This is a long chapter to make up for not updating! (I had finals)

Cross My Heart

Sakura dragged her feet along the floor, the lack of sleep obvious on her face as her eyes remained partly open.

"Hi Sakura", she would hear ever so often, but her response would come muffled and delayed.

She wasn't certain what she was doing, just roaming around the village. The heat from the sun caused sweat drops to form at her brow. She wiped them away nonchalantly. A familiar face came running by but slowed when he noticed it was her.

"Hello Sakura-chan you look…", Lee wanted to say breathtaking, but under Sakura's eyes the evident black bags made it quite hard to lie.

"Wonderful?", he chimed blushing slightly, not sure if it was from lying or being overly shy around her.

She gave him a short smile to his comment knowing it really wasn't true at the present moment.

"Out for a little jog", she asked him

"Yeah, just a light 50 mile run before I train", he stated in a normal tone.

Sakura's eyes widened when she heard what he had said, "50 mile light run?", the words choked on the way out of her mouth.

Lee just nodded his head again, as if it was no big deal.

"I would ask you to join me, but you don't look like you want to take a jog. Is anything bothering you Sakura I would like to help?"

She looked at him surprisingly; she linked her hand around his and walked to a shaded area under a tree. She leaned up against it as Lee sat next to her.

"How about we just enjoy the cool breeze for a little while, huh."

Lee whose cheeks were still bright red nodded in agreement.

Sakura made some small talk and asked Lee some questions. Lee became so caught up in explaining he forgot to pause during his sentences. When he looked over he found Sakura leaning against the tree fast asleep.

He let out a heavy sigh, thinking he had bored her to sleep. He bent down quietly and picked her up and headed toward her apartment.

Before turning the corner to her apartment, he almost bumped into Sasuke, who gave a worried expression about Sakura's condition.

"Lee, what happened to her, is she alright?", he asked stopping in front of Lee.

"Oh Sasuke she is fine, she just fell asleep while I was talking to her."

Sasuke gave him a odd look, "Fell asleep, while you were talking to her?, Huh Lee, I really don't know what to say to that."

"I was on the way to the training grounds to meet Neji, he is gonna kill me for being late, but I must take Sakura home."

Sasuke extended his arms out and told Lee he would take Sakura home. Lee gave a kind smile to Sasuke as he placed Sakura into his arms.

"Take care of her.", he winked and placed a thumbs up in the air. Sasuke only shook his head nervously as he looked down as Sakura; this was the closest he had been to her.

He walked back toward her apartment, trying very hard to ignore the looks he was getting, when a whistle came through the crowd, he turned a slight cherry red, hoping desperately he was nearing his destination, when she opened her eyes.

"Good Morning", she stated as she snuggled up close to Sasuke, which made him nearly drop her.

Naruto was turning the corner when he noticed the scene unfolding in front of him. He stood a moment hesitant if he wanted them to see him, and quickly decided to head back the other way, when he heard his name being called.

"Naruto…!", Sasuke's voice could be heard echoing.

Naruto turned to see Sasuke putting Sakura down. Sakura also noticed Naruto and began to wave him over. Naruto heedlessly made his way over.

"Hey guys shouldn't you wait till after your married before you guys parade around like that?", Naruto asked teasingly.

"Baka, I'm gonna…Kill you.", Sasuke screamed as he began to chase Naruto around. Before Naruto knew it he had hid behind Sakura and grabbed her behind her forearms.

He stood briefly behind her before he left go, Sakura could feel his tense body behind her and blushed as she turned to face him.

"You two honestly, will be the death of me."

Sasuke hoped onto the roof, "I have a meeting with ANBU, Naruto make sure Sakura gets home safe."

Naruto stepped in front of Sakura, "Hey Sasuke come on you know I…", but before Naruto could finish Sasuke vanished.

"He has got to stop doing that", Naruto and Sakura stated in unification.

They turned to face each other, the tension between them apparent.

"Look Naruto, I know you must be busy you don't have to hang around and babysit me…"

"No it isn't anything like that Sakura, I just…", but Naruto could notice the look of discontent across Sakura's face.

"Don't be ridiculous you're my best friend Sakura, it is not babysitting."

They began to leisurely walk to her apartment.

"So Naruto tell me more about Mayuko, How did you two meet?"

Naruto was caught a little off guard by the unexpected question, "uh ah how did we meet, we met…" Naruto hating lying to Sakura.

"I…can't remember", he managed to get out.

Sakura looked at him, one eyebrow arched, "Well if it is a secret you could have just said so."

Naruto just blushed lightly unsure of the response.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes as Sakura's apartment came into view.

"So Naruto, how come we never worked out?", Sakura asked bluntly

Naruto felt like someone had just jabbed him with a kunai straight in his stomach.

"Wh-what?", he asked a little shaken

This caused a trivial laugh from Sakura, "You know how come you and I never got together?"

Naruto moved his hands up and down to find a correct answer. He had no idea where this was coming from, "Well you never liked me that way." Naruto laughed.

"I never liked you that way?"

" I mean WE never liked each other that way." Naruto hastily corrected himself

"We were just always friends, yeah than best friends, and now still best friends." He was blabbering and he knew it.

Sakura took a step closer to him, which made him shut up pretty quickly.

"Naruto you're blabbering again ", she began

"Well things worked out for the best, we both got what we wanted", she finished.

"We wouldn't want it any other way..." Sakura stated.

"Right…both got what we wanted" Naruto finished gazing deep into her eyes.

Neither Naruto nor Sakura noticed that they were being followed.

Jiraiya took out a piece of paper and wrote, boy and girl deny feelings for each other. He felt a tap on his shoulder which he hastily ignored.

"Go away I'm busy." He stated without looking up from his clean white sheet.

The tap came harder this time, with much more force.

Jiraiya had his microscope pulled out and was still spying on Naruto and Sakura. "Hey baka, can't you see I am trying to do some research here, can you go bug someone else."

Next thing Jiraiya knew he felt the force as strong as a tornado slam against his left cheek. He flew out into the middle of the street about 15 ft from where he was hiding. A giant dust cloud could be seen forming where Jiraiya had landed.

"Oh my, that poor old man", Sakura stated as she tried to make her way over.

"I wouldn't do that…", Naruto stated as he stopped her.

Tsunade could be seen stomping over," Think you can call me a baka and live to tell about it."

"Oh Tsunade, ha owww ha owww I would never call you…" he stopped

Tsunade latched onto his ear and began to drag Jiraiya behind her. She stopped and waved to Sakura and Naruto. Who with great fear waved back quickly.

"Brings back memories of when you used to…" Naruto began but promptly stopped, he wasn't gonna remind Sakura that she used to punch the hell out of him.

He laughed nervously, "hahaha you know never mind."

"Wow why do you think they fight that much?"

"I don't know they are just so used to it."

"I don't think I could ever do that to somebody."

Naruto just smiled, "I'm sure you couldn't."

"I have to meet Ino at the dress shop, we are shopping for our dresses.", Sakura stated as she turned her gaze from the bickering duo to Naruto.

"Will you walk me there?"

Naruto remained silent, but motioned forward, taking a few steps, "Well aren't you coming?"

It wasn't a long walk; both remained silent as they strolled up to the door. Sakura hesitated about asking him to go in, assuming it would be a slight bit awkward. But before she made up her mind, Mayuko could be seen exiting the shop with a dress in tow zipped up in a black bag.

"Naruto…", she let slip.

"Mayuko…Hi.", Naruto let a smile slip to his face that caused both Sakura and Mayuko's heart to jump upside down.

"I was just on the way to get some lunch…ramen. Do you wanna join me?"

The bright smile only grew on Naruto's face upon hearing the word lunch and ramen in the same sentence."

"Yes, I would love to."

The two began to walk away, as Naruto turned around and gave Sakura a wave goodbye. Sakura brought her hand up slowly to wave back, causing a large lump to get caught in her dry throat.

She didn't have much time to ponder on what she felt as Ino pulled her inside the shop forcefully.

"Could you be any later?"

"My apologies Ino I should have been on time."

Ino blinked a few times, she had to remember that Sakura was not herself these days, and hearing such a sweet reply to her question made her anger boil over.

"It is…alright, I am not mad", she responded rapidly letting a friendly smile slip to her face.

Ino and Sakura flipped through at least a hundred dresses before Ino found one she liked; Sakura however was not quite as lucky. She just wasn't interested in finding the perfect dress, and it didn't help that there wasn't a dress that attracted her attention.

Ino tried to cheer the apparently distracted Sakura up, "Oh Sakura don't worry, no matter what you wear Sasuke-kun will love it."

Upon hearing Sasuke's name Sakura perked her head up. "You're not upset anymore…about Sasuke?"

A graceful smile set in upon Ino's face as Sakura and she made their way to the checkout to pay for Ino's dress.

"I grew up, I stop chasing around the boy everyone wanted, I realized it had always been a silly crush, and it would always remain a impractical little crush. I wanted someone to love me with all their heart, Sasuke was never going to feel that way about me. "

Sakura just stared on, "How did you realize you weren't in love with him?"

As they exited the dress shop, Ino raised her shoulders in the air to shrug off Sakura's question.

But Sakura wasn't going to let it go.

"How did you realize that you didn't love Sasuke, Ino?"

Ino raised her eyes, "Does it matter Sakura? You don't have anything to worry about you have the guy you always wanted."

Sakura became quiet, after Ino's response.

Ino let out a sigh, "I realized I loved someone else…"

"I was losing the only guy that loved me…that's how I realized I loved him more than I could ever love Sasuke."

Sakura raised her eyes from the ground to look into Ino's. A voice brought her to turn her head forward.

"Troublesome, Ino do I have to wear the tie.", he questioned arms folded casually across his broad chest.

"Yes baka you do and it has to be blue to match my dress."

Ino left Sakura's side and gave Shikamaru a light jab on the shoulder to emphasize her point. Shikamaru merely annoying glanced at her.

"I'll see you later Sakura, if I don't pick out a tie now, he'll just make an excuse up for your party." She began to walk away, Shikamaru close behind her.

Ino turned before Shikamaru and her were out of sight and let a sly wink escape her eyes. Sakura caught a hold of the glance and understood everything perfectly.

Ino had fallen in love with Shikamaru, her best guy friend. Someone she had pestered and bothered and beat up for years. Did Shikamaru feel the same way about her? Did he love her like Ino thought?

Than Sakura began to realize she too…was beginning to have feelings for her best friend, and not just the "you're my best bud feelings..", No Haruno Sakura was beginning to fall in love with Uzumaki, Naruto.

The same Uzumaki Naruto who loved someone else, and then again wasn't she supposed to be head over heels for Sasuke.

The gust of wind behind her broke her thoughts, "Hokage-sama would like to see you."

Speaking those brief seven words the ANBU member hastily disappeared, not liking to waste time. Sakura did not even have the chance to respond, but made her way toward the office.

Upon arriving to the office she could hear muffled shouts behind the door, at first she was unsure whether to knock or even go in, but she had been summoned and not entering wasn't a option. She gently raised her hand and used her knuckles to knock hard enough over the shouting to be heard.

As she pulled her hand away the shouting died instantly and a firm voice commanding her to enter took its place. Sakura without much hesitation entered the Hokage's very messy office.

It became all too clear why she had heard shouting when she noticed the same old man from earlier sitting across from Tsunade, holding a large bag of ice to his bruised face.

He stood up quickly when Sakura entered, "Why heeelllloooo…"

As if on que a fat book hit him in the head causing him to fall face first to the ground.

"Don't be pervey Jiraiya.", Tsunade responded standing from her seat and stepping over him as she made her way to Sakura.

"You wanted to see me Hokage-same."

"Yes, I have something for you."

Tsunade opened up a closet and pulled out a black long cover, in an instant Sakura could tell a piece of clothing was hung underneath it.

"I hope you don't mind, I had the liberty of holding this for you, just in case you hadn't found a dress yet."

A thoughtful look came across Sakura's face, "Even if it wasn't her dream dress, it was very nice of the Hokage to have done this for her."

"No I haven't found a dress yet, thank you", she reached over and graciously took the black bag.

"Won't you try it on", Tsunade asked a sly smile across her face.

Sakura shook her head as she began to unzip the holder. Her eyes lit up as the black holder fell to the floor; she never would have dreamed how beautiful the dress would be.

It was a one shoulder raven black dress it was lined with tiny crystal rim stones along the waist, the lower portion of the dress flowed out beautifuly; not seeming like it would cling to her petite body like the binding kimono had.

"Is it alright?"

"Its…perfect", Sakura replied in a daze.

A sound smile set across Tsunade's face, she felt pleased with Sakura's response, "Try it on."

Sakura motioned past Tsunade towards a door on the other side of the room; she opened it and closed it in a hurry, not wanting to waste any time trying on her perfect dress.

A thought swept her mind, she wondered if Naruto would like the dress.

'Whats wrong with me, I could never do that, I could never hurt Naruto that way, he is in love with Mayuko, and I have Sasuke…but I don't understand why I feel the way I do…I keep telling my mind to stop thinking about Naruto, but my heart won't listen."

Muffled voices from the room made her lose her train of thought, this time however it was someone else other that Jiraiya, Tsunade was speaking to.

"I want a mission. Now."

"This close to the party..?"

"Yes, I will be back in time for the party, I just…wanna get out...for now."

She could only make out a few words; she pressed her ear to the door to be able to listen better. A bright red blush present on her face for eavesdropping.

"Naruto…"

Sakura's eyes quickly widen, Naruto wanted to leave?"

"How long are you going to run away for…"

"I'm not running away, I just need to get away."

"You should tell her the truth Naruto…"

"I'm not the perfect man she dreamed of…"

Back and forth it went between Tsunade and Naruto, until she unwillingly handed him a scroll, "Don't miss it." Venom iced in her voice

He nodded as he turned his back and headed for the door.

"She will figure it out Naruto…whether you tell her or not."

Naruto opened his mouth to responded but shut it when Jiraiya spoke up.

"Someone's listening", he stated a coy smile creeping to the corners of his lips.

Sakura surprised by what Jiraiya said took a step back, and crashed to the ground loudly.

"I'm alright", she bleakly stated.

Naruto practically turned pale as he eyed Tsunade, who merely smiled devilishly at him.

"Come on out Sakura." Tsunade stated as she turned to face the opening door.

Jiraiya dropped his ice pack, "Oh my…." was all that he could get out

Even Tsunade was caught off guard by the sheer beauty.

Sakura's face however was not nearly as thrilled, for Naruto was nowhere in sight.

"He's not coming?"