W a r m vs. C o l d

A tale of a boy's quest for the love of a girl.

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story belong to me. They are all property of Masashi Kishimoto. And also, just for future reference, when you see "(| ... ... ... |) ", those are the thoughts of inner Sakura.

Chapter 3: Starting All Over?

She fell into their kiss and forgot about everything else for once. I hope I did the right thing. I love him.. So much.

Sasuke sat quietly at the base of the tree. He glared at the two for a few moments before making his move. What the hell is going on? Something is wrong. He got to his feet and walked over to the two who were on the bridge. "We have a mission to do," he growled. And with that he walked off towards the center of Konoha. Humph, I see Sakura is as manipulating as ever. Although, I do sense some sort of change in her attitude towards him. Maybe she has changed… I don't care whether she has or not. I have one mission in mind and no spare time to waste on the likes of those two.

What…What is this? I know I'm not dreaming, but it's hard to tell. Wait a second, this is…. THIS IS MY FIRST KISS!!!!... He felt a pain shoot through his brain for a moment. …My first kiss with a girl, that is. Bastard Sasuke! I still have yet to kick his ass for such embarrassment! He had a flash back of the horrible lip-lock he and Sasuke had encountered right after Iruka-sensei had made him a ninja. He quickly brushed those thoughts aside and opened an eye as Sakura continued to kiss him. He then dared to speak, "Sakura-chan. It's… It's okay." He was speaking through the side of his mouth.

Sakura pulled away from the kiss slowly and wiped her tears from her eyes. She glanced at the face shape she had made on his shoulder from before. The wet spots outlined the eyes and the nose. She smiled weakly. Her eyes and nose were red and her hair was a mess. "Naruto-kun...I'm sorry."

NARUTO-KUN?! Oh..My…God! She finally acknowledges me. He shed tears on the inside. SAKURA-CHAN FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGES ME!!!! He tried to play it cool. "Sakura-chan, we better get going." He stood up to help her up like a gentleman and act cool. And it would have worked if he hadn't felt his knees give out and fall flat on his face. His chin hit the bridge with a loud thump. Damn! My knees are still weak. This happens every time me and Sakura-chan get close to each other. I could hardly make it to the bathroom last time when I took Sasuke's body and tried to seduce Sakura. Something about that girl. Damn! AND SHE KISSED ME! Ahhahaha! I'm so great. This is the first step to my mass acknowledgement. Eheh.

What the? Still clumsy I suppose. (| HAI! I TOLD YOU HE WAS CLUMSY! AND A FOOL! |) Sakura walked over to her fallen team mate and knelt down. Naruto looked to her eyes and gazed there for a moment. There seemed to be something different. I…How? I feel stronger. She smiled at him and put her hand out to help him up.

This is almost creepy. I've never seen Sakura-chan act so...Lovingly towards me… The only person to ever do anything like this was probably Iruka-sensei. Okay! Maybe my luck is finally starting to turn around for me. The one thing that would make today perfect…Is me kicking the shit out of Sasuke. He took her hand shakily and felt her pull him up. "Thanks Sakura-chan. That was sort of, stupid of me. Haha!" He gave that laugh again. "Let's go before Sasuke gets too far ahead of us." They both began walking back towards the center of Konoha.

"Naruto-kun."

Ah… That sounds so lovely. But it's also sorta weird at the same time. Maybe just because now she calls me that and not Sasuke. "Yes, Sakura-chan?" They continued to walk down the wooded path.

"About those.. Genjutsu using ninjas that infiltrated Konoha. Do you think they may strike, or just remain hidden?" I don't want to talk about what just happened. It'd be too awkward, best to keep his mind occupied. Maybe what I did wasn't for the best. Like a lot of girls, Sakura too, was indecisive.

"Hmm. I don't know. But let this be known, if they ever try to attack you Sakura-chan, I'll kick their asses good!" Naruto laughed, but it was filled with confidence.

"Yeah, yeah, Naruto-kun. We'll see." She growled. I'm not helpless, you know? She was still easily prone to irritation.

"Well, anyways, I wonder if the---" Sakura's sentence was cut off as a blur appeared behind her. Another one appeared in front of Naruto. And just as quickly as it appeared, a fist was quickly thrown at Naruto. His face took the full impact as he wasn't quick enough to remove himself from danger. As he stumbled backwards he immediately looked to see if Sakura was okay. …Oh no… The one who had blurred behind her had just kicked her in the back. The impact of his foot was loud and he watched helplessly as Sakura was pushed into a tree. The first thing to make contact with it was her head, she was out cold as soon as she hit. "SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto yelled. He was quickly back on his feet and now cornered by two oddly dressed ninjas. They were obviously from another village. About his height and age. Wait…Could they be.. "The spy ninjas…" he muttered. They apparently had very keen ears as well.

"Oh, so you heard huh?" The one who had punched him spoke. They wore no masks so their faces were clear. But they were dressed in brown robes. They looked like potato sacks. They also wore boots on their feet and just barely visible were scrolls and kunai lining around their belts. "So you must be… Naruto. The one with the demon fox within him."

Damn, they have a lot of scrolls and kunai. Aside from that, I wonder how powerful their genjutsu is.

"Is that your girlfriend?" The one who kicked Sakura from behind was now talking. "Ehh.. She is ugly. She looks better that way." He motioned to her limp body pressed up against the tree.

"Shut up! You are a damn coward! Kicking girls from the back like that. You must be really weak if you use such tactics." Naruto yelled. "And it doesn't matter anyways, because I will not lose to you. I will kick both of your asses at once!" Sakura-chan…I hope you are okay. I will beat them for you. Naruto did the ever popular hand seal for the kage bunshin no jutsu. "KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" He yelled as his body seemed to split into 8 separate entities. 4 on each guy, that should teach them.

"Hmph. We have watched you, and your technique will do nothing against us." The first one said.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" All the Narutos yelled in unison as they split into two teams and dashed at each of the ninjas. They all encircled their target like vultures and then sloppily jumped at him. Both of the men seemed to dissolve under the weight of the four Narutos that had piled on top of them. The original Naruto yelled after the first ninja just seemed to disappear. "KAWARIMI?!" he yelled unsurely. Suddenly hundreds of kunai flew from the bushes all around them. The clones started to disappear one by one as each kunai punctured their bodies. Luckily, the real Naruto only got nicked by 3 of them. But he also had no more shadows left. Damn. I don't think it was kawarimi, there was nothing to substitute there. Could this be genjutsu? I don't think so.

"I told you your tricks would not work against us, Naruto." A voice said from the bushes. Then their was a yell of what seemed to be surprise from the bushes. Then both of the ninjas seemed to be thrown out of the bushes from an unknown source. "What the hell?" one of them yelled as he rolled to his feet.

"I don't know where he came from!" The other said as he slipped into a fighting stance facing the bushes. The other one followed suit.

Naruto growled and lunged forward at one of them. "DON'T EVER TURN YOUR BACK ON ME YOU WORTHLESS BASTARD!" he yelled as he dived through the air towards his intended target. He shifted all of his weight into his fist and sent it into the back of the spy ninja's head. He felt it make good contact as both he and Naruto tumbled to the ground. I got you! Naruto thought as he pinned him to the ground and proceeded to pummel him.

The ninja's companion had just turned to help his fallen comrade when a blur appeared underneath him. Before he could look down, a foot was sprung with terrible force into his chin. He felt his jaw almost break under the pressure as he was pushed into the air. Uh! Damn! Who is this?! Before he could even land back on the ground the same blur appeared above him. Ah, I see you. He tried to change his trajectory and grab the blur but then he saw it spin. Soon after a foot rotated down and slammed fiercely into his stomach. "Uh!" he yelled as he felt himself being thrown back down to the ground. The impact was dreadful. He could feel his insides shift and his back almost break. This kid… He thought as his consciousness slipped away from him and he blacked out.

Sasuke landed in a calm manner and looked over to Sakura. She was bleeding from her head. Oh no. What the hell happened? He looked over to Naruto who had the other ninja pinned and was continuously beating him. Sasuke walked over to Naruto and pushed him off. "Stop, the other one is unconscious and we need to ask this one some questions. If you proceed to beat him into death or coma we will learn nothing."

"Eh?" Naruto glared at the beaten ninja and got off of him. "For being such a bother to Hokage-sama you sure are weak." A smirk appeared on the ninja's face and stood up. He doesn't look like he's going to run. He probably just knows if he does I'll beat his ass, and he's scared. Hah! I don't blame him.

"Why are you here?" Sasuke began.

"What makes you think I'm going to tell you." The ninja wiped some blood away from his bruised face.

Naruto smiled at his work. "You will tell us or else you will make me beat you again! Hahaha!"

Sasuke turned to Naruto for a moment and gave him a look implying him to shut up. He then returned his look to the ninja. "At least tell us your name and the name of your partner."

I guess that's not really relevant. So it's okay. "My name is Keisuke. My partner is Ryosuke. "

"Keisuke and Ryosuke, eh?" Naruto mocked. "What village are you from?" They wore no visible tag so no one could tell.

"We come fro- " His sentence was interrupted by Sasuke's yell.

"Naruto! Ryosuke, he's gone!" Sasuke looked confused. He dashed over to where the body lay seconds before.

Naruto turned to look and saw that indeed he had gone. "Goddamnit!" Naruto yelled. He turned back to face Keisuke but was greeted with nothing but empty air. What the hell? They are fast, no doubt. Bastard Sasuke distracted me! "Sasuke! Keisuke is gone too." Naruto growled.

"They are very fast. I think it'd be impossible to catch up with them now. We need to get Sakura to town though, she doesn't look too well." They both glanced over to Sakura's limp body.

I hope she's okay. Those bastard ninjas kicked her from the back. Looks like she hit her head on the tree. Naruto approached her and knelt down beside her. He shook her shoulder a little bit to see if she would regain consciousness. She moved a little and then barely opened her eyes. She looked to Naruto. "Sakura-chan! You are okay! Thank God, those bastard ninj-"

"Who are you?" Sakura asked confused. "Who are you and where am I?" Her eyelids looked heavy and they began to fall with the same effect. She fell unconscious once more.

"Who are you?" What…Happened to her? Naruto blinked a few times. He tried to push it out of his mind, but he knew what the answer was. "Sasuke…" Naruto said, his eyes closed and Sakura's head in his arms.

"What is it? We need to get moving." Sasuke said.

"It seems as though…Sakura-chan lost her memory."