Written for Day 21 of Sakura Month: Hot Chocolate

More playing in the snow! I think the third and final one I wrote for this Event. XD

Sakura shifted a little, carefully. She was practising the delicate art of balancing on snow - it was harder than walking on water, in some ways, as it was so mixed with air and shifted so differently, and of course the trick was to not leave any sign of your passing . . . much more difficult with snow that shifted underfoot than water that rippled and smoothed.

Adding a tiny flare of additional chakra, she rose up on the balls of her feet, passing through into the next form. She'd been doing well enough with the exercise that today she had been instructed to progress to trying her kata while maintaining the balance. It was tiring, but-

Sakura yelped as a snowball hit her upside the head, knocking her form off and sending her stumbling on the snowdrift and nearly falling down into it. She shook herself even as she steadied her feet almost by instinct, regaining a stance easy to fight from, and found the culprits quickly.

"Sorry Sakura-chan!" Naruto called sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "I was trying for-"

The snow surged around his legs and Naruto went down, yelping, with a dark blur lunging up and into his space.

Not exactly unexpected if Naruto had been trying to hit him with a snowball, but really, Naruto's aim was not that bad and for him to have hit Sakura. . .

She narrowed her eyes, then slunk away while the boys were little more than a churning mass of snow and shouted insults that were, at least, half-playful now rather than truly meant. Sakura toed the snow around her and hummed thoughtfully as an idea occurred to her, watching the boys and waiting for her moment.

She reviewed the seals for the jutsu and estimated she could match it - it had only been a C-rank jutsu. . . And if she failed it shouldn't do anything too damaging. One reason Sakura preferred working with the less explosive elements, however impressive the Uchiha katon jutsu were, or Kakashi-sensei's raiton.

Sakura shifted her stance, took a breath, and ran through the series of seals she had watched Kakashi use in her mind before beginning to duplicate it, focusing tightly.

Just as Naruto leapt up out of the mess of snow, Sasuke twisting quick as a snake to follow him, Sakura felt the rising rush of her chakra responding. Her breath caught and she finished the sequence quickly, reaching out to guide it, and. . .

A surge of snow built together in a swirl from the drifts all around them, though there was a clear, undisturbed space around her own feet. Sakura laughed a little, surprised and excited, and pushed a little harder, watching the swirl twist into a wave with a spray of tendrils rushing ahead of it.

The spray caught at ankles and wrists, and then the wave swallowed the boys up, tossing them tails over teakettles. Sakura giggled at her success, a little giddy, then bolted as she saw the snow moving again - at least one of her teammates was fighting free.

She met Naruto's charge with a deflection and then a quickly formed snowball to the face, sweeping his feet from under him as he spluttered. Sakura got herself hurriedly out of range as soon as he was down, but fell to a lunge from Sasuke before she could get into position again, the power he'd put into his leap driving the pair of them deep into the snow.

Sakura coughed, breathless and choking with the inhalation of several snowflakes, and Sasuke eased off a little with a frown. Sakura caught her breath after a moment and shoved him sideways into the wall of snow. His eyes narrowed and he caught her by the elbow before she could do more than rise to a crouch, swinging her around and sending her face first into the snow again.

Then they both had to scramble sideways as Naruto plummeted down into the hole they'd made and nearly crashed straight down on them. They shouted at him in unison and Naruto flushed, laughing sheepishly, even as Sakura and Sasuke traded a startled look.

Sakura caught sight of Naruto sidling out of the even deeper pit his landing had made and quickly tore her gaze away, straightening a bit and whining about the snow in her hair as she reached up to neaten it with a prissy little gesture. Sasuke gave her a dark look, snorting, and - just as she had suspected he would - completely missed Naruto's movements behind him until he was caught in a flying tackle.

Sakura tried to stifle her laughter to avoid drawing attention from either of her teammates, slowly edging away. She looked up through the deep fall of snow and wondered if she could walk up it or if she would have to jump.

It turned out if she was very careful she could walk up the sheer wall of snow, but it didn't exactly matter as the whole mess fell down - Sakura and all - barely a minute later when Sasuke threw Naruto through it nearer the base. Naruto grabbed her by the ankle as soon as his face was clear of snow and Sakura kicked and scrambled trying to get free, only to yelp as Sasuke caught her by the shoulders before she could lunge at Naruto to free herself that way.

The boys laughed and hefted her up, trading a look over her that gave her a sinking feeling.

Then they threw her, and Sakura curled into a ball, flinching, as she flew through the air and landed-

Sakura yipped as she plummeted into a snow bank and the snow got everywhere, shoving its way up under some of her clothes and soaking through layers of fabric in other spots. She flailed and hurried to haul herself out, only to immediately have to duck a kick.

She twisted and lashed out, catching Sasuke's other ankle between her own and knocking him down. Naruto leapt in then, holding a giant snowball over his head and somehow managing, rather than smashing it down onto Sasuke's head - Sakura thought that had been his goal - to get it all over all three of them.

Sasuke yelped and then snapped something angry at Naruto, but his mouth was full of snow and he wasn't very understandable. Sakura caught hold of Naruto and used the grip as leverage to haul herself out of the snow again - and if she ground him down into it further in the process . . . oh well, Sakura thought.

Naruto was soon giving chase - as soon as he unearthed himself from all the snow he'd been shoved under, anyway - but just before he could catch up to Sakura across a rare patch of bare ground, Sasuke caught him with a doton jutsu, knocking him from his feet.

Sakura whooped and Sasuke glanced at her, giving her half a smile.

Sakura flushed but redirected her attention to Naruto, scrambling up from the earth. It really wasn't. . .

Sakura edged around out of his sightline, gathered up an armful of snow, and leapt, dumping the snow on his head. Naruto yelped and Sakura fled, laughing.

"Genin!"

Sakura froze, then snapped fully upright and spun to face their sensei, immediately recognising his voice though he rarely spoke so sharply. Even more rarely outside of missions.

Kakashi was standing with his arms crossed watching them - he was standing on a ridge of churned up snow, without apparent issue despite the incredibly unstable structure of the snow beneath him, and Sakura huffed and silently promised herself she'd be able to do that soon.

All three of them slunk towards their sensei, muttering apologies for abandoning their respective training tasks and still shaking snow off.

Kakashi grinned as they reached him, moving forwards and sliding - apparently purposely - down the ridge to stand before them. "Have you been enjoying the snow?" he asked, and they traded wary looks before returning their attention to him. "It is good to see you playing, my cute students!" he said, patting Naruto, who was closest, on the head.

"Thank you, sensei." Sakura said, bowing her head.

"Besides, snow wars are not a bad thing for your training either." Kakashi said with a laugh, flicking some snow off his glove that had probably transferred from Naruto's hair.

"It was fun, too!" Naruto said brightly, bouncing a bit on his heels. Kakashi nodded, still smiling at them.

"We should get back to real training now, though." Sasuke said, clearing his throat. He looked a little sullen, though Sakura knew he'd been having fun as well.

"You should come along and get warm and dry." Kakashi countered, meeting Sasuke's gaze. "And rest your muscles; the cold will do you no favours if you try and take a break out here." He flapped his hands, directing them off the training field, but not the path they'd usually take to run back through the village. "Well done, though!"

Sasuke grumbled but moved off in the direction Kakashi had indicated, Naruto keeping pace with him and chattering happily, arms brought up and hands laced behind his head. Sakura took a step that way as well, then paused as Kakashi moved into her path.

"And Sakura?" Kakashi rested a hand on her shoulder and she ducked her head, looking up at him sideways. "Well done adapting that suiton jutsu. It was quite clever." He smiled at her, squeezing her shoulder lightly. "And quick thinking."

Sakura ducked a little lower, grinning. She hadn't realised Kakashi had been watching for so long. And. . . She'd done well. Kakashi patted her shoulder and nudged her on in front of him to follow the boys.

Sakura went with a bounce in her step, then trotted up further to walk between them.

Kakashi didn't take them all the way back to the village, but to a little wooden structure Sakura hadn't known was out there among the training grounds. He ushered them all inside, then down onto cushions on the floor. Sakura obediently settled there, though she shivered - it was warmer inside the wooden walls, but not that much - and looked around curiously.

She was surprised when something warm and heavy wrapped around her shoulders, and looked up to see Kakashi draping a quilt around her, tucking it firmly into place. Sakura clasped the edges and tugged them into overlapping in front of her, wrapping her fingers into the thick material with a shiver. "Thanks, sensei." she said, bowing her head, and his fingers brushed over her hair lightly as he moved away.

Kakashi proceeded around to Sasuke, draping him in another quilt, and sullen or not, he accepted it and wrapped it around himself tightly. Naruto leaned right back into Kakashi's hands as he offered the last quilt, and Sakura caught a flash of a smile from their sensei again as he tucked it neatly into place.

"The walk here will have helped your muscles cool down a bit, but you need to keep warm." Kakashi instructed, patting Naruto's shoulder before turning and disappearing around what looked to be the sole inner wall of the little building again.

Sakura was hardly loathe to comply, and curled deeper into the quilt, the space within already warming up a little. She was tempted to bring part of it up over her head as well, but it would let in rather a lot of cold air and she wasn't sure she could wrap the heavy material around herself as well after. She ducked her head and made sure that her neck was covered at least, and smiled at her teammates.

Naruto grinned back, fidgeting under his quilt and shifting around, resettling the drape of it under his knees. Sasuke only met her eyes and hummed, tipping his head. She glanced back at Naruto and rolled her eyes, and he giggled.

Neither of them were really surprised by Sasuke's reticence any more, Sakura thought wryly, though he was less withdrawn than he had once been. Case in point, she thought happily, that Sasuke had not just lashed out in retribution but had been playing with them in the snow - and 'helpful training' or not, they had been playing. It had just been fun.

"Here." Kakashi returned and pressed a mug into Naruto's hands - the only one of them with his hands actually visible. Sakura hurriedly shifted to slip her own out through the quilt, and Kakashi nodded to her, passing her a second thick earthenware mug.

She leaned her face into the steam coming off it and was surprised when the rich scent of chocolate filled her nose. She breathed in happily, bringing the mug up but not yet taking a sip. Kakashi passed another mug to Sasuke before taking a sip from the final one he had somehow been juggling.

"Mm, this is good, Kaka-sensei!" Naruto said happily, chocolate smeared over his top lip.

Sakura smothered a giggle and risked taking a sip. She hummed involuntarily; it was, rich and sweet and just shy of painfully hot, which felt wonderful.

"If you say so." Kakashi said lazily.

"You don't like it?" Sakura asked curiously. Kakashi was less dismissive with them than he had been at first, but they still didn't know very much about their sensei from him.

"I don't like sweets." Kakashi told her dryly.

Sakura shook her head at him, wrinkling her nose, and he laughed softly. Sakura smiled, wrapping her hands more tightly around her mug and snuggling into the thick quilt around her shoulders with a contented hum. It began to slip and she twitched to grab for it, then hurriedly stopped herself before she could spill her hot chocolate.

Another pair of hands brought it up around her again, and Kakashi patted her head before moving over to untangle Naruto's falling quilt and wrap him in it once more as well. Naruto flushed slightly but grinned up at Kakashi, getting his own pat on the head; Kakashi idly ruffled his hair as well before stepping away to retrieve his mug, and Sakura frowned thoughtfully as she thought the motion looked-

She stifled a giggle in her mug as she realised it was the same kind of pat that Kakashi gave his ninken sometimes, or had given the Inuzuka puppies the day when Kiba's mother had brought the youngest group of them to a training ground near team seven to work on their scent tracking and identification.

Savouring the warmth building in her bundled quilt - and trying to ignore the ache of her hands as the heat of her mug battled the cold that had settled into her bones - Sakura wondered if that was what they were in Kakashi's mind. Kakashi-sensei's puppies.

She licked a bit of chocolate off her upper lip, glanced at the boys, and thought it would probably be best not to say anything to them about her sudden suspicion either way. Besides, especially after watching some of the other genin teams with their own sensei, Sakura was not unaware that their sensei had been . . . perhaps unprepared for them at first.

There were worse things than being treated like puppies, particularly since their training had gotten much better over the past few months. Really, after the disaster the Chuunin Exams had spiralled into - once it had been contained and Kakashi had finally returned and taken charge of them once more, things had gotten . . . better.

Sakura smiled into her hot chocolate, warm and comfortable and proud of her accomplishments today, and happy with her team and her sensei.

Just . . . give me my not-quite-so-fucked-up canon divergence where Sasuke had sense knocked into him and Kakashi eventually got his shit together as a sensei, at least for the occasional fluffy short.