I would like to apologize for my lack of updating sooner (hypocritical of me but hey, who's saying I'm perfect so don't get angry) Plus I do have a life outside of fanfiction but anyways once again I apologize (blame homework and school)

Thanks for all of the reviews you guys! On with the story…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (doesn't it get annoying having to say that every chapter???)

Another question: If anyone's watched episode 217, the character named Matsuki (Gaara's student); well, is it a boy or a girl? Because I can't tell! (How sad, I know)

Chapter Four: Disturbances

Sakura stayed a few feet behind Sasuke as they walked. Her heart was still beating and her stomach felt like it had been punched in the gut when she remembered what he had said.

"Sakura, don't even think of escaping. Like I told Orochimaru. If you attempt to escape, I'll kill you. If you do escape, I'll hunt you down and kill you. Don't try to escape."

Sakura mentally battled with herself over whether or not Sasuke would actually kill her. She didn't want to find out.

Yet she was still debating over escaping or not. She was so close to Konoha…maybe she could make it there in time. Maybe she could get help and raise the alarm. Maybe they could catch up to Sasuke and bring him home. Maybe…there was too many maybes.

Sakura was so deep in thought that she didn't notice how far behind Sasuke she had fallen. When she looked up he was gone. She started jogging but she came across a split in the path.

"Sasuke!" she yelled. When she didn't hear a response she yelled even louder.

"Sasuke! SASUKE!" Oh crap! she thought as no response came. What if he thinks I tried to escape?

Sakura looked from one path to the other. She didn't know which one he had taken.

Calm down, Sakura. Just look for him using your chakra.

She put her hands together, and searched the surrounding woods for Sasuke's familiar chakra. After a few moments she found it. Apparently it was the right path.

Sakura was about to run towards him when she felt another chakra…a very disturbing one. It was rapidly approaching. She had never felt this chakra before. It was getting closer to her. Sakura's heart started beating like crazy. This person had a chakra level that surpassed herself.

Sakura's eyes snapped open as she felt him coming closer and closer.

Sakura sent chakra into her legs as she ran towards Sasuke. The surrounding foliage was a blur to her as she increased her speed with each step. She was scared. She didn't want to admit it, but she was. Sweat beaded her brow despite the cool wind that stung her face.

She looked back to make sure that person wasn't there. It felt like they were breathing down her neck. When she turned her head to see in front of her she saw a rapidly approaching dark blur. She tried to stop. Too late!

BAM!

Five minutes earlier

Sasuke looked back when he noticed that Sakura had fallen behind. He was going to yell at her to hurry up, but she wasn't there. He frowned.

"Sakura!" he yelled. When no one responded, his heartbeat increased. He could only imagine what horrors could become of her in this horrid place. He called her name again, this time as loud as he could.

Sasuke frowned. Where the hell is she? The a thought crept into his mind. Did she…try to escape? No. I warned her. She knew the consequences. Sakura wouldn't disobey me. She never did in the past. But…she's changed. No, she wouldn't run away. Sakura's stubborn, and she'll stay with me, he told himself confidently, because she thinks she can change me. Now that his pride was soothed, fear replaced smugness. Something must have happened. Damnit! He said as he took off in the direction of her chakra. How could I lose her? She was just here! He kept seeing Sakura and all of the horrendous things that could happen.

Despite the coolness in the air, sweat ran down his face. Sasuke chided himself. What the hell is wrong with you? You're acting like you're worried about her or something. Sasuke ignored the part of him that told himself that he was.

Sasuke looked back for an instant to see how high the sun was. He swore. It was setting. He didn't want to spend the night in these woods. But he also didn't want to travel in the dark. Going back wasn't an option.

As he turned to look forwards he saw a flash of black and pink, and then something crashed into him.

BAM!

They both went flying backwards and skidded to a halt a few feet away.

"What the hell?!" yelled Sasuke, clutching his bleeding nose. Sakura was sporting a red welt on her forehead the size of a baseball.

"OW!" she yelled.

She sat up and laughed at what she saw. Sasuke was in a tangled heap of limbs as he tried to stand up, his nose swollen and bleeding profusely.

Sasuke wiped away the blood and tried to stop the blood flow, but winced when he pinched his broken nose.

"Damnit Sakura! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Sakura couldn't help it. She held her stomach as she laughed. Sasuke also had a few twigs and leaves stuck in his spiky black hair. Sasuke narrowed her eyes.

"Hn. Don't see what you're laughing at. You don't look so good yourself." Sasuke got up and walked over to Sakura. She finally stopped laughing, wiping away tears of mirth from her jade eyes.

She looked up at Sasuke, who was glaring at her. To her surprise he offered her a hand, and she took it. It was warm and rough, the way she'd always imagined it to be.

"Thanks, Sasuke." She tentatively held a hand up and it started glowing a light green. She searched his eyes for permission. When he didn't say anything, she touched his nose, healing him. Then she ripped off a part of her sleeve and wet it with water from her canteen. She wiped away all of the blood, and then removed all of the twigs and leaves from his hear. It was surprisingly soft.

Sasuke just stood there, not moving. She was so close. He could smell her sweet scent, see her eyes twinkle and genuine concern and tenderness in her gaze. No one ever looked at him like that. No one ever…cared for him, like she did. Sasuke's cheeks felt warmer, but he told himself that it was getting hotter outside and not because of the pink-haired kunoichi standing inches away from her.

Sakura's face was inches from his own.

"Sasuke…" she whispered. He saw her eyes slowly close as her face got closer to his. Sasuke stood rooted to the spot as her face got closer and closer to his. His mouth felt dry and his eyes weighed a ton as they drifted down.

He could feel her warmth breath on his lips as she pressed her soft lips to his. Sasuke was too shocked to do anything. They stood like that for what seemed like forever before Sakura pulled away.

Sakura's eyes were wide. She backed away from him as she touched her lips.

"Sasuke…"

Sasuke's eyes were also wide.

Sakura continued to stare at him in wonder.

After a minute of just staring Sasuke finally shook himself. "Where the hell were you?" To Sasuke, it was easier to get angry than to delve into his emotions. It disturbed him they way that Sakura could get to him.

Sakura blinked. Her hand fell down. "W-what?"

Sasuke took a threatening step towards her. "Were you escaping?" His eyes glittered dangerously.

"Sas-Sasuke! No! I give you my word, I just fell behind!"

"Hn. How can I believe you?"

Sakura's eyes face became determined. "You know that I would never abandon you! I swore to bring you home and that's what I'm going to do!"

Sasuke knew that she was telling the truth. He hadn't believed that she had run away in the first place. He was just trying to change the subject…well, before Sakura tried to make something out of their kiss…that meant absolutely nothing to him. Or so he tried to tell himself.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Hn. Whatever. Hurry up. We've wasted enough time as it is."

He turned around and started walking towards the setting sun.

Sakura instantly followed him, but didn't walk beside him like she normally would have. She didn't want him to see how much he had hurt her.

Did I really just kiss Sasuke? she asked herself. I can't believe I did! And he didn't even say anything! Am I a bad kisser? Oh my-

"Sakura."

"Yes, Sasuke?"

"It was nice."

Sakura's jade eyes went wide. Sakura knew it wasn't wise to press him any further. She wondered if he had said it at all, or if she had just imagined it. Probably the latter. The Sasuke she knew would never have said anything like that.

Sakura walked faster to catch up to him. They walked in silence until Sasuke told Sakura to set up the tent. He went off to gather some firewood to start a fire with.

Sakura had pitched the tent and taken out some dried food and water for dinner. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

Sasuke's thoughts were plagued by a certain pink-haired kunoichi. He couldn't believe that she had kissed him. No, he corrected. What he couldn't believe was that he had actually let her. Sasuke shook his head and groaned. He didn't know what the heck was wrong with him anymore.

Two hours later

Sakura sat on the ground and leaned against a log. She had stared at the fire for too long and now her vision was blurry. She blinked a few times to clear away the haziness.

She then looked at what little sky she could see from under the canopy of trees. Crickets were chirping nearby, and she could hear the night noises.

Sasuke had gone off long ago. He hadn't said where he was going, so Sakura assumed that he was on watch duty.

Sakura sighed. She wanted to talk to him, especially about what she had done today. To her surprise she wasn't embarrassed about it. Sakura felt proud about that, too. It was a sign of her maturity. But she began to worry about Sasuke. He hadn't pulled away, but he hadn't kissed her back. He had just…stood there. It confused Sakura. She didn't know what to say. She wouldn't apologize, or express regret. She had saved her first kiss for him, and she wanted him to continue being her firsts. First kiss, first boyfriend, first love. She had never felt that way about anyone before. Her first crush had turned into her first which had turned into her first love, her only love. Sakura knew that no one could replace Sasuke.

The object of her thoughts suddenly appeared before her.

"Sakura."

"Yes, Sasuke?" She was looking up at him. He was standing, which made it hard to see his face.

Sasuke knew she was uncomfortable with him towering over her, but it made him feel more comfortable. He could say and do things a lot better without being eye-to-eye with her.

"Tomorrow we'll be traveling fast, so get some rest."

Sakura nodded. "Okay." She stretched and yawned. "I was on my way to bed anyways. Wake me up when it's my turn to keep watch."

"Heal yourself first. You're going to need as much chakra as you can the next few days."

"Heal myself?" Sakura asked, confused.

Sasuke squatted down in front of her. He raised his hand and gently touched the welt on her forehead. His probing shot pain through it, and Sakura remembered that she had gotten it when they'd ran into each other. She had been so preoccupied with thoughts of kissing Sasuke that she'd completely forgotten about it.

"Oh," she said, touching it. She winced. That is a nasty bruise, she thought. She gathered chakra into her hand and healed it quickly.

Sasuke was still squatting in front of her, watching her. He kept his eyes on her hand, which was glowing a light green color.

"Sakura…"

"Yah?"

"Tell me about your jutsu." It wasn't a demand; it was a request.

Sasuke moved to sit beside her.

"You mean the one I used against Kabuto?"

He nodded.

"Tsunade taught me how to control my chakra to perfection. You need to, in order to be a medic-nin. Remember Neji, and his Byakugan?" Sasuke nodded. "He explained to me the chakra points and the complex chakra system. With Tsunade's help in training, and Neji's information, I was able to summon all of my chakra to my chakra points, and when I'm done building them up, I release the chakra from every chakra point simultaneously. There is so much chakra and power, that when I emit my chakra in that form, a sonic boom follows. The chakra takes on the form of a wave. It is a very dangerous jutsu to my opponents, for there is no escaping it. It travels a full 360 degrees from my body, so anyone within 3,000 feet will be affected by it. But if I concentrate hard enough, I can shift my chakra to miss something, or someone. However, like I told you before, it takes all of my chakra, so I should only use it if the success rate is 100, or if I have nothing left. It's a very complex jutsu, but I wanted a jutsu I could call my own. With assistance from Tsunade and Neji, of course."

Sasuke didn't say anything. He was far beyond impressed that she had created a jutsu this powerful. Well, she was always surprising him. Like she did today.

She had actually kissed him. His usually focused mind was still stuck on that fact. He spared her a glance. She yawned again. He told her to go to bed.

She nodded, but not before grumbling something about him asking her a question in the first place. Before she went inside the tent, she whispered, "Good night, Sasuke," to him.

He didn't say it back. He never did. Why would he start now? Just because someone was showing him affection he hadn't felt in over two years did not give her the right to think that she should get special treatment for it. As he sat staring into the darkness, he couldn't help but want to feel her lips against his again. Just as an experiment, he told himself. He had to know if it had been just as good as he remembered, or if it had been some type of fluke. He looked towards the tent. He thought about kissing her in her sleep, so that she wouldn't know and he didn't have to explain himself. But he rejected that plan as soon as he had come up with it. He may not be honorable, but he did have honor. And that part of him couldn't sit with the idea that he would be taking advantage of her, of the situation.

He sighed. In the words of a former comrade, "Women are troublesome."

Sakura woke up when Sasuke gently shook her awake. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up, stretching and yawning. They didn't exchange words when they traded places, but Sakura felt the coldness of the night and wished that Sasuke was there to keep her warm. Sasuke couldn't help but smell her scent as he lay down where she'd been lying, and feel the remnants of her warmth. He breathed it in, and a ghost of smile formed on his lips as he drifted off into unconsciousness.

Sasuke awoke when he heard a scream. He was out of bed and outside in an instant.

He unsheathed Kusanagi and looked around for Sakura. He smelt blood in the air, and his heart froze when he saw Sakura clutching her leg, blood dripping on the ground.

Sorry for the cliffy but I am way tired and I have lots of homework. Once again I apologize for the slow update. I'll try to be faster in the future! Review please!

Laura- Thanks so much! pops collar Well, I try. : )

Shelan- Same as Laura : )

sakuraXgaara15- Wow thanks! Sorry for the not-so-soon update. Shame on me! I will try to update faster! At least I didn't wait a month like some authors! Anyways if you ever do get suggestions, I'm already here.

StrawLate- catches confetti Yay! I love parties… : ) Thank you!

Neko's Snow- Sorry I didn't write about Konoha in this chapter! But just to let you know Sasuke and Sakura will not actually be going into Konoha. They just have to get close enough to send a message.

Lil Devil 66- Eh, like you said it is VERY hard to keep the characters in character. Especially Sasuke, because he keeps surprising me in the manga and anime. Well, thank you! And I apologize for the OOCness in Sai and Naruto. And don't make my eat those gummy bears! (those do sound good) : )

BlondeKell- Well, you know that Sakura had been hanging out with Naruto before all of this! Don't worry, I sincerely doubt Sasuke is going to kill Sakura. Unless I make it happen. (I love the feeling of power) : )

TinhThuyVan- Sasuke is supposed to be mean! That's how his character is. But he'll soften up some.

ForeheadKAT- What do you mean he's out of his league? And sorry but there aren't any hookers in my story. He'll have to settle for Sakura.

majinme- Thank you!

SORAxANDxKAIRIx4EVERx0508- You have a really long name. Just thought I'd point that out. Well, what did you think?

PInK cuTie KaGomE-micael m- What's a good story without a little drama? (especially with teenagers) Of course they're cute! That's what makes them my favorite!

Ur2tRoUbLeSoMe90- yes I know he's mean but I'm trying to keep him in character…for the time being anyways. Thank you!!!

C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only- Who knows what will happen? Maybe they'll leave her alone…but I'm guessing since they were terrified of Orochimaru and Sasuke, plus Sakura herself, they won't try to attack her again. I can't say the same thing for everyone (hint hint) And I honestly don't know if Sasuke's perverted voice with come out…if it will it will most likely just be in his mind (the italics)

heartlessoul- Thank you! I tried really hard!

InuyashaLover167- There's always hope for him! Especially with someone like Sakura on his side…But just to let you know Sasuke and Sakura will not actually be going into Konoha. They just have to get close enough to send a message.

darknesses-light- Thanks! I'm glad I did good too! It will be very interesting indeed…I wonder what will happen: )

Mel- I like Sakura too! Thank you!

Icycrystel- blushes furiously Wow thank you! Here was your update! I'll be updating within a few days so I hope you look forward to it!