Disclaimer: Yo ho, yo ho! A pirate's life fer me! Errrr I mean I do not own Naruto and all that jazz…

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Somehow Sasuke managed to avoid Naruto's embarrassing questions for the entire meal. Kakashi seemed to be deeply amused at his two former students 'discussing' their other former companion. Hormones, ninjas seem to be affected by them worst in their late teens. Perhaps due to all the training, thought Kakashi.

Either way it was hard to tell what Sasuke was thinking. The boy never talked about his own feelings unless it was hatred for his brother.

Kakashi soon parted with the two young chuunin and headed off to see Tsunade-sama. The information he heard today would help give Sasuke a good name in Konoha. He wondered if either of the boys knew that he had heard their conversation. After all they were far from amateurs.

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Sakura sat in the middle of Konoha training grounds, perfecting her latest jutsu creation. This jutsu unlocked that strength bottled up within all humans. Since she never did have great strength and stamina like Sasuke and Naruto, Sakura used her ninja medic skills to unlock hidden strength. This jutsu caused fatigue and exhaustion after use, so she swore to only use it in emergencies.

What she was unaware of was that her two former companions watched her from the sidelines.

Naruto had decided to show Sasuke just how hard Sakura had worked to increase her strength and skills to match theirs. "She's been training hard ever since you left." He paused to look over at Sasuke, "She keeps on saying how she doesn't want to fall behind us."

Sasuke smiled as he crossed his arms, watching Sakura unleash her jutsu seal.

The strength jutsu revealed her true strength. With this strength also came increased speed. Targets were spread throughout the training field; she smashed them all in a matter of seconds. To use the strength jutsu to its fullest, she used another jutsu to create more targets. This time it seemed like hundreds.

It took her perhaps 2 minutes max to smash these new targets. Naruto suddenly jumped up and cheered. "Nice one Sakura-chan!"

Sakura looked to her companions and smiled before collapsing. Her new strength jutsu still needed more tweaking, to last longer and drain less of her stamina.

Both boys came running to her side. Sasuke however, beat Naruto to it. He was soon at her side. "Looks like her jutsu drains too much of her energy. Lucky this was only practice."

Naruto nodded, "Come on Sasuke, we should take her to the hospital. That old hag will patch her right up!"

In response, Sasuke picked up Sakura and carried her to the hospital, which thankfully was close by.

True to his word, Tsunade-sama revived Sakura in no time. "You were practicing that jutsu again weren't you?"

Sakura nodded, still weakened from the side effects of her strength jutsu.

"Well at least you've improved it. I remember the first time you tried it without my supervision… You were out cold for two days. You were lucky to have Naruto-san and Sasuke-san with you this time." Tsunade smiled at her pupil, impressed with her improvement but worried for her recent recklessness.

The Hokage soon left the room, giving Sakura leave to go home.

"Thanks guys, for being there today. I thought I was ready to handle the jutsu, but I guess I still need more training." Sakura smiled gratefully to her friends.

"Hey no problem Sakura-chan! Besides your jutsu is really cool! Hey can you teach me how to use it?" Naruto asked eagerly.

Sakura grinned and shook her head in mock concern, "I don't think you could handle it!"

"Aww come on! I'm the future Hokage remember? I can handle anything!" Naruto crossed his arms proudly with a huge smile.

"Tell you what Naruto, when you have perfect chakra control… I'll teach you that jutsu!" Sakura gave him a superior look; fully knowing she was the only one in Team Seven with perfect chakra control.

Naruto pouted, "No fair…"

Sasuke chuckled; his friend's expression was just too funny. Sakura giggled and got out of bed. Unfortunately her jutsu's side effects were still upon her. She would have fallen if it weren't for Sasuke, who caught her in his arms. She looked up at him with flushed cheeks. Moments passed and he didn't seem to want to let her go. Naruto stared at them both and wondered if Sasuke did return Sakura's feelings. But just as that thought passed his mind Sasuke let her go and she seemed to be able to walk with no trouble.

"We should head back." Sasuke commented lightly, leaving the room.

Naruto soon followed but not before taking another look at Sakura and her deeply reddened face.

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Naruto left them reluctantly, he wasn't sure what was going on between those two. Sasuke avoided any questions directed at that particular subject. He did know however, that Sakura's feelings toward him hadn't changed. This whole thing puzzled him and he didn't know what to think or conclude. He shrugged it off and headed home after his training-less day, which was a relief from all the slave-driving Jiraiya put him through.

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Sakura went to bathe to wash off all the fatigue and sweat from her training. Sasuke decided to try and cook tonight, although he had little experience in that area. 'How hard can it be?' he thought.

Sakura emerged from the bathroom sniffing the air; something was burning. Still in a bathrobe with dripping wet hair, she ran into the kitchen. The scene unfolded in front of her; Sasuke desperately trying to put out the fire that had emerged from a pan, he ran past her grabbing the fire extinguisher and spraying it frantically on the stove.

If it were anyone else she would be furious for the abuse on her kitchen but Sasuke made the situation quite humorous. The serious, always aloof Sasuke was panicking because the food he was making caught fire. Sakura suddenly burst out laughing. "Sasuke relax! Continue like that and you'll destroy my house!"

He stopped suddenly and flushed out of embarrassment. "I'm sorry Sakura, I wanted to you know, to pull my own weight around here."

"Don't worry I'll give you plenty of chores. But do me a favor and steer clear of my kitchen?" She begged.

Sasuke smiled, "Deal." He looked around the kitchen, "So how about I treat you to dinner at a restaurant? To compensate for the mess I mean…" He added.

She smiled and nodded happily, "Ok! Just give me some time to get ready!"

'What am I getting myself into?' Sasuke thought to himself, as he watched her go back into the bathroom.

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Ok so this chapter wasn't that juicy… but I had to delay the good stuff people. The more you wait the better it will be!

Anyway I really love my reviewers! You all deserve big bear hugs and lotsa cookies! Thank you for your support!

Desiderada: Wheee! That's what I was aiming for!