I know… this chapter came out oddly shorter than the others… T.T sorry…

Anyway my apologies for taking so long. School's got me on my toes and I need an 85 average to keep my computer… T.T

Anyways, I hope you like this chapter. Took me a while to do… not to mention all my review, story and author alerts disabled on me and wouldn't come back. It was HELL!

Thanks a billion for the reviews tho! wow… over 130 already… I look forward to getting more reviews from you! Hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 4: A new lead

"Sakura…"

She moaned and turned away. "Shaddup, Naruto." She growled as she pushed the offending body away. She felt it stiffen when she said the orange ninja's name.

"NARUTO!"

Her eyes snapped open. She hesitantly turned to face an extremely furious Uchiha Sasuke. She opened her mouth to speak but he quickly cut in.

"How the hell do I sound like Naruto!"

"Uhh…" Sasuke really wasn't acting like himself.

"I thought I had finally gotten this jutsu thing right!" There was a cloud of smoke revealing a very disappointed orange ninja. Sakura laughed and sitting up, messed up his spiky blonde hair.

"Naruto I though I told you to stay out of there."

Both Naruto and Sakura turned their heads to see Sasuke enter the room. He noticed that Sakura was awake and smirked. "Took you long enough to wake up…"

Sakura smiled weakly and rubbed her head. "How long was I out?"

"Since yesterday." Naruto replied. "It's ten in the morning now."

Sakura blushed furiously. "I'm sorry…"

"No need to be." Kakashi grinned as he peeked through the door. "With all this stress, it's no surprise that you passed out. And it's not like this is a mission or anything, so you can relax."

Sakura sighed and ran a hand through her messy pink hair. "I take it you told Gaara…"

All three nodded solemnly and soon an awkward silence filled the room. Sakura, finally remembering what she woke up to, turned to Naruto.

"Naruto… tell me… why did you disguise yourself as Sasuke?"

Naruto blushed as the real Uchiha Sasuke turned his head to face him in question. A frown formed on the dark-haired boy's lips while Kakashi remained indifferent and stared at the ceiling.

"Well you only seem to wake up to his 'soothing voice'!" he said, making the last two words mock the Uchiha. Sasuke glared at him, forcing Naruto to cringe. Sakura buried her face in the sheets, hiding the blush that was on her face. It was only then that she noticed that she was wearing the same clothes as yesterday. She smiled bitterly. It wasn't much of a surprise… seeing as this incident completely changed everyone's outlook on her…

Kakashi, noticing her distressed face, smiled slightly and beckoned Naruto to leave with him. Sasuke stayed behind, noticing the emotion flowing through her emerald eyes.

She was so easy to read… like a picture book…

"Sasuke…?"

He blinked and finally looked at her whole face. "Yeah?"

"Do you… still think of me as Sakura?" She asked quietly. "I mean… I'm still the same… you don't think of me any different… right?"

Sasuke gazed at her for a moment, an unreadable expression in his eyes. "I have know idea where this came from…" He said with a frown. Sakura looked away in embarrassment and grief. "But…you'll always be the same Sakura to us." He paused and looked away, muttering under his breath: "Well… maybe not so much Kakashi…"

Sakura giggled, lightening up the mood in the room. "Sasuke…" She said with a slight smile. "I would've never guessed you had a sense of humor!"

Sasuke glanced at her and scowled. "I don't." He growled. Sakura merely smiled sweetly at him, ignoring his frustration.

After a moment or so, Sakura sat up and walked to the door across the room. Sasuke raised an eyebrow in her direction. She glanced over and smiled.

"I'm just taking a shower. Don't worry about me."

Sasuke nodded to her, eventually lying down on the bed once the door closed.

So far, they had found no trace of the stalker or photographer. Her fame had spread to the other villages, and the chances that she would be trampled by her fan club had risen dramatically.

"Damn it…" he let out a sigh. His thoughts continued to wander when the door creaked open. Sakura emerged, clothes back on and a towel hanging limply off her head. One hand was placed on the cloth as she dried her hair. Sasuke nodded to her as she sat down beside him.

"Sasuke?"

"Hn?"

Sakura looked around. "Do you know where Kakashi and Naruto have gone?"

Sasuke nodded. "They're looking around." He replied. "Gaara's agreed to help…" Sakura blinked. "Really?" Sasuke nodded. "He wasn't all too pleased with seeing your ass up there…" the kunoichi blushed furiously and brought her head down into her lap. Sasuke glanced over at her. "Sorry…" he muttered. Sakura shook her head and said something, but her voice was muffled. Sasuke placed a hand on each shoulder and sat her back up straight.

"Just relax, Sakura…" He told her softly. "Everything will be okay soon…"

Despite these words, he could not help but hope that he himself was right too…

"So… Kakashi…" Naruto said as they walked down the streets. "Tell me… what are we doing exactly?"

Kakashi paused to look over at his student. "You'll see…" He said with a wink.

Reaching into his pouch, Kakashi pulled out the previous issue of Icha-Icha, and began reading. Naruto blinked at his teacher, curious as to why he was reading an older issue.

"You see, Naruto…" Kakashi began as he flipped the page. "Because of the latest incidents, the swim suit issue of Icha-Icha has been banned and taken off the bookshelves. Sadly, people are still selling them illegally…"

Naruto's blue eyes widened in realization. "I get it now!" he gasped. Kakashi nodded.

"Now let's speak of it no further. We need to find sources." he said, turning another corner onto a smaller street. The crowd had thinned out quite a bit and the noise had died down as well.

As the two passed by a fairly dark alley, a man that appeared to be in his forties stepped out and called to them. Kakashi craned his head to face him.

"I see you're an Icha-Icha fan…" the man said with a smirk. The Jounin rolled his eyes.

"Oh, how did you guess?" he asked sarcastically. The man chuckled at his attitude and ushered him towards him. Naruto made a move to follow, but Kakashi made him wait.

"I have the latest paradise novels that were removed from the shelves…" He said in a low whisper. "Haruno is in here too." The grin on his face grew. Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

"Haruno, huh?" He kept his voice calm, despite the fact that his mind was screaming to kill the man right then and there.

"Yeah… she's an underage model. But if you pay extra… I can get you a poster sized copy of your favorite picture…"

Kakashi closed his eyes, once again trying to regain his control. He had always been able to keep his cool on missions, but this was different.

Someone was exploiting his student… a perfectly innocent girl…

She was like a daughter to him… maybe even a little sister… or a niece.

Yeah. He could be a good crazy uncle.

"Let me see these Paradise volumes." Kakashi said sharply. "That is… if you have them…"

The man frowned at the Jounin, but then reached into one of his pockets and pulled out the issue. It was in perfect condition. No creases, no curves. It was even still in his wrapping.

Just by looking, Kakashi knew that it was genuine. He had an eye for these things. He closed his eyes and nodded.

"You know… that Haruno girl… I know her…"

Opening them once again, he grabbed the man's throat and lifted him into the air, slamming him against the alley wall.

"SHE'S MY STUDENT, DAMN IT!" He snarled, his grip on the man's throat becoming even tighter. Another man, who had heard the first one's screams, came to see what was going on, then quickly ran back into the alley Naruto, seeing this, dashed in after him. He turned a corner to see several more men sprinting away.

"HEY BASTARDS!" He yelled, quickly forming bunshins as he spoke. The men charged right through them, not caring if they were illusions or not. They didn't get much farther, however, as they found themselves surrounded by a massive barrier of sand. The defeated Naruto looked up to see the silhouette of the Kaze Kage standing on the top of the building.

"Are these the men?" He asked. Naruto grinned and nodded. "Thanks, man!" he said, waving. Gaara nodded to him. Kakashi soon stepped out of the alley and looked up with a smile.

"Could you take these guys back to your office?" he asked. Gaara nodded once again and vanished along with the other men. Kakashi dusted off his hands and glanced at Naruto.

"I think we've done good, right?" Naruto nodded eagerly.

"I say we eat ramen to celebrate!" He cried. Kakashi rolled his eyes at him, but agreed to it.

"Sasuke… Sakura."

Gaara opened the door to face them. He looked over at Sasuke, motioning him to come out of the room. Sasuke glanced over at Sakura who nodded to him. Sasuke stood up and walked over to where Gaara was.

"We caught some of the dealers." He explained in an undertone. "Do you want to interrogate them?" Sasuke nodded and with one last glance at Sakura, stepped into the larger room. Five men sat on the couches, trembling slightly at the two boys.

"Don't even bother trying to move." Gaara said as one of the men motioned to stand up. "You do and I will not hesitate in killing you." His eyes narrowed dangerously as he spoke and sand whirled about their feet, just to intimidate them. Sasuke couldn't help but smirk slightly. In a way it was all really amusing. Sasuke walked forward and sat down cross legged on the coffee table in front of them.

"Do you know why those books were taken off the shelves?" All but one of the men remained silent.

"Because she's underage." The man drawled. "Big deal!"

Sasuke closed his eyes and tried to remain calm. "You do realize those pictures were taken illegally… don't you?"

All the men hesitated, causing Sasuke to smirk. "The punishment for smuggling anything illegal is extremely high in the Sand." He said quietly. Even so, there was a hint of maliciousness in his voice. "Now if you don't want to face the full charges or be killed by Gaara over there…" he started, gesturing to the auburn haired boy. "I suggest you tell me who gave these to you to sell."

The men hesitated, glancing from one to the other.

"I-it was a smuggler that came from the leaf…" the smallest man said. "A young man with long blonde hair tied into a ponytail down near his neck."

"He's got piercing grey eyes too…" the man on the very left added. "He comes to the sand every month with smuggled items… and he tends to flirt with the women in the sand while he's here." He paused to take a breath, seeing Sasuke's interest growing. "In fact I think he's still in town." He added in an undertone.

Sasuke glanced over at Gaara, who nodded.

"Go ahead." He said. "I'll take care of these guys."

Sasuke thanked him quickly and went back into the other room to give Sakura the news. Seeing her face light up made the feeling of responsibility for her lighten slightly. Seeing her happy like that again was worth it.

He reached out and took her hand, leading her out of the room and into the area where Gaara and the other men stood. The dealer's eyes widened in horror when they saw Sasuke leading the young girl out of the room. He cast a cold glare at them, just daring them to try it again. They all became pale and after the door closed, it was silent.

Sasuke slowed down after getting a decent distance away and turned to the young Haruno.

"Are you sure you want to go find him?" he asked. Sakura nodded.

"Definitely! I want my dignity back!" She replied hotly. Sasuke smirked and continued walking. He heard the young Haruno's pace quicken up until she was beside him. He glanced over at her and couldn't help but notice how pale she was now. She had become jumpy around most guys, and strangers. She was even jumpy around HIM now!

He was pulled out of his thoughts when something warm encircled his arm. He glanced over to see Sakura hugging it tightly.

"I know this is a weird time to say this… but… thank you…"

Sasuke blinked. This was… random…

His surprised look quickly turned into a rare gentle smile. He gently pried her away from him and looked her in the eyes.

"You might wanna say that to Naruto and Kakashi as well though…" he chuckled. Sakura laughed. "But I promise I'll help no matter what."

It was shocking… he never would've realized it until now…

He would do ANYTHING for Sakura! It was hard enough just for his own mind to admit it. Even when he did admit it, it was still extremely hard to grasp…

Sakura meant a lot to him… as did Naruto… but Sakura was different. He didn't exactly know how… but he was certain about it.

Something was there that he didn't know about… or wasn't sure of at least… something about her made him…

"Sasuke?"

He blinked. "Sorry…" he said, rubbing his eyes. "Just thinking…"

Sakura nodded, knowing not to pry on his thoughts. Sasuke was like that. It was normal.

"Come on." He said, taking her hand in his. "Lets go."

And together they opened the doors, bracing themselves for their mission in the sand.

TBC…

Yes… FINALLY DONE! MUAHAHA!

Once again, I'm extremely busy. I'm working on my own webcomic along with school work and working on an Imadoki fanfic.

PLEASE REVIEW!