"The consequences of aching words"by Veronika-Chan.

ATTENTION: The chapter has been re-written.

A/N: This is just part one, the main reason for the chapter's shortness.

Chapter six: Training part one

It was 4 O'clock in the morning and the sun was already starting to prepare for a new day. Amaya tried to close her eyes and go back to sleep, but the annoying ticking sound from the clock kept her awake. Besides, she couldn't stop thinking. Thoughts and words kept rushing through the young kunoichi's head like leafs in the wind. She then turned her head to the side and gazed at the young man who was currently lying next to her. He was still sleeping. The red-haired, gently running her fingers through the blonde, thick locks of his. The blonde gave a faint moan at her actions which made Amaya chuckle a bit. Guess he liked it.

It was no good, she couldn't get back to sleep. The redhead tried her best not to wake Naruto and climbed silently out of the bed. She shivered when her feet met the cold floor. Amaya then went over to the closet and pulled one of Naruto's shirts over her head as she found them to be quite comfortable to wear.

'Now, what to do this early in the morning?' Amaya looked around the sleeping teenager's bedroom. It needed some redecoration, but this wasn't exactly the time to be doing something like that. The red-haired figured she could start making breakfast and walked in to the kitchen. The new team seven, as Naruto had informed her of, was supposed to meet up at the third training ground later this morning. The Waterfall kunoichi was kind of exited. It had been a long time since she had been assigned to a real team and best of all, she already knew her teammates. Oh well, she didn't know Sakura that well, but she seemed like a really nice girl. What was up with Naruto's attitude the other day anyway?

"Damn..." Amaya stared at the blood that was dripping from her finger. She wasn't all that good at this cooking stuff and that was the second time she cut herself on that stupid knife. The redhead turned around as she heard noise coming from the bedroom. She put down the knife and walked across the living room and in to where her boyfriend was currently sleeping. The poor thing had sweat drops all over his forehead while he kept mumbling something in his sleep. Amaya sat down next to the blonde and whipped away the sweat from his face.

"Naruto?" Her voice was calm as she tried to wake him up while stroking his hair with one hand.

He didn't wake up. He kept turning his head from one side to another. "I'm sorry..." The blonde whispered.

The red-haired's eyes widened. Sorry? Just what was he dreaming about? "Honey... Wake up..."

Naruto's eyes opened. He was breathing heavily and had a confused look on his face. "A-amaya-chan?"

"Had a bad dream?" The young kunoichi was still stroking his hair.

"Uhm, yeah... It's nothing..." The jinchuuriki's gaze shifted automatically towards the window. The sun was already up. He wasn't looking forward to this day. Just like Amaya, he had his own problems to deal with. She wasn't the only one who had trouble sleeping at night., not that he would tell her about it.

"I've made breakfast... Or I don't really know what to call it, but it's not all that bad. You want some? Can't train on an empty stomach you know." The red-haired grinned.

"Sure, sounds great. When are we supposed to meet up with Kakashi-sensei anyway?" Naruto yawned before sitting up next to the other teen.

"Two hours. How's this Kakashi like? He's not like Jiraiya-sensei, is he?" She had nothing against the sannin, but he was a big pervert and could be a real pain.

"Heh, nope. He's perverted alright, but he can't compare to ero-sennin. We don't really have much time to train either... Such a waste of time..." This made Amaya even more confused.

"What do you mean?" They'd been together for over two years, and yet there was so much he kept from her. She didn't like it.

"Ehm... Listen. I got a promise to keep and time is running out. I'm not so sure that I want you in on this... It's not completely safe. To be honest, I don't know what will happen... Maybe…" The blonde sighed. "Maybe it would be better if you transferred to a different team. Just until I've fixed everything." After all this time he still had to keep his promise. Both for his and the pink-haired's sake.

"How come you never mentioned this before?" Amaya pulled herself off of the bed. This was really starting to get frustrating.

"Hey, I didn't mean to hide it from you. It just... happened a long time ago... I-it's hard to explain." The blonde propped his head in his hands. He didn't want her to get mad at him too. The redhead knelt down beside him and grabbed his hand.

"Then tell me, Naruto. I'm here for you and you know that. Just talk to me... I think I understand that you have to keep this promise. It seems that it is important to you, but I don't want to stand by and watch. I'll help. Whatever it is that's bothering you, I hope you'll tell me..."

Naruto gave a small smile. At least she wasn't pissed at him."Thanks. I'm glad to hear that. We'll talk about this some other time... I think I'll try some of your... breakfast." He then walked out in the kitchen with a half grinning face. Everything to avoid the subject. The truth was that he really didn't want to talk to Amaya about this. He was telling himself that it would all be alright. That it just took some time to get over it. He had been thinking like that for the past three years and still held on to it... It was wrong.

Sakura had gotten up unusually early this morning. The medic had already been on the training ground for half an hour. So many memories from this place... She laid down on the grass and closed her eyes. The sun felt warm on her skin and the chill from the wind made it so comfortable that she almost fell asleep. Suddenly something blocked out the sunlight and Sakura started to shiver. She figured it was just a cloud, but it wouldn't go away. The pink-haired then opened her eyes and was a bit surprised at the figure in front of her...

"Uhm, sensei?"

"So, Sakura. Taking a nap before training, are we?" Kakashi stared right down at his student with a hidden smile under his mask.

"W-wha-...No, Just relaxing. What are you doing here so early? Not exactly like you, is it? Lost your book or something?" The female chuunin wasn't in the mood for hard training right now and went back to closing her eyes, enjoying the sun.

"I'm not early actually. It's your teammates that are late... Here, let me help you up." The masked jounin reached out his hand. Sakura opened her eyes for the second time. Couldn't be helped... No more relaxing time for her. She grabbed the copy ninja's hand and pulled herself up in a standing position.

At the same moment they both heard someone sprinting towards them. Amaya was running like the wind while dragging a half-awake blonde right behind her. The redhead was breathing heavily as she reached the two surprised looking leaf ninjas.

"I'm so sorry we're late. Naruto just had to stop by some ramen shop to buy some of their trash food..." She was late to her first team meeting. Geez... What a good start...

"Yeah, cause that stuff you called "breakfast" nearly killed me..." Naruto rolled his eyes, causing him to get a smack across his head.

"Be nice. Sorry, I'm Amaya. Nice to meet you... sensei." The red-haired reached out her hand.

"You two seem to get along well. Nice to meet you as well Amaya. My, my... You've grown there Naruto." The jounin laughed.

"What the hell did you expect me to do? Shrink? Geez..." The jinchuuriki sat down in the grass and sighed.

"Not in a good mood today, eh?"

"Don't worry, he's just a little grumpy in the morning..." Amaya sent the blonde a look which made him shiver. She was a bit scary...

"Well then. Let me explain what we're going to do today." The three members of team seven turned their attention towards their sensei.

The jounin continued. "I'm going to split us up into two teams and then, we're going to have a friendly little spare. Sounds alright to you guys? Good, cause you really don't have a choice." The three teenagers stared wide eyed at Kakashi. A spare?

"So… Sakura, Naruto. It's you two against me and Amaya."

Both Sakura and Naruto were a bit shocked. The pink-haired tried to object.

"Sensei, are you sure about this-"

"You've been on the same team for a long time, even thought you haven't seen each other in quite a long term you'll still make a good team." The copy ninja already knew they we're having some sort of trouble with their current relationship. If they were going to be on the same team they better work that out as fast as possible.

Kakashi walked over next to Amaya. "Are everyone okay with the teams now?"

Naruto stood up and sighed. "Yeah, sure."

Sakura couldn't do anything but nod in agreement.

The jounin smiled. "Good. Then let me explain the rules for you. As I said, we're going to fight as two teams. One team is functioning as one person. Meaning, if your teammate is for some reason unable to fight anymore, your team loses. Watch each other's backs and work together."

Amaya turned to face the pink-haired. "I won't go easy on you. We're gonna kick you're asses." She grinned, sticking out her tongue.

Sakura couldn't help but smile. 'Together huh?' How was this going to turn out…

Meanwhile, Jiraiya was making his way through the hokage tower. Time to give his old teammate a little visit. Better use the door this time. Not that he actually cared to knock before he went inside the office.

The hokage was currently located behind a gigantic stack of papers and a half empty bottle of sake.

"Don't you ever knock?" The Godaime didn't seem completely sober, but this was one thing he was used to seeing after spending a large portion of his life on the same team as this women.

"Come on, you know me. Since you've already opened it, mind if I join you?" The white-haired sannin closed the door behind him.

"Sure, help yourself…" Tsunade pulled out another mug from the drawer and handed it over to Jiraiya.

The older looking man sat down on a chair across the blonde. "So, have you told the kids about the Uchiha brat yet?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "You really think that's a good idea? You know just as well as me how dangerous it is to send him out on a mission these days."

"I'm not saying that it's a great idea, but this could be their only chance to catch that brat. Naruto's been preparing for this for three whole years. I bet Sakura is just as determinated on getting him back? Don't let it be all for nothing Tsunade." Jiraiya wasn't really all that happy about sending out the teenagers either. Especially since they just got back, and on top of it all.. He didn't think that the redhead knew about any of this.

"Don't know. She isn't all that talkative about the subject… but considering that it is her teammate I guess you're right. I'll at least wait a day or two before sending them out." The Godaime started on her fifth mug. It wasn't an easy decision to make. Who knew how dangerous the Uchiha had become. After all, he used to be the student of the Orochimaru…

Things were starting to get pretty interesting on the training ground. Both teams were quite equal to each other. Even though Naruto and Sakura hardly spoke to one another they pretty much knew what the other one was thinking. Sadly that only applied on the battlefield.

Amaya was hiding behind a tree with Kakashi standing on a branch above her head, looking for their opponents.

"Gee, they're a pretty good match. I'm exhausted." The redhead was almost out of breath.

"I always thought so too. Doesn't mean that we'll lose though." The jounin jumped down from the tree, landing next to the younger woman.

The bow user grinned. "Of course not, sensei."

Suddenly three kunais flew towards the silver-haired. As he jumped aside in an attempt to dodge the weapons, a very scary fist was dangerously approaching his head.

"When the hell did she?" Kakashi managed to grab the pink-haired's hand and throw her over his shoulder.

"Damn it, I missed!" Sakura landed on her feet and immediately jumped aside. The blonde landed behind her. Even now they both stayed silent. Neither of the teams made a move. It looked like Kakashi and Amaya had disappeared. Neither could feel the opponents chakra.

'Where the hell are they?' The blonde wasscanning the area around him, but he couldn't spot the redhead nor the copy ninja.

The waterfall kunoichi was perfectly located and had a good aim on her target. She grabbed an arrow from her quiver and prepared to loose it when getting the right signal from her sensei. Kakashi was sitting behind a bush about twenty feet to the left of his teammate. This was their chance.

An arrow approached the couple dangerously fast. Both the blonde and the kunoichi dodged it without any trouble. The arrow went straight through the tree to both of their surprises.

"An illusion?" It was too late. A second arrow had already appeared behind Sakura. This time it was a real one. There was no time for her to dodge it. Without thinking, Naruto moved himself in front of Sakura in an instant. The arrow pierced his back and the blonde fell to his knees.

"Naruto!" Sakura caught her injured teammate.

"Damn reflexes…" The jinchuuriki felt his vision disappearing more and more by the second and fell into Sakura's arms, unconscious. The pink-haired laid the blonde carefully down on the ground.

Amaya then suddenly jumped down beside Sakura. "Hah! I guess that means we win then. Right sensei?" She had a big smile across her face.

The copy cat appeared behind to the redhead in a puff of smoke. "Well done. I think that's enough training for today. Agreed?"After all, they'd been at it for four hours.

The red-haired nodded. Sakura was looking at Amaya with a worried expression. "He's going to be alright?"

The kunoichi started laughing. "Of course, Sakura. You don't really think that I would kill my own boyfriend, eh? It's just a mild poison. He'll wake up in like 10 minutes or so."

Sakura sighed in relief, but a little sick of hearing the word boyfriend.

"I was aiming for you though. You're a lucky one. The poison might be mild, but you sure can feel it. Heh, guess he deserved it, you know, the way he acted this morning. Care to help me move this knucklehead over to that tree?" Amaya bowed down and grabbed one of Naruto's arms and lifted it over her shoulder.

"Sure." Sakura nodded and did the same thing. Why did he take the hit instead of her? It wouldn't have made any difference. One of them would get hit. It wasn't anything neither of them could've done. And still, he chose to save her from that arrow. Why? Was he acting on pure reflexes or did he actually… of course it was reflexes… what else could it be?"

"Hey, Sakura?" Amaya waved her hand in front of the pink-haired's face.

"Huh, what?" Sakura blinked.

"Heh, you spaced out for a second." The kunoichi smiled.

"Oh, sorry about that." The two of them leaned their still unconscious teammate up against the tree trunk. The pink-haired sat down beside the blonde, but she was sure not to sit too close in case he were to wake up sooner than expected.

The bow user walked over to the nearby river just to get her feet wet. "Hey Sakura! Could you come over her for a minute?"

Sakura sighed and stood up. She joined her new teammate by the river. "Something wrong, Amaya?"

The redhead grinned. "Nothing at all. I just wanted to show you something…"

"Sure, what is it-" Before Sakura managed to answer she got a big splash of water in her face.

Amaya couldn't hold back the laughter, and neither could Sakura.

"You're gonna pay for that!" Sakura kicked in the water, causing Amaya to squeel. The water was pretty freezing. In under five minutes they were both soaked.

The pink-haired had too much water in her face. She couldn't see where or what she was splashing at.

"Hey, that's not nice…" Sakura stiffened. That sure wasn't Amaya's voice. She whipped away the water from her face and stared at the person in front of her.

"N-naruto… I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to…" 'When did he wake up?'

"Well, now you've asked for it." She could see a small grin on the blonde's face.

AN: Like I said. It's just half of the chapter. I'll try to get the rest of it up by the next few days.