A Cup of Sugar and Two Eggs

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Once again I have taken all the reviews into thought and have written this next chapter. And BTW, I didn't think Neji sounded like Yoda but they are kind of similar. Philosophers and destiny believers in their own way! ^_~

Last chapter! I think unless you guys tell me otherwise.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter Three: A Certain Step Forward

'Are we almost there yet? I'm getting tired.' My inner self complained. 'Almost.' I muttered back.

Neji jumped higher into the air. "We're nearly there! I can make out the Academy and the mountain." He said with pure excitement.

I laughed. "That's good." I replied as he came back down to the ground. I reached into my pocket to see if the three-leaf black clover was still there. And it was. I smiled to myself. We finally reached the tip of Everwood Forest. We started to walk towards the Hokage-sama's palace past Ichiraku.

"Sakura-chan!" a voice called out loudly.

'Oh no. It's Naruto.' My inner voice said sadly. "Konnichiwa Naruto." I stated politely with Neji looking on in amusement.

"You look tired." Naruto asked always concerned with my health.

"I'm fine. Neji and I were out during the night." I replied.

He blinked. "You and Hyuuga were out together last night?" he asked surprised.

Neji raised an eyebrow as we both nodded. "We were on a mission." I stated.

"Oh! You could have said that. I thought you two were going out on a DATE. And I was going to have to kill Hyuuga here." Naruto said.

Neji took my hand. "We have to go to the Hokage-sama's palace before she gets frantic." He whispered.

I nodded. "Well bye Naruto." I said and waved to him and walked off with my hand in Neji's hand. I could see all the old little women whispering about us. Usually I would have yelled at them but today I didn't try at all. I was too tired and could not wait until I was back in my own little apartment in my bed. We reached the palace at exactly ten in the morning. The ANBU guards let us in. And we walked by them. And we finally reached Tsunade-sama's room.

The door opened. "Konnichiwa and Ohayou!" Tsunade-sama said with joy.

Neji and I blinked. "Good morning to you." Neji said while yawning.

"Did you get the clover?" she asked.

"Indeed!" I said getting out the 3-leaf black clover out of my pocket. "Here you go." I said placing it neatly on her desk.

"Where was it?" she asked examining the beautiful clover.

Neji shrugged.

"In the yard behind the Black castle." I replied.

"Black castle?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

I nodded. "Yea." I said.

"Where Orochimaru is currently living?" she asked.

I nodded again.

"How did you manage to get it?" she asked.

"Knocked Uchiha Sasuke unconscious and then ran away from Orochimaru." I said shrugging.

"Lovely." Tsunade-sama said laughing. "Well this is the three-leaf black clover, alright. Good job you two." She said.

We both nodded and then bowed.

"You are dismissed." She said.

We headed for the door and left. We walked a bit into the now even more busy streets of Konoha Village. Neji held my hand so I wouldn't disappear into the crowd. My stomach growled. 'Eeek. Hunger is about to overtake you! Gaah.' My inner self said. 'That made absolutely no sense.' I replied.

"Hungry?" Neji asked.

I blushed a bit as I put my free hand on my stomach. "A bit?" I answered sheepishly.

"Let's go have some ramen. My treat." He said leading me towards Ichiraku. We waited for the waitress to clear the counter because it seemed as though somebody before us had ate many bowls of ramen. Probably Naruto. The lady wiped off the icky stuff on the table and placed a napkin and chopsticks on the counter for both of us.

"So anything you want?" the chef asked us.

"Miso ramen! Onegaishimasu!" I said. 'I love Miso Ramen! Tee Hee." My inner self said joyfully.

The chef looked over to Neji. "And you?"

"Shoyu Ramen." Neji said. "And a some gyoza."

"Coming right up!" the guy said as he went on to prepare the food.

"I didn't know people ate ramen this early in the morning." I asked Neji.

"They don't. Unless of course you are ramen obsessed." He said.

"Like Naruto. He's an adult now and he still can't eat anything but ramen unless he really has no choice." I said giggling. "I've been to his house with Kakashi-sensei to check up on him. And all I could see was ramen everywhere. It was scary. But I guess the ramen industry is doing good because of him." I said.

"Tell me about it." Neji said playing with his chopsticks on the napkin. "But ramen is pretty tasty. But it's pretty unhealthy if you eat it every single day. Unless you're Naruto and have some crazy metabolism thing going on." He said.

I smiled. 'It's interesting to see this side of Neji. I'm so jealous of TenTen now.' I said to myself sighing. 'Is that a sign of love?' my inner self asked. 'Maybe' I replied to my inner self. Our ramen and gyoza appeared in front of us.

"Itadakimasu!" we both said extremely loudly that I think some heads outside turned to look. But we didn't exactly care at the moment as Neji gulped down his ramen and I ate it as pleasantly as I could on a previously empty stomach. I finally finished my last sip of soup and placed the bowl down. I looked at Neji. "That was yummy. Thanks." I said smiling.

"Did you know there was a such thing as Butter Ramen?" I asked him as I was reading the stuff on the menu, which happened to be on the wall.

"Butter Ramen? Sounds like it's high on cholesterol." He replied.

"It probably is." I said and then yawned.

"Do you want to go home? You look tired." He said.

"If you don't mind." I said smiling. He gently took my hand into his as he walked me to my house. And to think that this day started off so bad, maybe life wasn't that bad anymore.

"Sakura!" a voice yelled.

I turned around to find Ino staring at me in disbelief.

"Yes? What can I do for you, Ino-buta-chan?" I asked her glaring at her.

"You never told me you had a new boyfriend?" she said gleefully as Shikamaru and Choji looked on.

I blushed and glanced at Neji, who looked extremely confused.

"Neji is a friend." I said. 'Ha! You want him to be your man though!' my inner self cooed. 'Shhhh.' I said trying to hush my inner self even though no one could hear.

"Then why are you two holding hands?" she asked smirking knowing she had won.

I glared at her even more. "Why don't you go off chasing Sasuke or something. Stop bothering me." I said and turned around knowing she had a pained face. Neji placed his hand around my waist and kissed me for a few moments and then pulled away. My knees felt weak but I managed to still be standing. I smiled at him. And turned my head to see Ino. "I'm sorry, Ino. I didn't mean it." I told her.

"It's okay." She said smiling. "And by the way. I don't think I'm going to be chasing Sasuke-kun anytime soon either." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked surprised.

"Shika-chan is my boyfriend!" she said hugging Shikamaru tightly.

Shikamaru shook his head in disbelief. "What did I tell you about calling me Shika-chan in public, Ino?" He said.

"Aww, but you love it when I call you that!" Ino shrieked as she kissed Shikamaru on his cheek.

"So troublesome." Shikamaru muttered shaking his head.

Neji and I held our laughter. "Lovely." He muttered to me.

"Indeed. Yea, and to the fact that he allows her to call him. 'Shika-chan' in private is quite embarrassing." I replied. "Well, we'll see you guys later." I said waving my free hand while my other hand was still holding Neji's.

"Bye!" Ino said. Shikamaru couldn't say anything or wave since he looked as if were in a tight body bind. Choji just waved.

Neji and I walked off to my house. It felt like it was close to sunset even though it was only close to one p.m.

"Well, you're home now." He said stopping in front of my door.

I nodded. "It was very sweet of you to walk me home." I told him. I probably wouldn't have said the same if Naruto or somebody else walked me off. But it was different with Neji. It felt normal and right.

He nodded. We were still holding hands.

I leaned in closer to him as he smiled. His teeth were nice, unlike Sasuke's. But that was probably because I've never seen his teeth. Since he never smiled or showed his teeth. 'Go for it!' my inner self yelled.

He lowered his head and kissed me gently. I felt as if the world had stopped for that one moment because I was at bliss. He deepened the kiss. And then finally I pulled away. And I looked up at him and smiled. He smiled back.

"Well I guess I be better be going." I said.

He nodded. "I guess I'll see you around. Maybe tomorrow." He said.

I nodded. "Once last time." I said.

He chuckled but kissed me again anyway. And my bad day had turned into an extremely good day.

A/N: R&R please! By the way, Shoyu means soy sauce, Itadakimasu means like let's eat. [Not direct translation] and Ohayo means good morning.