Tenshi: Well. This is the prequel to Haunting Love. I've been meaning to get this out for a while, but have had no inspiration, but now I have it. Hope you all enjoy.

Warning: There WILL be SLASH here so if you don't, like then click the back button. This is a SasuNaru fic. I obviously don't own Naruto cause if I did…well, all Yaoi fans reading this should be able to think of some better things they could be doing their mouths besides bickering. Also, Naruto and Sasuke are OOC. I know but I, the authoress, decree that they shall be OOC with the fluffiness! Bwahahahahahaha!

A Blooming Love

"You're late!" Two loud voices pierced the gentle morning air with their annoyance.

"Sorry. A dolphin stopped me on the way here to ask me how some students of his were doing." Kakashi replied, his eyes not leaving the pages of precious book.

"Liar!" Surprisingly it was only Sakura who yelled. "We all know that dolphins can't talk, plus we're not even anywhere near the ocean!" She sent her always-late sensei a glare before continuing. "We were even here extra early, just because you asked us to be. I don't get to dry my hair again!" "Hell Yah! Let him have it!" Inner Sakura was in total agreement.

Naruto sent Sakura a questioning look. He had long since gotten over his small crush on Sakura, especially since she was now dating Rock Lee. He then turned to Kakashi. "Ne, ne…. Kakashi-sensei? Was Iruka-sensei asking about me?" He asked his teacher excitedly. Naruto had been so busy lately that he had not had time to visit his former sensei in quite a while.

Kakashi finally put his book away and ruffled Naruto's hair, much to the blondes protest. "Actually, he was asking about all of you. He was especially interested if all of you were going to the Sakura festival next week. He said that he had something that he was going to give to all of the shinobi who had graduated in your year and the year before yours."

Naruto jumped around excitedly. "Yatta! Yatta! We get gifts from Iruka-sensei!"

While Naruto was doing this, Kakashi walked over to Sasuke. "So, are you going to go to go or am I going to have to drag you there kicking and screaming?" He grinned under his mask, not that anyone could see.

Sasuke looked up to send his famous Uchiha death glare at Kakashi. "No, I'm not going and no one is going to make me either. That festival is just a waste of my time that could be spent better with training."

Kakashi shook his head. "Well that's just to bad now isn't it? Poor Naruto's not going to have anybody to take him to the festival now. Well, I guess Iruka-chan and I could take him, but I would have thought that you would have liked the honor."

Sasuke sputtered, a slight red staining his cheeks. "What the hell are you talking about?" He hissed before quickly glancing over at Naruto to make sure that he didn't hear anything. "I don't know what you are going on about, but it isn't funny."

Kakashi shook his head then patted Sasuke on the shoulder. "Don't worry. It's perfectly natural for a boy your age. There's no need to deny it." Kakashi mentally snickered and patted himself on the back. If this didn't ruffle the Uchiha's feathers then he didn't know what would, but Kakashi was disappointed. Sasuke just gave him a colder glare before walking away to sit on the other side of the bridge. Kakashi decided that though it was fun messing with his student they had other things to do. He walked over to join his three students. "Alright. We have…..no missions today!" He announced happily.

There were a few moments of silence before all hell broke loose. Actually, it was Sakura, but what's the difference? "What do you mean no missions! We got up EARLY, I repeat EARLY, just so you could tell us that there were no missions!" To say that Sakura was not happy would be putting it lightly. Ready to slaughter and hide the body was more up to level, but still probably not quite there.

Kakashi, wanting to leave the clearing in one piece, nodded before he quickly disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto and Sasuke, who had managed to put some distance between them selves and Sakura, were currently trying to sneak away unnoticed. Luckily, Sakura stormed off muttering about late lazy ninjas and their stupid excuses.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "Wow. I forgot how scary she was. I'm glad I'm not thick brows right now. That's were she's probably heading." Naruto then turned his attention to Sasuke who had been oddly quite during the whole encounter. 'Except for when he and Kakashi-sensei were talking. I think that he was blushing. I wonder what they were talking about.' Naruto, being the curious fox that he, is asked Sasuke about it. "Ne, Sasuke? What were you and Kakashi-sensei talking about?"

Sasuke, who had been lost in his thoughts trying to figure out what Kakashi was implying, actually looked up startled, but only for a second before he slipped his cold mask back on. "That's none of your business dobe." Sasuke mentally smirked. 'That should get a rise out of him.' And of course, as soon as the four-letter word left his mouth he had Naruto yelling and ranting at him about various things. 'At least he's not asking about Kakashi anymore.' He mentally sighed to himself. He tuned back into what Naruto was saying near the end of his rant.

"-nd for the last time stop calling me dobe Sasuke-teme!" Naruto was beyond mad. Here he thought that he could go one day without Sasuke calling him dobe. 'Well, guess I was wrong. That bastard will never change.' He thought bitterly. He was tired of his constant fighting with Sasuke. At first it had been mostly because Sakura wouldn't stop throwing herself at him and the fact that Naruto had thought that the Uchiha was nothing but a stuck-up brat, but those opinions had changed over time. He and Sasuke had been together on team 7 for about five years now and, somehow, the Uchiha had changed right before his eyes.

When Sasuke had first started on the team with him, he had wanted to do everything himself, thinking that Sakura and he would only slow the child protégé down. Over time had Sasuke gotten over his superiority complex and could now work pretty good with his two teammates, not that it was his first choice, but hey, he is an Uchiha.

Sasuke sighed. He had gotten the rise out of Naruto that he had wanted, but for some reason he was not satisfied. Lately he had been feeling strange around the loud mouth blonde shinobi, and the feeling was not exactly unwanted. He tried to remember when the feeling had began and he guessed that is was about 2 months ago when he had heard a couple of girls maybe about a year or two older than him commenting on how handsome Naruto was. Sasuke had thought about it, had denied it at first, but the then had started comparing the obnoxious 11 year old to the now more mellow 16 year old and could now actually admit to himself that he really liked the loud mouthed dobe, more that a team mate should.

Naruto had definitely changed. Sasuke shook himself out of his memory to observe the blond in front of him. He did look quite different without that eyesore orange jumpsuit on. He laughed to himself remembering how Iruka and Sakura had dragged Naruto to buy new clothes when he had hit his growth spurt at 14, but even with the growth spurt, Naruto only stood at 5'10 while Sasuke was a good 4 inches taller. He never did stop sulking over that fact. Naruto was now wearing a pair of loose black pants and a dark blue t-shirt that brought out the color of his eyes, which had darken a tiny bit over the years.

Sasuke's reflection was interrupted when he caught sight of a fist heading towards him from the corner of his eye. He just managed to doge. With no target to hit, Naruto was about to have another encounter with the dirt, but a pair of arms around his waist stopped it. Looking up, Naruto saw that Sasuke had grabbed him and was now holding him up. Blushing, Naruto quickly scrambled out of the Uchiha's arms.

Luckily for Sasuke, Naruto was too embarrassed to look at him to notice the dark one's own blush. The sharingan user coughed to get the blonde's attention. "So….you are going to the Sakura festival right?" He asked hesitantly. He really didn't want to go, but to leave his fox there where others could get him was out of the question.

Naruto looked at him suspiciously, "Yes, of course. Iruka-sensei asked me to go so I will."

"Well, why don't we go together then? There's a discount if you buy two tickets together and…" Sasuke trailed off, not sure how to continue.

Grinning, Naruto stepped over so that he was bare inches away from the other shinobi. "Are you asking me to go with you to the festival Uchiha, Sasuke?"

Sasuke couldn't believe his luck. Naruto showed no signs of disgust if there were to go to the festival together. "Yes, I am asking you to go to the festival with me."

"Fine, but only if you ask me properly."

Sasuke sighed. "Alright. Uzumaki, Naruto. Will you do me the honor of going with me to the Sakura Festival?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes Uchiha, Sasuke. I would love to go with you."

Sasuke then did something that surprised even him; he took Naruto's hand in his own and kissed the palm of the blonde's hand. Naruto, his cheeks now having a thin layer of pink on them, looked at him in confusion and surprise. "I shall pick you up at 7 then." Sasuke stated before he then left to go to his apartment.

To be continued….

Tenshi: Well, I was going to try and finish this all in one chapter, but I decided not to. I need some ideas about what will happen at the festival and maybe some reviews would help. All you have to do is hit the small button at the bottom of the page. Any and all reviews are appreciated. Also, if you liked this fic; you should check out Haunting Love, it's the sequel to this, but I wrote it first…he he…