So, sorry for the long wait in-between these last few chapters. I've had exams and it was very stressful XD Also, I will be trying to finish this story by May 16th. It's just that after that, I wouldn't be able to update properly for a while, so I'm going to try to finish this before that.

Anyway, thanks again to AbaraiSuki for editing my story XD

Chapter 5:

Naruto yawned as exited from the Hokage tower doors. The village was as peaceful as always and the day was beautiful. Today would be the perfect day for slacking off and relaxing.

But Naruto couldn't do that. He was too confused. After spending most of the day with Sakura the day before Naruto had gone home to sleep. The only problem was that he couldn't. Every few seconds, thoughts of Sakura – What she was doing, how she was feeling, whether or not she was thinking of him –began to make their way into his thoughts.

He couldn't go a single minute without thinking about her.

It plagued him for hours, before exhaustion from not sleeping the night before took over him.

Yet, when he woke up in the morning, the thoughts returned.

All morning, he had been unresponsive and out of it. While he had been able to get through some of his paperwork, people were unable to get him to respond and even when he did, he had trouble understanding what they meant. He was so distracted that his assistant had finally gotten fed up with him and kicked him out.

Fifteen Minutes Earlier

"Go clear your head a bit, Hokage-sama. You aren't being productive at all here." she had said. Although she had said it calmly, she had been leaking killing intent the entire time. Naruto had been too afraid to object.

Present

Naruto shivered at the thought of his assistant. She was a scary person at times. The only person who could scare Naruto more was Sakura.

Naruto groaned suddenly as his teammate once again made her way into his thoughts. Somehow, she always managed to stay in his mind. He couldn't believe that one dinner was able to do this to him.

Sure, Sakura and Naruto had gone out to get something to eat lots of times over the years, even if it was mostly to Ichiraku or a nearby dango shop. They were best friends, and so they had gone out many times. The difference this time was the atmosphere. Naruto had felt as though they were teenagers again, out on a first date. He couldn't remember ever being so nervous before. Luckily, he hadn't said anything to mess it up.

Then there was that whole incident in front of her apartment. It felt like she was flirting with him at times. 'But that can't be possible… right?' Naruto thought as he began walking down the streets of Konoha. He just couldn't believe that she would ever be interested in him in that way.

As if that hadn't been enough, he had hugged her. Normally, this would have been no big deal. Normally, it would have just been something that he would have seen as a friendly gesture. The only problem was, he had wanted to do more than that.

Last Night

"True, but you're my idiot."

Naruto's eyes widened as he looked down at Sakura, whose cheeks were now slightly pink.

Naruto watched her as she hurried up to the door and unlocked it.

Suddenly, Naruto felt a small pain in his chest. He didn't want her to leave. He wanted to hold her, to embrace her and never let her go. He wanted to kiss her, to feel his lips on hers. He wanted to stay with her and to never let the night end.

But she was leaving. The moment was slipping away. This wonderful night was ending and Naruto felt that if he didn't do something he would regret it. If he didn't do something now, he could lose her forever.

And before he could stop himself, he was in front of her. Before she even realized what was going on she was in his arms.

While it was probably a few seconds to the rest of the world, Naruto felt that small amount of time last for an eternity. He could feel his arms pressing against her, her warmth flowing into him. He could smell the scent of her hair. He wanted to stay like this forever.

Eventually though, he had to let go.

"Goodnight Sakura-chan," he said, releasing her from his grasp.

As he put her down, he could see her expression. It wasn't the angry expression that she would have had when they were kids, the one where she would have caused him bodily harm while wearing it.

It also wasn't the expression she would have had from when they were teenagers. The one where she would have blushed and told him he was an idiot. The one where she would probably ask him what the hell he was thinking.

This expression was new. It was something he would have never expected to see on her face. She was blushing. Instead of either embarrassment or fear she wore a look of shock. There was also something else. It was in her beautiful emerald eyes. It seemed familiar, like he had seen it every day, but he just couldn't seem to figure out what that look was.

He quickly shrugged it off and walked past Sakura, flashing a quick grin as he went.

As he moved further and further away from her apartment, he could feel her gaze on his back. A few times, he was tempted to turn around, to run back. But he couldn't. If he did, he knew he would never be able to leave.

Present

Naruto shook himself out of his memories. It was these exact memories that had had him lost in thought all morning. Even fears of the possibility of war were pushed out his mind by the images of his pink haired teammate.

Suddenly, something caught Naruto's attention right in front of him. He was at the hospital, standing out in front of it. Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He wanted to see Sakura again.

Suddenly, a familiar voice called out to him, breaking him from his thoughts.

"Yo, if it isn't our Hokage-sama. Come to visit a certain pink haired teammate?"

Naruto looked over and was surprised to see Kakashi walking towards him, his hand raised in a half-hearted wave and his one visible eye closed in a smile.

Naruto chuckled a little. "Yeah, I guess so. I couldn't concentrate in my office so I decided to visit Sakura-chan"

Kakashi nodded. "Ah, yes well, I'm afraid Sakura is a little busy at the moment," he said and when Naruto sent him a questioning glance he continued, "she's busy training a team of med-nins. Their usual instructor couldn't make it, so Sakura decided to volunteer."

Naruto raised a brow at his former teacher. "How do you know about that?"

Kakashi let out a small sigh. Naruto guessed that if he wasn't wearing that mask, he would've been pouting. "Well you see, I thought that at least one of my former students would feel that they could take the time from their busy schedules to visit me, especially considering we don't go out anymore. But Sakura is obviously too important to go eat with an old man like me."

Naruto laughed. He felt a little bad for Kakashi. While he saw Sakura on almost a daily basis, he didn't see Kakashi nearly as much. He did feel a little guilty about it, but the Copy Nin was just too damn hard to find.

"Well then, do you want to go out for ramen with me?" Naruto asked, flashing him a grin.

Kakashi gave him a small smile. "Sure then. At least one of my students cares enough to eat with me." He said jokingly.

Naruto laughed again and the two headed off towards Ichiraku's.

Elsewhere

Sakura was currently sitting on a bench at one of the training grounds with her knees to her chest, watching the three med-nin trainees with only part of her attention. They were currently trying to revive a fish with their medical ninjutsu. It was a very basic exercise and didn't really require someone supervising, but Sakura needed to think and get away from the hospital work for a bit.

As usual, the cause for her need to think was a certain blonde teammate of hers.

Sakura sighed as she remembered that hug of his. He had held her so tightly yet so gently. It was as if he thought that she would break if he held her too tightly.

Normally, Sakura would've felt offended that he could think she was so fragile. She would've told him that she didn't need to be treated that way. She was not something that needed to be cared for gently and looked after. She wanted him to know she was strong.

But yesterday, she had been speechless. He had seemed to so caring, so loving in those few moments. She hadn't wanted him to let go.

A presence behind Sakura brought her back to reality.

"Hello Sakura. How are you doing out here?"

Sakura turned to the source of the voice. Walking towards her was Tsunade, a huge grin on her face.

Sakura shrugged, but smiled kindly at Tsunade. "Nothing much. Just watching over some trainees. How's retirement treating you shishou?"

Tsunade sighed, but gave her a weary smile. Sakura noticed that Tsunade looked much older than when she had been Hokage. Even with her constant transformation technique, Sakura could see the wrinkles showing through. There were also strands of white among her blonde hair.

"It's been okay I guess. But after all of the situations that gaki has put me through retirement is just plain boring now."

Sakura laughed. "Yeah, life with Naruto is never boring." Sakura couldn't help but smile at the thought of him. But that brought her thoughts back to last night, and her expression quickly became confused again.

Suddenly, Tsunade smirked. "Speaking of the gaki, I've heard a few rumours about you two. Apparently, you two are now a couple. It's the newest rumour going around the village."

Sakura's eyes widened. A small blush began to appear on her cheeks as Tsunade's smirk grew wider.

"Wh-what? I-I don't know what you're talking about. We aren't like that."

Tsunade burst into laughter at her student's embarrassment, which just made Sakura blush even more. "Haha, what's wrong Sakura? You've only had feelings for him for a few years. I'd say it's about time you made a move on him."

Sakura growled at Tsunade, narrowing her eyes at her. Unfortunately, the effect was lost because of the blush on her cheeks.

"I did not make a move on him. We just went out to dinner, that's all. We've done that before, so what's the big deal?"

Tsunade raised a brow. "Oh? You didn't tell him how you feel?" she asked.

Sakura returned her gaze to the three trainees. "No. I don't want to ruin our friendship. Besides, I've confessed to him before you know, and he didn't believe me. Why would he believe me this time?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Well, the situations are completely different from the last time you know. Also, that boy is crazy about you. Maybe he doesn't show it the same way as before but he does care about you. I highly doubt he would ever reject you."

Tsunade glanced at Sakura, but she remained silent. Tsunade sighed and continued. "Besides, what do you have to lose?"

"I have a lot to lose. I could lose my best friend. I don't know what I would do if I lost him."

Tsunade sighed again and rose to her feet. "Fine then. But I want you to remember something. If you don't tell him now, you may never get the chance. And believe me, I know the feeling all too well. You don't want to live with that regret for the rest of your life."

Sakura looked up in surprise at Tsunade. The slug Sannin just smiled down kindly at her. "Now, I'm off to a casino. I've got to enjoy my retirement. I've worked hard for this."

Sakura smiled as Tsunade began to walk away. When she was a good distance away, Tsunade sent her a small wave.

Sakura watched her leave silently. She began to wonder if she should tell Naruto. It was true that she didn't want to live with the regret of not telling him. Plus, with the possible war Naruto had told her about, the possibility of her losing him just seemed that much greater. Sakura sighed as she placed her head on top of her knees. Tsunade's words echoed in her head. 'You don't want to live with that regret'.

Sakura's grip tightened around her knees. In front of her, one of the trainees had just managed to complete the exercise and was happily jumping up and down. Sakura smiled down at him, but it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

'Is risking my friendship with Naruto worth living without a little regret?'

Sakura wasn't sure she had the answer to that. She did want to tell him. She had wanted to tell him for years. But once again, the same thought that had stopped her for years surfaced again in her mind.

'He doesn't love me. He could never love me, not in the way I want him to.'

However, the memories from the night before suddenly cut off those negative thoughts. Instead, a new thought entered her mind. 'But what if he does?'