Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto. Character not original, just tweaked their personalities to better fit my story.

Sorry for the late update… life gets in the way sometimes.

Chapter Five

Sakura stared in disbelief as Naruto was practicing throwing kunai. He was terrible. Well that might actually be an understatement. His stance was wrong, his aim was off, and he even held the sharp blade incorrectly. She sighed to herself and looked up to the sky, asking herself why she agreed to help the blonde loudmouth train the day before the exam. Breathing out loudly, she steeled her resolve. No use in moping. She agreed to help, and by kami she was not going to waste her day off now. He would at least learn something from her today.

She cleared her throat loudly in order to get Naruto's attention.

Naruto turned and blushed. "Heh, I guess I need to work on my aim."

Sakura felt bad. Naruto looked upset despite the large smile on his face. She wondered how much he practiced on his own. He had no family to help. If she didn't have her dad show her the correct way to throw, she might have ended up like him.

"It's not your aim necessarily, Naruto. I think you main problem is your stance and how you hold your kunai. You need to be more delicate and fluid with your motion. Let me show you."

Sakura walked over and grabbed Naruto's right hand. She molded his fingers and palm into the right position. Satisfied she then bent down and positioned his legs correctly. "In order to aim correctly, you need to have your front left leg pointed at the target. It's the same as throwing a ball."

She got up and brushed the grass off her legs.

Naruto was stunned. He never expected Sakura to get so close to him. Most people seemed to hate him or be afraid of his presence. She actually touched him. His whole body felt hot and tingly. His palms now felt sweaty and his throat was dry. Closing his eyes, Naruto was now even more determined to hit the target in front of him. He would not let his crush down. Naruto took a deep breath and tried to slow his beating heart. Squinting at the target in front of him, he reeled his arm back and threw his kunai forward, hitting the target dead center.

Sakura stared dumbfounded. He actually did it. "Wow Naurto! Good job!"

Naruto was just as shocked. He spent so much time practicing after school. He could never hit the target this well before. He began to feel overwhelmed with joy the minute that the shock of the moment wore off.

"I DID IT SAKURA-CHAN! You're the best teacher ever!" He ran towards the pink haired girl and grabbed her for a hug.

Sakura started laughing. She wasn't used to being the recipient of such an affectionate display.

"Alright Naruto. Calm down. Let's see if you can do it again."

Naruto blushed and let go of his classmate.

"Alright Sakura-chan! I'll do my best!"

The blonde sprinted back to his original position. He quickly set his stance the same way that Sakura showed him. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he set his resolve once more. He would do his best. He needed to prove his worth to Sakura-chan.

Opening his eyes, he released the kunai. It hit the target once more, slightly to the left, but still a vast improvement from his previous attempts without Sakura's help.

The blonde smiled again.

Sakura was still shocked. How could someone learn so quickly? It took her weeks to be able to throw so well. Naruto learned it in a couple minutes. She was mixed with feelings of happiness and jealously. It wasn't fair. She wanted him to be good, but not as good as her in a couple minutes. She knew it wasn't right to feel this way, but it sure was hard not to feel deflated. It made her feel like she didn't progress fast enough or far enough in her training. She felt stupid for wanting to take the day off; she didn't deserve it, well not yet anyway. She needed to train harder.

While Sakura was deep in thought, Naruto once again ran over to her.

He scooped up his classmate and swung her around in a giant hug.

"YOU'RE THE BEST SAKURA-CHAN!"

Sakura immediately felt bad for her negative thoughts. She was here to help, not to be jealous.

Suddenly she felt a pair of warm lips on her. She was stunned and shocked. Naruto just kissed her… His lips touched her… HE JUST FREAKING KISSED HER… IT WAS HER FIRST KISS… Well technically it was just a peck, but still a kiss to her lips… HER LIPS. This was not ok. She did not give him permission to do this. Sakura got mad. Her first instinct was to smack the blonde idiot on the head.

"NARUTO! THAT WAS MY FIRST KISS! YOU IDIOT! " Sakura said fuming and near tears. "You're supposed to be in love with the person you kiss." The tears started to fall from her face "You didn't even ask for my permission."

Naruto's happiness immediately flew away. Without thinking, he kissed his crush without asking. Now he was certain that she hated him… His heart clenched in his chest. He couldn't bear the thought of her hating him.

"Gomen Sakura. I got carried away. I never meant to do that." Naruto said bowing.

Sakura wiped the tears from her face.

"It's fine Naruto. I understand. But, you should probably work on training by yourself for the rest of the day. I don't want this incident to be a distraction. The exams are tomorrow and you have a lot of work to do" Sakura sad coldly.

She was more upset at herself for lashing out and showing so much emotion. Kunochi were supposed to mask their feelings. In fact, she heard that some of the older kunochi in the village we required to go on missions where they manipulated their targets into revealing information through flirtation and seduction. A first kiss shouldn't have meant so much to her. She was now embarrassed.

Naruto bowed his head.

Sakura could tell he was crying now.

"It's fine Naruto. I was just shocked. Besides, as a future kunochi, I shouldn't have lashed out like that. I should be happy that I didn't lose it on a mission and that it was with a friend."

Naruto looked up at his classmate. She just called him a friend. He finally had a friend.

"I'm still sorry Sakura-chan. You helped me become better and I made you upset in return. From now on, I will never make you upset again! As your friend I promise that I will only make you happy! Believe it!"

Sakura laughed. It was so hard to be mad at Naruto. He looked so determined. It was painfully endearing.

"Alright Naruto. I'll hold you to it. And I'll see you tomorrow morning for the exam."

Despite no longer being mad at the blonde, Sakura decided she should probably go and let him practice on his own. Besides she now felt self conscious around him and she couldn't stop thinking about the kiss. It wasn't so bad. It was warm and soft despite being so abrupt. She blushed and shook her head to clear her thoughts.

"Thanks for all your help Sakura-chan!"

She smiled softly. "No problem. Bye Naruto" she said as she turned to leave.

Sakura never thought that her relaxing day would be so eventful. The most exciting thing she had planned to do was buy a new book. But this certainly made her plans look mild. And now whenever she thought of Naruto, she was certain that she would remember that kiss. Despite her unsure feelings and previous anger, she smiled to herself. She actually felt like a normal girl for a moment. It was nice.

Little did she know, a pair of red eyes was watching her from the trees surrounding the training ground.

xx pointgrey