When they reached Naruto's house, he opened the door silently and led Sakura inside. "Here we are."

Sakura played with the end of her shirt nervously. "Yup." She looked down. "Um...I didn't bring any pajamas or anything, so..."

"That's ok. You can wear something of mine."

"Are you sure? It might not fit..."

Naruto smiled at her. "It's fine. They might be a little too big, but..."

"Well, I can sleep in my shorts. All I really need is a comfortable shirt."

"No problem." He left the room and came back a minute later with a large t-shirt. "Here. You can go change in the bathroom."

"Thanks," Sakura replied, taking the shirt and following his finger to a door down the hallway. She quickly changed in the bathroom, and when she came back Naruto had set up a blanket on the living room couch and was practically chugging his ramen down.

He finished the ramen, noticed her staring and blushed. "Um...you don't mind if we both sleep on the couch, do you? My room's kind of messy and you probably wouldn't want to go in there."

She shrugged and gave him a shy smile. "I don't mind."

Naruto grinned back at her. "Great! Well, um..." They both stared down at the couch. "Uh...I guess I'll just..." Naruto looked from her to the couch awkwardly, before plopping down on it and lying down with his legs stretched out in front of him. After spending a moment getting comfortable, he looked up at Sakura and patted the tiny area he had left open.

Sakura walked over nervously and sat down next to him, scooting herself into the small space and then lying down parallel to him. They faced each other and put their heads on the pillow. "This is really small," Sakura said with a laugh.

Naruto beamed at her. "I can smell your breath, Sakura-chan," he said to emphasize how cramped it was.

She looked at him anxiously. "Does it smell okay?"

"Like shrimp." Sakura frowned and buried her head in his chest without another word. Naruto laid a hand softly on her head, looking down at her. "What's wrong?"

A muffled sniff came from Sakura. "I had shrimp with Sasuke."

Naruto gave her an empathetic look and moved his other hand to rub her back softly. "Something happened, Sakura. Tell me what he did."

"I already told you. He just kissed me, that was it. Then he backed off!"

He felt his shirt dampen. "If that was all that happened you wouldn't be crying. You're my best friend and my girlfriend, and I really care about you. Please tell me."

Sakura sniffed again. "It was nothing, really. I don't know why I'm so upset. It's just...he wouldn't back off! I pushed him away and stood up, and he...pinned me to a tree and tried to kiss me again. Then I got away and ran, and it was so dark...I thought nobody would be out that late and he would get me!" There was silence for a moment.

"...he's a dead man."

Sakura looked up at him, surprised. "No! Don't go picking a fight with him, Naruto!" She wrapped her arms around him tightly and his eyes widened in surprise. "I don't care about what happens to me. He won't do anything to SERIOUSLY hurt me, he l..." She forced herself to finish the sentence. "...loves me..." Sakura spit out. "But he doesn't care about you. I think he might do something to hurt you."

Naruto looked down at her gently. "I can handle Sasuke. Especially if it means protecting you. I'll guard you with my life, Sakura. I would die for you."

Sakura avoided his eyes. "I don't want you living up to those promises, Naruto. I...I'd rather die than live my life without you."

She could almost feel his smile on her. "Three years ago could you have imagined yourself saying that to me?"

She was caught between smiling and frowning at him. "Three years ago I would have rather killed Kakashi-sensei than say that to you."

Naruto chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her even tighter against his chest. "I swear, if Sasuke dropped dead right now, our lives would be perfect. No offense to him or anything."

Sakura glared at him. "Naruto! That's a horrible thing to say!"

"Horrible but true. Face it Sakura, he's gone off the deep end."

Sakura sighed. "I don't want to talk about Sasuke anymore. Let's talk about something happier."

"Or we don't have to talk at all..."

Sakura looked up at him and glared. "What's that supposed to mean, you don't want to talk to m..."

Naruto cut her off with a tender kiss, pouring everything he felt into it. Sakura could almost feel herself melting.

He pulled away and grinned at her. "I love you."

Sakura's eyes fluttered open and she blinked at him. "No more talking..." She leaned forward again, losing all ability to think when Naruto deepened the kiss a few seconds later. "Naruto...you're the most...amazing person...I've ever met..." She muttered between kisses. She felt him grin against her lips.

"Now you taste like ramen."

Sakura giggled. "I love you too, Naruto." She pulled away slowly and they smiled at each other.

"Well...I guess it's time to go to sleep," Naruto pointed out, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah." Sakura settled herself against him and laid her head back down on the pillow. "Good night, Naruto."

"Good night, Sakura."

The next morning, Sakura woke up to the sound of something hissing. Her first instinct was to hop up, grab a kunai, and start slashing at stuff, preferably at some snakes, but then she remembered where she was and noticed Naruto wasn't lying next to her. Instead he was in the kitchen, and the source of the hissing was the bacon he was making.

"Oh, you're up!" Naruto cried, seeing her sit up. "I'm making breakfast!"

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "You can cook?"

"Of course. I occasionally eat something other than ramen. I've had three non-ramen meals this week!"

"It's Saturday." Sakura got up and walked over to him, kissing him on the cheek and examining the cooking bacon.

Naruto frowned. "That's not the point."

The bacon finished cooking and Naruto split it up on two plates.

"Don't you normally have eggs or something with this?" Sakura asked, taking her plate.

"One miracle at a time," Naruto replied. Sakura rolled her eyes.

When they finished eating and got dressed, Naruto ran out the front door with Sakura hurrying to keep up.

"Where shall we go today?" Naruto asked, hooking her arm with his formally.

"I don't know, where do you want to go?" Sakura replied cheerfully.

Unbeknownst to the pair, Sasuke Uchiha was following them once again. "He thinks he's so great..." Sasuke thought, staring at Naruto. His eye twitched uncontrollably. "He won't be so great when I squash him like a bug tonight. Then Sakura will be all MINE!" He coughed quietly to hold back an evil laugh, and then crouched in his hiding place as Sakura turned around.

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?" Naruto replied. Sakura studied the area behind them for a moment.

"Nothing. Never mind..." she said after a second. They continued walking. After a minute of silence, Sakura leaned over and whispered, "Sasuke's following us. Act normal."

Naruto's eyes widened and he unhooked their arms so he could wrap his arm around her tightly, but otherwise acted the same. "What are we going to do?" he whispered back.

"I don't know. Maybe we could lose him in a crowd. Let's go towards the center of the village."

Naruto nodded and they changed direction. After a few minutes, more and more people could be seen on the streets, until eventually there were too many people to count. Simultaneously, both Sakura and Naruto took off at a run into the crowd, and Sasuke quickly lost sight of them.

"Damn...I was hoping to catch Sakura alone, but she'll probably be with Naruto all day. Well then, until tonight..." He shrank back from the mob and in a flash was running down another street.

After a minute of running, Naruto and Sakura stopped and put their hands on their knees. "Do you think we lost him?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. I think so," Sakura huffed.

"Hey, there's the cute couple!" a voice called out from nearby.

Sakura clapped a hand to her forehead, forcing a smile and turning around to meet a grinning Ino and a very tired Shikamaru head on. "Hey Ino."

"Hey! How are you guys doing? I was looking for you at your house this morning, Sakura, but your mom said you never came home last night!" She smirked suggestively at Sakura and Naruto.

Sakura chose to ignore the comment. "Well, what are you two doing here?"

"Shopping, of course!" Ino cried, gesturing towards Shikamaru, who was currently carrying around a dozen bags. "Care to join us?"

Sakura and Naruto met eyes, and both of them shrugged. "Sure," Sakura replied. "It'll give us something to do."

Naruto walked over to Shikamaru. "Here, I'll carry some of these."

"Thank...you..." Shikamaru gasped. Naruto nodded his response.

And that was how the two spent the rest of the day, window-shopping and watching Ino pile more and more bags into Shikamaru's hands. However, neither of them was expecting the attack that came that night.