Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters
A/N: My first public fanfic. Please don't destroy me too bad. Story is slightly AU and also may have some OOC. I'm working on that though.
"Sakura… CONCENTRATE!" A blonde haired kitsune shouted with too much enthusiasm. His outburst didn't warrant more concentration, but it did win him a large lump on his head.
"Maybe I would be able to better concentrate if you SHUT UP!" The pink haired kunoichi replied a little too sweetly sarcastic. Sakura had been working on Genjutsu with Naruto for half the day already, and she was exhausted. Her chakra was starting to run low, and she was hungry.
If he wasn't so annoying you would have it already, inner Sakura commented.
Even though both nins were Jonin rank, Naruto always insisted on training Sakura on basics. The ANBU exams were coming up soon, and Naruto didn't want Sakura to fail. He had always held a strong affection to the pink haired girl now woman, but Hinata had his whole heart. Sakura was more like a sister to him. Besides, Sakura never demonstrated any interest in the men of the village lately.
"Sakura-chan, why don't you ever go on dates? I never see you even eyeing anyone. You even stopped obsessing over Sasuke-kun," Naruto asked nonchalantly.
He's right you know. Sakura chose to ignore that comment. "Well Naruto, I just haven't found a man who piques my interest yet. Sasuke-kun is too absorbed in his job, so I hardly see him enough to obsess over him."
In truth Sakura did obsess over someone, but that someone happened to be a former silver-haired sensei to Team 7. She often dreamed of him, but she couldn't admit that to Naruto. Some things were best kept quiet.
"Sakura are you even listening to me?" Naruto waved his hand in front of her emerald eyes. They had gone cloudy and glazed over.
Sakura nodded deftly before realizing that she had lost herself in a daydream. "Naruto, I'm sorry. What were we talking about?" Before Naruto could answer Shizune appeared in the clearing where the two were training.
"Tsunade-sama would like to see both of you immediately. It's important." Shizune turned on her heel and left, expecting the two ninjas to follow.
Naruto shrugged and gave one of his famous toothy grins before molding chakra to his feet and taking off. Sakura followed suit and easily kept pace. She had always been better at her chakra control. The two leapt on roofs as they made their way to the Hokage tower.
Upon their arrival, Sakura and Naruto knocked on the door to Tsunade's office.
"ENTER," a raspy, cranky voice from within barked. "Naruto, Sakura. Please have a seat. I have a mission for you two as well as two others. This is an A ranked mission, so I have brought in two other people to accompany you."
With a loud pop two figures appeared in the office. "Hokage, sorry we are late. We got lost trying a new short cut," a familiar masculine voice drawled.
Kakashi! He's going to be accompanying me on this mission? Sakura tossed and turned the idea over in her mind. Of course it just had to be Kakashi and probably Sasuke too. It was just the kind of situation Sakura had tried to avoid since she began having dreams of Kakashi.
"Tsunade-sama, what exactly is the nature of this mission?" Sakura asked. She was confused as to why Team 7 would be reunited unless it was a very dangerous and top priority. She looked across the room and saw that her suspicions were correct and that Sasuke was indeed the other man with Kakashi. Great, the man I dream of and the man I obsess about are going to be with me for who knows how long. Thank goodness Naruto has Hinata or else I would probably go insane.
The fifth Hokage regarded the four adults in her office with a grave expression. She didn't want to inform them they would be on a recon mission in Cloud, especially when she knew that all four ninja in front of her were on the hit list of groups of Mist ninja. "Well since you are so eager Sakura, you four will be doing an intelligence gathering mission in Cloud country. It will be very dangerous, and combat is almost a guarantee. The Cloud country has been developing new jutsus and I want to know what they are. Tension is at an all time high, and I fear that another war is on the horizon for Konoha."
All four ninjas stood with mouths hanging open. Obviously the news was a bit of a surprise. Sakura looked from the faces of Naruto to Sasuke and then to Kakashi. She could tell that they were in for a rough mission, and some hard pressed traveling.
"Hokage-sama, when do we leave?" Of course Kakashi had already taken a leadership position. He had been their sensei for so long, the other three Jonin just fell into step with his ways. "Immediately Kakashi. I will need you all to be ready to head out within the hour. Sasuke, you and Kakashi will need to be extra careful if you encounter any rogue ninjas. They have their sights set on taking out the famous copy nin and the last rightful Uchiha, and I also fear they are after the Sharingan for their new jutsus," Tsunade replied.
The four ninjas nodded, faces set with determination. As Tsunade handed Kakashi a scroll detailing their mission and a few words of caution, the three younger Jonins waited in silence.
With a bow, the four left the office and paused once they were outside the tower. "We should meet at the gates in half an hour," Sasuke declared.
"Kakashi sensei, don't be late this time or I'll hunt you down myself," Sakura teased. The copy ninja gave her a quick smile, knowing that if he was late she would show up at his house.
After four hours of hard traveling the team decided to settle down in a fairly secluded area right on the border of Cloud and Fire country. Naruto decided to take the first watch while the others slept. Sakura, worn out from the traveling, had fallen asleep almost immediately on her bed roll.
Unknown to each other, Kakashi and Sasuke took up positions on either side of Sakura. Each man had his own reason to sleep close to the pink haired kunoichi. The two men fell deeper into sleep, trusting Naruto with the first watch while the young woman they were protecting tossed and turned, trapped in a nightmare.
A twig snapped in the night sending Sakura into a bolt upright position. She had still been trapped in her night terror otherwise she would have remembered to lie flat, not moving until the sound's source could be identified. Sakura's rash action caused her to sit right up into someone's arms. She could smell the sweat and anticipation of a kill taking over the ninja. A kunai pressed against her throat as a hand slapped hard over her mouth.
"You scream you die. You shift your weight you die. When I remove my hand kunoichi, you will not make one single noise do you understand?" an evil voice hissed in Sakura's ear. She knew that voice. It belonged to him. The man who haunted her dreams every night.
Sakura suddenly realized that someone else was awake. Someone she didn't want to see her like this. She instinctively leaned forward, pressing the blade into her soft skin a little, drawing a thin trickle of her own blood to run down her neck.
The man behind her hissed as he grabbed a fistful of her bubblegum colored hair to pull her away from the blade. As he did so, a hard punch landed at the base of his neck, knocking him out. There came a loud pop as the substitution jutsu was revealed and a useless piece of wood rested on the ground where the man had just sat.
"Sakura, are you alright? Why the hell did you lean into the kunai like that? He could have killed you, you know." Sasuke's voice was harsh and demanding, the tone bringing tears to the girl's eyes.
"Sasuke, don't you yell at Sakura-Chan! She didn't ask to have that kunai shoved at her throat," Naruto shouted.
Kakashi stood over Sakura and Sasuke, his one visible eye giving nothing of his mood away. "Sakura, are you alright?" he asked in his nonchalant way, but for one second, Sakura thought she saw a glimmer of worry in Kakashi's eye. Was he really worried for her?
"Yes Kakashi-senpai," she replied, her now chakra laden hand touching her neck. As Sakura forced the healing chakra into the wound to close it, Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke began to break camp.
"If Itachi is in the area, we will have to move quickly. Sasuke, you are not to go after your brother no matter what. If need be, I'll have Sakura knock you out until we reach our destination. Is that understood?" Kakashi demanded of the young man. He could see that Sasuke was none too pleased with the order, but he gave an almost imperceptible nod and held out a hand to help Sakura to her feet.
It had taken many years, but Sasuke had noticed Sakura finally. After returning to Konoha from Sound, Sasuke realized that Sakura truly did love him. He had been so stupid all those years ago to ignore her, and he was now concerned about keeping his one chance of restoring his clan alive. True Sasuke thought he should feel guilty for using Sakura in such a way, but after his time in Orochimaru's company, he couldn't find it in himself to really care all that much.
"Let's get moving," Kakashi said calmly, the sound of his voice cutting Sasuke's thoughts out. Kakashi looked first at Naruto who looked ready to tear someone limb from limb for hurting Sakura and then to Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke looked at Sakura with a strange glint in his eyes that had the old sensei nervous. Sakura was looking off into the forest, her eyes slightly glazed over in thought. Kakashi's head swung around to face the opposite direction, his one visible eye scanning their surroundings carefully. The enemy had found them.