Love that pic!! it's so artsy ;D

 Team 7 ate their dinner in silence around the fire. Gaara was nowhere to be found, and both Naruto and Kakashi were itching to know what had happened. It must've been pretty bad if it could scare off the Kazekage.

Suddenly, Naruto stood up. "Well, I'm gonna hit the hay 'ttebayo. Sasuke, you coming?" Sasuke nodded and soon followed Naruto into their shared tent.

"Only one sleeping bag! Who set this up 'ttebayo? They must have been worse at math than me!" Sasuke clenched his teeth at the Naruto's statement, an action that didn't go unnoticed by the said blonde.

"Oh well, I guess that only leaves one option..." Naruto began, making Sasuke smirk triumphantly, "Sasuke! You're sleeping outside! Hopefully, the wolves don't mistake you for a duck and eat you dattebayo!"

The smirk promptly fell from Sasuke's face, "Hn, no." Sasuke sat down on top of the sleeping bag, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"Sasuke," Naruto said warningly as he watched his teammate unzip the sleeping bag. Sasuke paid him no mind as he began to slip inside, "Oh no you don't!"

And with that, Naruto suddenly squeezed himself inside the sleeping bag, trying to push out Sasuke in the process. However, the ex-Uchiha had already zipped the sleeping bag closed.

"What are you doing, Naruto!" Sasuke said with annoyance as the blonde squirmed next to him.

"I'm stuck! Lemme out, Teme!"

"Well I'm stuck now as well, the zipper is on the outside and my hands are stuck." Naruto's wriggling didn't stop, and Sasuke groaned as the blonde rubbed against his lower region.

"Will you quit it, Naruto? Let's just sleep." Naruto stopped moving, much to Sasuke's relief. But then he started again, "Naruto, stop!" he said, louder this time. Sasuke knew Naruto didn't mean it, but he could feel a hand down there, and if this kept up he wouldn't be able to control himself.

"My nose is itchy," Naruto said as he continued to try to get his hands free. But he was soon stopped when Sasuke used one hand to hold his wrist still, and the other to scratch his nose.

Naruto sighed in relief, but soon let out a yelp when he felt something warm on his lips. With widened eyes he looked down, only to see Sasuke kissing him. An arm snaked to the back of his neck, and another around his waist, forcing him closer to the ravenette.

A blush adorned his face, but he couldn't find the strength to do anything to push Sasuke away. He felt fire wherever the ravenette touched, and couldn't help but love it. Soon he found himself shyly kissing back too.

Suddenly, Sasuke felt two hands push against his shoulders. He let go slightly so that he could face Naruto's flustered expression and parted lips. It was adorable to him, but the words that left the blonde's lips were not.

"U-um, look, Sasuke. We really shouldn't do this...I mean, I'm a guy, and you're a guy, and-"

"So what?" Sasuke interrupted, "I like you, Naruto. More than I've liked anyone before. So unless you don't want this. I don't really see a problem." Naruto blushed even more and bit his lip nervously. And Sasuke almost swooped in and planted his lips on the blonde right then and there.

Then he felt two arms slide around his torso, and a small "I like you too," from Naruto. That alone was enough for a genuine smile to force its way onto Sasuke's face as he captured Naruto in another warm and passionate kiss.

.

.

.

[MEANWHILE]

Now it was only Kakashi and Sakura sitting around the slowly dying fire. Kakashi glanced up at Sakura several times. No sound escaped from his mouth, but she could feel his silent plead for her to explain.

"We should go inside," Kakashi said. And soon enough they were snuffing out the last of the flames.

Kakashi was making his way inside the tent, but then turned around when he noticed Sakura wasn't following him.

He looked at her questioningly, but she only offered a halfhearted smile, "You go ahead, I'll meet you inside," When she noticed Kakashi hadn't moved, she added, "Nature calls."

Kakashi was laying in his sleeping bag with a bored expression. It had been about half an hour and Sakura still hadn't returned. Surely taking care of her business wouldn't take that long.

After a long internal debate, he got up and exited the tent to go search for Sakura. However that was proving to be a challenge. Kakashi couldn't sense any chakra signatures around.

Assuming the worst, Kakashi summoned Pakkun. The summon's face immediately morphed into a cringe when he sniffed the air. "I smell blood."

Kakashi pursed his lips, "Can you take me to the source?" Pakkun nodded and broke into a light trot with Kakashi in tow.

The jounin visibly relaxed when he saw a mop of pastel pink hair. But panic once again overtook him when he noticed her hunched over a pool of blood. He quickly nodded to Pakkun in thanks before rushing to his student. "Dear Kami, Sakura what happened! Are you okay?"

Sakura's head whipped around at the sound of Kakashi's voice, her shocked expression mirroring the one on his face. "Oh, Kakashi!" She began, trying to sound cheerful. But Kakashi could still hear the weariness she tried desperately to hide.

"I um, wasn't expecting to see you here," Sakura tried to discreetly wipe the blood off her chin, but only succeeded in smudging it and making it even more apparent.

"What's this?" Kakashi asked, ignoring her weak attempts at dodging his question.

"Uhh..." Sakura began, "It's that time of the month?" Kakashi raised one visible eyebrow as if saying 'Oh really?'

"Okay fine! It's my kekkei genkai! Happy now?" Kakashi was silent for a minute,

"How long?" He finally asked. Sakura looked up thoughtfully,

"I only found out about it after the Chuunin exams. I had used the atom release way too much that day."

"But you weren't sick at our time in Suna."

"That's because I only got sick after we all had left. The more I use my kekkei genkai, the worse the side effects will be, which is expected...with my situation anyway."

Kakashi nodded slightly, "But the time between your initial use of your atom release and the side effects was at least more than three days. Your argument with Sasuke happened less than two days ago."

Sakura nodded, "I was getting to that. These side effects act like a boomerang; the more I use my kekkei genkai, the more time between my initial use of the atom release and the side effects."

"And this is the only side effect?" Kakashi asked, gesturing to the puddle of blood.

Sakura shook her head, "No, at first, it was a pounding headache and muscle soreness."

It's getting worse, "So then if you were to use your atom release every day..."

"I would be digging my own grave," Kakashi hesitated,

"Does anyone else know?" He asked.

"No," was Sakura's only reply before the two of them wordlessly agreed to walk back to camp. Their trip was silent save for the familiar sounds of the forest. The same scenery the two of them had grown up in, minus the unwanted people of course.

When they reached their tent, the two of them crawled into their respective sleeping bags, but neither of them were planning on sleeping for a while.

"This might be a bad time, but since you know already," Sakura began, her voice barely above a whisper, "I left the tungsten in Suna on purpose."

Kakashi let out a noise of acknowledgement. After hearing her explanation in the woods, he had expected as much.

"I know it was selfish of me, but I'm scared, Kakashi." Her statement triggered something inside the jounin, and he found himself moving so that he was next to Sakura. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders in a comforting embrace as they both drifted off. His heart clenched as he saw his student's tough exterior crack, and the worst part about it was that he didn't know what to do.

The last thing he heard from Sakura felt like another anvil was dropped on his chest.

"I don't want to die,"

______________________________

YEAHH SASUNARU!!! That was so fun to write...gosh I should've done it sooner.

Sorry 'bout the depressing ending though, I promise it was needed!

We got to see a bit of Kakashi's and Sakura's relationship (And I mean that in a family way pervs!! XDD)

But we still don't know what happened to GaaSaku :( Or Minato :(( But It's coming!

I know I keep forgetting to put this in the A/N, but here we go!

How's the story so far?

LIkes?

Dislikes?

Advice?

Questions about anything?

What do you think happened between Gaara and Sakura?

*I tried a new smaller paragraph format today, how ya like it?

Your input is ALWAYS appreciated <3<3 ;D