Wow, I really didn't like this chapter. And no, I didn't mess up their ages by accident.
The Leaf's main library was strategically positioned in the south end of the village; it was at an equal distance from the Clan district in the east and the civilian/market sector in the west, and also in a direct line of sight from the western gate. It had the advantage of being a particularly tall building and, due to its conspicuous structure and the bright flags proclaiming its position, it made for a very discreet guard tower set in plain sight, and that could see everything in the village that the Hokage Tower didn't at that.
Its position was also chosen because it catered to both civilians and shinobi. It housed a plethora of books, ranging from research materials to fiction to D-Rank and low C-Rank technique scrolls from around the five great nations, regularly contributed to by the Leaf's shinobi forces. There was a section for children, a section for Academy students, a separation of sections by rank in the ninja ladder, and a floor dedicated entirely to civilian materials. As one of the largest libraries in all of the shinobi territories, there was almost nothing that couldn't be found there.
The first time she had ever visited the library, Sakura had fallen in love with it. And that was when she could barely read and had no interest in anything besides 'The Tale of the Lady Ninja', which was a children's book that was more pictures than anything else. She had been amazed that the entire book series could be found in one place, with multiple copies so she didn't have to share with any of the other children clambering to get the book. It was quite frankly amazing back when she was just four years old.
Now, however, she was 6 (22), almost 7 (23), and it was all she could do not to abandon Jinya and devour every last bit of the resource she had completely forgotten about after becoming a genin. It was hard to stay next to her somewhat amused brother as her eyes kept jumping from shelf to shelf, looking at all the easy jutsu she'd never thought to learn, every reference book and encyclopedia she'd thought of and never cracked open, and all the beautiful resources that she very suddenly had a dozen different uses for.
That lasted just until she spotted Naruto standing on tip-toes to slide books onto the counter where the librarian worked. This was a new surprise; Uzumaki Naruto was in the library, returning books, which meant he'd been reading books... And by the looks of them, they're not baby books either, Sakura thought, half-surprised and all approving.
"Sakura-chan, if you want, you can stay over here and I'll go pick up two or three books on medic-nin for you," Jin spoke, interrupting her train of thought.
The girl whirled back around to look up at her brother, an embarrassed blush spilling across her features as she realized that he had caught her staring. "Um..." In a way that reminded her of Hinata, back in her old academy days, Sakura began poking the tips of her fingers together and staring at the ground. "That would be nice..."
With a quiet laugh, Jin ruffled his little sister's hair, taking satisfaction in her disgruntled huff at the action. "Alright then. I'll be back in ten minutes or so. Go ahead and talk to your little friend." With that, he turned and started off towards the more shinobi-oriented section of the library, moving at a leisurely place. In his mind, he was calculating exactly how much time it would take for his sister to consider going up to the boy, then gather the courage for it, and of course actually complete the action. As odd as he'd noticed Sakura acting since her nightmare two weeks ago, one thing about her never changed; she was still a cautious little turtle.
After watching her brother meander off for a moment, Sakura turned back around and took a moment to scout out her target again. She found him quickly. Naruto had returned his books and was now standing contemplatively in a deserted row in the children's section, looking at books more suited to nine and ten year olds. Should I go over to him? Sakura thought, unconsciously confirming her older brother's thoughts on what she'd do. I want to talk to him. No, I need to talk to him. Then she had a thought; this Naruto was so different from the one she knew, what if he didn't like her? What if she'd done something she didn't remember to him and he hated her?
What if you stopped asking questions and just went over? Inner Sakura interrupted before the questioning could go on much longer. Sakura couldn't help but flush at her silliness; how would she know if she never tried?
Gathering her courage, the green-eyed girl clenched her tiny fists in determination and walked over to Naruto, stopping close to his shoulder. He's still shorter than me, she noticed absently. But he'll be taller than me when we're older... Taking a deep breath and trying not to wring her hands in the bottom of her shirt, she waited for him to turn his eyes to her and asked, "Um... What are you looking at?"
It was strange that she felt so much anxiety about such a simple question. It wasn't even an important question, certainly nothing life changing, so why did her insides twist and flop, or shake like her small hands? Thinking of how Naruto had never been afraid to voice his opinions or ask whatever question was on her mind, she couldn't help but look at it with a different, more awed perspective. It must've been so scary...
But it doesn't matter if it's scary, or if he was frightened or not. All that matters is asking this question, her inner self couldn't help but comment, stopping her train of thought.
She agreed. Because this was the first step in becoming his friend again. Against that... Nothing else really mattered.
Uchiha Sasuke seemed very much like an alien being.
Sakura had first run into him the day after his fifth birthday, coincidentally the day after she made her first overtures of friendship to Naruto. Shortly after Jinya had returned from an overnight courier mission to Tanzaku Gai, he'd taken her to the training grounds so that he could show her how to toss some blunted kunai he'd had since his second year in the Academy, roughly five years ago. They were even duller than the normal issue practice kunai. Despite the fact that she was more than competent in throwing projectiles, in her mind at least, it was surprisingly difficult to make her body react to her brain's demands. In the end, she hit one in every seven targets directly, and only two in five shots were even close to the center.
It shouldn't be hard to imagine her ire when some black haired runt with a funny hairstyle intruded upon her independent practice session by shooting out five bulls' eyes and five close hits, while lecturing her about her weak wrist movements. True to her six year old self, however, she'd shrunk in on herself at the taunting and looked at the ground, willing tears to well up in the corners of her eyes.
Surprisingly, that actually stopped the boy in his tracks.
"Ah! No! Don't cry! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry!" Like many males, the black haired boy panicked at the sight of a female in tears. "Um, stop crying, please? Please? I'm sorry...!"
Sakura looked up through her bangs, working her strangely large green eyes as best as she could, only to pause when she realized that she recognized the boy in front of her. Uchiha Sasuke still had onyx black eyes and a strange, duck-butt hairstyle, but he was surprisingly... Round-faced. And wide-eyed. And sort of red cheeked. And munchkin-y. And emotional.
Holy fuck, her inner self summed it up, appearing in a faint adult outline behind the boy to Sakura's eyes, prodding intangibly at the adorable cheeks. He hasn't always been a prick!
"Um, um, here! I have some cookies!" The panicking young boy thrust out both hands with a slightly smooshed handkerchief with three oatmeal cookies in it. "Um, my mommy made them for me, and they're really, really good. I bet they'll make you feel better. Please, please take one?" He came forward hesitantly, almost shaking in his nervousness.
In a nearby tree, Jin relaxed from where he'd been ready to go after the brat who'd made his sister cry.
Making it look as if she were swallowing a hiccup, Sakura carefully inched closer to the boy and took one of the cookies, hesitating briefly before biting into it. She'd just have to remember all the instructions from the dentist so she could avoid any visits. "Th-thank you," she whispered out, wiping at her eyes to get rid of the already drying tears. "S-sorry I cried, um..." She paused, looked at him through her bangs, and waited for him to introduce himself.
Sasuke beamed, though a slight flush still crept across his face, a remnant of his previous panic. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. It's okay, I used to cry a lot too before my nii-san said it was okay to mess up sometimes. I'm sure you'll get better soon...!" He then paused, and blushed again, realizing he'd forgotten to ask what her name was. "Um, sorry. I forgot to ask your name too..."
He's so polite and nice and happy and nervous and so ridiculously cute! Sakura thought, resisting the urge to squeal and glomp him. He was nothing like his future self. "I'm Haruno Sakura," she managed to mumble out, rubbing her toe in the dirt as she took another bite of the delicious cookie. It was hard staying in character with her thoughts so excited. "Um, nice to meet you..."
The boy nodded, as if he'd just decided something important upon hearing her name. "Nice to meet you, Sakura-chan! I'm gonna help you throw kunai now, okay?"
Sakura blinked from surprise at the unexpected offer. "Um, alright. Thank you..."
"No problem! Now let's start! Put your hand like this..." It was the beginning of a very odd friendship.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are gray... Oh my sun dear, how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away..."
When Naruto did his school work, this was the song he hummed, repetitively, under his breath. It was the song he sang as he read the same page of the history book over and over, trying to memorize all the important things for a test. He sung it when he was walking to school. He sung it the very few times that he left school unescorted. If anything was happening that needed either his total concentration or a total lack thereof, this was inevitably the string of sounds coming out of his mouth.
Sakura knew this because after a month of subtly 'noticing' him, quietly questioning and slowly approaching and lingering with him more and more, she'd managed to become his friend.
And what a hard friend to make, Sakura thought to herself as she munched on a Mikoto-specialty cinnamon and chocolate cookie, staring curiously at Naruto as he sang his little song and drew a picture full of shaky, impossibly colored flowers, brilliant butterflies that sometimes lacked antennae, grass that had occasional purple strands strewn about from where he plucked the wrong crayon up from beside him, and a single entity under the one tree and sunglasses-wearing sun; due to it's vibrantly magenta hair, she thought it might be her.
Naruto wasn't the best artist around, but he was very good at misdirection. When she'd first started on her quest to become his friend, he didn't make a peep of sound. He just stared at her with those large blue eyes. His gaze sometimes reminded her of a Hyuuga, wide and almost blind in how unfocused they were, yet very acutely picking up every single detail to take it apart, break it down, and find every nuance connected to it. When he finally started speaking to her, maybe a week or so after she started sitting near him in class, he didn't look at her at all except in the short intervals when she spoke. She'd been torn between being offended and relieved.
Only recently had she realized that the less he looked at someone, the more he trusted them not to do something when they didn't have his full attention.
Even more recently, he'd finally started to talk. He never did answer her question back in the library, when she first ran into him. They'd been intercepted by a cat-masked ANBU member, who had quietly informed them that it was time for Naruto to check out his book and leave. The blonde boy had just looked at her solemnly and then turned to walk away. It hurt, really, a lot more than she thought it might have. But she was nothing if not determined.
She wanted his friendship. In the end, that was what her determination had gotten her.
All we need is Kakashi-sensei, Sakura thought. If I can introduce Sasuke and Naruto... And find Kakashi-sensei... We'll be complete. We'll be Team Seven again. No Orochimaru, no Root members, no avenging, no betrayals, just a clean slate.
She wanted her team back so badly.
Naruto started back at the beginning with his humming. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are grey... Oh my sun dear, how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away," Sakura whispered in time with the sounds. It was worth it for the surprised look she got.
Team Seven, together again... My sunshine.
She was getting there.
Yes, the ages are done on purpose. Because this is AU.