Team 7 Back Together Again

Warning: Characters ARE ooc. Don't tell me I didn't warn you!! I hope you like this!

A/N: A story dedicated to my readers. Enjoy!!

Chapter 1

It's so quiet in Konoha without Sasuke. Ever since his departure, things have been so quiet and boring; especially for my team. Even Naruto isn't as energetic as always. Ino has taken an interest in Shikamaru since Sasuke left. I don't think she ever really liked him. She's just liked him and hated me because I was close to him.

I met Sasuke when he was little; before the massacre. I always liked to watch or practice throwing shuriken with Sasuke. He would always show me how to do it or stand behind me and then show me how. We used to always laugh when something awkward happened. He used to have so many emotions; the main one was happiness. Since the massacre, he's only been crying, sad, and depressed; he hasn't smiled since. I was the only one to be there with him and try comforting him. After two years, he has forgotten our old times and pushed me away like all the other fan girls. He thinks I'm a fan girl; probably because I'm always buggin' him. I only do that because I was worried.

I've changed since he left; the more distant, emo, and quiet girl. My eyes turned a bit pale, my hair changed a little from light to dark pink. I don't wear the usual red kimono (I think). Nowadays, I wear a black and blue tank top with my net shirt underneath and dark green, baggy pants.

I have become Tsunade's apprentice and still am Kakashi-sensei's student. Tsunade is even teaching me a bit of archery. I do a lot more work as a ninja by doing more B and C-ranked missions.

A hand waved in front of my pale skinned face. I looked at the blonde hokage in front of me and in the corner of my eye, her secretary. "Sakura, did you hear a word I just said?"

"Um, sorry. Say that again?"

Tsunade sighed. "You have a new C-ranked mission. It should be easy for you. Just go out, near the borders of Konoha and help an old man with a severe illness. Here's the scroll."

I took the scroll and opened it. "Sakura, try not to space out on the mission. You should leave in about a half an hour. I will inform Kakashi about this. You may go now."

"Arigato, Tsunade-sama."

I turned on my heels and exited the tower.

I looked around my room for my bow and some supplies for the healing process. Tsunade-sama taught me how to make arrows with my chakra. I got my supplies and bow then left my room. I started walking down the stairs when I saw my mom walking to the kitchen. "Hey mom, I'm going to leave for a mission. I should be back by dinner."

My mom's head popped out of the kitchen door and grinned. "Alright dear, be careful! Come home in one piece!"

She waved goodbye as I reached the door and went back to the kitchen to get some breakfast. I checked my messenger bag again and then left the house. When I shut the door, I saw Naruto. "Hey Naruto."

"Want to get some ramen, Sakura-chan?"

"I guess so. I have to hurry though. I have 15 minutes before I leave for-"

"-a mission. No problem, I'll just stay at the ramen stand when you leave."

He finished for me. Naruto must be sad because I, once again, have a mission and he doesn't. It just leaves him and Kakashi-sensei to train. I feel really bad for him; Tsunade-sama doesn't give him a lot of missions because he wasn't qualified to do B and C-ranked missions, only D. D-ranked missions are rarely given out to him because they are used for the academy students.

We arrived at Ichiraku (Did I spell it right?) and sat on the stools provided. "I'll have the usual." Naruto said.

"Um, I'll have the beef, thank you."

"Coming right up, Sakura."

Ayame smiled and called out to her dad, telling him the orders. We waited three minutes, in silence, for the ramen. During the silence, I couldn't help but miss the old routine where Naruto blabs on about nothing in particular, me staring into space and Sasuke just sitting there listening to Naruto because there was nothing else to do. I ate half my ramen, like always, and slid it over to Naruto. "I got to go, bye!"

I handed Ayame the money and rushed to the gates. I arrived and told the guards to tell Tsunade that I was leaving. I waved goodbye in respect and started running through the forest.

I arrived at the destination and started healing the man. It took about an hour or two to finish the process. I used up ¾ of my chakra in the process. The man's daughter thanked me. "It's my job. Make sure he gets plenty of sleep and take one pill every 24 hours, alright?" I handed the woman a container of pills. "He should be fined when you're done using half the container."

I grinned at her and waved. She waved goodbye and turned to her dad. I exited the house and started to walk down the dirt path. "Would ya' look it here, a chick just flew in from Hotsville. Care to come with us, girly?"

I saw three thugs ahead of me and glared at them. Unbeknownst to me, I didn't sense the presence that just arrived in the tree. "Oh, that glare is so threatening I think I'm going to die!" Another joked.

"Just come with us and you'll be fine." The middle one said.

"Why should I?"

"Because you'll find love."

I started thinking about my life since Sasuke left. I haven't been caring about the people around me and not noticing the boys that stalk me. I saw no point in going with them, knowing they can't help me find love so I just waved my hand and started running the other way, hoping to lose them. I made a sharp turn and ran about another few feet until I ran into someone. They gripped my wrists behind me and called out. "Guys, I got her!"

I noticed that my chakra was slowly fading away. I used the last of my chakra and made a genjutsu to stall them until I was out of their reach.

I was a good three, four miles away from the thugs until my chakra was all gone. I fell down from the tree was on and prepared for the worst; it never came. I slowly opened one eye and saw that my face was inches away from the ground. I felt my left ankle be grasped. I looked up and saw a certain raven-haired shinobi. "Watch your chakra."

"Oh, like I didn't get away from the thugs."

"What are you trying to do, become like me?"

"No, you're too much of a stuck-up, duck-butt head of a jerk! How could I be like you?"

"You're lucky I caught you. Don't make me reconsider."

I reached my hands down to the ground. "You can let go of me now."

"How do I know you won't just fail at the attempt of that handstand and fall?"

"Why do you care?"

He grumbled and let my ankle go. I controlled my weight on my hands and got up from the handstand. I started walking away until I felt a hand grip my wrist. "Not even a thank you?"

"As if you would thank a person that saves you."

"Hn."

"Are you calling yourself a girl now?"

"What are you talking about? This has nothing to do with any of this!"

"Hn means head nurse, idiot."

His grip on my wrist loosened but still had a firm grip. "Surprised that I called you an idiot, Duck-Butt Avenger." (A/N: Inside joke. :D)

"Where do you come up with these names?"

"Your hair and 'ambition'."

"My hair is not a duck's butt!"

"Whatever."

I waved my hand and pulled my hand away from his. I started to run away with the chakra I just gained. I was almost at the gates when I saw that Naruto was standing there. He had a horrid look on his face. I didn't understand so when I reached him, I asked him what was wrong. "Go home, now."

'Go… home?' I thought.

I gasped and sped home as fast I could.

When I arrived at the house, it seemed a bit too quiet. It was almost dinner time so my dad's voice should be heard. I gulped and slowly opened the door. I gasped silently and saw him. His hands were covered in blood and a kunai was in his hand. There was blood everywhere. "Oh, I expected you to come later. Sasuke-kun was suppose to stall. Oh well, now that you know who killed these useless people, you should be killed as well."

"I HATE YOU!"

I pulled my bow out from behind me and started to form an arrow. I noticed that if I make this a complete arrow, then I will faint from exhaustion. I didn't care. One shot should be enough to kill him. I positioned the bow and arrow towards his heart and let go. It seemed like time was slowly passing as the bow went towards that sorry excuse for a man. I started to lose consciousness but was able to see Orochimaru get hit straight in the heart. I fell backwards and saw a familiar face. He caught me and had that same look on his face when I called him an idiot.

I groaned and rolled over in bed. I hugged what I thought was a pillow and groaned again. I noticed that the 'pillow' wasn't soft so I opened my eyes and was face-to-face with the Uchiha Avenger. I was surprised so I rolled off the bed on the other side. I groaned again and looked at the ceiling. It was a dark blue color and around the room was full of black and dark blue. It took me a moment to notice where I was. "Sasuke, am I in your room?"

"What happened to the -kun and yes, you are."

"Why and how did they let you in?"

"Because I put a genjutsu on them so they didn't see me and so, that means I can't bring you to the hospital and your house is, well, you know."

"Bloody?"

"Yeah."

"What happened to your short vocabulary?"

"What happened to -kun?"

"You can't ask a question after I asked you a question! And besides, I asked first!"

"Technically, no, I already asked you. And besides, you did the same."

I made a thinking pose on the ground with my pointer finger on my chin and my eyes staring into space. I heard a soft chuckle and gazed at Sasuke that was looking at me from atop the bed. "What's so funny?"

"Your thinking pose."

I let some blush show on my face; Sasuke noticed. "I'm guessing my presence around you is making you change your mind, again."

I stuck my tongue out at him childishly and got up. I was about to leave his room when I heard him say something. "Sorry, didn't catch that. What did you say?"

"I said why are you leaving? Won't it be odd if someone caught you exiting the Uchiha Manor when no one is currently living here?"

"I have to report to Tsunade-sama though."

"You're reporting me?"

"Maybe."

"Then I'm not letting you go out."

"I can't even report my mission to her?"

"Mission?"

"What else could I have been doing out there, Sasuke?"

"…"

"For once, the famous Uchiha Sasuke is lost for words!" I said dramatically.

"Since when were you the actor?"

"Doesn't matter. I'm leaving whether you like it or not!"

I sped outside and was able to reach the tower. I looked behind me and made sure he wasn't around. I was about to set foot into the tower when I heard a husk voice say. "Looking for me?" and felt a strong grip on my wrists.

"If you don't let me go, I really will report you."

I heard him grumble a few colorful words then let her go. I smiled and entered the tower.

I entered Tsunade-sama's office and greeted her like any other civilian. "Hello Sakura, I thought you would have finished the mission yesterday."

"Oh, um, I got stopped by a few thugs. They were pretty hard to get away from."

'She doesn't know that my family was killed by Orochimaru?' I thought.

"I'm sorry for a terrible loss, Sakura. I heard that your family died. I also found a corpse but couldn't figure out who it belonged to. I noticed that it was killed by one of your special arrows. Sakura…?" Tsunade looked at me.

"It was Orochimaru. I…. shot an arrow but didn't know that it'd kill him I was… frustrated and angry!"

I clenched my fist and let some tears trickle down my face. "They were the only ones that showed me love…" I slowly opened my eyes. "The only ones…"

I didn't notice Tsunade turn around and spot someone in particular. "Did that traitor stall you?"

"Who?"

"You know who I'm talking about, that Uchiha that left for that bastard."

"Oh, him. Not really, he just let me go on his own free will."

"Interesting… Team 7 might be back after all this time.."

She whispered the last part. I stared at her. Would she really? "Arigato Tsunade-sama."

I bowed and left the tower. I ran to the forest where a lake was. I passed by Team 7's old meeting spot and stopped. I gazed at the river flowing underneath me. "I heard the news."

I turned to my right and saw my sensei. "Kakashi-sensei!!!"

"Your acting like you haven't seen me since forever!"

He chuckled.

"Am I late?"

"Hey Naruto!"

"Now there's only one member missing…" Kakashi mentioned,

"He never came back though.." Naruto said.

"He's been here since I arrived."

I said and looked up at a tree. "Where?" Naruto asked.

"Still as stupid as ever, I see."

"I know that voice anywhere…. SASUKE-TEME!!!"

"Ah, just like old time ne, Sakura?"

I looked at Kakashi-sensei and smiled. "Definitely."

I hope you liked it! This isn't exactly a one-shot… oh well!!

♥Happy Valentine's Day♥