[A/N: Sorry for not updating anything, I was sick and then quite busy with school. I'm really tired currently so I haven't been feeling much like writing. I'll try to get a few chapters of Turning Points done over Thanksgiving.]

IV:

After Ino ran off, the rest of Sakura's date with Sasuke went remarkably well. Sasuke was very sweet and attentive, making Sakura feel like a princess or something with how he was doting on her.

They walked home together after they finished eating, stopping at an ice cream stand along the way. Sasuke took Sakura's hand again as they strolled along the twilit streets.

Sakura bit into her chocolate ice cream blissfully. This is even better than I had hoped! she thought. Sasuke certainly seems happy; someone should have given him a love potion before, it might have done him good. I'm glad I thought of it first, though.

"Do you think we could go out again tomorrow, after training?" Sasuke asked as they neared the Haruno house again.

"Of course we could!" Sakura replied immediately. "Oh, here's my house. So, see you tomorrow, Sasuke!"

"Sure…" Sasuke said, but did not let go of her hand.

"I've got to go," Sakura pointed out as they reached the steps.

"I suppose," Sasuke said finally, slowly releasing his grip on her fingers. "But…we live so far apart," he added quietly, looking mournfully in the direction he would have to take to get to his house.

Sakura felt a little bad about depriving Sasuke of the object of his affections, but she really did need to get to sleep. "We'll see each other tomorrow morning, won't we? Anyway, good night!"

Gathering her courage, Sakura turned and planted a delicate kiss on Sasuke's cheek before blushing and running inside. Once she made it to her bedroom (ignoring her mother's call from the kitchen) she peeked down at the road through the curtains, hoping Sasuke hadn't reacted too badly to the kiss.

Sasuke was looking up at her window, and Sakura waved when their eyes met. Her cheeks felt hot and she was sure they were a brighter pink than her hair.

Sasuke smiled and waved back before walking away, turning to look back a few times until he rounded a corner and was out of sight.

Beaming blissfully, Sakura curled up on her bed, hugging one of her pink satin pillows and wriggling with joy. This has been the best day of my life! she thought rapturously. And it's only going to get better…

…

Sakura got ready quickly the next morning, wanting to see Sasuke as soon as possible. Sasuke had proved that he didn't mind how she looked, so she didn't obsess over her appearance other than taking a few minutes to straighten up her chopped-off hair as best she could. In order to get it looking really good she would have to go to a salon, but it was definitely passable by the time she finished.

Skipping down the stairs, Sakura ducked into the kitchen to grab a stuffed bun to eat on the way to the training field. Her mother wasn't there, which was a bit of a surprise—Mrs. Haruno had a little home business selling jellies, so she was usually in the kitchen for most of the morning and a lot of the rest of the day.

After getting her bun out of the refrigerator, Sakura looked around and spotted a note that had been left on the table, weighted down with a jar of strawberry preserves. Sticking the bun in her mouth so she could use both hands, Sakura pulled the note out from under the jar and started to read it.

Sakura, the note began,

I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you last night, but you went to bed too early. I have a large order I need to get finished by tomorrow, so I need you to come straight home after your ninja team practice and help me label the jars. We should be able to get it all done today—I went out to get some more labels and won't be back until after you're gone. I hope you didn't make any other plans.

Thanks very much for all your help,

Mom

P.S. I think my daughter is beautiful no matter what she does with her hair. Next time that boy comes over, give me a chance to talk to him, okay? He seems very nice.

Sakura sighed once she had finished reading the note. She had already told Sasuke last night that they could go out again, but she couldn't skip out on helping her mother. There would be plenty of other nights she and Sasuke could go out, and it wasn't like Sasuke could fall out of love with her over a little thing like that, not with the love potion still affecting him. He would just have to wait.

It was nice that her mother approved of Sasuke, but Sakura wasn't sure she really wanted them to be around each other very long. While she supposed it was probably an irrational fear, Sakura was a bit worried that her mother might guess something was up. Mrs. Haruno was very perceptive, as shown by the little comment about Sakura's hair in the note.

Putting the note back on the table, Sakura headed for the door, quickly checking to make sure she had all of her weapon pouches first. She had forgotten her shuriken once, which had been very embarrassing. Now that she and Sasuke were together, she would have to try and get closer to his level.

It was a nice day in Konoha; while it wasn't very warm, the sun shone brightly out of a sapphire-blue sky, and a pleasant breeze wafted the gentle scent of trees through the streets. Sakura was certain she didn't have to worry about being tardy since Kakashi was always the last one to arrive, so she ambled through the streets, enjoying her walk.

Even though she hadn't been hurrying, it still wasn't very far to the bridge. Naruto and Sasuke were already there. As Sakura walked up, Sasuke stood and hurried over to her—a bit surprising considering his usual reluctance to move quickly unless necessary in the course of training.

"What took you so long?" he asked intently, leaning close. "I've been waiting for you."

"S-sorry," Sakura stammered, too distracted by his eyes to think of a more coherent answer. "Oh, about tonight, I have to—"

Sakura didn't get a chance to finish the sentence, as Kakashi appeared behind them at that point. "Good morning, kids!" he greeted them. He sounded very chipper this morning, which usually meant something 'special', meaning in Kakashi-speak 'brutally difficult'.

Before Sakura and Sasuke could make an end to their conversation, Kakashi was herding them off to one of the training fields for kunai and shuriken training. While Team Seven had learned the basics in the Academy, Kakashi was teaching them highly advanced techniques that were both easy to mess up and very painful when that happened.

Sakura had wanted to be next to Sasuke, but Naruto ran ahead and claimed the middle spot. Sighing, Sakura took the left target as Sasuke took the right, both glaring daggers at the oblivious Naruto. The Academy clown had been crushing on her for what seemed like ages, and it was seriously annoying. While Naruto was occasionally tolerable, he quickly became less bearable at close distances.

"So Sakura-chan, have you done anything interesting lately?" Naruto asked in a rather clumsy lead-in to what was sure to be yet another attempt to ask her out. The blond's never failing determination in that regard was almost cute at times, but now that Sakura had Sasuke it was nothing but a bother.

"Yes, I have," she replied firmly. "Plenty of things. Very interesting things." Much more interesting that going to a silly ramen stand with you, Sakura added mentally. "Now be quiet, we're supposed to be practicing."

Naruto pouted, but started throwing his shuriken. Sakura was relieved that he had improved a bit since the Academy; one time he had tried to show off during class (to impress her, probably) and ended up sending Ino to the hospital for seven stitches.

Sakura's weaponry skills were middling at best, but she put her all into it today and to her surprise found that she was doing rather well, certainly better than she had expected. Between throws, she tried to steal a look at Sasuke, but Naruto was usually in the way so she gave up.

"This is a ninja team, not a Lonely Hearts Club!" Kakashi called from the tree where he had been lounging and reading his book. "Let's focus on our sharp, pointy things that we're throwing about, please, and stop casting longing glances at our teammates." Sakura began blushing furiously until she realized that Kakashi hadn't finished speaking. "Seriously, Sasuke, if you can't keep your eyes off Sakura I'll have her train somewhere else."

"Noooo!" Naruto wailed. "Don't send Sakura-chan away, Sensei!"

Surprised, Sakura looked over at the target Sasuke had been throwing at. Unlike Sasuke's usual impeccable skill, his performance today was…well, 'dismal' would be a bit of an exaggeration, but definitely along the lines of 'not very good'. Maybe I should go train somewhere else. I didn't mean to get Sasuke in trouble with Kakashi-sensei.

After being scolded by Kakashi, Sasuke's performance improved somewhat, although Sakura was sure he was still staring at her every chance he got. When Kakashi called a halt for lunch, the two of them sat underneath one of the trees and ate together. Kakashi didn't give them very long breaks, so they didn't get a chance to talk much. Sakura tried again to tell Sasuke that she wouldn't be able to meet him that night, but she had barely had a chance to broach the subject when Kakashi shouted for them to come back.