A/N: Sooo, I'm still tryna figure out most of the plot, BUT, I'm getttting there :D These first few beginning chapters are just to show the character's feelings.

Disclaimer: Once again, I only dream of ever owning Naruto...

Chapter 2

"Sakura?"

She had no way of escaping this very uncomfortable situation. Slowly, she looked behind her shoulder to see none other than the man whose voice just said her name.

"Good morning, Sasuke." She nodded at him, her face a blank expression. She didn't even ask why he was out when he was clearly supposed to be under house arrest.

Sakura waited in silence for the voice of the other man, she knew it was coming.

"What are you doing out so early?" Sasuke continued to pry open Sakura's mouth for some sort of reply.

"In case it wasn't obvious enough, I work at the hospital and I am now beginning my morning shift." She stated, in a monotone voice.

Sasuke, who seemed to sense her hostility, was about to voice another question, something about what the hell happened to her these days, but was rudely interrupted by our favorite hero.

"Teme, why are you just standing in the middle of - " his blue eyes widened, "Sakura!" and his face broke out into his usual grin.

"Good morning Sakura! I haven't seen you in a while, what are you up to these-"

Sakura cut him off and quietly said, "Work. See you guys later." before leaving into the hospital. Neither of the young men could see the tears threatening to fall down their pink-haired teammate's face. While Sasuke shrugged it off and began walking into the hospital for one of his weekly checkups-his sharingan had been provoking his eyes ever since his battle with Itachi-Naruto stood still, watching Sakura's small figure walk away until she was out of sight, with a sad glint in his eyes and his bright smile faded.

"Dobe, you aren't my personal 'escort' for nothing. You have to stick with me so I don't 'escape from my deserved punishment'. Let's go." Sasuke said with annoyance and sarcasm; he had directly quoted exactly what Tsunade had told them both.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm coming." Naruto replied, clearly distracted with what had just happened. Why doesn't Sakura-chan talk to me anymore? He thought as he caught up with Sasuke. Once he caught up with his best friend and fell into step with him, Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. I thought we said our friendship will never be ruined?

Sakura quickly slipped into her personal office, closed the door and sighed. She angrily rubbed her eyes, mad that Naruto was still the only one to ever bring up so many emotions in her at the same time. How long has it been since she saw him? Ever since he brought back Sasuke? That couldn't have been less than 5 months ago. She had avoided Naruto as much as possible ever since she had told him of her feelings. Not because it was awkward or anything, but because it was too painful for Sakura to be around him; she'd wonder if her love wasn't true enough to be believable?

She could never blame Naruto or get mad at for what he did. I mean, I'd react the same way he did too. She sighed again, something she seemed to have been doing a lot lately. If only I hadn't been so hell-bent on Sasuke…then maybe…Naruto would have known that my love was real.

She took a clipboard from her desk and mentally made a checklist of who her patients were for the day. She left her room and headed for the room of her first patient. On her way there, she let her mind wander. She couldn't help but think of the way he had said her name. He sounded happy to see her, but any hopes that thought might have brought were quickly torn apart and stomped on as Sakura told herself, he sounded happy because I'm his friend and teammate.

But there was another thing about how he said her name. How can Sakura forget that? After all, she was the one that kindly requested that Naruto should not call her with "chan" at the end. When he was beyond shocked, flabbergasted, and asked her WHY, she had told him that it had made her feel like a child, and quite frankly, she did not like that. Unwillingly, Naruto had given in and it had taken a while for him to get used to saying her name like that. Albeit, the "chan" slipped from him many times the first few days, but eventually he caught on.

But that was not the only reason Sakura had asked that of him. She knew she asked that because she wanted to make this as painless as possible and did not want to hear any sort of affection from him, so as to not get her hopes up every time he called her affectionately, but not in the way that she had always hoped of.

Sakura was so dazed into her thinking that, while climbing the stairs and turning around the corner to climb the second flight, she had not noticed the man walking towards her and bumped directly into his hard, muscular chest. She lost her balance and was about to bust her head open, but before she could hit the ground, two strong arms caught her, bridal style.

Shocked and angry at herself for being an ANBU and yet, not being able to watch where the hell she was walking, she looked up to see a pair of ocean blue eyes looking back at her.

Naruto had been lost in thought the whole time they were at the hospital. His sudden quietness had caught Sasuke's attention but he made no remark on it; it was better to savor the rare peacefulness rather than bring on something he didn't want onto himself.

After Sasuke's eye checkup had been completed, they started walking out, but the only way to do that was to take the stairs of course! Naruto, still lost and fazed, didn't see the fragile body that he had come into contact with, and acting upon instincts, immediately caught the woman; his right arm under her knees and left arm under her neck.

"Sa…kura…chan?" Naruto managed to whisper out, oops. She's not gonna like that…

Sakura's eyes slowly widened as realization dawned upon her. She was in Naruto's arms. No, not some random man, but Naruto's. Oh, how she wished it was some stranger instead.

She was lost in his calculating gaze; his deep blue eyes were too much for her. And there was also his damn chest. Why does it have to be so damn muscular…and nice…and well toned…

Sakura caught herself before she started to drool.

"Oh! S-sorry Naruto, I wasn't, uh, w-watching where I was going." She managed to play off coolly, but she just couldn't stop herself from stuttering.

She immediately jumped out of Naruto's arms and regained her balance. "And Naruto," she said as she was fixing her skirt and coat, "how many times do I have to tell you?" Her warning voice.

All Naruto could say was, "Gomen, Sakura."

"Well then, I'm awfully busy so I'll be going now." She continued and started walking up the stairs again.

But Naruto wasn't about to let her go so easily yet. "Wait, Sak-" He called out from behind her.

She half-heartedly raised her hand to say bye, "Ja Ne."

Another missed chance…thought Naruto.

Later in the afternoon, Naruto and Sasuke had decided on eating at Ichiraku's for lunch and were now sitting there, waiting for their meal. Well, it wasn't as if Sasuke actually suggested this place…or voted to go there for all it matters. He was practically dragged there and was left with no choice.

Yes, Sasuke was under house arrest.

No, he doesn't give a damn that he's breaking the rules. After all, it really pays off to have an ANBU bestfriend.

Smirk.

"Soooo dobe," Sasuke said as he was about to take a bite of his ramen. He made sure Naruto was listening…even if he had food in his mouth.

"Hm?" Naruto mumbled out.

"I'm planning on marrying Sakura and rebuild my clan." Sasuke had said it so simply, you can't help but think he's up to something, and he took that bite of ramen.

Naruto coughed. More than cough actually, he was choking now.

Another smirk.

"W-what the hell?" Naruto managed to yell out.

"Is there something wrong?" That stupid smirk was played on Sasuke's face the whole time.

Naruto regained his composure and mentally calmed himself down.

"Yeah, actually there is." He said and then slammed his fist down on the table and turned to look at Sasuke.

"Like HELL, I'll let that happen."

"I don't see what's wrong about it. I mean, since she's always loved me and all…maybe it's time I give her what she's always wanted."

"News flash teme: Sakura-chan does not love you anymore, so heh, good luck with that." He went back to eating his ramen.

"Hn. What are you so worried about. It doesn't concern you anyway, unless…" Oh was Sasuke feeling e-v-i-l today.

"you don't happen to be jealous, do you Naruto?"

Naruto set his chopsticks down. His hair covered his eyes so that you couldn't see them, and his head was still down. Now it was Naruto's turn to smirk.

"Ne, teme?" He looked up at Sasuke with a demonic glint in his dangerously narrowed eye, smirk still in place. "You wanna settle this over a little sparring?" He knew Sasuke would never deny a challenge, after all, being the men that these two are, they'll always be finding ways to prove that one is better than the other. And this time, they seem to have found Sakura as one of those challenges.

But Naruto didn't know the game that Sasuke was playing. Instead, he remained clueless and just felt like ripping that arrogant Uchiha bastard into little, tiny pieces. He wants to make babies with Sakura-chan now does he? Naruto's smirk grew bigger. Let's see how you make little Uchiha brats after I'm done with you, teme.

"Deal."

Aaaand that's the end of the second chapter! Sorry, if it's a littttle short, but yeah, I'm still trying to develop the story a little bit moree T.T

and to my VERY FIRST REVIEWER: YES, that was my goal from the very beginning, to make this fic as realistic as possible! I'm soo glad you noticed :D

I'll try to update sooon! So please review and lemme know if you like it so far :D