Disclaimer: I don't own. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Note: Last chapter! Booyeah!

Soju: Ah, it is so possible! We can take ooc-ness above and beyond! 3

Kaisui: I tried to make Sasuke sound shy, since he probably has never written a love letter before. Sasuke is very hard to write. Thanks for pointing that out! *Huggles.*

Last chapter folks! YAY!!! Hopefully, all your questions will be answered here! I told you the love letter would come into play. We're going to have some naruhina in the end. Remember the brownies? Well, those are going to add some humor in the end. I'll leave yall here!

WARNING: FLUFF AND BATHROOM HUMOR STRAIGHT AHEAD!!!!!!

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Chapter 10

Forgive and Forget

            Actually, Naruto wasn't flying. He was being dragged through the air by a series of ropes. One rope looped around his ankle letting his other leg dangle limply in the air. His arms flailed about wildly like the wings of a caged bird trying to break free. Naruto's footstep had triggered a spring that had set off the trap. The ropes twisted around trees and wherever the ropes were set down, Naruto was pulled.

            "Naruto!" Sakura cried and chased after him. Sasuke fallowed in hot pursuit.

            Naruto screamed and the rope snapped. He somersaulted in midair. He fell lower and lower until CRASH! He landed face first into a thorny bush.

            Sakura stood there in shook. Naruto's upper half was submerged in leaves and branches. His feet swayed weakly in the air.

            "Oh my god! I'm so sorry Naruto! I'll get you out!" She began pulling at his ankles.

            "Itai! Itai! Sakura-chan, you're making it worse!" Naruto groaned through the thick foliage.

            Sakura sighed and let go. She let Naruto wiggle himself out. When he dug himself out, he was covered head to toe in scratches but not much else.

            "Naruto, are you hurt?" Sakura eyed a bruise on his cheek.

            "I'm okay, Sakura-chan. Just a little bruised," Naruto brushed himself off. Suddenly he made a hacking noise and punched his stomach. He spat out a leaf that he had accidentally swallowed in the crash. "Ewwwww. But you know, they don't taste as bad coming up as they do down."

            "Sakura," Sasuke eyed Sakura, "What is all this? A trap?"

            Sakura gulped. She could feel their eyes on her, watching for her to say something. She couldn't tell a lie. The truth was more than obvious.

            "Hai," she sighed.

            "Why?" Sasuke asked. "Is this because we dropped you in the mud?"

            "You set this up, Sakura-chan?" Naruto looked at her. He wanted a reason too.

            "Yeah," She couldn't look them in the eye.

            "But we said we were sorry," Sasuke said calmly. "Didn't you believe us?"

            "I know," Tears started to roll down her cheeks. "But I was so mad. I was really hurt that you guys would do something like that. I wanted to get even."

            "Don't cry," Naruto murmured softly.

            "We're really are sorry. We went too far, I know. We just wanted to pull a little prank on you," Sasuke said.

            "Hahaha, little. Riiiiight," Naruto snorted. Sasuke shot him a dangerous look. Naruto shut up.

            "Thanks guys. Let's start over. Like, you know, forgive and forget?" Sakura whipped a tear away.

            "Yeah," Sasuke smiled quickly at Sakura. A real smile that wasn't forced or fake. Naruto saw the gestured and decided to remember it for future black mail material.

            "Sure!" Naruto grinned. "You know what? This calls for a group hug! Come on everybody!"

            "N-now wait a s-second!" Sasuke tried to leap away but it was too late. He was caught up in the best, cuddliest, greatest group hug in the history of the Hidden Leaf Village. Awwwww . . .

~*~*~*~*

            Ino hunched over and peered into the keyhole of Shikamaru's door just as she had done many times before. Her diligent eye gazed past Shikamaru's furniture and focused on her target, which was none other than the great Shi-chan himself. She had come at a great time. Shikamaru was pulling a shirt on! She could feel a nosebleed coming on.

            Ino leaned in closer to get a better view of Shikamaru's hot (at least in her mind) bare chest. She zeroed in closer until her face almost came in contact with the cool surface of the door. Her hand slipped out in front of her and she lost her balance. Her head collided with wood and slowly, painfully, slid down. Her arm flew up to try and catch herself but . . .

            Scccccrrrreeeeeecccccchhhhh!

            Ino flinched.

            Her nails had just scrapped against the door. The sound echoed in the empty corridors.

            Way to go, Ino! Now Shikamaru now knows I'm out here. Damnit, damnit, damnit!

            Shikamaru's ears picked up on the sound. He sighed. It was Ino again. What was she up to now?

            Ino, defeated, decided she should get out as quickly as possible. She knew Shikamaru would open the door any minute. She turned and was ready to go when she heard him say her name.

            "Ino?"

            She felt weak in the knees. Why did his voice make her feel like this? She turned around slowly.

            "Yeah? Oh, it's you Shikamaru! I was just passing by your apartment because one of my mom's friends lives on this floor and my mom wanted me to deliver a message to her," She lied and pretended like nothing happened.

((RL: I know Shikamaru doesn't live in an apartment but its fun to write it like he does 3 ))

            "Oh, really?" He raised an eyebrow.

            "Yeah! So I'll be going on my way," Ino said quickly and prepared to make a mad dash for the elevator when Shikamaru went back into his apartment.

            "Ino," he called her name again. "Why have you been spying on me?"

            Ino broke out in cold sweat. She had nowhere to go. Cornered.

            'Why, why, WHY did he have to ask that question?! Noooo! Ino old 'gal, you're going to have to tell the truth.'

            She sighed and began to wring her hands nervously. "Well, even though we're still on the same team, you're a Chuunin and you're always off doing Chuunin stuff. I never get to see you anymore and I miss you. I didn't want to ask you to spend time with me so I- I . . ."

            Shikamaru gave a small smile. 'She likes me. I'm glad we both feel the same way.'

            Shikamaru started to blush. "Um, Ino, do you want me to be your boyfriend? Because I like you and you could be . . . my . . .uh, girl . . .friend."

            Ino's eyes lit up. She flung her arms around the back of Shikamaru's neck. "Yes! But aren't you too busy as a Chuunin?"

            "Not really. Only when Tsunade assigns me something," Ino hugged Shikamaru. He embraced her in return.

            Inner Ino broke out in wine and campaign. 'As forehead girl likes to say, HELL YEAH!'

            ~*~*~*~*

            "So how'd you do it?" Naruto asked as he picked the last twig from his hair. "The rope stuff I mean. Did you really do this over night?"

            "No, not really. I did most of the work but I had help by Kurenai-sensei, Ino, and Hinata," Sakura answered.

            Naruto eyes began to bug. "Hinata? REALLY? Why?"

            "And why did Ino and Kurenai help you?" Sasuke asked her.

            "Hinata came over to my house and I was crying. I told her what you did to me and we both got really pissed at both of you. We decided we didn't need men and we, uh, laughed. Allot," Sakura blushed, not wanting to tell them about the maniacal laughter.

            Sasuke's eye twitched. 'So that's what I heard that night.'

            "And then Kurenai appeared in the window. We said she had a plan to get revenge on you guys. We wanted show the prank to other people so we got Ino to film it. She agreed to because she was mad at Sasuke-kun for never going out with her."

            Chills ran down Sasuke's back. 'Just for that? Fan girls are scary.'

            "Naruto," Sakura smiled at Naruto, "You should go talk to Hinata."

            "Why? D-Does she want to talk to me about something?" Naruto turned around quickly so his teammates wouldn't see his face crimson up.

            "Well, no," Sakura's smile widened. "But it's best you go tell her that you know about the prank."

            "Yeah, you're right," He stood up and grinned. "I never knew my Hinata could be vicious enough to team up with you Sakura-chan!"

            He ran off. Sakura giggled and sat down on a nearby rock. Sasuke sat down beside her.

            "I wonder if he realized that he called her 'his.'" She laughed.

            "Probably. He's got it pretty bad for Hinata," Sasuke explained.

            "They're so cute together," Sakura said dreamily. "I wonder if he's ever going to ask her out."

            Suddenly, Sakura felt Sasuke's warm hand slide over her own. She blushed in despite of herself. She came to a conclusion that since the rock they were sharing was so small Sasuke had nowhere else to put his hand. At least that's what she was telling herself before Sasuke said the one thing she had completely forgotten about.

            "Did you . . . find my letter?"

            "What?" Sakura's head wheeled around. "I, uh, forgot about that."

            "So you did find it."

            "Y-yeah."

            There was silence for a long time. Sakura refused to make eye contact with Sasuke. She was too embarrassed.

            "Sakura," Sasuke finally got her to look at him. "I meant everything I said in that."

            "E-everything?" The world seemed to tilt. Was it just her or did her heartbeat get louder? She prayed to god that Sasuke couldn't hear it.

            "Yeah. I . . ." Sasuke looked away. He blushed. "love you"      

            "Sasuke-kun," she whispered as Sasuke planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.

 But something was eating away at her mind. Sakura pushed Sasuke away.

            "I'm sorry Sasuke-kun!" She cried.

            "What's wrong?" He patted her back.

            "The brownies!"

            "What?"

            "T-th-the b-brownies were . . ."

            "Sakura, calm down. What about the brownies?"

            "LAXATIVES!"

            Sasuke choked.

            "Wha-what?"

            "The brownies you ate had laxatives in them. I put them in there. I'm so sorry Sasuke-kun!" Sakura wailed.

            "You what?!"

            "Sorry!" she shouted over and over again frantically.

            "But I feel perfectly fi-"

            Suddenly Sasuke's stomach let out a disgusting roar. He shot into the bush Naruto had landed in earlier. With the sound of zippers being unzipped and the soft flutter of pants being pulled down, Sasuke prayed that he wasn't standing in a poison ivy bush, because chances are that he would have to use the leaves for toilet paper.

            "I'm so sorry!" Sakura repeated with a fountain of tears dripping off her face. 

            "I-it's a-alright S-sa-kura," Sasuke mumbled through gritted teeth.

((RL: omg, awkward XD.))

~*~*~*~*~*

            Sasuke felt incredibly low at that second. That was probably the most embarrassing, undignified moment of his life, especially since Sakura had been watching him.

            "Well that was . . . traumatizing, but I think I'm over it now," Sasuke said, pulling up his pants and stepping out of the bush.

            "I'm really sorry, Sasuke-kun," Sakura faced him again. She hadn't watched him while he was behind the bush.

            "What's done is done. No big deal," he lied.

            "Sasuke, do you still want to go out with me?" Sasuke asked quietly. "I can understand if you don't."

            Sasuke sighed. "As long as you promise not to do that again."

            Sakura smiled. "I promise."

            Sasuke returned the smile. "I need to go home and get cleaned up. After that I'll take you out for ramen or whatever."

            "Maybe we'll meet Naruto and Hinata at the noodle bar."

            "Maybe."

            So they began walked towards Sasuke's house. Sakura kept a little distance between Sasuke and herself. She didn't want to tell him, but he stunk. Literally.

            Thank god the house was only a few blocks away.

~*~*~*~*~*

            Hinata sat down to a steaming bowl of ramen. She loved ramen. It was up there in her favorites list when Naruto had introduced it to her. Ever since then she went out to eat ramen at least once a week, often being accompanied by Naruto.

            But this time Naruto was not there with her. She ate by herself. It was lonely because she was used to eating with Naruto. Today, her mouth didn't want to chew and the noodles didn't want to go down.

            She looked down on her half eaten bowl and sighed. 'I hope Naruto-kun didn't fall in the trap. Maybe Sakura found the boys in time and explained?'

            "Hinata! So you WERE here after all! Sakura-chan must be psychic or something!" Hinata jumped when she felt a hand come down on her should.

            "Oh, hi Naruto-kun," She blushed.

            "Hey old man! Shrimp ramen for me!" Naruto told (rather rudely) the man at the counter who grumbled and started to boil a cup of water for the noodles. Naruto pulled up a chair next to Hinata.

            As usual, it was Naruto who started a conversation first.

            "That was a pretty cool trap you guys made. I'm going to be sore for days!" Naruto laughed.

            "Naruto-kun, don't tell me you stepped on trap!"

            "Yup. I think that was the closest thing I will ever come to flying in my life." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

            "I'm sorry," Hinata whispered.

            "It's okay. Really. You better eat the rest of your ramen before it gets cold," He commented with a smile.

            Hinata looked down at her ramen. Before the noodles had almost no flavor. Where they still the same now that Naruto was here?

            Hinata ate another spoonful and smiled. It was delicious.

            "Hey Hinata, I was wondering . . . since you don't talk much about yourself and all . . ." His cheeks took a red tint.

            "Y-yes?" She was blushing furiously long before Naruto was.

            "Do you like to go walking in parks? Because I do and I thought maybe you would and if you do we could do that after your finished eating," Naruto absently scratched his ear. "I-I mean, not unless you have something else to do or anything."

            Hinata smiled. Was Naruto being shy? Was that a blush she saw on his face? Was he . . . asking her out on a date?

            Suddenly, for one of the first times in her life, Hinata felt completely confident. Bold even. Deciding to try out her new probably temporary bravado, she leaned in, and in just a flash, brushed her lips against Naruto's cheek.

            "I would love to go walking with you," she whispered in his ear as she slowly backed away.

            It wasn't as forward as she hoped it would be but it defiantly caught Naruto's attention. For the longest moment, he stared at her with shock on his face. But Naruto, never staying too shocked for long, smiled with obvious warmth.

            "Okay," he said, "It's a date."

            Hinata beamed quietly to herself.

            He had said "date."

~*~*~*~*

            Kurenai watched Sasuke and Sakura from the tree tops. She had already checked up on Ino, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Naruto and was very pleased with what she saw. Everything was going according to plan.

            She did panic a little bit at first when she discovered that Sakura had put laxatives in the brownies, but now it was kind of funny watching Sasuke drive into the bushes. Like wise with Naruto. How did the laxatives effect him? Well, let's just say the Janitor for the noodle bar is going to find a very ugly mess next time he has to clean the bathroom stalls.

            Despite the brownies, the "prank" did have the desired effect. It brought the three pairs closer together and awakened a few new tender feelings. Konoha always seems brighter when there is love in the air.

            Kurenai heard familiar footsteps behind her. She giggled and smiled.

            "Hello, Kakashi."

            The gray haired Jounin materialized next to her.

            "How are our little ninja wanna-bes doing?" He asked, contently watching the image of Sasuke saying 'it's okay' to a sorry and panicking Sakura.

            "Just fine. Everything is exactly how it was expected to be," she told him.

            "That's good to know," Kakashi wrapped his arms around Kurenai and buried his face in her neck. "You know, you said my plan wouldn't work."

            "Well it is kind of silly, don't you think?" Kurenai answered. "Having your students pull pranks on each other."

            "Not when you know what's going to happen in the end," He countered. "I think we all know our students well enough to know how they're going to react to a certain situation." He released Kurenai from the hug and faced her.

            "That's true. You're always good with those students. You're practically like their father," Kurenai admitted.

            The couple remained silent for awhile. The silence wasn't awkward, though. It was one of those things were you and your partner enjoyed each other's company.

            "You know what?" Kurenai spoke at last, "Through all this time I never really got why you wanted to do this. What made you plan this little scheme?"

            "You don't know, Kurenai?" Kakashi said, obviously surprised, "You helped hatch it, but you didn't know?"

            "Well, you never really told me why. I had different theories and everything but I was never sure."

            "If you really gotta know, it was because I was sick and tired of my students being so fickle with their feelings. Sasuke loved Sakura but wouldn't show it because, well, he's emotionally constipated and is afraid of the fact that he does, indeed, have human emotions. He needed to know how to love and our "prank" was the best way I could think of to bring him and Sakura closer together.

 "I noticed Naruto liked Hinata and vice-versa, but both were too shy to admit it. I thought it would be good for them to come out of their shells. I also saw this as an excellent opportunity for Sakura to show some backbone and not be so dependant on Sasuke by plotting revenge on him. And," Kakashi paused then added, "I wanted to teach them . . . how to forgive and to forget."

"That . . . doesn't make much sense."

"I know. But it's was fun messing with them. If any of them had took the time that morning to check their calendars they would have noticed that it was April Fool's Day," he chuckled. "You gotta admit, watching them all do this stupid stuff has been pretty funny."

Kurenai laughed out loud, "Yeah, it has."

Kakashi once again embraced her from behind.

"Speaking of stupid stuff," Kurenai said, leaning back into Kakashi, "Remember the day we first actually began talking to each other?"

Kakashi frowned beneath his mask and shuddered. "Yeah. Don't remind me. Back then you thought I was gay and liked Iruka so you ambushed me and put illusions of Iruka naked in my mind."

            "Not completely naked. He was wearing a man-thong, remember?" Kurenai chuckled and pulled down his mask. It irritated her that he covered up his beautiful face with that piece of flimsily black cloth.

            "I try not to," Kakashi muttered. Then he added in a more playful tone, "Those were pretty detailed illusions. How would you know what he looks like in those kind of cloths?"

            "Haha, lucky guess probably," She smirked.

            "Liar," Kakashi purred and tickled her in the ribs.

            "Hey, stop it! You know I'm ticklish there!" Kurenai said between laughs.

            After a few for minutes, Kakashi stopped. The couple sighed and seated themselves on the tree branch they were standing on. Kurenai rested her head on Kakashi's shoulder.

            "One more question," Kurenai began, "What was with the Health Freak act?"

            "Oh, it's just fun to tease Naruto. He's probably never eaten anything green in his life so the idea of something good for him is probably scarier than thought of Sasuke beating him."

            "True," she droned. "Kiba's the same way except I see him eat a few greens every now and then."

            "So what's after this? What are we going to do now?" She looked up at him.

            "I dunno. Wanna go get some fast food? I'm in the mood for something greasy. I'll pay for our meal this time."

            "You always have the best ideas," Kurenai kissed his cheek. "Thank god that health junky thing was just an act or I would have had to refuse to date you."

            "Like wise. C'mon, Kurenai. Let's go," He helped her up, stealing a kiss while he was at it.

            So that's how it all started. Three new romances in Konoha started thanks to the happy couple, Kakashi and Kurenai. It was either a really brilliant plan or a very stupid one. It doesn't matter, though, because it worked and everything became better in the end leaving a (hopefully) better, happier future for them all.

            That was a pretty sucky ending, huh?

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What you never ever needed to know but I'm sharing with you anyway.

Okay, remember when Sasuke and Naruto leaped out of the tree tops and hugged Sakura? Wondered why Sasuke acted that way? 3

Sasuke: OKAY, OKAY! I'll do it, Naruto. Just put that knife down! Naruto? Naruto?! Naruto! ACCCCKKK!!!!!

Sorry for the long wait, folks. I couldn't get in like forever because my bro was on it all the time getting his work done. Of coarse, he never finishes it so it takes him weeks just to do one assignment. My LA teacher assigned a project for us to do so I could only use my time to crank out stories. 1 story every 4 days. It nearly killed me. Thanks for being patient with me.

Thanks for all the reviews. They've made me all really happy. I never intended for anyone to actually like this story. I'm so happy with the popularity it's gotten.

I tried to make this chapter as good as possible. I think I failed miserably. I think I did around 10 or so revisions and that's why it took so long. I did try to make it as romatic a possible too. Did I succeed?

I promise the next chapters on my other stories will a lot be better!

Okay! The conclusions are:

Kakashi and Kurenai plotted this from the beginning.

And they are a couple so that's why Sakura found them snuggling.

Sakura didn't find Sasuke's love letter until the day after.

Naruto loves Hinata.

Vise versa.

Sakura loves Sasuke.

Also vise-versa.

Kakashi is not actually a health freak.

I think Shikaino, Naruhina, Sasusaku, and Kakakure are all pretty damn good couples.

Thanks again! Love ya!!!!!