"Hey NaruDeeds, this is a pretty long story, and it's not a Guardian or Jinchuriki's Strength Update! What gives?"

This story is about one year in the making. It just so happened that I finally scribbled down an ending and pieced everything together. Warning: it's a long one.

**Note- this one is rated M for some swearing. The F bomb is dropped here and there, and I don't want to be corrupting the world's youth!

Standard disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and we wouldn't get an entire manga chapter filled with Kabuto's fairly uninteresting (in my opinion) back story!

Now let's get this show on the road. Please do enjoy, "The Love Potion"

"I'm telling you this thing is going to work!" A boy with a large dog at his side grinned as he waved a vial containing a strange pink liquid in the air.

"Whatever; just don't use it on her Kiba." A boy with spiky blonde hair countered.

"Why not? We're all sick and tired of you two dancing around, it would finally get the two of you together!" Kiba shot back.

"We're not dancing around! She doesn't like me like that, we're just friends. We'll always just be friends." The blonde shot back.

"Oh come on! What about that time she hugged you right after you returned from saving the village from Pain?"

"It was just a hug, nothing more."

"It didn't look that way." Kiba countered. "Children were blushing!"

"Friends hug each other. It was just a friendly hug to express her relief that I was alive and her gratitude for me saving everyone."

"Fine, but what about in Iron Country when she told you that she loved you?"

"That was forced and she didn't mean it. She was just trying to protect me and keep me from getting myself killed. She wanted to deal with Sasuke herself."

Kiba sighed. This idiotic blonde just wasn't making this easy. "What about all those times you were training and she brought you custom made soldier pills to help you?"

"She just wanted to help me become stronger so I bring him back to her." The blonde sighed. He was really getting tired of this conversation.

"Ridiculous! You know that's not the type of person she is! But fine, I got more. I heard about the time after you broke your arm from first using your rasenshuriken and she offered to feed you ramen. A girl does not offer to feed a guy if she doesn't like him man."

"She did just that. She felt bad when she saw that I couldn't eat because I used a jutsu I developed so I could stand a chance against him."

"You really are an idiot Naruto. Every single person in the village can see that Sakura likes you!"

"We're just friends." Naruto bit out grumpily. He had accepted that Sakura would never be his, but he still didn't appreciate being reminded of that fact.

"Well you won't be after she drinks this potion! This love potion was made by Tsunade-sama herself!"

"Sakura is my best friend. What kind of friend would I be if I forced her to fall in love with me with some dumb potion? I would never take advantage of her like that."

"I'm telling you man, she likes you. You both are just too stupid and stubborn to make a move. That's where this potion comes into play. She'll be happy with you, and you'll be happy with her. You guys can live happily ever after!"

"Why are you pushing this so hard?" Naruto grumbled. Kiba's offer was extremely tempting. He wanted Sakura so badly… But he refused to manipulate her, and he refused to take advantage of her. He would sooner die before he did that.

"I told you, the entire village is just sick of you two dancing around." Kiba said. The real reason he was pushing so hard was because his girlfriend got together with Tsunade, Ino, Tenten and Temari and came up with this scheme; and Kiba was the unlucky boyfriend who was chosen (without his consent) to convince Naruto to take part in the plan.

"Well tell the village that we're not dancing around then." Naruto growled irritably.

"I can't do that." Kiba sighed. "Listen Naruto, Ino is throwing a party tonight and Sakura is going to be there."

"Along with hundreds of other people from Konoha and even Suna." Naruto groaned. "I know Kiba. Ino has been pestering me for days now to come."

"Well I suggest you come, because one way or the other, Sakura is drinking this potion at that party."

"Kiba…" Naruto growled in a warning tone.

"And the way this potion works, the first guy she lays her eyes on after drinking it, she will fall in love with. So if you're not there, she'll just fall in love with someone else."

"I swear to kami if you drug Sakura…"

"I'm not going to drug her. I'm just helping her find love is all."

"And who died and made you cupid?" Naruto shot back.

Kiba just grinned at Naruto. "Ladies love a good Cupid."

"Hinata is making you do this isn't she?" Naruto sighed.

"What?" Kiba sputtered. He was given specific orders to make sure Naruto didn't find out who the true schemers behind this plot to get him and Sakura together were. "Of course not, do you think I'd let some woman boss me around? Hah, as if!"

"Whatever." Naruto mumbled. "Listen, like I told Ino, I'm not going to the party. The music is going to be loud, I'll be expected to dance if I go, and I don't really feel like having fan girls swooning over me."

"Then kiss your chances with Sakura goodbye then, because one way or the other, Sakura Haruno is falling in love tonight." Kiba shot back. He knew there was nothing more to be said, so he disappeared in a puff of smoke before he could draw Naruto's wrath.

"Damnit Kiba!" Naruto yelled. I don't want to go to that party… but I have to stop Kiba from screwing up Sakura's life.

Naruto let out a weary sigh. Sometimes it sucked being the nice guy.

"I have a good feeling about tonight Sakura!" Ino grinned at her as she worked on Sakura's makeup.

"Is that so?" Sakura replied. "Is that Ino code for 'I'm getting laid tonight?'"

"No it isn't." Ino laughed. "And please, I get it from Chouji whenever I want. It's one of the many perks of having a big strong boyfriend!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah yeah, rub it in my face some more."

"What I meant Sakura… was that I have a good feeling about tonight for you. I think it's going to be a very special night for you."

Sakura snorted. There was no chance of tonight being a special night for her. If anything, tonight was going to be a little boring. Of her kunoichi friends, she was the only one who was still single. Temari was dating Shikamaru, Ino was dating Chouji, Hinata was dating Kiba, and even Tenten was dating Lee!

"Please, I know exactly how the night is going to go. We'll all start drinking together, then after a few drinks, you girls will all take your boyfriends out to the dance floor leaving me by myself to fend off creepy guys."

"As if I'd invite a creepy guy to my party!" Ino defended with mock exasperation. "And who's to say that you won't be coming out with us on the dance floor?"

"It's just awkward to be the only single person dancing with a bunch of couples Ino." Sakura mumbled.

"Well what if you had someone to dance with?" Ino shot back.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the thought. The only person she would consider dancing with would be Naruto. But she already knew for a fact that Naruto was not coming to the party tonight, he wasn't very big on dancing.

"Listen Sakura, I'm not getting you all dolled up so you can sit at the bar and drink by yourself all night. I'm getting you all dolled up so you'll wow the crap out of your soul mate when you finally find him tonight!"

Sakura chuckled. "Mmhmm, dream on Ino. Dream on."

Ino smirked. How little her best friend knew, by this time tomorrow Sakura would be the happiest woman alive.

"I won't be dreaming for much longer." Ino promised with a mischievous smile.

"Whatever." Sakura mumbled. She wouldn't mind meeting her soul mate tonight; she was 22 years old and wasn't getting any younger. She was ready for that kind of relationship…

"Whatever." Ino mimicked. "So what are you wearing tonight?"

"My regular outfit?"

Ino snorted. "Sakura Haruno, I am not putting all of this work into your makeup so you can wear your regular outfit. After I'm finished we are finding you the perfect dress!"

"You're being awful pushy about this… You don't have something planned do you?" Sakura asked.

Ino smiled innocently. "Of course not Sakura! I know how much you hate it when I try to get you together with a boy. Like I said, I just have a good feeling tonight."

"You better not have a plan Pig, because if I…"

"No plan." Ino interrupted with a bright smile. "Now close your eyes so I can do your eye shadow!"

Sakura sighed and closed her eyes. She knew that tonight was probably going to be boring, but a small part of her hoped Ino's "good feeling" turned out to be true.

"You look good." Tsunade complimented the blonde-haired ninja standing in front of her.

"That's not the answer to my question!" Naruto protested. "Have you made a love potion?"

"Hmm? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." Tsunade smiled innocently. She was yet to turn on any lights, and the office was getting increasingly dark as evening light poured through the window, but Naruto could still tell she was hiding something with that smile of hers.

"Just tell me Baa-Chan! Kiba said he was going to do something to Sakura tonight, and I need to know if what he said was true."

"And what if it is?"

"Then I'll protect her and stop him!"

Tsunade smirked. "How noble."

"So that love potion really is real?"

"I never said that."

"Stop messing around Baa-Chan!" Naruto groaned. "This is serious; Kiba could mess up Sakura's life with that if it's real! We need…"

"Don't you have a party to be going to Naruto?" Tsunade interrupted with an amused smile.

Naruto looked out the window and swore. The sun had officially set. The party was going to be starting soon.

Tsunade nearly laughed at the look on Naruto's face. She could tell he wanted to get more information from her, but he also didn't want to risk leaving Sakura unprotected from that love potion.

"Damnit…" Naruto grumbled. "I hate Kiba."

Tsunade started laughing. "Have fun! And you're a ninja, dancing shouldn't be so hard for you."

Naruto grumbled something that sounded like, "I will not be dancing no matter what," before jumping out the window.

Tsunade chuckled as she watched him sprint towards the party.

Of course my love potion is real. She thought to herself. I developed it just for you two.

"Cheers to a good night!" Kiba yelled as he thrust his drink into the air. A series of clings announced the rest of her friends clashing their drinks together, and Sakura joined in. She took a swig of her sake and looked around the bar.

It was the largest bar in Konoha, and Ino had actually rented the entire thing out. It had a large dance floor that her friends were sure to be dancing on in an hour or so while she sat at the bar alone and got hit on by guy after guy.

She looked around the bar to see if there were any candidates for her "soul mate" that Ino seemed to think she was going to be meeting tonight, but she didn't find anyone who fit the physical criteria she was looking for.

She continued searching the bar for her "soul mate" when a flash of blonde hair caught her eyes. She had developed a thing for blondes over her years so she trailed her eyes down the spiky blonde hair that looked all too familiar. As her eyes trailed down, they met with two shining sapphire eyes.

"Naruto?" Sakura gasped. What was he doing here? He told her there was no way in hell he would come to this party. She thought about asking him to go for her sake, but a girl asking a guy to come to a dance party could come across the wrong way.

Sakura and Naruto were best of friends, but there was a clear and firm line drawn in the sand between them. They had an unspoken agreement not to cross the line. Sure there were times when Sakura thought about taking that step and seeing just what her feelings for Naruto meant, but she didn't want to ruin her friendship with the blonde. Even if she had a pretty good idea of what her feelings for him truly were.

She was lucky their friendship survived after she confessed her "love" for him all those years ago. She didn't want to take another risk and test her luck again. Once he spotted her and their friends, he started walking to their table; but as Naruto got closer, Sakura saw that he had an angry expression on his face.

"Naruto!" She greeted with a happy smile as he got within earshot. "You came!"

"Yeah…" Naruto grumbled as he approached the table. The more Sakura examined the angry expression on his face, the more she realized it wasn't just anger… there was determination as well- like he was on some sort of mission.

"Kiba… a word please?" Naruto all but growled.

"Sure, what's up Naruto?" Kiba grinned.

"Alone. A word alone." Naruto growled as he clenched his fists tightly together.

"Sorry Naruto-kun, but I don't want to let my boyfriend go tonight." Hinata apologized as she stepped in for Kiba. "Why don't you join us for a drink?"

"I really would like to talk with Kiba alone Hinata." It had been quite some time since Sakura saw Naruto looking as angry as he was right now.

"Hey… what's wrong Naruto?" Sakura asked as she grabbed one of his hands that he was holding in a tight ball.

The contact caught Naruto off guard and he looked down at her with a surprised look on his face.

"Nothing Sakura, don't worry about it."

"It doesn't look like nothing, something has you angry, tell me."

Naruto debated telling Sakura what Kiba planned to do… But what would she do if she found out that he knew about this idea all day and was just now telling her about it? That would be like digging his own grave.

He forced the anger out of his body and took a deep breath.

"Everything is ok Sakura, really."

"If you say so…" Sakura wasn't convinced that Naruto was telling the truth, but she would get to the bottom of it later when it was just the two of them.

"Here you go Naruto, have a drink!" Kiba grinned as he passed Naruto a cup filled with sake. Naruto wanted to leap over the table and beat Kiba until he handed over the love potion, but instead chose to take the offered drink and sip on it."

"Glad you could make it Naruto." Ino grinned.

"Yeah…" Naruto mumbled.

Sakura wasn't sure what caused Naruto to decide to come to the party, or why he seemed so angry, but she was relieved he had come. Now she had someone to hang out with, and maybe even dance with later when everyone went to the dance floor. If she could convince him anyways…

"I'm glad you came Naruto." Sakura said as she gave her friend a smile. She wasn't sure what was angering him, but she would calm him down. That was one of the small things she was able to do for him.

"Ah thanks Sakura." Naruto replied with an embarrassed smile of his own.

"Yeah I bet you're happy he came Sakura." Ino crowed causing both Sakura and Naruto to blush.

"Shut up Ino!" Sakura snapped.

"Less talking, more drinking!" Kiba yelled cheerily. Sakura and Naruto were all too happy to comply as the entire gang drank more sake.

"Since I'm not going to get you alone tonight Kiba, I just want to tell you something." Naruto spoke up after they had all finished with their gulps. The angry scowl was gone from his face, but the look in his eyes was enough to scare even the most hardened of ninjas.

"What is that?" Kiba nervously replied.

"I'm very protective of things that are precious to me. If you do something to anything I deem precious, I will come after you." Naruto stated in an even tone. But from the look in his eyes, it kind of seemed like a threat to Sakura.

"Hey don't worry about it man! I would never hurt anything precious to you; we're all on the same side here!" Kiba quickly replied while waving his hands nervously in front of him.

Sakura quirked an eyebrow. Just what was going on?

The gang started drinking again, and the couples each got lost in their own separate conversations, leaving just Sakura and Naruto to themselves.

Sakura noticed that Naruto's eyes were jumping all over the place, as if he was looking for something. His arms were tense, and his eyes usually flicked back to her about every six seconds. Something was definitely going on.

"Hey…" Sakura gently prodded Naruto causing all of his attention to focus on her. "Tell me what's wrong? What did Kiba do? Did he threaten someone?"

"No Sakura, nothing is wrong. So don't worry." Naruto assured with a smile. But Sakura recognized one of Naruto's fake smiles when she saw it.

"You're searching for something, and every six seconds your eyes flick back to me. Did someone threaten me? Are you here to protect me or something Naruto?" Sakura would've waited to do this until they were both alone, but she hated seeing Naruto worry like this.

Naruto was meant to smile; he always was in Sakura's opinion. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to truly calm her friend down until she figured out what exactly was going on. So that's why she just decided to call Naruto on what she was seeing him do.

He looked at her with a surprised expression on his face. "No one threatened you Sakura." Naruto assured. "I'm here for the party."

"That's funny, because just a day ago you said there was no way in hell you were coming to this party. Yet here you are, clearly upset about something and acting like some sort of paranoid body guard."

Naruto sighed. Sakura clearly wasn't going to let this go. She may kill him when he told her the truth, but her killing him was better than her drinking a potion that made her do something that she didn't want to do.

"Fine… Listen, Kiba has a love potion that was made by Tsunade. He said he was going to get you to drink it tonight and you would fall in love with the first guy you see after drinking it. So I came to stop that from happening. I'm not going to let anyone manipulate you like that." Naruto whispered.

Sakura tried to hold her laughter in, because what Naruto was doing was very sweet, and it made her glad she had a friend like him. But at the same time…

Sakura busted out into laughter, which only caused her teammate to look at her with a confused smile.

"You baka." Sakura wheezed as she tried to regain control of her laughter. "A love potion? Really Naruto? You think a love potion exists?"

"He showed it to me! And I asked Baa-chan about it, and…"

"You got played Naruto." Sakura grinned as she patted his hand. "They were probably just trying to get you to come to this party, and knew that the only way was if you thought I was in some kind of danger."

"But you are Sakura!"

"Naruto, it's physically impossible to make a love potion. I'm Tsunade's apprentice, I would know if it was possible." Sakura assured with an amused smile on her face.

"But…"

"No buts. Relax Naruto, I'm fine. I'm not going to drink something and then suddenly fall in love with the first guy I see."

"I just…"

"Ah ah ah Naruto." Sakura interrupted. "It's sweet of you to get so riled up about something like that, but there is nothing for you to get riled up about. I'm telling you it's physically impossible to make a love potion that actually works. Love isn't something that your body can just create."

"What if it's true though? I need…"

"You need to relax, drink some more and enjoy the party." Sakura interrupted again. She grabbed Naruto's clenched hands and gave them a squeeze. "Everything is ok, just calm down and let's have some fun tonight, ok?"

"Fine." Naruto grumbled. He trusted Sakura completely. If she said there was no such thing as a love potion, then there was no such thing as a love potion. But now he was left in another unsavory situation- he was now at the party he didn't want to go to, and Sakura was expecting him to stay!

Whether that love potion was real or not, Naruto was going to kill Kiba after this…

"Now drink Naruto!" Sakura commanded as she shoved a sake-filled saucer in his face. Naruto obeyed his teammate's command and took another gulp of sake. He had slowly developed a taste for the stuff over the years- although he wasn't nearly as fond of the stuff as Jiraiya was, or as Tsunade seems to have always been.

Sakura and Naruto chatted for an hour, drinking their sake, until Ino stood up with a silly grin on her face.

"Alright everyone, we're going to dance now! Lesss go!'

All of the couples got up, leaving just Naruto and Sakura at the table. "Do you want to go dance Naruto?" Sakura asked. She was careful to keep her features even; she couldn't let Naruto see the hopeful smile that was there just below the surface. She had to make sure she didn't cross that line of theirs.

"I really would rather not Sakura. I'm not one for dancing." Naruto replied.

"That's fine." Sakura replied with a smile, although a frown was hidden just below that smile. "But if we're not going to dance, that means we'll need some more sake then."

Naruto was surprised to see that all of the bottles at the table were empty.

"I'll go get us some more."

"While you're doing that, I think I'll go use the ladies room."

"Meet back here in five then." Naruto joked.

Sakura smiled at him as the two got up and went their separate ways.

"Kiba now!" Hinata said with an excited grin on her face.

"You do realize you're sending me to my death? Naruto made it clear what's going to happen if I do this. If I make Sakura drink this potion he's going to kill me!"

"Go noww Kiba!" Ino partially slurred. "We won't get another opportunity like this one."

Kiba sighed. "It was nice knowing you all I suppose." Kiba started working his way through the crowd to the table where the entire gang had been sitting at. It took him longer than he would like to navigate completely through the crowd, but he finally made it to the empty table.

Kiba took the potion out and poured its contents into the cup. Luckily it was dark in the bar so Sakura wouldn't be able to notice the different color of the drink unless she was specifically looking for it. He pocketed the empty vial and sighed in relief.

His job was done. Now he could flee Konoha before Naruto found out and killed him. He started to make his way back to the dance floor when out of the corner of his eye he saw Naruto making his way towards the exits.

"Shit…" Kiba muttered under his breath as he quickly moved to intercept his blonde-haired friend.

"Hey Naruto, where are you going?" Kiba called as he finally reached his friend.

"Home."

"Why? You're going to leave Sakura all by herself?"

"This is dangerous. Me dressed like this; Sakura dressed like she is…Being here with her is like we're actually here together. And besides, I can tell that Sakura wants to dance. She isn't going to get to do that if she's babysitting me all night."

"I think she'll be pretty bummed if you just abandon her tonight Naruto." Kiba reasoned. If possible, he wanted to direct Naruto back to their table without having to tell him what he just did to Sakura's drink.

"She'll get over it pretty quick, if she's even upset at all."

"Damnit Naruto…" Kiba sighed. "You're not making any of this easy. Listen, I poured the potion in Sakura's drink while you guys were away from the table. Sakura is going to drink that potion and fall in love with someone, whether or not it's you."

"It's not real, Sakura said so."

"Sakura doesn't know all of Tsunade's tricks." Kiba countered. "Believe me, that potion is very real."

"Damnit Kiba." Naruto snarled. "I told you to leave her alone!"

Naruto snapped his eyes back to their table where Sakura had sat back down. His eyes widened in alarm as Sakura started drinking her saucer with the potion in it.

"You don't have time to be angry at me right now." Kiba countered.

Naruto swore. He didn't want to force Sakura to fall in love with him like this… But if he just stood by and let her fall in love with some other random guy, then that guy could and probably would take advantage of her. At least if she fell in love with him, he could make sure she doesn't do anything she regrets until he finds a way to counteract the potion.

Naruto activated his biju mode and flickered in front of Sakura just as her eyes opened. He saw her eyes widen when she saw him, then they lit up with a look Naruto had always dreamed Sakura looking at him with… Just not like this.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled as she suddenly wrapped him in a tight hug. "I really am glad you came tonight."

Naruto let his biju mode drop now that he had protected Sakura. Well… protected her as well as he could anyways. Now he had his beautiful teammate pressing tightly up against him. Her body felt great against his, just like he always thought it would… But he cleared his mind of those thoughts. He couldn't let them float around in his mind or else he might take advantage of her.

"Well good Sakura. You can let go of me now."

"I could…" Sakura said in a mischievous sounding voice. "Or I could just keep ahold of you like this and drag you out onto the dance floor with me."

"Sakura, you're not feeling like yourself. You don't want to do this."

"Naruto, I'm feeling better than I ever have. I'm seeing things so clearly right now. Believe me, I want to do this. Now you have two options. Option one- you come out to the dance floor and dance with me all night without a single complaint, and with no resistance. Or Option two- you try to resist and I beat you until you agree to dance with me."

"Sakura…"

"Option one or option two Naruto? What's it going to be?" Sakura interrupted with a cute smile.

Naruto groaned. He was definitely going to kill Kiba after this was all done. He was thinking maybe hitting Kiba in the face with a rasenshuriken… that would be adequate retribution for drugging Sakura and consequently making Naruto dance…

"If you don't make a decision, I'm going to assume option two." Sakura warned.

"Option one." Naruto sighed.

"Good choice." Sakura quipped. She broke their embrace and grabbed onto Naruto's hand. Sakura led Naruto onto the dance floor.

"You know Naruto, you coming here tonight to protect me was really sweet." Sakura smiled over her shoulder at him as she led him deeper into the dance floor. "I really appreciate how protective of me you are. Even though I can easily protect myself, I still think it's cute how you are."

"No problem Sakura." Naruto nervously laughed. Little did she realize that he failed to fully protect her…

"And you always act like it's no big deal. Like it's just your job or something."

"Well…"

"Naruto what I want to say is… I really like you, you make me feel safe, you make me feel happy… I love you. So screw this friendship line we've both drawn, I know you've wanted to be more with me for years, and well… I want to be more with you too."

Naruto's heart thumped nervously in his chest. Sakura practically just gave him a speech straight from his dreams. But deep down, Naruto knew this wasn't real. Sakura didn't actually love him; she just thought she did because she was drugged by some dumb potion.

"You don't know what you're saying Sakura." Naruto replied. He hated that he had to deny this confession. He wanted to smile at her; he wanted to tell her that he loved her too… Naruto wanted to kiss her until neither of them could breathe. But instead he had to say, "We're just friends."

His beautiful teammate and soon-to-be dance partner frowned at him. "I know if it was your decision, you and I would be more than friends for years now Naruto. I'm telling you that I want to be more than friends with you. I know what I'm saying, and I mean it. I look at you Naruto and I see the man I want to marry, the man I want to have children with… the man I want to grow old with."

Naruto's heart ached as he listened to Sakura's words. He wanted so desperately for those words to be true. But this wasn't Sakura; she wasn't saying this because she wanted to. She was saying this because she was drugged.

Sure, Naruto could take advantage of this situation. Tell Sakura she was the only woman he saw when he dreamed of his future, and then he could live happily ever after with her. But he knew if he did that, he would be cheating Sakura. He would be depriving her of her true happiness. Sakura Haruno didn't want Naruto Uzumaki. That was the way it was, that is the way it is now, and that would be the way it would always be.

"Why don't we just dance tonight, and talk about this later." Naruto suggested. He needed to get away from this conversation. It hurt too badly to hear Sakura say things he had always prayed she would say only to realize that it isn't real.

Sakura frowned at him. "Fine, but don't think you're getting out of this Naruto Uzumaki. I love you, and I know you love me. I'm not going to take no for an answer."

"Later Sakura." Naruto sighed.

Sakura decided to let it go for now. Naruto was just being stubborn, like he always was. She had him where she wanted him now. The night was still quite young and he had agreed to dance with her all night.

She stopped in the middle of the dance floor and turned to her friend with a dazzling smile. She would dance with Naruto all night and then drag him off somewhere and break through his stubbornness.

Sakura wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck and started dancing on him, forcing him to move with her.

She couldn't help but giggle as Naruto attempted to follow her lead. The man could gracefully take out 15 missing nins in a matter of minutes, but put him on a dance floor and he suddenly became just another uncomfortable boy.

"Humm… who ever would have thought…" Sakura murmured.

"Huh?"

"Who would have thought that Ino would actually be right for once."

"What are you talking about Sakura?" Naruto asked with a cautious look on his face.

"Ino said she had a good feeling that tonight was going to be a special night for me… and here you are. My knight in shining armor here to protect me against a ridiculous love potion…"

"Sakura…" Naruto groaned as his heart ached. He would love if Sakura called him her knight in shining armor and actually meant it… Hearing her say the words but not truly mean it…

"Naruto…" Sakura sarcastically mimicked Naruto's groan. She smiled at her teammate and tightened the hold she had around his neck, effectively pulling the two of them closer together. She was a little confused at the pained expression that flashed onto his face the second their faces were only separated by a few inches, but she didn't want to focus on that right now. She had a different mission. She had to make sure that the man she loved truly understood how happy she was that he was here.

"Hey…" Sakura whispered. "I really meant it when I told you I'm happy you came. You easily made my year by showing up tonight."

Sakura was alarmed when Naruto didn't smile at her… instead he looked as if she took a dagger and slashed his very heart with it…

"You don't know what you're saying Sakura… You don't know what you're doing. Trust me- I'm not what you want. I never have been, and I never will be." Naruto really didn't want to have this talk in the middle of the dance floor, but Sakura wasn't really giving him much of a choice. He had to make her understand the truth before she did something that she regretted.

"I know exactly what I'm saying." Sakura countered. "You should have been what I always wanted, but you've been what I wanted for a while now… and you will always be what I want for the rest of our lives."

Naruto absolutely hated Kiba right now. Sakura's words dug at his very soul. It seemed as if his very soul were screaming at him to take Sakura into his arms and tell her that he loves her… But his mind knew that her words weren't real… Her words were forced. Her forced words were so much more painful than never hearing them at all…

"What has you so down?" Sakura asked with a concerned look on her pretty face. Naruto shouldn't look hurt right now. He should be smiling like an idiot. Yet every time she tried to let him know just how she felt about him, it only seemed to hurt him more…

"You wanted to dance right?" Naruto deflected as he started to awkwardly dance to the music on his own, and no longer follow Sakura's lead. "Let's just dance."

Sakura frowned, but she could see the determined glint in Naruto's eyes. He clearly did not want to talk about whatever was wrong, nor did he plan on it. She would have to wait until they got somewhere with a little more privacy to try to open him up.

"Fine." Sakura huffed. She pulled Naruto's neck even tighter so that their lips were only centimeters apart. "But later you're going to tell me what is wrong. Then like a good girlfriend, I'm going to fix it."

"GIRLFRIEND?" Naruto sputtered.

"Duh Naruto. Why do you think I'm dancing so close to you?"

"Sakura we're not dating!" Naruto protested. It absolutely killed him to have to tell the woman that he loved that they weren't dating, when he really wanted nothing more than to actually be dating her…

Sakura frowned at her dance partner. She wasn't sure why Naruto was suddenly being so uptight. This just wasn't like him. But that didn't matter. Tonight, Sakura Haruno was determined. By the end of the night she would be with the man she loved.

"Tonight we're dating." Sakura shot back. "I don't want people thinking I'm some sort of floozy tramp because I'm grinding up on a guy who isn't even my boyfriend."

"But…But…" Naruto stammered. Why the hell did she have to be so stubborn? This was one of the most painful experiences of his life, and Sakura just kept pushing and pushing making it hurt even more.

"Well look who joined us on the dance floor!" A loud voice interrupted Naruto's stammering. Naruto and Sakura looked to the voice's source to find Ino grinning at them while she danced with Chouji.

"You were right about tonight Ino." Sakura grinned.

"Sakura…" Naruto groaned again. Why couldn't this night just end…

"Ooh sounds like someone needs to loosen up some more!" Ino smirked. "Let's do shots!"

"That's a great idea!" Sakura grinned. Naruto was tense and was hiding something from her. A couple of shots would loosen him up and allow her to find out what was hurting him.

"Chouji go get us tequila shots- and make sure to get Naruto a couple of extra."

"I didn't agree to this!" Naruto protested.

"You agreed to option one, and I'm amending option one so that you have to drink whatever is offered to you." Sakura stated.

"What? I did not agree to that either!"

"Well there's always option two…" Sakura threatened with a playful glare on her face. To emphasize her point, Sakura tightened her grip around Naruto so that their foreheads were touching. She could feel him try to pull back, but her grip was locked in. Naruto wasn't going anywhere.

"Fine…" Naruto sighed. This isn't good… He worried. If I get drunk, I could take advantage of Sakura… I guess I just need to be careful and stay in control of myself…

Far too soon for Naruto's liking, Chouji reappeared with a small tray of tequila shots. Naruto eyed the tray warily…

"Alright, Sakura, Chouji and me will each do one. Naruto you will do the remaining four!"

"Four?" Naruto groaned. "But…"

"It's not too late to switch to option two Naruto." Sakura teased as she finally let the grip she had around his neck drop so they could drink their shots.

"To a special night and my knight in shining armor." Sakura smiled at Naruto as they all raised their shot glasses. All four of them made a face after sending the liquid down their throats.

"Go on Naruto…" Sakura ordered when it became apparent Naruto was going to attempt to 'forget' about his extra three shots.

Naruto grumbled and downed each shot in succession lest he suffer Sakura's wrath. He grimaced as the last of the warm liquid made its way down his throat. Now he really needed to make sure he was careful tonight. If he wasn't careful, those shots could potentially lower his defenses and he could potentially take advantage of Sakura.

"I think that should've loosed you up enough to dance, ne Naruto?" Sakura asked with a cute smile.

"I guess…" Naruto mumbled in response. He could already feel the effects of the alcohol setting in.

Sakura simply smiled at him and started grinding against Naruto. As Naruto felt Sakura's shapely butt rub against his crotch, he decided that he must've done something to piss off kami himself. That was the only explanation as to why he was in this situation.

To make matters worse for Naruto, Sakura grabbed his hands and guided them to her waist as she continued grinding on him. Now his hands were holding onto Sakura's soft hips as they swayed about in a seductive dance.

Naruto noticed from the corner of his eye that many of his friends and onlookers were watching him and Sakura dance with a mixture of knowing and excited smiles. He was beginning to suspect that this was one giant setup as he looked around.

He very well might have to kill more people than just Kiba after this tortuous night was finished.

"Hey don't zone out now." Sakura's voice drew Naruto's attention back to her. "You're supposed to be dancing with me all night without any complaints."

"I haven't muttered a single complaint Sakura." Naruto sighed as he did his very best to ignore the fact the woman of his dreams was still rubbing her perfect butt in his crotch.

"But you haven't said anything, and you've been looking around. As far as I'm concerned, your silence and lack of attention are complaints." Sakura huffed.

"I'm sorry." Naruto apologized in as sincere a tone he could muster. He wasn't sorry. He didn't want to pay attention to Sakura right now. That damn tequila was really starting to take effect now, and the more attention he paid to Sakura, the more likely he was to give in to her and take advantage of her altered state.

"It's alright; just don't let it happen again." Sakura grinned over her shoulder at him.

"Look what I brought!" A voice that Naruto currently loathed more than anything in the world called out as he approached the dancing "couple."

"Kiba…" Naruto growled dangerously.

"Hey don't be like that, I brought you shots!"

It was at that moment Naruto noticed that Kiba had a tray full of shots. He had a sinking feeling he was going to have to drink a good portion of those…

Yep. Naruto was definitely going to kill Kiba.

"Awesome!" Sakura chimed in as she stopped grinding on Naruto to grab a shot. The rest of their friends gathered around and each took a shot, leaving a total of four shots on the tray. Naruto grabbed one, but to his dismay, Sakura had no intentions of letting him off easy.

"You do know that the rest of the shots on the tray are for you right Naruto?"

"Oh I don't need them, believe me. I'm already feeling drunk from those tequila shots earlier." Naruto lied. He was kind of buzzed, but definitely not drunk. Although after another four shots he very well could be…

"Too bad!" Kiba grinned. "I heard you have to drink whatever is offered to you tonight. Well I'm officially offering the rest of these shots to you."

"Hate is too weak of a word to describe how I feel about you Kiba…" Naruto grumbled.

"No complaints Naruto!" Sakura sang.

"To Naruto and Sakura finally getting together!"Tenten called out.

"We're not…"

"Thanks guys." Sakura interrupted before Naruto could deny their relationship status. She, and the rest of their friends, tipped their heads back and took their shot. They all turned to Naruto with expectant looks on their faces.

Naruto sighed. These shots were definitely going to make things more difficult… especially with how aggressive Sakura had been so far in the night. But she wasn't giving him a choice in the matter. It was either comply and drink, or resist, face Sakura's wrath and likely end up drinking in the end anyways…

Naruto quickly knocked back all four shots and was relieved to find that these shots weren't straight liquor. They actually didn't taste all that bad.

"By the way, what were those shots Kiba?" Sakura asked.

"Lemon drops!"

"They were pretty good. Thanks for buying them."

"My pleasure." Kiba replied. "See Naruto? Sakura liked the shot I bought. That should be one less reason to want to kill me right?"

Naruto simply glared at Kiba as he felt the effects of the four new shots slowly starting to creep into his system.

Sakura giggled, grabbed Naruto's hand and dragged him deeper into the dance floor away from the rest of the group so they could be alone. Well… as alone as two people can be in the middle of a dance floor could be anyways. She turned around so she could resume grinding on her "boyfriend" when the music suddenly switched to a slow song.

Both she and Naruto were excited for the slow song, albeit… for very different reasons. Naruto was excited because he didn't have to worry about resisting Sakura rubbing herself up against him in a slow song. All he had to do was slowly sway back and forth with her.

Sakura was excited because this was not only a romantic song, but it also gave her another opportunity to try to get through to her "boyfriend."

"So earlier you said that we would talk later…" Sakura started as she looked deep into Naruto's sapphire eyes. "Let's say theoretically we were having that conversation right now. What would you say?"

"Sakura, not now…"

"Of course not now! That's why I'm saying theoretically." Sakura countered with an innocent smile.

Naruto sighed… It just really wasn't his day. "I would tell you that you drank a love potion, and your judgment is currently impaired as a result."

"That silly thing again? Naruto, I already told you, a love potion is physically impossible to make. I'm not under the effects of any love potion. Besides, you came here to guard me from that potion anyways tonight right? How would I have drunk it if I was under your protection?"

Naruto winced as he was reminded of his failure to protect Sakura. "Because I failed to protect you."

Sakura smiled softly at her companion. "You never fail to protect me Naruto. We both know that."

"I failed tonight." Naruto frowned.

"I don't see it." Sakura smiled. "Let's say that I did drink a love potion tonight, you made sure you were the first person I saw so you could keep anyone else from taking advantage of me. So even if I did drink some nonexistent love potion, you would still be protecting me right now."

"I…guess." Naruto relented.

"And I think that's sweet. Now back to our theoretical conversation…" Sakura tightened her hold on Naruto to bring them closer together. She normally wasn't the kind of girl who would go out and press her body up against some guy, and she definitely wasn't the kind of girl who would try to physically seduce a man… But she knew how Naruto felt about her, and she needed him to see how she felt about him. There was no way she would be this close to any other man, and there was no way she would have grinded on any other man like she was on Naruto.

"Please drop it Sakura." Naruto begged with a pained look in his eyes. He thought a slow dance would be easier, but being so close to Sakura that he could practically feel her breath on his face… This was worse than the earlier dancing. This was a position he had dreamed about. In his dreams, this was the part where he would softly tell Sakura that he loved her and then kiss those soft lips that always look so perfect to kiss…

Naruto shook his head to clear his thoughts before they could go any further. He couldn't think about his dreams right now, nor could he allow himself to focus on how much it hurt to be in this position with Sakura and know that it wasn't real. He needed to remain in control of his mind, his thoughts and his actions if he was going to protect his beautiful teammate.

Unfortunately for Naruto, all the shots he had been forced to take were starting to take effect. Even though he knew he shouldn't, Naruto found his attention kept drifting back to Sakura's lips which were curved upwards in a beautiful smile. Even though he knew he shouldn't, Naruto kept picturing in his mind what it would be like if he just kissed Sakura right now.

She was all over him right now, he knew she would be happy he kissed her… And kami knows he would be happy to kiss her…

Naruto again shook his head and tried to dispel his drunk thoughts. He couldn't do this to Sakura. This wasn't right.

"What are you thinking about?" Sakura asked. She noticed how Naruto's eyes kept glancing at her lips and it made her smile. All she had to do was play cute for a little longer, and then she could finally kiss Naruto. She knew if he just let her kiss him she could dispel all of his doubt. Sakura knew that if she kissed Naruto she could show him how she felt about him.

"Ramen!" Naruto quickly lied. With how hard Sakura was trying to essentially seduce him, Naruto could not allow her to learn that he had been thinking about kissing her! He would be royally screwed if she got ahold of that information, and then she would do something that she would regret after Naruto found a way to free her of the love potion's effects.

"Ramen." Sakura stated with an eyebrow raised that clearly told Naruto that she wasn't convinced he was being truthful.

"Yep, you know me Sakura." Naruto nervously laughed. "I can't go too long without thinking about ramen. Want to go get some with me?"

"Sure Naruto." Sakura replied. Naruto sighed in relief. It would be a lot easier resisting Sakura in a ramen stand where she wasn't pressing up against him, or grinding her butt against him… It looked like Naruto Uzumaki was finally catching a break tonight.

"Great, let's go!" Naruto chirped as the slow song came to an end.

"Not so fast baka." Sakura grinned. The night isn't over yet, and as per our deal, you have to stay here and dance all night with me without any complaints."

"But you said you wanted to get ramen with me!"

"I did, but I didn't say I wanted to leave. We can get ramen tomorrow, it will be our second date as a couple!"

"Second date? And we're not a couple!"

Sakura giggled at her blonde-haired companion. "Well this is our first date silly. And of course we're a couple, we're here together aren't we?"

It was killing Naruto to see Sakura so insistent that they were together. His very heart ached. He wanted so badly for this to be real, but he knew it wasn't. The only way Sakura Haruno could ever be interested in Naruto Uzumaki was if she was drugged- and tonight was proving that quite nicely.

Another fast paced song start up and Sakura instantly turned around. Naruto mentally groaned as he knew what was coming next. Sakura again started rubbing her perfect butt against him, and again placed his hands on her waist.

"Dance Naruto!" Sakura ordered with a sexy smile.

Knowing he didn't have a say in the matter, Naruto complied and started dancing with the beautiful woman who had captured his heart the moment he laid eyes on her. He wished this was real, he wished so badly. But it wasn't. When he freed Sakura from the effects of the love potion, Naruto knew that she would be absolutely horrified about this night and would demand they never speak of it again.

So with an aching heart and an increasingly warm feeling in his head from all of the alcohol, Naruto resigned himself to his fate. Tonight was going to be both wonderful and awful at the same time, but he had to get through it. And he would. He always did somehow.

Hours later found Naruto still on the dance floor with Sakura. The only difference was that he had been all but force fed more shots and was now drunk. It took all of his mental willpower to suppress his drunken thoughts and continue to resist his sexy teammate.

God she's so hot… Naruto thought with a drunken grin on his face as Sakura danced on him. Sakura made no real attempts to get him to talk about them as a couple after declaring this was their first date. She just danced on him… a lot.

She did however switch up her strategy. Instead of grinding her butt against him, she turned around and wrapped her arms around him before grinding her front into him. Her lips were so damn close to his it was torture! The more Naruto drank the more he just wanted to capture those soft lips. But he couldn't allow himself to do that; it wasn't right.

"So how you feeling Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"A little drunk Sakura-chaaan." Naruto grinned.

"Oh really?" Sakura smiled. "Good."

"You were just trying to get me drunk weren't you?" Naruto teased.

"Maybe I was." Sakura purred into Naruto's ear, causing his heart to start racing. "Now Naruto…"

Sakura pulled away from Naruto's ear so their lips were again so very close to each others'. "How about a kiss?"

Naruto's drunk mind did mental back flips in joy. He was going to kiss Sakura! He saw her close her eyes, and Naruto did the same. He leaned forward to kiss his "girlfriend," just as he had always dreamed of doing, when his eyes suddenly shot open. He quickly turned his cheek so Sakura's soft lips connected with it instead of his own.

He couldn't believe he almost allowed himself to take advantage of Sakura like that! He blamed the alcohol, but he was still surprised and angry at himself for coming so close.

Sakura frowned, but apparently wasn't deterred. She grabbed both sides of Naruto's face and turned his head so he was facing her. Naruto tried to move, but Sakura was using her chakra-enhanced strength to keep him firmly locked in place.

"Stop struggling and let me show you I mean everything I'm saying." Sakura ordered. Naruto's drunk mind searched for a way to escape before Sakura did something she would later regret. He tried to channel chakra into his body to perform the substitution jutsu, but he was so intoxicated he couldn't even properly channel his chakra for something as basic as that!

His frantic thoughts of escape instantly dissipated the second Sakura pressed her lips gently against his. She moved her lips against his, directing him into a slightly clumsy but passionate make out session. Her tongue slipped its way into his mouth and soon their tongues were dancing together.

When they finally broke apart, Sakura smiled softly at Naruto, but was alarmed to see a look of agonizing pain on his face.

"Naruto? What's wrong?" She asked. "Are you feeling ok?"

Naruto stared at Sakura in shock. That kiss… that was the kiss he had been waiting years for. That was the kiss he had been dreaming of since he first laid eyes on Sakura. That kiss was everything and more he ever thought it would be.

His lips were tingling from the contact, fireworks seemed to fill his vision, a jolt of excitement coursed through his body… The kiss was perfect, just as Naruto always imagined it would be. But the kiss wasn't real.

Naruto and Sakura would not be talking about this kiss in the distant future smiling fondly at its memory… As soon as Sakura was free of the potion's effect she would be mortified at that kiss. She would want to pretend it never happened and beat him within an inch of his life if he ever teased her about it.

His very heart ached as Sakura looked at him with a concerned look on her pretty face. He took advantage of Sakura when she was drugged… And that kiss… that perfect kiss… it never would've happened if she weren't. It stung deeper than Naruto thought it would to experience that amazing kiss only to realize that Sakura would never willingly choose to kiss him.

"Come on Naruto, speak to me." Sakura interrupted Naruto's thoughts as she placed a hand on his forehead to check his temperature. She knew he should be ecstatic right now. She just made out with him. The fact that he wasn't made her suspect that he must've been sick or something…

"I'm fine Sakura." Naruto lied to ease his teammate's worry. "It looks like the party is dying down. I should get you home."

"As if." Sakura snorted. "You're the drunk one here, I'm getting you home."

"No no, I will not let youuu wander the streets of Konoha at night by yourself!" Naruto protested.

"Naruto…" Sakura sighed. "Don't forget that I am a kunoichi who could snap you in half with a flick of my wrist. I'm not some fragile doll that needs to be protected."

"I know you're strong Sakuraaa." Naruto slurred. "But that doesn't mean I'll stop protecting you!"

Sakura rolled her eyes, but a smile found its way onto her face as she put a supporting arm around her drunken teammate. "That's sweet, but tonight I'm protecting you."

Neither Sakura or Naruto said a word as she guided him towards his apartment… and it was seriously starting to worry Sakura. Naruto was never quiet for long, especially when it came to her… and especially when he was drunk. He should be clamoring on about how much he loves ramen, or listing off the benefits of a late night Ichiraku's run… Or even more so, he should be dancing in the street after their kiss!

Sakura didn't believe she was too late. She was well aware of the feelings Naruto harbored for her, she knew he still held on to them… and she was grateful for that. Extremely grateful. So what was wrong with him right now?

"Naruto, we need to talk about tonight." Sakura finally spoke up.

"I'm a little drunk right now Sakura." Naruto deflected. "We shouldn't have any serious talks when I'm drunk like this." While he was drunk, Naruto was plenty coherent enough to have the discussion Sakura wanted to have. But he didn't want to have it. He knew what would happen.

Sakura would want to talk about the kiss, and she would keep trying to get with him. She would keep telling him that she liked him… She would keep telling him he's her knight in shining armor… And she would look so sincere while doing it. Naruto just couldn't handle it tonight. It had taken everything in his power not to crack after the kiss…

"Fine." Sakura huffed. "Tomorrow then, we will talk tomorrow."

"Of course Sakura-chan! Oh look, there's my house! Ok, let's get you home now Sakura!"

"I told you you're not taking me home, I'm taking you home." Sakura sighed as she led Naruto to his door. He unlocked the door and Sakura guided him up the stairs into his apartment.

"I don't want you walking out by yourself tonight Sakura." Naruto protested.

"Ok Naruto." Sakura replied as an idea sprang into her mind. "I'll just stay here tonight then."

"Whatever." Naruto relented. He could tell by the look in Sakura's eye that was the best he was going to get. What troubled him was what he saw in her stare. There was the steadfast stubborn determination to get him home that would prevent him from walking her to her place, but there was also a desire in her gaze.

He knew that she was interested in him now that she had drank that damn potion, but now she was going to be staying at his place? Naruto tried to gain control over his drunken mind before he did something that both he and Sakura would forever regret.

He was drunk, and Sakura was practically begging to be taken advantage of… If he wasn't careful, if he didn't steel his willpower, he could further take advantage of his best friend. Stealing Sakura's first kiss was one thing… but taking her virginity was on a whole different level. He couldn't allow himself to do that to her. She wasn't in her right mind, and he needed to protect her.

"Ok, you can sleep in my bed Sakura." Naruto said as he tried to stop the world from spinning around him with the sheer force of will.

Thinking she had broken through Naruto's odd defense, Sakura smiled and started pulling Naruto towards his bedroom. She gasped in surprise when Naruto disentangled himself from her and drunkenly plopped down on his couch.

"What are you doing?"

"You're sleeping in my bed; I'm sleeping here on the couch." Naruto explained.

"That's stupid, there's plenty of room for both of us in your bed."

"That would not be proper Sakura-chan." Naruto grinned.

"Oh come on!" Sakura sighed. She was really starting to get annoyed with his sudden disinterest in her. Well… not disinterest, just not the type of interest she was used to from him.

"What is wrong with you tonight Naruto? I've tried everything to show you how I feel… You had to have felt my love through that kiss of ours… That kiss was amazing, it was perfect, yet you're doing everything in your power to avoid being even remotely intimate with me. Do you think I'm lying to myself again? Is that it?" She hadn't meant to unleash her frustration on him like that, it just sort of came out.

"I…" The pain in Naruto's eyes was intense. Just seeing Naruto's pain made Sakura want to hold him and comfort him. Whatever was wrong, whatever was hurting him and she wanted to fix it. "I believe you believe you're being truthful."

"I believe? So you think I wrongfully believe I love you?" Sakura asked in an incredulous tone.

"Yes." Naruto croaked. "Because you don't Sakura. You're under the effects of that stupid potion. So please just drop this and go to bed. You're going to regret this entire night once I figure out a way to counteract the potion."

"There's no such thing as a love potion you baka!" Sakura angrily yelled. "If you don't want to be with me then just say so. Don't give me that bullshit excuse!"

Naruto's eyes widened. Sakura gave him a window to escape this... he just had to force himself to take it. He gathered up all of the willpower that he could in his drunken haze and opened his mouth.

"Fine. I don't want to be with you Sakura." Naruto forced himself to say. His heart ached as he watched Sakura's face transform from a look of annoyance and anger to hurt. He hated being responsible for the hurt look on her face… But this was the only way to protect her.

"You…you…" Sakura stammered. She felt tears starting to gather in her eyes, but blinked them away.

"You're such an ass sometimes Naruto!" She started to stomp towards his door to leave his apartment and go home, but froze when a loud crashing sound rang through the apartment. She turned around to see Naruto on the ground. From the looks of things he had tried to get up to stop her, but he couldn't quite clear the couch in his drunken state.

"Sakura I don't want you going out there. It's too late for you to walk around by yourself at night!" Naruto begged. He didn't know why he was so insistent on Sakura not walking alone at night. Truthfully she was a powerful ninja. There weren't many individuals who could easily defeat her.

"I'll be fine." Sakura growled.

"Sakura… please…" Naruto begged.

"God you're so annoying! Fine!" Sakura huffed angrily. She walked over to Naruto, picked him up and started carrying him to his bedroom.

"Sakura what are you doing?"

"Going to sleep here, like you want."

"I'm sleeping on the couch!"

"Wrong."

"Sakura… I told you how I felt…"

"For whatever reason you lied to me." Sakura growled. Naruto was a pretty good liar, but there was one thing he had failed to master when it came to lying… he could never keep the truth out of his eyes. His eyes were literally a portal to his soul, and Sakura could clearly see the agony in them when he told her that he didn't want to be with her. It frustrated her to no end that he would blatantly lie to her after she made it clear how she felt about him.

"But…"

"Shut up Naruto. Just shut up."

Naruto was too drunk to do anything to stop this from happening. He had quickly fallen over when he tried to stand to keep Sakura from going home in the middle of the night… Like it or not, he was solely dependent on Sakura to go anywhere in his current drunken state.

Sakura dragged him into his room and guided him onto his bed. She was tempted to just throw him into the bed she was so irritated with him, but she didn't think that would end well with how drunk he was. She quickly pulled Naruto's shirt off of him.

"Sakura, what are you doing?" Naruto gasped as she started tugging his pants downward.

"I'm sure you don't like to sleep in your clothes."

"I… this isn't proper!" Naruto sputtered as she tossed his pants on the ground.

"Get off that already." Sakura sighed as she took her dress off to reveal a matching pair of a green bra and panties. She made no efforts to hide herself from Naruto. Many a woman had been called a slut for doing much less than what Sakura was currently doing, but she didn't care.

Sakura wanted to get to the bottom of what was hurting Naruto. This may be considered slutty if she was doing this for some random guy. But the man she was currently crawling into bed with wasn't some random guy. This was Naruto. He was the only man she would allow to see her like this.

He was her rock, her foundation. A man that she had spent the past couple of years dancing around a subject they should've breached sooner. She looked at Naruto and saw the man she was going to grow old with. She was confident he still felt the same about her as he always had, and she finally knew how she felt about him.

So yes, some might call her a slut for stripping down to her bra and panties and crawling into bed with a guy she isn't officially dating. But Sakura didn't care, because deep down, she felt like she was already dating him tonight. She had meant it when she called him her boyfriend at the party. And there was nothing wrong with a girlfriend doing this with her boyfriend.

Naruto wanted to resist the temptation of gawking at Sakura's exposed body, but he was too drunk to have full control over his eyes. He drank in the sight of Sakura's mostly exposed body. Her perky breasts fit her perfectly, and her green panties hugged her body tightly.

The combination of being too drunk to fully control his thoughts and body, and being completely entranced by her beauty prevented him from doing anything as Sakura crawled into bed with him and wrapped herself around him.

The angry and annoyed look on her face left the second Naruto didn't try to resist. In its place was a happy smile. She looked so happy… Naruto's drunk mind started questioning why he was trying to fight this so much. Could that happy look on her face really be because of some potion?

"There, this isn't so bad is it?" Sakura quietly asked.

"N-no Sakura-chan." Naruto nervously answered.

"So what's been wrong with you tonight Naruto?"

"Nothing's wrong Sakura." Naruto lied.

"Please tell me." Sakura begged.

"It's just… it's killing me that I'm taking advantage of you like this…" Naruto mumbled. To his surprise, Sakura actually started laughing.

"You're taking advantage of me? If anything it's the other way around you baka. I got you drunk, took you home and then dragged you into bed with me. And you know what? I don't feel bad about it because I know how you really feel."

"Sakura… everything you've done tonight… It's been because of the potion. You're feeling its effects."

"Alright fine Naruto," Sakura sighed. "Let's say this potion was real, and I in fact ingested it. Well then let me tell you right now not to feel bad about quote unquote taking advantage of me. In the same way I don't feel bad for taking advantage of you, you shouldn't feel bad for taking advantage of me. We love each other; we would both be doing this if we were in our right state of minds as you put it."

At his core, Naruto knew that Sakura only said what she said because she was under the effects of the love potion. But in his drunken state, he managed to ignore that core discomfort. He decided it was better to take Sakura at her word. She looked so happy right now.

He wrapped his arms around Sakura who sighed in contentment. "I love you too Sakura."

"I know, and I'm glad you still do." Sakura leaned up and softly kissed Naruto on the lips. She was tempted to go further with him, but she didn't trust herself to stop tonight. She was on a sort of high from finally confessing her feelings to Naruto, and he was in no state to resist her himself. She wasn't sure if she was ready for that step yet, and she wanted their first time to be special anyways.

"Now let's go to sleep Naruto, it's late."

"Good night Sakura." Naruto muttered. Before Sakura could reply he had already fallen asleep… Or passed out. Sakura wasn't sure which one. She laid her head down on Naruto's chest and allowed sleep's sweet embrace to take her as well.

Birds chirped outside and soft morning sunlight poured through the bedroom window as a pair of bleary sapphire eyes opened for the first time in hours. Those same bleary eyes glanced around the room to find the clock. As the eyes scanned the room, they happened to notice a flash of pink. The eyes glanced down towards where they saw the flash and quickly widened in horror.

All grogginess instantly left Naruto the second he realized what that flash of pink was… Sakura's head was resting on his chest, with a contented smile on her pretty face. Naruto suddenly felt sick…

He failed. He took advantage of his most precious person in her most vulnerable state. Why did he listen to her last night when she said he shouldn't feel bad for taking advantage of her because she loves him? She only thought she loved him because of that damn potion.

Naruto wanted to vomit, he wanted to summon a thousand shadow clones just so they could beat the hell out of him… He wanted to intentionally piss Tsunade off and make no attempt when she tried to knock his head clear off.

Once he freed Sakura from the effects of the potion, Naruto knew that his and Sakura's friendship could survive last night's party. They kissed, and Sakura would be none too happy about that, but after a couple of weeks of awkwardness they could go back to the way things were.

But this… This was not something Naruto believed their friendship could survive. He crossed a line that should never have been crossed. Sakura would never forgive him for this when she was of her right mind… she would never want to see him again, and would stay away from him just to avoid the embarrassment that would come from remembering sleeping with him.

One stupid decision was all that it took to fail Sakura, and ruin his friendship with her. One stupid decision was all that it took for Naruto to lose his most precious person.

A small voice told him to stop whining and enjoy the effects of the potion. It told him that if Sakura was always under the potion's effect, then he wouldn't have to lose her friendship, and he could finally be with her like he had always wanted.

Naruto shook his head to silence the voice. As tempting as it was to keep Sakura this way, he would never choose himself over her. She needed to be free, she needed to make her own decisions and find her own happiness.

He looked down at her smiling face and burned the image into his memory. It hurt to see her so happy with him, and know that it was all a lie… But at the same time, Naruto wanted this memory. It was all he would ever have once he found some way to counteract the potion. This painful, yet wonderful memory would be his companion once he lost Sakura's friendship.

A look of determination suddenly flashed across his face. He had failed and lost Sakura's friendship, but he could still slightly make it up to her. He could save her one more time. After taking advantage of her like this, he owed it to her to find a way to counteract the potion.

Naruto carefully disentangled himself from Sakura so as not to wake her. Once free from her embrace, he silently crept out of bed, put his usual attire on and slipped out the window and started walking towards the Hokage Tower.

Tsunade had ruined Sakura's life with this damn potion, he would force her to tell him how to counteract it one way or the other…

A cold gust of wind blew through the window as bleary emerald eyes opened for the first time in hours. The room was dim. Those same bleary eyes shot open when they noticed that there was only one person in the bed.

Sakura quickly sat up and glanced around the room, searching for any sign of her new boyfriend.

"Naruto?" She waited for a reply, but frowned when none came. She glanced out the window and saw a large storm cloud covering the sun. She started wandering Naruto's apartment, hoping to find her blonde-haired companion hiding or playing some sort of prank.

To Sakura's disappointment, her search of Naruto's apartment was frivolous. He was nowhere to be found.

"That baka." Sakura huffed. They had finally both finally came clean to one another and admitted their feelings, and Naruto had the gall to bail on her before she could even wake up. When she found him she was going to beat the crap out of him for this. Although, she would heal him right after of course.

Sakura sighed and got dressed. She wanted to find Naruto and demand to know why he had just abandoned her this morning.

She leaped out of Naruto's window and headed towards Ichiraku's. She would search every inch of Konoha if she had to in order to find Naruto, but it was definitely a good idea to search his favorite hangouts first.

"RASENGAN!"

Naruto didn't even try to dodge when his clone thrust a small rasengan into his shoulder. The clone had held back so as not to do serious damage, but it hurt nonetheless. The force of the weak rasengan was still enough to knock Naruto off his feet.

A shadow over him alerted him to the fact that another of his clones was currently descending upon him to deliver a punishing blow, and again, Naruto made no attempt to dodge. He barely made a sound as his clone drove its knee into Naruto's gut.

The clone leaped backwards, allowing Naruto to stand. He glanced around and saw the thousand clones he had created surrounding him. Normally he only summoned this many for the most intense training sessions when he had Sakura nearby to heal him directly afterwards… But Sakura was nowhere near currently, and Naruto was thankful for that.

Tsunade's words from their talk earlier flashed through Naruto's mind as a group of his clones charged him, intent on pummeling him to a pulp.

FLASHBACK

"You're here about that again?" Tsunade sighed. "Naruto, it's early and I already have a lot of work to do, just go home."

"HELL NO!" Naruto yelled. "Sakura's going to be so pissed off and embarrassed when she gets over this potion. I took advantage of her you old hag, and all because of that god damn potion!"

"Watch your mouth Naruto." Tsunade warned. She really didn't have time to deal with a pissed off Naruto this morning… But his words piqued her curiosity. "How did you take advantage of her?"

"She kissed me! And then she convinced me to sleep with her!"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at Naruto. She had been expecting something far dirtier when he said he took advantage of Sakura.

"And how is that taking advantage of her?"

Naruto looked at Tsunade like she was an idiot. "Because she wouldn't actually want to do any of that stuff with me! I crossed a line and fucked up a friendship with my most precious person... Tell me how to counteract that stupid potion so I can at least partly atone for what I've done."

"I don't recall ever confirming that the potion was real."

"I don't need you to! One second Sakura was being Sakura, then she drank that potion and suddenly she was all over me and in love! I could see that the potion was real, I'm not an idiot damnit." Naruto growled.

"You're so convinced… a pity." Tsunade sighed.

"Stop screwing around with me and tell me how to counteract the potion already!"

"No."

"EXCUSE ME?" Naruto yelled angrily.

Tsunade smirked at Naruto. "I'm afraid I don't know how to counteract this potion that you're so convinced is real. So I won't tell you how to counteract it, because I don't know how to myself."

"How the heck do you create a potion that you don't know how to counter?" Naruto groaned.

"You're just going to have to deal with it. Spend some time with Sakura, and take her out on a romantic date, I'm sure she'd love that."

"I'm not going to take advantage of her any further. I'm not leaving here until you tell me how to counteract that potion!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes at Naruto. "Jeez, you're such a pain. Fine kid, I'll come up with a way to counteract the potion. But you're just going to have to deal with Sakura as she is until I do. Now get out of my office, as if I didn't have enough to do already today, now I have to find a way to counteract some stupid potion you believe in."

Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but a warning glare from Tsunade silenced him.

"Fine. I'll be back tonight." Naruto turned and exited the Hokage's office.

FLASH IN

The second Naruto left the office he headed to a remote training ground no one ever uses because of its location. It was perfect for Naruto. He decided to just avoid Sakura for the day, that way he wouldn't risk taking advantage of her again.

He had originally intended on training while he avoided Sakura, but when he summoned his shadow clone army, the desire to fight left him.

WHAM!

Naruto's body skipped across the ground as a group of his clones combined their attacks to strike him with simultaneous kicks. His body was getting extremely sore, but at the same time, it strangely felt good. He deserved this for what he did to Sakura.

With a bitter smile, he simply stood up and waited for the next attack from his shadow clones.

To say that Sakura was annoyed would be the understatement of the century. She had been searching for Naruto for two hours and couldn't find him anywhere. Her annoyance and anger only grew with each minute that ticked by. When she found Naruto…

Sakura took a deep breath to calm herself and knocked on the door she had walked to.

"Come in." Tsunade's voice called.

"Hello Tsunade-sama." Sakura greeted as she walked into the room. Her search of Konoha had been fruitless so far, so Sakura came to Tsunade to see if she could get her master to give her some help.

Some people might consider it a little much to ask the Hokage to use an ANBU team to find Naruto for her, but fear was starting to bubble beneath the anger and annoyance that Sakura was currently consumed with. In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but worry that something had happened to Naruto.

"How can I help you Sakura?" Tsunade asked, although she didn't look up from the scroll she was reading.

"I can't find Naruto anywhere, and I'm starting to get worried." Sakura said. Tsunade wasn't likely to get an ANBU squad to locate Naruto just so Sakura could beat the crap out of him, but Sakura was confident she would use the ANBU squad if there was a chance Naruto was in some sort of danger.

"Are you now…"

"I am. This isn't like him; I can always find him when I want to. Will you please get an ANBU squad to track him down?"

"You want me to send an elite squad of our village's most powerful shinobi to track down Naruto, who you are worried about because you haven't been able to find all morning?" Tsunade asked with an amused smiled on her face.

"This is Naruto we're talking about! What if my worry is justified, what if he's currently in danger?"

"He's fine." Tsunade chuckled. "You're such an overprotective girlfriend Sakura, it's cute."

"I am… what does that have to do with anything?" Sakura stammered as she blushed in embarrassment.

"Nothing, just an observation. Naruto was last seen headed to training ground 931. I'm sure you can find him there."

"Thanks Tsunade-sama!" Sakura said. She quickly ran out of the office and toward the training ground 931. That was the most remote training ground that no one ever used because of how far out of the way it was… Why on earth would Naruto train there instead of Team 7's old training grounds like he normally did?

Sakura couldn't wait to pound some answers out of Naruto.

"Maybe we should call it a day boss…" One of Naruto's clones called in a worried tone has Naruto attempted to stand, but crumpled to the ground instead. Blood was pouring from his body from the beating he had taken thus far. His clones had been laying into him for the past hour and a half and he had made no move to defend himself even once. He took each and every attack they threw at him.

"N-no." Naruto gasped as he stood to his feet, this time managing to remain standing. "We're not finished, until I say we're finished. Now come at me!"

Not a single clone moved to obey Naruto's command, instead they looked at him with scared looks on their faces. The beating Naruto had accepted thus far was beyond what even the most powerful ninja could handle.

"You bastards! I said come at me!" Naruto yelled angrily.

"You've had enough boss, just dispel us already." A clone shot back.

"Enough?" Naruto spat. "I've had enough? I took advantage of Sakura! I haven't had enough, I need more. COME AT ME NOW!"

The shadow clones flinched at the desperate, yet haunted tone of Naruto's voice and reluctantly charged toward him to obey their master's wishes.

Sakura hated training ground 931. Not because it was a crappy training ground, but just because of how far away it was. It took forever to reach. She heard the sound of a body colliding with a tree as she neared and rolled her eyes.

Naruto was the most predictable unpredictable ninja in the world. Go figure that he would abandon her this morning to go train. She had a scolding ready for him on her tongue as she leaped into the training grounds, but that scolding quickly left her when she saw Naruto.

He was slumped against a tree, his body bloody and bruised as an army of his shadow clones reluctantly approached him, preparing to deliver another blow to his already battered body.

In a panic, Sakura quickly flickered in front of Naruto and caught the hand of the clone that was preparing to punch him in the face. With a growl, Sakura destroyed the clone and glared at the rest.

"What the hell do you all think you're doing to him?"

"This is what the boss wants Sakura-chan." A clone sadly answered

Sakura's eyes widened as she glanced at Naruto over her shoulder. He looked so dejected… Did he really want this? Did he really want his clones to beat him up so badly?

"Well this ends now. Dispel one by one so you don't overwhelm him." The shadow clones nodded, and one by one started to dispel. Sakura turned around and knelt down to inspect Naruto's body as poof after poof sounded off.

"You… you found me." Naruto wheezed in a slightly bitter sounding voice. "Go figure…"

"Of course I found you baka!" Sakura snapped. "What the hell do you think you were doing?" She started pumping her healing chakra into his body.

"Delivering well-deserved punishment to myself." Naruto quietly replied.

"WHAT?" Sakura yelled.

"I…I took advantage of you last night Sakura. You don't understand right now, because you're under the influence of Tsunade's love potion… but when I free you from its effects, you're never going to want to talk to me again after what I did last night. I crossed a line and took advantage of my most precious person, and now I'm going to pay the price for it."

Sakura grabbed Naruto's collar and lifted him up so his face was inches from hers. Her emerald eyes were aflame in fury.

"That's the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard Naruto! I already told you I love you, I already showed you I love you. Now get off this stupid potion, and start acting like my boyfriend so we can both be happy together! You didn't do anything wrong last night… Last night was wonderful. And there is nothing in this world that could ever make me stop talking to you."

"You say that Sakura… but you wouldn't be saying that if you had never been drugged." Naruto frowned.

"You… why are you such an idiot sometimes Naruto?" Sakura sighed. She wasn't really sure what to do. She had tried everything to make Naruto believe she loved him, and she had thought she had finally gotten past his barrier last night. But apparently, she was further away than ever.

"Trust me… once I free you from that potion's effects you'll see that I wasn't being an idiot..."

"Trust me… my feelings for you aren't because of some stupid potion! You are being an idiot!" Sakura countered. Her frustration with Naruto was growing, but she was relieved to see that the Kyubi was helping with the healing of his body, and he was recovering from his self-inflicted beating quite nicely.

"You're wrong Sakura…" Naruto sighed. "You're so vulnerable right now, and I'm tempted to take advantage of it like I did last night… Please let me go so I can summon more shadow clones now…"

"So you can beat yourself again? Since when the hell did you become some kind of emo Naruto? Where is the bright optimism of the man I fell in love with?"

"I'm not emo!" Naruto protested.

"You're acting like it." Sakura shot back. "If you're not emo, then prove it. Smile like you always do at me, and accept that I really do love you."

"You don't though!" Naruto croaked. His face was twisted in agony. It looked like each word she spoke only served to stab him harder and harder in his heart. Sakura hated seeing that look on his face, but there was nothing she could do about it as long as he believed her love was fake.

"What can I do to prove to you that I really love you Naruto?"

"What?"

"You heard me. What can I do to prove that I really love you? Because I'll do whatever it takes to open your stubborn eyes."

Naruto avoided eye contact as he looked at the ground intently. Not a word was spoken for a full minute. Just as Sakura was about to open her mouth to further prod Naruto, his quiet voice interrupted the silence.

"Take Tsunade's cure to the love potion. Whatever cure she comes up with, if you go through with it and are cured of the love potion, then tell me that you love me after that, I will believe you."

"Done." Sakura stood up and pulled Naruto up with her, but she did not relinquish his hand once he was standing.

"Let's go see Tsunade-sama now. I'm ready to open your eyes and show you the truth Naruto."

Naruto closed his eyes at Sakura's words to hide the pain in them as Sakura pulled him along. He dreaded the truth. He focused on enjoying her company while he still could, because he knew that very soon, Sakura would no longer want to talk to him ever again.

"You're here earlier than I expected, and with Sakura too." Tsunade said, her eyes never leaving the pile of paperwork on her desk.

"Naruto won't believe my feelings until I've had this cure to your love potion Tsunade-sama." Sakura snorted. "Despite me having told him a hundred times that it's impossible to create a love potion."

Tsunade glanced up for the first time at the young duo standing in front of her with an amused smile on her face.

"Oh yes, that would be ridiculous wouldn't it?"

"Of course! As if you could manipulate something like love." Sakura huffed.

"As if." Tsunade agreed. "Well I've got some bad news Naruto, the only cure I've come up with requires me to forcibly send my chakra through Sakura's entire system and have it attack anything in Sakura's chakra system that is foreign. It's a pretty painful process, and Sakura will need to stay in the hospital overnight after undergoing the treatment."

Naruto didn't like the sound of that. He didn't want Sakura to have to feel pain, but what choice did he have? She needed to be free of the effects of this potion so she could find her happily ever after.

"I don't care. If that's what it takes to get this baka to listen to me then bring it on." Sakura growled. She didn't even flinch the slightest at the thought of having to go through a painful process that would leave her bedridden for the night. In her mind, it was worth it.

"Is there something I can do to alleviate her pain Baa-chan?" Naruto asked. He had heard of techniques that allowed people to absorb damage for other people. Maybe he could do something similar so the cure wouldn't hurt Sakura as much.

"I'm afraid not. So, is this cure worth that?"

"Yes." Sakura answered. She turned to Naruto with a determined look in her eyes. "If it will make you listen to the truth, then damn straight it's worth it."

Naruto winced when Sakura mentioned the truth. He knew the truth, and it wasn't good for Naruto Uzumaki. But this had to be done. Sakura needed to be free of this potion's effects. He didn't have the willpower to resist the advances of the woman he loved for very long.

"Yes Tsunade… It's worth it."

"Very well. Let me know when you're ready and we can go to the hospital to start the procedure."

"I'm ready right now. Let's get this dumb thing over with already." Sakura sighed. "I have a second date to go on with my boyfriend!"

"I'm not…" Naruto started, but a sharp glare from Sakura silenced him. "Right Sakura-chan… I won't hold you to it though."

Sakura rolled her eyes and looked back to her master. "Well? I thought you said we could start this as soon as I'm ready?"

"Right right." Tsunade chuckled. "Let's go then."

After making it to the hospital and securing a room, Sakura, Naruto and Tsunade all stood in the hospital room that Sakura would be staying at for the night. No one made a sound during the walk from the Hokage Tower to the hospital.

Sakura had a quiet determination surrounding her, and Naruto had an aura of misery surrounding him. Tsunade had simply observed the two as they walked.

"Ok Sakura, this is going to hurt. It will take me about ten minutes to cleanse your entire chakra system. Afterwards you most likely pass out from the strain this procedure put on your body. You can't pass out before I've finished the cleansing, ok?"

"That's fine. Let's just get going already."

Tsunade smiled at her apprentice's fiery determination. "We will, just give me a second to get some things prepared. I'll be right back."

Tsunade stepped out of the room, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone.

"I'm sorry this is happening Sakura, I'm sorry I didn't do a better job of protecting you." Naruto quietly apologized. Sakura looked into his sapphire eyes and hated the sorrow she saw there.

"Stop that. You have nothing to apologize for. But if you still think you need to make it up to me, then stay here with me. Be here when I wake up."

"That's probably not a good idea Sakura… You're not going to want to see me when you wake up." Naruto's voice sounded like it was about to crack.

"That's definitely not true. Even if this love potion you seem to believe in were real, and making me believe I have feelings which I don't have, you're still my most precious person. I would still want to see you."

Before Naruto could reply, Tsunade walked back into the room. She had been waiting patiently on the other side of the door for the two to say what they needed to say. She decided to intervene before Naruto could say anything else that might upset Sakura.

"Ok, let's get this procedure started, shall we?"

"About time." Sakura huffed. She instantly reached out and grabbed both of Naruto's hands.

Naruto blushed at the contact, and lightly tried to tug his hands free, but Sakura was having none of it.

"Ok Sakura, are you ready?"

"Yes already! Let's just get this over with!"

Tsunade chuckled, placed her hands on Sakura's arms, and began the procedure.

Sakura hissed in pain and instinctively squeezed Naruto's hands tightly for comfort. It felt like liquid fire was slowly working its way through her veins. Tsunade apparently wasn't exaggerating when she said this procedure would hurt…

She did her best to monitor how hard she was squeezing Naruto's hands. If she wasn't careful, she could very easily crush them into a thousand pieces.

Naruto hated seeing the look of pain on Sakura's face… He should've been able to do more for her, he should've gotten to her a little earlier to stop her from drinking the love potion. Heck, he should've just overpowered Kiba and taken the dumb thing from him the first time he showed it to Naruto.

His failures led here - to Sakura in a world of pain as she underwent a painful procedure.

The next ten minutes were excruciatingly long for Sakura and Naruto. Sakura because of the feeling of fire going through her veins, and Naruto because he had to watch.

Finally, Tsunade removed her hands from Sakura's arms, freeing Sakura from the pain. Sakura wanted to tell Naruto that nothing had changed, but she was suddenly exhausted. Despite her mental protests, her eyes drooped shut and she fell into a deep sleep.

"There, all done." Tsunade announced. "Happy now?"

"No." Naruto frowned. He wasn't happy at all. Even though the last ten minutes had been torture, they were the last ten minutes that Sakura would ever want to be around him. Now they were over and she was unconscious. His friendship with the woman of his dreams would officially end when she woke up and discovered what he had done.

"Tsunade?"

"What is it Naruto?"

"Why would you let Kiba use that potion on her? Why would you do that to your own apprentice?"

"Stop being so gloomy Naruto." Tsunade gave Naruto a comforting smile. "It doesn't suit you." She exited the room before Naruto could respond.

Naruto looked down at his hands, which were still interconnected with Sakura's. He would like to hold her hands like this forever, but he didn't want to cross the line any further than he already had. He disentangled his hands, sat down in a chair in the corner of the room and closed his eyes to fall asleep.

With his eyes closed, Naruto didn't notice the frown the adorned Sakura's face in her sleep when she no longer sensed Naruto right by her.

Early morning sunlight streamed through the window to Sakura's hospital room as Naruto slowly opened his eyes. He was thankful to see that Sakura was still asleep.

She said that she wanted him to be here when she woke up, but she wasn't herself when she said that. And frankly, Naruto's heart just couldn't handle that rejection right now. It had gone through too much the past through days to be able to handle that.

So like a coward, Naruto stood up and walked out of the room. He needed to get far away before Sakura could wake up and yell at him for what he did. He was so busy focusing on getting out of the hospital as quickly as possible, that he wasn't even looking where he was going and ran straight into Tsunade, who was just on her way to check on her apprentice.

"What are you doing Naruto? Is Sakura already awake?" Tsunade asked.

"No…" Naruto quietly muttered.

"Where are you going? I'm sure she'll want to see you when she wakes up."

"I can't."

"Didn't I tell you to stop being gloomy Naruto? Get back in there and wait for her to wake up." Tsunade sighed.

"Stop being gloomy?" Naruto growled. The past two days had really pushed him to his breaking point.

"Forgive me for being gloomy Tsunade. Forgive me for being gloomy when I had to spend the last two days listening to the girl I've been in love with since I first saw her, confess her love to me, all the while knowing that it was all a lie! Forgive me for being gloomy when I've spent the past two days having it rubbed in my face that the only way Sakura could love of me is if she was drugged! FORGIVE ME FOR BEING GLOOMY WHEN I SPENT THE PAST TWO DAYS HAVING MY HEART STABBED OVER AND OVER!"

Tsunade looked down at Naruto with a look of shock on her face. This was uncharacteristic of him to be so negative. He always managed to put a positive spin on everything. To see him act like this, it almost made her question if this was really Naruto.

"Naruto…"

"Please drop it Baa-chan. I'm not ready to say goodbye yet." Naruto hurried away before Tsunade could reply.

Tsunade watched him go with a disappointed frown. Seeing the hurt on his face and hearing the anguish in his voice, Tsunade almost questioned her actions over the past two days. Almost.

"Sometimes you gotta hurt someone to help them I guess…" Tsunade mumbled. Her actions may have caused one of her precious people to hurt right now, but she knew he'd be appreciative in the end.

"Cat!" Tsunade barked. An ANBU member with a cat mask appeared in front of her. "Keep an eye on where Naruto goes. I have a strong feeling someone is going to want to find him when she wakes up."

"Hai Hokage-sama." The cat-masked ANBU disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Tsunade resumed her walk to Sakura's room. She was looking forward to getting everything resolved. She meant it earlier when she said that gloomy just doesn't suit Naruto.

As soon as Naruto got out of the hospital he ran as fast as he could. He didn't know where he was going; he just had to get away. He wasn't proud of himself, what he was doing wasn't Naruto Uzumaki's way.

Naruto Uzumaki stayed and fought with a giant grin on his face. Naruto Uzumaki remained optimistic even in the darkest times. But he… he was running. He could summon no optimistic hope. He felt like a different person, and he hated it. But he wasn't sure how else he could survive.

If he had stayed, Sakura would've been angry at him for crossing the line. She would've told him she never wanted to speak to him again and their friendship would end.

But running away like this, taking the coward's way out, Naruto could pretend like he hadn't royally fucked up his friendship with his most precious person. His heart had taken a lot of hits the past two days, it just couldn't take the hit that would be Sakura ending their friendship.

Naruto suddenly found himself on top of his father's head at the top of the Hokage Mountain. He had no idea how he got up here, but it was comforting. This was the closest he could get to parental comfort, and he would take it.

He sat down and looked at the entire village and felt slightly more at ease, though his heart remained heavy.

He let out a weary sigh. He knew he couldn't run forever. Eventually he would have to face Sakura's truth.

Bleary emerald eyes slowly opened as morning light washed through her room. Her mind was hazy, and her memories foggy, but for some reason she was disappointed when she looked around the room to find that Naruto wasn't there.

Her eyes finally landed on Tsunade who was sitting in a chair, apparently waiting for her to wake up.

"So you're finally awake." Tsunade greeted.

"Umm… yes. What happened exactly Tsunade-sama?"

"You underwent a painful procedure. It would appear that your mind is still a little hazy I presume?"

"Err… yeah. What happened?"

"The short story? You ingested a love potion I created and confessed your feelings to Naruto. He didn't believe your feelings because you were under the effects of the potion, and then you two came here where you underwent a procedure to remove the potion's effects."

Suddenly all of the memories from the last two days came back to her and Sakura blushed. She danced on Naruto, kissed him AND slept with him! She couldn't believe she did that!

"Wait… did you say love potion? I thought that was just Naruto being paranoid. There's no such thing as a love potion, it's impossible!"

"Don't tell me what's impossible." Tsunade chuckled. "It wasn't exactly a love potion… As you know, when we are attracted to other people, our bodies subconsciously memorize their pheromones and react stronger to them. My potion simply utilized your chakra to enhance your reactions to those pheromones."

"But I remember Naruto saying that I would fall in love with the first person I saw after drinking the potion."

"That was all Ino's idea." Tsunade chuckled. "We knew that you needed a push to make a move on Naruto, but we also needed a way to make sure Naruto was around you for you to make that move. So Ino suggested we capitalize on his protectiveness of you and tell him that you would fall in love with the first person you see."

"Well that was certainly effective." Sakura chuckled. "But I'm mad! None of you should have mettled like that!"

"Practically the entire village has been waiting years for you two to stop dancing around and just admit that you like each other." Tsunade countered with a roll of her eyes. "Believe me, we needed to mettle."

"But…"

"Do you regret anything you did Sakura? Do you regret telling Naruto you love him?"

"Well… I mean, I was kind of slutty… but no, I don't regret it. Although I do wish I could've done it in a less slutty way."

"Nothing wrong with a woman seducing the man she loves." Tsunade chuckled.

"Speaking of… where is Naruto? I thought he would be here with me when I woke up?"

"Naruto… he firmly believes that the only reason you said you love him was because you were under the effect of the potion."

"I know that, but I told him I would want to see him when I woke up either way!"

"Well… he said he couldn't handle it. He told me he wasn't ready to say goodbye."

"He's such an idiot." Sakura huffed with a small smile of her face. It was absolutely adorable how protective he was of her, and she couldn't help but be touched at how hard he took it when he thought he took advantage of her… Although she wished he hadn't had to experience any pain…

"So can I leave?"

"Of course. Bear!"

An ANBU in a bear mask appeared in a poof of smoke. "Yes Hokage-sama?"

"Does Cat know where Naruto is?"

"He is sitting on top of the Hokage monument. There is no indication of him moving any time soon."

"Thanks Tsunade." Sakura grinned. She opened the window to her room and leaped out. It was time for Naruto to hear the truth.

A gentle breeze ruffled Naruto's hair as he continued staring down at the village below. His mind was currently so distracted with ways to kill Kiba that he didn't notice when another presence joined him on top of the Hokage mountain. Nor did he notice the crunching of gravel getting closer and closer.

He jumped slightly in surprise when someone suddenly sat down next to him. But the surprise quickly turned into horror and sorrow when he saw who it was.

"Such a nice view up here." Sakura said with a smile.

"Sa-Sakura-chan…" Naruto stammered fearfully. "Look, I know what you're here about. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything that I did. I can offer no excuse, and I understand why you no longer want to be around me. You don't have to worry about me teasing you…"

"You. Are. Such. A. Baka." Sakura interrupted, prodding Naruto's chest with her finger with each word.

"I know I am, and I'm really sorry…"

"Shut up Naruto. You're talking too much."

"I…" Naruto snapped his mouth shut, and then closed his eyes. Apparently Sakura was not content with just letting him apologize. It would appear that he was not going to be able to escape her scolding. He just hoped that he could make it to the hospital on his own power after she was finished unleashing her fury on him.

"So… the past two days were crazy, eh?" Sakura noted. She leaned closer to Naruto, but made sure to do it in a way that he wouldn't realize what she was doing when he had his eyes closed.

"Umm… yeah. Like I was saying earlier, I'm really…"

"I believe Naruto, I told you to be quiet." Sakura mock scolded. "I've heard quite enough from you!" She wanted to take all of the pain he had experienced over the past two days away, but she couldn't resist playing him with him a little first.

She watched as Naruto practically sweat bullets with his eyes scrunched close.

"It's time I told you the truth Naruto. Are you prepared to hear it? I know you've gone through a lot the past couple of days, so I don't want to tell you it if you don't think you can handle it." Sakura leaned slightly closer to Naruto. If he wasn't so busy being nervous, he would've sensed her closeness.

"I'm ready Sakura." Naruto lied. He wasn't ready, he wasn't ready to say goodbye to his most precious person. But this was the way it had to be. This was what he…

Naruto's eyes shot open in surprise when a pair of soft lips cut off his thoughts. He tried to back away to figure out what was going on, but Sakura was too fast. She grabbed a hold of his head and held him in place while she had her way.

When she pulled back, she had a soft smile on her face, while Naruto had a dumbfounded look on his.

"You're cute sometimes, you know that?" Sakura giggled.

"What…"

"You were so protective of me, and you took it so hard when you thought you failed to protect me.

"The…"

"I'm grateful to have a guy that cares as much as you do." Sakura went on.

"Hell…"

"But Naruto, you didn't fail to protect me. You never do."

"Just…"

"Although you could've been a little more open to my advances." Sakura grinned.

"Happened?" Naruto finally finished his stammering question, look of shock still firmly etched on his face.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You didn't hear anything I just said did you?"

"Umm…" Naruto had been aware that Sakura's lips were moving, which meant she was probably saying something. But he was too busy trying to process what had just happened with that kiss to figure out what she was saying.

"What did you tell me yesterday at the training grounds when I asked you what it would take to get you to believe me?"

"That I would believe you after you got Tsunade's cure."

"So you'll believe whatever I say now, right?"

"Y-yes…" Naruto stammered. There was no way this was happening. There was no way that Sakura was actually crawling on top of him right now. There was no way that she was pushing his back down against the ground. And there was definitely no way that Sakura was no leaning down so that her lips were a mere inches away from his.

"Naruto… I love you." Sakura whispered with a loving smile on her face. She leaned down and captured his lips yet again. She pulled back and was pleased to see the beginnings of a smile on Naruto's face.

"You do?"

"Duh. That's what I've been trying to tell you these past two days." Sakura joked.

"So you weren't under the effects of any potion the past two days?"

"Well… I was. But it just…" Sakura was about to explain the technicalities of the potion to Naruto, but decided it would be better to give him the dumbed down version. "It boosted feelings I already had so I would make a move. Apparently Tsuande and our friends were tired of us dancing around and decided we needed a little push. So while I may not have grinded all over you for an entire night, and forced you to sleep with me before we were actually dating…" A blush adorned Sakura's cheeks as she recounted those events.

"I definitely already loved you when I took the potion. That's a promise. I'm sorry it took a potion to give me the boost I needed to make this move Naruto, and I'm sorry for the pain it caused you, but I don't regret it at all."

"So does that mean that party really was our first date?"

"It better be! I don't want to be known as some tramp who sleeps with a man she isn't even dating." Sakura chuckled.

"So we're dating?"

"I believe we established this on our first date Naruto." Sakura grinned.

Naruto's eyes suddenly lit up as a realization suddenly dawned on him.

"That means we get to go to Ichiraku's for our second date!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. She fully remembered her promise to Naruto during the party.

"If you want to go on a date, an event that's supposed to be romantic and special mind you, to Ichiraku's Ramen Shop, then yes Naruto. We get to go to Ichiraku's for our second date."

"YATTA! LET'S GO SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto yelled as he jumped to his feet.

Sakura rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile at her boyfriend's antics. She didn't even know why she bothered hinting that Ichiraku's is no place for a date. Of course Naruto would miss, or completely ignore the hint. She started to stand up, but yelped when Naruto suddenly lifted her into his arms.

"Naruto!"

"We're going to get there quicker if I just carry you."

"Hey I'm fast too!" Sakura protested.

"We gotta go start our second date Sakuraaa!" Naruto said excitedly.

"I fell for a baka." Sakura huffed, smile still present on her face. Her words made Naruto's grin grow even larger.

Naruto sprinted down the cliff face and went straight towards Ichiraku's when he reached the ground. An hour ago he had been downright miserable and depressed. An hour ago he didn't feel like himself.

But now, thanks to the beautiful smiling girl in his arms, joy surged through his entire body. He felt like an improved version of himself again.

As they neared the ramen shop his eyes widened. There was something very important he forgot to say!

"Sakura?"

"What is it Naruto?"

"I love you too."

Sakura smiled at Naruto and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm glad you do."

Naruto set Sakura down on the ground. The happy couple linked hands and strode into Ichiraku's to start their second date.

Whew! That was a long one! This is the result of about one year worth of scribbling down the story in between meetings/traffic and what not. The original completed version was pretty choppy, as it was written in god knows how many different parts, so I tried to smooth it out in editing. But this has been my pet idea that I've been scribbling down for the past year, and I'm happy with how it turned out =)

I hope you enjoyed it, please do review! Until next time!

-NaruDeeds