Naruko walked back into the cafeteria followed by none other than Sasuke Uchiha. Kiba, Lee and Chouji all looked at her with puzzled expressions on their faces. Shikamaru was asleep and Gaara just glared his usual 'Gaara glare'.

"Uh, Naruko, you do notice that Sasuke is following you right?" Kiba asked smirking. Naruko nodded and smiled back.

"Yeah, I told him to follow me. We are officially dating now." Kiba grinned and jumped up and down. Shikamaru who had just woken up muttered his trademark 'troublesome' but smiled a little before going back to sleep. Lee decided to celebrate by running 500 hundred laps around the school on his hands and Chouji continued eating his chips. Gaara of course said nothing but his usual glare was invaded by the smallest trace of a smile in happiness for the girl he had learned to 'tolerate' even though he only saw her in his homeroom class.

"Took you two long enough to go out, god, I've been waiting for two months for this moment," Kiba said pumping his fist in the air. Gaara abandoned his trademark glare to give Sasuke a special glare that said 'If you even think about hurting her I'll kill you'. Sasuke flinched slightly at the glare and sat down next to Kiba while Naruko sat across from him beside Gaara.

The seven teens finished their lunches and began talking about random things. Then Lee, who has returned from his laps, looked towards the doors to the cafeteria and spotted Sakura Ino and Tenten walking out of the cafeteria.

"Hey guys look its Sakura-chan. Isn't she so full of youthful beauty?" Lee said sighing and staring at Sakura. Chouji turned in the direction in which Lee was staring at and nodded.

"Yeah, and her friend the blonde one is really hot." Kiba nodded his head.

"Yeah that's true but the only girl for me is Hinata-chan." Lee frowned slightly.

"That may be true my youthful friend, but can you not see that Sakura-chan is full of a youthful confidence that shy Hinata-chan does not?" Kiba waved Lee away and turned away.

"Yeah yeah, Hinata's still way better than Sakura." Lee stood up and glared.

"Nuh uh, Sakura-chan is the best."

"No Hinata-chan."

"Sakura-chan."

"Hinata-chan."

"Sakura—"

"Shut up, Hinata is ten million times better than Sakura, because Sakura is just a dumb slut!" screamed Naruko who had been playing with her food with her head down the whole argument. All the boys, even Shikamaru and Gaara, looked at Naruko stunned at her sudden outburst.

"How dare you speak about the honorable Sakura-chan like that Naruko-chan? It is not nice," said Lee wagging his finger at Naruko. Naruko's face turned red with anger and her deep blue eyes turned a reddish-orange color.

"Sakura honorable? Hah! She is the most self absorbed, air headed, slut in the entire school. She is stupid, ugly, mean, and annoying. I bet you couldn't even carry on a decent conversation with her!" Naruko yelled. The boys all cowered in fear of her sudden anger. Lee glared at Naruko for insulting his love.

"That is not true! Why would you say such things about Sakura-chan?" Lee yelled back at Naruko. By this time most of the tables around them had abandoned their own conversations to listen to Naruko and Lee's argument.

"It is too true! You want proof! You want proof! Just look at me! She's the one who did all of this to me!" The whole room grew quiet. An ant could probably be heard crawling across the floor it was so quiet. Sasuke stood up.

"Excuse me, I need to go do something," he said before walking away in the direction that Sakura and her cronies had left the cafeteria in just a while ago.

Naruko stared after him exhausted from her last outburst and all the anger she had just let out. Then it dawned on her what he was about to do. He was going after Sakura.

She bolted out of the room in the same direction Sasuke did and called after him. She ran through the halls and looked in all the classrooms. When she finally caught up to him, she grabbed his hand and stopped him from moving.

"Let go of me Naruko, I need to find her." Naruko shook her head and looked Sasuke in the eye.

"No, Sasuke that will only make trouble for you. Please don't, she's not worth it. I don't want you to get into trouble," she pleaded. Sasuke turned toward her and sighed.

"Fine, but why didn't you tell me that she was the one who did this to you?" Naruko let go of Sasuke's hand and turned around with her head down.

"It…just…never came up," she said softly. Sasuke frowned and turned her around putting his hands on her shoulders so she couldn't turn back around.

"Not a good enough reason," he said. Naruko avoided his gaze and stared at the floor before mumbling something. Sasuke frowned and lifted her head so that she had to look at him.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I was scared! There, happy, I said it. I was scared." Sasuke gaped at her. Suddenly he pulled her into a tight hug.

"Why, why were you scared, you know I wouldn't let anything happen to you?" Naruko rested her head against his chest and sighed heavily.

"I know but I was still scared. I was afraid that if I told you she would somehow find out and hurt me again. I was afraid that if I told you you would try to hurt her and you would get in trouble. I was just afraid." Naruko sniffed and lifted her hand to wipe a tear that had slipped down her cheek.

Sasuke bent down and kissed her softly on her forehead and held her tighter.

"Don't worry; you won't have to be afraid anymore."

- - -

Naruko bounced into her room and flopped onto the bed. Kyuubi, who had been sitting quietly on his bed reading, looked up from his book and gave Naruko a puzzled look.

"What's up with you?" he asked when Naruko sighed. She turned her head towards him and gave him a wide grin.

"Oh nothing, I'm just fine." Kyuubi narrowed his eyes and walked over to Naruko's bed. He dropped heavily onto the bed and poked her in the back playfully.

"What's his name?" he asked in a sing-song voice. Naruko smiled mischievously.

"Who says it's a boy?" Kyuubi looked at her amusedly.

"Oh, so it's a girl, huh."

"I never said that." Kyuubi laughed.

"So it is a boy. What's his name?" Naruko turned away and stared at the wall.

"It's no one. You probably don't know him." Kyuubi rolled her back over and smirked.

"So you and Uchiha are finally going out?" Naruko blushed and turned away.

"Yeah, but," Naruko turned back to Kyuubi and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Kyu, please don't tell obaasan, please."

"Ok, ok, I won't. My imouto(1) has a wittle boyfwiend, aww," he said hugging Naruko to his chest painfully.

"Ok ok, I get it you're happy for me. Let me go," she cried. Just then there was a knock on the door and Shizune walked in.

"Naruko-sama, your grandmother wishes to speak with you."

1: little sister in japanese.

I am so ashamed. I've been gone for almost two weeks and this is the best I can do for you faithful reviewers –hangs head in shame- please forgive me –bows frantically- this chappie really really sucks but please still review and continue to read it. I promise it will eventually get better.