Team Seven is broken. Can it ever be fixed? AU.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Anything directly related to the Naruto manga/anime (all characters, backstories, settings, etc.) belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
What Must Be Fixed
Chapter One
Sakura was laughing hysterically at the raven haired teen in front of her. She vainly tried to stop the giggles that were bubbling up in her throat, but as she continued to look at Sasuke's annoyed face, they came back again with full force.
"Has Ugly gone crazy?" Sai asked blandly.
No one rewarded the socially inept boy with a response.
Sasuke gritted his teeth at the pink haired girl in front of him.
Naruto glanced between his two teammates with a sad frown.
This wasn't how things were supposed to turn out.
"Is this a joke?" Sakura asked as she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. Another giggle threatened to escape, but she managed to hold it back. She looked at Naruto expectantly.
"Well?" she asked with a quirked brow. "Is it?"
Naruto shifted uncomfortably. His eyes avoided her inquiring gaze.
"Please tell me that he isn't serious," Sakura said, purposely refusing to directly address the Uchiha in question.
"It's true," Naruto eventually supplied. He scratched the back of his head full of spiky, blond hair awkwardly. "Sasuke came back to the village."
Sakura stared at Naruto for a few seconds in disbelief before switching her gaze over to Sasuke.
She glared.
"Well that's fucking great, isn't it?" Sakura said with malice seeping into her voice.
Sasuke blinked at Sakura in shock, taken aback at her sudden hostility towards him.
Sakura's glare intensified. "So you finally decided to come crawling back here, huh?" She scoffed.
Onyx eyes narrowed in response. "What the hell is your problem?"
Sakura threw her head back and laughed dramatically as if what Sasuke had said was the funniest thing in the world. "What's my problem?" she asked as she gasped for air.
Naruto could feel the increasing tension between his two teammates and tried to step in. "Hey, let's just try to calm down and—"
"My problem," Sakura interrupted with a deceptively sweet tone, "is that a traitor who should be locked behind bars is—for some reason— standing right in front of me."
"After all," Sakura continued as she casually examined her fingernails on her right hand. Her left hand remained by her side. "You did betray Konoha to go off to Orochimaru—leaving me knocked out on a bench and almost killing Naruto when he tried to stop you."
She tapped her finger to her lips in thought. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "How could I forget? You also tried to chidori me through the back."
"You think that you're some kind of damned saint?" Sasuke asked with a steely tone. "The last time I checked, it was you who made it your personal mission—a failed mission at that—to kill me."
"Oh, right," Sakura said, nodding with fake understanding." That should also explain why you left Karin—your new teammate— to bleed out on the ground." She sighed in exasperation. "I'm noticing a pattern here."
Sasuke scowled. "Well if your feelings hadn't gotten in the way, maybe I would be dead."
Sakura smiled thinly. "Maybe."
She continued. "It's a pity. Really, it is. You did all of that work—all of that betraying—for one thing: revenge." She glanced at Sasuke's face and saw that his jaw was clenched. He had also activated his sharingan in the midst of his anger.
Good.
"But tell me one thing, Sasuke-kun." There was no endearment in her voice.
"Was it sweet?"
Sasuke stiffened.
She observed his reaction with interest.
"Wait, that can't be," she said, feigning shock. "Or can it?"
"Sakura," Sasuke growled in warning.
There was a pause.
Sakura smirked darkly. "Is Itachi still breathing?"
What happened next was so fast that it would have been missed by the untrained eye.
"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled in alarm. "Don't!" But he was too late.
As soon as Sasuke had heard Itachi's name leave Sakura's lips, he had disappeared from his spot. In a blur, Sasuke raced towards Sakura, blind with rage, and unshielded his kusanagi.
But Sakura had expected this reaction.
Her left hand that she had rested by her side was coated in green chakra, ready to counter his attack.
'Clang'
'Thud'
"Now, now," a voice lightly interrupted. "Is this how comrades are supposed to behave?"
"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said in relief.
The silver haired jounin of Konoha was standing in between his former students. His left arm was stretched out in front of him as he blocked Sasuke's blade with a kunai in hand, preventing it from impaling Sakura in the abdomen. His right arm was bent slightly behind him and his hand held Sakura's wrist, preventing her from delivering a hit that would have shattered Sasuke's jaw.
A breeze rustled through the clearing.
"Temper," Sakura tsked.
Sasuke snarled. "Shut up!"
"What did I just say?" Kakashi reprimanded harshly. His voice was laced with disappointment.
'They were trying to kill each other,' Kakashi thought in dismay.
"Sasuke," Kakashi said as he focused his attention on the Uchiha in front of him.
"Your sword. Drop it."
Sasuke ignored him. Kakashi narrowed his eyes.
"Now," he commanded.
Sasuke's eyes shifted away from Sakura's reluctantly, ending their glaring match. He met the uncovered eye of the masked man with his own. They stared at each other for several seconds, gazes locked in a silent challenge.
Sasuke eventually complied.
As Sasuke sheathed his sword, Sakura tried to break Kakashi's hold on her wrist, capturing Kakashi's attention. He relented, but not before turning towards her with disapproving eyes.
"Sakura," he began. "This is unlike you." He crossed his arms over his chest and leveled his gaze with hers. "Those were not friendly insults that you were trading with Sasuke. You deliberately tried to antagonize him. You went too far." His eyes narrowed. "Why?"
Sakura turned her head away from him and clenched her fists. Her shoulder-length hair shielded her face from their view.
"What did you expect?" she muttered.
"What was that?"
"I said," Sakura enunciated as she whipped around, "what did you expect?!"
"Sakura," Kakashi warned dangerously.
"Did you expect for me to welcome him back to the village" she shouted, "after all that he has done?!"
Sakura lowered her voice and dropped her chin.
"I hate him," she whispered.
Sasuke's eyes widened.
Naruto stared at his childhood crush at a loss for words.
Everyone was in shock over Sakura's admission.
Sakura began to turn away, but before she did, she addressed Sasuke one last time.
"Welcome home," she said bitterly.
And with that said, she sped away from the training grounds, all while ignoring Naruto's concerned calls of 'Sakura-chan.'
Sakura rubbed at her teary eyes in frustration.
She wouldn't let them see her cry.
She wouldn't let him see her cry.
Not anymore.
Not again.