Naruko stumbled behind On the way to Tazuna's house. she had depleted her chakra

store nearly completely.

"Brat, are you going to be ok?" The Kyuubi's dark voice sounded through her mind. she did not expend the energy to answer him, and gritted her teeth, to continue walking. Sasuke glanced back, and saw Naruko Struggling. he frowned, and went back and stood in front of her.

'Get out of my way, teme." she hissed weakly.

"Make me, dobe." He replied coolly. Naruko made a feeble attempt to push him out of her way, and failed.

"Just… ugh I hate you." Naruko growled.

Sasuke sighed and in one quick motion had picked her up and slung her over his shoulder.

"Hey!" She screamed "Put me down fucker!"

"Now now, Naruko, language." Kakashi chuckled as Naruko struggled against Sasuke, but very quickly gave up. Sakura watched in slight confusion.

"She was slowing us down." Sasuke said simply. Sakura nodded slowly, understanding. She didnt like it but she understood.

Naruko allowed herself to be carried until they arrived at Tazuna's home.

'Oh dear is she alright?" a woman answered the door.

"I'm fine if this asshole would just put me down." Naruko hissed.

"I order you to go straight to bed Naruko. I know you have quick regeneration, it comes from having sensory chakra, but while you have regenerated your energy, Naruko, you need to let her body recover as well." Kakashi ordered. Sasuke set his teammate down and Sakura lead her upstairs to where Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter directed them. this left Tanzua Kakashi and SAsuke alone with Tsunami,

'She looked… a little worse for wear." Tsunami fretted, "Should I make her food and bring it to her?" Sasuke was about to agree that she should do that so Naruko didn't have to strain herself,

"Making her food would make her happy, but she'll come down here to eat, you'll just insult her if you try to feed her in bed." Kakashi eye smiled at her.

'Oh- alright." Tsunami smiled at Kakashi, and scuttled off to the kitchen to cook. Tanzua lead Kakashi and Sasuke to the sitting room where they sat, and Kakahi talked with Tanzua about plans for the bridge and what he wanted the Ninja to do.

Naruko sat upstairs and read, Sakura sat with her on the bed,

"NAruko… Sasuke hasn't changed at all towards me." Sakura sighed. Naruko raised her eyes from her book for a moment,

"He likes Tomatoes." She stated simply.

"Huh?" Sakura tipped her head,

"Do what you will with that information." Naruko returned her gaze to her book, "I believe Tsunami has a garden with vegetables outside."

Sakura frowned and stood up, leaving the bedroom, and Naruko to her book. She went down the stairs and saw Sasuke sitting on a couch with Kakashi. she watched him for a moment, until he looked up at her. she blushed and looked away, moving to go outside. She went around the corner and found the vegetable patch like Naruko said. SHe bent over to pick one of the ripe tomatoes.

'Sakura." Sasuke's dark voice sounded behind her, "You shouldn't be out here alone, Its dangerous."

"Oh!" Sakura straightened up and looked at Sasuke, "Oh- yeah. erh well-" She stammered, then took a deep breath, "Let me start over." She looked at SAsuke and smiled, "I was just trying to get some fresh air, would you stay out here with me?" she asked. Sasuke furrowed his brow, he was used to Sakura falling all over herself gushing about how handsome he was or begging him to go on a date. he… kinda liked the more calm Sakura, just asking him to stay with her since it was dangerous.

"Sure… I guess." Sasuke mumbled. Sakura smiled and held out the tomato to him,

"I heard you like these. so, you have something to do while were out here. I'm sure your hungry, we haven't stopped to eat since we left Konoha this morning." she said. Sasuke's eyes lit up as he took the tomato and bit into it,

"Thank you, Sakura." she smiled at him, on the inside she was squealing and fangirling out over him talking to her.

"So- Sasuke… u-" Sakura groped around for something to talk about, "Erh- do you think Gato will send out another ninja to try and stop us?" she figured he would be interested in talking about the mission.

'I'm sure he will, someone like him doesn't give up…" Sasuke mumbled.

"I can't believe Naruko killed Zabuza and Haku." Sakura sighed.

"It was just a strike of luck." Sasuke looked at Sakura, "Zabuza was cocky he believed that a genin could not defeat him, anyone can be brought down if they let their head get too big. and with Haku, Naruko just reacted quickly, that shows she has higher training than us, it was her reflex to kill Haku when he charged her. had she not been adrenalized from her fight with Zabuza she would have been mortally wounded. she just happened to react faster than Haku did. it was luck that we got attacked by people who overestimated their skill and underestimated Naruko's." Sasuke explained in a low tone. "We won't be so lucky next time."

"I see." Sakura looked down, "I can tell you really like Naruko… more than me." She said softly, "But- I can tell you now, I'm not sure who it is, but Naruko is in love with someone else."Sakura looked at Sasuke, her apple-green eyes sad, the look on Sakura's face made Sasuke's heart grow cold, the look of pain and defeat that shone in her eyes, "I just dont want you to be hurt… Naruko… is very pretty… much more pretty than me. I-I think I'll go back inside." Sakura sighed, looking away and moving to go inside, Sasuke reached forward and grabbed her wrist, she looked back at him, hope lighting the despair in her eyes,

"I-I'm not sure if your right about my feelings for Naruko… but- uh- please… dont be sad, Sakura… I-er- do think your pretty…" Sasuke choked out, She smiled at him,

"Th-thank you Sasuke-kun… I need to go and Help Tsunami." she pulled her wrist from his grasp and went inside. she inwardly smirked, she hoped that instead of gushing at him for the compliment, walking away would be more beneficial to her catching him.

Sasuke watched his candy-haired teammate walk back to the squat house. he felt an ache, what was this? did-did he have crush on the fangirl? he shook his head, no he didn't have a crush on a fan-girl, he had watched Sakura go from being a only-book-smart-ninja-wannabe to a formidable gennin in the last few weeks. yes, at this point, she was still technically weak, and best as a defensive ninja. Naruko, on the other hand had always been strong, he guessed, but why hadn't she seemed that way in school? he remembered… Naruko sitting in the back, a look of disdain for the chunin teacher at the front. he remembered that she never stuck around to play ninja with the other kids, then again neither had he. he always went straight home… to train. he guessed that must have been what Naruko had done.

but- he sat down against a tree trunk- he assessed his feelings for his teammates. when he thought of Naruko, he felt a fierce desire, to stand with her when she fought, he felt that if he stood with her, the fierceness of her would be exhilarating.

But, he imagined Sakura's serene smile, her presence felt calming, and warm. two opposites, Naruko's fierce fire the kind of heat that would burn him, or, Sakura's calming warmth. he shook his head, now was not a time to be contemplating his love life, not that he had or needed one. he squashed any lingering thoughts about the females on his team, all that mattered was the death of Itachi.

Said older brother was standing in the trees a few hundred yards away, it was sheer luck that he and Kisame had been sent on a mission to the Waves at the same time as Naruko and her team. he smiled, watching the pinkie leave his brother, and the look of confusion that passed over his younger brother's face as he sat against the tree. he hoped, that the pinkette would be there for his brother, because while he could sense his brother's attraction to Naruko, but that was natural, he was sure that there was no male in her vicinity that didn't feel an attraction of some sort to her. he was sure that even though he would never admit it, even kakashi felt a semblance of attraction, but that was because of Naruko's pure strength, high chakra levels that naturally reached out due to its sensory abilities, but anything that Sasuke felt for Naruko was hormone driven, he was sure, that Sakura would be better for him, her calming chakra nature told him she would be a better healer, and that would offset Sasuke's powerful aggressive chakra nature.

"Not to mention Naruko is mine." Itachi mused.

"Your talking to yourself again Uchiha." Kisame chuckled from the limb near him.

"Shut it fish-face." Itachi shot a glare at Kisame, "Have you located the target yet? I'm sure Leader-sama wants us to check in soon."

"Yeah, he's on the next Island over." Kisame said. Itachi shot one last look at his little brother, a soft smile gracing his lips, good luck, little brother.

"Alright, lets go."

Alright, sorry long wait. idea . getthe's reveiw put me off for a bit, my original plan was just to leave it at that cause i really really dislike writing the waves arc, and this story was getting hard for me to write, but last night i got to writing again. you're either going to love or hate it i guess... I know Sasuke is gettign a little OOC but since Naruko is so different and changed Sakura, why not Sasuke too? right? there will be alot more action in the next few chapters.

-Ari the Fox

P.S I put spaces in your username cause for some reason I cant post your penname?