Several years have passed and now a 20-year-old Naruto finds himself in a dicey situation with Sakura. Throw in a huge misunderstanding courtesy of Tsunade and watch the fireworks fall.

Honestly, Naruto and Sakura were never my favorite paring. They're far too much alike to ever make it, and secretly I hated Sakura at the beginning. However, I had this idea the other day and ran with it. I try and keep my work as 'in-character' as possible. How'd I do?

While this piece is 'complete', I have another piece set a year or two after this one as well.

"Do we have a mission today?"

Naruto opened one eye to glance at the pink-haired ninja who walked beside him. He left his arms planted behind his head and yawned before answering. "Oba-chan said we should take a break."

Sakura stopped walking, her hands clenched near her chin.

Naruto turned back and raised a curious eyebrow in response to her sad expression. "What's wrong, Sakura-chan?"

"I don't understand why the Hokage has suddenly stopped giving us missions," she admitted. "It's not like her—and it's not like there aren't missions to be had."

Naruto turned, not able to look at Sakura while he answered. "Yeah. It can't be helped, I guess. Oba-chan's pretty stubborn."

He squirmed when he felt the hot-tempered konoichi grab the back of his collar. Her mood shifts seemed to be getting worse. Made sense.

"The Godaime can never say no to you, and you always fight her about stuff like this," she growled. "There's something you're not telling me."

He didn't even need to see her face to know she was furious. After eight years on her team, he'd be the idiot everyone labeled him as if he didn't. "I—uh—I don't know what you're talking about Sakura-chan," he whined when she spun him around and held her threatening fist near his face.

The boisterous man sat twitching as he watched her storm away. That was too mean, Sakura-chan, he moaned to himself as he felt his cheek beginning to swell. A shadow fell over him and he groaned.

"Hmph. Always getting yourself into trouble, Naruto."

"Hey Shikamaru," he greeted as he forced himself to his feet. He grinned as he appraised the jounin and his constant, lax stance. "How's it going?"

The other man just rolled his eyes and hmphed again. "Tsunade has me going on more missions than I'd like," he complained. "So troublesome."

Naruto laughed. "You up to two a month now, eh?"

"Tch." Shikamaru grinned a little and shrugged. "No thanks to you, try two a week."

"I can't help it," Naruto fired back as the two fell in step. "It's not like I want to be left out."

"So you are being left out," Shikamaru observed.

Naruto frowned and drew back. "That's not what I meant." He knew if Shikamaru set his mind to trying to puzzle the reason, then, the secret would come out. The blond nin just couldn't let that happen.

"Really?"

"Fine," Naruto barked as he spun to grab Shikamaru's shirt. "If you want it like this…" He clenched his fist and forced a scowl to his normally easy-going face. "Leave it alone, Nara," he threatened. "I'll thrash you if you don't."

The lazy man rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. "Like I'd care. Didn't you hear me say the Godaime's keeping me busy?"

Naruto laughed and dropped Shikamaru's shirt. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. Want to go grab some ramen? My treat?"

"Sorry. I'm on my way to meet up with Ino and Chouji. It's the anniversary."

"Ah." Even as thoughtless as he normally was, Naruto knew what anniversary the genius-nin referred to. He offered a sad smile as he thought of the man who'd given him the edge he'd needed to complete his elemental technique. "Ne, give an extra prayer to Asuma for me, then."

Shikamaru just waved and continued his slow pace. Naruto scratched his head and sighed. He must be a little more strung out than normal to threaten Shikamaru like that—especially without good reason. Of course, if the lazy genius hadn't been interested before, Naruto had just stupidly increased his chances of being so.

The man stopped walking and dropped his head in defeat. This was hard enough without have to worry about others finding out too. He leapt to the roofs and hopped his way to the Hokage monument. He settled down in one of the nooks created by the Yondaime's hair and rested his arms behind his head to watch the birds and the clouds in the sky.

"Hey pop," he sighed aloud. "Me again. I don't know what to do. Oba-chan told me to keep my mouth shut about it, but it's so hard." Naruto closed his eyes and shook his head as a deep sadness welled in his chest. "What would you do if the woman you loved ended up pregnant—and it wasn't yours?"

He felt so stupid. Stupid that he was blind. Stupid that he obviously wasn't enough. Stupid that he still loved her. But he did—deeply and truly. Sakura was his everything; even more than Sasuke could ever have been. Sasuke was his brother—Sakura was his air. How could she do this to him?

He laughed to himself. "Yeah, pop, I guess you're right. He stood and dusted himself off. "Thanks."

The man took off in search of the pink-haired woman who'd belted him not half-an-hour ago.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, I need to talk to you."

He was glad his girlfriend seemed calmer now. It increased his chances of not getting hit again.

Sakura looked up from her files and grinned, happiness spilling from her green eyes. "Okay. Sorry about before. I shouldn't have hit you."

"It's fine," he brushed it off. "Can we go somewhere more private?"

Her face showed confusion but she nodded. He watched her stack her files and set them aside as she stood to lead him.

"What's this about?" she asked as she shut the door to the ANBU lounge behind them.

He sighed and leaned up against the window sill as he spread his gaze out over Konoha. "You know I love you, right?"

"This is starting to sound like a scene from a bad movie where the girl gets dumped."

He chuckled and turned to grin at her. "Don't be silly, Sakura-chan. I would never leave you."

"Then what's with that question?" she asked as she stepped towards him. "Of course I know. I've known since we were twelve."

"And you know that I'd love you no matter what?"

"Naruto, you're scaring me," she pouted as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you sick or something? Did the Hokage send you on a suicide mission?"

Heh, Naruto laughed to himself. Maybe she did. The man shook his head and continued smiling at Sakura. "Let's get married right away."

Her jaw dropped and her eyes bulged. "The hell?" she shouted. "Really; are you sick or something?"

He drew back, holding one arm before him in defense. "Of course not," he snapped. "What makes me sick for wanting to marry you?"

Sakura dropped her head and pinched the bridge of her nose as her foot tapped cracks into the floor.

He appreciated that she was trying to control herself—as did his bones.

"Naruto, we've been going out for what, ten months? Don't you think this is kinda rushed and a little—odd? I mean your proposal wasn't exactly romantic."

He frowned. "I just thought that, you know, with the baby and all…"

"What?" she shouted.

Naruto cringed, seeing his life pass before his eyes as she stalked towards him. "Of course, if you don't want me, I'll…" It tore him apart to speak the words he knew he had to. "I'll make the other guy marry you…"

"Baka!" she screeched as she slammed her fist against his head. "Baka-Naruto!" After another belt for good measure, the woman spun on her heels and stormed from the room.

He watched the glass shatter in the door as she slammed it behind her. "Geeze," he grouched to himself as he stood and rubbed his throbbing head. "I thought women were supposed to be happy when they're proposed to." Sometimes he had to wonder just what about her made him love her so much. However, despite her temper, and sometimes despite intelligence, he did love her.

"…and now I can't get her to talk to me. I just don't get it." Naruto sighed and propped his feet up on a long spike of hair from his father's likeness. He tugged at his own hair and grinned. He liked his hair longer—like the Yondiame—like his father's.

"Naruto? You up here?"

He sat up and glanced at the intruder before flopping back down again. "Yeah. What do you want, teme?"

"Hn," the dark-haired shinobi smirked as he approached to sit down beside his complete opposite. "Did you really ask Sakura to marry you?"

"Yeah," he sighed and screwed his face up into a childish pout. "She hit me—twice."

Sasuke chuckled and shook his head. "You really are a moron sometimes."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The Uchiha smirked at him while staring from the corner of his eye. "You must have asked in a really stupid way if she turned you down."

Naruto grunted and crossed his arms. He didn't know of any different way to ask. Besides, even if she loved him, if there was someone she loved more, then there was no possible way for him to ask that she'd accept. "You don't know anything," he grumped.

"I know when a guy a girl loves proposes, as long as he wasn't a moron when he asked, she says yes."

Those words hurt more than he wanted to admit. He didn't think his proposal had been all that bad, at least at first. That meant… Sakura loved someone else.

"Is it you?" he murmured as his head dropped. As much as Sasuke meant to him, and as much as Naruto wanted to compete with him at everything, if Sakura loved the raven-haired ANBU still, and more than she loved Naruto, the blond couldn't fight it.

"Is what me, dobe?"

"Are you the one she loves more than me?"

Naruto's teeth clattered together when Sasuke's fist slammed against the top of his head. "You really are the number one baka-nin. Sakura loves you, moron."

"But…"

"I've gotta leave for my mission. Don't do anything too stupid while I'm gone." With a final condescending smirk, the ANBU lowered his snake mask and signed his teleportation.

"Teme," Naruto growled as he swung to his feet. Who did he think he was to say something like that and then run away? Naruto was going to beat him senseless when he got back. He huffed as he jumped off towards his favorite ramen shop. All this thinking was going to make his brain go numb.

He grinned and broke his chopsticks apart before raising the bowl to blow off the steam.

"Gah!" he nearly fell off his stool when a grip on his shoulder startled him.

"Thought I might find you here."

"Sensei…" Naruto grinned at his former academy teacher and motioned for the man to sit. "Let me buy you some Ramen."

"Isn't that a switch?" Iruka grinned and dropped down beside the younger man. "You look down, Naruto," he observed.

"Ne, sensei, do you have any experience with women?" He watched his friend turn a little red and the man shrugged.

"Yeah, some. What's up?"

"What would make a woman angry about being proposed to?"

Naruto forced down a laugh when Iruka nearly choked on his ramen. Man, if he was going to get reactions like that, he wanted now more than ever to be able to tell people about him and Sakura.

"What?"

Naruto felt his mirth fade as he remembered his situation. He asked the question again and turned to wait for his sensei's answer.

"Well, if someone she wasn't even dating asked she might get offended—especially if the proposal wasn't genuine."

"But it was!" he blurted. "And we are!"

This time Iruka did choke. The blond patted his friend's back until the scarred man stopped coughing.

"You're dating someone?"

"Can you keep a secret, sensei?"

Iruka nodded and Naruto leaned closer to him so he could whisper and still be heard. "Sakura-chan and I have been going together for almost a year."

Iruka's jaw dropped. "Why haven't you two told anyone?"

"At first it was because she wasn't supposed to date anyone until she finished her apprenticeship with Oba-chan, then it became sorta like a game. Now, it's because I'm kinda afraid people will start targeting her for dating Konoha's monster."

"Are you still getting abuse?"

"Nothing physical anymore," Naruto sighed, "but there are still whispers and glares. I don't want her to get that."

"Do you two go on dates?" Iruka asked.

Naruto grinned. "Yeah. We call 'em Henge-dates. I love it when she transforms into a bath-attendant."

Iruka laughed as realization lit his eyes. "So that's why you and Sakura seemed to have become such players."

"That's right." Naruto grew serious again. "But she turned me down flat when I asked her to marry me." He sighed and shook his head. "I'm at my wit's end."

Iruka reached over and landed a light punch on his former student's shoulder. "Don't worry, Naruto. We both know that Sakura is far too serious about everything to just be playing around with you. She must have had a reason."

"Thanks, Iruka-sensei."

"So who does know about the two of you?"

Naruto sat back to think. "Well, you, Sasuke, and anyone else that she might have gone to today to scream about me being an idiot, so probably Ino for sure."

Iruka laughed and stood. "Thanks for the ramen, Naruto. I think I should be heading out now though."

"Later, sensei."

Naruto kicked at the piece of trash at his feet as he walked down the street, trying to figure out just how to apologize to Sakura. Maybe flowers from Ino's family's shop. She always seemed to like flowers.

"Look, it's Naruto-baka."

"Hey, Ino-chan," he greeted as she entered the shop. "I'm here for some flowers."

The platinum-blonde smirked at him. "You're going to need a whole lot more than that, you know."

He sighed and felt his shoulders droop. "Just give me your nicest bouquet," he murmured. "I have to start somewhere."

Ino's grating laughter made his teeth grind together, but he said nothing as she toddled around gathering flowers and wrapping them up.

"Here ya go."

He paid her and accepted the flowers. It was difficult to ignore her mocking smile and the kiss she blew through the air while winking. The announcement that he was a dead-man-walking hung in the air as he gritted his teeth and departed.

Naruto jumped when Genma appeared before him. "Geeze!" he complained. "Warn a guy when you're just going to just appear!" It wasn't as if he didn't have enough stress right now.

"The Godaime is summoning you," he announced. "Come quickly."

Naruto frowned. "First I have to…"

"No. She said immediately."

Naruto pouted and leapt to follow the other ninja through Konoha towards the Hokage tower.

"What do you want, Oba-chan?" he shouted as he burst through the door. "I have something very important I'm trying… to… fix…"

He felt himself pale when he saw a very angry Sakura standing with her arms crossed, glaring at him. The man forced a smile and reached up to rub his head as the flowers he still held lowered to his side. "Oh, hey, Sakura-chan. What's new?"

The pink-haired healer crossed her arms and turned away from him. "Baka," she spat.

He winced and turned back to the Hokage. "Okay, so what did you want, Oba-chan?" he snapped, feeling even less patient than normal.

The woman frowned and glared up at him while her mouth drew into a thin angry line. "I'd really hoped that you'd learn some respect by now."

"Well, give that up," he blurted. "Can we hurry this along?"

"Shut-up!" she shouted as she slammed her fist on her desk. "You idiot, just wait!"

Naruto stalked to her couch and slammed himself down and crossed his arms. He knew that this wouldn't be about a mission, so he didn't have to stand there like normal. Silent seconds continued to tick by while all three individuals added to the oppressive atmosphere.

Finally the Hokage broke the silence. "I owe you both an apology."

Naruto lifted his eyes in surprise and stared at Tsunade. She was leaning back in her chair and staring at the ceiling.

"This afternoon, Iruka came and told me that you two have been dating for a while."

"We won't be after today," Sakura hissed.

Naruto gasped. That was worse than having a chidori shoved through his chest. "But Sakura-chan…"

"Stop it, Naruto!" she snarled as she turned to glare at him. "I won't date an idiot who has no faith in me and jumps to stupid conclusions!"

"But…"

"Both of you, just shut-up!" bellowed Tsunade. "I'm trying to explain something here!" The woman's frown deepened as she flicked her glare from one to the other.

"Naruto, until I knew for sure that the rupture in your seal was fully healed, I needed to find a way to keep you in the village with the least amount of fighting from you, because that would only make it worse. Sakura, I felt that you were the best way I could accomplish that. If I knew that you were dating I would have found another way."

Both of the younger nin stared at her in confusion.

Tsunade took a deep breath. "Sakura was never pregnant, Naruto."

"What?" they both shouted in unison.

The Hokage leveled her furious glare on both of them, and they silenced. She shifted to look at Naruto. "I told you, I needed you to be in the village and calm for as long as possible. The best way I could think to do this was to give you a reason to stay here willingly. If I couldn't send Sakura on missions, I figured you would be happy to stay here and watch out for her."

Naruto didn't know what he should have been feeling. A part of him was overjoyed that Sakura hadn't cheated on him, another part of him ached that he thought she would. But the pink-haired nin was right; Sakura didn't need a boyfriend who would jump to conclusions. After all, as much as he didn't want to think of something like that happening to his Sakura, there were ways other than cheating that she might have gotten pregnant. He dropped his head into his hand. His ill-worded proposal must have hurt her so much. He was an idiot.

"You told him I was pregnant?" Sakura's tiny voice cut through the silence that followed the leader's words.

Tsunade nodded though her scowl deepened. "Like I said, I would have figured out something else if I knew you two were dating. I apologize."

Naruto listened as his beloved Sakura walked towards him. "You wanted to marry me anyway?"

He winced and looked up at her. The tears in her eyes cut at his heart. Not bothering to lift his head, Naruto lifted the flowers whose stems he'd crushed in his frustration and anger. "I didn't mean to hurt you, Sakura-chan," he murmured. "I'm sorry."

She lifted the flowers out of his hand and held them against her chest. Naruto watched as she dropped to her knees before him. "No, I'm sorry," she whispered as she reached out to rub her thumb over the scars on his cheek. "You asked me if I knew you loved me…

"I think now I realized just how much."

Naruto felt a smile creep to his lips as his eyes drooped closed. "Does this mean you won't dump me?"

Sakura chuckled and leaned forward to brush her lips over his. "I suppose it does. I hope I haven't scared you off from ever asking me to marry you."

Naruto grinned. "Of course not," he laughed. "I already asked once, and you didn't actually say no. My way of the ninja says I don't take anything back. You let me when you're ready, and I'll ask again—better next time."

Sakura giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you, Naru."

Naruto held her against him and sighed in relief. "Ne, Sakura-chan, how about we go to the bathhouse tonight?" His voice dropped to a teasing whisper. "I'll Henge into Kakashi-sensei if you want."

"Baka!"

Naruto rubbed the back of her head where she'd smacked him and watched her storm away flailing the flowers as she went. That meant yes. He chuckled and stood. "Thanks, Oba-chan."

"You're going to have to stop teasing her if you ever want to stop being hit," Tsunade warned in a bored voice.

Naruto just laughed and darted after his fuming fiancé.