Thanks for the reviews guys and I hope that this chapter will be as good.

Disclaimer: If you wish to add a NaruSaku pairing in the actual manga, contact Kishimoto because he owns Naruto, not me.

Close Call

He cracked open his eyes to find that the room was still dark. It was brighter than night, yet too dark for it to be morning. He turned his gaze towards the noising clock that was to his right.

"5:30. Only 4 hours of sleep."

He released a deep breath, slightly relaxing some tension in his body. He sat up and stretched out his back and arms, the cracking of his bones echoing throughout the large room. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he lazily walked towards his personal bathroom, dragging his feet along the royal blue carpet. This is how he always started his mornings, even if he didn't get much sleep. He was the Hokage now, which means he had to fulfill responsibilities that could affect the future of this village, even if it was just signing countless documents.

After cleaning himself for the day, he glanced at the clock to find that 15 minutes had passed and decided a quick breakfast was in order. Contrary to popular belief, Naruto did not choose ramen for his breakfast. He needed energy for the day, and a single cup of ramen was not one for the job. Instead, he took out a glass of orange juice, some healthy cereal, and a side of apples, strawberries, and bananas. About 30 minutes later, he finished his breakfast and started to clean up. Throwing away the empty box of cereal, he quickly cleaned the dishes and put on the Hokage robe.

Looking at his reflection through his mirror, he smiled at himself, commenting on how cool he looks, before heading outside his door. Walking down the seemingly empty hallway, his footsteps echoed throughout the corridor, as the windows around him showed the incoming light of early morning. The sun was just about to rise, casting little light to spread over the village. He could see some villagers already up and setting up their shops and could have sworn he saw a green blur run throughout the streets.

Reaching his door, he opened it surprised to find the pink haired beauty at her desk, with a large stack of papers on her left, and a medium sized stack of papers on her right. She was reading something, before noticing the blond haired Hokage come in.

"S-Sakura-chan! What are you doing here?"

She yawned a little before answering. "Oh, I just came in to do some work. I woke up a couple hours ago and since I couldn't go back to sleep and I have a day off today, I figured I'd just come down here to finish whatever documents I could to help you out."

"You didn't have to do that." He replied, surprised and thankful that she came in. That spar yesterday sure did a number on him, and that huge stack of documents on his desk was still there, although it was a little bit shorter thanks to Sakura.

"It's okay. I wanted to come anyway."

"Oh. Thanks, Sakura-chan." He flashed her a nice big smile, despite his sleepiness. She faintly blushed at this, confused as to why she felt this way when he smiled.

"N-No problem. Now, let's get started. The sooner we do, the sooner we get done."

"Yeah."

Noon had just struck Konoha, and the village was buzzing with energy and life. Two people in the office were just about done with their final papers, the whisker faced man finally adding the last of his signatures on a document. They would've been done a lot sooner, but found it hard to concentrate when the one person plaguing your mind is with you, alone in the office. They would often glance at each other, only to turn back if the other person started looking.

Sakura hadn't felt this uncomfortable working with Naruto before, and vise-versa, so why now. Was it because of yesterday? Or maybe it was those dreams they both had about each other? Both of them had a pretty rough hint at the cause of this, but they were too scared to move forward.

Dropping the pen on the table, the medic-nin just sighed, thankful that this dreadful morning was finished. She didn't know what pushed her into coming here, but she came and she stayed. Naruto did the same thing, wondering if becoming ANBU Captain would have been a better job. Dismissing that thought, he looked over towards his best friend, and upon seeing that she was finished, decided that they should go stretch their legs or something. Plus, the rumbling in his stomach made him press on the matter.

"Are you finished, Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah, finally!" She practically screamed, relieved that this boringness was over.

"Wanna get a bite to eat?"

Hearing the low growl coming from her belly, she blushed a little and agreed. Landing outside the tower, they went towards the direction of Ichiraku, just like the day before. Walking at a leisurely pace, the two just started talking about small things, like life, ninja stuff, friends, and other things like that. They were both enjoying each other's company, having this feeling of contentment and happiness with just being around each other.

"What do you wanna do after we eat?" Sakura asked, hoping they could do more things together. Maybe that way, it would be easier to bring out her feelings for him without fear of rejection.

"I don't know. How about a visit to the school? Haven't done that in a while."

"That's a great idea."

As a medical ninja, she took great pride in her job at the hospital. She absolutely adored children, and she would often treat them and make them happy. Her favorite thing to see is their bright expressions that were so full of energy, so full of happiness. Just like Naruto.

Reaching the restaurant, Naruto gestured for Sakura to enter first like a gentleman, which she appreciatively accepted. Following after her, he took a seat right beside her and ordered their food. After finishing their meals, satisfied with what they ate, the two best friends went towards the Academy. Seeing as how it was 12:30, the kids should be back in class and so the two of them took that opportunity to pop in.

Iruka was in the middle of explaining the Hokage and what they do when the door slid open to find a pink haired woman and a man in the traditional Hokage robes. Smiling at his two former students, he turned towards the class to introduce the two people.

"Class, I'd like you to meet 2 people very dear to me. The girl with the pink hair is the head of the medical facility and her name is Haruno Sakura."

She smiled and waved to the kids.

"And the one in the robes is the one and only 6th Hokage."

Naruto tilted his face to let the youngsters get a better view of his face. The girls in the class just "ahhed" while the guys were "cool!"

"Hey kids!"

"Hi Hokage-sama!" The class said in unison.

"You all look like you'll all grow up to be fantastic ninja in the future. Any of you wanna be the Hokage someday?"

A few kids raised their hands, some more proudly that others.

"Well, you're gonna have to work hard and make lots of friends and train to become strong like I did."

Sakura just looked at him adoringly, remembering all the hard work and all the things he's gone through and done just to reach the title he has today. This look, however, did not go unnoticed by a few kids. One girl with long, black pigtails raised her hand to ask a question.

"Yes, girl with the pigtails."

"Um, Hokage-sama, is that your girlfriend?" She said, pointing over to the flinching Sakura.

The two merely blushed in surprise and Sakura became redder at being caught staring at Naruto like that. Iruka had to stifle a laugh or else Sakura would beat him senseless if he brought it up.

"Why would you say that? She's just my best friend." He replied. "Though, I hope we could be more."

The same girl replied. "Because she was st-"

"HEY LOOK! IT'S OROCHIMARU IN A THONG!!" Sakura screamed, interrupting the little girl. Naruto immediately was on full alert at the mention of Orochimaru, but when the word thong entered his mind, he had desperately tried to take out the horrendous picture out of his mind. The same little girl and her classmates, just put on a confused expression.

"Who's Orochimaru and what's a thong?"

"Well," Naruto started, "Orochimaru's this really ugly and evil guy that's dead and a thong is a-"

Again, Sakura interrupted, wanting to get out of here before anything else more humiliating came out that could possibly lead to the one thing she didn't want to get out just yet.

"OH LOOK AT THE TIME! GOT TO GO!"

"But, Saku-"

Grabbing him, she quickly dragged him out of the school using her monstrous strength to haul him out of there. Once outside, she stopped dragging him and sighed a breath of relief.

"Whew, that was close."

"That was strange Sakura-chan."

"Yeah."

"Why do you think that little girl thought you were my girlfriend?"

"Um...I don't know. You know kids, always jumping to conclusions. They just speak without thinking."

"I guess you're right. So what do you want to do now?"

Just then, a puff of smoke appeared in front of them, revealing an ANBU ninja.

"Hokage-sama. The council requires your presence at a meeting right now."

Naruto, slightly disappointed at losing his time with Sakura, agreed and dismissed him.

"Sorry about that, Sakura-chan. Duty calls."

"Could we do something later." She blurted out without realizing it.

"Um...sure." He replied, slightly surprised at what she suggested.

"Cool. See you later then."

"Yeah, bye."

It was about 7:00 when the meeting had ended and Naruto was just bored, really bored. The whole meeting had dragged on longer than he thought, and his body did not take to sitting still for 6 hours. Getting up from his seat, his bones cracked, releasing the tension that was built up during the dreadful meeting. It was about finances and Naruto didn't even seem to be needed there at all. Though, there was still one thing he looked forward to. Seeing his dear Sakura-chan. Tonight, he felt that this night was going to be a special.

Sakura had done nothing but pamper herself after separating from Naruto. It was her day off and no one had bothered her at all to come to the hospital, which was quite rare on her day off. She stood in front of a mirror, examining herself to just confirm how good she looked.

She wore a short black skirt that reached up to her mid thigh, exposing a fair amount of her smooth legs. She wore the high heels Tsunade had given her last year, which were stylish and great for combat. She wore a spaghetti strapped shirt and a red jacket over that. This was the way she would dress during her offs, just casual yet ready for battle.

She was just about to go see if Naruto was done with the meeting, but a knock on the beat her to it. Opening for the door, she was surprised to see Naruto standing there. He was wearing a simple dark blue, long sleeved shirt, buttoned up leaving off the top two buttons, a white undershirt, and black pants. Feeling herself blush, she quickly looked towards the ground, not wanting to get caught blushing or staring. Looking back up, he was still holding a smile that made her heart melt, but his voice broke through her mind.

"Hello Sakura-chan."

"Hi Naruto." She said, feeling a little bit more comfortable right now.

"So...what do you want to do now?"

Thinking for a moment, her stomach growled at her lack of dinner, and when she heard his, she knew he felt the same way.

"How about a bite to eat?"

"Sure."

"Where should we go?" She asked, already knowing his answer.

"How about that new restaurant that just opened up?"

She was in utter shock when he replied. She hadn't expected that answer in her lifetime, yet here he was, all handsome and nice, saying he didn't want to eat ramen for dinner.

"Alright." She said after getting rid of her initial shock.

The two walked out of the apartment complex and into the busy streets of Konoha. As they were walking, they noticed multiple stares from the villagers and hushed whispers, undoubtedly about the two of them. From a stranger's point of view, it looked like the two were on a romantic date, plus the fact that it was the Hokage and the head of the medical facility walking together in what was considered to be "date style" clothes. Thinking it over, the pink haired kunoichi wondered why Naruto was so dressed up tonight and questioned him.

"Why are you dressed up so nicely? We are just hanging out, right?" She asked, wondering what his reply would be.

"Oh...um...," he stuttered. He thought this would be a perfect night for the two of them to be alone and so before he went over to her house, he decided to dress up and look nice. Maybe she would accept this as a date, but then he remembered last time he called it that. He still had a slight scar to prove it. "All my other clothes were dirty."

"Oh." She said, not actually buying it, but she felt sort of relieved he hadn't called it a date. If it was, she wouldn't know whether to dismiss it or go along with it. The latter would lead to something that she didn't have the confidence for yet and so she accepted it.

"Look, we're here." They both looked up to see a huge neon sign that shone brightly in the shadows of night.

Opening the entrance doors, he bowed and gestured for her to go inside, being the sweet gentleman he is.

"After you, m'lady."

"Why thank you, Hokage-sama." She added, with a sweet, gentle voice that sent shivers up his spine when she called him that.

"Looks likes tonight's a good night."

I'm not sure how well this chapter turned out, but I don't think it has that certain "oomf" like the first chapter had. Still, I tried my best and I hope it was a great chapter.

Please review.