Kinda a follow up from the First Kiss story. Sakura and Sasuke are travelling together, and they are a 'new' couple in this…

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The pink haired woman smiled as she ran towards him.

The happy movement made something stir to his side. A big wood like creature cut in between them.

Sasuke tried to move but was unable to. He fought his legs to take a step but it felt like he was moving through something denser than water.

The creature grew in size, so large that Sasuke couldn't see Sakura anymore. He only heard her scream…

Gasping Sasuke sat up. He was sweating. A nightmare.

He looked at the entrance to the cave and saw that dawn was approaching; the sky that peeked out from between the leaves of the trees was losing its stars.

Panting he tried to shake the dream off him. It was just his imagination. Sakura was fine. She was right he-… panicking he looked around. She wasn't sleeping next to him, she wasn't even in the cave with him.

Having travelled for some months now they had gotten into a nice routine finding good and quiet sleeping areas preferably with a source of water nearby. They were always near each other. They had gone to bed together… So where was she now? He called out for her.

"Sakura?" No answer. Shit! He flew up from his travel bed and out of the cave searching for her presence. Not caring that he only wore his thin inner shirt and trousers, he quickly sensed where Sakura was. She was close. Near the river. What was she doing there? They had brought water up the night before so she shouldn't have to…

With his pace as quick as possible it only took him seconds to reach her. There was no one nearby. Sasuke stopped at the riverbed looking around. Where was she? His heart was beating fast. She should be right here!

No, no, no, no, no… Why would she disappear from his side?

A movement in the water interrupted Sasuke's rambling mind. He heard a spurt of water as the pink haired woman he was searching for, broke the water surface as she emerged from a dive, now standing with the water reaching her hips.

She slid her hands across her face, wiping water away and then, still with her eyes closed, she let her hands glide over her hair smoothing it backwards. Then she abruptly stopped having sensed something amiss. Her green eyes opened wide to stare at Sasuke. Her hands then flew up to cover her chest.

Sasuke's mind on the other hand had stopped working completely. All his panicked thoughts were gone when he realised she had just been bathing, though it was something else that had him stopped in his tracks. She was naked.

"I…" With a deep shade of red covering his face Sasuke turned around. How was he going to explain he had just rushed to her because of a nightmare? And ending up openly gawking as she was taking a swim in the river? Naked. There was no good explanation. This was ridiculous. Definitely not something he would do. Sakura was naked… He fought the blush on his cheeks. Thinking about Sakura naked didn't help the slightest. Thinking about her still not having run away to get dressed only made him blush more. He tried talking but had to clear his throat a couple of times before he succeeded. Meanwhile he heard the dripping sound off water falling from Sakura as she emerged out of the water behind him.

"I…" he began clumsily. "I'm sorry. I… couldn't find you in your bed so I went to check on you… I didn't know you were here…" even he knew his voice sounded awkward.

Sasuke felt fingers slid around his waist and before he could react, he would never have prepared himself for what she did next, Sakura pulled him backwards with her down into the water. She held her arms around him as they both stood up, her grinning and him expelling water from his mouth. He turned within her grasp, for a moment not thinking how he felt her cold and naked body against his with the shirt he was wearing as the weakest of barriers. He was about to open his mouth to complain of her behaviour when her lips closed upon his. Instinctively his arms slid around her, as they always did, but she quickly broke the kiss to smirk at him.

"You don't have to come up with such a silly excuse." She murmured while sending him a knowing look. Sasuke blushed again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't…" She silenced him again with another kiss. Her mouth was only cold for a second before both of their lips were warm from the touch of the other. Sasuke liked this. No, he loved it. The way she showed him just how much she cared with her intensity. And he always tried to respond the best he could, though feeling he would never be good enough.

She was too good for him. He always felt that even as Sakura's tongue slid across his lips meeting his own, making Sasuke press himself close up against her body. She could make him loose his senses. He didn't feel the cold water they were standing in or hear the slight breeze through the trees' leaves, he just felt her.

"Mhm..." she whispered leaning her body even closer to his. She obviously didn't believe what he had said but as she kept kissing him and he kept responding, the importance of it seemed to fade. With lips hardly parting she murmured again.

"I'm sorry. I'm the one who should apologise. I should have let you know where I was… But I can't seem to regret this either…" she smirked. "Sorry…"

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So I imagine that the second these two become a couple Sasuke has acknowledged that he would do anything for Sakura. And it's not that she knows this to use it against him, but she realises that she has him around her little finger and that he is too 'afraid' to hurt her to make any big moves. So if she wants something… wink wink… she knows she is the one to take the initiative. (^-^)