Hey guys, this is my new story: Ten days. It is a NaruSaku story. This is the story I am writing for 'The Great Heaven & Earth Fanfic/Fanart Contest III, Summertime Edition'. For this contest I have to stick to a keyword. The story needs to revolve around this keyword, so I can't do whatever I want. The keyword I have chosen is:

'Summer vacation'

The deadline is somewhere in July, so I will have to update quick, because the story has to be finished by then. So expect quick updates. There will probably be a lot of new NaruSaku stories around this time, because a lot of people are participating in this contest.

"Hello": regular talking
'Hello': thinking
'Hello': Inner Sakura talking

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, then Naruto and Sakura would be dating right now.

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Prologue

It was an unusual warm day in the hidden village of Konoha. The village had gone through a lot lately. The people had been feeling sad and angry, because of the war with the sound and the sand villages and the loss of their leader. Somehow the atmosphere affected the weather in the village hidden in the leaves, because it has been raining for a long time in the village

But today was different. The sun was shining brightly and the small poodles of water were starting to disappear. The village that had once been at the brink of extinction was finally coming together again. The houses that had been destroyed were being built anew and the people were returning to their daily lives again.

Right now all of the people in the village were gathering around the big building that was built in front of the hokage wall…the wall with the faces of the legendary hokages sculptured in them. Not a long time ago one of those great men had died to protect the village from an evil treat. The hokage was someone to be reckoned with and everyone acknowledged the person who had that position.

One of the people gathering around the building was the boy who was striving to become one of these hokages. It wasn't the easiest path for him to choose, but he chose it anyway. He was often called a demon or a monster by the adults of the village.

The young boy has been hated for his entire life and it wasn't even his fault. He was hated because he had saved the village from certain destruction thirteen years ago. The younger people didn't know this, because the third hokage had forbidden to talk about this, but he was in fact the container of a nine tailed demon called the Kyuubi.

Said boy glanced around and could see that almost every villager was glaring at him. Sighing, he quickly looked away, because he knew that he couldn't do anything about this. It was just their way of showing that they didn't want him in the village. Making his way through the crowd, he finally reached the place he was heading for: the big oak tree in the middle of the crowd.

Looking up he could see a pink and blue blur in the tree and a small smile came upon his whiskered face. Gathering chakra in his feet he started to move up the tree without using his hands. He still had to thank his sensei someday for teaching him that. Some of the people in the crowd gave him a confused look, because not everyone in the village had been trained in the ninja arts. He just gave them a smile and continued his way up.

Finally he reached his destination and he placed his feet on the branch of the large tree. He could see two of his most important people sitting there next to each other with a content smile on their faces.

One of them was the girl he had liked since he had first seen her. The girl had pink hair and a pretty big forehead. A lot of people always teased her for the size of that forehead. He didn't know why though, because he actually liked it. The girl was very smart, so he figured that it had to have something to do with the size of her forehead. Sitting next to her, he gave her a big smile. "Hey, Sakura-chan!"

The pink haired girl looked his way for a moment and nodded. "Hey, Naruto." She quickly turned her face again and started looking at the boy next to her. Naruto sighed and shook his head. It always went like this, so this wasn't something to get down for.

The boy next to her was his biggest rival, Uchiha Sasuke. The boy had always been good at anything and he even had his own fan club of girls, which included the pink haired girl next to him. The raven haired boy detested these girls, but somehow they just kept coming. Naruto guessed that it was his mysterious aura or something like that.

He was on of the last remaining members of one of the noblest clans of the village. His older brother had massacred his clan, but somehow Sasuke had survived. He now vowed to kill his brother and it seemed to be his only goal in life. He was always very silent and he opened up to nobody. Naruto knew that Sakura tried to get the attention of the mysterious boy, but it was all in vain. The girl didn't give up though. This was another thing he loved in the pink haired girl. She never seemed to give up.

"Yo, Sasuke." Naruto said while looking towards the blue sky. The only thing he got in return was a soft grunt, but he had been around the boy long enough to understand his language. It meant something like a greeting and Naruto just had to smile at the boy's weird antics.

They just sat there in silence for a few minutes while more and more people were starting to gather around the big building. Naruto glanced to his side and could see that Sakura was still looking at Sasuke with a dreamy look on her face. He mentally cursed himself, because he wanted to be in the bastard's position so badly. And it looked like that Sasuke wanted to switch just as badly as him, so why was fate being so unfair?

He was surprised when Sakura suddenly turned his way with a sad look on her face. He hated it when something like this happened. Sasuke must have hurt her feelings again or something. The girl signalled for him to come closer and he did as she wanted. "What's wrong, Sakura-chan?"

The girl with emerald eyes let out a sigh and looked down the tree. "Do you know what is wrong with Sasuke-kun? I tried to start several conversations with him, but I don't even get a sound out of him."

Naruto had to raise an eyebrow now. "I don't want to make you angry or something, but isn't that how he always acts around us? I mean, the guy never talks to us unless it is absolutely necessary, so why would he start doing that now?"

He was surprised when the girl suddenly got a determined look in her face and looked him straight in the eyes. "No, something is up with him. I just know it, Naruto. Normally he just tells me to go somewhere else when I start talking to him, but now he doesn't even do that. Something has to be wrong."

Naruto looked her in the eyes and he could see that the girl was really worried about his rival. He only wished that someday she would be worried about him like that too. "Don't worry so much, Sakura-chan. He just woke up from the hospital. He's probably just a bit tired or something."

He knew the real reason why the boy was acting so strange since waking up again, but he also knew that Sasuke didn't want him to tell it to the girl next to him. His brother had defeated him in battle and damaged his mind very much with a technique. It took the help of a legendary sannin to help him wake up again.

When he saw the smile in her face he started to smile too. "Thanks, Naruto. You're right." After saying this she turned around to stare at the raven haired boy who seemed to be lost in thought again.

Naruto just hoped that someday that guy would return her feelings. He knew that the girl would never love a goofball like him. He had that damn monster sealed within him and she hated him even without knowing that. If she found out about the kitsune, then she would probably never talk to him ever again. He just wanted her to be happy and he knew that she would be more than happy with the raven haired boy.

He was broken out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of a gong. He turned his head towards the sound and became happy when he saw what was happening. The blonde woman, Tsunade, who he had saved with his sensei, Jiraiya, was walking towards the railing on the roof of the big building. She was wearing the hat which was reserved for hokages and the advisors of the village were not far behind her.

She stopped when she reached the railing and looked around with a determined look in her face. Naruto was surprised when she gave the boy a wink. Naruto started to blush for a moment, but quickly pulled his act together. He knew that the woman was a fifty year old woman in reality, so this wasn't the time to start blushing.

Tsunade grabbed her hat and held it in her hand. "The village had been through tough times lately, but we will get though this! A leader of a village should do everything in his power to protect the villagers and the previous hokages have done just that. They have protected us with their lives."

Everyone looked down when the woman said that. The death of the sandaime was something that was very hard to grasp. He had been the leader of the village for a long time and he was a pillar of strength for the villagers. "It is a pity that the past hokages have died, but I am sure that they wouldn't want us to grieve for the rest of our lives!"

"I used to think that the name hokage was nothing but a load of crap, but someone from this village has showed me that I was wrong." Naruto was surprised once again when she looked his way with a big smile on her face. Sakura saw this too and she got lost in thought. There was something that the boy next to her wasn't telling her.

"He showed me that true strength emerges when you fight for the people close to you and I am planning to do just that. Because all of you didn't give up, we are now going the right way again. You fought for each other and helped each other as much as possible. The village is now growing again and I am sure that we are ready for everything. All of this is thanks to you guys, the people in the village!"

The crowd went wild and screamed her name several times. "It is now summer time and I know that everyone could use a good time off. That's why we give every ninja ten days of summer vacation every year. Now, I know that you understand that we can't give every person that vacation at the same time, so the past hokages have made a special rule for this."

The people in the crowd started to smile now. "The first ten days go to the rookie genin. These kids have just graduated from the academy and have to get used to the way of the ninja, so the need their rest, especially after the hard times. Of course their parents get the vacation at the same time. Their vacation will start tomorrow."

Naruto suddenly felt really empty after hearing those words. He knew what the woman was saying. He didn't have to listen anymore. She was now saying who could go after the rookie genin and stuff. It wasn't important for him. He was quite happy with the vacation. It meant no missions for a while, so he could use the time to train and enjoy himself. But he also knew that everyone he knew would go out of the village with their parents. Everyone would leave him all by himself. He had no parents to go away with. Shivers came up his spine when he started thinking about the loneliness again.

Sakura had heard this speech several times before too and was getting bored. Glancing to her side, she could see the downcast face of the whiskered boy next to her. It surprised her a lot, because it wasn't often that she saw the boy in such a mood. Somehow it pained her to see the boy like that. No matter how much she put her mind in it, she couldn't find a reason for him to get so sad. They were getting vacation. That meant a lot of fun, didn't it?

The new hokage was finally done with the long speech and she walked back to the advisors and headed back inside the building with them. The people, surrounding the building, slowly made their way home. The village would be alright now. Everyone knew that Tsunade was one of the sannin and that she was one of the strongest people alive.

Naruto and the rest of team seven had decided to stay on the tree branch until the rest of the people had left. They were supposed to meet up there with their sensei anyway. And the lazy man was late….again. Naruto was surprised when the pink haired girl suddenly turned to him with a confused look on her face. "So, why did hokage-sama look at you when she was talking, Naruto?"

Naruto started playing with his fingers for a moment and glanced away. "Well, I am the person she was talking about. That's all."

There was a huge silence after that before Sakura started to laugh slightly. "You have to be kidding, Naruto. She is the new hokage and you are just a little genin. You don't actually think that I will believe something like that? Don't make up stupid things like that, baka."

Naruto sighed because he knew that this was going to happen. "But it is true! I brought her back to Konoha with Ero-sennin!"

He saw that she was still laughing at him and it made him quite sad. "And now I've got to believe that you know the hokage and that you brought her back to the village with some kind of pervert? Stop making things up, Naruto. You can't impress me with your lying."

Naruto started to look down now. He couldn't believe that she would talk to him like that. Had he done anything in his life to make her think about him like that? Sure, he had been a prankster for a big part of his life, but he had stopped doing those pranks for a long time now and the girl next to him should know that. And he had never lied to her before, so why did she think he did?

Sasuke turned to the blonde boy and saw the pain in his eyes. He didn't want to admit it, but the boy had become his best friend and he hated to see him like that. He also knew that Naruto would never lie to the girl next to him like that. Turning to the pink haired girl, he gave her an angry look. "Shut up, you're annoying!"

This shocked Sakura a lot. It wasn't very often that the raven haired boy yelled against her. The ignoring part was bad enough, but now he actually yelled at her. Her head fell down, so that the bangs of hair clouded her face a bit, and she could feel the tears forming in her emerald eyes. She was even more startled when Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder. "Teme! Don't be so mean to her!"

Sasuke just gave him a confused and angry look and turned away. 'And here I thought I was helping him. Fine, protect your little flower, I don't care.'

Sakura didn't understand why the boy defended her. She had just made fun of him and here he was standing up for her. 'I really don't get that guy. Why would he stand up for me like that?'

She quickly pushed his hand away with a frown on her face. Placing her hands on her lap, she started to look down again. She was thinking about thanking the boy, because it was really nice of him. But the pink haired girl decided against it, because it would lower her chances with the Uchiha prodigy. It did make her feel a bit sad and guilty though, when she saw the pain in the eyes of the blonde boy next to her.

Naruto felt rejected and didn't want to stay her anymore. He only tried to help her. Was everything he did for her wrong or something? Did she just hate him for no reason at all? He was about to jump down when there was a puff of smoke behind the three younglings. They all turned around and saw their grey haired sensei appear. "Yo!"

Naruto and Sakura both pointed at him. "You're late!"

Sasuke and Kakashi both had to put their fingers in their ears. They both wondered just how those two could get so loud. "Could you guys pipe down for a minute please?!" The raven haired boy nearly screamed.

Sakura and Naruto crossed their arms, closed their eyes and started to pout, after seeing the reaction of their two team mates.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile when he saw his two students do this. The two seemed to be so much alike sometimes. And he knew that Sakura cared for the little guy too, but she just didn't realise it yet. The lazy jounin was about to jump onto the branch when he saw the mood his students were in. Sasuke seemed like his normal self, but the other two acted very strangely today. "What happened here?"

"Nothing happened…" Naruto and Sakura said in unison. They looked at each other when they realised that they just said the same thing and they saw the sadness in each other's eyes. Sakura broke out her trance and quickly glanced away. Seeing this, Naruto did the same after a while.

Sasuke just shrugged and stood up from his sitting position. "So, why are you here? I haven't got all day. I need to get stronger. I need to surpass him!"

The grey haired sharingan user sighed and jumped over to them. "Alright, I'll get straight to the point. Your vacation is starting tomorrow, so I guess that this is the last time we are together for a while. I am going on a mission tomorrow, so I just wanted to say something to you guys: have fun the next ten days."

"What?! I don't believe that woman. Can't you have a little break? I hoped to spend some time with you, Kakashi-sensei in my vacation. I guess that that's another plan down the drain…" Naruto said with disappointment visible in his eyes.

The branch suddenly started shaking and Sakura fell down on her knees. She grabbed the branch with her arms and looked around to find out what was causing it. Her eyes widened when she saw who the culprit was. Naruto was stamping his right foot on the branch out of frustration. "Naruto! Stop stamping! The branch will break and we will all fall down!"

The boy turned around to face the girl with a nervous smile on his face. "Sorry, Sakura-chan, I guess I got a bit carried away!" He then started to scratch the back of his head with his right hand while grinning.

Sakura got pissed, because she had almost fallen down the tree, and started to walk towards him with a fierce look in her eyes. The poor boy tried to get away after seeing that look, but eventually there was no place to go anymore. Quickly turning around he tried to jump to another branch, but somehow he didn't get far. Glancing over his shoulder he saw that she had grabbed his jacket with her right hand. "If you do something like that ever again, I'll make sure that you won't ever jump again! You got that!"

It was weird, but somehow he wasn't scared of the strongest of foes, but seeing his pink haired friend like this scared the hell out of him. "I promise, Sakura-chan! Please let me go now!" The boy was still shaking like crazy. She calmed down and sighed. "Okay, but only because you have apologised."

When she tried to move him towards the branch, the boy suddenly slipped out of her hands. "Shit!"

Kakashi's eye widened and he quickly ran down the tree with all the speed he was able to muster. Reaching the ground quickly, he looked up to see where to boy would land. He saw the boy falling down and concentrated on catching him.

The jounin figured that he still had some times left, so there was still enough time to read a few words. He put his hand in his kunai pouch to get the dirty book. His eyes widened when the object he was searching for wasn't there anymore. His favourite book was gone! 'Shit, I must have dropped it while running down.'

The man started looking around like crazy. That was until he suddenly saw something from the corner of his eye. It was green and it had red letters on it. "There it is!" He suddenly saw a shadow over the book and he glanced to the side. A small kid was walking towards his precious book with dirty hands. "Nooooo!"

He quickly ran to the dirty book and picked it up with a perverted smile on his face. After making sure that the book was alright, he let out a sigh. Putting the book in his pouch again, he suddenly got the feeling that he had forgotten something rather important. That's when he heard a loud crash behind him. He hesitantly glanced over his shoulder to see what had caused the crash, although he already had a good idea. "Whoops..."

Sakura landed next to the lazy jounin with horrified look on her face. The smoke had cleared completely now and she was able to see the orange, blue and yellow colours. Not waiting for her sensei to come back to his senses she quickly ran towards the crash site.

Kneeling down next to the human sized hole, she started to get worried. "Naruto!"

Her eyes widened even more when she saw that the boy was out cold. "Naruto?"

She didn't get any response from the boy. "Naruto, are you okay?"

Kakashi, who had finally recovered from the shock, landed next to her with a worried look on his face. The man quickly grabbed the boy, hoisted him out of the small crater and lied him down on the ground. The lazy jounin quickly put his two fingers on his neck.

The pressure was rising in the area. Sakura became completely quiet for a second and Sasuke, who finally landed on the ground, didn't say a word either. After a while Kakashi finally let out a breath. "He is still alive."

Sakura felt relieved and sat down on the hard ground while catching her breath. The raven haired Uchiha just nodded and turned around to look at the sky. Sakura was sure that she could hear the boy mumble something resembling 'dobe'. She turned to her sensei instead of trying to talk with her crush. "Why didn't you catch him, Kakashi-sensei?!"

The copy ninja turned to the girl and gave her a nervous smile while scratching the back of his head. "Well, I accidentally dropped my book while running down and when I went to pick it up, Naruto hit the ground. Pretty stupid of me, eh."

Sakura's eyes widened and she brought a hand to her mouth. "No, you're lying, right? You chose your book over your student?"

"No, it's the truth actually." He fumbled in his pocket and brought the book out. "I got this 'Icha icha paradise' at the book store in Suna a few years ago."

When he saw that the girl was starting to get angry, he quickly opened the book. "Look, it even has the autograph of the writer in it! Don't you know how important this book is to me?!"

Sakura just sighed and shook her head. "Seriously, sensei, I thought that you were better than that. You were the one who taught us everything about teamwork and now you betray your own rule. I am very disappointed."

She quickly crawled over to her fallen team mate and started to shake his body. "Wake up. Naruto, please wake up, shannaro!"

His eyes suddenly opened after a few minutes and he quickly sat up. He pinched himself and noticed that he was still there. "I'm alive!" While saying that he brought his left hand to the huge bump on his head. His head was hurting like crazy at the moment.

Sakura became very happy. Tears began to form in her eyes again and her voice was low. "Naruto! You're okay!"

Said boy flinched when he heard that voice. He turned his head to the side and saw the girl, who had put him in this situation, sitting next to him. His eyes widened and he backed off. "Please don't hurt me, Sakura-chan! I promise that I won't do it again!"

Sakura didn't expect something like this and quickly wiped away the tears. He was already back to his normal self. Standing up, she glanced down. "Don't worry, Naruto. I seem to have hurt you enough already, anyway. Just promise that you won't do something like that again." When she saw the boy nod furiously, she couldn't help but smile. 'I have finally taught that baka a lesson!'

Sasuke had enough and started to walk away. Sakura saw this too and frowned. The boy didn't even have the decency to say goodbye. Still, she had to try to get him. "Sasuke-kun, want to go on a date tomorrow?!"

"I am going to go on a training trip for the next five days, so go on a date by yourself!" He then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sakura sighed. This was the last chance for her to go on a date with the boy for a while. She was about to go home as well, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she could see that Naruto was giving her a pleading look. "What's wrong, Naruto?"

The boy started fidgeting with his fingers again and a small blush was on his face. "Do you want to go on a date with me tomorrow?"

The boy had asked her that same question almost every day since she met him. It got her thinking. Was she the same way with Sasuke? Was she just as annoying around the raven haired boy? But she couldn't stop trying. Sasuke was the one for her. The boy just needed to open up a bit, but then he would be perfect. "Sorry, Naruto, I have other things to do tomorrow."

Naruto walked over to her and gave her a soft smile. "Oh, that's too bad. I really wanted to go with you, Sakura-chaaaan. Well, at least let me walk you home. The summer vacation will start tomorrow, so let's go celebrate it!"

Sakura could see the happy expression on his face and she couldn't help but smile. Somehow the boy had that effect on her. He was always able to make someone happy in times like this. And he was right. Summer vacation was starting and she wanted to celebrate it too. "Sure, why not, Naruto."

She saw the smile on his face grow even bigger. "Ramen!"

Sakura sighed, but nodded nonetheless. "Okay, let's go eat ramen this one time, but you're paying!"

Giving her a smile, he ran past her and headed towards his favourite ramen stand. "Yeah, let's go, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura didn't know why, but she felt really happy inside. The boy was always so carefree and he did everything to make her happy. Why couldn't she give the boy a chance? He was so totally different than Sasuke, but he was mysterious in his own way too. At least this boy gave her the time of day. Thinking about this would have to wait for another time, because Naruto was waiting for her. "I'm coming!"

After finally reaching the boy, she gave him a small smile, which he returned immediately. She knew that she had to leave the village with her parents tomorrow. It was like that every year. They would go to that boring place deep in the forest. It wasn't that she hated to be with her parents, but it could get quite boring at times with having nobody her age around. But somehow she got the feeling that this vacation would get interesting.

The foxy grin on his face never left him and it made him look like a little kid. She couldn't help but smile. Why hadn't she seen that cute smile before? Was she so into Sasuke that she had never paid any kind of attention to the boy?

'Wait a minute, did I just say cute?'

'Yeah, you did. It's about time that you saw it. I tried to tell you many times, but you just ignored me.'

'What are you doing here? I thought that you were finally gone.'

'I am a part of you. You will never get rid of me, shannaro!'

'I am so happy,' she thought sarcastically. 'Anyways, I must have said something else. I can't find him cute right? I mean, I already like Sasuke.'

'Sasuke-kun is handsome, but this baka can be pretty cute at times. Unlike Sasuke-kun he doesn't ignore you. And did you take a look at him in the chuunin exams. He has a fine body too, shannaro!'

'No, I didn't see his body in the chuunin exams. It must be because I didn't give him any attention. But you are right, he doesn't ignore me and I can't deny that he can be cute when he wants too. But can this be? I can't actually like him, do I?'

'I can't help you with that, but it is possible to like more people. Maybe you should give him more attention. Maybe you should give him a chance? I mean, maybe you like him much better than Sasuke-kun.'

'You're right. It's not like Sasuke-kun will give me a chance any time soon anyway. He's handsome and very popular, but he isn't nice like that baka. I'll start being nicer to him and maybe when I come back from my vacation and I still find him cute, I'll ask him to go on a date with me.'

'Great plan. Maybe we can finally enjoy our first kiss then. You are very slow at this department. And maybe then…'

Sakura was blushing furiously now. 'I am only fourteen years old! Stop being such a pervert!'

'Okay, okay, but shouldn't you get back to the real world now. He must think that you lost it or something.'

'Shit, you're right. I completely forgot about him.'

She shook her head and opened her eyes again. She glanced to her side and saw that Naruto was giving her a strange look. "What?" The boy didn't say anything, but he placed one of his hands on her forehead. "What are you doing?!"

Naruto quickly removed his hand and gave her a nervous smile. "You were spacing out a bit for a while. I have been talking to you, but you were not listening. And then it looked like you were having a conversation with yourself and you became red at one point too. So I thought that you might be sick or something."

Sakura couldn't help but smile. The boy was actually worried about her, because she spaced out a bit. "Don't worry; I was just thinking about something." This seemed to calm the boy down. She didn't know why, but suddenly she felt really childish and she started running. "The last one at the ramen stand is a slug!"

Naruto didn't understand why the girl was suddenly so happy. Wasn't she angry at him just a while ago? He didn't mind though. Every time with her was a good time. He took of in the same direction as her with a big smile on his face. He suddenly got the feeling that this summer vacation was going to be a great one. "Wait up, you cheated!"

A grey haired man with a mask on his face was standing beside a small crater with a small book in his hand. He saw his two last students running away with smiles on their faces. The wind was blowing softly and there wasn't anyone near the place anymore. The man sighed and opened the book with a downcast face. "Was I completely forgotten?" He then made his way towards his lonely apartment while reading his book.

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AN: That was the first chapter of the story. I hope you enjoyed it. I had to set things off this chapter and it became very long. I think that the others chapters will be shorter than this one, but better. Expect a lot of NaruSaku fluff and romance. It is a romance story, so there won't be much action. Sakura begins to see the real naruto in this chapter and she finds him quite cute. She isn't over Sasuke yet, but she is willing to give him a chance once she gets back. And sorry if I made Kakashi look like a stupid pervert, but I really think of him like that. The next chapter things will really start. I am planning to do one day of the vacation per chapter. So there will probably be this one, then the ten days and then maybe an epilogue.

Please review, because I want to know what you think of my story. You can flame me too if you think it is very bad. If you see any big grammar mistakes you can tell me too. I will try to answer any questions asked in reviews.