CHAPTER ONE: MAKI HAYASHI
"See you tomorrow Naruto!" Maki waved to the blond haired idiot who tripped over his own foot when he turned to look at her. She silently giggled and continued to walk home.
The sun was setting, and it was rather a cold day. The air was becoming dryer, seeing how it was changing from fall to winter. Maki Hayashi, a 20 year old ANBU, took in her surroundings and felt happy seeing how peaceful it was.
When she was half way there, she felt someone's chakra near her, a rather strong one too.
"Kakashi, you're so bad at sneaking around." Kakashi smirked at his student's ability to differentiate people's chakras.
"Aww, that's not nice." He hopped out of the tree and walked with Maki. Even though he was seven years older than her, he was and still is her sensei she grew up with. For some reason, the two clicked together nicely. "When you get home, I think you'll be surprised."
The girl turned her head to face the calm man. "And why do you think that?"
"Maybe you'll get to see him, maybe you won't. Just go home. If you don't see him today, you'll see him tomorrow." With that, he disappeared.
"I swear, old people these days are the weirdest…" Maki whispered and walked towards the apartment she lived in.
'What does he mean 'you'll see him tomorrow'?' Without giving it much thought, she took out her key to unlock the door. But all of the sudden, Maki heard voices arguing down the hallway. Curiosity got the best of her as she tip toed her way there.
"I told you I was coming back!" Right away, Maki's brain worked to remember whose voice it was. Queitly, she walked closer to see the familiar man standing there, arguing with Miko, the women who owned all of the apartment buildings here.
"Sasuke!" Maki happily smiled when she saw her old team mate. It's been a good year since the two even seen each other. Despite his obviously angry state, he seemed a little happier when he saw her. "Miko, what's the problem?"
"This young fellow's complaining about me selling off his room when he was gone for a year! Of course I'm going to sell it, I need to make money too!" She crossed her arms and gave Sasuke a nasty glare. He gladly returned one back, forgetting his manners to the elderly.
Maki didn't know what to do, until a thought popped into her head. "Miko, don't worry about it. Sasuke can stay with me." Miko thanked her and walked away before Sasuke could complain to her again.
"Stay with you? I want my old room back!" Before Sasuke could go after Miko again, Maki grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him over to her apartment.
"You're going to drive the old lady crazy." Maki turned on the light and opened the door to an untouched room. "The apartments here have two bedrooms anyway. Just stay here until you find another place to stay."
Sasuke grumbled angrily but inspected the room anyway. "Thanks Maki." He said before closing his door. She grinned when he remembered her name.
Back when they were gennin on Kakashi's team, she and Sasuke became okay friends. Since Naruto and Sakura were too annoying for his liking, he chose to lean on Maki instead. And when the four of them went into training to become ANBUs, they drifted apart. When they were separated in the classes, they rarely got to see each other. It's been a year since the team became ANBUs, and decided to receive training from Kakashi again, starting tomorrow.
As Maki's body comfortably moved around in bed to find the perfect spot, her eyelids grew heavier and squealed with excitement when she thought about the big reunion tomorrow.
"9:23AM?" Looking like a mess, Maki ran out of bed and without even changing, she ran towards the tree Kakashi told her Team seven would meet at. She stumbled trying to run in the snow, but luckily, didn't fall.
"Maki-Chan!" She could hear Naruto's voice yell. "Ma-…Maki-Chan, why aren't you dressed?"
"Sorry I'm late!" Maki panted once she reached them. A little pissed off, she looked up at Sasuke who didn't even look at her. He could have woken her up! Then she could have gotten dressed this morning and not look like…This!
"That is some interesting attire…" Kakashi eyed the black tank top and white short shorts she wore. It was a sight to see, especially in the beginning of winter. Everybody else was dressed in coats and long pants.
"I just got out of bed, okay?" The four chuckled, knowing Maki wasn't much of a morning person.
"It's nice to see you four again." Kakashi said to Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, and Maki. He looked at each individual, and saw a new flame burning in their eyes. He could see the passion and determination that grew as they became older.
"Kakashi sensei, you're a Sage now!" Naruto exclaimed and jumped up and down in excitement.
"Shut up you idiot!" Sakura yelled at Naruto, just like she did years ago.
"Still the same…" Kakashi mumbled and looked over to Maki. "Were you surprised yesterday?" She looked up and blinked in confusion before getting what he meant.
"Oh yeah, really surprised." She looked over to Sasuke. "We're living together now."
"WHAT?" Sakura immediately let go of Naruto's neck and yelled at Maki. "Are you kidding?" Maki sighed, seeing how she hasn't changed over the year.
"Why would I be kidding?" It always amused her how angry Sakura got about these kinds of things. What was the big deal anyway?
"You? Living with Sasuke?" She almost fainted. "Wait till the other girls hear about this, you'll be dead meat!"
"I can't believe you haven't changed over the years…" Maki cringed. "He's not even that interesting."
"Hey!" Sasuke defended his self. "I'm more interesting then you are."
"Right…" She decided to stop arguing. When everybody stopped talking, Kakashi spoke up.
"So what are your dreams now?" He asked all of them.
"TO BECOME HOKAGE!" Naruto said with that goofy smile.
"Of course." Kakashi cut him off before he could go on and on about him becoming Hokage. "Next."
"I want to become just like Tsunade." Sakura said, being serious. "She's my role model now."
"Ah, I heard she's training you every now and then. You're also a medical ninja now?" Kakashi asked Sakura who proudly nodded.
"Sakura-Chan, I'm so proud of you!" Naruto shrieked, but Sakura just pouted since Naruto wasn't the person she wanted praise from. The black haired man only stared off into the distant, obviously not interested.
"And you Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.
"I want to become a Sage like you sensei." He said calmly. "Maybe even Hokage."
"What? That's my dream!" Naruto fumed.
"And you, Maki?"
"Me?" She pondered. Sure she was good at fighting, but that's not what she really wanted to do. "I just want to get settled down."
The four looked at her weirdly. "Settled…Down?" Kakashi cautiously asked.
"Like married?" Maki said, wondering why they were so confused.
"You're 20…" Sakura said like she didn't know.
"I know Pinky. What I mean is, I want to find love rather than fight."
"You fight for love." Kakashi quoted one of the lines from his perverted book. The four shivered at his corny quote.
"That really makes me want to barf…" Naruto whispered to his self.
"Well, I can't guarantee I'll help you guys achieve those dreams. But I can guarantee that I'll teach you to be better ninjas." Kakashi got up and walked over to a tree. He leaned his body against it and…
Pulled out his book.
"…Sensei? What are we doing today?" Sakura asked, confused.
"Hmm?" He looked up and then back down again. "Nothing, I'm too tired today."
"You!" Maki scoffed. "You made me run all the way over here looking like this!"
"Well you should invest in an alarm clock." Kakashi said quietly and turned a page in his book. "And it's pretty amusing."
Before she could blow up on Kakashi, Naruto clapped happily. "Come on guys, let's go get ramen then!" The four stood up and walked towards the ramen stand. Over the years, they learned that Naruto would always want to get ramen after training. They got sick of walking, so they moved their meeting spot closer to the ramen stand.
"You're still obsessed?" Sakura scolded him like she was his mom.
"Come on Sakura, don't be so harsh on him!" Maki pushed her away from Naruto. Usually, when Sakura would threaten Naruto, Maki defended him like Sakura would defend Sasuke. The two girls just naturally took sides.
"And what's with you? You think you can just live with Sasuke? You're not even a fan of him!" Sakura brought up the 'big' issue again.
"Oh, well sorry! Next time I'll leave him rotting away in the streets!" Maki yelled back at the pink haired girl.
"Guys, don't argue." Sasuke said and sat down on the stool. He ordered for everybody when he saw the girls continuing to argue. Whenever the team was together, Sakura and Maki would always end up arguing, just like Naruto and Sasuke did.
"Did you forget to get dressed?" Everybody stopped arguing when they heard someone walk into the conversation. "It's almost like you're half naked…Yummy." Kiba always hit on Maki since grade school, so she was used to it. Kiba still had that spiky brown hair that framed his face nicely and his body became more built over the years of training.
"Back off Kiba, I'm not in a good mood." She sat down next to Sasuke who chuckled.
"Just eat." He told her when the owner served them ramen.
Maki grumbled but ate quietly. When she looked up to Kiba, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura, she remembered how everybody grew up together. It felt just like yesterday everybody was just entering the Chunnin exams. A smile formed on her mouth as memories paraded in her brain.