A/N: I really have no excuse as to why this chapter is over three months late .; So instead I'll just state that this chapter is the introduction of Naruto into the story. Yes, his situations and Sakura's will meet at one final point, so imagine it as two lines going straight for each other and about to collide, yes?

Also, some of you might get confused during the 'Sakura talks to the elders about mumbo-jumbo.' part of the chapter, that'll be explained at the end :D Yes, the Kimura clan's true intentions will be revealed next chapter, though the next chapter will be bittersweet, which will also be explained at the end.

As some have asked, (after threatening me with weapons if I didn't update soon XD), I'm not entirely sure how long this story will be, I just know how I'm going to end it. So just bear with me until we get closer towards the end no? Also, There will be grammar and spelling mistakes everywhere, I apologize now.

That's it for now, and if any of you care I am working on the next chapter as we speak. (Yes, I'm forcing my EPS to seize and let me finish one chapter without a three month gap in between lol.)

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine.

" You can't change what you have started,
but you can change the direction you are going.
It's not what you are going to do,
but it's what you're doing now that counts."

-Unknown


He really didn't feel comfortable coming back here, let alone with the emotions running through his head as he approached the empty patch of burnt grass in the middle of the forest.

His blue eyes scan the area, and his mouth forms a tight line. His brows crease turning his expression into one of self-loathing and self-reproach.

His fist makes contact with the bark of a tree, and he clenches his teeth together, holding in a growl.

"Damn it! I should have been able to do more." He spits out, his other hand coming to ardently scratch the back of his blond head.

Flashes of a young woman with pink hair running towards him, her hand outstretched, trying to reach him, her eyes widening as a blue light engulfs her, and she's gone, all buzz through his head and he shakes it off with a grunt.

No, he's had these godforsaken visions since she's gone missing for nearly two months. Now was not the time to wander back into his failure, how he failed to protect the one most important to him.

'Sakura-chan…'

His eyes look back up at the empty patch of forest with a fire of determination glinting within their blue depths. He was going to find her, no matter how long it took, or what may lie ahead in order for him to get there. Even if meant doing it without baa-chan, or Kakashi-sensei giving their support, he'll find her.

He's the only one who still believes that she's alive out there somewhere, she was depending on him, and hell would freeze over first before he'd let her down.

Naruto walks over part of the patch of forest where they had last seen Sakura before she disappeared. His blue eyes looking for anything the damn Anbu may have over-looked.

He's surprised to find that a lot of the scratch and skit marks left from their shoes and hands still remain on the dirt. He bends down to see if there's anything he could use or could help lead to Sakura's whereabouts. When he finds nothing, he stands back up, scratches his head and goes on to another battle-scarred part of the forest to investigate that.

The young shinobi is nearing the option of pulling his blond hair out when an hour goes by and he finds nothing at all that could help on his quest. Naruto collapses against a tree and wipes the sweat off his brow. He looks up at the mid-afternoon sun and wishes this could be easier than it is.

"Fuckin' bastards, I guess they weren't kidding when they told baa-chan they've checked out this place clean."

He mumbles to himself, and wonders how long he has before baa-chan's Anbu track him down to this part of the forest.

He closes his eyes to try and relax his agitated nerves and tries to remember how Sakura handled situations where investigative thinking was essential. This thought brings a rather nostalgic memory to the young blond man and he lets out a weak laugh as his mind wanders off.

--

"Naruto, here's a question for you." Naruto looks up to see bright curious green eyes staring at him. Naruto swallows the lump of ramen in his throat and nervously replies.

"Ah, yea. Shoot, Sakura-chan."

Sakura contemplates for a moment, her eyes turning away to look at the dry paint of the Ichiraku wall. She puts a finger to her lip and taps it for good measure. She then smiles and nods before turning to look at Naruto again.

"What would you do if I suddenly disappeared in a mission where it was top priority for us to figure out some secret code, or the person we're after left us some puzzle that needs to be solved?"

Her question was innocent enough for the previous conversations they've had before so he replied. "Aw, come on Sakura-chan! You're too strong to even let them get a hand on you, besides you're the brain of our team, you'd have it solved before anything got way out of hand."

Sakura pouts at this, and pulls on his ear before speaking. "I'm being serious Naruto! I'm not some invincible goliath of strength, even I'll fumble up somehow, and I gotta make sure you can at least handle yourself if I'm not there."

Naruto blushes as she crosses her arms on her chest and glares at him. Was she…worried about him?

"Um…well…"He looks down at his bowl of ramen, his thoughts troubling him deeply. Since when had this occurred, this feeling inside of him that believes Sakura will always be by his side. Almost like second-nature he'd imagined Sakura always next to him in battle. He couldn't even imagine a world without Sakura-chan.

He looks over to see Sakura growing more impatient at his silence, and a sad smile appears on his lips.

"I…never imagined you not being there Sakura-chan. If I got the snot beaten out of me I sort of expected you to help me back up and beat me some more for letting myself get hurt like that. Or if I couldn't figure out a way to the enemy, I always imagined you'd pull on my ear and yell at me for being stupid but then telling exactly what to do to get our mission done."

Sakura stares at him with a surprised look, her lips parted open and her cheeks growing pink.

"I really can't imagine you not there Sakura-chan!" He grins, his chopsticks pointed high in the air. "I suppose though, if something were to happen like that, I'd be…what would Sakura do?"

Naruto winces as he feels a hand smack the back of his head, and then the same hand grabbing his arm gently.

"Wrong answer you idiot, but…thanks." Sakura smiles up at him and gives him a thumbs up.

Naruto grins and nods, another blush gracing his whiskered face. "Yea."

--

Naruto opens his blue eyes to look up the trees as their leaves swayed with the breeze that's blowing by. The memory eases his tension a bit, and he wonders if Sakura knew this was going to happen to her.

'No wonder she was asking me crap like that, she knew that it was getting more dangerous out here, I was just too dumb to notice.'

The blond shinobi sighs and leaps up from the ground preparing to leave. "I can already sense those Anbu, baa-chan's probably going to yell at me for leaving again." He stretches his arms out, his eyes looking over the ground just to make an absolute certainty that there was nothing here that could lead him to Sakura.

"Guess not." He grimaces. "Doesn't matter, if there's nothing here then we gotta track down the bastards who did that to her. I'll convince baa-chan for sure this time!"

A fiercer wind blows through the forest, causing a stray piece of paper hidden within a group of thorn bushes to tear from its confinement and flutter with the strong breeze.

Naruto jumps on one of the tree's side branches, trying to see where he could meet with the fast approaching Anbu.

He lets out a yelp when something hits the back of his head. He twirls around and is smacked by a nearly torn in half piece of paper. He grabs the paper and glares at it preparing to throw it on the branch and stomping on it.

Something catches his eyes though and he takes a closer look at the torn paper. Messy handwriting covers the dirty parchment, and Naruto has to narrow his blue eyes to try and read some of the words.

He ignores the rustling of the tree branches above him where the Anbu have already landed. He remains concentrated on the paper and his eyes become quizzical when two words stick out among the smudged ink.

"Time…jutsu…"

"Naruto-san…"

The young man looks up to see a dragon mask staring back down at him.

"Hey…Dragon-san." Naruto mumbles, his eyes never leaving the paper.

"Naruto-san?"

"We better hurry to baa-chan, cause I found something that's gonna help us find Sakura-chan!" Naruto grins up at the Anbu, his blue eyes blazing with renewed determination.

--

The tension in the small apartment is momentarily stopped when Sakura releases a set of sneezes, earning her worried glances from Kakashi and the Hokage.

"Honestly, Danzo. Can't this wait until the girl is better? Look at her she's practically sneezing out her lungs! She's in no condition to be…"

Danzo silences the Hokage with a stern shake of his head.

"Look, I can see you feel sympathy for the girl, but we've already arrived and she's already agreed so no more distractions Saratobi."

"Danzo…"

"It's all right Hokage-sama." Sakura interjects, the Hokage giving her another worried glance. "I'd rather get this over with now then letting Danzo think I'm some type of criminal."

This earns her a scowl from the man, but she ignores the man and sits comfortably on the couch, Kakashi and Itachi on either side of her, ready to help her if her illness gets the best of her.

The female elder nods and is the first to speak up. "From the reports we received from both your Anbu guards, it appears the three of you had a rather rough scuffle with specific Kimura clan members, am I correct?"

Sakura nods, thanking Kakashi for the blanket placed around her shoulders before continuing. "Yes. I'm not sure who the two were that attacked Kakashi-sensei and Itachi-san were since I was in the cave during the whole ordeal."

Danzo's eye lights up at the mention of the cave and he picks up the interrogation.

"The cave Haruno? Odd, in the reports your two Anbu guards rarely mentioned the cave other than the fact that you were attacked by the Kimura clan leader." His frown deepens as he notices Sakura slowly tense. "Tell me, are you finally allowing us the privilege to hear what it is exactly that went on in there?"

The two elders give a stern glance at Danzo before returning their attention to the pink-haired girl in front of them. Even the Hokage gives Sakura a stern look, knowing that this was the information even he wished to hear.

Sakura doesn't reply at first, her cloudy green eyes looking down at the blanket wrapped around her. She gets a coughing fit, and Kakashi quickly gets up to get her some tea as Itachi pats her back gently to ease the fit away.

Inside, Sakura is having a mental turmoil.

'What should I say? If I tell them everything that Masahiro told me, he could strip away my only chance of getting home, or they could see it as a threat and get rid of them before I can confirm whether what he told me or not is valid.'

"Sakura?"

The voice of Kakashi brings her back from her thoughts and Sakura tries to smile as she accepts the tea from the Anbu. She finally notices the four sets of eyes staring at her from across the room, and the emotions filtering through in her direction cause a chill to run down her spine.

She took too long to answer the questions Danzo threw at her. Even the Hokage was eyeing her with a glint of suspicion in his tired brown eyes. She looks down at the cup tea and grips the cup tighter.

She knew what she had to do; she couldn't jeopardize them at this point, even if they could help, she didn't trust Masahiro. If what he told her in that cave proves true, then she can leave without disrupting the past, and they can be secure knowing that nothing would harm them. If his statements prove false, then she alone would pay the price, she wouldn't let other important people to her village fall for her own incapability to find a way home.

She looks back up, a new glint of determination appearing in her cloudy green eyes. 'My mind may be fogged down due to this damn fever, but even I know that if Masahiro is a threat, he'll most certainly be after me. They can't be involved.'

"I did encounter him. It seems he's a pretty desperate man. He first revealed to me that my transportation to this specific time period was a complete and total accident."

The elders, Danzo, and the Hokage both let a surprised expression appear on their faces. So the Kimura clan had no evil intent towards Sakura after all?

"This makes no sense Sakura. Why would they be after you so diligently and violently if your arrival here was an accident on their part?" The Hokage questions her as Sakura sips some of her tea.

"I asked the same thing. It appears they were under the suspicion that I had decided to report them to all of you. Tell all of you that the Kimura clan was here with a time jutsu that could prove hazardous to the entire village."

"In other words, they thought you had ratted them out, and were trying to silence you?" The male elder spoke, understanding a bit of the situation now.

The young woman nods. "Yes, after he told me that, I cautiously replied that I had no recollection of what happened to me before I was sent through time with that jutsu, that even if I wanted to speak about them I couldn't."

"That's all well and good Haruno, but you came out of that cave extremely shaken up, just as Kakashi and Itachi had reported, what occurred to make you react so?" Danzo ask, the suspicion still in his voice.

Sakura gave him a blank look before sighing. "I hope you understand what I'm about to say cannot leave this room, and if it so happens you'll be jeopardizing this entire village."

At her words, everyone in the room grew quiet and still, the tension only thickening the air even more. All six people nodded for her to continue and waited for her to speak.

"He was asking me to help him recreate another time jutsu, only more efficient and one that would require less manpower." Sakura watched with a bittersweet relief as the group of six tensed further, believing in her false words.

'If only they knew that this is a complete lie, he just wants to send me home, so he can test out his new time jutsu. The jutsu I'm speaking of already exists.'

"He asked you? Are you sure?" The Hokage pondered, finding it strange that a clan leader would ask for the assistance of a young woman still not fully recovered from her first ordeal with the jutsu.

"Yes, it was more begging and groveling though. The man looked desperate, he wanted to really make this jutsu his own, so much so he confessed to me he was willing to sacrifice the people that traveled with him in order to execute the jutsu correctly."

At this bit of information, Danzo tensed and forcefully pushed down his staff hard against the floor.

"You're telling me we're dealing with a homicidal clan leader willing to sacrifice his own people for some jutsu that could easily fail again?? No! We must get rid of him at once, if he's willing to go that far then who knows, he might come after Konoha as well!"

The Hokage silenced the growing murmurs of worry coming from the elders with a wave of his hand as he spoke directly to Sakura.

"Is this the jutsu he's asking you to help him with Sakura? The one that would require actual human sacrifice?"

Sakura shakes her head, her eyes not making contacting with the people around her. "No. He was speaking about the current jutsu he's developed, the one that sent me back to this time period. During the battle with him and his nin, I recall seeing four other with him. I believe those were the nin who ended up dying when he used the jutsu on me."

Sighs of relief were head across the small apartment at her words, but Danzo was still not fully satisfied.

"I still say we track this man down! If he has to capacity to reduce you to a shaking five year old girl then who knows what he's willing to do in order to execute this radical jutsu of his."

Sakura nodded, her fever momentarily making her forget that her entire story is complete lies to throw them off the Kimura clan's trial.

"I know how you feel, but going after him at this very moment may jeopardize the village more than if we do nothing."

"Has that fever made you mad Haruno?! How could us not doing a thing possibly make this situation less threatening to the village?" Danzo shouted out, his hand clenched tightly on his staff.

The male elder shook his head and patted Danzo's shoulder roughly. "Calm down Danzo. The young girl might have a point."

Everyone turns to give the man a surprised look as he clears his throat and continues. "As of now, they've only been targeting the girl. Anyone who was associated to the girl has also been a target, which at the current moment is just the people in this room. Since they have already found Sakura, they no longer need to come to Konoha to attack any of us for information to her whereabouts."

The people in the room silently agree, their eyes trained on the ground as they decipher through the man's words.

"True, but Sakura has already revealed what they want with her, so our one concern now is…did you agree young lady?" The lady elder asks barely above a whisper, her narrow eyes staring at the cloudy green eyes of the Kunoichi.

Danzo also stares, his grip once again tightening around his staff. "I suggest you answer truthfully Haruno, for if you don't it could create something none of us can stop or prevent."

Sakura places her empty cup of tea on the table and tries to word her fast-paced thoughts into coherent sentences.

"I left my answer as ambiguous as possible." She started earning growing glares from the elders. "I had first wanted to say no, but realized that if I did reject his proposition, this might drive him over the edge, causing more unwanted tragedies."

The Hokage smiled at this and nodded. "A wise choice, always thinking of your village before yourself, even in times where being selfish appears the better choice."

Sakura managed a weak smile at his words before continuing. "I do not know if he'll stop his nin from coming here, but what I do know is that for now he's not going to make a move. He gave me some time to think of my answer."

Danzo smirked at this and let his vice-grip on his staff ease. "The first bit of good news you've given us since we've arrived here Sakura. We can use this time to come up with a way to get rid of this menace and that useless clan."

Sakura scowls at him and doesn't reply, opting to lean back and let the watery feeling in her head slowly go away.

"Look, whatever we do at this point doesn't matter at the moment. I'm just glad Sakura was wise enough not to provoke this leader of the Kimura clan to do something we would all regret." The Hokage spoke up, already rising from his chair.

"We should let her completely heal from her illness before we press her for more information on her unfortunate encounter." The Hokage referred to all of them, but his steady gaze was directed at Danzo.

The man scoffs and looks over at Sakura, her fever still persistent through her body. "I suppose she won't be much useful at this point, she's practically fainting as we speak." He sighs and stands from the chair. "We'll take our leave for now. The information you've provided for us and the reports of you and your Anbu guards shall suffice until you can give us a more detailed report."

Sakura mumbles something but nods her agreement. The two elders stand up as well and state their apologies for keeping her from resting from her illness.

"Rest now, and be secure in knowing we'll do our best to keep your identity secret, even with these new developments." The lady elder speaks, her eyes holding slight sympathy for the girl.

"Kakashi, Itachi I expect you both to make sure she recovers as quickly as possible, and make sure she doesn't strain herself anymore than she has to." The Hokage orders them as Itachi opens the door where a group of Anbu is waiting outside.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." They both stated mechanically, the silver-haired man's attention solely focused on the half-awake girl on the couch.

As Danzo passes by Itachi, the old man grabs the young Uchiha's arm and squeezes it. "I want you to inform this to your father, the girl can be trusted only to a certain level, and those Kimura can easily brainwash her into doing what they requested of her. I don't want a mess to start over this, so keep a set of good Uchihas watching over her movements while you two guard her from the ground."

Itachi's ice-cold onyx colored eyes turn a harsh look at the man, but he nods silently and carefully releases his arm from the man's grip.

"Good." Is all Danzo says before making a hasty exit through the front door.

--

A day passes quietly through Konoha and the two Anbu are happy to see that Sakura is getting better, her fever already gone and her eyes returning slowly to their bright green hue.

Kakashi silently watches her as she organizes the mess of papers and folders in her room, her look resembling that to someone with a new and fierce determination.

"Ya think we should be worried about this new side she's showing Itachi-kun?" Kakashi curiously asks as Sakura curses out loud over a paper cut on her index finger.

The Uchiha turns to look at her, his cup of tea nearly half-empty. "No. It seems she's just trying to go back into some normalcy that she seems to lack in this time. Which is understandable, she's been gone from her proper era for nearly two months."

Kakashi continues to watch her, her powers had somewhat returned and she was currently healing her injured finger. They had both found out she was actually a pretty good medic nin, the best they've seen since…well ever.

A sudden feeling bubbles at the pit of Kakashi's stomach and he squirms uncomfortably in the one-seat couch, earning his partner's attention.

"Something is troubling you?" Itachi voices out, trying to hold in his laughter, as Sakura gets lost in a rather large pile of papers she had recently stacked up and then fallen on her.

The silver-haired man grunts for a moment, his gray eye focusing on some random picture frame on the wall.

"Do you think she's lying to us?" He finally voices out his troubled thoughts.

Itachi is silent for a moment, his eyes staring at the girl as she sneezes, her nose still somewhat stuffed up from her mild cold.

"I'm not sure." He replies, his dark eyes returning to settle on his teacup. "She's a strange one. Her motivations are clear, but how far her ambition to reach those motives are like trying to find a fish in a murky river."

Kakashi 'hm's', slumping against the couch, "I'm thinking the same thing. Yesterday with the Hokage and the elders, I found her more distant than ever, as if she was contemplating every little word she said, I made myself believe it was her fever, but now I'm not so sure."

The Uchiha sighs and gets up from the kitchen table. "Whatever our suspicions are for the moment will have to wait until she's fully healed from her cold. "

Kakashi smirks through his mask and looks at Sakura as she grunts out in agitation. "For now I suppose we'll just have to trust her and believe that she knows what she's doing huh?"

"I'm afraid so." Itachi places the teacup into the sink and walks towards the front door. "Keep an eye on her Kakashi-san, there's some family business I need to attend to with my father and you know he's not a patient man."

Kakashi grins at the young man and waves him off. "Getting another scolding for being a naughty boy Itachi-kun?" He taunts as Itachi sends him a cold glare.

The Uchiha opens the door, intending to leave the petty squabble at that when he catches sight of bright blue eyes staring at him.

Kakashi gives the little blond boy a once over before his grin widens. "Well, look what have here a little guest for our dear Sakura."

Naruto blushes at the teasing tone of the man's voice and promptly chooses to ignore Itachi. The damn bastard reminded him of that Sasuke-teme.

"Um…I-Is Sakura-neechan here? I wanna talk to her." He mumbles out, his whiskered cheeks burning brighter as Kakashi snickers.

"What's your business with her?" Itachi asks, his mask already in place.

Naruto stares at the young Uchiha, a mixture of fear and growing curiosity showing in his bright blue eyes. "Hey, how come all the other Anbu I see have cool masks and you have that gay one?" He asks, failing to notice Itachi's low growl.

"I already like the kid!" Kakashi comments happily, trying to ignore Itachi's dark aura as it only darkens further.

"What the heck is going on? You guys are letting out all the cold air, and those electric bills aren't cheap you know…" Sakura shouts out as she exits her room to find her two bodyguards talking to seven-year old Naruto.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" She asks, ignoring the muffling laughter coming from Kakashi.

Naruto's eyes light up when he sees his nee-chan blinking at him with a look of utter confusion. He runs past Itachi, and quickly embraces the young woman.

"I came to visit you Sakura-neechan! You've been gone for awhile and you promised!!" He shouted, his lower lip forming a pout as he looked up at her.

Sakura smiles sheepishly at him, her memory on some promise she made to him gone from her mind. 'I promised him something…but what?'

Naruto glowers at her and looks away with an annoyed expression. "You said you would and it's been over two weeks and nothing!"

At this new bit of information, Sakura delves deep into her memory, trying to see what it was she said to him the last time they spoke. She places a finger on her chin in thought, and suddenly it hits her like a ton of bricks.

She blushes at having forgotten and laughs nervously as she sticks out her tongue. "Um…o-oh, I seem to have remembered now Naruto."

The young Naruto looks up, his blue eyes staring at her with a sliver of sadness forming in their depth. Sakura sighs and smiles sadly as she kneels down to face him at his eye-level.

"Sorry buddy. I was pretty busy these past few days, a lot has happened that messed my brains up badly." She ruffles his messy blond locks and sighs. "A promise is a promise though, and I broke it, and for that I'm sorry."

Naruto is surprised at her words for a moment, but recovers quickly and grins at her. "That's okay Sakura-neechan! As long as you come with me tomorrow!!"

Sakura rolls her eyes at how quickly the boy recovered from his hurt feelings. 'Guess Naruto doesn't change as much as I thought he did.'

"Tomorrow eh?" She turns back to see her room still somewhat messy from all the paperwork and then turns to see wide blue eyes staring at her with a hope that nearly chokes her. "Well, I suppose it won't hurt, and I'll end up keeping my promise after all."

Naruto jumps up in excitement and giggles hysterically, "Yes! I finally get to show all my friends at the academy that I have an awesome nee-chan!"

At the mention of academy, Itachi perks up from his foul mood and coughs to get the two brightly haired peoples' attention.

"Did you say you'll be going to the academy with Naruto-san tomorrow Sakura-san?"

Sakura nods, her happy smile slowly disappearing as Itachi shifts around uneasily. "What? Is there a problem with me going to see his academy tomorrow?"

Naruto stares at the Uchiha too, his small hand subconsciously going to grab Sakura's.

Itachi coughs and doesn't speak for a few seconds, and Kakashi smiles knowingly at his partner's reaction. "Aa, let me guess. That little business with your father has something to do with your younger brother, Sasuke."

Young Naruto scowls at the mention of Sasuke, and is surprised to see a bitter look cross his nee-chan's face at the mention of Sasuke's name too.

"What about your younger brother Itachi?" Sakura asks through gritted teeth.

"My mother will be attending the Uchiha meeting tomorrow along with myself and my father, he has no one to take care of him for at least an hour, and since I am currently your guard it would make things easier if…"

"I took him off yours and your parents shoulders by baby-sitting him until you guys are done with the meeting tomorrow?" Sakura finishes off, an annoyed look on her face.

Itachi again coughs and sighs. "Yes. I'm not entirely sure why, but I know you don't find my little brother the best of company, but since you will be with Naruto-san tomorrow, I thought I'd ask you now if you would do us this small favor."

'No kidding, I practically wanted to choke him the first day I saw him in this time period.' Sakura silently fumes as she stares at the weasel mask staring right back at her. 'But, he's suspicious about this, in fact I'm sure he's figured out I'm connected to Sasuke in someway too.'

She sighs. "Fine, I suppose it won't hurt to take care of him for an hour or two. I heard he's a pretty silent and obedient kid anyways."

She giggles as Naruto mumbles a 'He's got a stick up his ass too if ya ask me.'

Itachi's shoulders slump in relief and Sakura can hear the normal tone of his voice returning. "Thank you for doing this Sakura-san. I will go inform my father and Sasuke now. I'll return shortly." And with that the young Uchiha disappears in a puff of smoke.

Kakashi yawns and winks at Naruto and Sakura. "Well kiddies since Itachi-kun has left why don't we eat that last of those onigiri he's been saving for lunch?"

Sakura smiles fondly at the familiar twinkle of mischief she sees in both Kakashi and Naruto's eyes. "Yea, why not? I'm pretty hungry after cleaning that mess in room. Come on Naruto, if you're good I'll even give you the last cup of ramen I have."

Young Naruto's whiskered cheeks stretch as his grin returns and he bounds towards the kitchen. "Oh, boy more ramen!!"

Kakashi follows behind the two as Sakura tries to find the onigiri in the refrigerator. His gray eye lingers on the two of them, the same feeling of nostalgia blooming in his chest.

"Hm, I wonder."

A/N: In case anyone may ask later, yes...Sakura did indeed lie to them. Yes...I did it on purpose :p and yes...this will lead to the Kimura clan revealing what they wanted with Sakura.

The next chapter, as many of you have already figured out I'm sure (smart cookies :D) will be fluffy in the beginning with Sakura going to the academy with Naruto and reliving some pretty weird and wonderful memories. Yes, I made it interesting by adding little Sasuke, but he's there for a reason too XD

Towards the end is where we go back to the issue at hand and Sakura's true troubles begin. Thanks for reading and reviews will be enjoyed but not expected.

End.