Hey I'm back already! I'm trying to give you all a quick update. Thanks to all of you who reviewed last time! Anyway I'll get on with it, but I should add that I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I am still indecisive on the pairings, so please tell me what you'd like to see! Anyway enjoy and please leave a review.

Sakura stepped aside to reveal a pretty girl. She had chestnut colored hair that fell just past her shoulders. Her almond-shaped eyes shone a brilliant green. She gave the group a small smile and waved. "Hajimemashite," she said quietly.

"Dozo Yoroshiku!" Lee greeted. "I'm Rock Lee. I hope you enjoy your stay here in Japan!"

"Domo Arrigato," Alyson said while bowing. "I'm sure I will like it here." Lee had to admit the exchange student wasn't quite what he'd assumed she would be like. While he knew very few Americans, he had heard that most were loud and impolite. Alyson was actually rather quiet, and seemed polite. She had used a courteous phrase when making their acquaintance, and had even bowed while thanking him. Lee was about to compliment Alyson on her well courteous Japanese mannerisms, but before he or anyone else had a chance to speak with the exchange student; Naruto had run up to her. He immediately began hounding Alyson with questions about life in America.

"Oi Naruto!" Sakura yelled. "You're being rude!" Lee smiled broadly. It looked likethings were quickly returning to normal. Life had seemed quite odd without Sakura around. He was glad she was back, and that their group of friends would be able to enjoy their senior year together.

"You didn't even introduce yourself!" Sakura scolded. "Honestly, could you be any more impolite?" Naruto looked very crestfallen, and immediately apologized. Sakura pointed her thumb at the blonde boy. "That's Uzumaki Naruto," she told Alyson. "And as you can tell he is a little obnoxious." Lee felt kind of bad for Naruto. He had actually matured a good deal throughout the course of their junior year, but he became so excited when Sakura arrived that he had totally ruined his new milder image. Naruto had really wanted Sakura to see this fresh side of him, but his behavior thus far had only shown Sakura that he was the same goofball she had always known. "Oh well," Lee told himself. "Naruto has been trying to impress Sakura since we were children. It never works," he thought while chuckling inwardly. Lee couldn't really blame Naruto for never giving up his pursuit of Sakura. "She is a wonderful person after all," Lee thought dreamily. "I guess I am just as guilty as Naruto when it comes to trying to grab Sakura's attention," he admitted to himself. The raven haired boy was suddenly pulled from his own thoughts when he heard Sakura's voice introducing Alyson to all their friends.

"That's Uchiha Sasuke, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Hinata, Tenten, (A/N: Seriously, does she have a last name? If so does anyone know what it is?), Rock Lee, who was the only one nice enough to introduce himself," she added. "And then we have Hyuuga Neji, Aburame Shino, Akimichi Choji, and Inuzaku Kiba." Alyson told everyone that it was nice to meet them, and they all said they were glad to meet her too. Well, all expect for Sasuke. Lee liked Sasuke, but he sometimes found him too standoffish. Sasuke was often unnecessarily cold towards others, and Lee found it perturbing. He didn't even know Alyson, yet he was already acting unfriendly to her. Lee shrugged. That was who Sasuke was, and there wasn't anything her could do to change it. Lee tried not to worry about things he couldn't control. The boy was again ripped from his own thoughts, but this time by Naruto's voice.

"I have a great idea!" he announced. "Lets all go out to lunch!"

"That sounds good," Sakura agreed. "I'm starving." The group began to head towards the baggage claim to retrieve Sakura and Alyson's belongings when Naruto added, "Let's make sure we go somewhere that has Ramen!"

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Sasuke walked a few steps behind the others while they made their way toward luggage claim. He quietly surveyed Sakura, pondering why she hadn't pounced on him upon her arrival in Japan. "Not that I care," he thought to himself. "I'm just glad that Sakura is ignoring me. It's what I've been hoping she'd do ever since I first met her." Sakura's constant pestering was a source of much annoyance for the onyx eyed teen. "Maybe she's finally going to stop obsessing overme," Sasuke speculated. These conclusions didn't make him nearly as happy as he imagined they would. Why would Sasuke care if Sakura suddenly stopped liking him? All Sakura did was constantly annoy him.

"She doesn't always annoy you," a small voice in the back of Sasuke's head said. It was true. Sakura didn't always annoy him as much as he liked to pretend. After all, she had been there to comfort him when his parents died. She had also helped him out when his estranged brother, Itachi, had tried to work his way back into Sasuke's life. "I could have dealt with those problems by myself just fine," Sasuke told himself. "She probably didn't really care about all the pain I went through anyway. She just used my suffering as an excuse to be with me! How pathetic!" He was still busy thinking about how much Sakura irritated the hell out of him when they arrived at baggage claim. Sakura and the American girl quickly spotted their bags and began grabbing them. Sasuke noticed that Sakura had two suitcases, both of which looked extremely heavy. Before he could stop himself, he had sauntered over to Sakura and asked if she would like help carrying her luggage.

"Sasuke-kun," she said in a surprised tone. "Yeah, help would be nice," Sakura admitted. Without another word, Sasuke took both bags in hand and began heading to the airport's exit, Sakura close behind him. When the ebony eyed boy glanced back at Sakura he could tell she was racking her brain, trying to come up with something to say to him. Sasuke was debating if he should alleviate Sakura's problem by asking her how the United States had been, when someone bumped into him. He turned to his left and came face to face with an extremely unhappy looking Naruto.

"What do you think you're doing Sasuke?" he growled.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked a confused Sasuke. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"As if you don't know," he snarled.

"Stop acting like a baka," hissed Sasuke. "I have no clue what you're pissed about." Naruto kept silent for quite some time. Possibly he wanted Sasuke to deduce for himself the reason why he was upset. Personally, Sasuke didn't give a damn why the blonde boy was mad. It was most likely something trivial. It only took the smallest of things to trigger Naruto's explosive temper. Soon Naruto got annoyed with Sasuke's unresponsiveness, and divulged the reason for his anger.

"Trying to be all suave by carrying Sakura's luggage, it pisses me off!" Naruto murmured.

"Whatever. I was just being courteous. She had two huge bags and I didn't see you jumping up to help," Sasuke coolly explained.

"I was going to go help her but there was no way I could get there before you. You practically ran there!" Naruto accused.

"I did not!" cried the appalled Sasuke. "You know I don't even like Sakura."

"Oh yeah, I could tell by the way you rushed to help her carry her things," Naruto said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Sasuke open his mouth to retort, but he was interrupted before he could get his words out.

"Man, you two fight like an old married couple," Kiba informed them.

"Urusai!" Naruto and Sasuke yelled turning on Kiba. The brunette threw up his hands in surrender. "Sorry I said anything," Kiba told his comrades.

"I didn't 'rush' over there," Sasuke whispered as soon as he was sure Kiba was out of earshot. Naruto gave the navy haired boy a "sure you didn't look", and Sasuke angrily flipped him the bird in return. Naruto was going to yell at Sasuke, but Sakura walked up to them at that moment. "Thanks for carrying my bags Sasuke-kun," she gushed. "You didn't have to do that."

"Whatever," the teen snapped, still in a bad mood from his argument with Naruto. "It's not like you've strong enough to carry them by yourself."

"Oi, Sasuke! Don't raise your voice at Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled.

"Maybe you're the one that should stop yelling!" Sasuke retorted.

"Enough!" Neji said sternly. "As soon as we get outside, they'll be no more fighting." Sasuke wanted to make a snide comment, but he had already arrived at the doors. He pushed them open and stepped into the warm afternoon sun. Part of him still felt like arguing with his blonde-haired friend, but he refrained. For some reason he didn't feel like continuing their fight. Sasuke frowned to himself. If he wasn't careful he might loose his reputation as an asshole.

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Ino, Tenten, and Hinata all sidled up next to Sakura, each wearing identical, sly grins on their faces. "I see Sasuke-kun carried your bags," Ino said to her pink haired companion. Sakura blushed ever so slightly, and gave a small nod.

"And Naruto-kun gave you roses," Hinata added. Again, Sakura nodded.

"Man I should go overseas," Tenten stated. "Apparently all the guys fall head over heals from you when you come back from America," she teased. Sakura felt her face flushing red, and let out a small laugh.

"That's not true," the emerald eyed girl protested. Her childhood friends gave Sakura a glare that clearly said they disagreed with her statement.

"So do you still like Sasuke-kun?" Ino pried.

A large grin spread over Sakura's face. "Jealous that he carried my stuff for meIno pig-chan?" she questioned. Ino began looking sheepish. "Actually, no I'm not," she told Sakura. Sakura looked in disbelief at her blonde friend. She never thought she'd live to see the day that Ino proclaimed that she didn't love Sasuke. They had been competing over him since they were young, and Sakura figured that this war would be waged until the day one of them got a boyfriend. Suddenly, her mouth dropped open in realization.

"You got a boyfriend!" Sakura yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Ino. Her three friends began giggling. "Who is it? Tell me?" Sakura demanded. Eventually Ino stopped laughing and answered her friend's question.

"It's Shikamaru-kun," Ino admitted. Sakura began squealing. She was so happy for Ino and sent her congratulations to the new couple.

"Why didn't you tell me you were dating though?" Sakura asked Ino.

Her friend didn't have a chance to respond because at that moment Shikamaru put his arm around Ino and said, "She's embarrassed of me since I'm no where near as hot as Sasuke," he informed Sakura.

"Baka!" Ino cried, lightly shoving her boyfriend. "You know that's not true Shika-kun!"

"Geez I was just kidding," Shikamaru said.

"Not funny," Ino notified him.

Shikamaru let out a little sigh. "Sometimes I think girls are too much trouble," he muttered. Ino heard his comment and tackled Shikamaru.

"Take that back!" she insisted. As Neji walked by Sakura heard him mumble something about how embarrassing his friends were. Sakura shook her head as she watched Ino and Shikamaru wrestle, Ino still demanding that her boyfriend take back his unkind comments.

"They seem like and odd couple," she commented.

Tenten nodded in agreement. "I thought that at first too, but actually their opposite personalities balance each other out perfectly."

"Yeah, I guess I can see that," the pink haired girl replied. For reasons unknown to even Sakura herself, she felt sad that Ino was dating Shikamaru. Sakura had figured she would be ecstatic if Ino got a boyfriend, mainly because it would mean she no longer had competition for Sasuke-kun. Sakura didn't feel triumph or happiness, she actually felt empty. She realized that her friends had grown and matured a lot while she was in the States. Since she was the one who had traveled abroad, Sakura had assumed she'd be the one who had changed most. However, she felt as though she were the same person that she was a year ago.

Sakura was so engrossed with her musings that she didn't notice when the group stopped walking. She ran right into Naruto who was caught so off guard that he toppled over. He grabbed Sakura in an attempt to keep from falling to the ground, but it didn't work out quite like the young blonde had planned. Sakura lost her balance as well, and the pair fell over. Naruto looked extremely pleased to have Sakura lying on top of him. Apparently the boy hadn't matured as much as Sakura had originally thought. She jumped up and yelled, "What were you thinking Naruto? Why did you pull me down with you?"

Naruto stood up as well and replied, "You were the one that knocked me down in the first place Sakura-chan." Sakura snorted. She figured if she didn't say anything she didn't have to lie, nor did she have to admit she had run right into Naruto. The green eyed girl surveyed her friends, looking to see if any of them had seen through her silence. Everyone was staring at Sakura with skeptical looks upon their faces. Everyone except Hinata. Her eyes were downcast and she looked very disconsolate. Sakura guessed it was because Naruto had been so glad Sakura had landed on top of him. "Poor Hinata," she thought. But in reality Sakura was glad at least one of her friends was still the same.

Sakura turned her attention away from Hinata, and began searching for the reason her friends had abruptly stopped walking. She soon realized they had arrived at the parking spots which occupied her friends cars.

The group piled into four separate vehicles. Sakura, Alyson, and Hinata all rode in Ino's Mitsubishi Lancer. Tenten, Lee, and Shino went with Neji. Naruto, Kiba, and Sasuke rode together, and Choji and Shikamaru took Shikamaru's car. As they sped through the downtown area, Sakura couldn't think of anywhere she'd rather be or any other people that she'd rather be with.

"It's good to be home," she said aloud.

Ino smiled. "Well it's great to have you back," she informed her friend.

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Hajimemashite—Means "How do you do?" in Japanese. It's the polite way of making someone's acquaintance.

Dozo Yoroshiku—Means "I'm very glad to meet you," in Japanese.

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So what did you think? Good? Bad? Awful? Please leave a review if you would like me to continue with this fic! And for anyone that's worried about it, Alyson isn't going to be a Mary Sue who all the guys fall in love with. The reason I have her in there is so that she can give people unbiased opinions about their love lives. I may not even pair her with anyone. Anyway, I just thought I'd throw that out there in case someone was worried that was the direction the story was going. I'll try to get another quick update! Thanks for reading, and please review!