Yo - in the words of Kakashi

I dont own Naruto.

Enjoy.

I am Sasuke Uchiha.

-----------------

She was already awake far before the rest of them, even Sasuke. She sat crossed legged on the relatively damp grass, healing the wounds littering her body. She hummed softly as she did so, a tune her mother would sing to her as a small child. She finished off her healing, and stretched carrying her arms above her head and emitting a strange noise – as is often done while doing such a task.

She smiled happily as she stood up and twirled, feeling no pain or aches on or in her body. She sighed happily and glanced over to Sasuke who was strangely enough still sleeping. She tilted her head as she looked at him.

"Huh, how strange," She murmured softly, watching the boy breathe slowly in and out, his black bangs blowing across his face. She remembered in their Genin days when Sasuke would always be the first to rise, even before Kakashi-sensei. But she did remember the one rare time when she witnessed him sleeping naturally. She visited him in hospital once and he was still asleep, probably drug induced. She would just always remember how peaceful he looked while sleeping though as if all his fears, worries and the weight on his shoulders were gone.

Her eyes softened slightly and she looked up to the sky.

The sun was still low in the sky, not threatening to rise for another hour or so. She turned her head back to Sasuke. She folded her legs beneath her, sitting a while away from the young Uchiha. She propped her elbow on the tree stump next to her, and tilted her head against her arm. Sakura sighed softly as she watched the boy sleep soundly.

The breeze blew her cherry blossom coloured locks out of her eyes and made her eye lashes flutter a little. She blinked slowly, noting how his hair had grown a little more and he now had a sort of fringe, very choppy, rather nice in her opinion. His pale skin contrasted almost ridiculously with his black with a blue hue hair.

What a bunch Team 7 must have looked.

Naruto, the spikey haired blonde, hyperactive ninja with whisker marks on his cheeks. The Kyuubi bijuu.

Kakashi with his mask pulled up covering half his face, reading his Icha Icha Paradise books. With one Sharingan eye.

Sakura, with the unnatural looking pink hair, a big forehead and apple green eyes. The good for nothing.

Then Sasuke, the cool looking prodigy with raven feathered hair, black with a navy hue. The Uchiha.

She smiled slightly and giggled lightly.

Team Seven.

I'll bring you back Sasuke-kun…

"Sakura. Stop staring."

A shiver sent its way racking up her spine and all the way back down again. She let out a high pitched shriek managing to make the boy flinch and sit up. She also managed to gracelessly fall backwards while tripping over her own feet when trying to stand up.

"WHAT THE HELL."

Oh,

And she fell onto Suigetsu.

"Pinkie?! WHAT THE FU-"

"My name is SAKURA!"

"WHATEVER."

"WHY ARE YOU LAYING ON ME!?"

"Sakura-chan, you seem to laying on my stomach."

"Aa, gomen Juugo!"

"WOULD YOU THREE SHUT UP, SOME PEOPLE NEED THEIR BEAUTY SLEEP."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"HEY!"

Sasuke felt a ghost of a smirk grace his lips. This sort of childishness was unremarkably foolish but he couldn't help the amusement threatening to grace his features. He turned his head to the side as he watched Sakura punch Suigetsu upside the head, whom she was still laying across.

"Tch," He smirked, finally actually standing up from his sitting position.

"Hey." He said stoically, his voice somehow reaching all of the other members of camp. They all stopped mid action. Karin with her arms crossed, facing away from the other two whom were currently fighting or pulling at each other's hair.

"We're heading to town to resupply."

"Hai."

"Kakashi, Genma, Sai,"

"Hai, Lady Tsunade,"

"I'm sending you out to scout missing Sakura Haruno, no need for intervention unless critically injured. This is merely to understand the situation at hand."

Kakashi stared at the Hokage.

Surely, Sakura couldn't have been that stupid as to go and find Sasuke herself. But then, if she hadn't done that, she must have been injured or worse. And frankly, that wasn't something her team even wanted to consider.

What have you done Sakura

"Is this clear?"

"Hai Tsunade-sama."

"Move out," Said her stern, even voice.

"Hai!"

Naruto sat at Ichiraku stirring the noodles around in his bowl when he felt a hand on his forehead. He looked up to see Ayame looking down on him worriedly.

"Naruto, this is you're third bowl and you haven't even nearly finished it yet…" She said, taking her palm off his head and lacing her arms together. "Are you ill?" He looked up at her beaming and shook his head.

"In that case, order me another bowl!" He says giving her the thumbs up. She looked at him for a moment before turning to make another bowl of miso ramen for the boy. He looked down sadly at his bowl.

Where are you Sakura-chan…

Suddenly something heavy landed on his back and all of a sudden, his face was inches away from his food.

"Hey Naruto!" Said a high pitched voice in his ear, leaning on his shoulders before sitting in the stool next to him, joined by Shikamaru and Chouji.

"Hi Ino," He smiled a little before an idea popped into his head. He turned to her eyes wide, she looked at him a little strangely.

"What are you doing?" She asked, frowning at him.

"Do you know where Sakura-chan went?!" He asked hopefully, leaning into towards her slightly. Her face dropped a little before she nervously smiled a little, secretly worrying at the tone of Naruto's voice.

"Isn't she at the hospital?" Ino asked, her eyes flitting to the hospital building a few streets away and back to Naruto. Naruto looked crestfallen. He lowered his eyes and turned back around.

"Nevermind,"

"What's going on?" Ino said, looking at Naruto, her crystal blue eyes darkening with worry. She poked Naruto's arm. "Hey Nar-"

"She's missing on a mission, Ino, she was meant to be back days ago,"

Ino looked at Shikamaru, eyes wide in distraught.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S MISSING!?" She said standing up, nearly knocking her stool over. Anger written all over her face.

"They think she's gone to find Sasuke…" Naruto said quietly. Ino looked at him before looking to the side sadly. She slumped back down on her seat with her head in her hands.

"There was a meeting on about half an hour ago, to go scout her actually." The Chunin said looking at his other teammate. Chouji watched the conversation quietly.

Naruto looked at Shikamaru with wide blue eyes.

"See ya,"

He stood up hastily and started running towards the Hokage building as fast as his legs would take him.

They were soon walking down a down-trodden path to a small Rain village. Sakura found her-self walking next to Suigetsu after a failed conversation with Sasuke. She kept her eyes on the ground, watching the dust pick up around her feet with every step she took. Suigetsu looked at her strangely before scoffing and looking back in front of him.

"You're gonna get dizzy doing that, yknow." He said, glancing to his left at the kunoichi. She lifted her head and looked at him. She shrugged and continued to look at her feet. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Don't be such a baby," He said, frowning at the girl.

She huffed and pouted.

He sighed, defeated.

He perked up, thinking of a more interesting topic.

"So what's the deal with you and Sasuke?" He asked, sending her a playful grin. She lifted her head once and locked eyes with the boy. Her gaze quivered for a moment before it flitted to the boy ahead of her.

"There is no 'me and Sasuke'," She uttered quietly, glancing at the water boy quickly. He let out a loud, irritated groan making Juugo give him a strange look along with Sakura.

"Suigetsu wh-" She started, her face pulled into a frown. He turned to her with a dull look, his shoulder slumped, a bored look upon his face. She raised an eyebrow.

"You're one of them." He said, waving a hand at her. He gave her a look of disdain before shaking his head at her. She looked at him, mouth slightly open in bewilderment.

"What do you mean one of them?!" She asked, utterly confused. Her eyes finally off her feet.

"You're one of those girls hopelessly in love with Sasuke with every piece of your heart." He mocked, adopting a high pitched, satirical voice. He rolled his eyes, and looked away from her.

"You're one of them," He said in a bored, clipped tone.

Something in her chest stung at his words which made her take in a deep, shaky breath of air. It was as if she almost felt guilty because of the way Suigetsu was judging her and she didn't know why his opinion mattered so much to her.

He was just a good friend.

He had been the first person she had properly talked to since joining their team. All of a sudden she felt so many thoughts whirring around in her head she completely forgot about what Suigetsu had actually said.

Did she love Sasuke?

When she looked at him she couldn't help but hate him for leaving her, but then she couldn't stay angry at him. But then she felt so angry because she knew she was nothing alike those other girls who didn't even know Sasuke. Her eyes narrowed and she slapped Suigetsu on the arm – instantly making him look at her.

"Don't ever compare me to one of them." She spat, seething. Suigetsu looked at his eyes wide in surprise. He smirked and laughed a little, causing her to glower at him more-so.

"Okay okay, forget I said anything."

They lapsed into silence or a while, the only sounds were that of the bellowing thunder in the far distance.

She felt a strange tinge of chakra behind her, so small she nearly missed it. She turned slowly to see Karin looking at her. She crossed her arms.

"What are you looking at, bitch," Karin spat. Sakura glared at her before rolling her eyes and turning back around.

She thought about what Suigetsu had said to her earlier.

"I don't love … him anyway," She finally said, her voice hushed despite the act she was pouting. Suigetsu turned to look at her and nudged her a little.

"Does that mean I can have you?" Suigetsu winked , looking at the kunoichi with a small amused glint in his eyes. Sakura quickly looked at him, not helping the blush covering her cheeks. She stuttered, trying to find the words before looking down and smiling a little. She punched him on the arm.

"Shut up, pervert." She said rather quietly, looking in front of her now. Suigetsu laughed and too focused on the path in front.

"And quit hitting me, miss i-have-a-freakish-amount-of-strength-for-a-girl" He said resisting the urge to rub his arm. She ignored him and her eyes instantly found the boy walking ahead of them.

Sakura clicked her tongue and furrowed her brows upon realising that Sasuke was walking alone.

A sudden cold wave of anxiety washed over her.

Had he heard her and Suigetsu talking?

She shook her head slightly and looked down, trying to get back to her original thoughts.

Well, she had only been with them for like a day but she could already tell Karin had something for Sasuke and would spend most of her time, trying to attract his attention or be near him in every sense of the word.

So how and why is he walking alone… Her eyes flitting back up to the boy.

She heard the soft footsteps of someone beside her and she realised she had spoken too soon. She sighed and rolled her eyes, maybe she had been around Suigetsu too long she briefly thought. The red headed kunoichi was now walking beside Sasuke, her hand brushing his and Sakura could partially work out that he must be talking to her too judging by how she would giggle every now and again. She sent a pointed looked to Karin and turned her head to the side slightly, albeit still watching them.

"Tch," She heard Suigetsu mutter under his breath, it seemed he was also watching them.

She felt a dull ache somewhere in her chest as she realised that when she had tried talking to him, he had pretty much ignored her, but now he was talking to Karin openly?

That hurt, she wasn't going to lie to herself.

"Ne, Sasuke…" She heard Karin whisper sweetly. Sakura swallowed, trying to salivate her throat due to her mouth being hung open so much.

She sensed a spike of chakra and recognised it instantly from their Genin days.

"Sharingan?" She said quietly to herself.

"What the hell is he doing?" Suigetsu muttered, already tensing. Juugo, too, looked on confusion painting his features.

In one quick motion, Sasuke had sharply elbowed the girl in the stomach before swing his arm up successfully punching her into the air. As if on instinct, Sakura's hands flew to her mouth as she gasped loudly where as Suigetsu cursed as the girl hit the floor. The three of them ran forward beside Sasuke where as Sakura broke off to help the crippled kunoichi. She was stopped before she could get anywhere near the girl however.

An arm blocked her way and she looked up to the owner.

"Sasuke what are you doing!?" She said, looking at him.

"It's not Karin." He said bluntly, watching the apparent imposter ahead. Sakura gasped a little and, also, looked at the person. Suigetsu 'tched'.

"What do you mean it's not her!?" He yelled at him, he was silenced by a kunai racing past his ear.

He turned around, crouching into a defensive stance. Sakura turned sharply to Suigetsu and only just missed a kunai which was heading for her jugular. Sasuke lowered his arm, calmly.

"Get ready." He said, rather hushed "They may not look it but their chakra is dangerous".

Sakura's eyes stayed on the person on the floor, she started to stand, her henge flickering on and off. The pink haired kunoichi's eyes narrowed.

The girl stood up holding her ribs tenderly. Now the henge had faded, they could each see who she really was.

A rogue ninja.

The girl only looked about their age, light purple hair, dark green eyes and a bandana tied around her neck.

"Hey you, just checking, whats ya name," One said jumping down from the trees, behind them. Sasuke turned his head to look at the one behind him.

"Isn't it rude to ask another person's name without giving your own name, beforehand?" He said it as a question yet it came out as a statement.

Sakura gasped at the ridiculously familiar words. He said the exact same thing to Neji before the first stage of the Chunin exam. Sasuke heard the girl gasp slightly and frowned a little before returning his attention to the ninja. The male ninja behind them circled them until he was standing beside the girl.

"Yuki, go find the others," It was meant to be a whisper but to specially trained ears, everyone heard it as he had announced it. The girl started to move yet as she had lifted a foot of the ground Sasuke called the girls name, using it from when the other had said.

"Yuki."

Obviously, she instantly looked at him and she froze after looking into the Sharingan eye. Sasuke looked back at the other.

"My name's Ryuu, best rouge around and renowned ladies man ," He said confidently, poking a stick into his mouth, it hung lamely from the side of his lips, apparently not caring for the paralyzed girl beside him. He looked Sakura up and down before cocking his head towards her.

"Hey precious."

Sakura looked at him, disgust written all over her face. He must have been at least 30 with dirty brown stubble lining the majority of his lower face, rather overweight considering he was a ninja and dirty, ripped clothing.

"Vile." She muttered still looking at the man in front of them and she could have sworn she saw a smirk tug at Sasuke's lips.

"Otou-san, help." Yuki said, quietly. Sakura looked from one to the other, with a reasonable amount of shock on her face as she realised that he was the girl's father.

"Unbelievable!" She uttered, a little less quietly this time. A father hitting on a girl half his age, with his daughter there?!

"I know sweetheart, I'm that amazing. Maybe I could prove it to you sometime?" He said cockily. Sakura's blood boiled and her fist clenched at her sides.

"Hey why don't you go fuck yourse-!?" Suigetsu shouted loudly quickly being cut off by Sasuke.

"Where is our team mate," Sasuke asked coldly, ignoring the man's futile attempts to seduce Sakura. Ryuu smirked, ignoring Suigetsu's outburst.

Nothing compared to Sasuke's…

He whistled and a rather burly ninja jumped down from the trees, holding Karin's arms behind her back with one hand and had his other was over her mouth. Sasuke looked indifferent as he looked on. Sakura couldn't help the uneasy feeling she had in her stomach as she noticed the lengthily sword held behind the ninja's back.

"Want her back? I wouldn't try escaping we've got the area covered,"

Sasuke said nothing and Sakura saw the burly ninja readjust Karin so that her mouth was free. She frowned deeply and her eyes suddenly caught the motion of the captor slowly putting his hand behind his back, towards his sword.

"Sasuke, his sword…" She whispered, looking from Sasuke and quickly back to the captor.

"Hn" He grunted quietly, Sakura's eyes widened at his lack of interest in the matter. She stared at the ninja as he slowly pulled the jagged sword from its sheathe, she tugged on Sasuke's shirt, feeling like a small child, her eyes still glued on the scene in front of them.

"Jeez Sasuke," Suigetsu muttered from the other side of the young boy, you could hear the strain in his voice.

"Sasuke," Sakura said meekly, still tugging on the material of his shirt.

Despite deeply disliking Karin, she hated to see people slaughtered before her eyes, especially if it could be stopped. Plus, this was one of Sasuke's team mates, if it had been her in that position would he have still done nothing?

"Sakura," He said cold and quietly, "Shut up,"

She looked at him, green eyes wide before looking back at Karin whom now had a blade at her neck. Her hand fell limply at her side after falling from his shirt.

"Just who are you?" She muttered quietly, not even glancing at the boy despite his eyes on her.

He looked at the kunoichi for a while feeling something churn in his gut, before slowly looking away from her.

"Let her go" Sakura yelled sternly over to the rogue ninja, stepping out slightly.

Sasuke's eyes shot to her before cursing slightly under his breath as he saw the kunoichi ran about half way between them and the rogue ninja.

"Sakura!" Suigetsu called, motioning for her to come back.

She ignored them.

"Let her go," She said a little more calmly to the men in front of her. Karins wide eyes flitted to the pink haired girl in front of her.

"No can do, pretty lady, we need him," He said nodding his head in Sasuke's direction. Sakura turned to look at Sasuke before turning back slowly, her gaze on the floor sadly. She was torn and she really thought she could do something.

Karin stared at her and felt the anger flare inside her.

"You little bitch! I knew you liked him! Choosing him over me, I'm the one captured here!" She screeched, writhing against the man holding her back, the blade grazing a shallow cut in her skin.

Sakura looked at her sadly and Karin noted the apologetic glint in her mint green eyes. She shot the girl a dirty look before resting her eyes on the floor.

"Hey beautiful… is that a Konoha headband you have on?" Sakura snapped her head up, her hand instantaneously reaching for the headband she forgot to take off. Before she could even register, the girl paralysed by Sasuke's sharingan had jumped off into the trees and Sasuke was holding a katana to the main ninja's throat.

"Sasuke-" She said, her hand reaching out as if to touch him.

With a slight jolt of Sasuke's arm, the man slumped to the ground, dead. Sakura looked on wide eyed. Sasuke stood straight once again and looked towards the man holding Karin.

"Release her," He said icily. The man nodded vigorously and shoved the girl away, making her stumble and lose her balance thus falling to the floor in a cloud of dirt. Juugo and Suigetsu walked over to her, helping her up only for their hands to be batted away. Sakura looked on.

"Hey pinkie, I think it's time to take your headband off now," Suigetsu called over to her, lifting a struggling Karin up.

Sakura nodded dully and slowly untied the knot and pulled it off her head.

Sasuke looked at her and strode past her, stopping when he was just behind her.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha- an avenger, you of all people should know that." He said quietly so that only she could here, before he carried on walking and beckoned for them to follow.

She turned just as he started walking away, wondering if she had actually heard right, the thumping in her chest told her she had.

And suddenly, Sakura was torn on whether to laugh or cry.

So you like?

Review so i know what you think please. Ideas etc are welcome. Flames however...