Naruto woke up the next morning with the sun shining in his face. "What happened yesterday?" He got up and dressed in his usual clothes and then went to the ramen shop. To his surprise, Sakura was standing by the stall staring at the ground. "Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked. She looked up and smiled.

"Oh! Hey!" Naruto just smiled and sat down. He ordered the usual and started eating. Sakura sat down next to him. "Sorry about earlier... I was so confused and I was also drunk..." Naruto turned to Sakura.

"It's ok. I don't blame you." Sakura looked down.

"No, it's my fault. I left that mean note for you when I left the club. And now I feel really bad because I know that you were always there for me and I took advantage of you..." Sakura smiled. "But now I want to be there for you too." Naruto looked down at his food. He wasn't too hungry anymore.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan." He got up, payed and left Sakura there feeling confused again.

"Naruto! Wait!" Naruto turned around. "Do you have any plans today?" Naruto sighed.

"I told you, I have a mission." Sakura mumbled an "oh" and looked down at the ground. She payed for her food and got up too.

"Can I come with? I have nothing to do." Naruto smiled.

"Sure." Sakura grinned and followed Naruto.

"What's the mission?"

"Oh just an A-rank mission. Nothing too hard. Sakura nodded.

"Ok."

They were walking through the woods when suddenly a bandit appeared. "Sakura-chan! Stay back!"

"No! I'm fighting too!" She summoned chakra into her hands and got into fighting position. The bandit came straight at her.

"Little girls like you shouldn't fight!" Sakura swung her fist right into his face.

"Yeah, and old fags like you shouldn't fight either!" The bandit fell to the ground holding his face. Naruto looked at the bandit.

"Wow! Sakura-chan! That was amazing!" Naruto looked over to Sakura who had her hands on her hips and was smirking.

"Thanks." Sakura flipped her hair. "Let's get moving." She started running with Naruto behind. "Do you know were we have to go?"

"Yeah, just this village up ahead." Naruto replied. They kept going until they got to a small building. Naruto knocked on the door. An older person came to the door.

"Who is it?"

"Konoha ninja."

"Oh. Thank god! They left this note." The old man gave Naruto the note. He opened it up and read it.

"So it's a kidnapping?" The older person nodded. Sakura's eyes grew wide. "Oh. I'll make sure she gets back in fine condition!"

"Thank you so much!" Naruto nodded. He walked away. Sakura did too, following him. They walked through at least half of the forest in silence.

"Naruto, are you still mad about yesterday?" Naruto turned around to face Sakura.

"Of course not!" She smiled.

"Ok. I'm glad!!" Sakura started walking again. Naruto stopped in front of a group of people around a campfire. "Who are they?" Sakura whispered.

"Those are the ninja that kidnapped that old man's daughter."

"Oh." Sakura sat down behind one of the trees. "What are we going to do now?" Naruto shrugged.

"Haven't thought about that yet..." He sat down next to Sakura. "I'm actually tired..." He said with a yawn. Sakura playfully punched him on the arm.

"We're on a mission!" Naruto laughed.

"I know! I was just kidding!" Sakura sighed. She leaned up against the tree. Naruto listened to the conversation going on in the group.

"We need to find a spot to take the hostage. Or else other ninja will find out our plans and take the hostage back!" One of the ninja said.

"Good plan, boss! Maybe we should take her to an old run-down village!" The leader shook his head.

"No. Other nearby ninja will find out about our plans! Are you that stupid?!" Naruto sighed.

"Hey, Sakura-chan. Do you think we should attack now? Since they're all busy with planning." Sakura nodded. They stood up and pulled out a few weapons. Sakura summoned chakra in her left fist. They came out from behind the trees and the other ninja's faces went blank. "Hey, where's the hostage?"

"Like we should tell you!" Sakura clenched her fist.

"Are you so sure?" The ninja laughed and guffawed.

"A girl is going to take on boss?! Hilarious!" Sakura huffed.

"What's hilarious is the fact that I'm going to punch all of your faces off!" She ran towards the leader first and punched him clear in the face. He fell to the ground and held his nose. "Anyone else want that treatment?" The ninjas backed away. Naruto threw a kunai on one of the logs.

"So, as I said, where is the hostage?" A smaller girl came out from behind everyone. Sakura ran over and grabbed the hostage.

"Your father is worried sick about you!" Then, Naruto, Sakura, and the little girl, got away from the ninja without a fight.

Naruto and Sakura were walking on their way back to Konoha. Sakura looked up at the sky and saw that it was getting dark outside. "Hey, Naruto, it's getting a little dark outside.. Do you think we should camp out somewhere?"

"Yeah." They found a few trees and sat down behind them. Sakura was shivering. "Hey, Sakura-chan, do you want to use my jacket?"

"S-sure..." Naruto handed her the jacket. Sakura wrapped it around her and she leaned up against the tree. "I'm so tired!" She closed her eyes and a cold breeze blew by. Sakura started shivering again. Naruto moved closer to Sakura to give her warmth. "N-Naruto?!"

"You're still shivering." He wrapped an arm around her and Sakura drifted off to sleep. Naruto smiled. Heh. It always works! He then fell asleep too.

Naruto was woken up a couple of hours later by Sakura's shouts. He looked at her. "Naruto! NO! You can't die!! NO!! Naruto!!" Naruto's eyes grew wide. Why was she shouting his name? He watched her for a few more minutes. "NARUTO!! NO!!" He finally decided to wake her up. He started out by shaking her shoulders.

"Sakura-chan...! Wake up." She tossed and turned. "Sakura-chan!!" Her eyes flipped open in a flash. She looked at Naruto.

"Naruto?! What happened?!"

"You were having a bad dream." Sakura looked down.

"Oh." The scenes from the dream kept flashing through her head. She shut her eyes furiously to make them stop.

"Sakura-chan, what were they about?" Sakura shook her head.

"Nothing." Naruto looked at her.

"Sakura-chan, you kept screaming my name." Sakura's eyes grew wide. She rubbed the back of her head.

"Well, umm..." She looked down. "In the dream we were being ambushed and someone was going to hurt me, and you protected me and you got hurt instead... And then I tried healing you, but it was too late..." Naruto noticed that tears were rolling down Sakura's cheeks. He hugged Sakura.

"Well, I'm here still, aren't I?" Sakura smiled.

"Yeah!"