----------BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE----------

This is a new story I made. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own Naruto or the other characters.

Summary: Something is up with Sakura and Sasuke wants to know what it is. But will the secret Sakura tries hide destroy her relationship with Sasuke and her friends or can Sasuke and the gang do something to help Sakura with her problem before it's too late?

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"Where the heck is Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei!" yelled Naruto.

"Shut up Dobe!" said Sasuke.

"Who cares about that hag!" said Sai as he laughed to himself, not noticing the secret glare Sasuke sent him.

It's been three years since Sasuke came back from Sound. Naruto had finally fulfilled the lifetime promise he had made for Sakura. Sasuke had defeated Orochimaru and destroyed Sound as well. He also managed to kill his brother. His punishment was not going on any missions or out of the village for the 6 months. But now all of them were all in jounin rank. They were still called Team Seven. The 5th Hokage had arranged things so that Sai could still stay on their team. They didn't have to teach any Genins for now.

Naruto, Sai and Sasuke were waiting at their bridge for Kakashi to arrive. But that wouldn't be for a few hours. Sasuke was the first to arrive as usual, Sai arrived second, and surprisingly Naruto arrived before Sakura.

"Hey Teme, where's Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto as he went up to Sasuke.

"I don't know and I don't care! Now leave me alone" said Sasuke. But deep inside, he has been worrying about her the whole time.

"How can you say that!" yelled Naruto as he got ready to punch Sasuke. Sasuke just dodged it with a little slide to the right. Naruto hit the tree too hard as half his body went through. Sai began to laugh.

"This is a sight to see." said Sai as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"A little help!" cried Naruto. Sasuke sighed as he helped Naruto.

"You're such an idiot" muttered Sasuke.

"What if something happened to my precious Sakura-chan?!" said Naruto.

"I though Hinata was your precious person" said Sasuke.

Naruto stopped his rambling for a bit. Naruto had finally realized his feelings for Hinata and they were now together.

"She's my number one of course. But you should know that Sakura-chan is like a sister to me!"

Naruto began to think what could happen to Sakura to make her late. He soon let his imagination take over. "Sasuke, what if Sakura-chan was kidnapped and being tortured somewhere and we're just standing here doing nothing!" Naruto shook Sasuke a few times as Sasuke pushed him away from him. But Naruto made his worrying worse. He knew cared about Sakura. She was someone very important to him.

She was a friend probably a close friend…

She was someone he could trust…

She was someone he loved having by his side…

She was someone who would stick by him no matter how hard he tries to push her away…

'And she someone you love…'

'Who the hell are you?'

'I am you'

'How can you be me if I'm me?'

'-Sigh- I'm your inner self and you love Sakura-chan!'

'No I don't'

'Uh-huh, sure you don't. Why do you secretly send glares towards Sai when he talks bad about Sakura-chan?'

'Because he's annoying'

'There's always an excuse with you. Just admit it; you have fallen for Sakura Haruno!'

'No I don't!!!'

'You can't lie to me! I'm you, I know what you feel and what you think and you my good man has fallen for Konoha's cherry blossom…'

Sasuke didn't know what to say. He did care about her, but he wasn't sure if he loved her.

When he came back from Sound, he was surprise to see Sakura standing in front of the gates with tears in her eyes. He was shocked that she would still be there for him even though he made her go through so much…

Flashback

He watched as the gates of Konoha opened. Behind him were Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Lee, Sai, Chouji, Shino, and Lee. They all tried again for another retrieval mission. To their surprise, Sasuke had agreed to go with them. As they gates opened, Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw a bunch of people crowding the gates, but that wasn't that surprised him.

In front of them were Hinata, Tenten, Ino, and Sakura. Sakura looked at Sasuke as she took a step closer.

"S-Sa…" Sakura didn't finish as she began to run towards the group. Naruto and the group knew that Sakura was going to hug Sasuke, so they stepped aside.

But to everyone's surprise Sakura actually slapped Sasuke hard across the face. Everyone's mouth dropped as Sakura yelled at him, punched him on the chest, and cried all at the same time and yet, Sasuke didn't do anything to stop her.

"How could you do that? How could you leave me that night? You lied to me! You said you didn't remember the first time we talked at that very spot. I grew stronger and I tried to forget about you but I couldn't. And I-"Sakura choked by a cry as she wrapped her arms around him, afraid he would leave again. "And I'm glad your back home safe…I missed you Sasuke-kun…I missed you so much. Please, please don't leave me again. Please, don't leave me anymore" She finished off as she cried.

The two of them fell to their knees as Sasuke returned the hug. "I'm sorry Sakura. I promise I won't leave you ever again" Naruto just smiled at the two.

"I told you I'd bring him back Sakura-chan!" said Naruto as he put a hand on both of their shoulders. Sakura looked up as Naruto mentally smiled. Today was the first time he'd seen Sakura's eyes shine with such happiness for a long time.

She was back…

He was back…

Team seven was back…

End of flashback

Sasuke came back to from his memories as he looked to see Naruto went to Sai.

Naruto ran over to Sai. "Sai, what if something worse than that happened to Sakura-chan? What if she's in her house dying because someone attacked her last night?"

Sai stopped as his eyes widened. Even though he always teased Sakura, he does care about her and he will admit to himself that he has a sort of attraction to her.

"Nah, Ugly can take care of herself. She is the apprentice of the 5th Hokage of course." Naruto bit his lip but stopped when a small pebble hit his head. He turned around to see Sasuke nodding his head in front of him.

The three looked to see Kakashi and Sakura walking towards them. He had his arm around her as she just had a sad look on her face.

"Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan!" yelled Naruto as he ran towards him. When Naruto got closer to them his eyes widened. Sakura's eyes were a bit red

"Sakura-chan, what's wrong?" asked Naruto as he put a hand on her. Even though you couldn't see Kakashi's face, you could tell from his eyes that he was sad, but about what?

Sakura forced a smile.

"Nothing is wrong!" said Sakura as she slowly pushed his hand off her. "Kakashi and I just had to see Shishou for a while. Sorry we're late" Sakura began to walk by Sai, who had a worried look, and Sasuke, who shot her a worried glance as if asking her what's wrong.

"Well, let's start training" said Kakashi as he took out his perverted book. "Naruto, you and Sai spar. That leaves Sasuke and Sakura to go against each other as well."

The four nodded as Kakashi got into his perverted book. The four made a disgusted look as they got into battle stance.

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other. Sasuke had already activated his Sharingan. He had seen what Sakura can already do. And he knew from experience that he shouldn't underestimate her.

Sasuke looked to see Sakura wasn't at the place where she stood. Damn it, she already started. He looked around as he felt something behind him. He turned and threw a few kunais, but it ended up to be a clone.

Sasuke cursed under his breath as he turned back around to have his face connected to a strong punch. He was sent flying as he could see Sakura running after him. He threw another kunai at her but she quickly dodged it as she tried to land a kick at him. He blocked it with his arm as he punched Sakura in the stomach as he knocked the wind out of her. She bit her lip as she tried to kick him again. He quickly went to the floor as he rolled away. Sakura's foot made contact with the ground as it created a humongous crater.

Before she knew it, Sasuke had tackled Sakura to the ground. The two rolled around before they stopped. Sakura slowly opened her eyes to see Sasuke on top of her, their faces less than an inch or two away from each other. Sakura began to feel her cheeks heat up as she could Sasuke's hot breath on her neck.

Sasuke had opened his eyes and noticed the position they were in and yet, they didn't move at all. He began to blush as well. Onyx eyes stared at green ones.

"GO IN FOR THE KILL!!!" cheered inner Sasuke.

"OMG!! Sasuke-kun is going to kiss us!" squealed inner Sakura

Soon their faces began to move closer.

5 cm

4cm

3 cm

2 cm

1 cm

"SAKURA-CHAN!!! TEME!!!" they two quickly got off each other as they acted like nothing happened.

'THAT IDIOT!!' 'They were so close!!!'

Naruto and Sai came running towards the two. Luckily their blushes were gone.

"What happened here?" asked Sai as he looked the large crater. Sasuke nodded his head towards Sakura.

"You did this Sakura-chan?!" said Naruto in surprise. Sakura tuned Naruto out as she looked at Sasuke from the corner of her eyes.

'Sasuke-kun and I were about to-'

'Kiss?!' squealed inner Sakura. 'But they just had to ruin it'

'But why would he want to kiss me?'

'Um well let's see…HE LIKES YOU! No wait scratch that. HE LOVES YOU!'

'I love him, but what if we're mistaking his action for something else. I mean he if really does love me…then h-he could…'

'Help us…' said inner Sakura.

Sakura sadly frowned. Sasuke could never love her. He had shown her that he cared about her but to love her…she shouldn't get her hopes up.

'You'll never know if he loves you if you don't try and ask him'

'I want to but…but what if he…' Sakura trailed off.

'If he doesn't?' her inner self finished for her

'Yeah'

'Well then, we going to have to be brave for the village, for Shishou, and for everyone we care about. She told us the way to stop it but it's up to what Sasuke-kun says. He's our only hope'

'B-But, isn't there another way?'

'If there was I think Shishou would have told us. She doesn't want us to go through this, but she had to for the sake of Konoha. I'm sorry but this is the only way'

'I know I have to do it. To have the people I care about safe, I must go through it.'

"I must…" Sakura turned pink as she noticed that she had just spoken out loud.

Sasuke narrowed her eyes. Something was up with her. She's not herself today. Did something happen to her yesterday or last night? Was she given bad news? Did something bad happen to her?

"Sakura" called Sasuke and a voice at the same time.

Sasuke looked to see Kakashi and another man walking towards the group. He had dark blue hair, well more like midnight blue. He had beautiful blue eyes and there was only one thing that could describe him…handsome. But he stood no match to Sasuke's looks.

"Ah! To finally meet you, the lovely cherry blossom of Konoha!" said the man as he went up to Sakura and grabbed her hand. Naruto tried to control himself from punching the man right there. Sai just glared at the man. Sasuke was having the most difficult time controlling himself. He was clenching his teeth as his hands turned into fists. His Sharingan was activated as he tried to control himself not to kill the man in front of Sakura.

Soon all hell broke loose when the man leaned towards Sakura to kiss her…

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DUN DUN DUN!!!

What's going to happen next?

What is Sakura hiding?

Who's that boy and what's his relationship with Sakura?

And what does Sasuke have to do with this?

This will all be revealed on the next chapter. Everyone please review. I won't update until I get at least 20 reviews. I hope that's not too much to ask. Sorry if it is.

-love Kumiko