Disclaimer: Own nothing

Please be kind to the Sakura/Gohan bit in this. It's the first or second time that I've done romance plot. I think I did alright, but who knows.

"So let me get this straight," Ino said, taking another bite of the ice cream she'd treated Sakura to when the two of them were talking about Sakura's boy troubles. "You went and kissed him right before you went to fight the flute girl and you're worried he'll laugh at you?"

"I didn't mean to do it!" Sakura protested.

"Yeah right," Ino laughed.

"I didn't! It just sort of…happened."

Ino shrugged in a way that was noncommittal. "How was it?" She asked with a Cheshire cat grin.

"Huh?" Sakura went a shade of pink for the third time that day.

"Oh come on!" Ino said, not losing that grin. "It was your first kiss! How…was…it?"

Sakura spluttered for a second more. "It was a kiss on the cheek!" She protested, a bit too loudly, drawing a few curious stares. Sakura glanced around. "Sorry!" She called. The stares went away as the patrons went back to their activities. "It was a kiss on the cheek," she repeated in a softer tone. "I don't get why it's such a big deal!"

"Relax, Sakura," Ino laughed. "I'm just teasing."

"Some help you are," Sakura muttered heading for the door. "I knew this was a mistake."

"Sakura, wait!" Ino made a grab, got lucky, and snagged Sakura's wrist. "I'm sorry for the teasing if it'll make you feel better. If you want, I'll help you get your mouth and brain to cooperate with each other."

"Really?" Sakura asked, wary.

"Sure. Scout's honor!"

"Didn't you get kicked out of there for excessive roughness?"

"Hey, that little bitch wouldn't stop making fun of me and I happened to have a training kunai with me. What was I supposed to do?" Ino half-led, half-dragged Sakura out the shop. "Come on. When I'm done with you, Gohan would have to be dense to refuse you!"

"You have met him, right?" Sakura said with a smile as her friend dragged her down the street.

In another training field, right around the time Gohan was busy working himself to the bone, another genin was doing the same thing. Naruto stood in the center of the Hero's Stone training field, surrounded by hundreds of his own clones. The blonde was scratched, roughed up, sweating, and breathing hard. His orange jacket was lying on the ground in front of the stone, where it had been thrown when Naruto had gotten too hot from the exercise. His dark blue t-shirt with an orange Konoha leaf on it was soaked with sweat and the light mesh armor he wore underneath it was clinging to his skin.

"Give up yet?" one of the clones asked.

"When I'm done, I'll let you know!" Naruto shot right back. He flung a kunai and caught the offending clone in the chest, popping it. It was a signal for the rest and they surged ahead with battle cries and taunts. Naruto was buried underneath a tide of clones for a moment. "RASENGAN!"

The jutsu hit the ground and exploded outward, blowing out the clones like balloons in a sandstorm. The ones that weren't destroyed hopped back, trying to get clear. Naruto stood in the ring of Kage Bunshin, panting, dismissing the single clone he'd made to help him with the jutsu. Naruto charged forward into the crush of clones again, punching and kicking like there was no tomorrow. Clone after clone popped and dissolved, but they had the numbers on him and quickly overwhelmed the blond.

Naruto ended up under a mound of clones, spluttering and trying to dislodge them but without success. Laughter met his ears. "Well well," Jiraiya said, chortling. "Aren't you a fine sight? You know, it takes a special kind of stupid to kick your own ass."

"Ah shut up, Ero-Sennin!" Naruto shouted in reply as Mount Kage Bunshin moved itself off of him. "Like you could do better!"

"I can." Jiraiya said promptly and without a trace of humility.

"Oh yeah?" Naruto asked with a mischievous grin. "Prove it!"

"Ask and ye shall receive," Jiraiya shot back. "Give me your best shot, kiddo!" The Sannin found himself surrounded by the ring of clones. Naruto had cut their number a respectable amount, but their numbers were still somewhere in the low two hundreds. The Sannin popped his knuckles eagerly. "While I've still got hair, kid!"

As one the clone mob, original included, made a single hand seal. "Henge!"

Jiraiya shielded his face when the choking cloud of shinobi smoke rolled over him. "What do you have up your sleeve this time, brat?" Jiraiya called.

"Sleeve?" A feminine voice asked, the kind of smoky, sultry voice that most men only hear in their most embarrassing dreams. "I don't have any sleeves." The smoke cleared and revealed hundreds of the most beautiful women ever. "Or anything else on for that matter." She gave Jiraiya a come-hither. "Come here big guy."

Jiraiya gaped, eyes bugging before a nosebleed blew him right off his feet.

The women laughed before dispersing. Naruto, fully clothed and male again, was rolling on the ground. "HAHAHA! Oh man! My Harem Jutsu never gets old! WAHAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto managed to get back to his feet. "Are you really a Sannin? You fall for that every time!"

Jiraiya walloped him. "Quit screwing around you little bastard!" The sage huffed as Naruto rolled around on the ground, clutching the goose egg rising out of the back of his skull this time. "I guess you don't want my help in training you."

"Huh?" Naruto asked, perking up. "Training?"

"Oh, now you're serious are you?"

"What training?"

"Well," Jiraiya said, scratching his head, "I was thinking that since you got your ass handed to you trying to bring back Sasuke that you would want to get stronger." Naruto's grin was the only answer Jiraiya needed. "That's a yes I assume?"

"Believe it!"

"Alright then. But I'm going to warn you, this isn't going to be some half-assed thing like before. If I train you now, you're going to be my apprentice in full this time." Jiraiya grinned savagely but it was a friendly savage grin. Supposedly. "I'll make you a great shinobi even if it kills you."

"That's not reassuring," Naruto said with a twitch of an eyebrow.

"So what's your answer kid?"

Naruto didn't hesitate, leaping up into the air. "I'm in!" he crowed.

"Good," Jiraiya said with a grin that matched Naruto's. "We leave in a week. Get enough stuff together to last you a while."

"We're leaving?" Naruto asked, suddenly less enthusiastic. "In a week?"

Jiraiya nodded. "I can't teach you the things I want to here in Konoha. It does bad things for the real estate value. I figure we can tear up a few fields or something out of the way."

"Well couldn't we come back to the village every night?"

"Oh come on, Naruto," Jiraiya said. "What's the point in going out of the village if we don't go somewhere? It'll be fun, I promise."

Naruto gave Jiraiya a suspicious squinty-eyed glare. "Brothels aren't fun for me."

Jiraiya shrugged. "It's an acquired taste. So, you still interested?"

"But what about Sasuke?"

Jiraiya frowned. "What about him?"

"He went with Orochimaru and…" Naruto's hand curled into a fist at his side. "I can't just abandon him!"

Jiraiya led Naruto over to the Hero's Stone and sat down on the small step that led up to the sacred monument. Jiraiya was silent a long time before he spoke. "Why are you so dead set on bringing back Sasuke?" the Sannin asked finally, knowing full well the answer.

"He was my first friend," Naruto said immidiatly. "I won't just let him go!"

"He doesn't want your help. His fight against Gohan proved that rather well, I thought."

"I don't care! Sasuke would've come around! He was starting to and I'm not going to give up on him. I said I'd rescue him and I will! I never go back on my word! It's my Nindo! I'll help Sasuke take down Itachi, whether he wants me to or not! And then I'll drag him back to Konoha, whether he wants me to or not!" Naruto glared. "I don't care what you or anyone else says!"

"You do know what Orochimaru is planning to do to Sasuke, don't you?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto nodded. "Something about making Sasuke his new body, right?"

Jiraiya nodded. "Orochimaru wants to learn every jutsu in the world. A Sharingan would speed up that process considerably. Possessing Sasuke will get him what he wants, and he's lured Sasuke to him with the Cursed Seal. Personally, I think Sasuke's not coming back." He held up a hand to stop Naruto's outburst. "But I also know that you're not going to be talked out of this until you've tried." He grinned at his young charge. "The thing you've got working for you is time. Orochimaru can only use his body switch once every three years. So that gives me three years to pound as much badassery into you as I can! So, Uzumaki Naruto, you still in?"

Naruto's answering grin was wolfish. "When do we start?"

In another dimension, Bulma shrieked in panic as the explosion rocked the cave she stood in. "Red Ribbon!" She shouted. "Why did it have to be the damn Red Ribbon Army? They're supposed to be dead already! Goku made sure of that when we were kids!"

"Kakkarot never does anything to completion!" Vegeta shouted right back, blasting away with a hellish ki barrage. "You should know that by now, woman!"

"Shut up and keep killing them!"

The seventh and final Dragonball was located deep in the mountains alright, and it was Bulma's unfortunate luck that it had landed right in the middle of an old Red Ribbon Army base that was, unfortunately, still occupied by a very remote section of that paramilitary organization. It was a cell so remote, in fact, that they didn't even know that the war was ended and had been rather…angry at Bulma and Vegeta's intrusion.

Of course, their method of entry had left a lot to be desired…

"Are you sure this is the place, woman?" Vegeta demanded. He and his wife were standing waist-deep in snow that was driving down sideways. The way it was going, Vegeta was certain that Earth was fast becoming his number one Most Miserable Planet and he'd seen some cesspools and wastelands in his time in Frieza's army. Despite his heavy blue parka, the proud prince was shivering.

"For the millionth time, I'm sure, Vegeta," Bulma snapped, smacking the Dragon Radar a few times. The extreme cold was messing with the instruments innards and it kept cutting in and out all the time. It wasn't too long before the radar cut out entirely and they would be walking blind.

"So where is the damn thing then?"

"It's around here somewhere," Bulma replied, giving the radar another smack as she spoke, checking the Ball's location. She looked up, saw the lone mountain that stuck up higher than any others, back down to the radar, then back up to the mountain. There was no mistaking it, she decided. That was where the seventh Ball was. She shut the failing radar off, and stuck it under her shirt to warm it, yelping when the frigid metal touched her skin.

The two of them trudged through the snow to the mountain. The wind picked up and carried off some of the snow, allowing the sun to glint of something dull and metallic. Hope lifted in Bulma's chest. "Hey!" she crowed. "I think we found it!"

"It's about damn time," Vegeta said. "Let's grab the thing and get out of here."

Bulma agreed with him for once and started brushing away the snow. The object turned out to not be a Dragonball but an enormous metallic door, emblazoned with a red bow-tie like design with the white letters RR stenciled on them. Bulma froze. "Oh no," she whined. "Not the Red Ribbon Army! It had to be them!"

"Red Ribbon Army?" Vegeta asked, stepping up to the door.

"Yeah," Bulma said, digging for the radar again, just to make absolutely sure they didn't have to go in there. "It's a paramilitary organization from way back when. They wanted to use the Dragonballs to make sure that they could rule the world. We managed to stop them all the time. I thought Goku axed the last of them a long time…"

KABOOOM!

Bulma was blown headfirst into a snowdrift. Her feet kicked and thrashed. "ARGH! Vegeta you dumbass! Make sure you warn me when you go blowing stuff up!"

Vegeta lowered his smoking hand and stepped into the doorway. The second his boot crossed the threshold, lights snapped on, illuminating a passageway that led farther back into the mountain. "This place still has power," Vegeta said. "Are you sure that Kakkarot destroyed the Red Ribbon Army?"

"Sure," Bulma insisted. "I was there when he did it. This must be an old research facility of some kind, like Dr. Gero's place."

"So we could be dealing with another Cell, is that what you're saying?"

"God I hope not."

"Too bad," Vegeta said with a smirk. "I'd love a little payback."

The two of them wandered deeper into the facility, ditching their heavy winter gear when they realized the facility still had heat. That was when they had run into a small group of men. The soldiers had opened fire, sending a hail of bullets downrage that had Bulma diving for cover and Vegeta standing in the hall, smirking. His body sparked as the bullets found him and did absolutely nothing.

The men blanched when they saw the uselessness of the fusillade. "What is he?" One man shouted to his commander.

"Your worst nightmare," Vegeta replied with a dangerous smile, holding out a hand. A bright ball of ki began to glow. "Big Bang Attack!" The energy ball blew the squad away. "Feh, not even worth my time."

Naturally that had sent alarm bells ringing through the entire facility and more soldiers had swarmed them like ants.

That had led them to their current predicament. They'd found the Dragonball but by some horrific twist, the facility turned out to be a supersoldier research facility, apparently started by General Red to counter Goku's strength. The men were hardy, resilient, and a few even had a frightening tendency to regenerate, an apparent prototype for what would eventually become Cell. No matter how many Vegeta shot down, more seemed to pop up. They'd taken out the head scientist of the place and had retrieved the Ball. Now it was hard to leave because they had to fight their way back out.

"This is getting old!" Vegeta roared. "I hope you're ready to die!" Right as he made that proclamation, he was buried beneath the weight of fifty men.

"Vegeta!"

Gold light blasted the men right off the proud Saiyan Prince. "Now you've done it!" Vegeta howled, a ball of ki glowing in each hand, which he slammed into one fearsome blast. "All of you die! FINAL FLASH!"

The explosion was visible for miles. When it faded, Vegeta stood panting in front of what had been a mountainside. There was absolutely no sign of the Red Ribbons. "Are they gone?" Bulma asked as Vegeta dropped his Super Saiyan transformation.

He snorted. "Of course," he said with thinning patience. "Now come on. I want to get out of this frozen hellhole." He grabbed Bulma around her waist and hauled her up onto his shoulder and into the sky like a sack of potatoes. She screamed and kicked the entire way back to the warmer latitudes.

But she was on the phone with Chichi soon after that, telling her the good news and how that they could bring Gohan back home as soon as she wanted.

Naturally, Chichi was on her way to Capsule Corp. as soon as she was able.

Sakura stood nervously in front of Tsunade as the Hokage shuffled scrolls and mission reports around, looking disinterested in the young kunoichi standing right in front of her. The Sandaime, a regular at the Tower as an advisor and mentor to his old student, put a hand on her shoulder and smiled bracingly. His grandfatherly manner helped ease Sakura's nerves, though she had to admit, it was weird seeing the kind old man in casual civilian clothes consisting of durable but comfortable slacks and a loose, airy tunic.

"So," Tsunade said after half an eternity later, "why do you want to be my apprentice?" She gave Sakura an unfriendly look. "Someone like you looks like you should be primping your hair and doing your nails, not training with me."

"Now now, Tsunade," Sarutobi chided. "She's more than proven herself. Sakura-san has trained under Gohan-kun and done rather well by herself because of it."

Tsunade waved a dismissive hand. "If she's already got a master, then she should go to Gohan and get him to train her. Especially considering she's head over heels for the brat."

"He's not a brat!" Sakura said, her mouth running away before her head could stop it. "And quit talking about me like I'm not here. Gohan-kun's a great master, don't get me wrong, but he can't teach me the techniques I need! I want to be able to learn some more jutsu, learn to control my chakra better too and I want to get stronger!" She folded her arms. "I thought you would be the logical choice."

"Get the Old Man to train you," Tsunade shot back, but her eyes had changed. She didn't look so severely at Sakura now. "You're just trying to land a Sannin as an instructor, just like Naruto and Sasuke. I'm not playing a popularity contest here."

Sakura opened her mouth to say something right back but the look on Tsunade's face and Sakura blinked as she suddenly saw what Tsunade was doing. She was trying to get Sakura angry so the kunoichi would say something flippant and Tsunade could dismiss her without a second thought. It was a test to see just how Sakura would react when the heat was on and the pressure was mounting. "I'm trying to compete with Sasuke and Naruto," Sakura admitted, surprising Tsunade, "but you've got me all wrong. You're one of the Sannin, sure, but you're also one of the best medics in the world, if not the best." She glared at the Sannin turned Hokage.

"I might be head over heels for Gohan-kun but I'm not going to just sit by and let him and Naruto do all the work! At least as a medic I can protect them from harm. I can heal their wounds so they can keep moving forward! You said it yourself! A shinobi team needs a medic with them at all times. When you put that policy into place, casualties in the Shinobi Wars were cut by almost half and a wounded shinobi had an eighty percent chance of living long enough to make it back to their hospital to be treated in a better-equipped facility. Team Seven doesn't have that. We've got our close combat expert, our juggernaut, and a skilled leader, but we don't have a medic. And since I'm not Gohan-kun, Naruto, or Kakashi-sensei, it means that I have to be the medic so they can concentrate on their strengths."

Sakura leveled an adamant finger. "That's why I want to train under you, Hokage-sama, so I can keep my friends alive and actually contribute to the team!"

Tsunade stared at Sakura for a long time. Finally she broke eye contact and went back to her scrolls. Her pen scratched for even longer than she'd stared. "You're asking a lot, girl," Tsunade said finally. "You have no idea what the complex human body is like and how much control it takes to keep a person on the cusp of death on the living side of things."

"She's capable," Sarutobi said with a grin, his calming hand tightening in pride. "I've seen precious few genin with her control at her age. Given time, she could be one of the best medics I know of, perhaps even surpassing you."

"Quite the statement, Old Man," Tsunade said without looking up.

"One I stand by most fervently."

"Thank you," Sakura whispered.

"Alright then!" Tsunade's hands slammed down on her desk, scattering papers. The loud thump made Sakura jump. "If you're so damn determined, then I'll just have to show you what you're getting yourself into. You start tomorrow. Meet me in the atrium of Konoha General at dawn."

Sakura couldn't believe her ears. "I'll be there!" She gushed.

Tsunade gave her an approving nod. "I suggest you take care of any personal issues you might have," Tsunade added. "You're going to have precious little free time in the immediate future." Sakura and the Sandaime had left and were going down the stairs when the detonation of Gohan's frustrations had rumbled through the Tower's foundation.

"Jeeze," Sakura sighed. "He never quits!"

The Sandaime laughed heartily. "I can see that. Gohan-kun never quits does he? It makes me wonder what drives him? Perhaps it's the drive to protect someone close to him?" The venerable old leader gave Sakura a sideways look and smile. "Maybe you should go check on him. Make sure he's okay?"

Sakura hugged herself self-consciously. "It isn't like I planned," she said in a protest that sounded weak, even to her. "Ino said she was going to help me and then…" she trailed off with a self-conscious shrug. The two of them left the building just in time to see Gohan blast over the Hokage Tower and alight atop the Hokage Monument.

Sarutobi smiled as he lit his omnipresent pipe. "Sakura-san," he said, "it's beyond me to offer advice on relationships, but if you are willing, I will give you my opinion."

She looked up at the old man, green eyes almost pleading. "I'm willing to listen to anything at this point," she said finally.

"I gathered as much," Sarutobi noted dryly, laughing when Sakura gave him a look. He sobered and took a pull on the pipe, exhaling a cloud of fragrant smoke before speaking again, choosing his words with care. He remembered well when he was a teenager. The attention of the one he had cared for at that time had meant the world to him. A single hard or careless word from her would have broken him. He knew better now of course, but at the time, well, that was another story. "Gohan-kun is not a particularly vain boy. He cares little for pretense and even less for appearance." He smiled down at Sakura, who seemed to be absorbing every word like a dry sponge. "To Gohan-kun, what is on the inside is what is most important. I don't think he would care what you're wearing or how you look when you choose to confess to him, but I do know he would rather know that you are sincere."

Sakura looked stunned. "I…guess I hadn't thought of it like that." She gave him a searching, piercing look. "Are you sure?"

Sarutobi let loose a hearty laugh from the belly. "Yes, Sakura-san, I am positive. I was young once myself. I had similar doubts that you do now. There was a young woman who I thought was the sun, moon, and stars. I thought for days about how I could tell her how I felt and how I could make it perfect. I had it all planned out, a picnic lunch, a moonlit walk, everything."

"What happened?"

Sarutobi smiled wistfully, exhaling another cloud of pipe smoke, his eyes on a faraway memory. "I quite literally ran into her outside of a shop. I thought she'd been on a mission but it had been cancelled for some reason that I can't quite recall. She was due to report to the Tower to get a follow-up mission the next day, the day I was going to show her all of my carefully laid plans."

"So what did you do?"

"Well," Sarutobi chuckled, "we stood there looking awkward for a moment before I came right out and told her, right in the street. She had said that she had cared deeply for me in return. We ducked into an alley and shared a rather…passionate kiss and then that was that and we went our separate ways after promising to see each other when her mission was complete." He tapped the step of his pipe against his hand, a frown coming over him. "She…she was killed two days later. Casualty of the First Shinobi War."

Sakura looked startled. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Sarutobi shrugged. "I will always remember her, brief as our time was. Time has taken the sting, somewhat, but how much more would I have been hurt if I hadn't taken the opportunity to tell how I felt? My point is, Sakura, is that Gohan-kun may not be around someday. He would probably like to return to his home, never to return." He gave her a questioning look. "How much would you regret never telling him?" He pointed with his pipe. "Gohan is right up there. Why, I don't know, but nevertheless, he is there and you are here. You can wait to make things perfect, or you can seize the day and tell him now and accept what comes."

Sakura bit her lip, hesitating between uncertainty and decidedness. She thought about everything Sarutobi had said, everything she knew about Gohan, and what had happened between them so far. She'd all but admitted her feelings to him by that kiss when she'd left him behind to fight Jiroubou. Would putting words to it really be so bad? She thought for several minutes, teetering on a cliff that would change her relationship with Gohan one way or another for as long as they were in the same world. She smiled, finally coming to a decision.

Sarutobi smiled as he watched Sakura sprint for the stairs to the Hokage Monument's top.

Gohan sat on the benches in the rest area. The Hokage's Monument was a place in the village he'd never been to before and was hoping, since it was new, it would help calm him down. Exercise wasn't doing it, that was for sure, and he would go insane sitting around doing nothing. The cloud of emotions and thoughts, from wondering about Sakura and what she meant to him, to self-tormenting himself about failing to help his friends and bring Sasuke to the village again, to despair at the insurmountable challenge Orochimaru now posed, all of it swirled inside him like a tornado, sweeping him along for the ride and no amount of introspection was doing him any good.

Gohan growled in frustration again, watching as the sun set, casting a shadow over the village. Below, lights came on, followed by lamps, and soon the village sparkled like the galaxy in miniature. The stars came out one by one and the moon, nearly full, appeared over the horizon and began to rise. He ran his hands through his hair and then again in much more erratic manner. "Dammit!" he swore softly. "What the hell is wrong with me?"

"Gohan-kun?"

Sakura's voice was soft and Gohan spun around, having not heard her approach. "Sakura," he said, his voice squeaking. He cleared his throat and repeated himself. "Sakura. What's wrong?" The rest area atop the monument was a park, really, with benches, sparse lamps, giving atmosphere, and tastefully done landscaping with well-kempt bushes, trees, and other greenery.

Sakura was looking decidedly awkward, timid even, something that Gohan had never really seen in her before. He'd seen her desperate, panicked, frightened, and determined, but never, never, had he seen her look…timid. She came over to him and stood in front of him. She walked carefully, as if measuring each step, wary of frightening him off or something.

'Just tell her,' Gohan told himself firmly, but his mouth was glued shut. 'Tell her! At least get this off your chest, even if she laughs at you!'

"Sakura, I want to tell you something."

She spoke at the same time, mimicking his words. He grinned. "You first. Ladies first and all that stuff, right?" Sakura nodded, a ghost of a smile passing across her face, but that timid aura didn't go away. If anything, it got stronger when she looked away and started rubbing her arm. It was something that Gohan noticed she did when she was really nervous about something.

Annoyance flashed through her eyes and she shook her head, sending her hair flying. "Oh to hell with it!" she said finally. "I'm not good at this kind of thing!" She ran at him.

"Sakura! Oof!"

How Gohan managed to stay upright would puzzle him for years to come, but stay upright he did as Sakura latched onto him, hugging him to her tightly. His bruises let him know their displeasure, but he ignored them. Sakura pulled back a little and looked up, looking him straight in the eye. Jade met inky black. Gohan could see the cloud of emotions swirling around in her. Nervousness, hesitance, uncertainty, it was all there, but it was buried beneath determination and caring. Gohan's breath hitched in his throat. He could tell. He knew, just by looking into her eyes, how she felt.

He saw understanding and comprehension.

She knew how he felt as well, no words required.

Without realizing it, they had drawn closer together and they crossed that final gulf between them together as well. Lips pressed against lips. Son Gohan and Haruno Sakura kissed on that moonlit night on top of that monument. It was awkward, juvenile. Neither had much experience in that kind of thing after all, but emotions behind it belied the awkwardness.

They drew apart and Sakura smiled, her face flushed with excitement and embarrassment. "Sorry," she said with a giggle. "I'm not too good at this." She got redder, though Gohan pretended not to notice in the deepening dark. "Kissing and everything."

Gohan laughed. They were still loosely hugging and Sakura could feel his laugh tingle up her arms and echo into her. It lifted her mood and all her hesitance about Gohan rejecting her, about him turning her away, all of her doubts, were swept away. "I'm not too good at this either," Gohan admitted, but he grinned. "But practice makes perfect, right?"

They embraced again, Sakura putting her head on his shoulder. They were roughly the same height, though Sakura was a hair taller, normal for that particular point in their lives. She felt Gohan's arms snake around her waist and hold her to him. She felt safe, secure in those marble-chiseled arms of his. "Thank you, Gohan-kun," she whispered. "For everything. For training me, saving me all those times, not turning me away." Her eyes fell closed in contentment.

"I should be thanking you," he murmured back, enjoying how complete he felt with her next to him. He felt a sudden, fierce surge of affection for the kunoichi. He wanted to hold her, protect her, and watch over her, no matter what happened. "You saved my life at the Valley by standing up to Orochimaru when you did."

"Just repaying a favor," Sakura said with a smile as she stepped back, holding his hand for a brief moment before allowing her hand to drop to her side. "You've done it more than enough for me." She followed Gohan over to the rail of the overlook for the monument and sidled up along next to him, enjoying the warmth of his closeness in the rapidly cooling night.

They stood in silence for a long time. It wasn't awkward, not now, but it was comfortable, just a couple enjoying each other's company. "What will you do now?" Sakura asked.

"Eh?"

She waved an arm absently at the village stretched out below them. "You're from a different dimension and we…now…well you know." It was still a little weird to be saying that they were going out when she and Gohan hadn't even been on an official date yet.

Gohan looked down, a light frown creasing his face. "I've been wondering about that," he admitted. "Ever since I've gotten here, it's been full bore right from day one." He started ticking battles and events off on his fingers. "Zabuza, the Bridge, the Exams, Gaara, the Finals, training you, getting marked, going with Naruto, fighting Itachi and Akatsuki, fighting Orochimaru, going after and fighting Sasuke, a rematch with Orochimaru…I know there's a few others in there somewhere," he chuckled in a self-depreciating manner. "I've never gotten a moment of real peace."

"Until now?"

Gohan smiled at her and it made Sakura's world brighter. "Yeah," he agreed, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. "Until now. To tell the truth, I wanted to go home, but…maybe I can't."

"What do you mean?"

"The thing that brought me here was probably destroyed when I went through it. Bulma did say that it was experimental after all and I doubt that she would've had the parts to build a new one. I don't even know if time flows at the same rate in my world." He looked up at the stars, unconsciously looking right at the quadrant of sky that held planet Namek. Or used to at least, if it even existed at all here. "For all I know, my friends, my family, they all died hundreds of years ago."

"Would it be so bad staying here?" Sakura asked softly. "You have a friend that considers you a brother, you have people who respect you. You're famous in the village for defeating Orochimaru at Tanzaku and Gaara in the prelims." She was silent for a moment then added in a softer tone. "You have me. I know we can never replace your family and friends, but…would it really be so bad?"

Gohan's answer wasn't long in coming. "No," he said, "it wouldn't."

Sakura grinned, then moved away from him, stretching. "Sorry," she said, "but I've got to go."

"Why?"

Sakura sighed. "I dug myself a grave and now I gotta go sleep in it. I apprenticed myself to Tsunade before I came over to find you," she went on, seeing Gohan's questioning glance. "She wants me at the hospital at dawn."

Gohan left the rail and came over to her, wrapping her up in a tight hug. "I'll see you later then," he said. "You know where to find me if you wanna…hang out or something."

Sakura laughed at him, returning his hug. "Just call it a date why don't you?"

"Because it sounds weird!"

"It does, doesn't it," Sakura admitted, pulling away and walking off. "I'll see you soon, Gohan!" She jogged off into the night.

Gohan watched her go before grinning the wide Son Grin, folding his hands behind his head. Suddenly, all his problems, all his worries, they all seemed so insignificant.

He couldn't wait to see what the next day held.

One week later

The festival in Konoha was in full swing. At sundown, the village had come alive with foods, drink, laughter, joking, and merry making. The villagers would party hearty, to make sure those that couldn't join them would hear the racket and know, from the afterlife, that the village they had struggled to defend, had died for, was alive and well and the people would never forget them. This festival was in celebration of their memory.

Sakura, arm-in-arm with Gohan, were strolling through the village, taking in the sights of the festival. Naruto had found out about them a few days prior and after throwing a fit about how Sakura was supposed to fall for Naruto, had promptly given Gohan a friendly, congratulatory slug and proceeded to follow the two of them around the village, on one of the very infrequent breaks Sakura got. He'd been making kissy noises and fishfaces at them the entire time. Gohan had managed to laugh it off, but Sakura was another story. Gohan had taken a few steps away from her when he'd noticed the subtle tension in her muscles that got tighter and tighter as the minutes wore on.

Finally she'd snapped and subjected Naruto to something so horrible that Gohan had been at a loss for words. She'd called it a 'Sennen Goroshi'. It had immidiatly landed on Gohan's list of techniques to use on Mr. Satan back home. He almost wished he could go home so he could use it on that lousy wrestler. Show him a thing or two about taking credit for other people's work. Sakura had actually backed off when she'd seen Gohan giggling evilly to himself about it.

Naruto was with them now, walking with an awkward limp. The three friends were spending as much time as they could together now that they knew that Sakura would be preoccupied for the foreseeable future and Naruto would be leaving on a three year trip with Jiraiya in a day or two. Gohan was occupied by his own training as well, trying to push himself to new heights, not content with his defeat at the hands of Orochimaru.

"It's going to be an interesting night," Gohan said.

"Just wait, Gohan, it's going to get better, I promise," Sakura said, with a grin. "It's the biggest festival of the year. Everyone's laughing and dancing and having a great time! It's been my favorite time of year since I could remember! And it goes on for three days!"

"Well it sounds like we'll have a good time then," Gohan said with a laugh. In fact, Sakura's leisure time had taken an abrupt upswing. Turns out that Tsunade was so swamped by the village's preparations that she couldn't pay Sakura as much attention as she had been for the past week. "It's about time. We haven't really had any time together since that night on the monument."

"Which I wouldn't trade for anything," Sakura answered promptly.

"Jeeze you two," Naruto said beside them. "Get a room already."

WHACK!

Sakura's fist drove him into the ground. "Naruto," she growled, cheeks flushing. Gohan just laughed. The two ninja were really interesting to watch. Somehow, Naruto put up with Sakura's bashing when anyone else would've hauled her in for abuse. In return, Sakura put up with Naruto's remarks that would've been classified as harassment by this point.

"Nice," Gohan said, looking down at the groaning blond. "Almost perfect. Tsunade's not just working with you on medical stuff is she?"

Sakura looked embarrassed. "Well, no. She said something about me needing to be able to keep up with you at night." She went furiously red.

"At night? Why?" Gohan asked. Sakura gave him a look. "What?" Then he got it and his eyes got big and he went red too as Naruto started laughing uproariously. "Oh."

"Naruto!"

"Ow! Hey! Stop it! Ouch! That hurts! Sakura-chan stop! YEOW!"

Sakura ground her heel into the poor boy's nose one more time and stepped over him. "You deserve it," Sakura shot back, looking ready to light into him again until Gohan steered her away.

"You know, if you ignore him, he'll leave you alone."

"This is Naruto we're talking about."

Gohan shrugged, a nearby lantern glinting off the hirai-ate tied around his left bicep. "Just thought I'd say it."

Sakura helped Naruto to his feet. "I will beat some manners into you eventually, Naruto," she sighed.

"Good thing I have a thick skull!"

"That's not something to be proud of, Naruto," Gohan said with a laugh. They went on their way.

Gohan, Sakura, Naruto, anyone in the village for that matter, had any idea of what was going to happen.

Outside Capsule Corp, Gohan's friends and family, very much alive and well, were gathered around the Dragonballs, which sat on the ground in their usual arrangement, one through six going around the outside of the seventh. The balls were glowing, pulsing in time with one another like a heart, like Shenlong, the massive dragon that granted whishes, could sense their presence and knew that he was about to be called to action.

Around the balls stood every member of Gohan's friends and family, who had heard about Gohan's dilemma in some form or other over the three or four months he'd been gone. Of the friends, only Chichi, Bulma, and Piccolo looked tense. Of course with Piccolo, it was hard to tell. His moods ranged from taciturn to taciturn with the occasional bout of taciturn thrown in for good measure.

"Do you think the Dragon can bring my Gohan back to me?" Chichi asked, dancing from toe to toe. She'd been like this ever since she'd gotten word from Bulma that Gohan was ready to come home. It was also the umpteenth time she had asked that question.

"For the millionth time, Chichi," Bulma shot back, "I'm fairly sure it'll work."

"Fairly sure?" Chichi demanded, eyes flashing. "You'd better be damn sure!"

"Look," Bulma replied, straining for patience, "the Dragon is a semi-omnipotent extradimensional being that can open a gate to our world through the Dragonballs."

"I thought the Dragonballs were magic?" Krillin asked.

"Everything can be explained with science," Bulma replied. "Even magic. Come on, Krillin, you should know that!"

"You'd think," Krillin sighed. Eighteen just snorted.

"Anyway," Bulma said, "the Dragon should be able to search the dimensions out there for Gohan. When it finds him, I'm hoping the Dragon can bring Gohan back in a way that was a lot more stable than the one I used to send him there in the first place. Before it was like having a shirt and tearing a hole in it. The Dragon's more like a needle and thread. Get it?"

"Let's just get this over with," Chichi said. "I want my baby home safe!"

"Assuming he wants to," Piccolo said.

"What was that you damn Martian?" Chichi demanded.

"Look, Gohan's been trapped in another world for three months. It's stupid to think he hasn't made some kind of life for himself. He's probably even gotten into a battle or two while he's been there. Are we sure he even wants to come home?"

"Of course he does!" Chichi said. "He's got to be so homesick by now!"

"Then you don't know Gohan," Piccolo muttered, but he said it low enough that Chichi didn't hear him.

"Are we just going to stand here or are we going to do something?" Vegeta asked from his usual spot at the edge of the crowd. "If not, then I'm going back inside."

"Fine, fine," Bulma sighed. "Let's get this over with." She stood over the Dragonballs. "Come forth Eternal Dragon!" The balls quit pulsing and began to glow with a steady light. "Shenlong!"

At the dragon's name, the skies overhead darkened, though it was evening out. Streetlights came on outside the Capsule Corp. compound. Lights in the skyscrapers began to blink on as people still working reached for the light switch.

Lighting, spidery and crackling with an ethereal sinister laughter, began to dance from cloud to cloud before lancing down to strike the balls with a deafening peal of thunder. The balls exploded into light, so bright and so intense, that everyone shielded their eyes. The power pounding about from the seven orbs was like a wind, rustling trees, capes, clothes, and hair.

An inhuman roar echoed over the concrete canyons and glass cliffs of the city, making people look around in confusion.

BWOOM!

A pillar of light shot out from the Dragonballs and climbed into the sky, twisting and turning as if it had a life of its own. With each twist, it became more and more distinct. The being wound itself around and around in never-ending coils, going on literally for miles. The fine details, like the long, catfish-like whiskers, the scales, the ruby-red eyes, and the three fingered clawed hands, began to form next before, after what felt like an eternity, the light exploded off the dragon.

Shenlong, in all his glory, loomed over the city. It was visible from everywhere, a gargantuan eastern-style dragon that never ceased moving, its coils always in motion, yet Shenlong's head and tail, which narrowed and tapered down into the Dragonballs, never budged.

As always, Bulma and the others were awestruck. They'd seen the dragon frequently and each time, they gaped like it was the first time. The dragon exhaled, his breath rolling over the city, sounding like low thunder. The silence was complete. Not even a leaf stirred. Finally, the Dragon's solid scarlet eyes found them and the mammoth jaw began to move.

"Speak now, make your wish and it shall become so."

Bulma had to take a moment to get her voice. "Shenlong! Son Gohan has been lost in a dimension beyond ours! Our wish is that you return him to us! Is this within your power?"

The dragon was silent a long time. "I do not know," Shenlong rumbled, "The worlds beyond the here and now are vast and numerous. They number into the infinite."

"Can you grant the wish or not?" Chichi screamed up at the dragon.

"I will try."

The dragon fell silent and his eyes began to glow. It went on so long that Bulma started glancing down at her watch. First one hour passed, then two, then the third started to slide by. But despite having been standing outside for three hours, no one dared move for fear that they might miss something. And it was also a bit of primal fear. The dragon's sheer power spoke to the basest parts of human instinct. What was happening now was a prey reaction, not a conscious choice.

The dragon screamed a roar. Everyone jumped. Shenlong had done nothing like that before. The black clouds above the dragon began to swirl as if in a tornado. Faster and faster they whirled until Shenlong exploded into gold-white light and, with a second, louder roar, surged up into the hole in the sky, which drooled scarlet light.

"What's going on?" Chichi shouted as winds began to whip around for the first time in hours.

"I think Shenlong found him!" Bulma shouted back. "Gohan's coming home!"

"Ah!" Naruto sighed, leaning back in his stool at Ichiraku ramen. His stomach was sticking out and he patted it fondly. "Good ramen. Thanks for the treat, Ero-Sennin."

Jiraiya looked down at his wallet as a moth flew out, jerked, then fell to the ground, dead as a doornail. "Don't mention it," he ground out with a twitching eyebrow. He glared at Naruto and the tower stacks of ramen noodle bowls beside the blond, then at Gohan and the towering stacks of ramen bowls beside him.

Iruka and Kakashi, who'd joined the group when they'd happened to run into them, laughed at Jiraiya's expression. "I warned you," Iruka said, chuckling. "But you said you had enough money to handle it."

"Knock me out next time," Jiraiya fumed. Finally he shook his head. "Alright, kid," he said to Naruto. "You'd better say your good-byes. We're going to head out tomorrow at first light. Gotta burn that ramen off you." It wasn't a surprise. Naruto had known he was leaving here soon anyway.

"Well," Gohan said with a grin. "I guess this is it."

"Yeah," Naruto replied. "Take care of Sakura-chan."

"Always." They clasped fists with grins. Brothers in all but blood.

Sakura hugged the blond. "I'd worry more about yourself, Naruto," she said, stepping back. "I think Jiraiya-sama isn't going to go easy on you."

"He can't do anything you already haven't done Sakura-chan," Naruto replied with a grin. "I'll see you in a couple years."

"Hey," Iruka said, holding up a camera. "Everyone smile."

FLASH!

He handed out the photos. It was an instant camera. The three teens bantered back and forth while they waited for the pictures to develop when it happened. A wind swept up the street and blew out candles and lanterns. People screamed as they were plunged into sudden darkness, shopkeepers swearing at the inconvenience.

Dark clouds spread out across the sky, roiling out across Konoha and beyond.

In Suna, Gaara and his siblings looked up as clouds appeared out of nowhere, hanging heavy in the sky.

In Wave, Inari, his mother, grandfather, and all the village murmured and chattered amongst themselves.

And in Rice, Orochimaru and Sasuke broke off their sparring. Orochimaru had nothing to say about what was happening. Gold eyes narrowed. "We're done for today," he said, spinning on his heel and vanishing into the underground complex.

Sasuke's Sharingan faded, but his scowl didn't. Somehow he knew. "What are you up to now, Son Gohan?" he asked the sky. Lightning, spidery and cackling with an ethereal, sinister, laughter was the only answer he got.

Gohan flinched as lightning cracked down the street; arcing from the cloud, down to a few feet above the ground, then back up. It passed close enough for the Saiyan to smell the ionized air.

"What's happening?" Sakura asked, holding her hair behind her ear with one hand. Gohan didn't answer. He had a good idea. He'd seen this often enough but he knew it was impossible. But here it was, happening in front of his eyes. The clouds began to rotate, spinning faster and faster until they drew up into the sky, allowing scarlet light to drool down from the gaping void.

"This looks just like when you…"

Sakura was cut off by a loud roar that had everyone clutching at their ears, and some shinobi whose old habits died hard, reaching for weapons. A pillar of golden-white light shot down from clouds, howling that awful roar. It vibrated everyone's bones in their skin. The light began to twist and twine, taking on a shape as it did.

The details came in and Gohan felt his blood run cold.

When the light burst off the creature, people screamed.

Shenlong loomed over Konohagakure.

"What is that thing?" Sakura asked, voice fluttering. She clung to Gohan's arm. "Gohan, what is that…"

"He's here for me."

"What?"

Gohan's eyes never left Shenlong and he looked like a stiff breeze, which had died off as Shenlong appeared, would knock him over.

"He's here for me," Gohan repeated again.

"How do you know?" Jiraiya asked, blood running across his hands as he folded hand seals, clearly readying himself to summon Gamabunta. "You can't be sure."

"I know," Gohan sighed, turning and hugging Sakura tightly to him. It seemed to her like he was hugging her good-bye. There were tears on his face. "I know he's here for me because I've seen it. That's Shenlong, the Eternal Dragon."

"From your world?" Kakashi breathed. He looked as surprised as anyone had ever seen him, Sharingan bared. He was one of those die-hard types. "I thought that wasn't possible."

"Shenlong doesn't listen to that kind of thing," Gohan answered. Sakura could feel him trembling, though from happiness or sadness she didn't know. She assumed it was a mix of both. "He's able to bring the dead back to life. Busting through dimensions can't be all that hard."

Shinobi leaped up from the rooftops, walls, and crowd, all of them in combat gear, hurling shuriken and kunai at the behemoth dragon, some even going so far as to summon their various animals and send them on the attack. Jiraiya would've been among them if Gohan hadn't talked them out of it.

Gohan turned and faced the dragon when he heard the shouted warcries of the shinobi.

"What happens now?" Sakura asked, clutching at his elbow.

Gohan laughed dryly. "I don't know. None of us were stupid enough to attack Shenlong."

Ruby light burst from Shenlong's eyes and washed over the attackers. They froze, still as statues, no matter where or what they were. Shinobi hung suspended in space, summon animals were frozen solid. There had been nearly fifty attackers and they were all frozen solid, like an ice carving.

The kunai and shuriken were nowhere to be found. They'd simply vanished. Gone. Poof. Shenlong had disabled half a hundred attackers, some fairly powerhouse summons, and just vanished thousands of kunai and shuriken, breaking every law of physics known, in the space of one breath. And he'd done it effortlessly.

Tsunade stood on the top of the Hokage's Tower, her haori and twin ponytails whipping. Her ANBU guards, in one of their scarce visible moments, were frozen in place, limned in red light, just like every other person Shenlong had disabled.

"Who are you?" She demanded of the dragon.

She recoiled on instinct, her feet frozen in place when Shenlong's featureless red eyes found her, but she could feel the timelessness of his gaze, feel the crushing power of the dragon as if she'd seen him before.

It wasn't a comfortable feeling.

Then, to everyone's great surprise (Gohan excluded), the Eternal Dragon's jaw dropped and the creature began to speak.

"I have many names," he thundered, voice easily audible through the entire village. "But those who call me most often have given me the name Shenlong, the Eternal Dragon. I have come from worlds beyond yours, Tsunade of the Leaf, seeking to grant a wish made upon me by those who roused me from my slumber."

Tsunade didn't ask how the thing knew her name. It would be like her looking at a tree. You just call it a tree. You don't think about where you get the name from. "Who are you looking for?" She inquired, already guessing she knew the answer.

"Tsunade-shishou!"

Tsunade turned around and saw Gohan, carrying Sakura land behind her. Naruto, Iruka, Jiraiya, and Kakashi weren't far behind, leaping over the railing to the rooftop balcony, landing in crouches.

"Son Gohan."

Gohan looked up and found the Eternal Dragon's depthless eyes on him. "I'm here, Shenlong."

"The wish has been made to return you to your world. I will now grant this wish!" Shenlong's eyes glowed again. Gohan was limned in ruby light and scarlet sparks began to float up from the ground around him. His feet began to vanish first, slowly turning transparent before disappearing altogether.

"Gohan!" Sakura cried, rushing into his arms, sobbing. "No! You can't! You can't leave now!" She clung to him like he was her last link to sanity.

"Shenlong," Gohan murmured, knowing full well the dragon could hear him. "Can you cancel the wish? Or override it with another?"

"The wish has been made. It cannot be stopped."

"No!" Sakura wailed. "I can't lose you! Not now!"

The vanishing had proceeded to Gohan's knees now and was climbing higher.

"Hey, it's not over," Gohan whispered to the disconsolate kunoichi. "Hey, Sakura, listen to me. Listen!" At his gentle command, Sakura pulled back enough to look him in the eye. "The dragon grants two wishes as long as he isn't dismissed first. I can come right back."

"What if he gets dismissed?" Tsunade asked.

"Then Shenlong has to rest for six months before the Dragonballs can be used again. If two wishes are made then he has to rest for a year."

"A year?" Sakura repeated. "Gohan…" Gohan silenced her with a quick kiss. They'd gotten better at that in the brief week they'd had.

"Sakura, I'll be back. At the longest, I'll be gone one year." He embraced her tightly again. Sakura tried to ignore the insubstantial feel he had to him now, like a ghost that was moving on. "One year and I'm back."

"Promise me," she said.

"Promise. One for sure."

"Now wait," Jiraiya said as Sakura and Gohan separated. Gohan was fading quickly now and he had to strain to hear Jiraiya, like the Sannin was shouting across a great distance. "Naruto's going after Sasuke in three years. Orochimaru will become more powerful in that time." The Sage grinned at Gohan. "I say you stay in your world for the three years and train your ass off. Orochimaru kicked your butt once before and you'll have to get stronger to beat him. Train with someone who can help you in ways that we can't then come back and we'll give that slippery bastard something to really fear!"

"Good idea," Tsunade added. "I'll train Sakura so she's ready when the three years are up as well."

"Well, Gohan?" Kakashi asked.

Gohan was a wraith now. They could barely hear him, but the message got across.

"Three years!" Gohan yelled.

He vanished and Son Gohan was gone.

"Your wish," Shenlong rumbled, "has been granted. Farewell!"

The dragon dissolved into gold light again, which shot into the hole in the sky and was gone. The void sealed, the lightning ceased, the clouds cleared, and there was no sign of Shenlong the Eternal Dragon or Son Gohan in Konohagakure.

Click the next button for the Epilogue to Gohan's Dilemma