Hello there! This a NaruSaku one-shot. Yes, I kind of ship it even though SasuSaku and NaruHina became canon. The thing is that SasuSaku is my #1 ship. But somewhere along the way I became okay with the idea of Naruto and Sakura being together. So yeah *awkwardly looks around*. I hope you all enjoy!

Reviews and Favs would be the loveliest!~

Protecting Her

...

Sakura huffed as she jumped from branch to branch in the rain. She could see nothing ahead of her but a patch of yellow. Naruto, who was ahead, was her guide through the rough rain.

"Naruto!"

As soon as his name left her lips, a sharp and quick kunai buzzed by his ear leaving a small cut on his cheek. Said man growled in frustration. They had been on this wild goose chase for what seemed like hours. Ever since they had left the village that their mission was located in, they had been chased around by at least eight ninja.

Sakura gave a frustrated grunt. She had enough of running around and she stopped on to the ground beneath her. To hell with it all, a little quick pounding won't take up her time.

Naruto sensed that Sakura was no longer behind him and squinted hard in the rain. Realizing her intent, he dropped down with her. They both gave each other a knowing glance as they got into a defensive stance. Suddenly, two ninja were in front of Sakura. Both with poisoned needles in hands with clear intentions of harming her. Sakura raised chakra laced fists and pummeled the ground underneath her. Even if was cold and wet, it would do. The ground wobbled underneath them and cracked creating a crater full of mud and water instantly taking the two ninja with it. Sakura glanced back to Naruto who was defending himself from three other ninja. She squinted as she tried to locate any sort of hitai-ate but to her surprise found none. So they were non-affiliate ninja, she thought.

Naruto grunted as he formed signs for shadow clones. He had almost no chakra left to begin with, and neither did Sakura. But they would fight to the very end. Naruto's shadow clones each helped him form a rasengan and sped towards one of the ninja earning a handful of strangled cries.

"Heh, guess you do live up to your reputation."

Naruto's eyes looked up to one tree where the leader, he guessed, was perched on. It was man with choppy brown hair and a scar running down the half of his face. The man's eyes wandered over to the pink-haired kunoichi and instantly flashed away before reappearing in front of Sakura.

Sakura gasped as she was completely taken back by the speed of the man. A calloused hand gripped her chin tight, bringing her face closer to his.

"Look at what we have here. Such a pretty thing huh boys?"

Two men appeared from the sky, looking at Sakura like she was piece of meat and they were rabid dogs.

Naruto growled, his patience low.

Sakura seethed as the man's disgusting breath hit her face. Centering her chakra to her left leg, she gave a tug back and kicked him with all her might. The man cried out and spat out blood. He chuckled.

"What a feisty one, guess we're gonna have a bunch of fun with you once we get your friend out of the way."

Naruto flashed in front of Sakura, "I'd never let you lay a hand on her."

Naruto sped towards the man with his rasengan with the full intention of injuring him while Sakura ran towards the other two remaining ninja with chakra laced fists and attacked. Sakura's fist connected with one of the ninja's jaw which she felt break instantly knocking him out. Naruto's cerulean eyes widened as the man flashed out of vision, nowhere to be seen.

A light whisper, "Too slow."

The man was suddenly behind Sakura with an arm around her shoulders, pressing a kunai to her throat, cutting her slightly, leaving a small droplet of blood to slid down. The second ninja had an amused smirk on his face as he held her hands against her back.

Naruto's eyes hardened, "Let her go."

The man didn't relinquish his hold of her, "We're going to have fun with her while you watch, unable to do anything."

Sakura's emerald eyes crinkled with fear staring into Naruto's furious cerulean ones. She hated feeling like a damn damsel in distress, but she no longer had the chakra to fight back. Her will of fire, however, was still intact as she quietly stared at the arm grasping her. It was close enough to her lips. She bared her teeth and clamped them down hard onto the man's arm. The man let go of her quickly and growled in pain. He had enough.

"You little bitch."

The second ninja pulled out dozens of kunais with the intention of getting Sakura. Naruto, realizing this, ran towards her and pushed her down with him. He grunted in pain as the kunais were embedded into his back.

"Naruto!"

His body was roughly kicked over and large hands reached towards Sakura's wrists. The man straddled her, giving her an evil smirk. The second ninja bent down in front of Sakura with a needle in hand. Her eyes widened as she knew what he was about to do.

"Let me go," she gasped as she wiggled around.

The ninja stabbed her arm with the needle and she suddenly felt numb. The man on her pulled grabbed a kunai from the ground and used it to rip her shirt down the middle. White porcelain skin came into view and Sakura could only watch in horror as the man was about to proceed to unbinding her breasts.

Naruto, a few feet away, watched as the man tore her shirt and looked like he hit jackpot. Sakura's head lolled sideways and her half lidded emerald eyes filled with despair found their way to Naruto's. Naruto's eyes glazed murderously. The fox's chakra quickly seeped through his body and felt the need to have those guys heads on a stick. The chakra gave him the strength to stand up and run into the guy at full speed. The man gave a startled cry as he was met with the pulsing hot body that was Naruto's.

The wind was knocked out of the man as he tumbled off Sakura and onto the floor. His terrified gaze met murderous red eyes. That was the end of him. For Naruto had stabbed the beasts chakra through the man's chest. The second ninja gave a horrified cry and scrambled to his feet trying to escaped Naruto's rampage with no avail as one of the chakra tails stabbed through him ending his miserable life.

Naruto was still in his demon fox mode, panting heavily. His senses were on over drive. He growled angrily as he turned to look at Sakura who looked almost lifeless. Crawling over to her, he stared at her.

"Sakura-chan," a distorted demonic voice whispered.

The red, fiery chakra started to recede as he saw small tears streaming down her eyes. Sakura felt so exposed, so violated, so helpless.

Naruto's crimson eyes observed as she shivered involuntarily at the slight drizzle that was falling over them. He zipped down his orange jacket. It was soaking wet but it would be enough to cover her. He gently tugged her upper body towards him, making sure not to hurt her. He then slipped her into his jacket, zipping her up good. He cradled her in his arms and he stared deeply into her emerald eyes as they leaked more tears.

He stood up, while gently cradling her in his arms. His demonic form lent him enough strength to keep him up and running for a while. As he jumped from tree to tree, a dark cabin came to his view. He quickly jumped down and knocked on the front door. There was no answer. He peeked in through the windows and found that it was empty except for some random furniture. It would have to do seeing as he had almost no energy left.

Sakura wiggled in his arms and he looked down at her.

"I think I'm okay now," she said slowly.

Naruto set her down slowly as to not invoke the dizziness in her. She stumbled a bit but eventually held her ground against the wall. Naruto shook the doorknob of the cabin to no avail. The damn thing was locked. He looked around for any hidden key. He found none. Guess he had to do it the rough way.

Naruto pushed the door with his shoulder roughly. The wooden door creaked to an open and Naruto placed one arm around Sakura's waist to help her inside, slamming the door with his leg. He found what seemed to be a couch and gently set her down. He slowly recovered from the demonic form and his crimson eyes returned to their regular azure color.

The sudden loss of rush hit him strongly as he let out a strangled cry. He clutched his back and fell to the ground realizing that he still had kunais etched into his back.

Sakura dizzily rushed to his side.

"Woah there, Naruto. Don't push yourself."

She slowly reached towards his back and pulled out the kunais. Naruto let out a hiss in pain.

"Okay, now I have to find something to stop the bleeding."

She scrambled to her feet as she looked around the dainty cabin. It had to rooms, the first being a living room of sorts with a fire place and the second being a kitchen slash bedroom. How weird.

She looked around both rooms for a cloth or anything that could stop Naruto's bleeding. She found a towel and a box of matches. She walked over to the fireplace and prayed that there would be wood in it. Luck was on her side because there was wood and she lit a match and watched as the fire erupted and illuminated the small room. She quickly made her way to Naruto and got on to her knees and ripped the towel into smaller pieces and wiped the blood from the four wounds on his back. However, the fox's chakra began to heal him, leaving nothing but a couple of scratches in its wake.

Naruto sat up and turned to look at Sakura but was interrupted by her fist as she punched him dead in the jaw.

"Baka! What were you thinking throwing yourself so carelessly like that because of me? You got hurt and you had almost no chakra left to be even fighting!"

Her eyes glared at him and he only stared back into hers.

"I couldn't let them hurt you," he quietly whispered.

Sakura's anger faltered as she looked into his eyes and saw them full of concern.

"Sakura-chan, I saw the look in their eyes. They were hungry and fulled with desire. And when I saw them rip your shirt open the way they did, it made my blood boil."

Sakura's eyes were cast downwards and her pink, wet tresses covered her face.

"Thank you."

Cerulean eyes widened with surprise but then filled with determination. He sighed, "I would do anything to protect you."

Sakura lifted her head and smiled softly, "I know."

She scanned his front for any injury and saw none until her eyes reached his face. His jaw was starting to swell and he had a small but deep cut on his cheek. Mustering the small amount of chakra left in her, she healed his swollen jaw only leaving a bruise. Her hands slid towards the cut on his cheek and let her green, soothing chakra mend his cut. Naruto leaned in to her touch and closed his eyes. Sakura's hand lingered on his perfect cheek seeing how at peace Naruto seemed. She slowly slid her hand down and put her hands on her lap. Naruto, sensing the lack of warmth, opened his eyes. Sakura was staring him with an unrecognizable emotion. He slowly let his eyes travel to her face. Her emerald eyes seemed weary and her pink, shoulder length hair, was wet while forming into small waves. His eyes then saw the bruise on her chin. It made his blood boil to even think of what could've happened if the fox hadn't given him chakra. He was chakra depleted when he was kicked off of Sakura. Naruto would've endured the horror of seeing those disgusting men touching his Sakura-chan.

Naruto slowly raised his arm and trailed a finger on her chin. Sakura went rigid at his touch. Azure eyes met viridescent eyes head on. He hadn't even realized when he they both started leaning in, eyes lidded. His rough lips touched her soft ones slowly. She tasted like fresh strawberries and he savored the taste and feel of her lips on his. It was a chaste kiss full of emotion he couldn't quite pin. Maybe, concern and worry. Love even.

They leaned back both breathing heavy from nerves.

Naruto had always wanted to feel what it would be like to kiss Sakura-chan. It felt indescribable. As if he had waited for centuries to finally get a taste of what she was.

Sakura's cheeks were dusted with pink and she fiddled around with her fingers. Naruto smiled as he found that incredibly cute. He raised her chin towards him and captured her lips with his own again. He poured everything he felt into the kiss, worry, doubt, fear, love, desperation. She responded with a rough response pouring her soul into the kiss. It was her best friend and teammate she was kissing, but it felt absolutely right. They pulled away, breathing heavily.

Sakura shivered as she realized it was freezing inside of the cabin. Her clothes were soaking wet and so were his. At this rate, they would get hypothermia.

"Naruto, we have to take our clothes off, if not we'll surely freeze to death," the medic side of her spoke.

Naruto smirked, "Sakura-chan I guess you couldn't get enough of me that now you want to see me naked."

A nerve jolted onto her forehead, "Baka. We have to get close to the firewood and sort of use body heat," she berated herself mentally at how weak her voice sounded.

Naruto nodded. He slowly pulled off the white shirt he had on, and stood to take off his orange pants. Emerald eyes traced the ripples in his muscles. He then proceeded to his boxers and Sakura's eyes widened, "NO! We're going to leave our undergarments on!"

Naruto nodded and got his clothes and hung them near the fireplace.

"Okay it's my turn so turn around."

Naruto turned facing the fireplace. Sakura zipped down Naruto's orange jacket and slowly removed the wet item. She then removed her ripped red shirt leaving her only in her binds. Naruto turned slightly and his blue eyes widened slightly because she wasn't done yet. Her back was facing him and he saw her pristine, porcelain skin. He watched intently as she removed her skirt and shorts but then he realized he was gaping and turned around to face the fireplace again.

"Okay, i'm good."

Naruto sighed, running a hand through his yellow tresses.

"Okay, we should get some rest," she yawned slightly.

Naruto pushed the couch they had used earlier towards the fire place. He laid on his side and waited for Sakura to place himself next to him. She quietly laid next to him, shivering at how cold it was. His eyes softened and he put his arm around her waist, feeling her soft skin, and pulled her towards him. Her back was facing his chest and his nose nestled in her pink locks while taking in the scent of strawberries. The warmth of their bodies together was enough to last them the night. He waited until her breaths were deep to signal her sleep.

He sighed and nestled himself deeper into her head. He loved the girl he was holding with such intensity. He killed for her and only her. He marveled at how perfect they fit together. It felt right for her to be in his arms. The love of his life was there with him and he suddenly felt alright. His breaths grew shallow and before he knew it, he was asleep.

Unbeknown to Naruto, a pair of crimson eyes glared at him from a window. The figure was enclosed by darkness and the only feature that could've been seen were the blood red eyes glaring menacingly. The figure's fist were curled into a tight ball at the sight before him. The pink haired kunoichi with the foolish blonde. How, irking and tempting it was to go into the room and kill the blonde idiot. He closed his eyes, it would be a waste, however. He gathered his emotions and only stared at the pink haired woman. She looked beautiful. Then he saw the small smile on her peaceful face. Crimson eyes looked away. It made him furious to know another man could elicit such a smile other than him, but also gave him a sense of peace to know she was in capable hands.

He vowed he would be back to her.

Until then, he would let the blonde idiot have his fun.

The morning sun shined brightly and illuminated the cabin greatly. Emerald eyes opened slowly and looked around sleepily. She felt warm. Sakura went to get up but realized that there was a strong arm holding her close. She sighed and gave up her struggle. His warmth was comforting and she relished it. She slowly turned in arms to face him. The sun's light cascaded over his sleeping features. He looked to ethereal, so beautiful. She had never realized what a beautiful person Naruto was. There he was, in his sleeping glory. She smiled shyly and raised a hand to stroke the whiskers on his cheeks. He stirred a bit and cracked cerulean eyes open.

"Morning," he uttered sleepily.

"Morning. You're really warm, you know that?"

His blue eyes crinkled, "Yeah! I'm Naruto Uzumaki! The hottest ninja you'll ever see," he said with a wink.

She playfully punched him.

"Yeah right," she snorted.

Naruto smiled warmly making Sakura's heart skip a beat.

"We should get going. I'm hungry and if we find somewhere to eat, you're paying."

Naruto pouted, "But Sakuraaa-chaan."

"Consider it a date."

Naruto's eyes widened, "Really?"

"Yeah, but your little froggy wallet is going to be empty by the end of it."

She laughed at his crestfallen expression.

He quickly jumped off the couch, "Well then let's go!"

He changed into his already dried clothes and watched as Sakura took her slow time changing.

"SAKURA-CHAN! HURRY. THIS IS A MATTER OF LIFE OR DEATH."

"BAKA IT'S JUST A DATE."

A small, offended gasp was heard.

"It's not just a date. It's Sakura-chan and Naruto's first date!"

Sakura giggled, "You're right."

She quickly cleaned the mess they made around the cabin and both her and Naruto exited the cabin.

Naruto smiled brightly at Sakura, taking in the morning sun. He extended his arm towards her. She blushed and took his hand. There was no rush to get to Konoha.

Naruto gripped Sakura's hand tightly.

Everything would be okay if he had her by his side.

Because he made a promise to himself and to him that he would always protect their Sakura-chan.

So that was my first ever NaruSaku one-shot. I hoped you all enjoyed it!

Favs and Reviews would be the loveliest~