Promises To Be Kept

Chapter 3

Enjoy the next chapter!

---Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any of the characters depicted in the following story...They belong to the talented Masahi Kishimoto---

Sakura was glaring up at the wood panelled ceiling above her as she ground out a response to Ino's last probing question.

"But Ino, you have to understand, it really looked like you were on a date!" Sakura was once again rehashing last nights episode with Ino while they sat at a booth in the back of the cafe they'd decided to have coffee. They had been in the cafe for over an hour and in that time they'd talked about anything they could think of except last night's proceedings. Sakura had just let down her guard when Ino started teasing her about interupting the mission briefing.

"Well you know Sakura I suppose I should be happy you didn't dump water down my shirt or..."

"Or kick your ass like only I can?" Sakura interupted teasingly.

Ino made a face recalling the last time she and Sakura had sparred, it gave new meaning to the phrase having your ass handed to you on a silver platter. She continued to watch Sakura without comment as she blew lightly into her cup of coffee to cool it. Sakura glanced up at Ino realizing she had yet to respond.

"What?" She asked tilting her head to the side.

Ino chuckled, "Shikamaru hmm? I never thought you'd go for him. I totally should have set you guys up back when I was trying to get Sasuke to notice me." At that comment Sakura's jaw dropped in astonishment.

"Ino! You jerk! I can't believe you just said that! I told you Shika and I are just friends. We had that three month long mission out in the Wind country last year and with only Shino as company we got to know each other." This time it was Ino's jaw that dropped in surprise. She unconciously raised her index finger towards Sakura as she shrieked out the first thing that came to her mind.

"Did you sleep with him on that mission!"

Sakura stared at Ino in open mouthed silence before turning a violent shade of red and smacking Ino's pointed finger down to the table.

"Okay first of all Ino, that's none of your business, and second of all why would you yell that out in the middle of a cafe, you moron!" Sakura was so embarassed by this point she had sunk down as low as she could go in her seat without sitting on the floor.

"You did sleep with him! I thought you looked a little too comfortable when you were making out with him last night!"

At this point Sakura slapped herpalm on her forehead before grating out a reply from between her clenched teeth.

"We did not have sex Ino, we made out a few times during the mission and yes I did share a bed with him but that was only because it was either him or Shino and the bug thing..." At this Sakura paused as she let out a little shiver at the thought of waking up with bugs crawling on her."And I knew Shikamaru better than Shino too, so there." Sakura stuck out her tongue and crossed her arms in a huff. At the childish display before her Ino could not contain her laughter any longer and burst out in uncontrolled giggles.

"Seriously though Ino, Shikamaru and I are friends, and I thought Sasuke and I were too..." At that comment a shadow passed over Sakura's face and she glanced down at the table recalling the previous night's misadventure. Ino's giggling had stopped at Sakura's quiet tone, sensing that she was truly upset about something not just being embarassed about being caught making out with one of her friends. With a concerned look on her face Ino reached her hand out to place it on Sakura's arm.

"What happened last night after you took off..." As the words came out of Ino's mouth her eyes widened as Sakura raised her face and allowed Ino to glimpse her eyes that were glassy with unshed tears. She mumbled something, causing Ino to barely catch what she was saying, unsure as to whether or not she had heard correctly she squeezed Sakura's arm.

"A little louder Sakura?"

"I said that Sasuke caught up to me and we had a fight." One of Ino's eyebrows arched up in surprise at that before her eyes narrowed as she zeroed in on the true cause of her friend's distress.

"What kind of a fight? Like an "I hate you and don't want to see you ever again" kind of fight or an "angry sex against a wall" kind of fight? Sakura's eyes widened in surprise at Ino's words as they hit a little too close to home.

"Kind of a "combination of those two options" kind of fight." Sakura replied quietly.

"Oh. Well it couldn't have been that bad, could it?" Ino replied with an unsure expression on her face.

Sakura didn't bother to respond to the question, she just nodded her head mutely to indicate that it was that bad. Ino let out a sympathetic sigh when suddenly there was a commotion from the front of the restaurant. Their conversation interupted both girls turned to see who was causing the disturbance. At the sight of a familiar blond and an angry waiter Sakura sunk down once more in hopes that she wouldn't be noticed. Unfortunately her luck from the night before was carrying over to today.

"Sakura!" Naruto's joyful yell could be heard throughout the cafe.

Sakura angrily groused in her head, 'Nevermind the cafe, probably the whole village.' Forcing a smile to her face she glanced up at the happy man in front of her. Forcing a note of cheer into her voice she greeted him with a friendly "Hi Naruto. What'd you break this time?"

Naruto let out a small pout which rapidly changed to a smirk as he spoke,"Well it's not my fault the waiter wasn't watching where he was going and then he proceeded to walk into me and drop all those plates."

Ino, who up until this point had gone unnoticed rolled her eyes before smacking Naruto on the arm.

"Naruto you idiot, that stack was higher than his face, how was he supposed to see you?" Ino's yelling was almost louder than Naruto's and she had a furious expression on her face once he answered her question.

"He should have balanced them around his face so he wouldn't go tripping innocent people like me." Naruto was right in Ino's face yelling back at her. Both stopped shouting however when they heard the noise coming from the other side of the table.

At Ino's comment Sakura had started to giggle which then turned into a full laugh at Naruto's response. Noticing that both of them were now glaring at her she tried to calm the situation between her two hot-headed friends down by asking Naruto about his new girlfriend of a week. "So Naruto, where's Hinata at this morning?"

Naruto's tanned face barely revealed the slight blush that had come up at the question.

"She's uh, still at home. I'm meeting her for lunch here in about half an hour."

It had taken years of effort on their friends behalf in order to get the couple together and now both Naruto and Hinata seemed to be in a constant state of bliss. Ino realized that Sakura would not be willing to discuss anything more while Naruto was there resigned herself to listening to their teasing banter and decided to wait for Hinata to get there so that she could get more information about the night before. Sakura however, realized that this was her chance to get Ino off of her back so that she could get going and apologize to Shikamaru for the display last night and then if she was still feeling brave she was going to continue on the the Uchiha estate to finish her argument with Sasuke. With the plan fully formed in her head Sakura made a show of glancing at her watch before making a theatrical gasp. Naruto paused in his talking and looked down at Sakura inquiringly, while Ino was pulled out of her contemplations over what had actually occured the night before. Sakura hurried to get out her words before she could be interupted or distracted.

"I'm sorry you two! I completely forgot that I promised Tsunade that I would meet her at the hospital at noon, if I run I might just make it. Oh but I feel so rude just leaving you here alone Ino!" Without waiting for a response Sakura turned to Naruto and smiled hopefully up at him before continuing. "Naruto you'll keep Ino company while she finishes her coffee and until Hinata gets here right?" Naruto glanced at Ino whose face held a mix of shock and anger replied uncertaintly to Sakura's question.

"Um, sure Sakura..." The words were barely out of his mouth before Sakura gave him a quick hug, turned and gave Ino one too and then threw some change on the table to cover her drinks and ran out the door before either blonde could get another word in. What had been the loudest booth in the restaurant had suddenly become the quietest as Ino and Naruto looked at each other in shocked silence.

Meanwhile Sakura had slowed to a walk a few blocks from the cafe and began rehearsing to herself what she was going to say to Shikamaru so she wouldn't offend or hurt him. She was so deep in thought she barely realized that she was already in front of Shikamaru's apartment. Inhaling deeply she gave herself one last mental pep talk before going to the door.

'C'mon Sakura, you can do this. Just be calm and don't let him figure out what's really bothering you.' Exhaling as she raised her fist to the door she put on a small, friendly smile and knocked. She waited a few moments, but heard no response or movement from inside, so she knocked once more this time calling out a questioning, "Shikamaru?"

All of a sudden the door next to Shikamaru's opened and a frail looking, white haired woman in her dressing robe peered out.

"Are you looking for Mr. Nara young lady?" The old woman asked kindly

Sakura turned her full attention to the neighbor and nodded.

"I'm sorry dear you missed him by a couple of hours. I heard him leaving and I was a little surprised that he was up so early, so when I asked him where he was going he just said out. He seemed rather upset about something. Are you his little girlfriend? Did you two have a fight, because if you did you should really make up. He's a nice boy, but he needs a woman to look after him."

As the woman's rambling began Sakura's mouth dropped as it continued she became more and more flushed. Suddenly a small white cat darted past the lady's feet, thanking whatever god had answered her prayer for a distraction she reached down and caught the cat as it went to run past. As she handed the lady her pet she made her excuses to leave.

"Here you go ma'am, I'm going to go and see if Shikamaru went to my house to find me, if he comes home could you be sure to let him know I was looking for him?"

The old lady had a sparkle in her eye as she was sure she had just saved their relationship before smiling and nodding. Without waiting for the neighbor to close her door Sakura turned and began walking towards Sasuke's.

'No sense in putting this off any longer, I'll stop by and talk to Shikamaru on my way home.'

To Be Continued...

---I have to apologize for the terribly long wait for this chapter. I'm finishing up exams this month and then I'll be finishing this story. I may still get the next chapter out by Sunday but it'll more likely be out at the beginning of May (my birthday's on the first so look for it the week after) If I do get the next chapter up this weekend it will be the last chapter coming up at the beginning of May. My other stories will all be updated after I'm done this story. Once the three I have on the go are done, I will be starting a few new ones hopefully to be finished by the end of summer. Once again thanks for staying with me and I hope you all enjoy the story! By the way although I don't plan to do it, if there are any author's out there who would like to do a side fic for Naruto & Hinata or Ino & Kankuro (My two background couples) I'd love to read them, so if you write them email me the link, or even just the story if you don't want to post it and I would be more than happy to read them!----

Next chapter will be told mostly if not completely by Shikamaru's and Sasuke's point of view.