So I never actually intended to continue this, but because my lovely reviewers wanted another chapter, I got to work on one!

I've changed it up a bit, so it is Naruto and Sakura and the whole conflicting feelings is still here but now they're just going to be in different situations.

I hope this lives up to your expectations...

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. All characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto. No copyright infringement is intended.

During a Mission

Grey crowds started forming above their heads. The wind howling, faster, heavier. A storm was approaching, that was obvious, they just didnt know when.

Sakura leaped from one tree to the other, closely followed by Sai. The two were on their way to a small village to retrieve some work for Tsunade. They were accompanied by Kakashi who they had now lost sight of.

Sakura kept glancing back, while proceeding ahead, only seeing a dark haired boy to the left, leaping behind her. She stopped abruptly at one of the large trees, holding the bark. Sai mimicked her motion, resting on the tree opposite hers.

"What's wrong?" He asked, crouching down, drinking from his bottle of water.

"K-Kakashi-sen-sei!?" She replied, breathless.

Sai turned to look behind him, joining her in staring at a dark, empty forest, no one in sight.

"Did we lose him?" She said, concerned, moving her head around trying to look past the large trees obstructing her view.

"I dont know, I thought he was right behind us." Sai answered, standing up. They decided to turn around and look for their sensei and would then return to their mission.

Moving further down the forest, Sakura frantically looked around for the slightest movement or any clue as to the whereabouts of her teacher. She walked behind Sai, breathing deeply, trying to calm herself down while expecting the worst.

She was looking out to the right when Sai suddenly came hurtling down one of the trees and went flying past her.

"SAI!" She yelled, running back down the forest, confused. When she reached him, he was sitting up, clutching his arm. Kneeling beside him to make sure he hadn't got any serious injuries, she helped him back up.

"What happened?!" She asked, looking at the boy with worry.

"Argh, ask him!" He grunted, pointing his nose behind her.

She turned around, confused and upon seeing said boy she froze. "N-Naruto..." She spoke, quietly, barely audible. It had been a week since their last encounter, one she couldn't stop thinking about.

She found herself staring at his lips and upon Sai's movement, coming from behind and now standing beside her, she shook her head and cleared her throat, "What the hell are you doing here?" She demanded, the reality of the situation they were in hitting her.

Naruto had been dusting his clothes, missing the shocked, and slight dazed Sakura. He looked up at his two team mates smiling at them. "I came to help you out!" He answered, cheerfully.

"What? No, the mission only needs three people and with Kakashi-sensei it'll make four!" She yelled.

Sai moved away from Sakura closer to Naruto, "Did you see him when you were coming up?" He asked calmly.

"Yeah just a few minutes ago." Naruto replied, equally calm.

"What?! So why didnt he come with you?!" Sakura cut in.

"That's why I'm here! Kakashi -sensei is needed for another mission and I'm here as his replacement!" Naruto replied, smiling proudly.

Sakura opened her mouth to protest, but Naruto beat her to it, "By orders, of the Hokage." He said, slowly, elongating his words while smirking at the frustrated girl.

She huffed loudly and crossed her arms, looking away from the boys in front of her.

Sai rolled his eyes and sighed loudly, "Right, whatever, let's just go get the work for Tsunade-sama quickly before the weather changes at least." He said looking up through the gap in the trees at the darkening sky.

He disappeared up the tree, followed by a smiling, upbeat Naruto, "Yeah, let's go!" he shouted.

" 'Yeah, let's go!' " A sulking Sakura mimicked him, rolling her eyes.

They arrived at the tiny village quickly, thanks to Naruto and Sakura's constant competition of who was leaping ahead further than the other, all throughout the journey. They were greeted by the head of the village, a tall fair skinned woman, with light make up on, highlighting her bright hazel eyes. She was wearing a long, burgundy skirt that flowed with the wind, and a long full sleeved, cream top. Her hair length mimicked her clothes, jet black, reaching down past her waist.

She smiled warmly at the three visitors and accompanied them to the main hall, where she sat down with them.

"I'm so glad you made it here alright." She said, smiling up at the girl pouring her tea. She took a sip of it and looked around at the three youngsters. Naruto sitting on her left and Sakura and Sai opposite him, on her right.

As the girl moved around, pouring tea for everyone else, the head spoke, "My name is Aya Sato, although I'm sure Tsunade has already told you. I understand you are here to retrieve some work for her?" She said smiling.

"Yes we are." Sai replied dryly, hardly smiling with Naruto and Sakura frowning at his blunt answer.

Aya chuckled lightly, "Very well." She said getting up from her seat. She moved to the back of the room and opened a cabinet. She took out a large, teal file and walked back to the table. She sat down and opened it.

"This is what she was asking for." She declared, running her hands along the pages.

"Erm..w-what is it Aya-san?" Sakura asked, intrigued by the packed folder.

Aya looked up at the pink haired girl, "This is all of the accounts of our experiments." She answered. Naruto, Sakura and Sai, glanced at each other in confusion.

"Experiments? What kinds of experiments?" Sakura asked.

Aya looked up at the three individuals' confused and intrigued faces, "Oh no, no-Ahaha!" She laughed, her hand shooting up to her mouth. "Not those kinds of experiments! No these are medicinal ones!" She cleared. Upon hearing this, Naruto and Sai frowned, leaning back in their chairs, losing interest completely.

Sakura however remained intrigued, leaning forward, her arms resting on the table.

"You see, we have acres of fields here, under no use. And so we made a deal with Tsunade, we'll give you some of our fields, to use to grow herbs and such, doing all of the analysis and experiments too, and in return, Konoha would help us with construction and supplies." She explained.

"A-ha! So that's why the buildings looked so similar to the ones back home!" Sakura said, nodding her head.

"Yes, your villagers really know how to built good, sturdy buildings!" Aya replied, receiving an enthusiastically, proud nod from Naruto.

The four got up after a while and walked to the door. Sakura holding the folder tightly in her hands, talking to Aya, eyes full of excitement. Suddenly a black shuriken came flying through the open doors, piercing in to the folder. Sakura gasped and Naruto and Sai jumped at the sudden attack. Upon seeing two men charging at the building, throwing more weapons in their direction, Naruto and Sai leapt outside to face them.

"Sakura-chan stay with Aya-san and close the doors!" Naruto yelled, leaping out the building with Sai. As the workers desperately closed the doors, a shuriken found its way through the doors and darted towards Aya, who stood frozen in fear. Sakura pushed her to the left, the shuriken, aimed at the village head, becoming lodged in her right arm. She let out a loud groan, falling to the floor near Aya.

She sat up on her knees, looking towards Aya, "Aya-san...are you ok?" She asked through the pain. Aya nodded, her eyes fixed on Sakura's wounds.

Sakura reached over and touched the lodged shuriken, wincing in pain. She groaned loudly as she pulled it out of her arm and threw it on the floor. She felt slightly dizzy, immediately noting the shuriken had been dipped in poison.

She had just begun healing herself, when suddenly the ceiling came crashing down in the centre of the room, a tall, dark clothed man running towards them. Sakura turned to face Aya, and pushed the folder to her, quickly grabbing a Kunai from her pouch she swivelled her feet back around and met the man's long sharp sword bearing down on her, with her small black Kunai.

They stayed locked with their weapons. He leaned down further with his sword, putting more weight on the injured kunoichi. Sakura retaliated, pushing harder against his sword. She knew she was at a disadvantage, the kunai was too small to take on the long silver weapon and blood was gushing out of the arm she was using. Taking her chance, she pulled out her leg and quickly swerved it around under his, causing him to fall back and lose his balance. She instantly brought her leg back up and landed it on his chest, sending him flying to the other side of the room.

She remained kneeling on the floor, catching her breath, holding her arm tightly. Her hand full of blood. She looked over to Aya, more concerned about the village head's welfare than her own, mistakenly taking her eyes off her opponent. Seeing the horror on Aya's face, Sakura turned around to see her opponent gone from her frontal view.

"Ahhhhhhh!" He yelled from above her.

She looked up, the man in the air, coming down holding his sword with both hands above his head aiming at her head.

Sakura looked in horror, eyes widened, the injury to her right hindering her movement, she clenched her eyes shut when she suddenly felt someone's presence in front of her.

Naruto arrived in time to prevent the intruder harming her, he moved away from Sakura with the man, allowing Sakura to move over to Aya.

She limped over to the woman, falling down beside her. "Aya-san! Ar-are you ok?" She asked, breathless.

"Stop worrying about me! There was poison on that weapon!" She shrieked looking at the girls bleeding arm.

"Y-yeah, I n-noticed." Sakura replied, choking her words.

"It's not as lethal as they'd want it to be, I have a cure for it. Buts its over in the cabinet." Aya explained, point over to the cabinet at back.

Sakura looked over to where she pointed and then over to where Naruto was duelling. She stood up, helped by Aya, "What is it?" She asked.

"It's in a small bottle. You just have to drink it. But dont drop it, there's only a little I could make!" She yelled the latter, as Sakura took off.

She was only a foot or two away from Aya when Sai and the man he was fighting burst through the doors, bits of wood flying about. Sakura put her uninjured arm up, shielding herself from them and continued to the cabinet. She reached up at the bottle, doing her best to open it with shaking hands and quickly shot the drink down her throat.

The cure seemed to take effect immediately, the dizziness wearing off immediately. As soon as Sakura had gained her composure, Sai's opponent came charging towards her. Anger built up within Sakura gathered in the form of her fist, and she unleashed it on the man's face.

They had been taken to smaller building now. Sakura was sitting in the smaller side room on the bench with her first aid kit next to her. She lightly dabbed the wound she had sustained with the ointment, wincing at the sharp sting.

She took out a bandage, struggling to wrap it around her arm, now being hindered by the loss of blood. She tried a few times, before her left hand fell to her lap and she sighed loudly.

"Need some help?" Naruto asked from behind her.

She turned around to see him standing in the door way, wondering how long he'd been there.

"What? No, no I dont." She quickly replied turning her back around again. He ignored her and walked over, sitting next to her medical bag on the bench. She rolled her eyes when she sensed him near her and turned her head to face him. "Naruto I told you I dont need-" She began, her rising voice cut off by the boy's close proximity.

He had moved her bag to his other side. With his legs now on either side of the bench, he moved forward and closed the distance between himself and Sakura.

She sat looking at him in shock, feeling hot when noticing how close they were. She opened her mouth to shout at him when he suddenly grabbed her injured arm and the loose bit of bandage hanging off it.

His touch was warm and soft, despite the numerous fights he had been in. It instantly reminded her of their last encounter, when he had kissed her forehead so tenderly, taking her breath away. She began heating up as long as she was looking at him and jerked her head around looking at the wall in front of her.

His eyes stayed on her arm throughout. Not taking his eyes off it even as he adjusted himself to get closer to her. Gently holding her arm and wrapping the bandage around it, his eyes began wandering up her arm and towards her face. He continued the bandaging but his eyes rarely left her face.

She sensed his eyes on her, her own darting from the floor to anywhere around the room, her head moving slightly feeling increasingly uncomfortable. Twisting her arm, she turned her head and looked at it, making sure she didnt look up. He moved his hands away from her arm, startled by her sudden movement.

She stood up quickly and examined her arm. "It looks fine." She said looking up at him, her eyes then moving to her medical bag.

Naruto stood up and smiled, "Yeah it does." He smiled faintly, his hand going to the back of his head.

"Ready to leave?" Sai asked, his head poking out the door.

Naruto turned to look at the boy and then at Sakura, she nodded "Yeah, ready." She said, moving to the bench gathering her belongings while Naruto turned to walk out the room with Sai. She stood by the mirror watching her reflection, her hand reaching up to her bandaged wound. "He really did do a good job." She muttered quietly to herself.

"So who was it then?" Sakura asked Sai as they bid farewell to the villagers and Aya.

"Their own villagers." He replied.

"What? Their own villagers?!" Sakura asked shocked.

"Yeah, apparently they heard of the deal between Tsunade-sama and Aya-san so they wanted to kidnap Aya-san as a way of negotiating with Konoha and this village too." Sai explained, "Without Aya-san, Konoha can't use the medical fields or retrieve the experiment results, they had it all worked out." He finished.

"Wow! Lucky we were there then huh?!" She said smiling at Sai, who nodded approvingly.

Naruto remained quiet throughout their conversation, walking behind the two, his hands in his pockets studying the floor.

Sakura opted to stay close to Sai so to avoid being left alone with Naruto, at least not now after their recent encounter. Seeing his face rise from the corner of her eyes she quickly spoke, "We better hurry up if we want to miss the rain." She said, leaping up to the nearby tree, clutching the folder tightly in her hands. Within a second she had gone off, out of the distance of the two boys.

She slowed her pace, her thoughts returning to Naruto. What's going on? We were fine a few weeks ago, then last week he k-kissed me, well, kind of, then I was inviting him to babysit with me again and now I dont want to be anywhere near him. Not alone at least. As long as we have Sai it'll be fine. She thought, questioning her own ambiguous behaviour. She took in a deep breath and sighed moving on.

She felt something wet on the tip of her nose, scrunching it in response. She stopped by a tree and looked up to see light rain beginning to fall. Thunderous sounds echoed loudly after and the rain increased. She looked up ahead and saw a large boulder, squinting her eyes she made out the boulder blocking a small cave. She turned around and yelled, "Hey you two! The rains going to get heavier so meet me in the cave on the left of the two massive trees!" She screamed down the forest hoping Naruto and Sai weren't too far behind.

She ran quickly to the boulder and moved it slightly to the side with her uninjured arm, leaving an opening for Naruto and Sai to enter through, allowing light to fill the small cave too.

She put down the big folder to the side and her bag along with it. Sighing loudly, she smiled proudly at herself for finding the cave in time to prevent her and her team mates from getting too wet. She had her back to the entrance of the cave, rummaging about in her bag when she heard footsteps entering the cave.

She turned around smiling widely, ready to brag to her team mates about finding such a good shelter for them, but her mouth dropped upon seeing a lone figure walk in.

"Naruto?" She said slowly.

"Ah, hey Sakura-chan." He answered lowering his hands from atop his head.

"Wh-where's Sai?" She asked confused.

"Urgh, oh he went back to the village. Said he forgot some of his weapons or something." Naruto replied walking to the side.

"Right. So...w-we're here alone..." She muttered, looking down in worry.

"Hmm? What d'ya say?" Naruto looked over at the girl and walked over to her, concerned.

She saw him moving towards her and quickly leaped to the side. "Nothing! Nothing! I said nothing!" She laughed nervously, waving her hands in front of her.

"Ok..." Naruto eyed her suspiciously.

Sakura turned around to look at the rain outside, wishing it would lighten, but was greeted with a heavy pounding. She bit her lip nervously.

Urgh, for god's sake why am I so worried? I've been on tons of missions with him before I've been perfectly fine! She thought nodding quietly, trying to reassure herself.

Though that was before last week... She grimaced, shaking her head quickly.

No! That doesn't matter! How did it end up like this? Its only Naruto! Naruto, that idiot! All I have to do is stay away from him and I'll be fine! It can't rain forever! She finished giving herself a pep talk and smiled widely, turning to face the cave and Naruto.

Her eyes widened and her mouth clenched tight. She gulped, "Wh-what are you d-doing?" She asked still in a daze.

Naruto turned to look at her, he had just took off his shirt and was rinsing it. "Huh?! Oh right, yeah, my shirt is soaked through." He answered gesturing at the drenched black t-shirt.

She looked at his hand, her mouth now slightly opened.

He moved over nearer to her side of the cave and placed his shirt down on a rock to dry. She moved to her right, away from him, her eyes unmoving off him.

He shuddered running to grab his jacket and flung it around his bare torso, leaving it opened. Sakura's agitated behaviour hadn't gone unnoticed by him, he looked up at her through his bangs and slowly made his way over to her.

She had turned around, continuing to gaze at the rain, trying to hide the sudden heat gushing to her cheeks and mentally calming herself.

"It's too bad we dont have a fire here." He said loudly. She jerked her head around, startled by the loudness of his voice and saw him now standing beside her. Shocked by her loss in attention and so allowing for him to get close to her, she berated herself inwardly.

"Sakura-chan?"

"What?!" She said sharply, being pulled out of her thoughts.

"Erm the answer? What is it?" He asked looking down at her.

"What? What's the question?" She snapped, annoyed.

"I said, what's those animals names that do that thing when they get cold...?" He asked tapping his finger on his chin looking up.

She sighed, "They're called Penguins and they huddle when they're cold." She answered looking at the rain.

"Huddle?" He repeated.

"Yes huddle! It's to get warmer, think cuddle without the c." She stated.

"Right, do humans do that?"

"Humans have clothes and heaters and duvets and fires..." She began listing things in a whining voice. She was so focused on whining about the lack of luxuries they had that she wasn't aware of Naruto turning to face her fully and had placed a hand on her shoulder.

She stopped mid-sentence and looked over at the boy via the contact. Suddenly he pulled her hard against him, her arms instantly coming together to her chest.

"Na-Naruto?!" She shrieked, eyes widened.

His right arm wound around her shoulders and his left around her waist, holding them tightly.

"Wha-" She began.

"I'm cold." He replied pulling her to him, tighter.

She stood against him, speechless. Her heart was beating wildly and she was sure he could hear it. Still in shock, her body remained frozen against him, not able to push off him or move in the slightest. Her mind went to the coldness of his skin. He was right he was cold. Compared to his cold body, hers felt as if she had a fever.

Her eyes wandered to the closest thing in her view and rested on his neck, moving slowly up to his blond hair. She began feeling light headed and sleepy, as if the poison from the shuriken had seeped back into her. She felt herself leaning into him, almost burying her head into his neck when he shifted, his cheek lightly grazing against hers.

She slowly looked up at the boy as he looked down at her, his arms still wound around her, loosening a bit.

His cerulean eyes stared deep into her emerald ones, both unblinking, their faces inches apart. Before she knew it, she felt him lean towards her and pushing her up towards him too. Sakura's heart was now pounding against her chest, making her head dizzy, her cheeks heating up wildly as she inched closer to the boy, when a loud crack echoed around the cave.

His eyes flew away from hers and he separated himself, releasing her from his strong hold. She blinked rapidly, looking down, fiddling with her hair trying to regain her composure. When she looked up at Naruto, their eyes remained locked on each others, neither saying a word.

"There you two are!" Sai greeted, relief evident on his face.

"Sai!" Sakura breathed turning to the boy.

"You alright?" He asked her, noticing her pink cheeks, glancing back at Naruto.

"Y-yeah, yeah, of course I am. Just happy to see that you're alright." She replied smiling at the dark haired boy, now noticing the rain had stopped completely.

Naruto hand wandered over to where his shirt was drying, and smiled down at the miraculously dry shirt.

Sai eyed Naruto's suspicious quietness against Sakura's agitated behaviour. "Right...We should get going. I think the worst of the storm has passed, so if we leave now we can get back home before nightfall." He finished walking out of the cave.

Naruto had now redressed and was adjusting his backpack when he saw Sakura standing by the exit, her left hand resting on the wall.

"Erm, w-we-err, we should get going now..." She said, quickly glancing at him.

He nodded quietly as she disappeared, following her, a faint smile appearing on his face.

So what do you think? - *whispers* Review! :)