A/N: Tada! It's chapter two! Thank you guys so much for the kind reviews, I really, really appreciate them. Since someone asked, the pairing for this is SasuSaku. You can pretty much assume that all of my stories will be SasuSaku since it's my OTP. I really hope you enjoy the chapter (sorry about the brevity) and I'll try to publish the next one as soon as possible!
The two sat together in an almost comfortable silence until Naruto came gallivanting into the training ground.
"Hi Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme!" He said enthusiastically, "Where's Kakashi-sensei?"
"Hmmm, going from the fact that he was close to three hours late yesterday, I can assume that he won't be much earlier." Sakura surmised, putting on the façade of someone who didn't know everything about Kakashi. "We should do some team exercises in the meantime. You know, help boost our cooperation."
"Sure Sakura-chan!" Naruto agreed happily, "As long as the teme doesn't act like such an asshole."
"Naruto." Sakura reprimanded, "Sasuke's on our team, we have to work with him."
"Naruto will just hold me back." Sasuke muttered, "I'll work with Sakura, but not the dobe."
"The entire point of being on a team together is to be able to work with each other!" Sakura exclaimed, glaring at Sasuke, "We'll never be a good team if we can't get along. Now we need to put our petty differences aside and work together, goddamnit!"
Sasuke and Naruto looked taken aback at Sakura's sudden, uncharacteristic outburst.
"You're right Sakura-chan." Naruto apologized, "I'll work with the teme if you think it will boost our teamwork."
"Hn." Sasuke agreed. Well, at least Sakura thought he agreed, he tended to be rather ambiguous some times.
"Now that we've come to a consensus, we need to think about what we could possibly be doing for this test." Sakura figured that blurting out every aspect and moral of the bell test would be mighty suspicious, so she decided to just hint at it and hope her teammates caught on. "As I've been saying earlier, Konoha's strongest asset is its fierce camaraderie and powerful teams. Take the sannin for instance. They were practically unbeatable because they knew each other inside out and knew how each one of their teammates would react."
"Okay, but we hardly know anything about each other." Sasuke crossed his arms, "Especially you Sakura, what else are you hiding?"
"I thought we put that argument behind us." Sakura sighed, "Whatever, the point is, my fighting style relies heavily on close combat and chakra control. If I am going to be able to fight efficiently, I will need to get close to the enemy. I also am a healer."
"That's a contradiction." Sasuke stated, "Healers always go in the back, but you insist on being in the front. It doesn't make sense."
"When I was studying the sannin, I noticed that even though Tsunade was a healer, she was often on the front-line. Since I pretty much copied her style, I think it's appropriate for me to follow her battle strategies."
"Does that mean we're going to follow the strategies of the other two sannin?" Sasuke raised his eyebrow, "If so, how would you know which one of us corresponds with the other?"
Sakura took a deep breath. If she mentioned Orochimaru now, she might be able to warn Sasuke about his evil ways, but he may also become curious and turn to Orochimaru sooner. Stuck in a deadlock, Sakura hoped that Sasuke wouldn't turn on her. "I think you should copy Orochimaru." Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, "Mind you, I don't think you're a thing like that evil bastard. In fact, I hope no one ever goes to seek him out. I know this must sound weird, but Sasuke, promise me you'll never consider him as a sensei."
Sasuke looked at Sakura with deep confusion. She had been so strange recently, but he liked it. He liked the way she no longer obsessed over him and the way that she took her studies seriously. Out of all of the people in his graduating class, he found himself the closest to Sakura at this point. Her newly found seriousness paired with her viridity complimented his personality well; not that he'd ever admit it of course. No, he'd stay indifferent, but ask if she wanted to be his training partner. That was definitely the right course of action. But still, why on earth would she suspect him of having anything to do with the missing nin Orochimaru? "Sakura, why would I have anything to do with Orochimaru?"
"Just promise me." Sakura said seriously, gazing sternly into Sasuke's onyx eyes, "Promise me you'll never affiliate yourself with him."
Sasuke looked at Sakura uneasily, "I promise." He conceded, unsure of why Sakura seemed so afraid when she had made him promise. What did she have to do with the evil sannin?
"As for you Naruto," Sakura switched back to her jovial disposition, "I think you should copy Jiraiya. You know, we could be the next sannin!"
"Hell yeah!" Naruto grinned with the intensity of a thousand suns, "If I'm as strong as them, I'll be sure to become the Hokage! Just watch."
"Don't forget about us." Sakura reminded him, placing a hand affectionately on his shoulder, "Sasuke can be head of ANBU and I can be head of the hospital."
Sasuke frowned. He didn't care about becoming ANBU. All he needed to do was to avenge his brother and he knew he would do anything to get the chance.
"Oi teme," Naruto poked Sasuke, "Whatcha brooding about? Don't you want to be ANBU?"
Sasuke scowled and turned away, crossing his arms.
"I think he's got more mood swings than girls when it's their time of the month." Naruto whispered to Sakura.
She looked at the blond exasperatedly and gave him a light knock on the head for good measure. "You can't make period jokes." She pointed an accusing finger at him, "Do you know how terrible it is to bleed for an entire week?"
Naruto shuddered at the image and fierce glare. "Sorry Sakura-chan…" he apologized, inching away from her.
Kakashi finally showed up. He was more than two hours late and team seven had run out of ways to spend their time.
"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto exclaimed indignantly.
Kakashi rubbed his neck, "Sorry, there was a black cat in my way so-"
"Liar!" The two genin yelled again.
"Anyway," Kakashi brushed off their previous comment, "Let me explain the test."
The three genin looked at Kakashi with rapt attention, ready to face whatever challenge was thrown at them.
Kakashi held up a pair of silver bells. "This test is called the bell test. The objective is to take a bell from me. If you do not succeed, you will be sent back to the academy."
Sakura knew why there were only two bells, but she decided to ask Kakashi for good measure. "There are only two bells sensei." Sakura started, feigning worry, "Does that mean that one of us will fail for sure?"
"You're sharp." Kakashi commended the pink-haired girl, "Anyway, Sakura is correct. One of you will fail for sure. Now, you have until noon to complete the test. If you fail to get a bell within the time restraint, you will not get lunch. If you are to have the slightest chance of getting a bell, you will have to come at me with the intent to kill."
Naruto took the end of Kakashi's sentence as a signal to start, resulting in him attacking the jonin head on.
"I haven't said start yet." Kakashi sighed, poofing out of existence.
Sakura leapt back into the trees, deciding to follow her previous strategy to a point. Masking her chakra, she hid in a thick group of bushes, slowly making her way towards Sasuke. She could sense the Uchiha's chakra well from where she was; his chakra signature was so obvious, she'd have to remind him to mask it when they rendezvoused.
"Sasuke." She whispered, sliding next to him, "Remember to mask your chakra. It's too obvious. Also, once Naruto's done blowing off steam, let's attack together."
"But you heard Kakashi." Sasuke crossed his arms defiantly, "One of us is going to fail for sure. Since Naruto is the weak link, we should leave him."
"I told you this before." Sakura clenched her teeth, "Konoha's strongest asset is teamwork. Also, have you ever seen a two man team? No. The point of this test is to prove that we can work together despite the boundaries we're given."
"I don't know how you came to that conclusion, but I'll trust you." Sasuke capitulated, "If it turns out that you were wrong and we are all sent back to the academy, I'll never forgive you." Sasuke shot Sakura a serious look.
Sakura knew he wasn't lying in the least. Sasuke wouldn't be able to kill Itachi if he had to repeat academy classes. Not to mention, it would be a great disgrace to the Uchiha and himself. Keeping all of that in mind, Sakura looked sternly at Sasuke. "I understand." She assured, her eyes never leaving his, "Now that you have decided to trust me, let's find Naruto."
Naruto had finally finished attacking Kakashi and had retreated into the bushes. Unlike Sasuke, Naruto was far more willing to go with Sakura's plan.
"Okay." Sakura started, masking her chakra to the best of her abilities, "First thing's first." She looked at Sasuke, "You and Naruto will start to attack Kakashi together. I advise having Naruto make a ton of shadow clones and transform a few into Sasuke. Maybe that will throw Kakashi off slightly." Sakura knew that Kakashi wouldn't be fooled by a measly prank like that, but it sounded like a genin level strategy. "Once you have successfully preoccupied sensei, I'll sneak in and grab the bells. After I get them, I'll hand them to you two so that we all can successfully 'get the bells'."
The two boys nodded in understanding.
"Don't mess up Dobe." Sasuke hissed, running into the clearing with Naruto.
Sakura watched their fight transpire, happy that the two were at least semi-capable of working together. As she expected, Kakashi saw right through their prank and dispelled Naruto's clones in mere seconds. Now it was just the two boys trying desperately to hold their own against a jonin. Just as Sasuke and Naruto were beginning to tire out, Sakura leapt into the clearing silently. She flew past Kakashi, grabbing the bells in one swift motion and rolling gracefully onto the ground. She quickly handed the bells to her two teammates and smiled at Kakashi.
"We all got the bells sensei!" She said sweetly.
"No." Kakashi's face turned deadly, "I said that one of you would be sent back to the academy. Now I think you should choose. Perhaps Naruto because he's an idiot? Or Sasuke because he was the most reluctant to work as a team? Or maybe even Sakura because she lacks strength?"
"I do not!" Sakura exclaimed indignantly, striking the ground. The dirt around her cracked slightly. I'm a lot weaker than I was before. She thought, discreetly massaging her sore fist.
Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow for a split second, "Anyway who would you choose?"
"I'll go." Naruto muttered, "I know I'll just hold back the team."
"No Naruto." Sakura shook her head, "You want to become the Hokage and you can't do that if you're still in the Academy, I'll go back."
Sasuke didn't want to say anything. Why would he go back to the Academy? Out of all his teammates he was by far the strongest and he couldn't kill Itachi while still in the Academy. But Sakura did insist that this test was about teamwork and though he had no real reason, he trusted her. "I'll go." He said, forcing the words through his clenched teeth.
Kakashi's face lit up. "You all pass." He stated simply, "Now our first mission is tomorrow."
Sakura sighed in relief. That played out differently than it did last time. She thought worriedly. I hope I didn't change too much…
Sasuke grabbed Sakura's wrist before she left the training ground. "That was too close." He growled, looking deep into her viridian eyes.
"Well we passed didn't we?" She matched his gaze, "Can you think of any better strategy?"
Sasuke wanted to be furious at her for putting his shinobi career on the line, but her newfound confidence made him more intrigued than mad. Unsure of what to do, he decided to walk with her.
"Don't you live in the other direction?" Sakura inquired. Of course, she wanted Sasuke to walk with her, but she would like to know why he was being so companionable.
"I have to go to the grocery store." Sasuke stated. That was a lie. Sasuke thought. Sakura doesn't know that though.
Sakura knew he was lying. The quickest way to get to the grocery store, and the route that Sasuke usually used (no need to know how she knew that) was also in the opposite direction, but Sakura found no problem with playing along. "Okay! Well I have to pick up some groceries too, so we can go together."
"Hn."
Sakura frowned. She thought Sasuke had moved passed monosyllabic grunts, but she supposed she was wrong.
They walked into the cool store, both gazing at the lists they had written. Sakura stole a glance at Sasuke's list and desperately tried to stifle a giggle. Of course it's blank. He didn't even intend to go shopping. It would have been better if he just didn't pull it out in the first place. She thought smiling to herself.
She met Sasuke at the check-out line, giggling once more at the continents of his shopping basket. There were at least twelve tomatoes.
"Sasuke," Sakura started, "I hope your entire diet doesn't just consist on tomatoes."
Sasuke's face turned the color of the aforementioned fruit. "Of course not." He insisted, "I'm a ninja, I must have a healthy diet."
Sakura nodded, smirking slightly.
The two walked out of the store in a happy silence. Well, at least Sakura was happy, as for Sasuke, you could never really tell.
Sasuke ended up walking Sakura back to her house.
"Thanks Sasuke." Sakura shot him a sweet smile, "You really didn't have to."
Sasuke shrugged, shoved his hands in his pockets and began to walk towards the Uchiha district.
Sakura watched the Uchiha crest on his back getting smaller and smaller, infinitely thankful that he was just going home and not leaving her again.
