CHAPTER 4. :D Here you go. I haven't slept in 40 hours. MIDTERMS+REHEARSALS=NO SLEEP.

Hope you enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO.

As the sun reached it's rosy fingers through her window, Sakura opened her eyes. She had been awake long before the sun rose but had opted to try meditating to clear her mind.

Team 7 had been Team 7 for little more than a month. Soon it would be time for their mission to the Land of Waves. She estimated about another day or two until they got the mission looking for that lady's cat that would make Naruto so fed up that he'd complain to the Hokage about the lack of difficulty on their missions.

She giggled softly to herself at the thought of it.

Pulling herself out of her relaxed posture, Sakura headed to her dresser, starting her day off on a good note and wanting to get some extra training in before the boys to to the grounds.

A month later for Sakura meant a month of harsh training behind Sasuke and Naruto's backs. With Kakashi helping her in addition to her solo work, Sakura had become quite the accomplished kunoichi.

In official training, she kept her head down for the most part, working on intricate chakra control exercises and weight training to build up her muscles. While the boys would spar and Kakashi would "supervise", Sakura would be off to the side doing menial work, trying to increase her stamina.

With Kakashi she sparred and put all of her technique to work, finding that she could last against him longer and longer. And in addition to just helping her, he was also teaching her. She had added quite a few helpful elemental jutsus to her arsenal, focusing mainly on earth jutsus.

And besides that, Kakashi was also taking it upon himself to help her with weaponry. Once she'd let slip to him that she preferred axes, he retrieved for her both a large axe and a multitude of smaller hatchets. Along with those, he was also training her with tantos and a katana. The different technique of the different weapons were difficult, but she was definitely trying.

By herself, she did a variety of things. Sometimes she did more endurance training, but on a higher level than what she would allow her teammates to see. In order for them not to notice, she would sneak out late at night or early, early morning to one of the training grounds on the very edge of the village. There she could demolish trees and mess up the landscape as much as she'd like.

Other times, Sakura could be found in the library, re-absorbing things she'd already known. She knew it might be a waste of time, but she couldn't take the chance that because she was unfamiliar with something, it cost her. So she studied a variety of subjects, not just medicine.

Medicine, science, politics, history, cartography. Anything to keep her up to date and aware of everything around her.

Since her first meeting with the Hokage a month before, she'd been seeing him about once every three days. Each time, they would meet for an hour or more. They drank tea and ate sweets. They debated politics. Once or twice they would brush on the subject of the future, but Sakura did not want to reveal too much just yet for fear of starting an avalanche of actions that would spin out of her control.

Typically after an hour, Hiruzen would be called away to another meeting, but he allowed Sakura access to the same room she had trained in when she first started training with Tsunade. In there, she was able to freely able to practice her medical knowledge, both simple and complex.

He even allowed her to have some samples from the hospital labs to analyze. Discreetly and anonymously of course.

As for the hospital? Sakura had started making friends with the nurses. She asked them questions she already knew the answers to, making known her interest in the medical field. She was kind and polite so when they had the free time, sometimes they started showing her the basics. She "picked it up quickly", and then even some of the doctors took notice in her. It was slow going, and a part of her hated it, but she knew it was necessary. Knew it would be worth it in the end.

Everytime she did something that shouldn't have been remarkable for the 27 year old Sakura, but obviously impressed Hiruzen or Kakashi, Sakura reveled in the feeling. She knew it was childish and petty. She also knew that she had come back for a much larger purpose with such high stakes on the line. But when Kakashi praised her, she couldn't help but feel a little vindictive satisfaction that, yes, Haruno Sakura is worth something. She's worth more than just her Forehead and her love for Uchiha Sasuke.

But even the slight appearance of those negative thoughts served to blow a black cloud into the sunshine of her new life. She wanted to focus on the positives, the new beginnings and the new possibilities.

Even so, there was a niggling worm of worry burrowing into her mind, growing larger all the time. Feeding into the blackness until a storm raged. All of the what-if's and could-be's. Biggest of all was the worry for Satoshi. His future was in flux. His conception was in flux. She could only hope... for what?

Even she didn't know what exactly she was hoping for. She just wanted happiness for those close to her. For the people she loved and the people she hoped loved her back in return. That's all she wants and that's all she's hoping to gain. Lives and time are not playthings to be taken lightly.

But for her loved ones? Sakura would do anything.

The silver mist of early morning was just starting it's alchemical change to golden sunlight as Sakura finally made it to the training ground. Having gotten used to arriving much too early for Sasuke and Naruto and extremely early for Kakashi, she was surprised to see dark spiky hair and even darker eyes focused on her.

"Sasuke-kun? What are you doing here so early?" His eyes narrowed at her surprised tone.

"What? You think you're the only one who can come for early practice?" She tensed slightly, but knew that he had caught the tightening of her shoulders.

"You've been keeping secrets Sakura. You may think you keep them well-hidden but you don't. You've gotten too good, too fast. Even if you have been training by yourself, it's still too much for you to accomplish alone. So what is it? Extra training with Kakashi? Why would Kakashi favor you?"

The derision in his tone was what finally set Sakura off. She had no tolerance for anyone looking down on her when she had earned her skills.

"And why shouldn't he favor me? Because I come from a civilian family? Because I have no Kekkei Genkai? Because I used to be one of your fangirls and now I'm not and you can't stand it?" Her voice grew in pitch until she was yelling herself hoarse at him.

"What do you mean by that?" Now, even Sasuke had been reduced to yelling. A small part of her mind registered that she had never seen him act this way with her. And yet his actions were vaguely familiar.

"I mean that you can't handle that I'm not following you around like a sick puppy anymore. I finally found something to focus on and it's not YOU! And I'm getting good. Soon, you'll be the one looking at my back!"

Slightly stunned, but never one to let anyone get something over him, Sasuke yelled back,

"Like I care that you're not following me around anymore! At least I don't have you clinging on my arm being an annoyance," Here Sakura visibly flinched at the vehemence with which he said the word.

"And what do you even mean 'You'll be looking at my back'? I'm angry because you were the one who said we were a team! What a hypocrite! Are teams supposed to keep secrets from each other?"

It felt like a slap in the face. She wanted to yell back at him. She wanted to hit him. Because she blamed him. She did. Because he was the one who had always kept his secrets hidden. He was the one who had walked away and fractured their family. He was the one who left scars, both physical and mental, on all of them.

But he hadn't. Not this Sasuke. Not this boy in front of her. Not yet at least. And it wasn't fair to blame him for actions he hadn't yet made.

Pulling a 180, Sakura could feel tears of shame prick her eyes. She was screwing this up so much! She was spreading herself so thin trying to keep everything together that there were things slipping through the cracks.

And she berated herself for feeling so damn fragile all the time. Her physical strength may be improving, but she was still in a 12 year old body. And she was having a hard time controlling all of those emotions that rose so easily to the surface when she was 12. For all of her future knowledge, it was becoming horrifyingly clear that the longer she stayed 12, the more she felt 12.

She tried to fight it, to regain her former maturity, but it was exhausting trying to find the right balance. For everything.

Only now she found that she wasn't keeping everything in balance.

Though she had spent a generous amount of time re-fostering her friendship with Naruto and subtly trying to match him up with Hinata, she hadn't spent much time with Sasuke. She'd thought it was ok because she didn't think he'd want to spend time with her anyways. He'd never wanted to before.

But now, looking at him, she realized she'd overlooked how lonely Sasuke was too. Not that he'd been best friends with Naruto at this time before, but while they had formed their rivalry already, she had taken most of the attention for herself.

Not that he really wanted it, or would ever admit it if he did. But with Kakashi and Naruto both so focused on her, for their own reasons, they had all unknowingly excluded Sasuke.

And she could tell herself that Sasuke didn't want her friendship all she wanted, but she couldn't lie to herself. It was she who didn't want to be around Sasuke. It was too hard. It hurt too much. Oh God, it hurt.

But looking at him, his eyes dark and angry and lonely. He was hurting too This wasn't yet the 13 year old who left her alone and crying on a bench. This wasn't the 17 year old who left her crying in bed, with only a note to keep her company. This wasn't the 18 year old who broke her heart all over again.

This was a 13 year old Sasuke who had been through tragedy, yes. But he had not yet sold his soul and cut out his heart in order to gain vengeance.

In her own heartbreak, she'd forgotten that he was once one of her precious boys, her Lost Boys. And now he would be again.

"Oh Sasuke!" She reached forward to pull him into her arms and he jerked away in reflex.

"Hey! Get off! What are you doing, get off!" But she didn't. She clung to him, whispering "I'm sorry's" into his shoulder.

He kept trying to break her grip but couldn't get her to let go. When the hell did she get so damn strong?! Eventually, he stopped struggling and tentatively put his own arms around her shoulders.

She looked up at him with red-rimmed mint eyes and something in him clenched at the sight. The fact that he was somehow the cause of those unshed tears didn't sit well with him. And he was still a 13 year old boy. He didn't know how to deal with crying females!

"I'm sorry Sasuke." His attention was jerked back to reality with the sound of her voice. He raised an eyebrow in question.

"I am keeping secrets from you. And Naruto." Seeing his mouth open to protest she cut him off.

"You have to know I'm doing it for a reason. I can't explain everything to you because it's not just my secret to keep. It affects so many more people than just me. And don't give me that bullshit about teammates not keeping secrets from each other. We all have our secrets."

Sasuke gave her a dry look at the trite sentiment.

"We do! If I offered to tell you all my secrets, would you tell me all yours?" He stiffened against her, thinking of what his own secrets were and he shook his head immediately.

"But that doesn't explain your rapid improvement. And your complete change in personality" She laughed then, a high free tinkling laugh that would have irritated him just the day before.

"Maybe with graduation I just decided to buckle down and get to work? Maybe I just finally decided to give up on boys? Did you ever think it was as simple as that?"

The grimace on his face told her that no, he didn't. It both amused her and broke her heart that he could be so naturally suspicious. That his first thoughts went to some sinister scheme being planned behind his back. Well, this time, there was a scheme, but one of salvation rather than damnation. And if Sasuke had a problem with that, he would just have to deal with it.

"OI! SASUKE-BASTARD! WHAT ARE YOU DOIN' TO SAKURA-CHAN-TTEBAYO?"

The blonde's loud and sudden appearance made the two jump, realizing they still had their arms around each other. Immediately, they jumped apart, Sakura's face as red as a tomato and Sasuke's own cheeks a slight pink.

"WERE YOU MOLESTING SAKURA-CHAN?! HOW DARE YOU!"

Sasuke's eyes grew round, wide with shock and anger.

"Dobe." he hissed. "Don't say things like that so loud!"

"BUT YOU DIDN'T DENY IT! OMG, UCHIHA SASUKE'S A PERVERT!"

"Pervert! Aren't you the one with the 'Sexy Jutsu'?"

"SO?! I'M NOT THE ONE MOLESTING MY FEMALE TEAMMATE!"

"Stop saying that! I wasn't molesting her!"

"BUT I SAW YOU WITH MY OWN TWO EYES!"

"You didn't see anything!"

"BUT-" Sasuke lunged for him, so fed up that he couldn't figure any other way of shutting Naruto up other than punching him.

Sakura sat back, laughing at the sight of them rolling on the ground, wrestling and yelling about perverts.

"Well, this is an unusual sight." Sakura leaned back and looked upside down, seeing Kakashi's face looking between her and the two idiots still fighting.

"Morning Kakashi-sensei! You're not late this time!"

His eye crinkled in a return smile.

"So what's happening here?" his tone was mild as he took out his orange Icha Icha book.

"Oh nothing much. I gave Sasuke a hug and Naruto thought he was molesting me."

He nodded silently, posture still relaxed but his eye was sharp as he raised an eyebrow. She shook her head, answering his silent question. She returned her gaze to the boys who had worn themselves out and were sprawled on the ground next to each other, weakly flailing punches to the other's face.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura made her way over to help them up and check their injuries. Deciding that they could live with their bruises she left them alone for the most part, only fussing over them a little and trying to straighten their clothes. It seemed her mothering instinct was still intact.

Finally, all of them were deemed presentable by Sakura's standards and they gathered in front of Kakashi.

"SO WHAT'S OUR MISSION TODAY SENSEI?"

Sasuke covered his ears irritably and Sakura reached over to slap the back of Naruto's head.

"Indoor voice, hun."

"BUT SAKURAAAAA-CHAAAANNNN! WE'RE NOT INSIDE."

"Most people use their inside voices outside too."

"BUT THAT'S NO FFFFUUUNNNN!"

"Anyway!" Kakashi cut in, seeing the homicidal rage building in Sasuke's eyes and the twitch of Sakura's eyebrow signaling the appearance of Inner Sakura.

"Our mission today is an important retrieval mission."

"Whoah! Cool sensei! Who are we going to be rescuing?" Bright blue eyes looked up at him, hanging on his every word.

"Well, someone's Tora-chan has gone missing and we have to find her."

"A kidnapping?" Sasuke's tone grew serious, his posture straightening.

"No, she ran away." Kakashi looked over to Sakura, only slightly surprised to find her trying to hold back laughter. He winked at her dancing eyes.

"Well, what's her appearance?" The rosette threw in, setting Kakashi up for the big reveal.

"Well, she has short brown hair, and a big red bow on her right ear."

"Ummmm... sensei, don't you mean above her right ear?"

"No I mean on her right ear."

"..."

"..."

"...Is it some sort of weird piercing...?" At that Sakura couldn't hold back her laughter anymore. Sasuke looked back and forth from her wide grin to Kakashi's matching one.

"...Kakashi, who's the client?"

"Oh! It's the Fire Lord Daimyo's wife! We'd better get to the Hokage so he can brief us in more detail" He turned around, not waiting for them to follow.

"OI! KAKASHI-SENSEI! DON'T LEAVE WITHOUT US-TTEBAYO!"

Still chuckling to herself, Sakura followed the two at a sedate pace, Sasuke by her side.

4 hours later, an angry Tora-chan was returned to her ecstatic owner. The Daimyo's wife cuddled it and squeezed it, ignoring the sharp grating yowls coming from the cat. Naruto took in the sight, cackling with glee.

"AHAHA. Stupid cat! That kitty deserves to be squashed!"

The Hokage rolled his eyes and cleared his throat for attention.

"Now then, there are several missions available for Team 7. First off, babysitting the Chief Councillor's children, digging up potatoes for Takanaka-san who owns the grocery stand, walking some of the Inuzuka dogs-"

"NO! I WANT TO GO ON A REAL MISSION!" Naruto had his arms crossed in front of him in a negative stance. "I'm sick and tired of doing all this baby work! I'm a real ninja now and I want a real ninja mission!

Kakashi and Sakura both sighed, knowing this was coming. Sasuke quietly agreed with Naruto (Not that he'd ever admit it).

"HOW DARE YOU! YOU'RE JUST A BRAND NEW GENIN WITH NO EXPERIENCE! YOU HAVE TO WORK YOUR WAY UP TO MORE DIFFICULT MISSIONS LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE." Even though he should have been used to Naruto's antics by now, a vein throbbed on Iruka's forehead in anger.

"WWWHHHHAAAAATTTTT! BUT-" Sakura punched the overactive blonde in the back of the head.

"Oh, give it a rest will you?"

"Saaakkkuuurrraaa-chaaaaannn! That wasn't very nice!"

"Naruto." The Hokage's deep, calm voice wafted over them. "It seems you do not understand the tasks you've been given. Our village receives many different requests, from babysitting to assassination. We look at these requests and then rank them accordingly, from A-rank to D-rank. We ninja are also-"

"I get it, I get it! Sakura-chan already explained this to me! We're untried genin so we're supposed to work our way up and do a ton of D-rank missions. But seriously! I'm not a brat who used to play pranks all the time! I'm a real ninja now and I want a real ninja mission!"

Hiruzen chuckled indulgently at his outburst. "Naruto wants to show us he's not a brat anymore huh? He wants a real ninja mission? Fine then. Since you are so determined, I'll assign to you a C-ranked mission. You'll be bodyguards."

"What really?! Alright? Who are we guarding? A princess? A councilor?"

"Hold your horses Naruto. Genma, tell Tazuna he can come in now."

As the door slid open, Team 7 turned as one to look at their client. A man with scraggly grey hair and beard leaned heavily onto the doorframe. He took a deep swig from the bottle in his hands, his face already red from the alcohol in his system. The bridge builder was exactly as Sakura remembered him.

"What? These brats are gonna protect me? You gotta be kidding!" He took another deep swallow. "You really expect me to believe these snot-nosed brats are real ninja. I mean the girl's got pink hair for Kami's sake!"

"What did you say!?" It was only with the combined efforts of Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi that Sakura was held back. "I'll show him what a pink-haired ninja can do!"

Tazuna ignored the enraged rosette and focused his eyes on Naruto.

"And the runt with the idiotic look on his face? I doubt he'll be much help for anything!"

Having finally calmed Sakura down enough to be held in place by just Kakashi, Naruto burst out laughing. "Haha! Who's the runt with the idiotic look on his face?"

His laughing stopped abruptly when Sasuke and Sakura both moved to stand next to him, inches taller.

"Argh! You're gonna pay for that! I'll kick your head in!"

Kakashi sighed at his rambunctious team. "Naruto, you can't kick the client's head in. It's rude."

Tazuna reached the end of his bottle and threw it in the nearby garbage bin. "I am Tazuna. A mast bridge builder. And I must return to my home in the Land of Waves. I am building a bridge there that will change our world and I expect you to get me there safely. Even if it means sacrificing your life for mine."

His bloodshot eyes took in the kids before him. The runt still flailing in anger, the pinky giving him a death glare, the other one rolling his eyes, and the leader sighing in exasperation.

Hmph. These kids weren't real ninja. Like hell they'd be able to keep him safe from Gato. But he didn't have enough money to pay for a B-rank mission and get better bodyguards. He'd take what he could get.

"C'mon then. Let's go. I don't have time to waste listening to your idiotic ramblings."

He turned then, swaying drunkenly in the hall, hoping that these 4 would be enough. They'd have to be.

As they made their way out of the village after going home quickly to pack, Naruto somehow simultaneously pouted and cheered at the same time. The words "I've never been out of the village before!" ran through Sakura's mind. She ran forward, catching the crook of his arm. He looked startled at her and then at their linked arms, a slight blush on his cheeks. He still wasn't used to the friendship she gave so freely to him.

"Aren't you excited Naruto? Our first real mission!"

The irritation melted from his features and his grin, bright as the sun, lit up his face.

"Yeah, yeah! I've never been out of the village before! This is gonna be awesome! Believe it!"

Tazuna scoffed from behind them, another bottle in his hands.

"You got a problem mister?!"

Tazuna opened his mouth to let loose another tirade of insults when Sakura cut him off.

"That's enough! Both of you. Naruto, you can't get riled up by every little thing. And you!" Sakura turned around to point at Tazuna, walking backwards and trusting Naruto to make sure she wouldn't trip.

"Don't you think that's enough? You've not said one polite or positive thing this whole time. Whatever prejudice you seem to have against ninja doesn't matter. We're not expecting you to revere us or any other bullshit like that, but you are the one who came to us for protection."

She glared at him, her eyes darkening in anger to a deeper jade color.

"Not that we wouldn't do our job and protect you no matter what, but we're going to be stuck with each other for a while now. The least you could do is be civil to us. Instead of acting like a child."

She huffed to herself, turning around. Tazuna stared in open mouthed shock at this slip of a girl. After a moment, she turned around again.

"Also, you should take better care of your body. If you keep drinking as heavily as we've seen you do today, I suspect your liver will give out within the next 2 years. Maybe 3 if you're lucky."

She made to turn around again when Tazuna stopped still, a roaring laugh escaping his mouth. She looked to Kakashi who smiled back at her. Naruto's barely controlled snickers reached her ears. Her eyes moved to Sasuke next, an approving smirk on his face. A soft heat flashed across her cheeks, but she chalked it up to the anger and annoyance.

"Haha! I like you girl! You've got fire in you. Alright, I'll play nice if the runt does too."

"Hey, I'm not a runt! My name is Naruto Uzumaki! Believe it! I'm gonna be Hokage someday with Sakura-chan as my head medic and director of the hospital! And Sasuke-teme over there can be one of my underlings or something like that."

"Watch it, dobe."

Tazuna scoffed. "Hokage are powerful and wise. You're just a little runt. A joke."

"WHAT!?"

Sakura put her head in her hands, groaning. "Did no one listen to anything I just said?"

Pointing his bottle at Naruto's head, Tazuna slurred "Maybe I might believe the girl could be a medic, I've got no idea of her healing skills. But the day you became Hokage is the day I sprout wings and fly."

"Why you...! Let me at him! You listen here! I'll do anything to become Hokage one day! BELIEVE IT! Let go Kakashi-sensei! Let me kick him just once!"

Kakashi held onto Naruto by the scruff of his collar, avoiding flailing arms, wishing he could be reading IchaIcha somewhere. Meanwhile, the other three started walking forward again, ignoring the blonde's protests.

Unseen, but not unnoticed, two dark shapes followed silently behind them

Yeah... I'm not quite happy where this ends. But that's probably because it was supposed to be a part of the next chapter. But I decided to put the whole Mist nin/Zabuza thing all together instead of splitting it.

So this was more introspective I think. And I like that.

Did I do Sasuke justice? It's so hard trying to balance "Need for Revenge"/Avenger and younger protective Sasuke who sometimes smiled and who was sometimes kind. I really like exploring this Sasuke and the differences with who he has become in the manga through Sakura's eyes.

See you next week! Please let me know what you think of the story thus far! We get a little action next time.