"A Missing Leaf"

by Coded

Chapter 3: Then and Now

' ' = Thoughts, " " = Speech

Back in Konoha, two days after Team 7's mad dash for safety, Sakura sat in a chair, dozing slightly. The chair was placed next to a bed, in a pale white hospital room. Sakura was still in dream land when Naruto stirred and opened his eyes, sighing at the sight of the hospital room ceiling.

"This place is becoming like a second home for me," the blond genin grumbled to himself, as he quickly made a mental note of the damages his body had suffered on the mission of border patrol. Finding everything to be in working order, Naruto nodded happily and began to wonder how long he had been out this time, surely no longer than a few days, for no matter what the boy went through, he never seemed to need more than a couple days of rest to recover.

Suddenly, Naruto's stomach growled loudly. Loud enough to cause Sakura to awaken with a start. Sakura wondered what had caused her abrupt awakening when her eyes fell on the orange-clad member of her team.

"You're awake!!!" Sakura squealed happily and had pounced onto the young blond before he knew what was coming.

"Wha..oof!" Naruto's mind was reeling, he'd been awake not 5 minutes before he was being attacked again, and in the hospital, no less!! Then Naruto looked down at his "attacker" to discover, much to his surprise, that it was the one person he last expected to be hugging him; it was Sakura.

"S-sakura-chan! You're all right!" Naruto fought off the shock and managed to spew forth some words, which he rather regretted, it sounded lame to him.

"Yes," the young girl nodded in response, "but only thanks to you, Naruto-kun...you risked your life to save me..thank you.." Sakura let her voice trail off as she leaned in and kissed Naruto lightly on the lips. The boy was still gaping like a fish when she pulled back to gather his reaction. She laughed slightly at the look on his face and smiled down at him.

"My hero," Sakura said at last, breaking the silence.

"But..but..!" Naruto finally seemed able to create coherent words, if just barely. "Wha...what about Sasuke!?" Naruto said in a surprised yelp.

Sakura's face darkened at the thought of the other member of Team 7, she couldn't remember how she felt about him before, didn't know how she could be so blind. All she could remember was the image of Sasuke's back as he turned and ran from the battlefield, leaving Sakura behind to what would have been certain death, had it not been for Naruto's courage and bravery.

"Sasuke is in a coma right now," Sakura finally answered, "I don't know what that enemy shinobi did to him..but it must have done something to his brain."

Now many people have called Naruto an idiot, and stupid, and said he had no brains. Naruto himself wouldn't have even called himself 'smart.' However, the lack of the usual "-kun" attached to Sasuke's name, and the tone of voice Sakura had didn't go unnoticed by the boy.

"I see," Naruto finally spoke, "how is Kakashi-sensei?"

Sakura shrugged. "You know him, he was slightly injured, but it was mainly just a lack of chakra that ailed him. He's two rooms down the hall, probably reading one of his dirty books."

Naruto nodded sagely, knowing all about the books Kakashi read after having been a student under the author, Jiraiya, for a short time.

"How about..you..?" Naruto asked the beautiful girl tentatively.

"I'm all right..when we got back to the village, Hokage-sama healed my arm, its good as new." Sakura smiled happily for a moment, but in an instant her face had turned serious. "I would have had more than just an arm injury if it wasn't for you, Naruto-kun..if I had been hit by that jutsu that you knocked me out of the way of, I don't think I would be alive right now."

Naruto's throat seized up at the thought of Sakura dead, if there was one thing he feared more than loneliness, it was that.

"I'm glad I was able to protect you, Sakura-chan..thats all I've ever wanted to do.." his voice cracked slightly and he went silent, lowering his eyes to the blankets covering his lower body.

"Oh, Naruto-kun, I know...I was such an idiot to get angry or annoyed when you tried..I'm sorry, I was caught up with Sasuke, and too blind to see the REALLY important person in my life." Sakura leaned in and wrapped Naruto in a warm embrace, resting her head on his chest.

Wide-eyed, Naruto slowly lifted his arms and wrapped them around Sakura, like he'd seen other people do. He wondered if he was doing it the correct way, after all, he'd never hugged anyone before.

"I love you, Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered into Sakura's hair.

"I love you too, Naruto-kun."

-One Year Later-

Naruto walked hand in hand with the person he'd never been seen without in the last year; Sakura. He smiled happily as he turned his head and studied her side profile. She hadn't really gotten any taller since they'd been together. Her hair was still short, which Naruto approved of very much. The boy flashed his foxy-grin as Sakura turned to look at him, a questioning look on her face.

"Whats wrong?" She asked.

Naruto stared into her beautiful green eyes for a while before pulling her into a tight hug. "Nothing," he replied, "I just love you, thats all."

Sakura smiled warmly and snuggled closer, squeezing Naruto tightly. "I love you too, Naruto-kun. C'mon, we should get going or we'll be late..I wonder what Kakashi-sensei has planned for us today?"

Naruto shrugged helplessly. "Probably just another mission, we never seem to train as a team anymore, it's been that way ever since we've been chuunins."

Six months after the events of the war with the Sand and Sound, Naruto and Sakura had been granted special permission to participate in the chuunin exam as a group of two rather than the traditional three person team. Less than a month after the incident at the border, when it had been determined Sasuke wouldn't be awakening from his coma anytime soon, Kakashi had begun performing missions again with just Naruto and Sakura. It irritated Naruto a little that all the missions they were doing now were easy. As only a three person team, including Kakashi, the Hokage had been throwing the easy, boring missions at Team 7.

Naruto, of course, blamed Sasuke for the lack of exciting missions. If it wasn't for that stupid Uchiha, they would still be a regular team, getting regular missions, and they would all be chuunins. Since Sasuke had been in his coma through the chuunin exam, he hadn't participated, and as such was still a genin.

Sakura usually kept her ex-crush out of her thoughts completely. Team 7 was now just her, Naruto, and Kakashi as far as she was concerned, and she wouldn't have had it any other way. Sakura smiled up at Naruto as he broke out of the hug and once again began walking towards their usual meeting spot. The boy had changed quite a bit since they had gotten together. It was apparent very soon after they became a couple that Naruto had lost his loud, obnoxious behavior. He was still loud and hyperactive, but not all of the time like it had been before. Sakura assumed it was because now that he had the one person's attention he really wanted, he didn't need to wear the mask anymore. He was more thoughtful now, and rather than jumping in with both feet without looking, he now took the time to think things through and use reason.

Looks wise, he still had spikey blond hair, although he had let it get slightly longer. The strange whisker marks that Sakura had come to love to much were still apparent on his face, and he still had his famous foxy grin. However, he was now taller than Sakura, and his body much more muscled than it was before.

Without warning, Naruto came to a complete stop, jarring Sakura from her musing. Her eyes moved to his face to see what the problem was. Her brow furrowed as she saw how pale he looked, with his mouth hanging open as he stared at something ahead of them. Sakura turned her gaze to take in what he was looking at. Suddenly her eyes found what Naruto had seen, and she felt as if she'd been kicked in the stomach.

There, standing on the bridge Team 7 used as a meeting spot, stood someone Sakura had all but forgotten, someone she had never expected to see. The most famous boy at the academy, the guy all the girls chased after, Sakura's ex-crush. Uchiha Sasuke stood there in all his good-looking glory, leaning against the railing of the bridge, hands in his pockets.

"So..he's awake.." was all Sakura heard Naruto say before she fainted.

Author's Notes

Hope you all are still enjoying my story, I appreciate all the positive feedback in the reviews, keep them coming! =)

The next chapter should be out in a day or so, so stay tuned!