Author's Note: I don't own Naruto…though I would love to own Kakashi. Don't sue me…for I have no money with which to gratify you. Anyway, hope you all enjoy…please R&R, I'd love to hear from you.

Catch Me Whenever I Fall

"The first time it happened was about a year ago. Captain Yamato, Sai, Naruto, and I went to the Bridge of Heaven and Earth to meet Kabuto. The Captain disguised himself as Sasori, who had apparently been planning to cut some sort of deal with Orochimaru's right hand man. Well, negotiations went south when Orochimaru himself showed up. Naruto decided to go all Kyuubi crazy on Orochimaru, the results of which were Kabuto being slammed into me and I was rendered unconscious. Naruto then proceeded to destroy the bridge. I was obviously unconscious through most of this, but apparently I fell off the bridge and Sai didn't catch me even though he could have – he was kind of a jerk back then. I do remember the feeling of falling, and I kinda remember something hard wrapping itself around my body and pulling me back up. I remember the Captain's voice bringing me back from the darkness surrounding me. I could feel the pounding of his heart against my shoulder, as he pulled me close to his chest. I opened my eyes to see his face above me…he has really pretty dark eyes – almost black. They're even darker then Kakashi-sensei's. And they're huge. And kind. I almost forgot where we were for a moment. Then Naruto's power exploded and ruined the moment. I was really worried about him.

'The second time it happened was actually the same day as the first. Yeah, we had a pretty busy day. Naruto managed to defeat Orochimaru and send him on the run. I thought he was dead, but he actually transformed into a fox-like creature. I guess the Kyuubi has the power to envelope Naruto in some sort of chakra cloak. Anyway, Naruto loses all sense of self when a certain number of tails appear. I wanted to make it stop, he was burning away Naruto's being – I had to save him. But then he lashed out at me with one of those chakra tails, burning into my arm. I was knocked unconscious…again. This time while I was out, Captain Yamato used the First's abilities to restrain Naruto's chakra. Also, Kabuto did a rather out-of-character move and healed my injury some. But when I woke up, it still hurt like hell…I always knew he was a bad medic. So yeah, long story short, we decided to split up. Sai was following Orochimaru and Kabuto who had left to run off with his master. Naruto, who was extremely weak from his ordeal, went with us. We were tree-travelling as usual and I thought that Naruto was going to fall. He recovered and then I decided to have a stupid moment and I tried to show off. Well, my arm was still badly injured (again, Kabuto is an awful medic) and I couldn't hold on to the tree branch. I fell and I didn't have enough chakra to recover. Naruto tried to grab me, but missed. I really didn't want to die by falling out of tree. Luckily, Captain Yamato had similar ideas and rushed down to the ground just in time to catch me! It was kinda cool the way he slid in there, which I am sure I would have appreciated more if I hadn't been in so much pain. He set me down on the ground, leaning me against a tree. I didn't really want him to let go of me. The little girl inside just wanted to be held and cradled against his nice warm chest. I wanted so badly to just fall asleep to the sound of his heartbeat and the smell of wood and earth. But we were on a time table, so I had to heal myself while Naruto and the Captain formed a plan or something. Good thing I'm a kunoichi, or that would have been really hard…and a better medical ninja than Kabuto – ass.

'The third time was a little different. This time I wasn't about to fall to my death off a bridge or out of a tree. I was about to charge headlong into a fight with the last person in the world I am qualified to battle…Sasuke Uchiha. Reason number one: I was totally in love with him for like, years. I'm finally over that, even though there is a part of me that will love him for the rest of my life. Reason number two: he's one of the strongest Shinobi ever born. He could probably kill me without ever laying a finger on me. Yeah, that strong. Reason number three: he had a sword, and guys don't think when they have swords. Well, anyway, I charged and then somebody cut me off from Sasuke. It was Yamato. He ran in and blocked Sasuke's attack. Unfortunately, he did it the wrong way, and Sasuke stabbed him in the shoulder, running chidori down the length of the blade into his body, numbing him. I was horrified. Not only had I done something incredible foolish, but it had cost Yamato dearly. I was so afraid that he was going to die. I suddenly remembered all the things that we had done together. The missions. The nights that we spent out under the stars – him, Sai, Naruto, and I. He had saved me so many times. Like Sasuke used to. He was always there to catch me whenever I fell. The woman in me wanted to be strong and independent. I wanted to know that I could fight on my own. But there was another part of me that still craved the need of those strong arms wrapped around my body, shielding me from harm. I used to rely on Sasuke for those things, and now, it was Yamato saving me from him. I found myself seeing my new leader in a different light – though I knew I could never tell him so.

'The last time was what changed everything. We were battling a rogue group of ninja from the Sand Country. There were a bunch of us, several teams compiled to take out the rest of them. It reminded me of my fight with Sasori. There were poisoned senbon everywhere, except this time, Grandma Chio wasn't pulling my strings. We were down to the last couple, and I let my guard down for an instant to see how many there were left. And then he got me. I saw it just too late to dodge – a needle tipped with purple fluid grazed my throat, barely scratching through the skin. But that was enough. I instantly began to flood my system with chakra, trying to trap the poison at the source of the wound to keep it from spreading through my body. I didn't have much chakra left and I knew I wasn't going to keep it there for long. And suddenly, he was right there. He threw a wooden spear (presumably self-made) at the bastard who hit me, killing him instantly. I thought I was delirious, because I could have sworn that he was still throwing the spear when he caught me as I fell to the ground. Guess it was because I was running out of chakra fast trying to stop the spread of poison. He held me closely, tilting my head back to inspect the wound. Then, without warning, he bent down and bit me in the neck right where the needle scratched me. He bit me hard enough to make it bleed, but I could feel him sucking the poison out. He spit the mixture of toxins and blood on the ground before going back for more – making sure that it was all out. Vampire. But crude as it was, it was working. I could feel the poison being drawn out of my body, even as I watched the effects of it beginning to kill him. I didn't have enough strength to stop him though, and I watched in horror as he slowly succumbed to the power of the venom. He laid me gently on the ground, and then collapsed next to me. I remember the feeling of that moment – realizing that this time, he really was dead. There was no recovering from this one. I was the only medical ninja and I didn't even have enough chakra to lift myself off the ground let alone save him. I had failed again to save someone that I loved. And I realized in that instant how much I had grown to love this man. I screamed his name, but I was too overwhelmed to even hear the sound of my own voice. And then suddenly, he was there…leaning over me, just as he always did. He knelt down on the ground and pulled me one more time into his arms, whispering my name and telling me that he was right there. I looked at him, not understanding what had happened. When I turned my head to the place where I had just seen him die, I saw only a mangled piece of wood. And then it hit me. He had used a wood clone to draw the poison from my body, while the real him killed the man who attacked me. He was alive. And he was crying? Yeah, those were definitely tears welling up in his eyes. He leaned down to my face to kiss my forehead. I instinctively turned my head towards the movement, accidently kissing his mouth. And then accidently became kind of purposefully. And then nine months later you were born – "

"Mom!"

Sakura looked at her twelve-year-old daughter, sitting cross-legged on the bed across from her with an incredulous look on her face.

"Okay, there was some space in between that moment and us having you," Sakura added, giggling at her daughter's blushing face. "Don't worry, we dated for a while, then got engaged, and then married really soon after that. It was funny, it didn't take me long to decide that we were meant to be together. From that moment, I just pretty much knew. And that's how your Daddy and I fell in love. He and you have made me happier than I ever thought was possible."

Chio looked at her, her face softening, "That's an awesome story Mom. You should write a book or story about it someday."

"Hey, if I include the part where you were conceived, we could make it the next Icha Icha book!"

"Oh gross, Mom!"

"Yes, but Honey, I'm not sure I want Kaka-senpai reading that about us," said a low voice from the door.

"Daddy, you're home!"

"There's my girls," Yamato said laughing, enveloping his wife and daughter in a warm embrace.

One thing was for sure, he sure was glad that he had taken a chance with this woman he now held in his arms. She had made him the happiest man in the world, he thought as he leaned down to kiss his wife.