a/n: a little plot bunny i wrote a long time ago.
disclaimer: i own nothing.
dedication: to friendship, for what it's worth.
summary: He may have been a genius, but no one could unravel the mystery of Team Seven. – Team Seven, Shikamaru.
paradox
He knew the facts.
Team Seven was formed when Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto were twelve, putting the infamous Copy-Nin Kakashi Hatake as their sensei – his Sharingan eye and relation to Minato weighed heavily in that decision.
It followed one of the tried-and-tested team formations – the best of the Academy, the Top Kunoichi and the so-called 'Dead Last'.
Uchiha Sasuke was arrogant and presumptuous. His name opened more doors than his meagre power, but he was too blind, drunk on the power of the Sharingan, to notice that. The massacre of his family and the subsequent betrayal of his brother had affected him more than he'd let on, coloring his dreams and future with the dark advice that his once-beloved aniki had given him.
Haruno Sakura was a weak and obsessive fangirl. Her crush on the Uchiha heir blinded her to his less-than-favorable qualities, destroying her friendships and ruining her future. Her intelligence was her strong point, but her brilliant mind was of no use in a body unused to hardship.
Uzumaki Naruto was the Kyuubi vessel. He was sabotaged at every turn, but still managed to find the strength to wear a cheerful smile. He fought for acknowledgement, reverting to pranks to gain attention. When that was stripped away, a lonely boy was left, desperate for affection.
They might've worked together – a patient teacher could break Sasuke's ego, coach Sakura to be stronger, give Naruto the attention he deserved. But Kakashi was too wrapped in the past, in the memories of his own team – a teammate crushed by falling rocks, a girl he was forced to kill, a sensei who sacrificed himself to end the deadliest threat in Konoha history – to give Team Seven the guidance they needed.
He knew their story.
Sasuke rejected Sakura's advances, sneering at the pathetic excuse of a kunoichi, and dismissed Naruto. Sakura took her anger out on the Kyuubi vessel with punches and barbed insults. Naruto followed Sakura like a lost puppy, challenging Sasuke to fierce matches. Kakashi made no move to end their rivalry until the two boys stood on a rooftop – a Chidori crackling in one hand and a Rasengan forming in another – flying straight at Sakura.
But, by that time, it was too late.
Sasuke ran away in the dead of night, after knocking out his teammate and leaving her on a cold, stone bench. Naruto followed him, while Sakura stayed behind, mourning the team that was never meant to be.
After that, each had tried to kill the other many times.
Two boys flew at each other – one in the throes of the Cursed Seal, aiming the kill; the other shrouded in Kyuubi chakra, a desperate bid for his best friend – Rasengan meeting Chidori in the shadow of their ancestors.
A girl knelt beside a fallen tracker, her mouth speaking lies as she readied a poisoned kunai. Behind her, the boy, his Chidori an inch from her spine.
He stood on water, his hands closing around her neck as he moved to skewer her on the kunai she brought to kill him.
And then, the reconciliation.
The three – said to be the strongest shinobi Konoha produced, the Sannin reborn, the stuff of legends – stood on a cliff, facing a monster, together for the first time in years.
But facts made up textbooks, stories were out of fairy tales. Neither of them could explain the undeniable teamwork, the way everything clicked into place when all three were together – in fact, nothing could explain it, as the Nara genius found out to his consternation.
He saw them sitting at Ichiraku's, Naruto gulping down ramen and talking a mile a minute. Sakura, sitting a few feet away from the man that nearly killed her, smiling and laughing at her best friend's antics. Sasuke, who had shed the Otokage robes in favor of watching Naruto demolish ramen, inserting an exasperated 'dobe' whenever Naruto's monologue shifted to the ridiculous.
They defied all logic, all reason, all rationality. They acted on emotion and impulse, discarding facts and strategies.
Shikamaru smiled as he saw Sakura brandishing her black gloves, Naruto diving across the counter, Sasuke taking advantage of the confusion to dump the bill on Naruto's tab.
Perhaps they didn't need an explanation, Shikamaru mused as Naruto ran past him, chasing after Sasuke, skidding to a stop when he saw the gloves already on Sakura's fists. Perhaps they were just Team Seven.
Perhaps it was as simple as that.
le fin
a/b: Well, everyone else's done an introspective team seven fic, i figured it was my turn.