Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, it belongs to its writers, animators, and producers. I gain nothing but writing and editing experience from writing this.

Summary: After waking up from a horrible dream Sakura's life takes a turn for the...well something? She only hopes it will be good and will end better than her dream suggests her life will. The secret family trade is hers to learn, and in the process she will become a stronger kunoichi. Sometimes all it takes is a little wake up call.

A/N: This fanfic will always have serious under and overtones too it, but as in life, we often cover the painful & serious things up with humor. So, there will be my attempt at humor to counterbalance the serious overtones—because hey, that's life, sometimes we laugh when all we want to do is cry. Also, the next chapter will look at the reasons behind why Kakashi is not allow on babysitting missions. Anyways, please enjoy ~ with love, depressedchildren Edited: 9/19/2015

Chapter 11: Swirling Thoughts

Sakura lay weakly against a large stuffed monkey and stared up at the ceiling of the nursery room. Naruto was on her right and sharing the monkey while he slept with his head on her shoulder. Sasuke was to her left where he leaned half on the monkey and half on a large panda plushy. Five days ago, she would have been over the moon with joy that the Uchiha Sasuke was siting so close to her. In fact, she would have been a jittering mess, but today she wished she could be anywhere else and was a ball of nerves—and not the pleasant kind. No, she was forced to sit next to him because Naruto and Sasuke could not be next to, or even look at, each other without fighting.

Now who did that sound like… oh yeah, two four-year-olds she had been playing mediator for all day! A tick formed under her eye at the reminder. She even pointed out how similar her teammates' behavior toward each other were like that of Ichi and Kei; but what did her stubborn teammates do? Naruto protested loudly while Sasuke just glared at her before looking away—she could only imagine what he would have said if he could.

Oh…gods, tomorrow he'd be able to talk again! It was going to be horrible! She could remember in the Academy how much Naruto and him got on each other's nerves, but without Sasuke talking it was a little better. However, tomorrow, it was just going to be fight after fight; Sakura just knew it.

Her stomach made a loud noise and derailed her thoughts. She wanted to cry; Sensei never showed up again with their bento boxes. After the first few hours—in which the boys learned they would not break the children just by touching them—Naruto began to grumble about ways to get back at their sensei. They definitely had to get back at him for being so-so-so negligent! First the jounin read his book while they were doing crunches and push-ups, and then he abandoned them on their mission! Yes D-ranks were over-glorified chores, but-but he couldn't abandon them like that. If he wasn't allowed to be around children, he shouldn't have taken the mission anyways!

Sakura groaned as her stomach rumbled again, at least the caretaker had provided them with juice boxes and some of the snacks the toddlers got to eat. It wasn't much, but it had kept them from fainting. She knew the woman couldn't spare much with how little funding the orphanage got, so she wouldn't complain, though that had not stopped Naruto the first five times.

A few more minutes passed in silence until one of the babies began to cry. Naruto stirred instantly and got to his feet, though he wobbled for a moment—likely from his blood rushing to his head. He flashed a smile, "I got this one," he whispered and went over to the cradle where the kid was crying. Sakura smiled slightly. He was a little awkward in how he held the infant, but it was clear he was fascinated and even a little happy; maybe because the baby didn't judge him?

Sakura had been a little surprised by how quickly both boys warmed up to taking care of the babies. In fact, they often foisted the toddlers off to her while they dealt with the babies, changing diapers and all; though maybe that was because Sakura had to deal with the toddlers throwing up on her and around her most of the day.

The caretaker, who looked quite harried, opened the door and made a beckoning motion, "Two more threw up again," she looked about ready to pull her hair out. Sakura looked at Sasuke who looked back at her with a deadpan expression. Message received, she groaned and got to her feet to help the caretaker. This so wasn't fair, though she couldn't decide if poopy diapers were better than toddlers throwing up on her.

Naruto looked down at the little thing in his arms. Was he ever this small? It was so weird to think he used to be this tiny, even Sasuke-teme had to be this little and vulnerable at one point. Naruto bounced the baby slightly as he walked over to the changing table, for as soon as he had picked this one up he could smell the stinker in its diaper. "Come on now, Naruto-nii-san's gonna clean your stinky butt, no need to cry," he whispered and did his best to ignore the teme's scoff.

Naruto bet the teme would be talking to the baby's too if he his jaw wasn't still healing. Like seriously! The teme was even humming to them when he rocked them, so Naruto just knew the teme would have been singing and talking too!

Naruto set the baby on the changing table and began to undo its little onesy before he took off the diaper. Oh, the baby was a boy, that was nice—wait! Oh no! The baby was a boy! Naruto quickly held up one end of the diaper to keep from getting peed on. Though…according to the warm liquid dripping down his neck and the teme's muffled laughter, he had failed. Naruto shuddered and glared down at the fussing baby. So, not cool!

He grabbed the pee-wiping-off towel and tried to soak it up. The teme was still laughing, so Naruto shot a glare at him, "Oh shut up, this happened to you too, dattebayo!" he hissed which caused the teme to glare back at him. Ugh! What a jerk! He always had to act all superior, even though he got peed and spit on just as much as Naruto had!

Naruto looked back down at the baby and grabbed a bag to put the poop in before he set the soiled cloth diaper into the hamper. He then grabbed the baby wipes and began to clean the little guy's bottom, though something looked a little off.

"Neh, te-Sasuke-san, should his butt be all red and bumpy?" He looked over at the teme who had his brow furrowed as he uncertainly shook his head. "Could you get the lady?" Naruto watched as his stuck up teammate got up begrudgingly and left for the toddler rooms.

Naruto looked back down at the little boy on the dressing table, "Hey, hey, it'll be okay," he murmured as the baby continued to fuss. Pretty soon the other babies were gonna wake up from the fuss he was making, so he had to calm the baby down. Naruto looked around the changing table and tried to read the labels on the bottles in hopes that they might have an answer.

Not long after the teme had left, he returned and went over the changing table before selecting a bottle and handing it to Naruto. "Ah, thanks Sasuke-san," Naruto ducked his head slightly as he said this, though he caught Sasuke nod slightly before moving back toward the plushy he had been leaning against.

Naruto would bet that the bottle he was handed said it was for red baby bottoms and he was just too stupid to read it, though thankfully the baby calmed down when he applied the ointment. Of course, this quieting down was not before one of the other baby's woke up. The teme went over to its cradle and just rocked it—or her if Naruto remembered correctly. The teme made him change the baby in that cradle all the time. He didn't really get what was the teme's problem; it wasn't all that different from changing the boys—at least he didn't have to worry about projectile pee with her.

Naruto put a new diaper on the baby boy before he went over to the sink in the room and washed his hands. When he came back to the changing table, he noted that there were only three cloth diapers left. He smiled to himself as he put back on the baby's onesy before picking up the little guy he had changed. They had like an hour left of their shift. Either they could make the next shift clean the soiled diapers and bring up the clean ones, or Naruto could potentially get the teme to do it.

Naruto sang a little tune he had heard mothers sing to their babies in the park while he rocked the little guy. The baby just stared up at Naruto with his eyes slowly drooping shut. It was kind of nice; there was no hate, no fear. The baby was just…innocent, and so open. The babies didn't judge, mock, or hate him for something he couldn't control; instead, they trusted him, and relied on him. It was really nice.

Finally the baby was asleep, so Naruto set the little boy gently in his cradle. He turned to find the teme doing the same. "Neh, Sasuke-san," he called the other boy's name softly. The teme turned and gave him an imperious look, which just boiled Naruto's blood—seriously, what was this guy's problem?! What had Naruto ever done to him…well, other than when he would yell in his face and try to prank him every day of the Academy…but still, the jerk acted like he had a stick shoved so far up his butt it was coming out of his mouth!

"Rock, paper, scissors for who gets to wash the diapers?" Naruto asked once he reeled in his temper. The teme scoffed and nodded his head. Little known fact, Naruto had never lost a rock, paper, scissors match.

Naruto stood off against the teme with his hands at the ready, and the teme mimicked him. It was almost tense as they stared at each other. Together they whispered "Rock, Paper, Scissors," before revealing their choice. Three rounds later, Naruto won, like a boss, and the teme looked like he had swallowed a lemon.

It took all the blonde had to not do a victory dance and rub it in the teme's face. Naruto was pretty sure the babies would have woken up and the teme would have not washed the diapers if he did the victory dance. No way was Naruto going to let the next shift do the diapers! So, Naruto just bit his cheeks and sat down against the monkey plushy with his hands clasped tightly together in his lap.

The teme glared at him before turning toward the hamper and picking it up angrily. He probably would have stomped out of the room too if not for the sleeping babies. Naruto giggled to himself as the teme closed the door.

Sasuke did not know how the dobe did it! It was like he cheated; the dobe won every single round! But Sasuke wouldn't back out, even though their shift was almost done—that would be like showing he was a lesser man than the dobe, which he couldn't be! So he trudged down to the floor the washroom was on.

Once in the washroom, he looked from the sink to the hamper—the heavy and smelly hamper… Sasuke remembered the lecture the caretaker had given them about cleaning diapers, and he wasn't looking forward to this. First he would have to get the excess feces off and then soak the diapers in bleach before it could go in the washer.

As he did the necessary deeds, Sasuke thought about this mission. Babysitting hadn't been nearly as bad as he thought it would be, of course the Cyclops abandoning them like that was unacceptable and they had to get back at him. Also, what ninja was afraid of babies or small children; it wasn't like they could do anything to harm him.

Sasuke sighed, at least he wasn't being coddled by the man or his team—that was for certain. Though…the mission was questionable and there seemed to be no practical shinobi life skills to be learned here. But then, after the day they had had, he was begrudgingly relieved to have this easy-going mission.

Though it wasn't fun cleaning up fecal matter and getting peed on, Sasuke would say he preferred it to the vomiting kids who asked annoying questions.

"Nii-san, Nii-san, what's that weird fan mean?" Please! The kid knew what "that weird fan" was; the kid was just being annoying…that or…or Sasuke's family really was becoming forgotten. Sasuke looked down at the diaper he was working on and scrubbed at the last of the dried feces on it as he shoved that thought to the side.

If Sasuke really thought about it, he wouldn't mind having babies. Even though babies were vulnerable and completely dependent on those around them, they didn't pity him, and they didn't look at him with fear or adoration. They were just…innocent, non-judging, trusting. It was refreshing. Of course, once Sasuke's children became toddlers they were his wife's problem.

Though honestly, Sasuke wondered if he needed a wife, couldn't someone just have his kids? How were kids even created? They kind of glossed over that in the Academy. Did he even want to know how they were born? Sasuke shuddered and placed the diaper he had been working on in the bleach.

He stared at the bleach before his gaze moved to the hamper again. Despite the messiness and disgustingness of the mission, it really hadn't been all that bad. At least Sasuke knew now what exactly he would be getting himself into when he "revived his clan." Honestly, he hadn't really thought past the killing him part of his revenge plan to think about the reviving part. Perhaps it was because he could just come and kill whatever family Sasuke created at any time, just like before… But it would be worse, wouldn't it? It'd be worse because he'd have taken care of his new family when they were so young and vulnerable.

Sasuke glared at the tub of bleach. He'd have to kill that man as soon as possible, so then he could have a family again. A family that wouldn't be taken away, though…how exactly did children happen? Should he ask the Cyclops…wait—what was he thinking?! Why should he ask that negligent, sadistic, perverted bastard!? He'd just go to the library then.

"Neh, Sasuke-san, the next team is here," the dobe called from the hallway, "they can take over." Sasuke grunted as he began to wash his hands thoroughly with as hot of water as his hands could stand.

Once done, he walked up the stairs to find his teammates waiting for him, though the bookworm looked like she was trying not to throw up. Sasuke then looked at the newcomers standing in the hallway.

They looked old to be genin, and they all wore purple. The one with glasses and gray hair looked at Sasuke in a way that he did not particularly find pleasing; in fact, it kind of gave him the creeps. It was the genin thought Sasuke was an interesting experiment, which echoed the Cyclops' words from the other day. Perhaps other teams would treat him like an experiment?

"Ah, hello, you must be new genin," the gray haired one nodded his head slightly to Sasuke before turning to the rest of Team 7, "My name's Yakushi Kabuto."

Sakura decided then to run over to the bathroom connected to the hallway and begin vomiting. The dobe naturally gave the older genin a wave before running after the bookworm. Sasuke refrained from rolling his eyes or grimacing at their behavior in front of an older and more experienced team, but he was sorely tempted to, especially with the way that Kabuto genin was sizing them up.

Though he wanted to curse the bookworm for appearing weak, he also wanted to curse her for breaking his jaw a few days ago because he was bursting with questions for this Kabuto's team: were they only going to do D-ranks? Were all D-ranks so mundane? What were chuunin exams like? Sasuke didn't see any instructor with them, so did this mean all instructors were negligent?

"L-let's just go," the bookworm called feebly from the bathroom, "It doesn't look like Sensei's coming to pick us up." She groaned and came out of the bathroom while leaning heavily on the dobe.

Sasuke glared at her for a moment before looking away and nodding.

The Kabuto guy had a look in his eyes that Sasuke just knew he was mocking them for being a pathetic team. Damn it, why did his team have to look so pathetic! Instead of breaking the earth with her fist, the bookworm's clogging drains and the dobe's acting like some love-sick puppy!

The bookworm hissed in pain and grabbed at her stomach, great! She goes and does that too. He may not like this Kabuto, but Sasuke wanted to have a good standing amongst the older genin; he wanted to prove to people, that despite his pathetic team, they were not to be trifled with or looked down on.

"S-sorry, I think I must have caught something from those kids," her voice was trembling and she gave closed-mouth smile, at least she had the decency to not show them her bile coated teeth.

Sasuke then noted her eyes flashed for a moment with something when she locked eyes with the Kabuto guy. "Hope you brought a change of clothes," she stated in a cold, almost pitying voice, she even looked him up and down like she didn't think he could handle the situation. Now that was redeeming! She officially made up for her earlier blunder.

Sasuke smirked and nodded his head to the bookworm. As he passed the Kabuto guy, he looked him up and down and scoffed before leaving with his team following him. Team 7 one, Kabuto's team zero. Maybe the bookworm and dobe weren't so bad, though the Cyclops was dead when they saw him next.

Sakura was just relieved Sasuke calmed down. Yes, she knew throwing up in front of an older genin team did not look good for them, but…there was just something about that Kabuto guy. Oh gods, just thinking about him made her stomach roil. When she had been in that hallway with him, she had just felt so sick. It even felt like snakes were slithering all over her body, which really just added to her nausea. Then the guy talked and she just could not hold back the snacks they had eaten four hours earlier. The farther away from that guy the better!

At last she felt well enough to speak, "That guy creeps me out—all of them do!" She shuddered and brushed at her arms like there was something crawling up them.

"Yeah I know! Well, the gray guy's teammates were creepy, he didn't seem so creepy." Naruto rubbed at his head and laughed feebly. Sasuke was staring at Naruto incredulously.

"I thought Kabuto was the creepiest of them all!" Sakura exclaimed and was relieved to see Sasuke nodding his head with her. However, Naruto looked at both of them with his brow furrowed.

"Really? He seemed nice," the blonde was frowning now as they slowly made their way toward the Mission's Office. They were both too hungry and tired to run there; well, Sasuke and Sakura were tired, but Naruto miraculously regained his energy.

"No! He gave me the weirdest vibes," Sakura shuddered again and shook her head.

Sasuke made a gesture to get their attention. He jerked his head back toward the orphanage, which was several blocks away by this point, and punched his fist against the palm of his hand before giving a thumbs-down.

"What?" Sakura asked, though Naruto was jumping up and down in excitement; how he had the energy for that, Sakura would never know.

"He's saying our team is gonna kick their ass. We gotta be better than them, 'tebayo!" Naruto looked at Sasuke who nodded his head in a fashion that said the blonde was mostly right. Naruto laughed loudly at guessing Sasuke's pantomime correctly.

Naruto stayed in his chipper mood almost all the way to the Mission's Office when he paused suddenly, "Neh, why didn't sensei pick us up?"

Sakura sighed and continued walking toward the office, "I don't know, Naruto-san, and at this point I don't care." She was just at the door to the office when a shadow dropped from somewhere above them.

"My little genin don't care about me? How terrible." Sakura turned her head slowly to the side to see their sensei giving that damn eye-smile of his. She felt her eye twitch as her heartbeat worked to slow down. He was probably enjoying how hungry and tired they were, not to mention that Sakura was covered in throw up while the boys smelled like pee and had splotches of white spit up all over their shirts.

Sakura finally just shook her head and continued moving into the building with Sasuke who also seemed fed-up with their sensei. However, she could hear Naruto in the background, "Nu-uh! You're the one who's terrible; you didn't even bring us our lunches!"

"Oh that?" Sakura could only imagine the excuse he'd give them, but his actual response left her speechless. "There were two love-birds who needed your lunches more. And as a good citizen it is my duty to bring the two awkward, clandestine lovers together."

"There was still one left; we could have shared it!" Naruto screamed in return to their sensei's overly-dramatic explanation. "Also, that was a terrible excuse!"

Sensei probably shrugged of Naruto's last statement as he said, "Oh, I ate the last one." Sakura could just imagine what expression their sensei was making, a completely innocent eye-smile, like he didn't see what the problem was. Sakura felt like Naruto, who was spluttering indignantly, though she couldn't muster up the strength to even express her indignation. She was so hungry that she felt like fainting.

She finally reached the pay area and handed the completed mission scroll to the clerk. It was then she noticed the Hokage coming into the room. She immediately froze up before ducking her head and waiting for the clerk to give them their pay.

"Neh, Jiijii, our sensei didn't let us eat all day!" Sakura snuck a glance toward her teammate and saw him practically hanging off of the Hokage's robes. She swallowed thickly and felt her body begin to tremble anxiously. How could Naruto just do that? He also called their leader such a-a disrespectful name—how did he get away that!?

"He's amazing, isn't he?" Kakashi-sensei whispered beside her. "He can just worm his way into anyone's life…" Sensei sounded wistful as he set a hand gently on her shoulder. "You can relax, Sakura-chan, there's no sick toddlers to look after," he added almost cheerfully, but Sakura had a feeling her sensei was saying something else and she quickly looked over her shoulder to catch his knowing look. Did her sensei know she was afraid of what the Hokage might order of her, or order someone else to do with her.

Kakashi-sensei ducked his head to whisper more discreetly, for Sasuke was certainly giving them a suspicious look. "Naruto-kun is dear to Hokage-sama, and Hokage-sama would never let something happen to his Nee-chan." He straightened then, and all the fear Sakura had been carrying with her that day from the night before melted away.

Sakura bowed to the Hokage and gave him a small smile. He returned the small smile, but then his look turned into an amused one. "So how was babysitting? It looks like the flu was going around?"

Sakura groaned and Naruto began to speak a mile a minute about how cool it was, even though it was messy. Then, of course, he began to relate about how one of the baby boy's peed on Sasuke; however, before he could finish, the Hokage just chuckled and ruffled Naruto's hair.

"Well it's a shame you won't be able to do anymore babysitting missions unless your sensei is around," the Hokage then gave an almost chastising look at their teacher, "and that won't happen again, right Kakashi-kun?"

Their sensei gave an awkwardly sheepish laugh before coughing. "Well, you three have your pay right?" their sensei asked to change the topic. Sakura shook her head and would have laughed if her stomach didn't hurt so much from the training and throwing up. Instead, they collected their first full pay and began to leave.

As they were heading out the door, their sensei spoke again, and somehow Sakura knew she wouldn't like this. "So, your pay for this mission should cover getting me a new book," he then held out his hand, and Sakura felt her jaw unhinge in disbelief. Naruto was spluttering beside her, and Sasuke looked ready to kill.

Begrudgingly they handed over their pay, and their sensei bid them a goodnight before disappearing in swirl of leaves.

It was silent for a moment before Naruto gave a loud curse at their sensei. Sakura just nodded her head with him as they began making their way toward their respective homes. They were nearly at the place where their paths split when Naruto finally calmed down. He looked over at Sakura sheepishly.

"Neh, Sakura-san, do you think I can come over for dinner?" Naruto asked almost fearful she'd decline or tell him off. "I don't have enough for dinner," he added with a grimace, and Sakura deduced Naruto was refereeing to money and not groceries. Her heart throbbed for moment in shame; Naruto relied on the money from the mission, but she could always fall back on her parents if her pay was withheld.

Sakura slung her arm around his shoulder and gave him a tired smile, "Of course." Out of the corner of her eye, however, she saw Sasuke with his hands shoved in his pockets and his head down. She grimaced slightly as she wondered if he might want to have dinner with them; after all, he was in the same financial boat as Naruto. "Sasuke-san, you can join us. My mom can make soup if you can't chew still."

He looked at them for a moment before nodding slowly. She just nodded in return. It would be an awkward dinner—that was for sure. Sakura knew the she'd be too worried about whether or not Sasuke would skewer her parents with lightning to enjoy the meal or pay attention to the conversation. Sakura also knew her parents would probably worry about the same being done to her.

However… Sasuke wasn't like that yet. So perhaps this was what she needed to do? She needed to extend out a hand of friendship and maybe then Sasuke wouldn't become some horrifying homicidal psychopath… Somehow she was doubtful.

To add to her panicking thoughts was this little voice that cried in terror at the thought of Sasuke knowing where she lived. She really didn't want him to know; what if he came in the middle of the night and killed them all!

Though then there was that very small part of her, which she easily squashed, that was a little giddy about the Uchiha Sasuke eating at her place. Her thoughts were all so conflicted! It was like they were all swirling around in her head and jerking her from one emotion and irrational thought and then unto another one. The majority of her thoughts were still circling around the fear of him being around her family, of knowing where her family lived.

"Sakura-san, you okay?" Naruto asked beside her, and she jerked her head in his direction.

"Hmm…? Oh, I'm fine," she tried to sound confident.

When both her teammates gave her an incredulous look, Sasuke's even looked a little offended, she gave a weak laugh. She had to come up with a plausible reason for her distractedness. "I was just thinking about that creep from earlier," she scrunched up her nose and shook her head.

The boys both looked at her for a moment, and she had to think of something to distract them. Right, she had just the thing! "Come on," she began with her best attempt at a smile, "my house isn't that much further, and I really want to get out of these clothes." Naruto chuckled with her and she found her smile became easier to do, though she was still panicking about Sasuke knowing where she lived.

Sure, five days ago she'd be swooning right now just at the thought, but…that crazy man with the lightning in his hand! She closed her eyes tightly and shook her head.

"Sakura-san?" Naruto asked worriedly again.

She looked over at Naruto again and tried to smile, "It's nothing Naruto-san; I'm just really hungry." Despite their fatigue and hunger, they were nearly home, thank goodness, it was such an awkward walk, and she was sure she had missed a lot of it while she was internally panicking about a psychopath coming into her home.

Once they got to her house, she smiled at her teammates and unlocked the door, though her hands were shaking so it took a while. Naruto was frowning, and Sasuke was glaring at her hard before he looked off toward the Uchiha District. Was he thinking of going home? What was he thinking? Did he think she was being a fan-girl or that she was afraid of him?

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, she finally got the door open. "I'm home," she called into the house, "and I've brought my teammates," that would be enough warning for her parents, or at least she hoped so.

Her mother came into the entrance way while they were taking off her shoes and she pursed her lips at the sight of Sasuke. She then took in their appearances, and her eyes widened. "Babysitting?" she asked almost in disbelief, "and the boys looked after the babies, I take it?"

"Yeah," Sakura laughed a little. "Umm, do you mind the extra plates?" her mother shook her head, though she glared for a moment at Sasuke as she wrung her hands nervously. Right, so this would be a very awkward dinner and Sasuke would start to suspect something; she needed another distraction. "Uh, well, Sasuke-san can't have solid food yet, I think, right?" she looked to her teammate who was not looking at her but nodded anyways. Had he noticed her mother glaring at him?

"I see, well, why don't we wash your clothes and get you two into a yukata, okay?" Sakura's mother suggested while looking at Naruto, and her voice was warmer now; Sakura let out a relieved breath.

"Okay, Haruno-san! Can I help with dinner again once I've changed?"

She smiled at him and Sakura smiled too. "Of course, Naruto-kun, but why don't you clean up first. All of you should actually," she scrunched up her nose slightly before she began laughing. "Was I ever glad Sakura was a girl and not a boy, for reasons I'm sure you two learned," she teased, and Sakura found herself laughing with Naruto—Sakura even caught Sasuke smiling slightly!

So far so good, it seemed, maybe this wouldn't be a disaster and it would actually increase the trust between her and Sasuke or something. "Well go on boys, the bathroom is just over there. I'll go get those yukata," her mother stated moved further into the house and gestured to the bathroom. She would likely go get the guest yukata after the boys were in the bathroom.

Naruto hurried over to the bathroom while Sasuke followed at a more sedate and tired pace. Before Sakura's mother left the entrance way, she bent down to whisper next to Sakura's ear, "You'll be sure to read his tea-leaves, and your father will do the same, yeah?"

Sakura nodded her head firmly and looked over at Sasuke as he entered the bathroom after Naruto. She'd have to trust he wouldn't pull a knife on them right now, though she could only imagine the disaster zone the bathroom would be after those two got done with it.

They'd probably end up fighting over the shower head and stool. If they didn't fight about that, then one of them was bound to make some kind of comment about the other's…you-know-what. Sakura tried to kill the blush creeping onto her face and instead did her best to focus on the fact that her little brother was alone with a potential psychopath. She just had to hope for the best…yes, for the best.

TBC