A/N: Yay! I have a clearer image of what I'm gonna do for the plot! :D but omg, I kinda suck at fighting scenes -_- I hope you guys don't mind! And thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I own Naruto...in my dreams. T.T

Chapter 3

Tch. He's not taking this lightly, Sasuke thought to himself as he dodged another one of Naruto's kicks to the head. They've been sparring for 2 continuous hours now. Sasuke couldn't believe that Naruto could keep up with his speed. Sasuke jumped back to avoid Naruto's punch only to find that he had disappeared and reappeared behind his back. Sasuke's eyes widened a tiny fraction and before he could react, Naruto had kicked him into a nearby tree.

"Tch. Oi, teme, don't tell me that's all you got? What the hell have you been doing with Orochimaru this whole time? Sittin' around and braiding his hair?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he stood up and disappeared and meant to kick at Naruto's head from behind only to have his leg caught. Naruto looked back, smirked, and spun him around. Sasuke managed to land on his feet and blocked Naruto's punches as Naruto quickly took it as an opportunity to force him into defending. Finally, Sasuke managed to get a punch into Naruto's stomach, but not before realizing that it was a shadow clone.

Stunned for a few seconds, Sasuke began looking all around him for the real one. He was at a disadvantage without the Sharingan.

"Guess who won, teme."

Crap.

Before Sasuke could even begin to react, Naruto had him in a headlock on the ground. He was grinning brightly as Sasuke muttered a chain of colorful words and gave into defeat. And that ended their little sparring session.

It infuriated Sasuke to no end that Naruto can defeat him now. He didn't like this one bit. But then again, Sasuke couldn't use his Sharingan and Naruto had the upperhand with the Kyuubi's help, so it wasn't the end of the world, yet.

As the two men sat on the ground at the very familiar training ground, catching their breath, Sasuke couldn't help but look down at the level of Naruto's idiocy. If there was one thing that Sasuke couldn't stand, it was when people are too dumb to understand what was going on. Sasuke opened his mouth to comment on his idiocy, but Naruto beat him to it.

"Teme. You better not touch Sakura-chan." Before Sasuke could say anything, Naruto continued, "I mean it." He turned his head to look at Sasuke with dangerously narrow eyes and probably the most serious face Naruto could ever make. "You don't deserve her."

"Care to tell me who does deserve her?"

Both young men look up to see Kakashi standing on a nearby branch, lost in the readings of his perverted book, but still paying attention to the conversation.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed with joy.

"Yo." Replied the older man, with his eye crinkled, indicating that he was smiling.

"Hn."

"Nice to see you too, Sasuke." He chuckled at the nostalgia and jumped down from the branch. But his face went back to seriousness once again as he continued talking.

"So Naruto, about my question."

"Huh? Oh…I guess…someone who loves her as much as she loves them." He looked down thoughtfully, "and someone who can always protect her, and never hurt her." He shot a glare at the Uchiha, who acted as if nothing happened.

"Someone," Kakashi started, "like you?"

Naruto's eyes widened at the thought. "But sensei! I've hurt her before…" he slowly lowered his head.

Kakashi sighed, "Naruto, didn't you like her?"

Naruto suddenly looked up, "I did! I mean, I still do, but-"

"Then what happened? Why didn't you accept her?"

"I…I didn't think I was right for her." His gaze fell to his feet.

Kakashi chuckled, "Well according to your own rules, you're the perfect one that deserves her."

What did Kakashi mean by that? Clearly Naruto had hurt her…so how does he still apply to his own rules?

Taking in his former student's confusion, Kakashi sighed, "Naruto, you may have temporarily hurt her, but the fact that you want to fix everything again falls in the category of protecting her and loving her as much as she loves you."

And with that, Kakashi walked away, burying his face in his book once again.

"Dobe, you still have time to get her. But lemme tell you this, Sakura has changed. I'm not gonna go around and play as your little matchmaker though," Sasuke stood up to leave, "you're on your own."

Naruto was left alone in the training grounds. He was lost in deep thought for a long time. He looked up to the sky, Sakura-chan…I promise I'll make you happy again.

Sakura's long shift at the hospital was finally over and she was allowed to leave. She sighed; it had truly been a long day, with many interesting events. The sun had already set and the pink and orange hues of the sun's rays still lingered in the evening sky. She started making her way home, slowly, convincing herself that she had all the time in the world. She was so grateful for the day off tomorrow, since she'd be needing all the rest she can get after depleting her chakra so much today.

So it's no surprise that she was dead tired and practically walking like a zombie through the streets of Konoha. Today was rough, she inwardly winced. She spent 5 hours in the ER, working on a Jounin in critical condition after a mission went wrong. She was happy to be of help, however; seeing the person's thankful family made her day.

Thinking about her soft, soft bed at home and how good it would feel to be in it, she trudged along the pathway. Had she been at her full attention, she would have noticed the ANBU waiting for her.

Naruto had been leaning against a wall, arms folded. Instead of his usual ANBU outfit, he wore black sweats that came up to his knees, a black full sleeved turtle-neck shirt, and ninja sandals. Of course he wore his hitai-ate on his forehead too.

As soon as he saw Sakura approaching, he kicked off the wall with his foot and walked over to her. After getting a good look at her, an alarm went off in his head.

"Sakura, have you even eaten at all today?"

She couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes when she murmured a quiet, "No…" She tried to suppress a yawn, but Naruto caught it. He sighed, she's been overworking, as usual. He hated how he barely saw her anymore, she'd always say she was busy working. Without saying another word, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her off to the nearest restaurant, which conveniently happened to be Ichiraku's.

Sakura had no energy left to protest so she decided to wait until they were sitting down to ask exactly what the hell he was doing. Once seating, Sakura popped the question up, "Naruto, what are you doing?" She looked at him from the corner of her eye.

Naruto, who was looking thoughtfully at the menu, smiled, and without looking at her he replied, "I'm taking care of you."

This time Sakura turned her head towards him and asked, "But why?" …desperation and confusion were evident in her eyes.

"Because you're too busy taking care of others," he put the menu down and turned to look at her in the eyes, a soft smile on his face, "so who's gonna take care of you?"

A pained expression flickered across Sakura's face. "Oh." She said dumbly. She didn't understand that Naruto was trying to say that he'd be there to take care of her all her life. But Naruto decided he'll wait until the day she understands what he meant.

Their meals were placed in front of them a few minutes after Naruto had ordered.

"Itadakimasu!" He said with his usual vigor and grin as he dug into his meal.

Sakura, with a small smile on her lips, quietly echoed him, "Itadakimasu."

The little dinner date went by smooth and for once, Sakura wasn't depressed with his presence. He had been kind and gentle with his words; he said nothing that would remind her of the past or bring up bad memories.

After he finished, he paid for both of their meals. He stood up and waited for Sakura to do the same.

He said, "I'll walk you home."

Sakura immediately protested, "Naruto, you don't have-"

"I want to." He cut her off, using a tone of authority to make it clear to her that there would be no more arguing.

Sakura looked at him for a second. There was something about the way the sunset colors illuminated his golden hair as it fell around his whiskered cheeks, and the way the colors mixed in with his bottomless blue eyes, that made it impossible for her to say no to him. She gave in and they both started walking towards her apartment.

After a few moments of comfortable silence, Naruto was the first one to speak up. "Sakura, I don't like how unhappy you look."

Sakura's tired eyes widened in surprise at the blonde's straightforward and bland statement.

He continued, his gaze set on the path before them, "and knowing I'm the cause for it makes me feel like a bastard."

Sakura suddenly looked up at him and spoke up, "No Naruto! That's now how-"

"Let me finish, Sakura-chan."

She slowly nodded and lowered her head, suddenly finding the ground fascinating.

He continued, "I want you to know this right now," Naruto paused for a minute, trying to think of how to tell her just how much she meant to him. Before Naruto could start speaking again, something caught his attention. Sakura was falling back, the result of passing out, and he had caught her. Her chakra level was so low, he could barely make it out even when she was right there in his arms.

Naruto mentally cursed at himself, I should have observed her more closely. Frustrated at the fact that he hadn't noticed exactly how tired she looked and that she was practically dragging herself with every ounce of energy she had left, Naruto just lifted her up so that her head was resting against his chest, as he made his way to her apartment.

Once he got inside, he laid her down on her own bed, and sat next to her on the edge. He observed every feature of her face. He slowly brushed away the few strands of pink hair on her cheek and his hand seemed to pause on her cheek all on its own. He caressed her cheek and his eyes held a look of longing, for her and her love.

For how many years had he seen the same cheeks, the same face? But why did it look so different up this close? He never felt so much love for her as he did when he saw how fragile she seemed to look at that very moment.

His eyes did not look at her with lust, but with true and genuine love. And that was when his face twisted its features into a look of determination. He was determined to forever protect and care for Sakura and he'd be damned if he broke his own self promise.

He bent over and placed a soft kiss on her forehead and whispered, "Good night…Sakura-chan," before getting up and leaving her apartment, with a content look.

I'm actually getting a more excited about writing this story, since I got a new inspiration today :D

And for the people who take the time to review : THANK YOU so much! I take every review seriously and you guys keep me going ^.^

So please, review and let me know what you think!