Chapter One: "H-Huh?"

The stage was luminescent. Full of colour, pink, red, blue, green. A young child sat in the crowd. She was watching the show in awe. Shinobi leaped into the air and threw flaming kunai. Another ninja made hand signs and a dragon of water appeared. The young girl watched with wide bright green eyes. A shinobi made a whirlwind, it made her short soft warm light pink hair fly. The show ended too quickly. Sakura Haruno the little girl who watched it ran home.

Arms were behind her back. She leaped over small rocks, and hid in the shadows from passerbys. "Ninja…" spoke Sakura as she flew on land.

She ran into someone once. It knocked her and another young child to the ground. The young child had black hair and eyes. A taller boy with long black hair approached Sakura. "Are you alright sweetie?" asked the boy.

Sakura got up and stared at the boy silently. "Ninja!" she then exclaimed.

She threw her hands behind her and ran away. The young boy that she knocked over got up and yelled something to her. Sakura didn't hear it, she kept on running. All the way to her home.

Sakura's parents were ordinary bakers. Their home was attached to their bakery. Sakura ran like a true shinobi to the front door. The door was open. "Ninja!" she exclaimed to her parents.

Akio and Enrie Haruno raised their brow. Her mother shrugged and smiled at her, "welcome home sweetie, how was the show?"

"Momma, I want to be a ninja!" Sakura said with a bright grin, and eyes full of light.

Her parents smiled at her. They gave her a hug. Akio expressed his concerns, Sakura told him that she'd be careful. They gave their permission.

Sakura enrolled into a dojo, she struggled for a few years at first. She was afraid of striking an opponent and had a hard time keeping up with exercises.

A ten-year-old Sakura sat on a side wall and sighed. "Maybe I'm meant to be something else," she said to herself, she sighed again, "and the enrollment for the academy is next week, I might not make it in."

A ten-year-old boy with black hair and eyes walked by, and let out a 'hmph'. "Giving up is for weaklings and they give up the important things, whatever it is seems to be important to you," Sakura looked at the boy when he finished speaking.

They made eye contact. Suddenly it seemed as though his face turned red. He hid his face and began walking away, "shit, why is my face burning, and it feels like my heart is racing, it's uncomfortable," he said quietly to himself.

"Wait!" Sakura leaped off of the side wall and ran to the boy, "you're right!"

She smiled at him brightly and the boy turned his head away. His face was red again. "What is your name? You seem a bit familiar."

"Sasuke," the boy answered.

"Nice to meet ya!"

"Thanks,"

The boy turned to walk away. Sakura grabbed his hand.

"Do you like bread?"

"What?"

"My family owns a bakery, would you like to come over and have some bread?"

"Carbs are bad for you,"

"I see you don't like carbs,"

"And sweets, I don't really like em'."

"I see, alright then, Sasuke, maybe I'll see you around!"

The two parted ways. Sasuke's face was still red. Sakura grinned at him gently. She threw her arms behind her back and ran home. She leaped from rooftop to rooftop. A big smile was on her face.

The next morning, Sakura got up at 5 am. She put on sweats and ran for two hours. At the dojo she put on small weights around her wrist and ankles. She practiced her movement on a dummy during the breaks. A boy with black hair and thick eyebrows watched her with a small blush on his face. "Lee! What are you eating for lunch?!" a girl asked.

"Huh? Oh, I have soba sandwich today," the boy answered back.

He looked back at Sakura who was still practicing. A week flew by, Sakura started at the academy. She was surprised to meet Sasuke again. He seemed to avoid her though, he would always have a red face everytime she tried talking to him. The other girls also glared at her. Except for two young girls.

One day, a few days into the academy, Sakura was approached by a girl with long blonde hair. "How do you know Sasuke?" the girl asked.

"He talked to me when I was feeling down," Sakura answered.

"Oh, that's it? I thought you were into him," said the girl.

"I'm not really, at least I don't think I am."

"What is your name by the way?"

"Sakura Haruno," she said with a smile.

"I'm Ino Yamanaka," Ino held out her hand.

Sakura took it. They grinned at each other. When lunch came Sakura left to the field to exercise her movements. Ino followed her, and ate her lunch watching Sakura practice. Ino shoved two egg rolls into Sakura's mouth.

"Ya know you'll burn out if you don't pace yourself," Ino said.

Sakura laughed, "True."

Ino gave Sakura a fried shrimp. Sasuke watched Ino and Sakura from a window. He smiled as he watched Sakura interact with Ino. His face turned red again from watching her. A girl with gold hair and eyes looked at Sasuke and followed his gaze to Sakura. She let out 'hmph' and stormed off. When lunch was over Sakura was going in with Ino when she was tripped by the girl with the golden hair. Ino snapped at her. Sakura seemed to just let it go, and walked away dragging Ino by the shoulder. "This is not over you little witch," the girl said with a nasty tone.

"Yeah, just keep talkin' Karinya!" Ino yelled back.

Sakura and Ino worked hard and focussed in class. They practiced together during their small breaks. Sasuke kept hiding his red face around her. He was particularly cold to her to hide his red face whenever she was close by. Sakura noticed Naruto who was always alone. She went over one day and sparked a friendship. They got along very well. Sakura was shunned by everyone after she sparked her friendship with him, except for Ino and Hinata Hyuga. Sasuke felt a little jealous when she happily chatted with Naruto. Karinya harassed her even more every day. Days like this passed and soon a couple of years went by. Sakura was now a young woman at the age of twelve.

Sakura slept in that morning. The bright morning sun made her room warm. She tossed on her pink bed, and rolled around until she fell to the floor. The minor fall woke her up. She groggily got up and looked at her alarm clock. It was ten to ten. She yelped and quickly got dressed and made a side half ponytail on the right side of her head, in her shoulder length light pink hair. She tied it with a white ribbon. She nodded at her appearance, Sakura was wearing a red hoodie with an unfilled white circle at the back and navy blue short shorts. She quickly tied a navy blue weapon holder on her right thigh. When ready she ran downstairs and grabbed a fresh baked melon bread. "Sakura, why don't you stay for bacon and eggs? There's coffee," Enrie asked.

"I can't it starts it five minutes! I love you both! Bye!" Sakura said as she waved at them and leaped on the rooftop.

She leaped from rooftop to rooftop. She saw Ino running as well. She jumped to her side, "Are you super late too?"

"Hell yeah I am!" Ino exclaimed.

"I forgot to set an alarm."

"I slept through mine."

"I wonder if we'll make in time."

"We won't if we keep talking."

"True," Sakura responded.

The two ran in silence. They made it with one minute to spare. They gave each other a high five.

"We made it," Sakura said with a chuckle.

"Barely."

"I can't believe I was able to graduate. It feels magical being here."

"I'm glad for you too, especially since you can't use ninjutsu," Ino mentioned.

"I still feel anxious about that."

"Don't worry, there are plenty of ninja who can't use ninjutsu, wasn't Rock Lee, the guy a year ahead of us, also one who can't use it."

"Yeah, I think Iruka-Sensei mentioned that."

Ino looked around the room suddenly. Her eyes landed on Sasuke. She squealed. "Sasuke's here," Ino waved bye to Sakura, "See ya bestie!"

Ino darted to where he was sitting. She fought with Karinya to sit next to him. Little did they know that his eyes were following Sakura. He had a small blush on his cheeks as he watched her sit down next to Hinata. He smiled a small smile as she chatted amiably.

A couple of minutes later Iruka walked into the classroom. He greeted everyone then congratulated them on graduating.

"I know it was tough for some of you, and you some of you have worked harder than others to get here. However, your journey is only beginning. You have a long road ahead, with some destinations that are unknown," Iruka explained, "now then I will assign you your teams of three."

"Teams of three?!" Naruto bellowed.

"Yes, we assign teams of three for you guys to complete missions. Each shinobi has been in a squad."

Teams of three… they better not slow me down, Sasuke thought to himself.

Sakura simply smiled and spoke to Hinata, "I hope I'm with you and Ino."

"I… I… h… hope… so too," Hinata stuttered quietly.

Iruka named the squads'. He got to team six when Karinya, who was sitting beside Sasuke, talked to Ino.

"He's going to be with me," Karinya spoke with a condescending tone.

"In your dreams, I'm going to be on Sasuke's team you little witch."

Annoying… Sasuke thought.

Iruka got to team seven, "Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno…"

Naruto smiled, "I'm glad I'm with someone who is nice to me."

"And Sasuke Uchiha."

Sakura grinned, Sasuke smiled a small smile. Naruto grimaced, "Iruka-Sensei! Why does an excellent ninja like me have to be with a guy like that!"

"Naruto, the teams are organized based on graduating scores, Sasuke had the highest, Naruto your's were the lowest."

"You better not slow me down," Sasuke voiced.

"What!?"

"Naruto, calm down," Iruka sternly expressed.

Iruka moved onto the other teams. Soon each of them were announced. "After lunch you will be meeting with your Jonin leaders," Iruka announced.

Sakura went up to Naruto, "Hey want to eat lunch with me since we are a team now?"

"Not today, I want eat with Aya-chan."

"Oh, okay."

"Sakura! Want to eat with us?" Ino asked with Hinata standing next to her.

The two found a spot on a balcony. They were eating peacefully.

"I'm glad you are the one in a team with Sasuke, Sakura. I don't have to worry since you don't have feelings for him," Ino expressed.

"I guess so," Sakura responded.

Suddenly, Sakura saw Naruto tackle Sasuke who was eating near a window. The shutter closed and banging was heard. Sasuke emerged when the banging stopped. Sakura felt a little concerned. She told Ino and Hinata who watched the entire thing that she'll be right back. Sakura opened the shutter to see Sasuke tied up and gagged. Sakura took out a kunai and cut the rope. She took the gag out of his mouth. Sasuke looked up and saw Sakura who held out her hand to help him up. His face went red. He got up on his own and patted her shoulder. "Thanks, Sakura," he spoke gently.

Right when he took his hand off, Sakura felt a blush creep on her cheeks. Her chest had a feeling of tightness and discomfort. It then started to race. Her stomach felt like it had some type of butterfly. Sasuke leaped out of the window. Sakura followed him and watched him fade with gentle eyes. She put her hand up to her chest, "w… what is this feeling?" she whispered to herself.

"Sakura, are you alright?" Ino asked.

"H… huh?"

Author's Note: Hope anyone who stumbles on this story enjoyed it. I had this story idea in my head for a year, glad I'm finally writing it :D