Hello

So I decided to speed up the Sasusaku a bit, so I better get some reviews for it! Hope you like it- it may be a few weeks before I can get another chapter out.

And thank's to LadyMartel4000 for that review! Let's see if this is more fiery than chilling this time XD

Enjoy

~Raven

"But it should have been red!"

"What are you talking about? It should have been blue!"

"But red looks so much better!"

"But blue is for boys! Red looks like pink!"

"What's wrong with pink? Red would have been fine!"

"But blue is better."

"Liar liar pants on fire red is waay better; it should have been red!"

The two children bickered away incessantly- neither of them truly angry at each other; just wanting everything to be 'perfect' for their friend's birthday. Said birthday boy watched as his two best friends argued over the colour of the wrapping of his birthday present- though he was too overwelmed by the fact that he actually HAD a present to call his own to mind it's colour. Sasuke's mother, Mikoto stood behind the two, keeping an eye on the large birthday cake which sat on the table in front of them. Sai, and a few of the other kids who lived down in the laboratories, were busy talking or playing or watching Sakura and Sasuke as they argued; waiting for them to stop so that they could hurry up and cut the cake.

"What are you complaining about? At least its orange. That's more like red than blue. But nobody listens to MY suggestions! Hmph!" The dark haired boy crossed his arms in annoyance, a scowl on his face.

"Well if you're going to be so upset about it then FINE! YOU give it to him!" She thrust the box into Sasuke's hands with a little more force than necessary, which had him stumbling back into his mother's legs, and then crashing forwards into the table in front of them, landing face first in the translucent orange mound of jelly which sat next to the birthday cake.

The crowd of children surrounding the table errupted in a roar of laughter.

Sakura froze, instantly rushing to help him, as did his mother. Naruto stood up, unable to contain his laughter as he watched his best friend pull his head away from the plate, his face covered in chunks of orange jelly, still grumbling.

"I'm so s-sorry!" Sakura said, apologising again and again, trying her hardest to supress her laughter. Mikoto chuckled lightly, bringing a towel and brushing some of the jelly off her son's face.

Eventually, Sasuke stopped grumbling, accepting Sakura's apology and handing the present they had bought him over to Naruto.

Mikoto had coaxed them all into singing a slightly out of tune chorus of 'Happy Birthday' before watching the blonde haired boy blow out his candles, squeezing his eyes shut tightly as he made his birthday wish, Sasuke, with chunks of jelly still in his hair, smirking as he stood to his right, and Sakura, smiling brightly to as she stood to his left as they posed for a picture.

It had been Naruto's best birthday in his eight short years alive.

25th April, 2032, Residence of Kakashi Hatake, Financial District, San Francisco. Time- 19:04

Naruto stared down at the photograph in his hands, frozen in shock.

Finding the picture as he sifted through Sasuke's mother's old possessions, it had been as though a damn broke inside his mind. Memories came flooding back to him. Memories he should never have forgotten in the first place- leaving him confused, surprised and in shock.

Memories of the dark haired boy who found him one day inside a small dark room in the basement layer. Memories of the pink haired girl they had found in another one of the testing rooms, as they explored the place behind the scientists' backs. Memories he had forgotten he had of Sasuke. Memories that he never knew existed of Sakura. Memories of them.

Naruto had never given too much thought to how exactly he met Sasuke- it seemed like Sasuke had always been around him, for as long as he could remember.

But here there were fresh memories- memories of promises, of bonds, and friends he never even thought he had.

It shocked him to the bone.

He had known Sakura? She had been there with him when he used to be a victim to Sasuke's father's experiments? She had been one of the test subjects? And he had been friends with her? As close as family?

How could he have forgotten someone so important to him?

When Naruto left the Uchiha Corporation that evening, something about his conversation with Gaara had seemed out of place. Some part of those facts didn't sit well with him. Maybe it had been the strong need he felt to protect Sakura, or the vague familiarity he felt when he heard his story, something about it felt off at the time.

Now it all made sense.

He, Sakura and Sasuke had been as close as humanely possible back then. Then Mikoto had taken Sakura away, and Sasuke and his brother were thrown into those laboratories, after Sasuke's father took Mikoto away. In the midst of that, Naruto had spent the first few horrible months all alone again. And when he found Sasuke, at the mercy of those scientists, he was completely changed. Still the same Sasuke, but changed as well. Before Sasuke was let out of the laboratories, Naruto had been all he had. If it weren't for each other, they might not have survived.

But that didn't explain how he had completely forgotten about Sakura? Wasn't it betrayal on his part, to have completely forgotten about a girl who had been closer than a sister to him?

He had heard in part from Hinata, and partly from Gaara, that Sakura had gone through something akin to hell in the time she spent after Gaara was taken away by the Uchiha Corporation until the time the Hyuga family found her and took her in. Naruto hadn't been in the laboratories for all that time- After Sasuke's father died, he had been let out. Sasuke had made sure that happened. Couldn't they have found her then? And helped her?

And how could Sasuke have forgotten about her? Come to think of it, Sasuke remembered almost nothing that happened before he went into the laboratories. All he had was his hate towards his father, and his need to free his mother. Maybe something in the experimentation had taken away his memories?

But Naruto? How had Naruto forgotten? How could he let himself forget his only salvation in the hellhole of those laboratories?

'Sometimes, when a memory becomes too painful, the mind chooses to forget it. It could even be an entire series of memories. You don't forget them because they're not important- you forget them because they're too important to you. Once forgotten, it's nearly impossible to get all of those memories back.'

Those lines- words from almost fifteen years ago came floating back to him. Who had spoken them again? Oh yes. Itachi, Sasuke's elder brother. That man always had some wise anecdote to add to every situation.

But was it true? Had losing Sakura and Sasuke in rapid sucession and being thrown more vigorously back into the experiments, been too much of an emotional toll for him? Had he willingly chosen to forget Sakura? Would he have done the same for Sasuke had he not found his best friend again? Would he ever have remembered Sakura if he hadn't taken himself to Sasuke's Uncle Kakashi's house, to look through Mikoto's old belongings on a whim that somehing 'seemed off' in the conversation he had had with Gaara?

He felt his stomach churn with an unwelcome feeling. Guilt.

And along with it, he set his resolve stronger. He would not let Sasuke take Sakura away and have her put in the experimentation. If need be , he would pound Sasuke's skull into the cement till he remembered Sakura and everything she used to mean to the two of them. He would force Sasuke to remember Sakura- and then save her.

And no God alive could protect anyone who dared try stand in his way.

25th April, 2032, Hyuga Mansion, San Francisco, Time- 19:34

"Is that it then? A dead end?" Hinata's soft voice broke the silence that hung around the room as they stared at the large screen that hung from the wall on the far end of the conference room.

It was a room that their team had set aside for the dire situations where work needed to be taken out of office and brought home until the case was closed- a room made much to their mother's chagrin and father's approval.

Shikamaru sat at the computer that connected to the screen. Sakura, Neji, Ino, Arisa, Kiba and herself sat around the table, staring at the information they had spent the last three hours compiling, scrutinising. Everything they knew about the current case was now stored on the presentation in front of them- and yet they were at a standstill.

They couldn't use the information obtained from Kabuto's interrogation, since they didn't have a warrant for it. They knew who their target was, thanks to Jiraya. But they had no evidence to put together an arrest warrant.

They had even combed through what little information they had on Ms Fue, looking for a lead that connected her to Orochimaru or Kabuto. But they had found nothing. Her records were near nonexistent.

"The trail's gone dry. We need a new lead." Ino commented, in reply to Hinata's question.

Kiba laughed, though there was no humor to his actions. "A new lead? You can't get what doesn't exist."

Hinata swatted his arm, chiding him. "Don't say that. We only have a week to finish this."

"I wouldn't exactly call it a dead end." Neji interrupted, causing Kiba to bite back whatever retort he had to offer.

"How isn't it? We can't exactly go back in asking for a warrant based on speculation and an unwarranted interrogation." Ino said.

Shikamaru's lazy drawl finished Neji's stream of thought. "We'll have to go back to the orphanages. Single out the ones with most disappearances. Start from there."

"That could take ages. If we had more time, maybe yes, we could start with the orphanages. Right now, the most we can do is go back to Kabuto or maybe Tayuya." Sakura said, finally speaking.

They were interrupted at that point by two things- the first being the Hyuga mother walking into their room, demanding they all came outside and eat something. The second was the sound of a phone buzzing, which was sourced to belong to Arisa.

As Kiba dragged a reluctant Neji and a lazy Shikamaru outside in search of food, the girls slowly got up, waiting for Arisa, who took the call on loudspeaker.

"What do you want, Deidara?" she asked, already knowing who the caller was.

"Erm, I don't suppose you know where Itachi is? We've all been looking for him all afternoon." Something about his tone seemed incredibly agitated- even Hinata, who didn't know him too well personally, could tell.

"No, I haven't. Why, what's wrong?" Arisa replied, frowning.

"Erm...Yeah! Sasori's landed himself in quite a pinch. He doesn't want to do anything about it until he speaks to Itachi."

Suspiciously, Arisa asked, "What kind of 'pinch'?"

"Umm... suspected child abuse?" the wince was audible in his voice.

"What?!" Arisa's voice was a mixture of disbelief, shock, and surprise.

"He says he was doing a bit of babysitting for his new girl..."

"Where are you now? Where is he?" she bit out, standing up, her expression neutral, her voice unsettled.

"Me? I'm at the Children's hospital. He's at the police station. He didn't do anything- help him out of this please? Or at least find out where Itachi is?" he pleaded.

She sighed, saying, "I'll see what I can do. What did you say his 'new girl's' name was, again?"

"I don't remember...Tayuya something Flu, or Foo. I'm not sure."

That caught all of their attention. The four of them were quiet for a long drawn out pause, before Arisa said, "Okay." and hung up.

"What the heck? Child abuse?" Ino was the first to react.

"It's connected, isn't it?" Hinata added.

Sakura nodded, biting her lip as she said, "Funny how we just found the lead we were looking for. We should go down to the hospital- or the police station. Arisa? What do you think?"

"I'll go down to the Police Station now- I know Sasori wouldn't have done something so severe. Sakura's right, someone should go to the hospital- see what happened. And someone should tell the others." she added, pointing her head in the direction of the door the boys had just went out through.

"I'll go to the hospital. Find out what's going on there. Arisa, you're suspended for now. At least take Shikamaru with you incase they look for some official credentials." Ino said.

"I can go with her." Sakura interrupted.

"Sakura. You've been working all day- and all of last night too. At least get a little rest." Ino deadpanned.

"But-" Sakura started.

Ino's 'no nonsense' glare stopped any further argument. "And you stay at home too, Hinata. Take Yuki off our mother's hands for a while."

The poor child had been locked out of the conference room all afternoon.

Nodding, Hinata led Sakura out of the room, watching Ino, Arisa and Shikamaru quickly leave.

Standing in the kitchen, Sakura filled Neji and Kiba in on what had just happened, while Hinata noticed a small head of dark hair peeking out from behind the counter.

Moving closer, Hinata moved closer, calling out to the child. "Yuki? You can come out, you know. We're not working anymore."

Sakura finished her explanation and stopped to look at Hinata, following the direction of her gaze to find Yuki. Her worried frown morphed into a warm smile as she walked over to where Yuki was, crouching down and talking quietly to the girl, before taking her by the hand and leading her over to where Kiba, Neji and Hinata stood.

Yuki had quite comfortably settled into living at the Hyuga house- though a little shy, she was getting along well with the others. After Hinata had talked her through the trauma that whatever experimentation she went through left her with, she had grown fond of all of the adults in the house. She would even be starting school along with the new semester, and until then their mother was helping her catch up with things she had missed out on.

"Hey Yuki! D'you want to come with me and Neji later to walk my dogs?" Kiba asked after Sakura lifted her onto one of the kitchen stools.

"When did I agree to that?" Neji asked, annoyed.

"Nonsense! If she wants to go out, you'll come too! You do want that, don't you, Yuki?" Kiba said, enjoying how Neji had his hands tied unless he wanted to hurt the kid.

Hesitantly, Yuki nodded, to which Kiba grinned triumphantly at Neji.

"Stop teasing," Sakura said, punching him lightly on the shoulder as she set down the glass of water she had been drinking, "If Yuki wants to go out, that's fine but first-" she was interrupted by their mother, who walked into the kitchen just then.

Haruka Hyuga was a commanding woman, elegant and graceful even in her old age. Time had been kind to her- she was still as breathtaking as the day she was married, albeit a bit more matured. She had an air of poised grace about her as she walked through the room- and could be more than imposing when she needed to.

"Sakura, there are two gentlemen at the door wanting to speak to you- Do go and see who they are; they look like they may start a brawl on our front porch if left alone for too long."

Surprised, Sakura turned towards her, asking, "Did they leave a name?"

"No, I don't think they did. But I remember seeing them both at Tenten's party the other day."

Now who could that be? Hinata wondered as she took Sakura by the arm and led her out of there, saying, "Let's not keep them waiting.", a curious Yuki trailing behind.

As they drew closer to the front door, they heard slightly raised voices arguing accusatorily.

"At least I have a reason to be here. What do you think you're doing, Idiot?"

"I'm allowed to meet my friends if I want. Besides, any reason you might have is nothing you couldn't have had done by someone else."

Sakura, Hinata and Yuki walked out onto the front porch to find a disgruntled Sasuke Uchiha glaring at an equally annoyed Naruto Uzumaki, Choji standing behind the two of them looking at them amusedly, while snacking on a packet of crisps.

"Hi!" Naruto said, grinning warmly as he saw them come out, noticing a shy Yuki hiding behind the two women, and waving kindly at her as well.

"What's going on here?" Sakura asked, hand on hip.

"Is there a reason the two of you are here?" Hinata asked, looking at the two more closely.

"Just decided to drop in and say hi- none of you are busy, are you?" Naruto asked.

"No... we're not." Sakura said, still looking at the two men with mild surprise.

"And you, Sasuke? What brings you here?" Hinata asked.

"I'd like a private word with Sakura, if that's not too much trouble." He said, his words polite, but expression neutral, eyes boring into Sakura.

Sakura nodded, saying, "I'll be right back." to Hinata as she slipped on a pair of shoes that sat near the doorway, walking out of the house and guiding Sasuke away from the porch, down to the driveway where they could talk without interruption.

Naruto's eyes followed the two of them as they walked away, a flicker of worry in them, before he turned around to look at Hinata again, an awkward silence settling between them as they both struggled to find words to say.

Hinata found her heart pounding slightly as she looked at him. She had been in complete command of her emotions the entire day; so why was it, that when she saw him she automatically found herself becoming more nervous by the second? More self conscious? She was probably a mess by then- bags under her eyes, hair askew, looking more zombie than human from the lack of sleep. He would think so too, she fretted.

Naruto had intended to go to the Hyuga mansion to talk to Sakura- try to find out why she didn't remember anything about how they used to know each other. But when he saw Hinata at the door, looking tired and exhausted, and stunning all the same, he found himself getting more and more distracted. She looked like she hadn't slept in days- and had been overworked. He found himself worrying about it, admiring how she worked for the FBI so relentlessly, putting her personal health aside for the sake of whatever case she was working on at the moment. Despite her messy hair, and dark circles under her tired eyes, she had never looked more beautiful to him- he was definitely growing more and more attracted to her the more he saw her, and that was saying something considering he was already quite attracted to her when they first met.

"Do you want to come inside?" Hinata asked after a few, drawn out moments of silence in which she finally collected her thoughts.

"Sure," Naruto said, taking off his shoes as he walked inside, crouching down to greet Yuki.

"Hey there!" he said, holding out his hand for the child to shake.

A small, pale hand hesitantly reached out to grasp Naruto's large fingers.

"How are you? You'll be starting school soon, won't you? How's that feeling, are you excited?"

Hesitantly, she nodded, quietly saying, "I'll start in August."

Hinata smiled warmly as they talked, thinking about how naturally he got along with children. It was endearing to see how he could earn Yuki's trust so quickly.

"There's lots of cool amusement parks around the city at this time of year. Were you thinking of taking her to any of those?" Hinata heard him say, this time talking to her, not to Yuki.

"There are?" she asked, surprised. Work and their current case had kept her too occupied to keep track of such things.

"Yeah! They're lots of fun I'm sure she'd love them. You've never been to an amusement park before, have you, Yuki?" he said, asking the girl, who hesitantly shook her head.

"See! I'm sure she'd love it. In fact, there's one opening this Sunday even." Naruto said.

A sudden bold thought crossed Hinata's mind as she thought of taking Yuki to an amusement park. Bolstering up the courage, before her nerves stopped her, she asked, "Well... How would you like to join the two of us this Sunday? To take her round the amusement park?"

Naruto's eyes widened with surprise, as he grinned again and leaned closer to her, asking, "Me? I mean, are you sure you want me with you, spoiling your fun?"

"Trust me, if anything it would be more enjoyable with you there as well. The more the merrier, right?" she said, something of a playful smile curling her lips.

"In that case, I'd love to come." He replied, looking down at Yuki again, "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Yuki?" he asked.

She nodded, smiling as she spoke enthusiastically, "I'd love it! And- and, can Sakura come too? With her boyfriend?"

Hinata frowned slightly at that last part, "Boyfriend?" she asked.

"You know, the one she just went to talk to!" Yuki replied.

Unable to contain her laughter, Hinata giggled, noticing Naruto's equally amused expression, as she said, "Sasuke's not her boyfriend, silly. At least not yet."

"But he will be, won't he?" Yuki asked, pouting adorably.

Hinata laughed, saying, "Why don't you ask her that?"

"...but can they come too?" she asked hopefully.

"I don't think Sakura's busy. I'm sure I can get her to come." Hinata said, looking at Naruto.

"Yeah! I'll drag Sasuke along even if he doesn't want to come- but I'm sure he will. It's settled! We'll take Yuki to the amusement park this Sunday." He said.

"It's a date then." She said, smiling.

"A double date." He added, as they walked inside.

"Why are you here, Sasuke?" Sakura asked him, as soon as they were far enough away from the front door that Naruto and Hinata couldn't see the two of them.

Looking down at her, taking a step closer to the point that if he had been any closer, she'd have been pressed flush against his chest, he spoke in a low, husky rumble, "Do I need a reason?"

She couldn't help the slow blush that rose to her cheeks as he spoke- something about his words were far more seductive than she ever recalled him sounding.

"W-well it's not like you'd randomly choose to show up on my doorstep." She said sarcastically, this time stepping backwards and letting her lips curl into an enticing smirk. Her back pressed against the limestone wall of the outer mansion, and he stepped closer once again, this time leaning against his arm, which reached out to touch the wall next to her head, trapping her on one side.

"I'd hardly say that's true." He said, leaning closer to her.

She bit her lip, and watched his gaze drop to look at them. Was he aroused? Or was he trying to seduce her? If he was, it wasn't working.

Or maybe it was, actually. It didn't help that he was so damn attractive, she thought as she looked straight ahead, at the pale skin of his neck.

"I'd like to apologise." He said suddenly, distracting her rapidly escalating thoughts.

"What?" she asked, surprised.

"Though I had my reasons, it was clear that you didn't take kindly to the fact that I'd lied to you about my identity. I was hoping we could put that behind us- after all, we were getting on pretty well before that, weren't we?" he said, smirking.

Put simply, she was impressed. She had expected his pride and arrogance wouldn't let him do something like that, yet there he was, apologising to her. Sakura was never one to hold grudges in the first place.

Slowly nodding, she asked a question that had been playing on her mind since she'd found out about him. "How much of it was true? That night in Ichido's?"

He understood what she was talking about, and replied honestly. "The only thing I said then that wasn't true was that I had no family left. I have an elder brother. And an estranged uncle. And my mother's still alive but...it's complicated."

So what she thought she'd gotten to know about his personality hadn't been a complete farce.

She looked up at him, this time being distracted by his eyelashes. In this close proximity, they really were beautiful. Enough to make even some girls jealous.

Why was she resisting him so much, again?

Her eyes dropped to his lips- they weren't overly big, or too paper thin. They were pretty; she decided. They suited him. She found herself remembering how warm they had felt when he had kissed her before. Soft, but firm. Demanding, but gentle.

His other hand reached out to touch a lock of her hair, gently tucking it behind her ear, all the time his eyes never leaving her face.

His hand moved from her ear, tracing her jaw line as he touched her chin, tilting her head upwards so that she stared into those dark, obsidian pools that were his eyes.

She found herself leaning into him of her own accord, her hands pressing against his chest, feeling his muscles ripple under his shirt as the hand which rested on the wall moved down to touch her shoulder, trailing over her back until it wrapped possessively around her waist. As though he owned it. And yet, she found that she didn't mind.

The smouldering look in his eyes sparked a fire in her, as she took in his irresistibly masculine scent.

As he leaned down, and she thought that he was finally going to lower his lips to hers, a trail of hot fire ignited; starting from the expanse of her collarbone that was exposed by the top she wore, inching tantalisingly up her chin, as he pressed slow, gentle kisses along her skin.

He moved to her jaw, his hand slipping behind her to cup her head, as his lips moved along the edge of her face. A quiet moan escaped her in response to his ministrations.

Her hands moved up to clasp her fingers behind his neck, pulling him closer, the sound of his ragged breath near her ear further arousing her.

Her fingers laced into his inky black hair, as she revelled in how soft and silky it felt between her fingers.

Sasuke tilted her face upwards, biting her lip as she gasped, giving him better access to the cavern of her mouth. As their tongues intertwined, she felt a fire stoking within her, as she tugged at his hair, eliciting a low groan from him, demanding more as he kissed her with more intensity.

Her body was pressed flush against his, and she could feel his every movement as she dissolved in the pleasure that his lips brought her.

When they finally drew away for air, both were flushed and panting.

His head moved, till his breath was tickling her ear, as he asked, "You're still coming with me to that dinner tomorrow night, aren't you?"

Still short of breath, a part of her slightly displeased that his lips were no longer ravishing hers, she nodded.

He drew away, walking towards his car, which was parked in the driveway. A chauffeur walked out of the car, opening up its rear compartment for Sasuke, handing him a package from inside.

Sasuke walked up to her again, and handed her the gift bag. Leaning closer once again, he spoke into her ear, "Wear it then. It'll look good on you. Think of it as a present. From me."

With that, he pressed his lips to hers in a shorter, chaste kiss, before walking away.

Sakura stood, the bag he had just given her held by her side, in her left hand, watching the car pull out of her driveway, her lips swollen and hair dishevelled as she wondered.

What the hell had just happened?

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