Chapter 1
Sakura was dead tired.
Every since Naruto came back from his trip with Jiraya the whole village was in disorder. And Sakura actually blamed the blonde for the injured genins and civilians. It might seem like pure invention, but this sudden increase in injuries was not common. She had been training her whole time in Konoha under Tsunade's supervision, going in and out of the hospital, she knew the statics.
So, other than Naruto's brash appearance nothing out of the ordinary happened.
It was his fault. She was sure of it.
It was also his fault that Sakura was being dragged to Ichiraku's.
She had just finished her shift, could barely keep her eyes open, when Naruto barged in all smiles, cheek and sunshine. Sakura's reaction to his appearance was anticlimactic. She had just seen him yesterday, saw the little changes in his jump-suit from blue to black, but saw none in his personality. He was still a child, not worth noticing.
Besides, to her defense, she had been far too exhausted at that point to react or comprehend simple words.
So, when he asked her out and she just nodded in response he beamed and reacted swiftly, grasping her hand and forcing her limbs to move despite their reluctance. He only let go when both of them were resting in their respectable seats.
'I want to hit the fan.' she thought and stared down at her miso ramen in dismay.
She had felt Naruto's gaze on her face for several times already but decided that reacting would be too much of a treat considering he was to blame for her misfortune.
Sakura was so beat, she had completely tuned out her surroundings as she slurped on her ramen and therefore missed the whole interaction between Naruto, Teuchi and his daughter Ayame.
Almost everyone in Konoha knew Teuchi was - next to Iruka- the first person who showed Naruto something akin to kindness.
He was family. At least, Naruto acted like the ramen owner was included in his list of precious people. He was excitingly chatting about all the different things, landscapes and training techniques he experienced on his trip, even complained a few times about Jiraya's bad habits, before he focused his undying attention on her.
"Ne, Sakura-chan?" The pinkette almost groaned but nodded reluctantly to show him she was listening before looking at Naruto over her bowl. " I didn't notice before, but I think your hair has grown a bit since the last time we saw each other."
"Really?" Sakura blinked and twirled a strand of pink hair between her two index finger. She squinted her eyes and contemplated getting a new hair cut.
"Yep. I like it." he beamed, chewing on a few noodles.
He managed to spill broth on his cheek and Sakura scowled, hand reaching forward. Before she knew what she was doing, her finger had already wiped the stain away.
Naruto flushed immediately and Teuchi, who had been watching their interaction, suddenly occupied himself with cleaning the counter. Ayame was less subtle and whistle a tune under her breath before she disappeared behind the flap that lead to the back of the restaurant. She apparently understood crossing Sakura had been a mistake or maybe it was just the pinkette's stare of death that caused the female to back off.
"Sorry," she apologized but had no idea what for.
It was a reflex, the mother-hen side of her acted on its own.
And she wasn't blushing. Her heart rate wasn't picking up. She felt nothing. Naruto was still Naruto. And Sasuke, Sasuke. While Sakura might have outgrown her silly crush, she also completely lost all interest in the male population. After Sasuke left and teared her heart out, leaving her broken and mangled, she threw herself into training to forget.
And it helped.
Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she started to direct her anger at the Uchiha every time she pulled her chakra-enhanced fist backwards for a punch. Each and every thrust had been filled with fury. She imagined her fist to make contact with skin instead of wood. And when the material eventually broke under the pressure, she had hoped it would be broken bones instead of cracked splints of wood blowing away.
So, yes, she did not love Uchiha Sasuke.
Not anymore.
Although, she still cared about him, but in a different way. Now, she just wanted to drag that idiot home and punch him for all the hurt he caused not only her but also Naruto.
The blonde never gave up and believed he could bring him back. But it was also he who had been impaled by Sasuke's chidori and came home empty-handed. It was Naruto who told her that his path did not waver and that she shouldn't worry when she had visited him in the hospital to voice her doubts. The smile he gave her with all those bandages covering his body had been painfully forced.
And right then and there, Sakura had realized she relied too much on Naruto.
It was a moment of change.
But, despite all those events, the teen could not bring herself to see Naruto as anything but a brother or a teammate. It felt painfully awkward to imagine him as anything but. He was like a family member that knew too much about her embarrassing secrets and would later use those as black-mail material. Of course Naruto would never dare to make such a novice mistake.
The consequences of trying to manipulate her, the student of the Hokage, would be dire.
" 's okay." she heard Naruto mumble and blinked out of her stupor. Apparently, she had been out of it for a while because Naruto's scarred cheeks had lost their vibrant color.
"Well," Sakura stood and stretched her arms over her head, feeling her joints pop in satisfaction. She put a few coins on the counter and nodded politely at Teuchi. "I think I'm going to head home now."
"Can I come with you?" Naruto inquired after he slurped the remains of his fifth- only his fifth?- bowl of ramen down his throat and too payed for his order.
She immediately wanted to decline but for some odd reason, the way he looked at her then influenced her decision. Naruto had the kicked puppy look done perfectly. She actually answered with 'yes' instead of the no that had been itching to leave her lips. She was tired, but Naruto's company might brighten her mood.
"So," Naruto's hands were crossed behind his head whilst he walked next to her. " I heard Tsunade-baa-chan trained you? That must have been tough, the hag knows how to pack a punch."
"Don't call her hag, baka." she blanched and looked around in fear. When Sakura felt no familiar chakra-signature appear her posture relaxed again and she hit Naruto lightly in the stomach.
"Sa-kura- chan." he whined and held his bruised skin in mock hurt.
"Don't complain." she pointed a finger up, berating him. " Tsunade-sama is not only the first female Hokage of Konoha, but she is also one of the legendary Sannin. Therefore she should be treated with respect."
"She really did a number on you, didn't she?" the blonde teased and grinned when Sakura shook her fist at him warningly. He put his hands up in a sign of peace and raised his eyebrows.
"Oh, look we're here." he exclaimed just as Sakura pulled out her key and opened the door to her apartment.
She had asked her parents for her own two walls right before she had started her apprenticeship under Tsunade. While her mother refused at first, completely against the idea, her father, ever the peace-maker, managed to win her over. Sakura had no idea how he did it, but she was really grateful and had hugged him in her happiness. He, of course, just waved her off in response.
"Do you want something to drink?" Sakura asked as she took of her shoes and padded over to the kitchen. " You can choose. I have tea, coffee, soda or orange juice."
"Tea, please."
Sakura raised both eyebrows at his choice but Naruto was obvious to her suprise. He was looking around her apartment, trying to take everything in whilst he made himself comfortable on her couch. Sakura took the tea-kettle, filled it with water and waited for it to boil as she leaned against the counter with her back.
Her home wasn't really anything special.
There were a few photos of her as a child with her family hanging on the wall in the living room. She also had a light blue couch and a tiny cofee table with a vase placed on top, but no flowers. She had just dumped the ones Lee had given her in his attempt to win her over because they wilted . She had declined his confession politely but accepted his roses right after seeing his dejected expression. She felt incredibly guilty, because she understood only to well how painful unrequited love was, but he had immediately brightened up when she did accept his flowers and exclaimed he would start doing 500 push-ups around the block before running off, leaving her stumped once more.
She could never get used to Lee's behaviour.
A high-pitched whistle caught her attention and she picked up the kettle. She opened a drawer and pulled out two cups before she went to the next one filled with tea and coffee. She picked Earl Grey, her favourite, and put the tea bags into the cups before filling them with water.
"You have a nice home." Naruto commented when she reached over to give him his cup and took a sip. Earl Grey was one of the bitter sorts. Sakura assumed Naruto would scrunch his face up in disgust, stick his tongue out to get rid of the taste so his unresponsiveness was unexpected.
'Maybe I was wrong, he matured quite a lot,' she thought and sat down next to him.
"What do you think about our training session for tomorrow?" Naruto asked and inhaled the steam before taking another sip. " Do you think we can win against Kakashi-sensei?"
The question was silly in itself.
They both knew Kakashi couldn't possible keep up with the two of them. The key of the exercise was teamwork. And Naruto and Sakura were confident in their ability to work together. They did not need to win a fight, they just needed to steal those bells. Winning a fight against the copy-nin was still impossible but snatching the bells would be a piece of cake.
"Of course." she responded, finally taking a sip after the broth had cooled down. " We did not train two and a half years just to lose again. And besides, even if we should lose, which I highly doubt, we will go down in style." Believe it.
Naruto snorted, eyes twinkling "Really, Sakura, style? Did something happen in my absence because you are sounding like Teuchi when he tries and fails to imitate his daughter?"
"Shut up." Sakura blushed and tried to hit him but he catched her hand.
"Are you blushi-OW."
"I told you to keep your mouth shut."
"But- ow, ow, ow."
"You're face is even re-"
Sakura hit him at the back of his neck with a chakra-enhanced chop. He lost consciousness and his body slumped forward, head landing on her lap. But she cared little.
Because she was definitely not blushing.
The day Team seven was reunited once again, Sakura decided, was a good day.
When the pinkette woke up in the morning, she did not feel tired. Usually, her eyes would burn and swell and she would grumble at the shrill alarm clock, sometimes even shred it to pieces with her fist.
Today was different.
She was, by no means, a morning person.
Sakura was like a intoxicated Tsundae when she woke up. Her head would throb terribly, usually because the day before she'd use all of her chakra to heal or train, and she would have dark rings under her eyes. Her temper and mood would , too , drop drastically trying to communicate with her in that state would only end miserably.
That's one of the reason why Naruto never woke her up or tried to invite her over for breakfast.
He did once. And it wasn't pretty. He was whining the whole time he got his dislocated shoulder fixed.
But when those symptoms failed to appear once Sakura awoke to the soft and soothing beeping of her clock, the smile playing on her lips said all. She turned the alarm off, smile still in place, and stretched.
A happy mewl involuntarily escaped when she felt bones cracking and setting themself into place. She threw her legs over the edge of the bed and went on auto-pilote, running through her usual morning routine.
She showered, drank her tea, looked at the newspaper for a bit to be up to date with the occurrences of the village and dressed herself for training. Over the course of the years, Sakura decided to change her attire up a bit. Before, she could barely move or last in a one-on-one confrontation and flexibility in a fight was important. Sakura wasn't Naruto who could wear amour for protection if he wanted.
Her monstrous strength was one of her assets but actually she was really weak when it came to stamina and could not deal with something weighing her down.
That's why she decided enough's enough.
Insteaf of the cutesy outfit, she was wearing a red top with a zipper on the front, a short grey apron shirt and black shorts underneath. For protection she choose dark calf-high boots and grey elbow protectors. Her medical pouch was at the bottom of her right leg, the tanto a bit above and she was wearing her forehead protector around her throat this time.
Usually, she changed positions from head to throat and upper arm depending on how she felt. And right now, Sakura couldn't be more estatic.
'Because, she grinned throwing the newspaper carelessly onto the table, she was going to kick ass'.
Naruto and Kakashi will never see her as a liability again.
This time, they will have to watch her back for once.
True to her beliefs, Sakura kicked ass.
She felt giddy when she punched the earth beneath in a single blow, leaving a huge hole behind, and smirked when she came face to face with a flabbergasted Kakashi. Locating his chakra had been a piece of cake and revealing his position so soon felt good.
While this might have been a test solely focused on teamwork and exposing one's strength early in battle was not a good tactic, Naruto's gaping face, Tsunade's proud nod and Jiraya's pale face were worth it.
In the end, they did get the bells through teamwork.
If they had known Kakashi treasured his porn book to such an unhealthy extent, they could have easily won before when they were only genins.
But then again, that meant one of them had to have actually read the book at the age of twelve.
And, no matter how childish Naruto might act, having to imagine him or Sasuke as closet- perverts made Sakura's blood boil and the urge to punch something grew.
While the pinkette occasionally read romance novels, the heavy, m-rated material Ino pushed onto her still made her skin flush and limbs tremble. She always skipped the sex scenes and went straight to the plot.
Nonetheless, they won. Kakashi was proud, his eyes softened visibly and he gave each of them a pat on their head.
From then on, Kakashi-han was formed.
Sakura was incredibly happy when she went home that day she did not care about Naruto following or crashing at her place. She let him sleep on the couch and even offered a shower, which he declined politely.
After Sakura herself showered and wrapped a towel around her pink locks, wearing only a loose t-shirt and black shorts, she did not expect Naruto to be still awake sipping on a cup of tea.
The blonde looked up once he noticed her standing at the door, blue eyes incredibly bright despite the darkness of the place and smile large and genuine.
"I hope it doesn't bother you I made myself comfortable." he gestured to the cup and the couch he was sitting on.
"Nope." she popped the 'p' and plopped down next to him, stretching her arms above her head. "If you need a blanket, tell me."
"Nah, I'm good." he scratched his nose, a feature Sakura always fond to be quite endearing. " But we sure kicked ass today! I never saw Kakashi break out in cold sweat this quickly. No, wait, I've never seen him overwhelmed before."
"Definitely. The progress we made so far is unbelievable." Sakura said and in the spur of the moment held up her hand bumping fists with the blonde.
"Not to mention, Sa-ku-ra." His eyes narrowed in mock hurt. "Why did you not tell me? We are friends, right? I thought you upgraded your skills as a medic, you withheld the combat aspect of your training!"
"Wel-l, it had the desired effect."
Naruto pouted but flushed as soon as a loud growl resounded through her apartment. He was fidgeting under her blank stare and laughed sheepishly, scratching his scarred cheek.
"Ramen?"
Her blank stare remained.
He pouted.
She did not blink.
He tilted his head and widened his eyes.
Her lip twitched.
He won, alright.
"Ramen, it is."
Kakashi-han = Team Kakashi
This story is atually supposed to be two or three chapters long. BUT if you like it and there are still people out there who support NaruSaku I might consider continuing the story.
Edit: I'm sticking to the Canon plot-line but decided to make a few changes here and there. I don't remember much from the beginning of NS but I guess I just have to improvise.