NOTES

This is a Gen fic. Minor crushes or background relationships discounted, there will be no pairing in this story.

General trigger warnings for this story include canon-typical violence, angst and profanity. I will do my best to address all warnings at the begginning of each chapter and if something still makes you uncomfortable, please let me know.

This chapter was beta-read by Cat.

I hope you enjoy it.

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Three

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Sakura grows up with a fierce desire to protect.

She is restless, always moving her hands, her legs, her thoughts.

Her new Jounin-sensei blinks lazily at her. "You go first, pinky."

Sakura stiffens at the nickname. She's been teased before about her less than practical hair colour. That doesn't mean she should be written off as a Shinobi. "My name is Haruno Sakura," she says pointedly, not quite able to sit still. "Please call me Sakura-san. I like books and track. I hate... perverts." She shakes off her irritation at the teasing nickname with a smile. "My dream is to become Chunin and protect Konoha." She runs her fingertips through her hair. They hover over her headband for a moment as she thinks of the people in this village. Her family, of course. Ino-chan. Her tag team. The old shopkeeper who always gives her sweets when she buys something.

These people, Sakura believes in them. She traces that thought fondly to its conclusion, lowering her left hand to rest in her lap. Her people are all worth fighting for.

"Maa, Sakura-chan. We're all friends, aren't we?" The man's voice is light and playful, tethering on the edge of dismissive.

Sakura tenses. Before she can think of a way to subtly show him that she feels uncomortable with him addressing her with so much familiarity when she doesn't even know his name, the Jounin motions for Naruto to introduce himself.

"I am Uzumaki Naruto! I like orange and Ramen and the old man Hokage! I don't like waiting three minutes for my Ramen to get done. Oh, and the bastard. My dream is to be Hokage, believe it!" The blonde pumps his right hand, clenched into a fist, in the air. He keeps his eyes trained on the Jounin during his declaration, daring him to mock him. It's hard to miss the stubbornness in the lines of his face, given that he's shouting at the top of his lungs.

"You do realize we're sitting right next to you," Sasuke-kun mutters under his breath, loud enough for Sakura to catch it. Their eyes meet and he quickly looks away, raising his voice. "My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't particularly like anything and I hate most things. My dream... no, my ambition, is to kill a certain man and restore my clan."

Sakura freezes. She never heard his voice laced with so much hatred.

"Why do I always get stuck with the headcases?" The Jounin bemoans. "Not cute."

Her teeth clench. The boys stare at their new teacher, offended.

She shifts impatiently.

His voice grows cold, professional detachment ringing true in his statement. "I am not going to bother telling you my name. If you're worth anything as Shinobi, you can find that out yourself. To make it short: You aren't Genin yet." The man keeps his eyes trained on his book.

A shiver runs through Sakura, hot and cold at the same time. She has been stuck in a classroom with two ticking time-bombs for hours on end, waiting for an underwhelming introduction and to be told that she did not make Genin yet.

Naruto goes off first. "What the hell?!" he shouts aggressively, pointing an accusing finger at the man.

Sasuke scowls, which is as close to verbal approval as Naruto will ever get.

Sakura's hands are still shaking.

The Jounin swiftly ignores them. "Meet me tomorrow at dawn. You have until then to figure out where. We'll see if you're cut out to be Shinobi. Personally," his voice drops into a mock-whisper, "I don't think you are." He waves cheerfully and in the next moment, he's gone in a whirlwind of leaves.

Great. Now she's stuck with two moody boys.

Admittedly, she did feel disappointed when Naruto was assigned to her team. He is brash and dumb and loud - obnoxiously so. Sakura doesn't know enough about him to properly gauge his skills and personality beyond that. He has always been the comic relief for the class, but these roles tend to be defensive constructs. She wonders what's underneath.

And her other teammate – Sasuke. Sakura's opinion on him is divided. On the one hand, she really does have better things to waste time on, seeing how she should be training hard to protect the people around her. On the other, staring at him is strangely therapeutic.

It hasn't quite sunken in yet, but that's her new team. A team is like a second family. Or the first, she mentally corrects, thinking of how lonely her new teammates must be. Suddenly she feels the overwhelming urge to tackle them in a hug. Family. She'll be damned if she can't become friends with the two boys. "What now?" She asks. "Should we go ask Iruka-sensei which training grounds we got assigned? He probably knows." Sasuke-kun doesn't spare her a glance, rises to his feet and leaves without a word. Sakura deflates and Naruto glares daggers at his back.

They sit in silence for a bit while Sakura thinks.

"Hey, hey, Sakura-chan! Want to go have lunch with me?" Naruto blushes brightly. He beams at her, having gathered enough courage to ask her out.

She twitches. Him liking her like that won't do. "Please call me Sakura-san."

Naruto pouts. "But Sakura-chan sounds prettier and uhm – that's more like you!"

She grins impishly, flexing her muscles threateningly. Naruto gulps. She giggles. Maybe she's been too serious before. "Sure, Naruto-san," she says slowly, assessing how smoothly it rolls from her lips. "let's hang out and become friends!"

Naruto stares at her in disbelief. She pulls him after her, her legs easily falling into the familiar pace of a sprint. "Come on, Naruto-san! We will have to catch Sasuke-san first and we don't have all day."

Her cheerful voice seems to get a rise out of him because he shakes her off and shoots past her, his carefree leaps brimming with excitement. "Last one to get to Sasuke is a slowpoke!" He shouts.

Joy spreads through Sakura's chest, wrapping around her heart like a blanket.

Too bad Naruto has no clue where Sasuke-kun likes to spend his afternoons training. She quickly races past Naruto, even though she could have just let him run into the wrong direction. That would have been no fun.

Sakura runs through the village, Naruto on her heels. She sends the people whom they pass apologetic looks for disturbing their peace. She almost crashes into a wall twice in doing so. Whoops.

Then Naruto trips and plants his face into the ground. She pivots on her heels and runs back to him. She crouches down next to him and he brushes her help off with a sheepish smile. Sakura rolls her eyes – boys – and chucks her water bottle at him. "Drink up," she tells him and once he's done she snatches it from his grasp. "Better?" she asks.

He nods, oddly quiet.

Sakura's eyes linger on him for a moment before she abruptly takes off again.

They're both sprouting grins when they stumble onto Sasuke.

Sakura is impressed by Naruto's stamina. She shifts her attention to Sasuke, who is obsessively pummelling a tree. "Sasuke-san," she greets half-jokingly, a dramatic quality to the tone of her voice, "your team needs your help in an important mission." Softly, she adds: "Are you really going to turn your back on us?"

Naruto nods furiously, arms crossed. "Sakura-cha... san is right! You're a bastard, but we're a team – hang on, Sakura-chan! We don't need him!"

Sakura winks at him. "As a matter of fact, team members balance each other out so that Genin squads can face bigger threats. So it makes sense for us to work together."

Sasuke scoffs, his punches chipping off tree bark. "You're supposed to help me be stronger!? You're both liabilities," he says derisively.

Naruto reels. "No, we're not. I'm not weak and Sakura-san is smart and pretty and fast! And pretty!"

Sasuke stops and turns around to look at them. His eyes are cold, but there's a red rim around them. He looks like he cried earlier. "You can't even fathom what –"

Sakura doesn't think. She crosses the distance between them and pulls him into a hug. Her heart beats faster in her chest, but this isn't about her.

Sasuke struggles, but her embrace is stubborn and firm. "Let – let go of me, Sakura!"

Sakura doesn't let go. "We're a team now, Sasuke." She shifts her weight on impulse and hauls them into Naruto's arms.

Naruto laughs, bewildered. "It's not important – what our stupid teacher says. We will pass that test and we will be Shinobi of the Leaf, believe it! And then we'll work together to make our dreams come true, Sakura-san! Bastard!"

Sasuke goes limp in their arms. He doesn't return the hug, but he doesn't struggle against it anymore. Sakura counts this as a win. "...Your breath smells like dirt, deadlast."

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tbc

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