A/N: Hey guys! Holy crap, I didn't realize this story would get so much attention so quick. Thank you so much to everyone who favorited/followed the story, me as an author, and reviewed on it! I only received positive feedback and that makes me so happy. :) This chapter may have some errors because I decided to manhandle it all in a couple of hours while I'm suffering from a horrible stomach virus. I was hit with a plague, I swear. With my throw up bowl on the side of my computer table, you guys gave me motivation to write another chapter as quickly as I could. Thank you, again, and I hope you enjoy.

Btdubs, I still don't own anything. Ya okay. (-:

"Sakura! Wake up!"

Emerald eyes cracked open slowly and scanned the room. Sakura realized she was safely tucked away in her own bed and a small smile tugged onto her face. Smelling her mother's cooking in the distance, she hopped out of bed and made her way downstairs.

In the living room sat her father, reading "Konoha Times" newspaper. In the kitchen, her mother was handling 3 different pans on the stove, as well as setting up the dining table. The blonde haired woman warmly smiled when she saw her 5 year old daughter approaching her, "how are you, sweetie? It's your first day of school."

"Hungry," Sakura grumbled. Her mother laughed lightly and made her a plate of food.

The Haruno household consisted of three people: Kizashi Haruno, an ambitious man with dull pink hair and blue eyes. Known for his intellectual abilities in taijutsu, he was praised in Konoha for his in depth understanding of body techniques and, eventually, pursued a career as a professor at Konoha University for the subject. His wife, Mebuki Haruno, was a social butterfly who possessed blonde hair and green eyes. She met Kizashi in a taijutsu training class when they were both young. Although Mebuki became highly skilled at the techniques, she chose the life of a housewife and wanted nothing more than to take care of her husband and their daughter, Sakura Haruno. The young girl was known for her light pink hair and her bright green eyes, making her an exact replicate of both of her parents. However, feeding the minds of young scholars didn't pay well, and a housewife didn't bring in any income. Raising a child with a lower class lifestyle gave Kizashi and Mebuki more of a push to pursue their daughter to become involved with school and to go to college for a promising career.

When it came time for school, Sakura battled nervous loops in her stomach. It would probably be easy for her to make friends; she gained all of her social skills from her outgoing mother. She was great in school, as well, thanks to the intelligent genes she inherited from her father. Being away from her family for part of the day seemed foreign to her and it left her with discomfort. However, the young girl shoved all worry out of her conscious and finished breakfast.

Sakura's first day at school went good, at first. She made her first friend when the teacher had all the children play games to get to know each other. Sakura's new friend was a girl with straight black hair and unique pale eyes. She was a shy person who carried a habit of twirling around her small fingers. Her name was Hinata. To make a friend on the first day of school was a great thing, Sakura reminded herself. However, that was the only friend she made.

Sakura felt pairs of small eyes on her back for the first half of the day. Occasionally, she would catch kids staring at her, whispering to one another and snickering. She suspected it wasn't about her because there wasn't anyone before that had ever disliked her. Her parents treated her like a princess, and every adult they brought her around made her feel like gold.

At lunch time, Hinata found friends that Sakura didn't know. So, Sakura chose to sit alone underneath a tree in the grassy field of the school. She didn't mind; she enjoyed the silence.

Sakura was enjoying her sandwich her mother packed her, when a tan boy with brown hair walked up.

"Hey, girl," he called out.

"Me?"

"Who else?" The boy chuckled. "Why did you dye your hair such an ugly color?"

Sakura sat there for a moment, in shock. "What? I've never dyed my hair. It's natural!"

"Wow, really? You were born that hideous?!" The boy was yelling now. "Check this out, guys!"

As more kids walked up, laughing at Sakura, she felt tears at the end of her eyes.

A blonde girl with blue eyes poked her head. "Why is your forehead so big, huh?"

"Maybe it's that gross color of hair that emphasizes it!"

Sakura his her face in her hands. Why was this happening to her?

"Aww, are you about to cry? I bet a head as big as yours holds a lot of tears!"

She felt tears slipping through the spaces of her fingers. Mommy.. Daddy.. she thought to herself, anyone, please help me. Another person poked her head.

"She is crying!"

"Why are you so weak? Crying like a baby!"

So many children were crowded around the pink haired blossom. She couldn't take much more, but she stayed silent. She couldn't defend herself over all of these people calling her names and laughing at her.

"Shut up."

Sakura snapped up from her crouched position. At the back of the crowd, there was a boy with spiky, black hair and dark eyes. His arms were crossed and he kept a glare fixated on the crowd. The boys and girls became silent, and he spoke again. "People getting pleasure off of others' pain are much more ugly than someone with cute, pink hair and a cute, small forehead."

The group of kids gasped and began scrambling with questions amongst one another. "Did he just call her cute?" "He's supposed to think I'm cute!" "He thinks a girl is cute?" "I thought he liked girls with long hair!"

Sakura sat there with doe eyes and a scarlet face. The mystery boy focused his attention on her and smirked.

"If anyone is mean to you or tries to hurt you again," he began with a hard voice, drawing everyone's attention, "you tell me. I will make sure to take care of them."

The crowd of kids stalked off, defeated, leaving Sakura and the boy.

Sakura wiped away at her eyes. "Will you really? Or were you just saying that to scare them..?"

"I don't say things I don't mean." The boy walked over to her, and held a hand out to her. She took it, still in a daze. "I'll protect you forever."

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

Sakura's mind went blank. She wasn't at her elementary school anymore. The place she was at now felt colder and it smelt like cleaning product. She was only able to crack her eyes into thin slits. Why did her eyelids feel heavy? Craning her neck to the side, she was greeted with a face full of pillow. Strange.

A hushed voice was heard from a distance. "Do you realize the problems you potentially caused us?"

Another voice came into her hearing. "Humor me."

"There is a cover," the first voice started, "that we keep for safety reasons. It not only protects our clients, but it protects us. Including yourself. Because, I know that's the only person you care about in this business."

"Myself?" The second voice asked sarcastically. It started to sound familiar to Sakura.

"Yes. You're a great shinobi, but you pull way too many reckless stunts, Sasuke."

Sakura's brain was working slow right now, and she felt like she couldn't move her limbs. Why couldn't she sit up and see where she was? Was she tired, or just feeling weak? She could at least piece together that both voices were owned by males, and the owner of the second voice was named Sasuke.

"Tell me something I haven't heard," 'Sasuke' snapped. "And as for causing problems, I could've let that damn girl get nailed with a couple of bullets." Sakura stiffened at how sharp his words sounded. "But did I? I risked our 'precious' cover... my 'precious' life," Sasuke paused. "For an actress? For someone who provides nothing important, but entertainment? You act like I'm fucking up my job when you're giving me ones that serve little to no purpose. At least give me someone worth saving, like a doctor. Not a pampered princess on every headline I see."

Sakura opened her eyes fully now and gained strength to sit up. She looked around and saw that she was in a hospital bed, clad in a typical breeze-feeling hospital gown and hooked up to machines. Holy shit, I really passed out, she thought. The people she heard arguing presumably were outside of the room she was in. She eyed the door, balancing in the railing of the bed for support.

The first voice snapped back at Sasuke, "she is not just an actress, Sasuke! She's Sakura Haruno. More popular than any doctor at the moment. Do you realize the impact she has on people?"

"No, Kakashi. Frankly, I don't care."

"Well, you should because you cared a hell of a lot when you threw yourself a her when the attack struck."

Wait, what?

"There's a difference between caring for someone and taking care of someone, sensei."

Sakura shook her head. I'm in a hospital, and outside my door are two men, Sakura thought, piecing everything together. "Kakashi" is scolding "Sasuke" for blowing a cover while saving a "pampered princess".. which is me. Sasuke is the man who smelled good? Sakura glared down at the IV in her hand. A pampered princess? Her hand balled up into a fist. Who isn't worth saving? Why did he act so helpful when he got me out of that studio, then?

Sakura was rushed out of her angry thoughts when she heard Kakashi speak again. "Well, you better drop your attitude and act like you care."

Her eyes widened as the knob of the door twisted, and before she could lay back down and fake asleep, two men entered. The first had spiky grey hair, but he look fairly young. A navy blue bandana covered one of his eyes and he had a mask covering his his nose below. He was dressed in a matching colored suit. He stepped aside to reveal the man who saved her; the man whom she now knew as Sasuke. Unlike his combat-like uniform before, he was dressed in a black suit.

"Hello, Miss Haruno," the grey haired man greeted, a noticeable smile through his mask. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. I am a shinobi and I work alongside with military, specifically the police department, in capturing criminals and protecting citizens. This is my apprentice, Sasuke Uchiha. He is a shinobi, as well. I'm sure you're confused on why you're here. You had a hard fall."

"I did," Sakura confirmed slowly.

"Not to worry, though. You're only being kept here for the night for safety regulations. You're at Konoha hospital. The staff is working hard to make sure you have a comfortable recovery before sending you off your way," Kakashi explained.

"Great," Sakura replied. It took all of her power not to glare at Sasuke. Fucking asshole can't even talk.

"We need to ask you some questions, if you don't mind, Miss Haruno," Kakashi prompted.

"Shoot."

"Do you remember anything that happened earlier today?"

Earlier today? I felt like that happened days ago, Sakura thought before replying with a short 'yes.'

"And can you please describe to me what happened?"

"I was being interviewed," Sakura began, "on national television. As it was about to end, there was a huge explosion. All I saw was smoke, and someone threw me up against the wall, protecting me." I don't know why they would want to, she wanted to add. After all, I'm not a doctor or anything. "I was brought outside, where there were a lot of cops around me, then the man who saved me, he-" she looked at Sasuke, attempting to hide her anger, "pulled off his protective mask and tried seeing if I was okay."

Kakashi seemed delighted that her blackout didn't cause any memory loss. Sasuke stayed silent the whole time as Kakashi probed answers out of the pink haired actress, with his arms crossed, not acknowledging Kakashi or Sakura, but the wall across from them. He seemed bored, if not annoyed, with this scenario.

Sakura couldn't help but sneak the raven haired man glares.

Kakashi drew back her attention, "Miss Haruno?" Sakura looked back at Kakashi. "I have one last question."

"Go ahead."

"Do you have any idea who the attacker could be?"

Sakura fell silent at Kakashi's question. She didn't have an idea, she knew. It was painful, though. So painful that she blacked out earlier attempting to verbally speak about it.

"Miss Haruno, did you hear my question?" Kakashi leaned in to catch her gaze. However, Sakura's gaze fell down into her lap.

"It was the same guy that attacked her family a couple of weeks ago," Sasuke spoke up. Sakura snapped her head to stare at him, shocked because he was, in fact, paying attention. And as if he was reading her mind, he spoke again. "It's the reason she blacked out. She whispered it in my lap before passing out into it. Before ambulances arrived, I had her in my grasp, and she was mumbling how he had a green jumpsuit, with wide eyes and thick eyebrows. She said he moved too quick to be a normal person, so I'm assuming whoever he is, he's a shinobi." Although Sasuke's voice sounded bored and lazy, Sakura was stunned at how much information he picked up on.

Kakashi grinned behind his mask, impressed by his student's observation as much as Sakura was. "And why didn't you share that information with me earlier, Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked down, his arms still crossed. "We had to see if her memory was intact, so I didn't want her hearing the whole story since she was eavesdropping on our conversation outside of the door earlier," he finished, looking up at Sakura with a wide smirk.

Sakura's face turned the color of her hair, and she pursed her lips.

There was a beeping sound, and Kakashi pulled a phone out of his pocket. He looked at the caller ID and turned back to face the actress. "My apologies, Miss Haruno," he breathed, "I have to take this." With that, he left the pink haired girl and the black haired man alone.

Sakura sighed loudly, still embarrassed and angry at Sasuke. Might as well be blunt, she thought. "How did you blow your cover with me?"

Sasuke groaned. "While we're on a mission, we have regulations. Regulations for this particular one were to stand back and wait for the attacker to be in close enough range of you for him to reveal his identity. He got too close, and he could've killed you within seconds, so I stepped in."

"You guys knew he was there?!" Sasuke didn't answer, just looked at her dumbly. "So," Sakura clarified, "you broke rules to save me?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Barbie," Sasuke replied.

Sakura lifted up her eyebrows and tried to play off like she wasn't just extremely insulted. She turned her head towards him, "Pfft, Barbie? Like I haven't heard that before! You can pick a better nickname than that, chicken head." He smirked. She rolled her eyes. "And FYI, I wasn't eavesdropping. It's not my fault you were bitching about how useless I was!"

"Bitching? You're exaggerating. I was stating a fact," Sasuke replied cooly.

"A fact? As if! I'll have you know, I get fan mail daily from people telling me how I've changed their lives."

"By turning them into couch potatoes? Not so impressive," Sasuke returned, the bored tone remaining.

Sakura fumed. "Actually, no. You have no place to talk, Uchiha. I may not do anything that you can consider im-por-tant," Sakura air quoted the word important, stretching out the syllables, "but I'm making more money sitting on my ass in an expensive hospital listening to you-," this earned a jutting of her finger out towards him, "-than you'll ever make in your lifetime." It was a low blow, honestly. Sakura knew that any type of military, whether it was police, shinobi, or any fighters, were paid little to nothing. She had utmost respect for anyone willing to sacrifice themselves for others while receiving barely anything in return. But she had a long day, and the good smelling man in front of her was giving her too many mixed signals for her liking.

"That's all you pretentious celebrities care about," Sasuke said, face never altering. "Money, money, fame, money, money, and money. Did I mention money?"

"I care about my fans," Sakura snapped. "I care about my friends, too. But most importantly, I care about my family that just died." Her eyes dropped to the hospital floor. She spoke softer, "they were murdered. In a way that I could have prevented. They were gone before I could tell them any last good byes," she sighed. "But someone like you wouldn't understand a damn about that."

Sakura traced the patterns of the floor with her eyes. She needed a minute to settle out her views this person. This handsome man with the black feathery hair and the delicate dark eyes that smelled so sweet, but acted so sour. Why couldn't she read him? He wasn't infatuated with Sakura like most people, let alone intimidated by her. None of her sharp words seemed to hurt him or nearly phase him. He kept an emotionless expression, aside from anger in his voice and occasional smirks. His personality was so off-set. Did he have any weaknesses?

Cutting her out of her thoughts, Sasuke replied, his voice tightening, "maybe I would."

Boom.

She snapped her head up, capturing his eyes. There was a glimmer in the depths of his charcoal orbs that stood out to her. It was exactly everything she'd felt in these past weeks. Pain. Loneliness. Regret. Depression. There was the had a downfall of sorts, including people like Sasuke. At least she knew he was a somewhat normal functioning human. But as quickly as she caught his eyes, he moved them away and looked at anything around the room; anything but her.

Sakura bit her lip. Did she just evoke any bad memories for this man? "Um," she began, "if you do understand, and if you need anyone to talk to, I can be here for you. I mean, I know we won't have any relations after tonight, but I can give you my personal number, if you promise not to give it to any fans or media."

Sasuke's smirk resurfaced. "I have plenty of girls who are there for me," he replied, looking back at her again.

Sakura blinked. "I-I didn't mean it like thaaaaaaaaaat!"

"Of course you didn't," he said, a bit of sarcastic humor in his voice. "I don't make enough money for you, after all."

And all sympathy was gone. "Are you serious?!" Sakura tried standing up, but her IVs kept her down. She huffed and eyed him viciously. "Look, I tried being helpful by giving you my number, in case you wanted to vent or something. My apologies for trying to be a good person to a dick like you."

"You're forgiven," Sasuke beamed, the sarcasm in his voice singing, "besides, I won't need your number, princess. I already have it."

"W-what? How?"

"As much as you don't like it, Haruno, you and me are going to be stuck together for awhile."

"And why exactly is that, Uchiha?"

Sasuke moved quick; too quick. Before Sakura could register anything, he was in front of her hospital bed, leaning on his hands that were on each side of her. He spoke quickly, bitterly. "According to Japan's military, your life is endangered," Sasuke explained. "A globally known actress can't die off during her glory years, now can she?" Rhetoric question. "Until we figure out who the hell is after you and we take him down completely, you need to be protected. The group I come from has assigned someone to make sure you are, all paid for by your endless flow of dough. And that, sweetheart, is where I come in."

Sakura gave him a long look, "what are you saying..?" Realization struck her. She couldn't help but drop her jaw.

Sasuke smirked, once again. He reached his hand out towards her, as if gesturing to shake her hand.

Was he enjoying her dismay?

Probably.

He spoke slowly, "I'm Sasuke Uchiha, but you can call me your bodyguard."

A/N: Woooaaahhhh! Kinda a cliff hanger but not really because that's kinda what the title and summary of this story said. Oh whale. So, yes, in the flashback Sakura had when she was unconscious, that was a mini Sasuke protecting her. Not another kid. And yes, Sasuke is going to be somewhat of a douche to Sakura, for the sake of the beauty sasusaku holds.
Acknowledge of my work will give me motivation to write quicker. ;) 3