"Can you believe they complained about babysitting? Geez. I woulda babysat a hundred bratty kids over one cat retrieval mission. Am I right? Heh, heh. Yeah. Well...that was my day," Naruto said, winding down an excruciatingly detailed talk about how he doled out missions to new recruits with Iruka and Kakashi. "So, how was yours?"

He swore he could hear Sakura's teeth grinding to dust as she gave him a look so deadly, it might as well have been a dōjutsu. "You've asked me that question already, Naruto. What's your problem?"

"N-nothing, Sakura-chan! I just wanna hear how you're doing."

"I told you...five times."

"Sorry!" He swallowed hard. Keeping a secret was difficult for Naruto. Keeping it from Sakura, his best and closest friend, was nearly impossible. He tried to continue walking beside her, acting casual.

Just a little further. Heel, toe. Heel, toe.

They were nearly to the point of divergence—he'd head to the Tower and she to the hospital.

Smile. Just one minute more until freedom! Pick up the pace juuuust slightly. Chuckle at her joke, but don't say a word. He knew that if he allowed himself to relax into conversation, it wouldn't be long until he was telling Sakura that—

"I got a letter from Sasuke," he blurted and slapped a hand over his mouth. He tried to play it off as a cough, but Sakura wasn't buying it.

"What?!" She grabbed him by the collar with both hands. "You got a letter and you didn't say anything? You mean, I suffered through all of your Hokage-in-training bullshit and you didn't tell me about a letter from Sasuke-kun?!" She shook him a bit, his head rattling, before she let him go. "Let me give you a lesson in priorities." She held a hand out, palm down, below her hip. "Hokage training stories, here." She lifted her other hand above her head. "Letter from Sasuke, here."

"Right. Okay. I got it."

"Well..." She folded her arms.

"What?"

Sakura glared. "Naruto."

"Oh, yeah." He rubbed the back of his head. "Letter. Right. Well..."

The truth of the matter was that Sasuke had asked Naruto to research the Haruno clan for him...and not to mention anything to Sakura. He said he didn't want to offend her father when he came back to Konoha. As an expert in Uchiha-speak, he knew what that meant—Sasuke planned to speak to Haruno-san about marrying his daughter. But he couldn't tell her that! As much as he feared Sakura's wrath right now, he was twice as scared of what Sasuke might do if he ruined his proposal.

"Uhh...so, he's-he's doing fine."

Sakura nodded.

"Yep. He's doing just fine."

"That's it?"

"You know Sasuke, Sakura-chan. He's a man of few words." He punctuated this with a finger in the air, as if it was sage doctrine.

"So, he wrote you a letter that said 'I'm fine. Sasuke.' That's it?"

He shrugged.

"Show me."

Naruto froze. "What?"

"Let me see the letter."

"What do you n-need to see the letter for? I already told y—"

"I want to..." Suddenly, she was shy, looking away, fighting off a blush. "I-I want to see his handwriting." A second later, she was all rage. "Hand it over, Naruto!"

"No!"

"No?" she asked, cracking her knuckles.

He backed away, knowing a beating was inevitable, but also knowing he could never divulge the contents of that letter. He closed his eyes and tensed, but no fists rained down, no chakra-laden kicks raised lumps on his head. When he mustered up the courage to peek at her, he found Sakura talking to two ANBU who'd appeared out of thin air.

"Of course," she said to them then to Naruto, "There's been an accident on the other side of town. I have to go." She started running, but turned to wave. "We'll catch up tomorrow?"

He raised a hand and nodded. Whew. Dodged that one.

Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets and whistled something he heard on the radio at Ichiraku's.

"Where do you think you're going?" a muffled female voice said.

"Huh?" Naruto wheeled around, only to have the ANBU grab him, one on each elbow. "Hey! What's going on?"

"You're not going anywhere until you tell me exactly what was in that letter from Sasuke-kun," Ino said, shifting the porcelain mask back on her head.

On his other side, Sai slid his ANBU mask aside as well. "You'd be wise to, as they say, spill it. Ino can be very...persuasive," he said with a grin and an odd tilt of his head.

Hi All! Long time no see, right? Well, when fanofthisfiction asked me to participate in her Show Me the Love Challenge for Valentine's Day, I just had to write. Now, I'm rusty, so there will only be three (maybe four?) unrelated one-shots here, but I hope they make you smile.

This fic was edited by the cookie goddess known as Unicorn Paige. She is pure magic. I swear.

Remember to visit fanofthisfiction's profile page to see all the other challenge participants and review their work. Also, take the time to read about the Fanfiction Review Movement. It's a wonderful idea, a great way to keep our fandom connected and lively! While you're there, read and review a few of fotf's lovely fics! Thanks, everyone!