Sakura

~:~

Sakura sighed and scrubbed at her face, hating the way that it reddened unpleasantly. It took so much effort to keep up appearances at school. Concealer to hide the bags under her eyes, foundation and color correcting to hide redness and discoloration, pink eyeshadow to fill in her brows because actual brow products only come in a limited range of colors. Mascara to darken her eyelashes, tinted lip gloss and blush to add color to her face. The following Sasuke around wasn't a hardship, as she genuinely liked him, but the rest was a pain.

She pulled her dress over her head, keeping the collar pulled away from her face to keep her makeup from smearing.

The dress was one that her mother had bought her once, on one of those days that she bothered to pretend to care about Sakura. Wine-red, with the standard white accents of the Haruno clan. She had several others in her closet for school, but she'd never wear them outside of that. The dresses were cute, but they tore easily, cost a lot, and were very impractical.

Following that, she sliced up an apple for a light breakfast, packed away the obento that she had made the night before into her bag, and headed out.

She passed by the Yamanaka flower shop on her way over, pausing slightly. It was always a bright spot in her walk to school, not only because it was full of greenery no matter the season. Sakura used to meet up with Ino in front of the store every morning and part from her there every afternoon.

She had genuinely missed being friends with Ino, but they'd been growing apart for a while.

And anyway, Ino had been hanging around Hinata recently. It would be beneficial for Ino, both having a friend around and also the support of the Hyuuga heir in any later venture.

Or at least that's how Sakura would think about it. Ino was… nicer. Or at least more genuine in friendship attempts.

Which does say something about her relationship with Sasuke and Naruto, but she liked to think that that relationship was a genuine one. Sakura couldn't be cold-hearted all the time.

Not that she was exactly cold-hearted. Pragmatic? Yes. Scary? Sometimes. But she only really came off as cold-hearted to those who thought they knew her, but really didn't.

And Ino was one of those people now.

Sighing, she walked onwards, but decided to detour towards the Uchiha clan compound instead of heading straight for the Academy. It wouldn't do her any good to get stuck in a mood during school.

Luckily, having Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiyo around usually helped. But she regretted the fact that her relationship with Ino had turned so sour.

~:~

Sasuke

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It was strange, having Naruto around the house. Sasuke would go to get Kiyo up, only to find Naruto already getting her changed, or playing games with her, or making food to put in their lunches. Sasuke was still in charge of making meals, as Naruto wasn't very good at making anything more complicated than rice or instant ramen. Naruto could do snacks, though.

Luckily, Kiyo liked having Naruto around, so it wasn't a hardship or anything. Sasuke had put Naruto up in one of the abandoned rooms in the main house, near Sasuke and Kiyo's rooms. He had moved in quickly, scattering belongings around as if it were his own room, which it technically was.

All Sasuke bothered to pull together for breakfast was rice, miso soup, and some leftover salmon. Despite this, Naruto still shoveled everything into his mouth like he hadn't eaten in days. Sasuke frowned. First the worn clothes, then the landlord kicking him out, the crying, and now the possible starvation. It didn't seem like Naruto was getting his orphan stipend from the government.

And if he was, there was still something seriously wrong.

Sasuke frowned deeper, but that barely changed his resting expression and so no one noticed.

Looking over at Kiyo and Naruto, Sasuke made a mental note to pick out some clothes for Naruto. He would allow him to keep the orange for the time being, but that didn't mean that he couldn't have nicer clothing.

And it wouldn't hurt to present a more united front if the council called them in to ask about their living situation. Nosy bastards.

They headed out of the compound casually, with Naruto shrugging on his bag at the door.

They passed by Sakura on the way to school, slowing pace so that they matched up with her.

"Good morning."

"Morning, Sakura-chan!"

"Good morning! How've you two been?"

"We've been great! Did'ya know that Sasuke could cook? Cause I sure didn't!"

"I mean, it makes sense. He has to make food somehow." Sakura said with a grin, lightly jabbing Naruto in the ribs.

"But it's like, really good."

Naruto pulled Sasuke into a half-hug, holding tight even when he squirmed.

"Hn." Sasuke said grumpily, but he could feel heat rising on the back of his neck. It had been a long time since someone that he had actually cared about had showed him affection, excepting Kiyo.

It hadn't been anytime since Itachi, definitely.

The rest of the walk to the academy was spent pretending to ignore Sakura and Naruto chatting and squabbling behind him, all the while feeling more content than he had in years.

~:~

Naruto

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Naruto sprawled out onto one of the chairs in the classroom, grinning as Sakura and Sasuke sat more primly down on either side of him, Kiyo dragging a chair out for herself as well.

A couple people stared at them, as they didn't normally sit together, especially so comfortably.

They were all cut off from anything they might have said by the bell ringing, but no one actually stopped talking until Iruka-sensei came in.

The lesson started with a lecture on safety practices that Naruto mostly ignored, as the good stuff happened right after. They had weekly sparring sessions, after which they got to run through the obstacle course that was located behind the academy.

As soon as Iruka-sensei dismissed the class, Naruto burst out of his seat, dragging a less-than-enthused Sakura behind him, while Sasuke and Kiyo followed at a much more sedate pace.

They came to a rather abrupt stop in front of the circle that designated the sparring area.

"Hey Sasuke, whaddaya say 'bout sparring with me?"

"Sure… Naruto-kun."

Sakura gave them both a solid whack to the shoulder playfully, "So you're just going to make me find my own partner? What kinda friends are you?"

"C'mon Sakura-chan, you know that we've been raring for a good fight together for ages!"

"The last time we fought was last night."

"...Anyways, can't you just partner with, like, Ino?"

"She'll be with Hinata."

"Shikamaru?"

"Really? He's always with Chouji. Every single time."

"Kiba?"

"He's got that friend… Kazua or something? I don't know, I don't hang out with them."

While they were busy arguing about potential sparring partners, the rest of the class, as well as Iruka-sensei and a group of older students, had made their way over.

"Well, today will be a very special practice, as the teacher for class [insert year-letter here] had to leave early, so they will be joining you all in practice today," Iruka said, looking quite frazzled, "Feel free to ask your seniors for advice, but make sure to ask me before starting to spar."

The older students walked around, some partnering with students from their class.

One specific student, a Hyuuga, walked straight up to Sasuke, introduced himself as Hyuuga Neji, and claimed that he wanted to "test the so-called might of the Uchiha clan against the Hyuuga clan's techniques".

Sasuke was unimpressed, and Naruto was about to punch the boy for daring to try and take his partner when Sakura stepped in.

"I'm afraid that Sasuke already has a partner, but I'm free if you wouldn't mind." She asked sweetly, but Naruto could see the tension in her shoulders that made him uneasy.

Sakura was scary when she was mad, and he had a feeling that the Hyuuga was one step away from landing on her shit-list.

The boy scoffed, clearly dismissing her right off the bat. "Fate has already determined what the outcome of that match would be. A civilian child could never defeat one trained in the Gentle Fist. Especially not one with such ridiculous pink hair."

And that was the step.

Sakura's smile turned even more sickly sweet. "Then you wouldn't mind a quick spar as proof, would you? You could always spar with Sasuke after…"

Neji complied with obvious disinclination, following after her when she went to get Iruka-sensei.

Naruto looked back at Sasuke nervously. "Should we… follow?"

Sasuke nodded, looking mildly concerned as well. They walked over, following from a good distance behind the two.

Unfortunately, Iruka-sensei approved the match.

The two settled into stances at opposite edges of the circle after making the seal of confrontation. As the [watch sparring and add starting signal], Sakura charged at Neji, doing her best to get a hit on him while he dodged.

"As I said, this is a pointless exercise-" Neji was cut off by Sakura punching him straight in the face.

Sakura crossed her arms and scowled as Iruka-sensei escorted Neji out of the circle, who was clutching his bloody nose and glaring just as fervently.

"He deserved it," She whispered to Naruto later. He nodded along, but was still wary about the violence exerted.

Seemingly understanding what he was thinking, Sakura patted his shoulder and said, "We're ninja. We'll be shedding a lot more blood than that eventually, so you should probably get used to that."

She passed him by as he stood there stock-still, but he still ran to join her, Sasuke, and Kiyo walking home.

He'd have to think about that.

~:~

All

~:~

Sakura seemed deep in thought as they walked home, and she asked Sasuke about it midway through their walk.

"Hey Sasuke-kun, do you happen to know any ways that I could get into shape? Because I've been mainly focusing on learning techniques, but several say that you need to be physically fit to deal with backlash and things," Sakura said, "But I also feel like I could have done… better somehow. Against Neji."

"Well, dance is pretty popular for fitness if you don't want to just practice taijutsu..."

"What kind'd you do?" Naruto asked curiously.

"...Ballet. Lots of Uchiha did it."

"Makes sense with all the bendiness 'n stuff. I did pole dancing, myself."

"Pole dancing? Where the hell did you learn that?"

"It wasn't like that, Sakura-chan! At least, mostly. Mitsuyu-neechan gave me some lessons when I stayed at the club and I was working as the assistant bartender because the landlord kicked me out again because he hates me and I needed a place to stay and Neechan let me stay if I paid rent but I didn't have enough money so she had me work-"

"Okay, so what kind of dance do you think I should do?", Sakura said, interrupting to save her sanity from trying to think about Naruto's childhood.

"If you're interested in both dance and taijutsu, you could try capoeira. It's a taijutsu style from Kumo, I think. You'd probably have to track down a taijutsu master for it, but it'd be good for you."

"And how would I go about finding a taijutsu master?"

"Ooh, I got one! His name's Maito Gai, and he's super weird but also super good at taijutsu! I can ask him for ya, Sakura-chan!"

"Thanks, Naruto. I guess I'll take you up on that offer," She hesitated, "But let's figure that out tomorrow."

"Sure thing!"

After a quick but awkward silence, they all headed home.