Wow, sorry for taking so long to update this! This is a bit longer, I think. You can tell I kind of got lazy near the end, though… Anyway, tell me what you think!

A few yards away was a thin, nervous-looking man. He waved weakly to the four. Naruto charged forward in excitement and he looked horrified. Sasuke, Kakashi and Sakura watched him go ahead, keeping their pace leisurely.

Kakashi was scanning over the slouching man they were going to be escorting. Before leaving, Tsunade had explained he was the daimyo's son--he had been negociating peace between his and another country in place of his father, as the daimyo had been too ill to go himself. It had been hinted he disliked doing such work, wished nothing more than to be a simple middleclass man.

'My name is Uzumaki Naruto!' a familiar voice boomed from ahead. The three lagging behind were close approaching. 'And I', Naruto continued, his fists pumping, 'will definitely protect you during this mission!' Sakura could see the daimyo's son nod unsurely.

Kakashi took a sudden few larger steps, and he was standing next to Naruto. 'He is loud', he said, glancing discreetly to the blond boy, 'but he is reliable.'

Sakura, alarmed by Kakashi's sudden faster movement, jogged quickly behind him. Noticing her, a step behind him, he smiled. He stepped up next to Naruto, and Sasuke quickly after arrived, taking a spot to the left of Kakashi. Seeing his team was now fully there, he turned to the rakish man, 'I am the Jounen you requested for this mission. Our Hokage explained to me you were negotiating a peace treaty with a nearby country, and were concerned about assassins.'

He nodded, 'Yes. I am aware that is rather unlikely, as I am not the daimyo myself. But just to be sure...' he trailed off for a moment, glancing to the side and bringing his stare to the ground. 'You can call me Kioshi. Let there be no formalities.'

Sakura piped her voice into the conversation gracefully, 'Don't worry, Kioshi-san. You will return home to your country safely.' She nodded sternly, 'Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei are both extremely skilled ninjas. With them here, no harm will come to you. I guarantee it.'

'Hey!' Naruto squealed. 'I'm skilled, too!'

'You're too loud, Naruto; if there were any enemy lurking they would discover us because of your mouth! And ... and orange isn't a very stealthy color!'

'That's what you think!' He didn't look discouraged in the least--this bickering was normal for the two. Sasuke and Kakashi were used to it, and as such completely overlooked their arguing. Kioshi, however, had never seen this. He looked taken aback, his eyebrows contorting into something of a shocked state. Kakashi noticed this. 'Kioshi', he said. His voice was smooth, deep, controlled. 'Don't mind those two; if the time comes for them to work together, they will become an excellent team. Let's get going, shall we?' He said the last sentence with exaggerated enthusiasm to catch the attention of the bickering couple, and Sasuke, who had been staring intently at some pebbles to his side.

Kioshi nodded, and continued on to climb into the embellished carriage. Horses drew it slowly, so the four Konoha ninjas could easily walk (at a brisk pace) along with them.

Kakashi smoothly put his hand in his small pack, and pulled out the familiar orange-jacketed book.

A day of walking, sprinkled with the occasional petty argument between Naruto and Sakura, came and went quickly. Despite his oblivious nature, Naruto had noticed Sasuke had been abnormally quiet all day--not even once did he snap at him to quiet down. Naruto glanced over his back at him, who was a few paces behind, kicking rubble meekly as he went. Sasuke looked up and met Naruto's look briefly, 'What?'

It was the first time he had spoke since that morning; Naruto was almost surprised at his voice.

'Oh… Oh, nothing! Hehe...' he rattled off, turning his face back to the now setting sun.

The orange light drenching everything it could reach looked to be Naruto's true habitat, if you will, catching the darker tones in his blond hair; if it weren't for the shadow behind him, the shadow Sasuke watched move forward with his eyes to the ground, Naruto would have seemed almost invisible--clad in orange himself. It seemed as if the sun could have bore him.

It was then the carriage came to a halt. Kioshi peeked his head out. 'I think now would be a good time to stop for the night?'

The four ninjas nodded respectively. They had been moving almost all day, spare a quick stop to have lunch, and there was no rush.

By the time the sun had set completely, there was one small camp set up--Kioshi had said his carriage was roomy enough for him to lay down a blanket and sleep inside.

Four sleeping bags roughly enclosed a modest fire. Again light washed their faces, albeit more sporadically as the fire crackled and danced.

Kakashi spoke. 'I'll take first watch', he pointed to himself. 'Naruto will be next. Sasuke will be after that, and', smiling slightly, he pointed to Sakura, 'you'll take last shift. Okay, everyone?'

There were sleepy nods of acknowledgement. Kakashi lifted himself from off the ground as the rest wormed their ways into their sleeping bags. He stood looking over the three stoicly for a moment, a hand in his pocket, before walking a few feet away to lean against a tree and keep an eye out for anything suspicious that may or may not threaten their client.

Sakura woke suddenly; it was dark. She sat up, trying to adjust her eyes to the light, or lack thereof. The fire had died out; there were just a few lingering ambers left. To her left she saw Naruto, snoring happily.

She thought maybe Kakashi was still completing his shift.

No...

He was there, sleeping with his back to her, across the fire pit. Her eyes travelled to Sasuke's sleeping bag--it was there, but he wasn't. She rose daintily, careful not to make much noise. There were trees ahead, past the fire pit, past sleeping Kakashi, where she could see a dark outline of the dark-haired boy. She pressed carefully forward. As she passed Kakashi, she noticed his mask in the dirt next to him. His face was (tactfully, she imagined) mostly covered by his sleeping bag. Overcome by curiosity, she crouched down next to him. Before pulling down the warm fabric, she brought her fingers gingerly to his forehead, and brushed some hair out of his face. He had taken off his Konoha-branded headband, of course. She had never seen him without it on. As her cold fingers touched his forehead he shuddered in his sleep.

Sakura shifted back startled. Maybe it was intrusive... She stood, looking at him briefly. She turned around and kept walking toward Sasuke. She hoped he hadn't seen her--what would he think?

'Sasuke-kun?' her voice was soft. She saw him, a few steps ahead, slumped against a tree.

'Sasuke-kun?' she stepped forward, her hand to his face. She had been alarmed for a moment--perhaps he had been hurt. But he was not bleeding. His breathing was smooth.

He was asleep.

She brought one knee down into the moist ground, resting an elbow on it, and sighed. Turning her body over into a sitting position, she scooted back against the tree, next to him.

This wasn't like Sasuke... why was he falling asleep at a time like this? What was bothering him?

After some hours, the sky began to lighten and Sasuke hadn't awoken. She dragged him back to the circle around the fire pit, setting him on top of his sleeping bag. She wasn't sure if she should tell the others about this. Walking back to the tree she had been watching from, she nearly died of surprise.

'Good job on your watch, Sakura!' a voice rang out from above. Standing on a tree branch, it was Kakashi.

Oh no… Had he seen her taking over for Sasuke?

Her long thin fingers combed through her hair tiredly. 'Good morning, Kakashi-kun', she nearly spat at the last syllable, remembering their conversation yesterday.

He chuckled, looking to the sleeping beauties below, 'Wake up. Naruto, Sasuke... The sun has risen. So must you.'

He jumped down, and gave Sasuke a gentle kick. He stirred.

'Naruto, you too!' he leaned down to face the sleeping blond and said this loudly, and Naruto awoke with a jump.

'What, what; are we under attack?' he struggled to free himself from his sleeping bag. 'I'm caught in some sort of ninjutsu!' he called out, still half-asleep. Looking up at the amused, if not a bit exasperated faces of Sakura and Kakashi, his struggling came to a stop. 'Oh. Hehe...' he removed himself from the sleeping bag slowly and rolled it up.

Meanwhile Sasuke had already quickly packed his sleeping bag away.

'We should do the same', Kakashi suggested. Sakura nodded, 'Yeah.' They parted and put away their things.

The daimyo's son was evidently still asleep. Naruto was now standing and stretching; he had already tugged on his daytime clothes. 'I'm hungry', he stated matter-of-factly.

'Oh...' Sakura pulled out a small bag. 'I brought rice balls.'

And they ate in silence.