Chapter sixI do not own Naruto

*Thank you to everyone! I'm so glad you like it.

Here's the next chapter! Italics is flashback, bold is thought*

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Kisame picked up the bleeding Deidara, along with his dismembered arm, and vanished. He could sense form the amount of chakra behind him that Itachi was still there, watching.

"This isn't over Itachi."

"I know."

"You can't hide behind your puny village forever. Leader always gets what he wants."

"Yeah, I know…"

The shark-like man vanished, re-appearing as he ran through the top branches of the trees leading out of the village. I hope you know what you're doing Itachi, Kisame thought wryly, because I sure don't!

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Itachi watched as Kisame and Deidara escaped the village under the cover of night. He was completely aware of the dangers that came with abandoning Akatsuki; he saw how Orochimaru had been put on the 'next-to-die' list. He knew he would have to come up with a way to remove Akatsuki from his worry list.

After cleaning the yard of all remnants of the fight, Itachi turned to go inside the house. He sauntered into the master bedroom, careful, not to wake the sleeping Sakura. Itachi changed his clothes and stood beside the right side of the bed. He moved to pull back the covers when he realized that that side was already taken.

She looks so peaceful, he thought. He reached his hand forward until he was close enough to touch her. He was jarred from his thoughts by a grumbling in the pit of his stomach. Damn, I always get hungry after a fight, he thought and Itachi used the back of his hand to move a strand of hair from Sakura's face before going to the kitchen to grab another snack.

Itachi returned to the room and silently slid into the bed. Lying on his back, Itachi stared at the ceiling.

"Sas- Sasuke-kun."

Itachi turned his head, frowning. So she's dreaming about him, huh? Itachi shook his head. What is the matter with me? You'd think I was jealous. Itachi twisted his head to look at the girl sleeping beside him. He had to admit he wasn't the same person that left the village all those years ago; he wasn't even the same person who had re-entered the village last week. Could it be her? There's no way. I just met her. I'll just have to try to act more like myself, he thought as he drifted into sleep.

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No, Sakura thought, I don't want to wake up yet. I'm so comfortable here. Why am I so comfortable? My bed is never this nice. Sakura opened her eyes a bit to see what it was that was making her so comfortable. Her eyes widened as she found the source of comfort. Itachi was shirtless, and sound asleep, but Sakura was sprawled out over his (toned and chiseled) chest. Sakura tried to move but Itachi had his arm around her waist, holding her in place. Oh no! What am I gonna do? Sakura thought as she began to panic. She remembered rolling over during the night, but how was she supposed to get out of this?

Sakura reached around to grab Itachi's arm. God, his arm is heavy! She was placing his arm next to her when she heard a voice,

"What are you doing?"

Sakura felt a jolt roll down her spine as she jumped out of bed.

"Jeez, you scared me!"

"Sorry." Itachi was sitting up now, but he was, clearly, still tired. He stared at Sakura as she tried to return her breathing back to normal. After she had calmed down, Itachi pulled the covers around his head and muttered an "I'm going back to sleep" and rolled onto his stomach.

Slightly disgruntled by the fact that she had gotten worked up for nothing, Sakura left the bedroom in search of the kitchen. After stumbling into five unused rooms and two bathrooms, Sakura finally found the kitchen. The room was a cool, open room with two windows facing out of the house. After finding the shelves to be fully stocked, Sakura began to cook. It was rare that Sakura cooked a whole meal; it was usually just a piece of toast as she ran out the door.

A few minutes had passed before she began to think of the day ahead. Does the fact we're married mean I have to spend every waking hour with him? What if I wanted to be alone? I still have to go back to my apartment and make sure everything's out! Geez, I can't wait until Tsunade-sama sends me out on a mission! Now sufficiently annoyed at her new husband, Sakura finished cooking and sat at the low table, eating vigorously.

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It's no use, Itachi thought, I can't fall back asleep. Getting up and putting on a shirt, Itachi chuckled as he remembered the look on Sakura's face when she had woken him up. Deciding that he was hungry once more, he wandered into the kitchen to find Sakura eating at the table.

He made his way to the pantry when he heard Sakura clear her throat. Itachi looked over his shoulder as she casually jerked her head in the other direction. He followed her gaze to a plate of food that was sitting on the counter.

"Oh, thanks."

Sakura just turned back to her food. Itachi joined her at the table, and begun to eat. Once she had finished, Sakura continued to sit, playing with her fork. After a few minutes of silence, Sakura placed her fork on the plate as Itachi finished eating.

When Sakura spoke she talked faster than normal, "I have to go to my apartment today."

"I thought they moved all your stuff out" Itachi said.

"Yeah, but I only saw my stuff, I was going to see were my furniture went"

"Okay"

Sakura was caught off guard by his sudden consent.

"Oookay. Thanks." Sakura pushed herself up from the table, grabbed her plate, and then after a second thought, grabbed Itachi's plate too. She crossed the length if the kitchen, threw the plates in the sink, then stalked out of the room.

What was that about? Itachi wondered. Maybe she's having one of those "exclamation points". No, "periods". I guess deciding to separate myself from her was a good decision!

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Sakura walked up the stairs to her old apartment. Turning the corner at the top of the stairs, she was too involved in her thought to notice that there was someone standing in the middle of the hallway (At least, not until she had bumped into them.)

"Agghhh!"

"Ummph!"

Sakura's butt hit the floor hard. The person that she had bumped into dropped the end of the couch he was holding since he was now face down on the floor. Sakura slowly pushed herself up off the ground, wondering who the heck had been in her way.

"Sorry, I didn't see you, annnd…WHAT are you doing with MY couch!"

Kakashi poked his head out from the doorway to Sakura's apartment.

"Oh, Sakura, I thought I heard your voice. We were just moving your furniture."

"We?" Sakura looked down to find Naruto getting up, rubbing his behind from where he had fallen.

"Hello Sakura-chan!" Naruto, despite being hurt, smiled at her. He walked over to her and gave her a hug. Sakura was surprised, and so was Kakashi.

"Naruto, I told you to be nice to her, not freak her out!"

"But sensei, I was being nicer than usual." He looked at Sakura, "I always try to be nice to you Sakura-chan!" Sakura let out a soft chuckle and walked around to get a better view of Kakashi, who was busy lifting one end of her couch, single-handed.

"Where are you taking the rest of my stuff?" she asked timidly.

"Hokage-sama was going to take care of that. All we have to do is move it where she tells us. Speaking of the Hokage, she wants us to go on our first mission tomorrow night. We're to pick up a package that'll be ready then and bring it back here before morning. Nothing special, pretty routine."

At this Naruto became slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, it's only gonna be C-rank or something! What's up with that?!"

"I assume it's because we'll have Itachi with us so she won't want us doing anything important until we get used to him," Kakashi sighed.

Naruto crossed his arms. "Damn Itachi."

Seeing Naruto, Sakura couldn't help laughing. A small grin spread onto Naruto's face as Sakura's laughter lightened the mood.

"So Sakura-chan, how'd it go?" Naruto asked with a sly grin. Kakashi looked at Naruto with an expression somewhere between amusement and surprise in is visible eye.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"You know," Naruto pretended to be keeping a look out, "last night. Hehe!" He covered a chuckle and looked over at Kakashi.

Finally catching his meaning, Sakura felt her face redden in embarrassment. "Naruto, you perv!" She reached over and landed a punch to the back of his head that sent him flying into a nearby wall. Sakura looked over at Kakashi as he chuckled, looking at Naruto's growing bump.

"What are YOU laughing at?!"

Kakashi turned to see a fuming Sakura walking straight towards him. "Oh me? Nothing! Nothing!"

Sakura's embarrassment and annoyance left as she walked into her old apartment. Some of the furniture had been moved out, and all of her personal items were gone, which made looking at it somewhat depressing.

"Anyways, I'll help you guys finish here then we'll go get some lunch, OK?"

Kakashi, pulling Naruto to his feet and telling the young man that he had "brought this upon himself", turned to face Sakura. "Sure, my treat."

This alone was enough to revive Naruto because between Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura, the job was finished within a half an hour.

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Walking away from the now empty apartment, Naruto led the way to his favorite ramen bar.

"Ichiraku Ramen, here I come!" The blonde teenager raced off to the restaurant.

Kakashi leaned in the whisper to Sakura, "Don't tell him, but I only agreed to pay for you. I can't wait till he orders a ton of food!" Chuckling, Kakashi went ahead into the shop.

As Sakura walked into the small restaurant, she took a seat in between Naruto and Kakashi.

"Old man, I'll have two deluxe ramen bowls please!" Naruto yelled to the owner.

"Two, Naruto?" He asked in amazement.

Naruto shook his head in agreement. "Yeah, yeah. Kakashi-sensei is buying!"

Kakashi and Sakura ordered their food and the three ate in a pleasant silence. As soon as Sakura had put down her bowl, Kakashi gave her a little nod. He pulled out enough money to pay for their two meals and sneaked out of the restaurant.

The old man picked up the money as Sakura and Kakashi stood just out of Naruto's sight. The blonde teenager looked around for his teammates.

"EEEEHHHH!! Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, where'd you go!!"

The old man smiled from behind the counter and waited for Naruto to pay for his food. Slowly, and looking as if he was about to cry, Naruto pulled out his frog-shaped wallet and grudgingly paid for his expensive meal. He walked outside as Sakura was busting up, laughing and Kakashi was chuckling.

"Kakashi-sensei, that WASN'T funny!!"

"Yes it was."

Naruto crossed his arms. "You're mean, just like Ero-senin!"

Kakashi smiled. "Well, since Jyiara-sama was the sensei of my sensei, you would think I'd inherit something from them! But anyway, we should all go home and prepare for the mission. We'll all meet at the bridge, tomorrow at 10. See you guys!" He said cheerfully. Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

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OOOOoooOOOO. Thanks for being so patient with me you guys! Here is the latest chapter, sorry if there's not much happening. Next chapter should be out soon now that I got my life back!