TIME SWITCH

Hi! I'm back! I'm sorry to those that actually liked my fic, I know it's been several years. My computer broke down before and I didn't get to replace it right away, then I just simply forgot about my fics. I was tempted to just not continue at all, and let it be placed into one of those "Forgotten Fics" file. But I figured I'll continue it and see how it goes. Please forgive my writing style, I haven't done so in awhile, so I'm a bit rusty. Also, I'll be honest, I don't watch Naruto anymore. When shippuuden started, Sasuke became too much of a prissy drama queen, so I just stopped watching the anime altogether. So not really sure if I remember some of the terms, hopefully I still got each of the upcoming character's vaguely right. Anywho, chapter two.

Disclaimer: I. DON'T. OWN. NARUTO.

TIME SWITCH

Chapter 2: I AM SAKURA

*DOOOOOOT DOOOOOT DOOOOOT DOOOOOT DOO-CRASH!*

The sound of Sakura's alarm clock's final time reverberated throughout her apartment. "Ugghhhh….." groaned a prone figure from underneath a thick dark green blanket. The bundle moved and a jade eye peeked out to look at the sunlight streaming through her window. 'Kami, 6 am already? Ergh, damn Kakashi-sensei for setting up such an early meeting time! I bet he won't even show up till 10!' With a huff, Sakura threw her blankets off her.

Raising her arms in the air, she stretched out her back and heard it crack several times. "Mmmmm, man that feels good!" Sitting on one side of her bed, she glared at her broken clock. "I guess I gotta buy another one again. Honestly, I need to always buy a spare." Sighing, she rubbed her face then walked to her bathroom to freshen up. It didn't take her long to get ready, she had a routine down which basically made her mornings very robotic: wake up, shower, dress, breakfast, bridge.

Sakura headed out towards her destination, her head still fuzzy from the lack of sleep due to the previous night's excursions. With a giant yawn, her mind wandered back to last night. After finally arriving at her place, she had tried to sleep after getting ready for bed right away. She knew she had to rise early in the morning but for some reason she felt agitated, as though something wasn't right. She had tossed and turned the whole night. She would guess that she finally slept some time after 3:30. Sakura was hoping that today would be one those 'relaxing after training' days, where she could just go straight home afterwards and zonk out. She felt unbelievably tired for some reason, feeling on edge, but not quite putting her finger on it as to why .

As the bridge came into her vision, she could already see Sasuke's dark spiky hair as he leaned on the railing. Once again, he had beaten her there. It was like that each morning; Sasuke would arrive first, then Sakura with her cheerful greeting which would be followed by a grunt of acknowledgement. Afterwards Naruto would show up being his usual exuberant self, which would irritate Sasuke, then anger Naruto, and they would continue to insult each other back and forth, proving to Sakura that testosterone made the male species stupid. Of course, Sakura had her role in the mornings as well, where she would finally get pissed off, thus ending in Naruto getting the receiving end of her fist. Kakashi-sensei would show up eventually, a few hours later, nonchalant as if they haven't wasted half the morning waiting for him. It was a routine done every morning since their genin days. It ended when Sasuke left, and continued upon his return. If Sakura would be completely honest with herself, these early morning meetings was something she cherished and looked forward to and had truly missed when it was gone.

She found herself smiling wistfully as she came closer to one end of the bridge. When Sasuke glanced up at her, Sakura's grin widened.

She waved her arm at him, "Oha-!"

"Ohayo Sakura-chan!" A big grin adorned the face of the usually stoic Uchiha as he ran towards her waving his arms like a mad man.

"…..." Sakura was struck speechless, staring wide eyed at the oncoming body heading her way.

Sakura knew.

She knew she was dreaming.

This could not possibly be happening.

As she was getting ready to slap herself to wake herself up, the body of Uchiha Sasuke, THE Uchiha Sasuke, genius emo ice prince extraordinaire himself, hurtled himself at her.

Sakura, too shocked to even prepare her body for the sudden attack, landed on her back with a painful "oof". She stayed still. That definitely hurt. And Sakura was still on her back with the man of her dreams hugging her around the waist. She could feel his heavy, muscled body pinning her down on the ground, his strong arms wrapped around her. Does this mean….

This wasn't a dream?

Sasuke's head whipped up to look at her, bewilderment gracing his features. "Sakura-chan, is there something wrong? You didn't hit me this time and you're all spaced out." Sasuke asked with concern. Even his tone of voice was different! The deep timbre was still there, but his question came out sounding…happier, without the edge that was usually there.

All Sakura could do was stare in shock. 'Sakura-chan? Whaaaat!' To say the least, she was inwardly perplexed. Then she started fuming!

"NARUTO NO BAKA!" screaming, she punched him straight in the face. He flew backwards several feet. At first, she felt disconcerted punching Sasuke's face, but she had no doubt that that was Naruto in Sasuke's form! "Baka! Why would you pretend to be Sasuke-kun? And attack me no less? Do you want me to kill you?" She jumped to her feet, and pointed an accusing finger at him, her face heating with anger.

Still lying on the ground and gripping his nose, Sasuke just stared at her in confusion.

"But Sakura-chan, I am Sasuke. Why would I pretend to be the dobe?" he picked himself up off the ground and slowly walked toward her, unsure why Sakura was suddenly acting strangely.

Sakura faltered in her glare, looking hard at him. Then she sneered, ready to call him out on his bluff.

"Eh, Sakura-chan? Sasuke-teme? What's going on?" A quiet voice asked uncertainly behind the confused kunoichi. Sakura whirled around, unprepared for the sight of Naruto standing behind her as he looked back and forth between the Uchiha and herself.

"N-Naruto?" Confusion was evident on her face. "Is that really you?"

"Hai, of course, who did you think I was?" the blonde answered quietly, scratching his head at this rather odd question.

"If you're Naruto, then…" Sakura trailed off as she slowly turned back to Sasuke with wide eyes, "…Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke beamed.

Yes.

That's right.

Sasuke Uchiha BEAMED!

"Wow Sakura-chan! You've never called me Sasuke-kun before! Does this mean you're starting to like me now?" Sasuke asked with excitement, looking at her with hope.

Sakura sputtered, stepping away from him and quickly getting behind Naruto. "Naruto! There's something wrong with Sasuke-kun!"

Naruto turned to look at her with confusion, a slight blush on his cheeks at her close proximity. "Umm Sakura-chan…Sasuke-teme is fine. You're the one acting strangely, is everything ok?" he replied in a quiet, calm voice so un-Naruto-like that Sakura took a step back from him as well.

Sakura blinked. Now she stared at Naruto. When was Naruto ever quiet? Almost shy, was Hinata actually effecting him?

Sasuke went beside Naruto and without thought put his arm on his shoulder, leaning on him as they both considered Sakura with a long stare. "Hmm…Sakura-chan's acting weird, ne buddy?" Naruto nodded his head vigorously, completely agreeing with Sasuke's comment.

If it was possible, Sakura stared even more wide-eyed. She watched the two rivals as they stood beside each other with ease and no hostility, as if they were completely comfortable in being best friends.

"I-I don't u-understand what's going on…." Sakura shook her head.

*POOF!*

"Yo."

Once more, Sakura whirled around with shock. "Kakashi-sensei? You're…You're…..You're on time!" Sakura yelled, now pointing a shaking finger at her teacher.

Kakashi tilted his head to one side, confused by her outburst. "Why of course Sakura. I'm always on time. What kind of role model would I be if I wasn't?" he replied, waving his book around.

Sakura glimpsed the title of a self-awareness book, "Kakashi-sensei, what happened to Icha Icha Paradise?" Sakura never thought she'd see the day where she'd find her sensei reading something else beside that dirty book.

Kakashi-sensei gasped, Naruto blushed, and Sasuke stared at her in disbelief. "Sakura! Why, I would never read one of those kinds of books! I'm surprised you even know about those!" Kakashi looked at Sakura as though she had just admitted to reading porno.

Sakura brought her hands to her head, turning away from them. She's completely lost her mind. She must be dreaming, there was no other explanation for their weird behavior! 'Always on time? Role model! What? Who were these people?' Even their auras felt off. She looked around at her surroundings quickly.

*SLAP*

"Sakura-chan!" the boys yelled in concern.

"Sakura? What's going on with you?" Kakashi demanded, taking ahold of her arm.

She had slapped herself. Hard. And it hurt. A lot. She really wasn't dreaming. Which didn't explain the sudden character change in her teammates.

She pulled her arm away from Kakashi-sensei's grip and jumped back from them a good distance away.

"Where am I? Who are you people?" she screamed at them, disconcerted with the whole situation.

The men looked at each other with confusion, then a hidden message was passed between them. They all suddenly stood straight and stared at her, Kakashi whipping out a kunai.

"The real question is: Who are you? And what have you done to Sakura?" Kakashi-sensei demanded.

Sakura stood straight and stared at them hard. "I AM Sakura!"


[A.N: I'm gonna go back and forth between the two times. I'm considering breaking off each time period into its own chapter. Would that be preferable for people? Please let me know, otherwise, it'll continue like this.]

ELSEWHERE…

"I. AM. SAKURA! Now untie me you son-of-a-bitch!" a rosette haired female screamed at the top of her lungs.

"You're lying bitch, tell the truth! Where's the real Sakura?" onyx eyes glared distrustfully at the pink-haired girl that was tied to the post where Naruto was tied before when they had their very first training.

"Oi teme, maybe she is Sakura-chan. Maybe she just woke up on the wrong side of the bed?" bright blue eyes came right up to Sakura's face, studying her features in deep concentration.

"Get your damn face away from me baka!" Sakura growled, jade eyes sparking ominously.

Naruto quickly straightened. He stared at Sakura shocked, then scratched his blond head. "Hmm…well, definitely very un-Sakura behavior. Yup yup." He glanced at Sasuke, "What you think teme? Should we just wait for Kakashi-sensei to show up or should we bring her to obaasan?"

Sasuke looked down at Sakura with the iciest expression she's ever seen, "We'll wait for Kakashi then bring her to the Godaime."

Sakura sneered. Sasuke looked at her expression and gave her one of his own. This bitch was portraying herself as their petal-haired teammate. Did she think they were stupid? He knew the real Sakura would never act the way she did earlier….

Half an hour earlier….

Sasuke leaned his tall body against his usual spot on the bridge. As usual, he was the first one there. He treasured these moments of silence in the morning by himself, before chaos ensued in the form of a hyperactive blond idiot. He sighed and closed his eyes, awaiting the arrival of Sakura to come with her usual bright greeting. He wondered if she got home ok when he rejected her invitation to walk home together last night. He quickly dismissed the thought. Since when did he care anway? "Tch." He muttered under his breath, closing his eyes again.

He felt Sakura's approach before he saw her. Sasuke's brow furrowed. Something seemed off about her aura. It felt like her, but…different. He opened his eyes slightly under his bangs as he watched her come closer to the bridge. She looked the same. Short pink hair blowing in the breeze, and Sasuke was man enough to admit that Sakura had definitely grown into an attractive woman, with curves in all the right places.

She stepped on the bridge and he noticed her glance at him as well, looking slightly confused. As she got to her spot, she crossed her arms and leaned back against the railing.

Silence.

What was wrong with her? No 'Ohayo Sasuke-kun!'? No big smile? Not that he liked it when she did that, he denied to himself. This sudden new attitude was definitely suspicious. Could it be that she was acting cold towards him because of last night? Couldn't be, Sakura wasn't that immature. Plus, he's done way worse before, he regrettably admitted to himself. Something wasn't right.

A bird flew by, chirping as it went.

Sakura gave Sasuke a sidelong glance with suspicion. He watched her jade eyes narrow as her gaze continued to focus on him.

A gust of breeze stirred their hair.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, for some reason not enjoying this rare silence. His body tensed, and he sent his ki out. He felt a darker aura around her, something very similar to his own. He raised his head and aimed his dark gaze directly into her eyes. Gone was the bright jade. Instead what he stared into were cold green eyes as she glared at him, so unfamiliar it felt like he was looking at a stranger. Warning bells rang off in his head.

Sakura tensed.

*Whooosh* *CLANG*

A pair of kunais dropped on the bridge floor. Two shinobis were crouched in their battle stance at their own respective ends of the bridge, kunais in hand. Sasuke spoke first.

"Who are you? You're not Sakura." Sasuke demanded with absolute confidence. The woman in front of him couldn't be Sakura. So if she wasn't Sakura, where was the real one? He felt his blood rising at the thought of Sakura being hurt somewhere. He gripped his kunai tightly. If this bitch hurt his teammate he was gonna tear her apart!

Sasuke found himself growling low. This unexpected twist in their morning was definitely a pain. He watched as the woman raised an eyebrow at him, looking even more confused, and staring at him as though he had lost his mind.

"I should be asking you that question!" she replied coldly, eyes seeming to glow with anger. He could feel the fury radiating off of her in waves.

Sasuke smirked, "I do believe I asked you first. So why don't you give me a good answer, before I completely lose my temper."

Sakura scoffed, "Why do I need to identify myself to you, asshole? You obviously know who I am when you went through all this trouble to act like the Uchiha and trick me!" she screamed, preparing her body to attack if need be.

Sasuke stared at her in bewilderment, anger slightly faltering. "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about bitch. Just know that if you hurt Sakura, you'll regret ever coming across me." He calmly stated in a low gravelly tone.

His threat hung in the air between them.

The Sakura look-alike stood still. Then she started chuckling while never losing her focus on him. "You're not very good at this, are you? If you don't even know who you're talking to." She stopped chuckling. "I am Sakura, you asswipe!"

With that, she made her first move. Three kunais flew in the air, heading straight for him. Sasuke quickly jumped in the air to avoid being hit, while he quickly threw his kunai and several shurikens at her.

*THUD*THUD*THUD* the shurikens embedded itself into a log. Sasuke landed quickly on the ground and did handseals for his Katon Goukakyu . He sensed her movement, aimed, then blew a stream of fire into the trees.

Sakura appeared from above, right fist pulled back. "KYAAAAAA." She yelled, aiming for his face. Sasuke dodged her move and her fist hit the ground where he once stood.

The earth exploded. Debris flew everywhere. When it cleared, Sakura stood in the middle of a giant hole. Sasuke was surprised. 'She had super strength? Just like Sakura?' he briefly wondered just as she glared at him once more. Sasuke had enough. He refused to believe she was Sakura, and if that was so, then that means something could have happened to the real one. He was wasting time.

His right arm started to crackle, blue lightening forming around it. He focused on the woman in the hole, and crouched low, preparing to strike, when…

"OHAYO SA-….SASUKE-TEME! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO SAKURA-CHAN?" An irritating voice shouted at the top of his lungs. Naruto stood there shocked, blue eyes wide. Sakura got distracted and whipped her body towards Naruto's voice. Sasuke, taking advantage of this, did a new set of handseals. He pulled with his fingers.

Sakura's arms and legs came together, bonded by the invisible strings Sasuke formed. "UGH!" she groaned as she found herself trapped. "I'LL KILL YOU! ONCE I GET OUT OF HERE, I'LL SHOVE MY FIST DOWN YOUR THROAT YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Sakura continued spouting an array of threats and insults, some so colorful even Sasuke flinched at the gruesome visuals she was describing.

Naruto's jaw dropped, "Eh…Sakura-chan?"

"Naruto," Sasuke's voice was firm to catch the blonde's attention, "she's not Sakura."

"She's not?" Naruto asked skeptically.

"No."

"I told you already I'm Sakura! Stop saying I'm not! Naruto! This bastard is pretending to be Sasuke! Do something!"

"Eh?"

"Shut-up bitch! Don't twist it around! You're the one pretending to be Sakura!"

"Errrr…."

"Naruto! Why are you just standing there? You're so useless! And YOU shut-up Sasuke-wannabe!"

"Ummm"

"Who are you trying to fool? Naruto may be an idiot, but he's not that stupid to fall for your tricks!"

"Hey!"

"UGH! You damn low-life! Naruto, who you gonna believe?"

Naruto stared back and forth between the two.

"Tch. Don't be a dumbass dobe, you should know Sakura even better than me!"

Naruto glared at Sasuke, still not really understanding what was going on.

"I know you and Sasuke are best friends Naruto, and that you guys love each other, so you should know when that's NOT him!"

Naruto chocked on his spit. Did Sakura just say…that he and the teme love each other?

"Sakura-chan, wha-?" Naruto faltered with his question, disbelief in his eyes as he looked closely at Sakura.

Sakura saw the suspicious glance, "UGH! Why are you always taking his side? How many times did I tell you to be more independent and make your own choices!" she shouted angrily at him.

To Naruto, Sakura was talking in gibberish. The Naruto she kept referring to was nothing like him! "Oi Sasuke, what happened to Sakura-chan? Who is this girl?"

Sakura growled upon hearing this.

"That's what I've been trying to find out." Sasuke looked around. He saw the three posts at the training grounds. He looked at Naruto and jerked his head in the direction of the post. Naruto looked, then nodded at Sasuke. Time to move 'Sakura'.

Present time…

And this is how they all ended up at the training grounds, 'Sakura' tied up, glaring daggers at both men.

Sasuke sighed. Now all they had to do, was wait for Kakashi-sensei.

He sighed again.

It was gonna be one looooong wait.


A/U: Yay! I finished the 2nd chapter! I apologize for the "fight" scene. It wasn't much of one, haha. I'm not good with writing fights. I'm a lover, not a fighter. xD Anyway, I'll do my best to post more chapters without waiting several years to get it done. No promises though. Thank you to those that reviewed a long time ago!