A/N: So…almost a year later since my last (and first EVER) post. Funny how times flies, huh? Anyways, here's a little something that's managed to dig a hole in my mind and refused to leave until I wrote it out and posted it. Funny how little things like fanfiction ideas just don't leave when you want them to. Inspiration hit me like a rock. Hah. Okay, I won't hold you from reading this, so go! Read it, learn it, love it. Just kidding.

I'll Fly With You

She was never the bolt of lightning in her neighborhood compared to all the other kunoichi as a kid, but that doesn't really count when they've all grown up to be normal civilians after the Chuunin Exams became clearly impossible to pass…except to Sakura. She knew what it took to pass, and although it took another attempt to finally rank up in the shinobi world, she'd had to do it without her original teammates. No, she had to force herself to trust two complete strangers, people who she'd never met before, who'd never saved her life before, who hadn't even known her name until they reached the Forest of Death.

Sakura knew the only reason she passed with flying colors the second time was because the thought of her precious, inspiring, best of the best teammates leveling up on their own without her motivated her completely. She couldn't stand the thought of being the weakest link again, of being the one left behind. She'd prove to them that she was just as strong as them, prove herself worthy of their friendship and respect, and she'd do it the same way they were.

But never in her life did she think that when she finally managed to bring them both home that they'd be weaker than her; of course, physically , they couldn't stand a trembling chance against her and her mighty (Kakashi said it was "insane") strength. Sakura's flawless chakra control had somehow bested Naruto's endless supply of chakra - though Sakura was sure he'd chosen not to use it because he still held her so close to his heart; it touched her and insulted her at the same - and Sasuke's newly-improved Sharingan. Perhaps they'd been still out of breath from their own battle from moments before, but whatever the reason, she'd plowed them into the ground within four minutes. It was almost pathetic how they had gone down without putting up a worthy fight, but she could tell that they actually tried. Sakura had wanted a rematch, but seeing as that she was lucky Sasuke and Naruto had even agreed to fight her two to one, she took what she could get.

So here she was, waiting by a certain ramen bar, waiting for the two to show up for the weekly dinner they had together, wondering what on earth could be taking them so damn long (they were forty-five minutes late!) when practically out of nowhere, Naruto rammed right into her, nearly knocking her down but she was able to concentrate enough chakra to her feet so that they didn't disconnect with the ground. Naruto, on the other hand, went sprawling onto the dirt, kissing the ground quite forcefully from the fall. He quickly erected himself and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve and spit the dirt that had gotten into his mouth out.

"Bleh! Just because this dirt is constantly drenched in ramen broth, it doesn't make it as delicious. Ugh, I need ramen to wash my mouth out with now," he said, a disgusted pout on his sun-kissed face.

Sakura gave him a reprimanding look, hoping that the feel of the fierce glare on him would make him look at her. When he still was too busy trying to comb off the dirt from his tongue with his fingers, Sakura said loudly, "Naruto. Where. The HELL. Have you BEEN?"

Naruto suddenly snapped his head up, taken aback by both her seemingly sudden appearance and her tone; he knew it by heart, and if memory served him right, in a few seconds he was bound to be pulverized so brutally he'd have to be hospitalized for days.

"Sakura-chan? When'd you get here? I didn't even see you! What's with that face?" Naruto's expression went from concern to comprehension in two seconds flat. "It was the teme, wasn't it? That damn bastard, always stomping on your feelings like freakin' dirt! I'll deal with him, he knows better than to hurt you, Sakura-chan, 'cause if he did, I'll pound him -"

"NARUTO!" Sakura shouted, practically seething since the beginning of his little rant. "It was both of you idiots! Where the hell have you been all this time? I've been waiting for you guys to show up for over half an hour! You're lucky I don't have the time to mutilate you both into shreds of meat!" She was red in the face with irritation, and Naruto's gut was suddenly begging him not to maker her get physical with her anger; the last time that happened, he'd ended up with a broken leg and wrist, and a really bad contusion. A few days later Sakura had commented that he was insanely lucky that he hadn't sustained any severe brain damage. Though now whenever he spotted Sakura balling up her fists and her body tremble with restrained fury, his head would automatically begin to ache so terribly he'd think a migraine was on its way fast.

Naruto looked very worried then and seemed to have forgotten that she was not on the top of his priority list. "Sakura-chan! You've got to help! We were late because of the teme's damned stalkers! I swear they tried to rip me apart, and some even tried to grope me," Naruto let out a violent shudder. "But I had to get help, and no one was nearby, no one willing to help, they all just moved out of the way as we ran-"

"We?" Sakura asked, suddenly aware of a missing presence. "You mean you and Sasuke? But if you made it back, where's Sasuke-?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you! We have to go back and help him! When I left him he had this plan to lose them around the outskirts of the village, but I don't know if he made it or not, and I know for sure he's already got some pretty nasty gashes from our spar earlier," Naruto explained, eyes worried and words rushed. "They definitely have to be slowing him down, I landed a deep one in his leg somewhere, and it was bleeding like no tomorrow. It's probably leaving a trail of blood everywhere he goes and-"

"Trail? Then we have to go and find it! He could faint from blood loss, and I swear if he lets himself run around like the speed of a lightning bolt he usually does, he'll end up pulling a whole bunch of muscles at the same time or something and snap his leg. And if he does, I swear I'm not going to be the one who heals it this time! I've told him over and over again that running at full speed with a deep cut and a possibly severed tendon was practically equivalent to an extremely injured rabbit trying to run away but leaving behind a delicious bloody trail for a ravenous wolf," Sakura seethed. How many times had she told him not to run with severe injuries? She was practically a mute to Sasuke, and she was getting really, really sick of having to patch him up every time he did the exact opposite of what she told him to avoid. He could be such a idiotic child sometimes. Ever since he'd been taken off two-years' worth of probation a few months back, she'd tried to help him readjust to mission life by telling him that a few jounin from other villages liked to soak their senbon needles, shuriken, and kunai in poison, and he'd acknowledged her information detachedly, but still took it all the same. They'd gotten along fairly well since his return a couple years back, when rumors went flying that both Itachi and Orochimaru were very dead, as were Kabuto, the rest of the Snake Sannin's particularly loyal subordinates were left twisted into piles of limbs - still breathing, but hardly alive- in front of a nearby village's police building. Sakura learned that Sasuke refused to take a life unless he deemed it absolutely necessary; the only lives he chose that were completely exceptional was that of his older brother and the Sannin who trained him.

But how could he be so careless? Didn't it go against everything Sasuke personified: determination, fierceness, flawlessness, precision, carefulness, security, perfection? No other ninja in all of the five great nations was anything like the Uchiha; while they had their own unique talents, they were useless in comparison to his experience. Nothing could slip past him, nothing could go unseen, nothing could be hidden, and everything was wholly understood as sunlight in the day. Sure he had his reckless days, days when sparring with Naruto for hours on end with no food or even five-minute intervals would cause him to make little insignificant mistakes, but he knew to keep things orderly and precise in the presence of all others except his teammates. She and Naruto knew that Sasuke had somehow decided that they could be trusted entirely, and with them was the only time he lowered his guard. They were as close as any family and they held each other in parallel importance.

There were days when they couldn't stand each other - or when Sasuke and Sakura couldn't stand Naruto - and they'd go their separate ways for a while; but never longer than a couple of days; they'd disagree often, they'd ignore each other, they'd even provoke each other as much as siblings would.

Sakura realized that this was exactly the case: Sasuke ignored the constant warnings Sakura threw his way because he knew it would anger her phenomenally. She recalled the dispute the team had a couple days back, when she'd been obligated to heal both Naruto's and Sasuke's moronic injuries just because she just stood aside and watched it happen. Of course Naruto had pleaded that she take his side of the argument (she couldn't remember what that argument was to save her life) and she had refused, explaining that Sasuke made a point and it was much more logical than what Naruto thought, in fact beyond Naruto's level of understanding logic. Of course he'd accused her of taking Sasuke's side because she'd always liked him better, and Sasuke had retorted that she only took his side because it actually made sense, and so, instigated yet another fight. In the end, Naruto had suddenly come up with something so reasonable, that Sakura couldn't help but see the undisputable sense in it, and agreed with Naruto. Sasuke, being the proud (arrogant) Uchiha he was, had his ego blown to bits when he saw that Sakura no longer favored his side - which was obviously the right side, of course - and became indignant, so he stalked angrily off and away from the training field. Sakura had heard later from Hinata, who had been in the village market, that she'd heard some sort of violent crash somewhere and found that a Chuunin was stuffed into a vegetable cart like a bag of annoying smelly trash, and seemed to be under the influence of a horrifying genjutsu. Sakura knew immediately that any other people who had crossed Sasuke's path during his raging trek home was definitely shoved aside and Uchiha frustration had been forcibly lashed out on them.

She nearly hoped that Sasuke got a little of his own medicine; always treating innocent helpless people so violently was bound to bite you in the rear at some point, and Sasuke definitely had it coming, but deep down inside she couldn't quite convince herself that she'd be able to just sit at home and peacefully eat dinner or something while her teammate was jumped by obsessed hormonal girls (who, by majority, were civilians, but even the occasional kunoichi lost all knowledge of an experienced assassin in nanoseconds when in his presence).

So she and Naruto went speeding off, trying to find Sasuke's bloody trail, hoping that they weren't too late to at least help him fight off the fan girls. She hoped that if they were, that he wouldn't it against them for long and understand that they did all that they could but just weren't fast enough. H e was understanding, wasn't he? He could see that they honestly put effort into helping him but the effort hadn't been enough. But hopefully that wouldn't be the case.

Out of the corner of her eye, a very small splatter of rich crimson stood out against the plain beige of the road, and flashed over to it. She called out to Naruto.

"Hey, I think I found some of his blood!" She bent down to examine the little puddle of red more closely. "It looks pretty fresh, and from the way the blood spreads out, it was at an eighty-degree angle. You said you got him in the leg, right?"

"Yeah," Naruto replied, jumping down and landing next to her on the ground. "We fought about ten minutes ago, so this should be him!"

"Then the angle's perfect for a wound from the height of a human leg. He was definitely running full blast," Sakura observed. But she couldn't help how her worry built up inside her, now knowing that Sasuke was exerting himself beyond the usual to get as far away from those idiotic drooling fools as possible. Her medic intuition was telling her that it was very risky to be pushing one's self beyond one's limit while severely injured, especially when the injury is in the area of the legs, which helped support the upper body and keep it erect and the airways unblocked . "Come on, we have to catch up to him!" And from there they shot off into the distance, following the occasional droplets of blood on the ground; where the found larger spots of it, they were few and far between, though Sakura's concern grew even more. She prayed with all her heart that Sasuke had outwitted those girls yet again, and was resting peacefully in the hospital to have his wounds taken care of.

He could hardly understand why all these girls wouldn't give up already. There was absolutely nothing that could keep them so determined, nothing that could motivate them to just keep chasing him until he could no longer find the energy in his already-worn out body to keep going. Why couldn't they just leave him alone, for once in his entire life? All he wanted was to train a little, a quick spar with Naruto (with his enemies dead, what else would keep him from just taking a break from the adventurous shin obi life?) and have the dinner he'd been sort of looking forward to all day. H never asked for irritations, annoyances, nothing like that. No, all he wanted was to be done with the day and eat something; he'd been starving since morning, seeing as that he didn't get a chance to eat lunch what the "little" spar with Naruto lasted quite a bit longer than he had anticipated. And though he wasn't certain of it yet, he had been contemplating apologizing to Sakura for acting like a child when she had changed her mind and taken Naruto's side of the argument two days ago. When he thought about it later, he realized that Naruto did make a good point, and he was reluctant to admit that Naruto was really brushing up on his common sense lately. Besides, it hadn't been her fault, and he had no excuse to act so rudely. He had to apologize, but how? H e couldn't think of a way that would subtlety hint at it enough for her to understand so he wouldn't have to say it out loud; Sakura knew it was a little difficult to admit he was wrong (and that Naruto was right) but he wasn't sure that she'd forgive him any time soon. She wasn't the same annoying little fan girl from their genin days, no; Sakura had transformed from an ever-lasting nuisance to an obstinate, reasonable, strong woman. And Sasuke had no idea how to go about apologizing to girls, either.

But when Naruto had decided to bring up the argument from that day during their fight in the morning, Sasuke lost it, but for only a few seconds, and paid dearly for losing his concentration just for that short bit of time: Naruto had managed to embed a large kunai into the side of his thigh, and quite deeply. The blood had gushed out from the wound like a corked geyser and in truth, the amount of blood he was losing had begun to concern him. Hadn't Sakura once mentioned something about really deep puncture wounds like this before? He couldn't remember, and besides, he figured she'd eventually come around and heal it for him the way she usually did, albeit reluctantly. He imagined that she often felt as though her only purpose was to serve as his and Naruto's personal medic, but he knew better. Sasuke appreciated all of her skills - especially her crazy strength; that power had come in handy so many times - and he never appreciated her any less than she required, if not more.

She was so patient with her teammates, and being compassionate was in her nature, but damn did that woman have a temper. She had extremely unpredictable mood swings (which once led to Naruto asking if she had a severe case of PMS, which resulted in Naruto have a very bruised face and several broken ribs and a cracked femur) and she was as stubborn as the Hokage herself; many people said she was a reincarnation of the busty Sannin, but most chose not to say so in her presence; both were very proud, and liked to think that their obstinacy was quite a fantastic quality.

All Sasuke think about at the moment, though was when the fucking hell she and Naruto were going to show and help him! He knew that Naruto had straight to Sakura for help, considering that they both knew she'd be waiting for them at Ichiraku, where they were supposed to meet for dinner, but alas, food seemed to elude him as the earlier part of the day had.

This particular crowd of (stupid, idiotic, mindless, disgusting, annoying, stupid) fan girls were actually a little more wary of his tricks that any normal infatuated crowd of females usually were around him; almost as if they knew to be cautious of anything suspicious that would suggest his attempts at escape. Maybe they were finally learning from past experiences of chasing him through the village? No, they couldn't possible think straight enough to form a coherent plan to catch and make him theirs - the thought made him shiver violently; he hoped, hoped with all his might that he was wrong, wrong, wrong, that they weren't getting smarter - and never let him see the light of day again.

They'd already somehow managed to rip off a huge part of his shirt, and spot the gash in his thigh (which conveniently revealed light, fair skin to them) and they practically went berserk. Some of them even fainted from the flawlessness of his skin; but unfortunately, a few were able to recover and resume chasing him relentlessly. At one point or another, Sasuke knew his hurt leg was going to give out, and he'd have to stop and rest for a while somewhere. But he just couldn't lose them. This really was so stupid to him. Sakura and Naruto had to show up soon, or else Sasuke might lose his precious innocence by the end of the day.

"The blood's getting fresher, and the drops are growing bigger!" Naruto suddenly noted, taking Sakura by surprise and making her worry she was trying to hold down sky rocket in her mind. How could Sasuke last this long without losing consciousness? Either he was on a streak of luck or he was really determined to get away from the rabid fantasizers. All she knew was that if they didn't find Sasuke soon, they could lose him or worse, his sanity. Only she and Naruto knew how absolutely annoying the crowds or girls were to Sasuke, seeing as that they both were always with him, and thus the girls would annoy them just as much.

"I don't think he's going to last much longer," Sakura said, concern in her voice and furrowing her brow. "He should be close by now, but we won't be able to find him if he's masking his chakra signature to hide from those disgusting fan girls. We need to find something that would point us straight to him, but that leads around the crowds so we don't run into them and lead them to him as well."

"Yeah, I definitely do not want to run into those-" Naruto's body shook with an involuntary shudder, "- monsters again. They get so aggressive! Why can't they just leave a guy alone?" He was at a loss about how so many women could lose their minds over one Uchiha. And they knew he didn't like them, he'd make it crystal clear hundreds of times before! Couldn't they take a hint when they saw one?

A flash of a dark blurry color caught his eye, and his mind screamed that it had to be Sasuke; who else wore that dark a shade of blue in the village? Naruto quickly caught Sakura's attention quietly as he could. He motioned with his eyes in the direction he saw the mirage of color had been and she nodded her head in comprehension.

They quickly made their over to the area - a small clearing where a creamy, sweet aroma wafted from a colorful patch of flowers that were just beginning blossom - and noticed a shadow ghosting swiftly through the nearby trees, parallel to their positions. Once they arrived in the dead center of the pleasant-smelling meadow, they searched with their senses through the nearby area for any invisible listeners. Once they were certain no one was close enough to see what was going on, the phantom-like being stepped out of the darkness of the trees and into plan sight.

Sakura and Naruto let out a breath of relief while Sasuke leaned over slightly and panted heavily, practically out of breath and lighted layered in a sheen of sweat.

"What took you so damn long?" he asked.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he squinted his eyes at Sasuke nervously. "Oh, you know, we had to find you without leading the rest of those mongrels straight to you, or did you want that to happen, teme?" He teased him, though he knew full well that Sasuke would have strangled him if even one of those beasts called "fan girls" had followed them here.

"Of course the dobe would come up a lame excuse," Sasuke breathed out, irritation barely heard through the harshness of his intake of breath. It must have been quite a chase if Sasuke felt winded.

"I was the one who that of that, Sasuke! Did you really want us to lead that entire fleet of mindless hormone-crazed girls to you? We had to find away around them and to find you without catching their attention at the same time, you know!" Sakura scolded, but her instincts told her that Sasuke was pretty grateful for being so careful.

"Aa. If they're not anywhere near by, you think you could heal me real quick?" Sasuke immediately inquired, suddenly overwhelmed with the numbing pain his whole body seemed to emit. He realized that maybe paying attention to Sakura's little medical lectures might not be a bad idea in the future.

"Sure, but why are you so worried about the fan girls? It's not like they could take both Naruto and I now that we're with you," Sakura asked, curious as to why Sasuke looked so wary and kept checking the area around them. "Besides, they should've realized by now that they've lost track of you. Why would the keep looking for you if they have no idea where you are?"

Sasuke's mouth was set in a grim line. "They have motivation." It was vague, but a little too unclear for her to understand.

"Motivation? What kind of motivation could possibly keep them-" she was cut short when Sasuke straightened and moved his arm that she now noticed had been pressed against his stomach the entire time that they were talking. Her eyes caught the glistening sweat that coated Sasuke's now visible abdomen. Everything immediately clicked in her mind; those perverted stalkers ripped off a whole chunk off the front of his shirt, revealing his godly six-pack that seemed to be hacked at deeply by fingernails, the tens of little cuts running from the top left side to the bottom right. Of course that was enough motivation to keep them going. Who wouldn't want to see Sasuke's chiseled muscles without the normal obscuring layer of fabric? Sakura soon found herself a little breathless.

She quickly snapped herself out of her oncoming trance; she wasn't one of those damn fan girls anymore, she respected Sasuke and his personal space. She wasn't going to lose her cool over perfect abs, dammit! She worked too hard to get herself this far to screw it all up in half a second. But then she found that self-control would be at the very top of her priorities list, because Sasuke then stepped forward and her sight shifted to the blood-soaked shredded pant leg that hung loosely over a painful-looking stab wound on the inside of his upper thigh.

Oh. His thigh…and slowly Sakura noticed that it was getting a little more obvious as to why Sasuke was so keen on making sure that no one was close enough to see. This was definitely going to be a very awkward healing session.

Naruto had had quite a long laughing fit, going so far as to dropping onto his knees and holding his sides as his laughter rocked his body, he nearly silent giggles making it seemed like he was experiencing a seizure. He laughed for three minutes straight, barely able to breathe, all the while teasing Sasuke about how horrible it must have to have all those girls see his thigh all exposed. Eventually Sasuke became so fed up with him that he threatened to turn him inside out with his bare hands, shove him into a pool of acid, tear out his organs, and make him swallow them whole if he didn't leave so he could serve as a look-out while Sakura healed him. Naruto had stopped abruptly and scampered out of the clearing, letting little giggles slip from him along the way. He stopped right outside of normal hearing distance since he knew no matter how much he tried, his voice would always be too loud however close he was, so he figured that he would sound a little quieter if he were farther out; he knew they'd still hear him anyways.

Which left Sasuke and Sakura standing awkwardly in the little meadow, Sakura trying to get a hold of her bearings while Sasuke pushed the rising blood from his cheeks and convinced himself that Sakura wouldn't do anything to him, he could trust her the way he always had. Just because she was a girl didn't mean that she'd lose control of herself and take advantage of him, especially in such a weak state. Sakura would never do that…as far as Sasuke knew, Sakura was over her crush on him - she'd stopped adding the -kun suffix to the end of his name a while ago, and he was strangely pleased with that - and she respected his personal space, never overstepping an invisible boundary between them. Of course she had to before, when they sparred occasionally, but they knew that getting too close would cause discomfort for the both of them.

Sakura sucked in a quiet deep breath, exhaled slowly, and motioned for Sasuke to come closer so she could start healing him. She quickly bit the tips of her gloved middle fingers and slipped off the gloves she always wore, and stuffed them into the shuriken pouch on her back. Sasuke, meanwhile, walked over to her as fast as he could without toppling over, the exhaustion of the continuous run finally catching up to him. He sat cross-legged on the green grass as Sakura quickly crouched into front of him and was about to reach out to his torso when he stopped her.

"My back first, I can hardly roll my shoulders back without it hurting like hell," he says casually, almost as if he had expected Sakura to already know.

"Your back?" she asked, confusion wrinkling her brow and causing her to give him a curious look. "What about your back? If it's worse than your abdomen, why didn't you tell me before?"

Sasuke gave her a knowing look. "Naruto would never let me live it down," he said, a small smirk spreading on his face.

Sakura gave a small smile in return, knowing what Sasuke about Naruto was true; he would do something like that, and that would just be adding onto the already high enough mountain of bruises to his pride. She walked over behind him and evaluated all the gashes in his back, though most covered his shoulder blades. His shirt was torn up much more worse than she'd originally thought; she hadn't even considered that his back was hurt, too, so she though the damage was only in the front. These kinds of cuts weren't so difficult to heal, but she knew that leaving bloodstained clothes on over open wounds was just asking for an infection.

"You're going to have to take off your shirt, Sasuke, the frayed threads are getting into the cuts," Sakura explained. "They're probably making it a little more painful than normal, so if you could take off your shirt…but be careful, it looks like these cuts have traces of poison in them." Sakura figured the few kunoichi that were in the crowd had hoped that if they could land a lucky hit on Sasuke, the poison many kunoichi used in their nail polish would help slow him down a little. This was only going to make Sakura's job that much more difficult.

Sasuke slowly and carefully slipped off his tattered shirt, which now hung in ribbons of fabric, and Sakura tried really hard not to breathe in his scent - she knew its affect on her, and she refused to fall prey to it, especially when she needed to focus - and began to first weave out the poison with the droplets of perspiration from Sasuke's back. She did it as fast and precise as she could and quickly began to concentrate healing chakra into her hands and pressed her green-encased hands against the cuts, healing them. Soon she was done, leaving only light red lines on his skin to allow it to heal the rest by itself.

Then came the hard part. She'll have to sit facing him while resting her hands on his sweet, beautiful abs, and focus with all her might on healing them, not drooling over them.

So she quickly went to face him and began to prepare herself mentally.

"Lay down, it's easier to get all of them with you outstretched," she demanded, hoping that the anxiety she was beginning to feel well up in her gut wasn't making itself heard in her voice.

Sasuke raised a perfectly arched brow, distracted by how suddenly commanding she became. He found it a little…attractive. So he lied down on his back, now feeling much better without the poison causing his back pain any more. He looked and stared at the sky; it was cloudless, completely clear…nothing to distract him from the feel of her hands on him…

She began to heal the cuts, albeit a little faster than she had compared to the time she spent on his back - but she had to remove all the poison from it, so obviously it would take a little longer - but her nervousness was starting to affect her more than she thought it would.

The feel of his muscles slightly ripple under her fingers nearly made her sigh with pleasure, but she had to keep reign over herself; if she lost control she'd be no better than those perverted stalkers, and she was better than them, in every way possible. She had managed to restrain her urges for years, why stop now? It was like admitting defeat to an epic battle, finally giving in to temptation. Sakura refused to lower herself to that level. She greatly respected Sasuke, as he did her, and hoped to keep it that way.

Sasuke, meanwhile, was a little baffled as to why Sakura hadn't jumped him yet. Sure, she'd seen him shirtless before, healed him the same way she way now, but something felt off today; she seemed tense, almost antsy, as if she wanted to get this session over with. Had he done something wrong? Why was she so nervous now? He didn't understand; maybe she was just having an off day. All medics did at least once in their lifetimes, right? Right, of course.

But that didn't explain the feeling washing through him like waves of water, or the sudden anticipation of the feel of her fingers on his skin, and the tingles they left behind as they moved on to other spots. It was as if her touches were lighting his skin on fire every few seconds, like the smoothness of her hands running over him made him feel…good. What was this? Sasuke couldn't figure it out, no matter what he thought of. Nothing could name or explain the emotions coming over him.

"I'm done with these," she suddenly announced, her voice sounding a little higher than normal, but it was hardly noticeable; however, Sasuke caught it nonetheless. "I guess I'll start wit the one on your leg. It looked pretty painful. It's the one from your spar with Naruto, right?"

Sasuke, having been snapped out of his thoughts when her voice rang out so suddenly it almost startled him, became a little more self-conscious. He gave a her look that asked his question without having to voice it aloud.

The expression Sakura's face took was nearly comical. "No, no! You can keep your pants on, I just need to move a bit of it out of the way!" Her face was flushed, her hands raised in a surprised gesture. She blushed fiercely, she could feel the tips of her ears turning warm and tomato red with embarrassment. To think that Sasuke would have to sit in front of her in only boxers…the image that popped into her mind made her face turn an even brighter red.

Sasuke sat and watched Sakura's reaction with amusement bright in his eyes; he'd couldn't recall the last time he's seen her so flustered. Maybe the first time he had to take off his shirt for her, her face had been pretty red that time…or maybe when she once had to clean off and heal a really mess stab that was situated uncomfortably low on his torso and keep her hand on since it had been an especially deep wound (damn Kakashi and his quick reflex to whip out the biggest and sharpest kunai when in a training spar and gut him so low he almost thought he'd pierced something of particular value) …but still, none of those situations could have even compared to how she looked now.

She fumbled with her hands a little, seemingly trying to steady them while wringing the sudden onset of sweat she developed. I've done this before, even with strangers; this shouldn't be nerve-wracking at all…but it was, and she couldn't deny it. She didn't know how to calm herself except to take deep breaths through her nose. Just do it and be done with it. Don't think about it, just concentrate on the wound…the wound…she chanted over and over in her mind, trying to persuade herself into thinking that this was no big deal, nope, not at all. But it was! She'd never healed an injury so close to his…ahem…before, and she was understandably nervous. How was she going to be able to keep her hand on his thigh for so long without losing her mind? Ugh, things were getting so complicated.

Maybe this wasn't go to be as uncomfortable as he thought it was, seeing as that Sakura was mostly going through the same anxiety he was. He'd never gotten himself so everly hurt so far up his leg before, but the time Kakashi got him really was nothing at all compared to what Sakura would have to do right now. Surely she could feel the nervousness rolling off him, too. But either way, it had to be done - it was the most serious injury he had and it still didn't stop bleeding yet - and it had to be fast. Who knew when the crowd of girls would show up again and force them to move out as fast they could with Sasuke hurt?

Sakura's expression became one of determination suddenly and she carefully shoved the ripped fabric of pants out of the way, closed her eyes and took one deep breath. As she exhaled, she opened her eyes, now full of resolve and gently pressed the entirety of her hand over the still-bleeding gash and began to heal it.

Sasuke was taken aback by Sakura's sudden boldness and courage, and felt his eyes soften as he watched her heal him with her soothing chakra. He soon found that the situation wasn't uncomfortable at all; hell, it wasn't even awkward. The feel of her healing chakra flowing into him in such a concentrated way relaxed him, and he eventually realized that Sakura seemed to feel the same way; she didn't look nervous anymore, and her focus was absolute. Whatever she had though to herself before she started was definitely working. He figured as long as he remained calm, she would as well. Wouldn't discomfort on his part prove to be unnerving for her? After all, she was healing him, and her job was make sure that she healed him in the best, most comfortable, possible way. And so far she was doing just that.

She felt almost…normal. Like she wasn't even touching the inside of his thigh; more like just placing a hand on his shoulder. There was no awkwardness that she anticipated, there were no tense moments. How could she have though that this would be so bad? What a laugh.

Soon, she was completely finished healing the wound, and she was about to remove her hand when Sasuke's own caught it. She looked to him, silently asking what was wrong with her eyes; she suddenly and inexplicably couldn't trust her own voice anymore.

He couldn't stand the thought of her touch leaving him. He had to do something, anything, to keep her from retracting her hand and forever ending this wonderful feeling. So as soon as he saw her pulling back, he didn't think, just let his instincts take over.

He pulled her toward him gently by her hand, bringing it up to his neck and setting it on the base of his neck. Her body had followed the pull, and now she leaned into him, her face now merely inches away from hers. What was he doing? She didn't understand what he was trying to do. Was he aware of how close their bodies were now?

Hardly going inch by inch, her body was instinctively leaning more into his, bringing her closer and closer to him, as was his own body. His face was angled down, nearly meeting hers at the lips.

So slow they didn't even notice, their lips gradually brushed, then pressed into each other's, applying the firmest yet gentlest pressure onto them.

Before they knew it they were wrapped in each other's arms, Sasuke's wrapping around Sakura's small waist while hers draped over his neck, caught in a passionate lip lock. They weren't aggressive or forceful, lustful or hungry, just soft and gentle.

The feeling that passed through them from head to toe was euphoric; how could they have gone so long without knowing this feeling? It was wonderful and fantastic and sweet and simply amazing.

They were flying together, just the two of them, into a world of pure bliss.

Sasuke was mesmerized by the way Sakura's lips moved against his, fit so perfectly with his. They were warm and becoming addicting, the sweet taste of her filling him with pleasure.

All she could think about was one thing: his lips on hers felt like two pieces of a puzzle; as if they belonged together. Her mind was otherwise blank, yet swimming with the great feeling of euphoria and the sensation she was getting from his touch. Her system was overflowing with ecstasy.

How could they never have realized just how magnificent it felt to be together?

So yeah. My first piece of work since March 2008. Pathetic, right? Sorry it took me so long to post something else up; I know a few of you have been expecting something for months now. What can I say, school's murder. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this and it would really make my day if you reviewed :]. Please? Thank you! I'll be back in a couple of weeks with a surprise I think you'll like, I'm not sure. So, go and write a review for me! Adios, amigos :D.