. Even without the new confusing feelings he was causing, he had been for quite some time.

They had reached the front door and paused to look at each other. It was becoming an almost embarrassing habit of theirs. After a moment she averted her gaze her cheeks slightly pink. "I mean that in a platonic way of course."

"Of course," he parroted not bothering to conceal the amusement in his voice. But then he dropped his arm from around her shoulder. She looked back at him and he reached down to grab her hand. "Let's go eat."

She looked down at their hands and nodded. He was really determined to not give her a moment to think was he? But she wrapped her fingers around his and walked in with him.

"Oh wow," she couldn't help but let fall out of her mouth. It was beautiful in here. She looked around in amazement. All she saw was several soft hues of blue and white. All the chair backs were designed to look a gust of wind. It shouldn't have been ergonomically possible but there were several people sitting in them. In fact she didn't see an empty seat left. The round tables were swirls of fire in red and orange.

"He decorated it after Wind and Fire Village," Sakura leaned in to whisper to Naruto. Oddly he had a somber look on his face.

"Did you know my Mother was from Wind Country?" he suddenly asked.

"I think I heard Tsunade remark about it. But...you can tell me about it," she squeezed his hand in encouragement.

He squeezed back and said, "Yeah. I know I can." But he said nothing more on the subject. She didn't press it. Naruto was so willing to listen to what was on other people's hearts but he rarely talked about his troubles unless it could help the person he was imparting it to. It was odd how he was very open with his emotions at times, yet not very forthcoming at others. He wanted everyone he loved to be happy, so he rarely put his concerns on them. Which meant any minute he was going to say something stupid.

"And also my father was the Third! It was a huge scandal. Who knew the old dog had it in him?" He waggled his brows.

"Really? I thought you told me your real father was Kakashi," she humored him.

"Nah, turned out he was lying to me. Didn't want to bring shame to the Third's great name."

Before she could retort to his crazy claims a girl in a blue and red uniform came up to them. "Hello, welcome to Fuyuama. What's the name on your reservation?"

"Uzumaki!" Naruto called out with his usual unnecessary enthusiasm.

The girl looked over the list. "There isn't any Uzu—oh wait!" She looked up in excitement and tossed her blonde hair over shoulder and gave Naruto a big smile. "The boss gave us special instructions for you. He said you're his VIP no reservation needed." She looked over at Sakura. "Is she with you?" Some of her zest seemed to fall.

Sakura looked at the girl, looked down at her hands, girl, hands. "No. I just grabbed his hand as he was walking in."

"Well, we're already booked for several months," the hostess said shooting her a dirty look. "And the boss gave special allowance for Uzumaki, not" she looked Sakura up and down, "you."

Naruto must have noticed Sakura's temper rising because he reached out with his other hand for hers so both of her hands were restrained. "I understand, but I can't part from her. Can't you make an allowance just this once? I think Amano-san told me I could bring plus one," he looked at the hostess with his pleading blue eyes.

Sakura hands balled into a fist under his and she was about to give the host a piece of her mind, or fist when they were interrupted by a cheery voice.

"Naruto!" They both looked up to see a middle-aged man with an enormous red chef on his head and a matching red apron.

"Amano-san!" Naruto cried out. Then they both did the lame man hug which Naruto always managed to make uncomfortable with his over enthusiastic straying hands but the man returned it with equal fervor.

'Dear lord,' she thought, 'that almost explains why Naruto brought him here and the decorations in this place. He's just like him.'

Amano turned to her with literally sparkling light blue eyes. "Ah and who is this pretty young lady? Cheating on your future bride?"

Naruto coughed, "Um-well. Sakura is my girlfriend."

The man's face fell. "Naruto you disappoint me. You told me you were in love with this girl. And you'd never settle for anyone else. I believed in you because of the tales of your great love! You spent hours, hours talking about her! And you just gave up and in to youthful passions."

'No, he's worse,' she continued thinking. 'He must be a freak mixture of Naruto and Lee' She just barely contained her shudder.

Naruto coughed again, no way indiscreet to get the man to stop talking.

It amused Sakura seeing Naruto so uncomfortable so she put on her best hurt expression. "S-since when Naruto? I thought you loved me. You told me that I was the only one for you. Were those lies? Is that what you tell all the girls? Do you bring them all here too?"

Naruto scowled at her. "Now Sakura."

She rubbed her eyes at fake tears. "I was thinking of names for our future children. Sashimi, Ringo, Orenji," she named off random items.

Amano-san looked crestfallen. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way, innocent maiden. But better now than never. Youthful love is so hard these days." And he wiped away a real tear.

Naruto must have had enough because he exclaimed, "Amano-san! This is the girl I was talking about." He continued under his breath, "Can you not take a hint. I coughed. Coughed! That's code for stop talking."

Amano did a complete 180 and beamed again, this time his teeth matching his eye sparkle. "You did it Naruto! I'm so happy for you." He then suddenly put his head on Naruto shoulder and started sobbing out, "I can now believe in love again."

Naruto patted Amano awkwardly on his back. "There, there?"

After clearing his throat Amano straightened up. "Ahem. To celebrate the union of these two lovebirds tonight the meal is on the house. And after you eat you are free to use the upstairs apartment as a way to consummate your love," he said in ardor.

"This is our first date," Naruto managed to get out. At that point Sakura was incapable of saying anything.

Sakura had to blink to clear the bright lights shooting from Amano's eyes. "Ah! More special. Shall you need two nights then?"

Naruto was able to cope with surprises better than her, so he recovered quicker than her. It was never good to mess with Naruto, he was the self-proclaimed prank king of Konoha. He looked at her mischievously with matching Amano shine. "What you think Sakura? Is two enough?"

"No," she almost shouted.

Amano looked scandalized. "I forget the youth these days. Alright you can have it for a week."

"No that's not what I meant," she cried. "I mean we don't need the room. We don't need to be anywhere private for-" she fished for the word he used, "consummation." She didn't understand why Naruto laughed until Amano spoke.

Amano looked scandalized. "Erm. I am normally a very accepting man, but I don't think my customers are such."

She looked confused for a moment and then she turned beet red. "That's not what I meant. I meant— "

Naruto cut her off, "Sorry Amano-san. We'll behave. Sakura is just adventurous. I told you she was the best woman in the world."

The gleam in Amano's eyes made Sakura want to take a shower. "I really do see now." He snapped his fingers. "Come now. I shall be the one who leads you to your tables. You are my VIPs, anytime you two lovebirds want to come. And the room upstairs will always be free to you too."

"Thanks Amano-san, you're probably going to become my favorite restaurant in town."

Naruto looked at Sakura expectantly and she begrudgingly said, "-Thanks."

Amano sat them at a table near the bar. Somehow the place managed to go overboard without being tacky. And she was surprised to note the wind seats were actually comfortable and felt like she was sitting on a cloud. 'I guess a Naruto-Gai mix something like this is possible,' she thought upgrading his status to a more horrifying level.

"I'll give you two a moment," Amano announced and Sakura swore she saw actually wind gusts follow his as he departed.

"I bet you thought he was perfect for Konoha," Sakura muttered and turned to give Naruto a dark look.

"Isn't he? And so nice." He leaned back in his seat and got in his usual position of one arm behind his head. "I mean he offered us the room, anytime." Naruto waggled his brows.

Sakura snorted. "You're welcome to take him up on his offer." He actually had the nerve to look hopeful. "Alone," she added and his face fell.

He chuckled. "It'd be amazing if he was related to my Mother." He tilted his chair back to look up at the ceiling. "Apparently, the crazy gene is genetic."

"So you just got your Dad's looks huh? You sure Amano isn't your real Dad?" she giggled.

"Nah, my Dad was better looking," he surprised her by saying. "I can't wait till the day my face is chiseled next to his, and people will look up and go Wow, Konoha had some hot Hokage's."

"Hrm, yeah the the Third was hot," she commented.

He came back down and pointed at himself. "Hey-he's not as good-looking as me. The son has surpassed the father. Even that Fourth guy is going to pale in comparison to me."

"Uh-huh. That Fourth guy. Don't you have a shrine in your closet for him?" She raised her arms to lean on her hands and leaned towards him.

"Nah, I tossed it a few years back, and built one for you," he said. He reached out to grab a hand and smiled at her. "I guess all those animal sacrifices towards it worked."

She smiled back. "I guess so." He rubbed his thumb over her palm.

"I wonder if I make a few more you'll go up to that room with me," he grinned wickedly.

She snatched her hand back. "Is that all you think about?"

"Let's just say that in private you're safe, but I'll never view you the same in public again," he said seriously.

Despite herself Sakura found herself laughing with him. Their server then came up and Sakura realized they did nothing but practically stare into each other eyes and coo-coo at each other like idiots instead of picking something to eat.

"I'm sorry we're not ready yet. Can we get a few more minutes," Sakura asked.

"Sure," the server smiled, and actually winked at Naruto.

"One of your many paramours, huh," Sakura asked dryly.

"Still not even a little bit jealous," he asked.

She searched within herself. And then she searched deeper. Then deeper. After several minutes of honest soul-searching she answered, "Nope. I really am not."

"What about the hostess?"

"That wasn't jealously, that was pure murderous intent," she said with a smile on her face.

"So scary," Naruto shuddered.

"You know you love it. The whole win-win thing right." And then she winked at him.

She took a sip of the water the server had left them while he gaped at her. "I think it's really fun to be dating you Casanova."

At that he looked up towards the second floor with a hopeful look on his face which made Sakura choke on her water. At his concerned expression she held up a hand to tell him that she was alright, she just needed a minute. This...she couldn't imagine this with Sasuke. Sasuke was the only other person she had ever felt for, so she could only compare to him. But she didn't think she could imagine this with anyone.

Continuing their roundabout conversation she commented, "You know I may think the Fourth is hot, but you're the one I like. You're the one I care for."

His eyes darkened and then she felt her chair being yanked towards him. She didn't even see him move! "Is that so?" He stoked his chin thoughtfully. "You like me and I like you. And we're on a date. I like where this is going. And you know where this is going right?"

"Not upstairs" she retorted.

He placed a hand under her chin. "No. I know you like an audience." Before she could object he cupped her face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers. She sighed into his mouth in contentment as he moved his lips slowly over hers. She opened her lips to let him in. She raised her hand to rest on his shoulder and he dragged one hand down to her waist and pulled her gently towards him. He deepened the kiss which made her breath quicken. It was overwhelming. His lips, his scent, his hands, just Naruto.

She couldn't help but let a small moan form in her throat, and she felt Naruto smile against her.

"Gasp!" Someone said audibly.

"Holy crap!" Sakura shot up and pulled back. She looked up to see Amano. "Um-this isn't what it looks like."

He cleared his throat. "No worries. I can handle this with discretion." He reached in his pockets and pulled out a set of keys. He looked to his right and left, which oddly enough, no one was paying attention to them. "Go now while no one is watching."

Sakura found herself blushing again. "Sorry Amano-san. We haven't even ordered yet."

He nodded in understanding. "Oh of course." He slid the key on the table. "This is a spare. Keep it. The apartment is never occupied so use it whenever you want."

"Oh that isn't necessary— " she started but Naruto snatched the key up.

"Thanks Amano-san!"

Amano looked quite proud of himself. He sniffed. "Oh to be in love with a sexual appetite" He wiped his tears. "Excuse me it's too much for me." He flurried off.

When he left Sakura shot Naruto a dirty look. "Are you starting a key collection or something? I can't imagine what else you need the key for."

He grinned at her. "Hey, you never know. It could come in handy someday."

She wanted to responded with something witty, but then she remembered her reaction to him when he kissed her. So she just snorted and swirled her straw around.

"Let's just say for now say that's highly...improbable." She smiled secretly into her cup.

AN: My beta is REALLY busy now and I understand because I know all to well about balancing school and work, etc but I'm not doing both now :) YAY! But I do need a new beta, at least for now. She was a perfect imagination beta and if you know that site it was for amazing betas where you had to pass a test to qualify. I have the next few chapters written I just need a critical eye other than my blind one looking over it. Thanks!