Disclaimer- I Don't own Naruto, the anime, or any of its content.
Sakura and Sasuke had been duelling for several hours. Sakura felt her arms ache, a sweaty lock of her pink hair obscured her vision, she felt her arms quivers as she blocked another one of Sasuke's overhand blows. She dropped into a low, sweeping strike, trying to slash his knees. He threw his katana, arcing it high into the air, simaltaneous to throwing himself into a graceful backflip. He landed on his hands, and using the momentum of the flip delivered a rather staggering kick, which he caught on the flat of her sword. She hopped over the punch directed at her knees, and came with another series of slashes, fast and furious, hoping to take him while he was still off balance. She felt his knees hook around her wrist, and he twisted throwing her off her feet, and propelling himself airborne, where he caught his Katana. He smirked, and charged, knocking her Katana from her hand. She swung the wakizashi in a tight, controlled arc at his hip, and once again merely nicked his shirt. Curse his sharingan! He always knows what I'm going to try.
The two young shinobi circled warily, eyes locked on one another. Sasuke followed her eyes as they flicked towards her fallen sword. He merely shrugged. She'd never managed to retrieve either of the blades, once he'd taken them away from her, this time wouldn't be any different. Just like he predicted she took off in a fast sprint towards her fallen sword, drawing a kunai as she charged. He flashed in between her and her sword, and instantly saw the feint for what it was. He parried the fast arc of her shorter sword, the blow coming towards his head from a deceptively low angle. She started a series of fast strikes towards his heads, using a kunai in her off hand, and her wakizashi in main, forcing his guard higher and higher, just like he'd taught her. The combo was brilliantly executed, he thought, with a proud gleam in his eyes. She threw a snap kick, aimed at his exposed midsection. Instead of dropping backwards, as she was expecting, he rushed forwards, taking the kick in the hip. He dropped his left arm, and pinned her leg to his thigh, and used his forward momentum to push her to the ground, her leg still pinned to his hip. He dropped he katana as he did, pulling a kunai from his sleeve, which he had instantly at her throat. Still lying on top of her, he said, not keeping the slightly mocking tone from his voice, "you weren't watching my footwork again."
She was blushing a little, her legs around his waist, him lying on top of her, it was all to much for the young kunoichi. She moved in to kiss him.
"Sorry to interupt your... training." a familiar voice said. Sasuke rather roughly stood up, turning to face his sensei, something of a scowl crossing his handsome features. "Sakura-kun, I found you a teacher." She brushed herself off, hoping Sasuke wouldn't notice the blood that had rushed to her cheeks.
"Who, Sensei?" she said, noticing how his eye instantly took in the whole details of her appearance. She had tied her light pink hair back, though a few strands had come loose.. She was wearing a pair of light black shoes now, and had exchanged her long red dress for an equally red tank top, and a short skirt, underneath which she was wearing a pair of dark shorts for modesty's sake. Some of her makeup, especially her eyeshadow, had run in her sweat, or was badly faded by this late hour. She looked like quite a mess, she suspected.
"Mitarashi Anko. A jounin. She's the one who administered the second part of the chuunin exam." Kakashi shuddered a bit. "You have no idea what it took to convince her." It took a few moments for the normally stoic shinobi to regain his composure, and the look in his eye said that he certainly wasn't going to share. You'll meet her at noon, two days from now, at her house. Don't be early." Sakura raised her eyebrow at that. Don't be early?
Kakashi looked over at Sasuke, who was still his usual clean cut self. "And don't be late Sasuke." Kakashi said, as he vanished in a puff of smoke.
Sasuke rather pointedly glared at the spot his sensei had been standing just a second ago. "Don't be late yourself." he muttered angrily, causing Sakura to giggle. He looked over at her. She looked exhausted, her knees were shaking ever slightly, and she was still breathing heavily. He looked at the setting sun. "Sakura. We're done for tonight."
She nodded briefly, then went and sat down, on the same tattered bench as before. He walked over in front of her, and finally deactivated his Sharingan. This was good training for him too, he thought, it built stamina. "Sakura, I'll meet you at your house tommorow, six thirty. We have a training ground tommorow." he paused briefly, fully expecting her to answer. "Sakura." he said, as he looked down at the sleeping girl, a bemused smile crossing his face. "Whatever."
Sakura woke with a yawn, comfortably wrapped in her own blankets. She wearily glanced over at her clock, which read 5:30. She forced herself to sit up. Sasuke would be here in an hour. Then realization dawned upon her. She remembered falling asleep on that bench, but certainly had no idea how she had gotten home. She quickly showered, and then she put her makeup on at a frenzied pace. She slipped into an ensemble very similar to yesterdays, this time the skirt was a light pink, and ran downstairs. It was 6:25 already. She heard a knock on the door, and grabbed a piece of toast, "Thanks, Mom." She ran too the door, and pulled it open. "Morning, Sasuke." she said, smiling, a cheerful note filling her voice.
"Come on." Sasuke said, scowling. How could she be so damn peppy at this hour in the morning. The training arena that Sasuke had booked for the two of them was the same on where they had first fought Kakashi. Sakura noticed the Sasuke didn't have his Katana today. He walked over to the river, and motioned for her to follow. Answering her unspoken question he simply said, "There are not many Shinobi swordsman. Yesterday's training was to heighten your reflexes, defensive swordmanship and your offensive capablity. Today we're gonna to learn dodges. Or in your case parries." Sakura nodded, and grinned a little. Sasuke sounded so much like Iruka-Sensei. He pulled out a bag full of kunai and shuriken, each of which had had its blade painstakingly wrapped in leather.
Sakura looked at Sasuke, anticipation lighting up her face, her swords instantly snapping out of their sheathes to be placed between her and the smirking shinobi. "Bring it on."
They ended at a more reasonable hour that day. Sakura limping a bit, completely filthy, and sporting a particularily nasty black eye. Sasuke was less filthy and less battered, though nearly as tired as she. Since the Haruno household was between the training ground, and the Uchiha district, the two were walking home together. Little was said between the two, something Sasuke was completely content with. He even tolerated the occasional blushing glance she threw his way, she had earned that much at very least.
When they arrived at the house, Sakura stopped by the door, the scent of a fresh cooked meal filling her nose. She was about to invite Sasuke to suppper, when he spoke, "Send Sazami out."
She froze, she had completely forgotten about her annoying little brother. "Are your sure you don't wish to stay for supper first Sasuke?" she said, in a nauseatingly sweet tone.
"No. I promised that I'd take your little brother for some shuriken training this afternoon, and afternoon is nearly over."
Sakura let out a pronouced sigh. Then again, that was the kindest rejection he had ever handed her. "Right," she said, in a demure voice, followed immediately by an ear shattering bellow, "SAZAMI! OUTSIDE NOW!" Sasuke couldn't help but wince.
Sazami jogged outside, a terrified look on his face. The only thing worse than being on the receiving end of his wrathful sister, was trying to ignore her. To his shock, she smiled at him when he got outside, keeping the bitterness in her voice to a bare minimum "Sasukes gonna take you training, remember?"
"Of course! Just a sec, I'm gonna run and grab my stuff." The boy was so excited he ran face first into the door he had just exited, picked himself without pause, and continued at a sprint. Sasuke let out a sigh. This was going to be interesting.
Sasuke had always assumed that Sakura would have had to be the most talkative member of any family that excluded Naruto. The red haired young boy babbled about everything, how it was terrible to have four sisters, that he loved the academy, about a girl he liked, how he wanted to be a great ninja, how he wanted... It went on and on, and with the boy being completely unfazed by Sasuke's silence. When they arrived at the cluster of forest that Sasuke had chosen for the training Sasuke spoke, interupting the one sided conversation with a certain cruel satisfaction. "Sazami-kun," Sasuke said as he started setting up a target, "do you prefer shuriken or kunai."
Sazami stopped for a second, looking a little shocked that Sasuke had spoken. He blinked his turquoise eyes, and then piped up again. "Shuriken. Definetly shuriken."
"See that target," he indicated to the paper ring he had taped to a tree that was perhaps a fifty feet away, "Hit it."
Sazami let out a whoop of excitement, pulled out 10 shuriken, and threw them all at once, with only one actually striking the target, the other falling short, or missing by a fair mark. "Got it, Sasuke-senpai!"
"No you didn't" Sasuke said, gritting his teeth. "That was pathetic. We're ninja, we're not trying to show off. Why use ten shuriken, when you only needed one?"
"I-" Sazami began.
"Didn't think. Try it again. One shuriken." Sasuke noticed the harsh note in his voice, and started. Why was he being so hard on an eight year old? Sasuke activated the sharingan as Sazami rather sullenly lobbed one shuriken at the target, which landed short. "Alright, the problem lies in your wrists. You're just like your sister, don't keep your wrist straight. A straight wrist is a locked one." Sazami tried again keeping, the slightest bend in his wrist, and was quite surpised when his shurkin soared straight to where he wanted it to go.
"Wow! That's awesome," the mercurial eight year old said, a dopey grin plastered on his slightly chubby features again. He continued to throw shuriken, with Sasuke making suggestions as they he did. The improvement in his accuracy and power in an hour was dramatic.
"Alright. I think now your ready for multiples." Sasuke said, with what could have been mistaken for a kind timbre to his voice. "One in each hand, that all for now." The coordination of the two proved difficult for Sazami.
"I can't get this," he snarled.
"I found it hard, the first time I tried it too." Sasuke gripped a shuriken in each hand, and exagertating the motion so that Sazami could follow, threw them, where the two shuriken struck mere milimeters from each other. The boy, perhaps spurred on by Sasuke, tried again, and after an hour or so had shown drastic improvement.
"Sasuke-senpai?" Sazami said, this time his voice respectful. "Can you show me something cool?"
Sasuke was about to tell the younger boy to get back to work, but then caught himself. "I think I know something." Sasuke was more than a little curious if he had grown enough to pull it off. He led Sazami too a clearing in the woods, one which had obviously been used for shinobi training before. Not a single tree had escaped being marked by a kunai or shuriken, and there were several rotted training targets strewn in the foliage. Sasuke felt a strange feeling of deja vu as he positioned the targets in various locations throughout the clearing. Standing in the middle of the clearing, Sasuke motioned for Sazami to stand clear. He gripped five kunai in each of his hands. Then he exploded into motion, flickering into the air, and throwing his kunai in a wild flurry. He felt a strange satisfaction as they left his hands, their arcs perfect. He landed gracefully on the forest floor, his eyes looking at the nine targets. Perfect. His aim was perfect. He felt a genuine smile cross his face. Soon, brother.
"Can I try?" Sazami said, dashing into the clearing before waiting for Sasuke's answer.
Sazami had began his jump just as Sasuke started to tell him he really shouldn't. Rather unsurprising the young student landed heavily with sharp yell of pain. Sasuke sighed, and walked over to the prostrate boy, smirking "I was going to say no, you'll hurt yourself." Sazami tried to stand, and then collasped again. Evidently he had sprained his ankle.
Sasuke arrived at the Haruno house for the third time in a day, this time with Sazami on his back.
Only one more chapter until the main matches. And don't worry, Sazami won't be too main as a character. I know you people don't like ooc.
