Hello! I'm back! And here is a new chapter of 'A second chance'. Enjoy!

I snarled at Naruto, trying desperately to escape from the trap he had set. He grinned like a fox and stood just beyond my reach, taunting me, laughing. There was a flash of lavender, and Hinata appeared next to him, her byakugan activated and scanning the woods around us. She whispered to him, and then jumped into the trees and away from us. Naruto formed the familiar cross-seal and then drove a kunai into the clone, ensuring that all the other clones of him got the information that Hinata had just given him. Then he followed Hinata.

Left alone, I tried to get the stupid collar off my neck. We were training in the Forest of Death, and Naruto had come up with the idea of playing a survival game rather like our first Chuunin exam. The Konoha 12 had split into two teams, one lead by Shikamaru and one by Naruto. Shika's team was him, Chouji, Neji, Tenten, Sakura and me. Naruto's team was him, Hinata, Kiba, Lee, Shino and Ino. So far, it seemed that Naruto's team was winning, but we did have Shika. But Naruto had grown smarter, more mature. He had turned his pranking abilities into an asset, making potentially lethal and/or embarrassing traps. Like the stupid collar around my neck. This was attached to the tree by a chain. I sighed and let my mind drift. The green of the leaves reminded me of her green eyes, sparkling emeralds. Her rose pink hair, her pale skin, soft voice and healing hands.

As if my thoughts had conjured her up, she appeared out of nowhere. She looked at me, then the bloody chain with a raised eyebrow, before giggling. I glared at her. She controlled her laughter and broke the chain with her bare hands, causing me to flinch slightly. Her mouth twitched as she started using a kunai on my collar.

"How exactly did this happen?" she asked, choking down her laughter.

"Naruto." That one name was explanation enough.

"What about your Sharingan?" I saw a flash of pride at the reminder that Naruto could beat me now.

"Sakura, Sharingan can only see chakra attacks, and copy techniques. He used traps. How is the Sharingan supposed to copy traps?" I huffed.

She laughed. "Maybe that's why he used them, Sasuke-kun. There, you're free." She stepped away, waving the collar. I glared at the collar, and then looked at her. Her hair was waving gently in the breeze, her cheeks were flushed with the thrill of the game, and her eyes were alight with laughter. Before my brain could catch up to my mouth, I said, "I love you."

Her eyes widened, as did mine, when my brain finally caught up to my mouth, and I realised what I had just said. I hurried to clarify. "Because you got that stupid collar off." I was blushing now, realising that I had technically told her the truth off my feelings.

"Yeah, no, I get that." She hastened to agree, blushing as well. We stood there for a while in awkward silence.

"Well, we should…"

"… get back to the game." She chuckled nervously when I finished her sentence. Then she waved. I stood there for a while, thinking about something I had seen during my awkward kinda-confession. When I had told her indirectly that I didn't love her like that, emotions had flashed in her eyes. For a second, she looked…disappointed. Upset that I didn't like her like that. No, I was probably deluding myself. She had made it clear that she had got over her crush on me. But I couldn't kill the small fire of hope that sprung up. Hope that she did have feelings for me after all.

I had decided that I had to do something to earn Sakura's love (well, actually Naruto had decided. His exact words were 'how am I supposed to get anything done if you're hanging around her mooning for Sakura-chan?' but it was just details.). Naruto had thought of the idea that I ask other people how they had got together. Hinata had stalked Naruto. Since I had already done something similar (Naruto says it's exactly the same thing. I disagree. I followed her for her own protection. It's not stalking.), I decided not to do that. Shika had used his shadow technique to capture Temari and hold her until she agreed to date him. Ino did something similar with her mind technique. I had wanted to follow Shika's footsteps, until Naruto reminded me that I didn't have any shadow techniques. Or mind techniques. So I reluctantly discarded those ideas. Tenten had pinned Neji to a wall with her kunai and told him that he would be her boyfriend. Or else. That was a good idea…

"Sakura. Be my girlfriend. Or else." She glared at me.

"Or else what?" she challenged. "And why the sudden urge to get a girlfriend?"

I thought for a while. "Everyone else has one. So it would be best if I had one too. And you're not bad looking, and you said you're not dating Sai, so…" I trailed of at the incredulous look on her face.

"So this is because you don't want to be the only guy without a girlfriend? And you're having some kind of inferiority complex?"

"I do NOT have an inferiority complex…"

"Then why the hell are you trying to upstage Sai, of all people?"

"Um…"

She pushed the kunai out with her chakra, glared at me and walked of. I slumped against the wall, and then went to find Naruto. If I was depressed, he would have to help.

"Do you have a map?"

"No. Why?" she looked suspicious. I smirked.

"Because I got lost in your eyes." She looked at me with a concerned look.

"Are you okay? Cause you have been acting really strangely." I brightened up. Time for another pick-up line. I was now following Kiba's tactic. Cheesy pick-up lines.

"I'm just crazy for you, baby." She looked at me and then whacked me on the head. "Ow! What was that for?" it was her turn to smirk.

"That should fix you if you're crazy." With that she walked away, turning to give a parting shot. "And if you can get lost so easily, you're a lousy shinobi."

I stared after her, and then took off in the direction of the Hokage tower. Naruto should hear of this.

Naruto rubbed his temple as if he had a headache when I appeared at the window. I reported that it hadn't worked. He sighed. "Sasuke, why don't you just tell her you like her?"

"Hn. Why would that work?" Naruto glared at me and then beckoned. I walked up to him, and he whacked me on the head. "Ow! What is with you and Sakura? You need to control your temper."

"Of course it works! It worked for Lee!" he said, ignoring my comment.

"Naruto, Lee isn't human. I'm not trying that." A thought came to me. "Hey Naruto. How did you finally get together with Hinata? I thought you two had some issues?" he smiled as he thought of it.

"I told the whole village that the only female that I would ever love was Hinata. We got together after that." My eyes widened. That was perfect. And it would get my fangirls away from me!

"Sa-su-ke…" I gulped as Sakura stomped towards me with an evil aura. "What the hell were you thinking telling your fangirls that they didn't stand a chance with you while I was alive? I had to knock half the girls in the village out."

I screamed (it was a manly scream. More like a shout. Really.). Sakura was scary like this. I took off towards my second home. Naruto would help me. Hopefully. Lately for some reason, every time I showed up, Naruto would start muttering 'why, Kami-sama, why?' and suggesting that perhaps I would like to go on a mission. But I knew that it was to test my loyalty to Konoha. After all, my probation was still in place. So I said no. my musings were cut off as I was forced to dodge a chakra enhanced punch. I increased my speed. Naruto would definitely help. He had to. Or I was dead.

And that was the next chapter! Review please!