Okay, first chapter. Are you aware how stressful it is choosing what your first proper chapters going to be like? Cause its like the one which everyones going to use to judge whether to read the rest of the ff or not!

But anyway, this ones not the best, i guess but its a start!


Musings


Kakashi couldn't pin point when he started to notice it. It being the moment Sakura's feeling for Sasuke began to change in to something more, something different. Naturally, with them only being young, he was on almost every mission with them- whether he was watching from afar and letting them do their own thing, or ushering them along like a sheepdog would a sheep. But indefinitely, he noticed a change.

At first, it was the obvious things which struck him as strange.

She was quieter, for a start. Sakura Haruno had decreased in volume and obnoxiousness. She was much less outright about her feelings for Sasuke.

Although any 14year old girl is going to have her moments of weakness, the jounin thought as he reminisced about overly obvious hints and offers on Valentine's Day.

Apart from the small hiccups, which he assumed any girl was prone to, she was much more reserved about her affections for the boy. Kakashi had noted over time that she was more inclined to bite her tongue to stop any overly exaggerated hate comments spilling out of her mouth towards Naruto, if the two boys were to start fighting or bickering. Instead, she would ask them to stop fighting and simply tell Naruto that 'Sasuke-kun is right', quietly but strongly siding with the young Uchiha.

Kakashi wasn't overly sure which started this peculiar turn of events but he wasn't complaining. The girl had never won herself any points with either boys when she was hopelessly fawning over Sasuke in such a ridiculous manner.

The next thing he noticed was the way she hugged him. It was a strange thing to notice, he was aware. He wouldn't have noticed it at all if he hadn't of been watching over the boy so closely after his curse mark had been activated. Just before Kakashi had taken Sasuke away to train for the final rounds, Sakura had found them saying she wanted to say goodbye since she thought they'd be gone for so long. Kakashi had said yes, of course, but had come to the understanding that Sasuke was still sour about the girl wanting him to forfeit the previous preliminary rounds. So he understood when the atmosphere felt so awkward in the room. He would have left, if he hadn't had needed to watch Sasuke so closely. He remembered as she apologised, genuinely sincere and moved forward to embrace him, much to the younger boys disdain.

Kakashi had looked away as to not make the situation more awkward than it already was.

"Get off, Sakura."

Was Sasuke's reply to her affection. This had bought the Jounin's eyes back to the pair, and this is when he noticed it, causing him to tilt his head ever so slightly in curiosity.

Sakura's arms were around his neck, instead of his middle. Her head rested deep in the crook of his neck and her body was pressed completely to his. This was a full body embrace. A type of hug a girl as young as her should not feel the need for.

He assumed at the time, that it was a one off – because they would be away so long, it was a leaving hug.

Completely normal.

However, as they completed mission after mission after this, he had started to notice it more. After he received some sort of injury, after a close encounter with an enemy, a successful mission and so on…

She would sigh as she hugged him, occasionally burying her face deeper into his shoulder, before realising she had probably overstepped the limit of the boy's need for personal space before stepping back and carrying on as chirpy as normal. It was peculiar. Though, the embraces were not long or dragged out, they were still short and sweet, short enough that Naruto would be completely oblivious to anything more than just Sakura casually hugging Sasuke, but it was strange the amount of effort in which she put into them, he thought.

Though, the thing that perplexed him more so was the fact that Sasuke seemed to be used to it. After a while, despite never quite ridding the vaguely irritated facial expression, Sasuke began to accept her embraces. Oh by no means did he reciprocate the gesture. Of course he didn't. But he would no longer push her off or tell her to get lost. He would simply stand motionless as she hugged him, with the occasional minuscule turn of his head to glance at the girl in a very vague annoyance. Kakashi couldn't help but think that this change in the boy's attitude only spurred on the girl.

Once he had seen these hugs many a time, Kakashi began to notice the smaller details and he began to wonder when he had become so observant.

With any cutting or harsh comment from Sasuke directed at her, Sakura would flicker.

The first time he had seen it was when Sasuke was in a particularly bad mood and had said something overly cruel about her.

He really wishes she didn't do it.

Strange, everything about this girl lately was strange. Her eyes tell him everything. Its as if, in that one moment of cruelty, her face faulters and her eyes...flicker. You can suddenly see all of the hurt she's feeling rush across her face in one fluid motion.

Kakashi knew why it bothered him so much. Rin, his team mate, used to have a habit of doing the exact same thing when he would unintentionally hurt her feelings or such. Once again, once he had seen Sakura do it once, he could not ignore it. Sakura was always so easy to read as well.

She was practically an open book.

Though, he was not used to a repressed, secretly hurt Sakura. He was used to her looking physically hurt and then bursting into tears. It actively confused him as to why the sudden change. If he was to think about it, he would say that it was after the Chunin exams was the most dramatic occurance of these uncommon habits but then he realised, the change had not been sudden at all.

Her feelings had festered from school-girl crush into …something else during their time spent as a team. It wasnt love, she was much too young to feel such an adult emotion, but having to grow up a bit in order to act as a real shinobi had just catalysed the process.

"Naruto, Sasuke-kun! I'm glad you're both okay!"

"Ah gee Sakura-chan, why does Sasuke-teme always get all the hugs?"

Kakashi wasn't sure if he liked the change, he decided, as he looked at the dark haired boy and young girl in front of him.

It could never end well.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you okay?"

"Huh?" Sakura's curious voice had broken him out of his musings, her eyes conveying her obvious confusion.

He glanced at his team in front of him, worn out and home-bound, and he smiled ever so slightly - as to just allow the crows feet on his eyes to show. Of course he wouldnt get the easy team.

"Hai, just spacing out." He chuckled in reply.


What dya think?