A/N I do not own Naruto.

How I dream though…

Sleepeeeeeeee…….ZZZzzzZZZzzzzzzzzz….Z.

Sakura screamed…or at least she tried to. The problem was that when she opened her mouth, water flooded in. Her arms were going like crazy trying to keep her body above the water level. However, her arms just weren't enough to keep her afloat and she began to sink. The last thing she saw before the waves engulfed her was a giant black cat coming towards her.

A…..a black….c-cat?

CHA! there's no way I can die here! Sasuke-kun hasn't even kissed me yet!

The cat like thing dove under water after a sinking Sakura. Holding onto her tightly, it pulled her up and over to the shore. Water dripped from it constantly as the two of them flopped onto the beach.

Naruto rushed over. "S-sakura-chan…Are you alright?"

She could barely hear him. All noise seemed to whisper inside her dark skull, even Naruto's usually loud voice.

"I-I think she needs mouth-to-mouth." Naruto stammered. His face flushed as he bent over Sakura. Those words, however, seemed to arouse something inside of her.

Ha! Naruto, kiss me? Yeah, right. I'd rather die! CHA!

With that thought and conviction, Sakura lashed out with her fist. The blonde flew three feet backwards, almost hitting Tenten and Neji.

"O-ow, Sakura-chan. What'd you do that for?"

"N-A-R-U-T-O! There's no way in hell that I'll let you even touch me, ya got that?!" She shouted. Everyone smiled, smirked, or giggled, as was their nature.

"Hn."

Sasuke-kun!

"S-s-sakura-chan…." Naruto continued to whine. The pink haired girl was getting really ticked.

"Naruto….go….away…" She said very quietly, she didn't move her gaze from the sand, trying to calm herself down. As fast as he could, Naruto tried to escape only to trip and fall on top of Hinata, who, in turn, fainted beet red.

Glancing to her side, Sakura saw her savior, the black cat. It slowly stood up, and towered over her. Still dripping, the cat pulled back it's face to reveal a man. S-so it was a guy….who saved me….a guy wearing a black suite and a hood with pointed ears…?

Sakura stood up too. Turning to the black cat-man, she smiled. "Thank you, sir, for saving me."

He turned towards her, running a hand through his messy light brown hair. "Don't worry about it."

The guy probably didn't mean it, but those four words brought back the memory of what had passed only many, many minutes ago. The three thugs…..Sakura turned around and walked over to her towel, hugging herself to surpress the worst of the shaking.

Why does it bother me now? Why, after all has happened, do I shake and feel like crying? Why am I scared after all had passed??

Flopping down on her towel, she turned on her side and curled up a bit. Merodi and Keikai woke up and move to snuggle closer with Sakura. A few tears escaped her jade green eyes as she napped.

Sakura was woken up by a click and a clank. Opening her eyes, she was surprised to see a small puppet dancing before her eyes. The puppet itself was simple, a wooden person covered by a tattered gray cloak that hung over it's head. Following the strings up, she saw the black cat-man's face. Sakura sat up abruptly.

He smiled. "His name's Crow. He's one of my favorite puppets."

"P-puppets?" Sakura inquired, wiping the traces of tears off her cheeks.

"Yea, I like to play with puppets. Oh, by the way, my names…"

"Hey, Kankuro, c'ere a second." Someone called.

Kankuro turned his head around to call back, "Give me a minute, Temari." He smiled again at the girl who gazed solemnly at the doll. "Are you better?"

Startled by the question, she looked up and smiled weakly. "Thanks….but why?"

"Oh, I just can't stand to see a cute girl cry, it tears my poor heart."

"N-no….why'd you save me?"

His tone was that of a more serious nature. "If someone needs help, it's customary to give what you can." Standing up, he went over to Gaara who stood with Naruto and the other guys.

Hinata came up behind her and knelt down. "Sakura-chan, I'm sorry…."

Sakura smiled kindly, had she even stopped smiling? "Hinata, it's not your fault what happened out there. It was totally me and my forgetfulness. Next time, however," She said, adopting a more somber tone. "Next time, Hinata, I won't lose to you." However, after a few moments passed, both girls fell over laughing.

Together they got up and ran over to the others, Sakura clearly feeling much better.

"Let's play beach volleyball!" Tenten suggested. Almost everyone was for it, except Gaara, Sasuke and Neji who had to be goaded into coming. As Tenten inflated a ball, her cheeks burning red, Sakura noticed there was another member added to their little group.

"Hinata, who's the blonde with the four pig-tails?"

The other girl looked at who she pointed to, "Oh, that's Temari, Gaara-san's sister. She's a year older than us, and that cat-man, the guy that saved you, is two years older than us. They both came by motorcycle apparently." Sakura nodded, and the two of them went to join the group in playing volleyball.

It was Tenten, Hinata, Temari, and Sakura against Sasuke, Naruto, Gaara and Kiba. Shino, Lee, Neji, and Kankuro made the third team, but they were sitting out this round.

"Oi, Girls, you ready?" Kiba asked.

"Bring it!" Tenten and Sakura challenged.

A/N Sorry about not updating yesterday…..I was sleepy after practice…hehehe…

Anyways….This is a bad place to stop but if I didn't end here then I'd have a nearly ten paged chapter…..so I shortened it.

All THINGS IN MODERATION…..OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, YEAH.