Team 7
Summery: After our strongest hour, we fall; Sasuke will die, Team 7 tries their hardest to stay together, and Akatsuki infiltrates. Post-Wave Arc, Pre-Chunin Exam, AT.
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Chapter Title: Chapter One, Page One

Prologue

"-and today, we're going to interview Team 7!" the presenter flashed a smile at the camera, all plastered make-up and revealing civilian clothes.

"Team 7 are the seventh genin team of this year, and one of the three teams that became shinobi," she continued. "Made up of Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, - also the Rookie of the Year - Haruno Sakura and Hatake Kakashi - the infamous Sharingan Kakashi - this team will certainly be going places!"

Climbing the stairs of the apartment block, she chattered away. "From light research, I've found out that the genin members of Team 7 all live together. It's quite unusual for a genin team to do that, but I suppose we'll just have to ask them questions when we meet them!" She held up some glittery-backed cards and smiled more widely for the camera, lipstick scarlet. "We've chosen three questions that were sent in by the viewers, one for each member! And, of course, later in the season, when we interview the Jounins, then we'll question their leader, Hatake Kakashi." Voice growing a hint more seductive, she went on. "Of course, we'll also be interviewing him for the ANBU season, as well." She winked. "But that's for the grown-ups, kiddies!"

She reached the top floor, and turned off into a balcony-like corridor, one half open to air, with only a waist-high railing to keep civilians from falling to their death. The hot summer sun made the air almost unbearably hot, compared to the air-conditioning inside, and the camera-man began to sweat.

They reached the last door, a '12' neatly carved in it, with a few splotches of orange paint around the door handle. There were scratches embedded down low on the door, that any ninja would identify as a dog's claws, but any civilian would think of any horror movie they'd seen lately, perhaps the new and popular 'They Came From Kirigakure'. Indeed, the presenter shuddered slightly, and the camera-man made a mental note to edit that out.

She leaned forward, and hesitantly knocked on the door. After a pause, the door opened. A pink-haired girl stared up at them blankly, before her eyes lit up in remembrance, and she ushered them in, saying things like, 'come in, come in'.

To say the least, any member of the Hyuuga, or any other aristocratic, 'we must all be perfect' clan, would think this place a tip. In the presenter's eyes, however, the place was merely a little untidy. It showed signs of someone attempting to clean up in places - bowls piled neatly in the sink and some was drying on the side. Posters were lazily pinned to the wall, many of them, the presenter noticed, featuring buxom teenage girls. A beaten, stuffed, large … thing lay in a corner of the room. Strangely enough, it appeared to resemble Hatake Kakashi.

They looked to be in what was the main room. Three doors led off into who-knows-where, two of them tightly shut and one ajar. The one that they could slightly see into had wooden walls, but they couldn't tell much else, since it wasn't wide open. In the main room, a table stood in the middle of the room, draped with an orange-and-white tablecloth. The tiled kitchen area was built into the room, and on the other side of the room, a messy bed with orange covers had been shoved beside the windows. Speaking of the windows, the blinds were half-drawn, letting just enough sunlight in to make the room light enough to see, although it was still dim. It was rather warm in the room, but not as hot as outside.

The pink-haired girl led them over to a couch, and made them sit down. "So, sweetie, I assume you must be Haruno Sakura?" the presenter smiled.

The girl faintly smiled back in response, pushing back long hair. "Yes, I am. Sorry about Naruto and Sasuke-kun not being here - we had a late night mission, and we knew we weren't scheduled for any today because-"

The presenter waved a hand. "Oh, don't worry about it," she assured Sakura. "We can just wait for them. Do you mind if we ask you your question, or would you prefer to wait for them?"

"No, no, you can go ahead and ask me."

The presenter once more turned to the camera, hair bouncing. "So, here we have the female member of Team 7, Haruno Sakura!" She turned back to Sakura. "So, Sakura-chan, we heard you come from a civilian background?"

The presenter was a civilian herself, so she took quite a liking to Sakura. People from shinobi clans had an awful way of thinking that civilians never made good shinobi. It annoyed the civilians, if you talk in understatements.

"Yes, I do." Sakura answered. "Would you like any refreshments?"

"No, I'm fine, thank you."

As usual, the camera-man was ignored.

"So, Sakura-chan, your question. Is your pink hair natural?"

Sakura flushed angrily and hotly replied, "Yes, it is perfectly natural!"

The camera-man raised an eyebrow and the presenter laughed. "I take it you don't like people commenting on your hair?"

"No, I don't!"

The presenter laughed again. This girl was really too easy to rile up, and it was a welcome relief, seeing as she had gone back to talk to the rejected Team 6 last week, and it had been awful. The three were just little brats, who whined for most of the interview about how unfair it was that they didn't pass the bell test. "Well, Sakura-chan, what do your parents think about you becoming a kuniochi?"

A smile faded from Sakura's face. "I don't have any parents. My grandmother thinks its okay, though."

"Ah." the presenter uncomfortably brushed a strand of hair away from her face. She really wasn't used to dealing with this, since usually the kids had recovered from whatever trauma, but now the kid was sitting there all depressed-looking, and -

"Hey, Saaaakuuurrraaaaa-chan!"

A bright voice echoed through the door, and the door whacked against the wall. A blonde boy walked in - the one boy that all of Konoha knew whether they are civilian or shinobi. Uzumaki Naruto, the container of the Kyuubi, and the most hated person in Konoha.

He stopped, blinking at the camera-man and the presenter. "Sakura-chan, what's that?"

"Naruto!" Sakura scolded. "That's rude!"

He shrugged, "Ah, sorry, Sakura-chan." He came into the room and flopped down beside Sakura. The presenter noticed he was intently reading a manga magazine.

Sakura sighed heavily, glancing at him. "Don't tell me you're reading that thing again! Do you have any idea how much Weekly Shõnen Jump costs?"

"But, Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined, tearing his eyes away from his book. "Jump is awesome! It has all the cool series, like Gintama!"

"You're a shinobi, not a samurai, Naruto," Sakura reminded him. "Samurai don't even get to use jutsu!"

"But, they're still really epic, 'cause-"

"So, you refer to Naruto-kun without an honorific?" the presenter asked, hoping that they would stop arguing and she would finish up quickly. She didn't want to be around the fox boy for much longer. "Are you very close to each other?"

"With Naruto, no one ever needs to use an honorific." Sakura snorted. She did not answer the second question, but the presenter did not notice.

The presenter laughed. "Sakura-chan, you shouldn't be so mean to Naruto-kun." she lightly chided.

Sakura softly smiled. "I didn't mean it like that, Presenter-san."

The presenter stopped, and stared at the girl. Suddenly, she had changed from a bright child annoyed with an idiotic boy, into a reflective, saddened young adult, used to unfair situations. It was a strange reaction. But even more startling, was that she had implied that Naruto was extremely close to everyone he met. Usually, there were only two cases in which an honorific was not used at the end of a given name: when you want to heavily insult people, or when you're extremely close to that person. It would have been shocking to imply that about anybody, but for the demon brat… it was unimaginable.

Remembering that she had a job to be doing, she faced the camera once more. "Here we have Uzumaki Naruto, the second member of Team 7! Naruto-kun, would you like to wait for Sasuke-kun, or should I ask you your question now?"

"Question?" He looked blank, before giving a broad grin. "Oh yeah, now I remember! Sure, ask me!"

She moved Sakura's question card to the back, before reading out the glittery words, "Do you eat anything except ramen?"

There had been… some other questions for the demon brat, specifically concerning the demon that he was. There were different ones, milder, from the kids, mostly about his lack of education. The Hokage, however, had taken it on himself to personally read through them, selecting one that was harmless. The presenter couldn't understand why he would go to such lengths for the fox brat.

Naruto scratched his head. "I like eating red bean soup, but apart from that, I would just eat ramen!" he said. "Well, I would, but Iruka-sensei and the old man Hokage, and Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan all make me eat other things as well." He pouted at Sakura. "I swear, they're conspiring against me!"

Sakura laughed, a carefree, childish laugh, and she was a twelve-year old child again in the presenter's eyes. "Honestly, Naruto, do you even know what conspiring means?" she teased.

"Yeah!" he said proudly. "It's when evil guys have an evil plot against you!"

"Well, sort of…"

"Is this your apartment, Naruto-kun?" asked the presenter.

"Ah, yes," Naruto nodded. "It's supposed to be a two-person apartment, but it's big enough for three children and Mr Ukki."

"Mr Ukki?"

His smile brightened even more - the presenter hadn't thought it was possible. "My plant! I've loads of them!" Indeed, looking around, the presenter noticed some healthy-looking plants in orange ceramic pots near the windows, sucking in the dim light there was. Naruto rambled on, and the presenter nodded along.

Eventually he stopped, and the presenter butted in. "Well, we've heard about Naruto-kun's hobbies, so what hobbies do you have, Sakura-chan?"

"Um… I like learning things! And… uh… playing games, yeah." Sakura contemplated.

The presenter was about to reply when the door opened, creaking on its hinges. A sullen, dark-haired boy with a scowl walked in, and the presenter would have recognised him by the traditional Uchiha looks even if she hadn't seen the fan on his back. Uchiha Sasuke, the last of the Uchiha clan. He would be very good-looking in a few years, the presenter thought, eyeing him.

"Sasuke-kun!" cried Sakura. The presenter looked at them, and - !

Both of their faces were alight. It was the way they looked at the Uchiha boy that shocked her - she had never seen two kids so happy for someone just being there. It was something you saw older genin and chunin teams, but they didn't show it so openly on their faces. But, the presenter admitted to herself, these two did seem very emotionally open.

"Bastard!" beamed Naruto.

"Hm," replied Sasuke, and positioned him leaning against the side of the sofa.

"In Sasuke-speech, that means 'Good morning Naruto-sama and Sakura-sama, I'm very pleased to see you and may I lick the bottom of your shoes, because you are so much better than me, and it's the only thing I could possibly offer you, O Great Naruto-sama and Sakura-sama'." explained Naruto, foxily grinning.

Sasuke cuffed Naruto on the head, but said nothing.

"Ah," the presenter sweat dropped, while Sakura giggled and Naruto rubbed his head. "So, you're Sasuke-kun."

"Yeah."

"So, here we have Uchiha Sasuke, the third member of Team 7, and the last genin of Team 7! Sasuke-kun, do you want your question now?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Sure."

"What type of girl do you like?" the presenter read.

"The type that doesn't annoy me."

"And what's that type?"

"The type that is in no way annoying."

"Uh, um, okay then." the presenter moved on. "So, why do you three live together, exactly?"

Naruto and Sakura exchanged a glance. "Umm… uhh…"

Naruto turned to the presenter and shrugged. "It's a secret?"

The presenter raised an eyebrow, but moved on. "Does Kakashi-san live with you?"

Naruto sweated. "Well… he doesn't actually know we live together."

"Oh?"

"He's been away on a long mission," Sakura explained. "I can't tell you what it is, but its six months long and we've only been living together for a month or so anyway."

"Ah. And what do your families think of this?"

There was silence.

Sakura cringed, and smoothed down the creases in her dress. "Well, um, apart from me, none of us have any relatives."

There was more silence.

"So, what are your hobbies, Sasuke-kun?" the presenter hurriedly grasped for a subject.

Sasuke gave her a blank stare. "Training and taking long walks."

Naruto laughed. "Like they're not the same thing!"

"Naruto!" Sakura slapped him lightly on the head. "You spend most of your time training as well!"

They all laughed, relieved to have something (however lame it was) to ease the tension.

Then Sasuke began to cough.

Naruto and Sakura quickly looked at each other.

Sasuke continued to cough, an awful hacking noise that sounded like it came from the depths of his chest.

"Perhaps you should go." Sakura suggested.

"Yeah," Naruto added, standing up and quite rudely gesturing one hand towards the door.

The presenter gaped. "W-What?" she spluttered, even as Naruto took her arm, and quite literally 'showed her the door'. (And slammed it on her, too, the ungrateful brat.)

"Goodbye!" he called cheerfully through the door.

It took a moment for the presenter to reassert herself. Once she had, she turned to the camera with a winning smile. "Well, that was the genin members of Team 7, folks! Join us next time for Team 8, consisting of Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba and-" She struggled for a moment. In her haste, she had forgotten their's sensei's name. "-their sensei! Make sure to post in your questions to 134 Sui Avenue, East Konoha!"

She stayed smiling, using up the time that would later be the credits.

By the First Hokage, she faintly thought, Team 7 was the most confusing team I've ever come across.

A/N: 1. Notes on all the Japanese words: I know that Naruto is not set in Japan, and because of that I'm usually loath to use an honorific, but I felt like researching culture for this story, and Japan was the most appropriate.

2. Just something to be noted: Sakura and Naruto do not know that Itachi murdered Sasuke's family in front of him; they only know that he doesn't have any family. Sasuke and Sakura don't know about the Kyuubi, and Sasuke and Naruto still don't know whether Sakura dyes her hair or not.

3. The 'akatsuki infiltrates' will be explained over the next few chapters, with special appearances from Konan, Kakuzu, Sasori and Itachi. The 'sasuke will die' will also be explained.

4. Until the next chapter, here's an extra to keep you satisfied.

(Weird Extra)

Sasuke sits in the (a) garden of silk roses, stringing some twisted material together between his fingers, and chuckles quietly to himself. His eyes are black, but they bleed - constant tears for all the things he's done (is breaking a sin?). Sometimes there's wings spreading from his back - not the crude mockery that the snake's fangs gave him, but real, feathery angel (is that the right word to use?) wings. He can't tell if they're black or white or stained with red, and whenever he tries to turn around to see, he can't see them.

He laughs again, not the type of innocent laugh that he gave so freely before -

(he stiffens and shudders, and he can't speak)

-and not the maddened laughter that came after Madara's poison swallowed his sanity, whole, like some snake in disguise (or more evolved, a dragon), a type of bitter, lunatic chuckle, that forced itself from his throat.

Often, the bloody tears that fall from his eyes (blinded to the sky) will slid and drip down his neck, and onto his bare chest, over his heart. He becomes vaguely aware again at those times that his heart is hurting (doesn't it always?). It always hurts a constant pounding that drove him at first, now just a monotonous hum.

(Hurting for so many people; brother, friend, family.)

Once, a boy with spiky blond hair and sad glowing blue eyes wandered past. He reminded Sasuke of him (orange whirlpools and blue foil and hair like sunlight) and he had thought about him for a while, lying on his back while his red tears stained the grass, looking up into the pale-blue sky of early dawn.

They had called him monster once-upon-a-time, demon-brat, fox.

(He could have killed them all in under a day.)

So ironic. Sasuke laughed, and laughed and laughed.

…

+100 to you if you know who the "boy with spiky blond hair and sad glowing blue eyes" is. It's not that hard.