AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys, sorry for not updating in a timely manner, I've gotten absorbed into The wonderfully amazing world of TERA and CONAN EXILES.

That and I am planning on moving soon.

DISCLAIMER:

I DO NOT OWN ANY ASPECT OF NARUTO

Last time:

Looking over at the eager Uchiha next to her she smiled. "It's really good, thank you."

And the warmth that filled his chest earlier came flooding back, glad that she liked his cooking and he was able to place that smile on her face. "Hhnn, you're welcome."

Chapter 11: Panties

Panting with the effort of overexerting herself and wiping the sweat out of her eyes, she glared at her opponent across the team seven training grounds.

Seeing him smirk at her and not even breaking a sweat, let alone breathing hard, pissed her off. It made her stomach do flip fops also, but she wasn't going to think about that. She was going to continue to glare at him.

"Tired already Dobe?" Sasuke asked while he watched her chest heave with each inhale, the last time they had sparred and she got winded she passed out. She was slowly gaining her strength back and he knew it was frustrating her to no end that she wasn't fully recovered yet. No one was exactly sure why it was taking so long but Tsunade was positive they had removed all of the poison from her system, she double checked and then checked again. Kurama was confused also, he said he was able to send his chakra to her but for some reason she didn't seem to be able to hold it, so it was just being sent back like mail with 'Return to Sender' stamped on it. Looking at her with his Byakugan, Neji told him that her own chakra levels weren't as full as they normally were, but they were slowly filling up more each day.

It was almost as though her body had to relearn how to hold and store the chakra levels it was capable of holding and Kurama's.

She wouldn't say it but Sasuke was sure that Naruto was worried about it. Anytime she went to use a jutsu the past few weeks she seemed hesitant as though she didn't think it would work. Every time he saw the look of defeat on her face he wanted to wrap her up in his arms.

"N-no," glaring over at the raven haired bastard she stood up straight. "Let's go again, I'm going to get you this time." Suddenly a wave of dizziness washed over her and she began to tilt to the side. Thinking she was going to be eating another mouthful of dirt she clamped her mouth shut and squeezed her eyes closed when a warm pair of arms wrapped around her.

Looking up she instantly thought it was Sasuke but was shocked to find Sai there instead.

"S-sai? What are you doing here?"

Smiling slightly at her he closed his eyes. "Catching you it seems." She felt so small as he caught her, for someone with such a big personality. He didn't miss how the Uchiha glared daggers at where he was touching the small blonde. He had been watching the two spar for the past half hour, silently watching as she became more and more sluggish and how Sasuke kept letting her push herself too far. Sai would never have let her get so exhausted that she collapsed from it. He could feel the ire building in his chest towards the dark haired man.

"Uhh, thank you?" Naruto tried to stand on her own but found he wasn't letting her go easily. "Um Sai? Could you let me go now?" Being in Sai's arms felt really weird. She asked as she looked around for Sasuke, finding him not too far away with his hands stuffed into his pockets as he glared at the other male.

"But what if you fall again?" He seemed to tease, as he set her on her feet, but didn't remove his hands from her, as though to make sure she stayed up right.

"That's what I'm here for." Came Sasuke's response from behind her seconds before he pulled her from Sai.

Sai opened his eyes and looked at the Uchiha. "Yes, because you did such a good job of that." Red flashed in the Uchiha's eyes before it quickly disappeared, if Sai hadn't been looking he would have missed it.

"She wasn't in any danger," Sasuke moved Naruto so she was leaning more on him than standing, and felt as she clenched his shirt in her fist. "What do you want?"

"I was looking for Naruto to let her know I was back from a mission, I wanted to see if she wanted to grab something to eat and catch up." He peered over at said blond as she glared at the Uchiha, seeing her irritated made him smile.

"She needs to get home and rest." Sasuke said simply moving to take hold of her hand which she tugged away.

"I can speak for myself Teme. I feel fine." Actually she felt like she had been run over by a herd of horses and needed ten gallons of water followed by a week's worth of sleep. Looking up at the Uchiha she watched as his eyes snapped to hers with a look of disbelief and a small smirk.

"Oh really now?" watching Sai out of the corner of his eye to catch his reaction he poked the Dobe with his finger into her shoulder. He watched as anger filled his eyes and hatred at him made his fists clench. Naruto gritted her teeth as she tried not to tilt back with the small movement but since she was already leaning she ended up falling on her ass.

"What was that for Teme?!" she yelled before looking up finding Sasuke standing in front of her in a defensive stance and Sai with a kunai in his hand.

Sai looked pissed as Sasuke stayed where he was. "Why did you push her?"

"She needs to go home and that's where I will be taking her." Sasuke went to turn around to pick her up when Sai yelled.

"You aren't taking her anywhere! You pushed her!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he wrapped his arms around the blonde intent to pick her up when metal gleamed against his neck causing Naruto to gasp.

"Sai! Stop! He was only messing around to prove his point!" She grasped his arm trying to pull his hand away from Sasuke only to feel weaker than a baby. "Leave him alone and put that away!"

Sai looked down at her as she weakly tried to pull his hand holding the kunai away from the Uchiha's neck. The whole time Sasuke just watched Naruto as she fretted over the situation. Seeing her worried over him made him feel warm inside. The feel of the knife at his throat pissed him off and if he thought Naruto would forgive him for it he'd kill the fucker.

Seeing her still trying to remove his hand and the distress in her eyes, he finally nodded and put it away. He watched as she threw her arms around the hated Uchiha's neck and bury her hands into his hair and as he picked her up. She looked at Sai right before Sasuke flashed them out of there and mouthed "thank you" at him, then they were gone.

She didn't understand exactly what had happened, all she knew was that the sight of a knife at Sasuke's throat made her blood turn to ice. She couldn't loose him like that or any other way, she needed him more than she needed air.

She wasn't surprised when they arrived at the Uchiha compound, since she hadn't been home since leaving the hospital three weeks ago. Sasuke's house was starting to feel more like home than her apartment ever had. Which would suck when she did eventually go home.

Sasuke took them straight to the living room and sat down on the couch while she sat on his lap. He could still feel her trembling as she held on to him tightly, whether it was from fatigue or nerves he didn't know. He was content to hold her for however long she needed him to. The minutes ticked by slowly as her trembling eased and her breathing evened out, her arms went slack and her head lolled slightly to the side as she passed out.

Nervous Sasuke checked that she was only sleeping and not in any danger of not waking up, afraid the affects of the poison might come back even after Tsunade said all traces were she swatted his hand away from him checking her over he let himself relax.

Remembering what it was like to almost lose her even though he thought the part of his life with Naruto was over made his heart ache something fierce. He had feelings for the Dobe long ago but didn't even want to admit them to himself let alone anyone else. Having Naruto come back and be female was nothing short of a miracle that he wasn't going to let slip through his fingers.

There was no way he was going to let that Sai character try to take Naruto away from him before he got the chance to make Naruto his. He wasn't blind he could see that Sai thought he loved her even if said blonde was blind to it. He caught the way he looked at her and how he glared every time Sasuke came near. It was almost comical, if not for the fact that Naruto was his.

Sasuke picked up the sleeping blonde and carried her to the bedroom that they had been sharing, Naruto seemed to have nightmares ever since "being released" from the hospital that she couldn't remember when Sasuke would go in and wake her from her tossing and turning. After she woke up crying and saying that she felt lonely Sasuke decided that sleeping in the same room would be better for the both of them. And it was.

After placing her on the bed he decided he needed to talk to Tsunade, Naruto needed something to help her get back to her normal strength, especially if those rogue ninja decided to take another shot at her.

It didn't take long to get to the Hokage's office, nor for her to notice that he was there, even if she was in the middle of paperwork.

"What is it Uchiha?" She asked as she skimmed the paper in front of her eyes.

"It's Naruto's progression, or lack there of." Sasuke stated flatly. He knew Naruto wanted to get back to missions and protecting the village and that being so weak was frustrating her to no end.

"What do you mean?"

Sasuke looked at the woman as she placed the paper she was still holding down on her desk, "I know that everyone says that they can't find any reason for the way Naruto seems to be at an entrance level genin from the academy with the way her skills are right now. But I can't help but think that there's something more wrong with her. And I know that she's progressing more and more each day, but-"

"It's hard watching her struggle all over again to complete a simple justsu? Or to build her stamina back up?" Tsunade looked at the male in front of her as he tried to mask the emotions that ran rampant in his eyes, everything from worry to rage to sadness flickered there. "I know that it's hard, but I promise you she's physically fine, Neji even said he can't find anything wrong with her chakra network, and Sakura said she can't find a trace of the poison anywhere. The best we can summarize is that the poison somehow reset her network and she just simply has to rebuild it from scratch."

Sasuke could do nothing but scowl as Tsunade continued. "The reason Naruto had such reserves before at the academy wasn't because of practice it was because she had over ten years of Kurama building it for her, and now it's all gone and she's trying to force years into weeks and days. In a few months she may be able to get there just because she can talk to the fox and she's older now."

"So you're going to keep her from missions for that long?" He asked with his eyes wide in disbelief.

Tsunade threw her head back and laughed. "I'm sure as hell going to try!" she laughed some more before looking back at the dark haired male before her. "Come on Sasuke, you know Naruto as wells as if not better than I do, no one can stop her from doing something once her mind is put to it."

"That's what worries me. And whats going to happen if one of those rogue ninja find her again?"

She watched as his eyes filled with worry he didn't even try to hide. "I would assume that you would be with her, since that's where she seems to be most content now a days anyway." looking off to the side she leaned back in her chair folding her hands and set them on her stomach. "Honestly though if you two do end up leaving the village for any reason I'll probably have Kakashi and Sakura accompany you for extra security."

"Why?"

She gave him the most deadpan look she could muster. "Sasuke I am not stupid, I know what they want Naruto for. I know that they know who you are and what your abilities are. I also know that two plus two equals 4, but in this case it means they would get their hands one two of the most powerful ninja of this generation. Do you know what they'd do?"

Sasuke didn't need to answer her question or hear anymore for her to know that he knew what she was getting at. The look of defeat and hardened resolution that followed told her he understood why she'd have extra back up. He didn't want to think too much on why they'd be so happy to get there hands on both of them, he'd get even more pissed and maybe anxious.

"Now if that is all Uchiha, then I have work that unfortunately needs my attention. Tell Naruto that I said hello and to stop pushing herself too hard though I doubt she'll listen." with that she turned back to her papers and shooed him with a lazy wave of her hand.

Taking his time heading back to the compound he was walking by Ichiraku and deciding Naruto would like some he grabbed her some to go. He left the small shop and was rounding the corner before the compound when he felt the presence of someone behind him, so he stopped.

"You should stay away from her. You will do nothing but make everything harder for her." the male said from behind him.

The truth of those words made Sasuke's blood boil. "She wants me near so that's where I'll be staying. Not that it's your choice anyway."

The male scoffed and came closer. "She doesn't know whats good for her half the time."

More truthful words hit Sasuke, hurting more than they should have. "She doesn't need you to be her guard dog Sai."

"Maybe I should just take-"

"Hey boss whats going on here? Making new friends? I have to say though this one looks like you found him in some deep dark hole. One filled with water, smelly water. He-" the footsteps of the other two lightly landing beside her.

"Karin." Sasuke cut her off, he sighed and began walking again not caring if they followed or not, if they wanted food they'd have to get their own.

He could hear Sai sputtering before he took off. Guess he didn't like his friends, oh well.

He had to wonder where they had been the past few days. They had been, well, not around lately. It had been nice and quiet, but as they say, all good things must come to an end.

Sasuke sighed as he rounded the corner to the compound with the three stooges following, bickering quietly between themselves. It was a familiar sound, which he had to admit even if reluctantly to himself, that he was beginning to miss.

He was about to open the door when it flew open and an irritated blonde stood in the doorway.

"Where have you been?" she asked, anger tinging her cheeks pink.

Instead of answering though he took in the sight of her standing there in nothing but her panties and her tee-shirt. She must have removed her pants in her sleep, he could think of no other reason for her to answer the door like that otherwise. Even though she was shorter than him by almost a foot, her legs seemed to go on forever before reaching the hem of that shirt. What he'd give to see more. His eyes made it to her face and to the glorious bedhead she had acquired, she looked fantastic.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as she took in the Uchiha who hadn't answered her question and was only starring at her. "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?" Her hands practically smacked her cheeks with the the speed she brought them up with.

"No, it's not your face Dobe, though you might want to put on some pants." Sasuke smirked as the blonde girl's face turned bright red after noticing that she was indeed breezier than she should have been down there and ran back into the room from where she came.

"Awe! Now we will never now the color of her panties! Way to ruin the fun Sas- OW!" Suigetsu yelled from not too far behind as Jugo punched him in the arm and Karin snickered.

Author's note AGAIN:

Sorry guys that I have been gone so long. I recently moved and have had alot going on lately. But here is a brand new chapter for you to enjoy! Please reveiw!

And I am still playing TERA and CONAN:exhiles... they're addicting games.