DISCLAIMER: No matter how much I want it, I do not own Naruto. I am still only borrowing the characters and promise to return them in good condition – well, maybe slightly battered...

Chapter Twelve:
The Date - Redux

And I swear by the moon and the stars in the sky
I'll be there
I swear like the shadow that's by your side
I'll be there
~Boyz II Men~

"Will you at least answer me? Let me be your love, Sakura-chan."

Sakura stood frozen in shock. Everything he said touched her deeply, but she couldn't answer properly. She was too distracted. "Um…" she said hesitantly, "do you think that maybe you can put some clothes on first?"

Not that she really wanted him too, but the feel of his warm skin pressed up against hers had her heart racing… not to mention the way the towel hung so low on his hips…

He squeezed her arm before giving her a slow nod and reluctantly walking out of the room. Sakura took a deep breath and tried to control her nervousness. She desperately wanted to throw all caution to the winds and tell him yes, but that little voice in the back of her head kept warning her to be careful. She didn't want to hurt Naruto above all else. When he came back into the room seconds later she gave him a small, anxious smile.

Sensing her need for space, he grabbed a chair from the kitchen and sat down near her, but not close enough to crowd her. "I want a date," he said bluntly, "I want the chance to show you I'm not the womanizer you think I am. And I want to spend time with you, away from our friends, and get to know you better."

"But we already know each other."

"You know me as a friend and teammate. I want you to get to know the me that loves you. All I'm asking for is a chance; a chance to make you happy."

No longer able to stand the distance between them, Naruto stood up and moved his chair closer. He knew it was a bad idea, but he reached out and took one of her hands in his.

Her eyes fixed on their joined hands as she said quietly, "Okay."

That one word bounced around inside his head before he finally understood. "Okay, as in okay you want to try this?"

Sakura's lips twitched up into a half smile. "Yes."

Naruto jumped out of his chair and pulled Sakura up with him. She was laughing at his excitement, until he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her so tight she was gasping for air. He placed her back on her feet and apologized.

"I'm fine; you just shocked me and I lost my breath for a second when you hugged me."

"I'll work on not letting my emotions run wild, but I tend to lose my head when I'm around you." A slight blush crept up her cheeks as he told her what she did to him. "So…when would you like to go out? Can we go out tonight?"

Sakura started fiddling with her fingers and looking at the floor. "Ugh, I don't know, this was kind of a spur of the moment decision. Can I get back to you?"

All the joy he had felt a minute ago fled his body. Not wanting Sakura to see his distress, Naruto just shrugged. "Sure, you know where I live. Just come by and let me know whenever you want."

He glanced at the clock on the wall and then back to her. "We both better get going. I have to pick up a few things before work." He started to head for the exit, when a touch on his arm stopped him in his tracks. Naruto looked down to see Sakura's small hand resting on his forearm. When he moved his gaze to her face, those bright green eyes seemed to be staring straight into his soul.

"Thank you again for helping me out last night." She pushed up on her toes and kissed him on the cheek. For once, Sakura was the one to surprise him. When she pulled away, he could still feel the imprint of her lips on his skin. As if on its own, his hand went to cover the spot; like he wanted to trap it there forever. Realizing he still hadn't said anything, Naruto broke out of his daze.

"You're welcome. You know I'd do anything for you Sakura-chan."

They both said their goodbyes, and Naruto left feeling a mixture of emotions. She had agreed to go on a date, but never said when. He really needed to get ready for work but first he needed something to do to keep his mind occupied.

He quickly finished getting ready and then went into sage mode. There was only one person that would give him perspective on the whole situation.

~o~O~o~

"Well since you're hunting me down, I'm guessing it didn't go all that great."

"Don't sound so amused, and for your information it went just fine."

Sasuke leaned back against a tree and glared at one of the academy students that was cleaning up the grounds. "Get back to work," he snapped at the boy and then snorted disbelievingly at the blond in front of him. He waved his hand for Naruto to continue, saying, "So why do you look like someone kicked your dog right now?"

Naruto was about to protest Sasuke's treatment of the student, but then shrugged his shoulders in defeat. At least he hadn't thrown any dangerous weapons at the children this time… unlike that poor team of genin who accidently walked out onto the wrong training field at the wrong time… They were probably still in therapy.

Sasuke really needed to get some higher ranked missions.

Snapping himself out of his distracted musings, he explained, "She agreed to a date, but said she would let me know at a later time. I can't just sit around our place and wait because I'm due at the tower - and it's about to drive me crazy." Naruto was still regretting his moronic mistake when he propositioned her, and hoped she didn't hold that against him.

"How long ago did you leave?"

"I don't know. Like a half hour or so."

"You're an idiot." So much for Sasuke being helpful.

"Why exactly am I an idiot?"

"You asked out a girl that has been traumatized by having your tongue in her mouth and then you expect her to call on you a half hour after you leave to set up a date."

Naruto started to reply, but Sasuke wasn't finished. "Not to mention you most likely did something stupid like pressure her or something."

"Can I talk now?"

"If you must."

Naruto was starting to regret searching out the bastard for advice. He began to nervously pace the grounds as he tried to gather his chaotic thoughts. It didn't work.

"First of all," he snapped, "I didn't pressure her. I told her how I felt like you told me to. Second of all, I know she has some issues about us, but I thought her agreeing to go out with me would make me feel better. Instead, I'm more of a wreck now thinking she's going to back out."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and said impatiently, "Just go to work and stop being such a pussy, and let me get back to work, too. Sakura said she will get hold of you, and she will."

"Nice pep talk, Teme." He gave the Uchiha a sour look and then suddenly grinned a little evilly before saying, "Go drag your ass back to the world of D ranks and academy students; I'll talk to you later." Both shinobi knew the other one didn't mean anything by their insults; it was what made their friendship so great.

"Tch, the only thing I'm dragging is an eight inch…"

"Pfft, eight inches my ass. It's you that deserves the nickname, Dickless…"

"Call me all the names you want, at least I know I can have any woman I want coming home to warm my bed tonight unlike you." Sasuke gave satisfied smirk as he said the jab.

"You're a dick." He heard Sasuke's laugh as he walked away from his friend and smiled himself. It was nice to see his friend so relaxed and comfortable in his own skin.

He ignored the whistle of a flying kunai and the startled yelp of some poor little kid who must have been slacking. Oh well. He made a mental note to gather the paperwork needed for another kid's visit to one of the Yamanaka therapists.

Naruto thought that maybe he should have a small accident too so that he had to go to the hospital, but then dismissed the idea. That would probably be considered as pressure. Maybe if he… no-no-no…

If he kept torturing himself like this, it was going to be a very long day.

~o~O~o~

It wasn't.

By lunch time, Sakura briskly walked into the office where he was steadily plowing through a stack of paperwork that Lady Tsunade had rather gleefully shoved at him when he arrived that morning.

Never so happy at being interrupted, he greeted in a loud and very relieved voice, "Sakura-chan! How are you? What do you need?"

"I was thinking about it and if you want, we can maybe watch a movie or two one night this week; maybe order some takeout." His quick response made her chuckle inside.

"I would love to! How does Monday night sound?" Soon, that's how it sounded. But she had already taken this leap and couldn't back down now.

Sakura looked at the clock and said, "I had lunch with Hinata a little while ago and now I have to get back to the hospital. I just wanted to let you know before I did."

Naruto barely controlled the urge to let out a boisterous whoop and instead, gave her a wide grin. "I'll meet you at the hospital on Monday after your shift ends and walk you to my place, okay?"

"Alright," she said with a small smile. "Monday, then." She calmly walked out of the room and softly shut the door before covering her face with both hands and groaning; she was going to have two days to obsess about this small, but crucial step in her life.

~o~O~o~

Standing in her office brushing her hair with one hand and holding the new dress with the other, Sakura was overwhelmed with worry. "This is going to be a disaster, I can feel it. I'm way overdressed too. It's just movies at his house and takeout."

"Well, if you go into it with that attitude it will be. Now calm down and breathe. You've been around Naruto before, even been alone with him, you will be fine. There is no such thing as overdressed either. It's not like your wearing a formal gown or anything."

Ino always did give it to a person straight, and today was no different. Sakura took a breath and tried to relax.

"Okay, I'll try. He isn't supposed to be here for another fifteen minutes, so why don't you distract me and tell me how your work with the Anbu unit is going? How's my old teammate behaving?"

"He still won't listen to a damn thing I say, but I'm trying to be patient. I know you said that he can't help the way he acts, but some days I really want to put his head through a wall."

"Won't work, you know. I've tried it before. Sai is… well, Sai."

Ino sighed deeply as Sakura changed into the dress and then smiled as she looked at her friend. "Wear your hair down tonight. You always put it up. It's gotten really long and I don't think Naruto has seen it that way.

Sakura frowned at Ino and then stared at the mirror. She took the pins out, ran her hand over the silky, pink locks that were framing her face and smiled. "It really has grown long. I keep meaning to cut it again, but I just haven't had the time lately."

"You'll give him a heart attack." Ino giggled and then started to say something else when there was a knock at the door.

Sakura started to babble, "Oh my God, he's here. What do I do? I'm not ready for this."

"Sakura! Snap out of it. You are going to answer the door, let Naruto in, let him walk you to his place, eat dinner, and watch a movie. It's not that serious."

She took a deep breath and let it slowly out. "Alright, I'll see you tonight; thanks for the pep talk." Sakura looked at herself in the mirror one last time and opened the door. "Hi, come on in. I need to put on my shoes."

She moved to the side to let him in, but Naruto seemed to be frozen to the floor. "Is something wrong?"

"You look… you look so… damn…" His unfiltered response made her laugh and she forget some of her nervousness.

"Thank you; you're looking pretty good yourself. Are we going to stand here all night, or are we leaving?" She raised an eyebrow at him and he shook his head as if to clear it.

"Sorry about that, I was in shock for a minute over your hair."

"I take it you like it then?" She didn't need his approval, but his response did interest her.

"I liked how it was before, but I'll be damned if you don't look even more beautiful now. I didn't think it was possible."

She sat down at her chair and put on her heels. "It's just hair, but thank you." She noticed the stack of DVDs in one of his hands and in the other was a white bakery box. Sakura could already smell the delicious confection that was waiting inside. He must have seen her glance at the box, because he handed it to her with a smile.

"I brought dessert." Sure enough, when she lifted the lid there was a container of anmitsu and dumplings. If she didn't close the lid right then the pastry wouldn't last until after dinner, so she shut the box and held it in her hand.

"My favorites… you remembered."

Ino sighed a little and Naruto gave her a cheerful nod and wink. He held out his hand to Sakura and said, "Are you ready to go?"

~o~O~o~

Their walk to the apartment where they lived had taken longer than ever before to reach. The setting sun couldn't have made for a better start to their date. Everything was bathed in the pale shades of orange and pink. Soft twinkling lights from the business district added to her feelings of anticipation, romance, and nervous excitement. He told her about his day and the big brother project he was still working on while the villagers smiled knowingly at them, causing Sakura to blush. She was with Naruto - an idiot, a hero, a friend - and she couldn't be prouder.

When they at last arrived at his door, he stopped and said, "I moved the television into my room so that we could watch the movies without Sasuke and Sai bothering us. I promise I won't do anything you don't want me too."

"Oh… I guess I can understand that. Sai does have a habit of making things awkward."

Naruto opened the door in relief and ushered her inside. "I ordered sushi. It should be here soon and then we can start the movie."

So caught up in the enticing scent of the pink-haired medic's perfume and the knowledge that she was about to be alone in his room with him, Naruto almost didn't see the female form that was laid out on his bed in a seductive pose. He stopped so suddenly, Sakura slammed into him. Luckily, she didn't see the look of absolute horror on his face and his wide shoulders prevented her from seeing the round 'O' of surprise from the other female.

"Ouch! Why did you stop?"

He quickly slammed the door and turned around. "We have to do this at your place," he said in a squeak.

"Why, what's wrong with your room? What's in there that you don't want me to see?"

"Nothing! Nothing, I swear!"

"Na-ru-to!"

"Roaches!"

"What?!"

"Big, huge cockroaches!"

"Cockroaches?" Sakura took a big, squeamish step back. Yeah, she was a kunoichi and not afraid of minor things like bugs, but she was not on a mission. She was not going to deal with cockroaches. Uh uh... No way.

"Big, huge ones! I uh… I uh… I was cleaning my room today and forgot to empty my trash can. There are cockroaches running all over my floor! I must have seen about twenty. I can go in there and kill them and then we can watch the movie, but you know what they say - for every one you see there are about a hundred you don't."

"I am not going in there," said Sakura firmly.

"Um, so how about we go to your place instead?" asked Naruto hopefully.

AN:

Thanks to everyone that followed/favorited/commented on the last chapter!

Sorry that I left it at that, but for what I have planned, I need another chapter... it's just too long!

So, I have had several people comment that they really wanted me to get to the 'good parts' - the lemons. Yeah, I get that, but it's just not time yet. There are so many fun things to explore yet, such as a disastrous date! To appease all of you, I started a new fic to run alongside with this one. It's called Icha Icha Forum: The Orange and Pink Edition. This is a series of lemony one shots. And because I thought it might also be interesting if we could all get a chance to explore other authors - I'm accepting submissions. Yup, that's right - I want other contributing authors to add their one shots to this collection. Please send me a PM if you have a lemon you want to add. I reserve the right to make any grammar and spelling changes as I see fit to maintain integrity.

Here is a story recommendation from SEELE01. I Only Have Eyes For You by GirlquinndreameR: For most girls, true love is first love. That should be true for Sakura, too... but there is a longing inside her that hasn't stopped.

I just finished reading this one and liked it quite a bit. I even teared up a little at the end.

So - onto other news. I've had a few people comment that they really wanted to see some action between Naruto and Sakura. Yes, I know it takes me a while to get to the point, so I decided to start a new fic that will run concurrent with this one. It's called: Icha Icha Forum: The Orange And Pink Edition. This will be a collection of lemony one shots. I also thought it would be very awesome if others contribute. So if anyone has something they would like to submit - just let me know!

Ja Ne,

AZFAERYDUST