DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto!

Sakura exited the hospital and took in the cool breeze of the morning as she walked down the street. She had only been in hospital for two days, she made a quick recovery. Naruto had gotten out almost straight away. Sakura knew the Kyuubi could heal Naruto fast, and somehow she pondered how much of a monster the Kyuubi really was. It seemed to Sakura that the Kyuubi cared a lot about Naruto. Her and Naruto had gone over all the details of what had happened that night.

Sakura's parents had been at the hospital all day yesterday with her, but Kakashi had told them that it would be better if they took care of the mess back at their home. Sakura smiled as she walked further away from the town centre. Kakashi. He had been so good to her and Naruto over the years. He was at the hospital all last night, all day yesterday and the night before. He had also visited Sai, he said that feelings and hormones were just too much for Sai and properly just overwhelmed him.

Sakura looked ahead and smiled as she saw the blonde haired ninja walk down his street towards her. She saw his smile widen as he waved at her.

"Sakura-chan! I was just coming to see you!" Naruto called as he walked up to her. Sakura smiled as he took her into his arms and hugged her tight.

"You sure you're okay to be walking around?" Naruto asked in a concerned tone. Sakura just laughed as she walked towards his house her head held high, Naruto trailing behind. Naruto smirked at the cockiness of his girlfriend.

"Oh yeah that's right, you're too stubborn to stay down that long" Naruto whispered into her ear as they entered Naruto's house. Sakura turned around and rolled her eyes.

"Well excuse me for not wanting to lie down in a hospital bed" Sakura said as Naruto's smirk turned into a soft smile; he was glad the same strong headed kunochi was back to normal. He made his way into the kitchen and picked up something from the table.

"I got this out for you…" Naruto said handing it to Sakura. It was a box of Sakura's favourite chocolates.

"Naruto-kun, thankyou!" Sakura squealed excitedly. Naruto motioned for her to sit down on the couch as he bought one of her favourite movies and put it on.

Sakura smiled at Naruto, she was glad he was so kind-hearted. He took a seat next to her and put his arm around her, holding her close to him. She opened the box of chocolates and Naruto and her self started eating. Naruto kissed her head softly.

"I'm so glad that you're okay Sakura-chan," Naruto said quietly as the movie started. Sakura nuzzled his neck and smiled.

"It's because you protected me" Sakura said as she felt herself melt into Naruto. His grip around her tightened and he used his free hand to gently move her face towards his. He started into her sparkling green eyes, getting more and more mesmerized by the moment.

He leaned down and kissed her lips softly, just savouring her kiss. Her hands moved from the chocolate box to his chest, to his cheeks. Sakura licked his lips slowly, Naruto quickly opening his mouth in response. Sakura could taste chocolate mixed with Naruto's sweet taste. Naruto could feel something special in this kiss, it wasn't lust; it was love.

"She hasn't said it since that night…maybe it was the sake talking" Naruto thought, but decided to push the thoughts away as he pulled away from Sakura and once again stared into her beautiful eyes.

"Sakura-chan, I want you to know that I-"

"Hello, Naruto? You home?!" A voice called, interrupting Naruto. Naruto's face dropped into a childish pout as he eyes the doorway. Sakura giggled at his immaturity; causing Naruto to throw her a its-not-funny look, making her giggle louder.

"We're in here" Naruto called as Kakashi entered the living room. He waved friendly at the two and took a seat.

"Glad to see you're both better" Kakashi said taking in their refreshed appearances. Sakura offered Kakashi a chocolate, reluctantly offcourse. Kakashi joined in watching the movie and sat in between Naruto and Sakura, much to Naruto's dismay.

"This was supposed to be a special moment for me and Sakura…damn Kakashi" Naruto thought to himself as he eyed the smug looking Kakashi out of the corner of his eye.

"Gees kit, you really are clueless sometimes" The Kyuubi laughed, the laugh echoing throughout Naruto's head making Naruto sigh.

"Well, you wanna explain it to me" Naruto asked the Kyuubi, as he tried to steal a glance at Sakura without anyone noticing.

"He misses being a team" Kyuubi said simply as Sakura and Kakashi laughed at something that happened in the movie.

"We still are a team" Naruto said with a confused look on his face, the Kyuubi just laughed again.

"He misses quality team time baka" Kyuubi said in an annoyed voice, then disappeared.

Naruto looked over at both Kakashi and Sakura, and a small smile pulled at the sides of his lips. It was true; they didn't spend as much time together like they did when they were genin, and now that Naruto thought about it, he missed it too. He missed the innocence of it all, but at the same time he loved how they had all grown. Slowly his remorse towards Kakashi for butting in on their day was fading away.

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Sakura turned the movie off, and put the now empty box of chocolates on the table. She looked over at Kakashi and Naruto and smiled, two of her favourite people.

"I didn't know you liked anything other then your icha icha paradise novels Kakashi-sensei" Sakura asked winking at Naruto.

"Yer, I didn't even think you watched anything that wasn't R rated" Naruto chimed in. Kakashi cleared his throat and picked up the box of chocolates and made his way to the kitchen.

"I'll put this in the bin" He said as he excited the room, only to hear Sakura and Naruto bust out in laughter.

Kakashi re-entered the room, and sat down on the table so her was facing Sakura and Naruto. He took a deep breath and sighed.

"I want to talk to you two about why I came here" Kakashi said in a serious tone as he looked from Sakura's worried face to Naruto's furrowed brow.

"It's about Sai-"Kakashi started, waiting to see their reactions; but they both stayed calm.

"He's going to be gone on a mission from the hokage for awhile. He's leaving tomorrow." Kakashi stated. He waited quietly to see if anyone was going to say anything. But the expressions on their faces hadn't changed one bit. The silent minutes felt like hours before Sakura broke the awkwardness.

"What kind of mission?" She asked as both Naruto and Kakashi looked at her. Kakashi nodded his head and answered.

"The hokage has sent him on a mission to recover and deal with emotion. She feels that it is necessary for him to control it so he can work better in a team environment. He will be mentored by Jiraiya while he's on his mission."

Naruto shot up at Jiraiya's name. He looked deeply confused. Kakashi took this in.

"You're properly thinking why Jiraiya right? Well Tsunade believes that no-one has more personality then him and that Sai should try to be a bit more like him, not afraid of who he is or his emotions." Kakashi tried to explain to Naruto. Naruto nodded in understanding, knowing all too well about who Jiraiya is.

"That's another member of team 7 that's left" Naruto said quietly, looking towards the ground. Sakura looked at him and took his hand.

"I think it's a lot better when it's just you me and Kakashi, and sometimes Yamato" Sakura giggled the last part. Kakashi smiled underneath his mask at Sakura, he was proud of her and how much she had grown up since the first time they meet. Naruto smiled too, smiling even more when he realised how easily Sakura can make any situation better. Kakashi sighed again, grabbing the attention of his two students.

"Tomorrow I'm going to see Sai off, It's up to both of you wether or not you want to after everything…" Kakashi said as he stood from his seat and started walking towards the door.

"Oh and Sakura, I think you're parents might want to know that you're out of hospital" Kakashi said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sakura gasped and looked at Naruto.

"We have to go see my parents okay?" Sakura asked as she stood up a small smile placed on her face.

"Then after that you can finish off what you were going to say before Kakashi rudely interrupted" Sakura said as the smile turned into a playful one, she couldn't help but notice that Naruto looked happy that she had remembered. He stood up and took her hand and led her towards the door.

"Only if I can piggy back you the whole way" Naruto said standing in front of Sakura. Sakura just smiled and jumped on his back as they exited his house.

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"THAT'S IT SAI! IF YOU DON'T SIT STILL I'LL KNOCK YOU OUT!" Tsunade screamed as Sai, once again, wriggled away from her. For the last 10 minutes Tsunade had tried to heal the deep cut on his neck, but Sai moved every time.

"I'm sorry! It's just a reaction" Sai stated in a bored tone as Tsunade tried to heal him again. He stayed as still as he could as she healed him.

"If you just stay still, this will all be fixed up." Tsunade said as she continued to heal him. Sai eyed her with his cold onyx eyes.

"I am being still" He complained.

Sai sat patiently (and very, very still) while Tsunade healed him. After a few minutes she stopped and took a look at his neck. She smiled in approvement.

"Feel any better?" She asked as she started to pack up some equipment. Sai nodded.

"Thankyou" Sai said quietly, Tsunade turned and looked at him, he looked so…alone.

"Are you nervous about leaving?" Tsunade asked out of pity. Sai looked up at her and smiled a fake smile.

"More anxious…"Sai trailed off, his smile slowly disappearing.

"How are Sakura and Naruto?" Sai asked, almost scared of the answer. Tsunade sighed, still not understanding this boy at all.

"Both fine." Tsunade said in a stern tone. Sai just sat their as she finished packing up.

"Good luck Sai." Tsunade said as she turned to leave the room.

"Tsunade-sama…"Sai called, causing Tsunade to stop in her tracks and turn her head to the side to see Sai.

"Do you think that they will ever forgive me?" Sai asked his voice small and uneasy. Tsunade smiled softly.

"Off corse, this is Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno you're talking about. It'll take some time, and a lot of ass kissing, but you'll get there." Tsunade said and then exited the room, leaving Sai in a slightly better mood.

Sai looked out the window and saw it was a bright sunny day. He made his way to the window slowly and painfully. He rested for a moment at the window sill before he opened it to feel the cool breeze come flooding threw into the room. A small, barley visible smile came across Sai's lips as he appreciated the feeling. He reached down and picked up a piece of scroll and some painting utensils. He took a chair and started to draw.

"I can give this one a title now,"

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Naruto and Sakura entered her street, Sakura still enjoying her piggy back. Naruto made his way to the front door and softly put Sakura on her feet. Sakura opened the door and smiled; her house was back to being clean, nothing broken in sight.

"Mum, Dad I'm home" Sakura called as she made her way into the kitchen, Naruto close behind her.

"Sakura sweetie! You sure you're feeling okay?" Sakura's mum said as Sakura entered the kitchen. Sakura nodded and pulled Naruto into the room.

"Hi Naruto, I haven't thanked you enough for saving Sakura! Come in, eat! I'm just cooking up a little something" Sakura's mum said as she motioned them to sit down at the table. Naruto smiled and blushed slightly and he and Sakura went and sat. Sakura saw the tint of red in Naruto's cheeks and decided to play around with him a bit

"He's cute isn't he mum?" Sakura said as she ruffled Naruto's hair causing Naruto to turn a deeper shade of red. Sakura's mum just laughed.

"Oh leave him along Sakura! You two make a cute couple," Sakura's mum said as she chopped up some veggies.

Sakura's dad walked into the room, and nodded towards Sakura and Naruto and walked up to his wife.

"I've got to go pick some stuff up to fix the walls, I'll be back soon." And with that he kissed her on the cheek and exited the room. Sakura's mum sighed.

"Don't worry Naruto, Sakura's dad ahas always been overprotective of Sakura. He'll come around soon though." Sakura's mum said in a reassuring voice. Sakura laughed,

"I remember this one time when I was like 9, I was in town with dad and this boy gave me a flower and dad took the flower and broke it in half. Told the boy to take a hike and go harass someone else daughter." Sakura laughed, Naruto laughed a little too, but very uneasy.

"He just wants Sakura to be his little girl forever." Sakura's mum said as she stirred a pot of ramen. Sakura took hold of Naruto's hand and squeezed.

"Don't worry, he likes you" Sakura said and her mother nodded.

"That's right! In the hospital he was telling me how thankful he was for you!" Sakura's mother said in an excited tone. Naruto smiled at how nice Sakura's mother was, it was good to know that they didn't hate him for things he couldn't control. It felt right to be there, with Sakura.

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Sai packed what little belongings he had at the hospital. He didn't really have anything that had sentimental value at home, so he wouldn't bother going there in the morning. He went back to his paintings; he had now drawn two, each with a title. He smiled as he folded them and slipped them into separate envelopes. With added names to each of them and put them in his backpack.

"I should write one for Kakashi-sensei too" Sai thought as he sat and started to write into the letter.

He looked out the window again, but this time saw shinning starts and a bright moon. He continued to write when he was interrupted by a knock at the door. He folded the letter up and also placed it in his backpack.

"Come in" Sai said as he sat up on his bed. He saw the white hair and the goofy grin of Jiraiya.

"Hey kid, I brought dinner" Jiraiya said holding up take-away ramen. Jiraiya took a seat on the end of Sai's bed and handed him his share off food.

"Thanks" Sai said as he opened his ramen and started eating. Jiraiya studied Sai's movements and took mental notes about how he acted.

"You excited, being stuck with me for a few months?" Jiraiya asked as he took mouthfuls of ramen.

"More anxious then anything" Sai said truthfully.

"I hope you don't mind that I have to do to a lot of research for my books while we're away" Jiraiya said with a cheeky grin across his face.

"You mean you're going to be perving at women and writing you porn books?" Sai said simply, Jiraiya laughed.

"Yer pretty much, but I prefer to call it research" Jiraiya said pulling out one his books and handing it to Sai.

"Here, take a read…you might find it interesting and if not, get used to it" Jiraiya said as he finished off his ramen and stood up.

"We leave tomorrow around lunch. Be ready kid" Jiraiya said as he walked out the room, leaving Sai with a copy of icha icha paradise.

Sai sighed and put the empty boxes of ramen to the side. He pulled out his letter to Kakashi and continued where he had left off. Every now and then his eyes would dart towards the book that Jiraiya had left him. After finishing his letter, his curiosity got the best of him as he opened the book and started to read.

"He's so perverted" Sai thought as he flipped threw the pages. He tossed the book in his backpack along with Kakashi's letter. He felt the anxiety and nerves kick in as he tried to rest.

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OMG!

Second last chapter.

Hope this is to everyone's liking so far?

BY THE WAY I apologise for the confusion about chapter 17/18. I really am sorry :(

Anyway, next chapter I'll thank everyone properly and etc, but still thankyou to everyone for reading/reviewing this story, you make my day!

Bliiss!

xx