"Sacrificing is an act of Love"

-Anonymous

CHAPTER NINE

The New Girl in Town

"Naruto, do you want to come work at my café? I'll give you higher wages than what Sasuke's giving you!" Sakura pleaded, smiling warmly and intentionally teasing Sasuke while talking to her new friend. Hearing this, the boy scowled and Naruto giggled at his sour face.

"And if you have some free time on your hand you're welcome to visit the chemical factory with Kaoru!" Ino piped up, shoving Sasuke out of the way so she could take a seat beside Naruto. Across the table, Tenten was still scrutinizing Naruto's face and demanding the brunette to spill her beauty secrets. While Naruto chuckled nervously, Sasuke rubbed his forehead in irritation. The girls had totally surrounded his…girlfriend and he had been kicked out of their world of chatter. However, looking at his Naruto and Kaoru, he felt happy and complete.

"Hey Sasuke! Ditch the girls and join us! We're playing billiards," Kiba invited his best friend to join them to play. Shikamaru and Sai also called for him. "Come on, Sasuke, you don't want to be stuck with girls, don't ya?" Kiba teased.

"Sasuke, hurry! Shikamaru and Sai are winning and I need your help!" the dog lover boy nearly cried out while clutching his raven locks in confusion; how could he shoot the last three balls on the cue? Sasuke sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay, I'm coming."

After the exhausting day, the two finally reached home with Kaoru sleeping on her father's arms. Sasuke had moved out from his father's mansion into the house Itachi had bought for Naruto so they could all be together as a family. "Sorry, my friends seemed to like to tire the both of you," Sasuke smiled softly, breaking the silence.

Naruto shook her head. "Ah, no, it's alright. Kaoru and I enjoyed meeting them." Her eyes mirrored genuine feelings of happiness towards her newly found friends. "They're all so friendly! I want to try Sakura's cakes so badly! Ino offered some perfume samples from her business and I want to try Tenten-chan's make up products. They're all so amazing, heading their own businesses!" Naruto talked fondly of the three girls, even though they had only met for the first time a couple of hours ago.

Sasuke rubbed his aching forehead and noticing his actions, Naruto frowned. "What's wrong? Are you not feeling well?" she asked her boyfriend worriedly.

He sighed. "How do I put this? Sakura's just beginning to learn how to bake and Sai's been her taste tester a couple of times. He nearly died because of food poisoning."

"Eh?" Naruto exclaimed, disbelieving Sasuke's words, taking it for exaggeration.

"Sakura almost always 'accidentally' uses expired flour to mix in her cakes and Ino nearly burns her factory every time. She mixes different and toxic chemicals with each other, not even bothering to check her calculations because she insists that 'everything will turn out fine!". Tenten…" He shivered just thinking and talking about the weird things Tenten and the rest of them were doing in their life. "Don't even ask further."

Naruto chuckled. "Well…based on your story, they're not that bad. If they were, you'd never be friends with them for so long…" she commented.

Sasuke smiled for the first time since talking about his friends. "Yes, you're right."

She squealed loudly, making Sasuke glare. Thankfully Kaoru didn't wake up at the sudden noise. "What?" he gave his girlfriend an annoyed look.

"You smiled!'

"…So?" He looked away for a brief moment, hiding the faint tint of pink on his high cheekbones.

Naruto pouted. "You should always smile like that! You're even more handsome when you do that!"

Sasuke turned to look at her again. "I knew I was handsome ever since I was born," he smirked.

Her pout got bigger and she looked away. "Hmph! Don't be so pig headed Sasuke; you're not that handsome," she blushed, wrapping her arms around her chest.

"Aaaw, don't take back those words, Naruto-chan. You don't have to be ashamed as you were only speaking the truth," he teased Naruto, wrapping his free arm over her shoulders.

"Don't be so full of yourself!"

The next day, Itachi called for Sasuke to meet him at Tokyo Harbor again.

"So you're going?" Sasuke asked, looking at his brother's eyes to see the blue color confirm his words.

Itachi nodded. "Yes, Father said I have to go and fix the problems at our LA branch of the company," he said, grabbing the can of juice out of his younger brother's hands, drinking it.

"Ew, Itachi did you just kiss me indirectly?" Sasuke joked. Itachi laughed at his comment. "You sound like a girl Sasuke, being overly concerned about an indirect kiss.

Sasuke flushed. "Shut up Itachi!"

Itachi smiled. "Itachi, please, your promise, keep it." Sasuke turned to look at Itachi at the abrupt change of voice. "I'm going to be gone for a long time so don't screw up. I won't be here to council the two of you. And also Fa-" Itachi paused. He doesn't need to know or care about Father interfering; I will protect them all.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "And also what, Itachi?" His brother shook his head. "It's nothing. I forgot what I was going to say." He cleared his throat and raised his blonde lashes to the sky. "So, Sasuke, I'm relying on you to protect Naruto and Kaoru."

"Of course. I'll protect my family with my life." His seriousness (for once) matched his brother's tone of voice. Itachi smiled, contented at his younger brother's words.

"Thank you Sasuke."

For the sake of the happiness of all the people I love most in my life-I will do this. I hope this will correct all the mistakes I've committed.

Airport

"I'll be going inside first." A raven haired girl monotonously spoke to Itachi, her emotionless eyes boring into his obsidian eyes. He nodded in reply, looking back one last time at the scenery of his homeland. He would never forget anything: none of the memories, none of the sights and sounds, nothing.

I know the three of you will be happy.

"Young Master, it's time." Itachi's assistant tapped him nervously on the shoulder, alerting him that it was time to board the plane.

"All right. Let's go." He was finally ready to depart.

"I can't believe Itachi-kun did that!" Naruto cried sadly while Kaoru sobbed on her lap. "He didn't say goodbye to me! He didn't say goodbye to Kaoru! Why?" She sniffed and blew her nose hard on the tissue held up to her face.

"Ah, don't worry Naruto-chan! Itachi-kun will come back; he's just abroad on business. I'm sure he'll come back," Ino reassured the two.

Kaoru looked up from her mother's lap, tears visible on her cheeks. "Really?" she asked innocently with hope that her father figure would come back to their side soon.

Sakura nodded. "Yup, so don't worry Kaoru-chan! Itachi-kun will absolutely positively reassuringly come back!" She patted the little girl's raven locks and giggled along at her use of lengthy adverbs in her sentence. "Ah, by the way, Naruto-chan did Sasuke call you? He's been late on our meeting the clients are waiting for him to start the presentation." Shikamaru asked, waving his cell phone in the air and grabbing the brunette's attention.

She nodded. "He's on his way right now."

"Don't nag Shikamaru you sound like my mother…Huh. Okay, I'll be there," Sasuke replied grumpily as he hung up the phone. He was at home, looking for the documents he needed for the next meeting, but there was no such luck. He was about to punch the papers from frustration when the door bell rang. He walked to the front door, opening it, and saw a women with strawberry red hair that reached her shoulder. Her eyes were blue, but so cold.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

To his surprise, the girl pulled him by his necktie and kissed him. His onyx eyes widened in surprise.

WHO'S the mystery girl? Find out the next chapter! So please READ AND REVIEW!