The Beginning of the End of Innocence.
1. Worlds collide
Uchiha Sasuke was brooding again, as usual. It was nothing new to Naruto. He was used to seeing his team mate's distant expression, as if he was living somewhere in his own dark little world.
Naruto would have been surprised to learn how true his observation was, if he and Sasuke were actually normal friends, on normal talking terms, or even just normal team mates. If Sasuke would actually admit such a thing to him in the first place. Or admit to anybody for that matter.
But they weren't normal friends, normal talkers (Naruto talked too much and Sasuke not at all), normal team mates or even just normal boys. What they were exactly, neither was sure. They didn't think too much about it, and just continued to exist, each in their own worlds.
Kakashi sensei was late, as expected. "Ohayo!" he waved carelessly, as he appeared in a poof of smoke on the top of the bridge. This was just their regular routine, as Sakura and Naruto pounced on him with various loud cries of "You're Late!" and "Stop Lying!"
They didn't mean any harm by what they did, it was just something that they did. It was comforting to have routine in the tumultuous life of the shinobi. They took what they could get, when they could get it.
Sasuke let out an almost imperceptible "hn" to the scene before him. This was his contribution to the routine. It was just so infuriatingly Sasuke. His too cool for school attitude, too cool to even say anything Sasuke style. It pissed Naruto off but he couldn't exactly say why. Sometimes he felt that Sasuke intentionally acted cooler than he had to be around him, because he knew it would piss Naruto off more.
Once again, Naruto would have been surprised to know how accurate he was. Sasuke pushed his buttons just because he knew he could. It was the same way Naruto knew how only he could irritate Sasuke in the same way. Of course, they'd both drink bleach before they admitted to this. To anyone at all, let alone to themselves or each other.
Their relationship was a strange one. You couldn't tell if it was there, but at the same time you couldn't say that it didn't exist. And so they just continued to live in their own little worlds, occasionally colliding head on with each other during their missions, but neither thought anything of it. They had their own lives to live, the other just happened to come along when they did.
Kakashi explained their new mission. He was going to be able to retire soon as their sensei he said (Probably so he could concentrate on reading his perverted book, Naruto thought sourly. Sasuke didn't really care or think at all. He just wanted to get out there, out of Konoha, out of his memories, out to kill a certain man. And Sakura just thought that now she could have some alone time with Sasuke, but she just had to get rid of that damned pesky Naruto.)
It was time for them to take up a mission by themselves, without his supervision. It was their first step towards eventual chunnin-hood (if only Naruto didn't insist on having to win the match at all costs, or Sasuke recklessly giving up all just to gain strength, and Sakura... well, if only Sakura would do what the other 2 did once in a while). This was his misfit team 7. His beloved, cute, adorable (hee hee, Kakashi smiled to himself under his mask) team 7, if he thought it about it carefully.
Actually Kakashi did think about these things carefully. It was only that he appeared not to care, with his meticulously cultivated devil-may-care, nonchalant attitude. It helped him to cope with the life of the shinobi, being nonsensical and flippant when friends were lost, when previous sensei's (Yondaime, the Fourth Hokage) were lost, when team mates were lost, when students were almost lost.
It was a coping mechanism, just as Tsunade had tried to lose herself gambling, and what with her acting young. Jiraiya coped by being lecherous (but such a good writer!), Gai was all over the top, Asuma smoked too much and Kurenai... well Kurenai was just herself. We all got by as best as we could. Life goes on.
Naruto was quite excited about this new mission. But then again, he got excited about ramen, and even playing ninja with Konohamaru and his gang (Damn, what was that snot faced kid's name again? thought Naruto. Soba? Ramen? Oh right, Udon!). Heck, he even got excited about Sakura. Uzumaki Naruto was highly excitable.
Quite the opposite of "ice-cold" Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke did not get excited about anything. He didn't get mad, he got even. He didn't get flustered, he got focused. He didn't smile, he didn't pout, he didn't yell, he just was. Like that time that Naruto had bound him up so that he could pretend to be him and talk to Sakura, Sasuke had not gotten angry at all. He'd just been... peeved. You couldn't even call it irritated. He'd been more cheesed off with Sakura for bagging off Naruto. It was just one of those things you couldn't explain. He wasn't sure when the antagonism with Naruto had subtly and slowly changed into something resembling a feeling.
Sasuke was just "hn" about this new mission as usual. It was probably about time anyway. He still had to kill Itachi, which wasn't going to happen if he was to remain a genin.
And inner Sakura was wilting at the thought of an independent mission. She'd come to rely on Kakashi's judgement, and wasn't sure she could completely trust the two boys yet. Sure, they were her team mates, and they'd been through one chunnin exam, an Orochimaru encounter, a Zabuza near death experience, not to mention a Shukaku Sand Demon, and heaps of minor missions together, but there was always a voice in the back of her head telling her that if things didn't work out, Kakashi would somehow be there. She wasn't sure if she was ready to leave the nest yet.
She shuddered to herself at the thought of actually being left alone with Sasuke and Naruto for an extended period of time. There was really no telling what either would do. Both were liable to snap really. Inner Sakura actually trusted Naruto more than Sasuke, when it came down to the essentials. You could always read Naruto like a kindergarten book, but Sasuke was always such a mystery. It was part of his allure, although lately Sakura knew that her crush on him was slowly dying. Perhaps it had something to do with a certain thick browed, bowl haircut, green spandex jumpsuit wearing boy...
So they were to have an independent mission. Team 7 was quickly growing up. It was the beginning of the end of innocence.
