Happy New Year! Sorry for the wait. I have a poll up on my page for a one-shot similar to Fading Petals: Sasuke, go check it out and vote. I hope you all had a Happy Holidays, and if you don't celebrate any of that... I hope you had fun laughing at all the crazy stuff my fellow whites did this season. XD! ~ Koi
Sakura stared at the people around her, silently taking in their faces and clothing.
It was something simple that Kakashi-sensei had taught her and Sasuke when Naruto sent an ANBU with news of his cold. How he managed to rope one of the most elite shinobi in Konoha to deliver a disposable chopstick wrapper with chibi foxes doodled on the ends still confused them all.
She glanced over to a Suna group of Suna shinobi and raked her eyes over the tallest suit.
How a person dressed would give away their fighting style, along with the kind of jutsu they used. For instance, he wasn't big into taijutsu because his clothes didn't fit in the right places. But the gloves he wore showed that he did, in fact, use his hands a lot. Weapons, maybe?
She turned her gaze towards his face, seizing up the lines that covered most of his features.
War paint; something noblemen mainly wore. He was of high status. Probably related to someone on the council. Sakura stared at him for a few more seconds before turning to the girl he stood with.
She wasn't a lover, Sakura understood that instantly.
The way she held herself, straight back, smug smile, raised eyebrows. Not to mention she was beautiful, and Sakura was she the girl knew it. A kunoichi of her standard wouldn't go for a guy wearing 'make-up.'
Sakura stared at the girls' clothing.
Off the shoulder… she constant use of her arms. And the skirt, there wasn't much movement available. She wouldn't be able to leap or kick out' she didn't use her legs much.
The girl shifted a bit and Sakura had to force down a grin.
A tessen; strapped to her back.
Sakura elbowed Sasuke, who had been looking at some Oto nin, in the side. He hissed in pain and turned towards her.
"What?" the Uchiha asked.
He was glaring at her, but it wasn't the same look he used on his fangirls; Kakashi-sensei had told him to stop using that on his teammates and close friends. So he just used a casual glare instead.
It was kind of funny, actually.
His lip jutted out in the smallest of pouts and his eyelids were barely lidded. Sakura glanced up into his eyes and noticed exactly how bright they were. The onyx orbs were nothing like the pools of charcoal he had when they'd first graduated.
Sasuke had come so far.
He was starting to express emotion, something that somehow lit up Sakura's world. Along with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke made up her entire world.
Her parents and Hinata, did too, of course, but Sakura was starting to find that she was spending more and more time with the quite Hyuga and her teammates then her own family.
She didn't mind, though. They were her light, after all.
Uzumaki Naruto was like a little brother. He brought a smile to her face every single day.
Hyuga Hinata was almost like a twin. The girl knew everything about Sakura, from what she was thinking to what she was secretly feeling.
Hatake Kakashi-sensei was like a big brother, one who joked around and was slightly perverted, but still cared for everyone.
And Uchiha Sasuke... Sakura didn't really know his place in the 'family.' But he made her feel and he made her think. He didn't speak often, but he was doing better socially than before. You just had to know his signs. And his eyes.
It was his eyes that explained everything about his mood. And he was currently annoyed as hell.
Sakura broke his gaze, knowing if she stared any longer she wouldn't be able to ever look away, and jutted her chin out towards the blond kunoichi she'd been watching seconds before.
"Futon user," she said, lowering her voice so it was barely audible. Sasuke could still hear it, though, seeing as a slow smirk worked its way onto its lips. Their teammate heard it, too.
Naruto looked up from the flashcards he'd been rifling through.
The poor boy had been quizzing himself for days ever since Sakura let it slip that the first test was a written exam. He'd never been good with schoolwork in the Academy, after all.
And it wasn't just because he never paid attention. The simple idea of having the calculate a math problem or recall a certain date and event that had marked itself in Konoha's history sent the blond into hysterics.
Others simply called him an idiot, but Sakura saw it as fear.
She knew that Hokage-sama paid for Naruto's apartment and the ANBU that watched over him. And so, she figured out that Naruto was just afraid that he wouldn't be smart enough for them. He feared the idea of letting Sarutobi-sama and Iruka-sensei down.
"Really, 'ttebayo?" Naruto asked.
"See for yourself, dobe," Sasuke grunted out softly, shifting to the side to give the blond a better view. The said boy tilted his head to the right ever so slightly and moved his eyes to the corners of their sockets.
"She probably doesn't use hand signs," Sakura whispered.
"You mean she pushes chakra through her tessen?" Sasuke asked, looking unconvinced.
"Hey," Naruto said, "Do you see the guy next to her."
"Which one?" Sakura asked.
"The one with the make-up," the Uzumaki said.
"Again," Sasuke hissed, "Which one?"
Sakura forced down a giggle as Naruto scowled and muttered a few profanities. Sasuke replied with some more insults until the two were bickering in the quietist voices she'd ever heard them use.
Suddenly, the red haired kid snapped his head towards them. His swept his eyes over all three of the genin before turned his entire body in their direction and walking over.
The girl with him jolted suddenly and sent a frightful glance to the kid next to her. He whispered something and started after the boy. The Futon user followed close behind.
The boy that'd been approaching the group walked right to Naruto, sizing the blond up. He turned his attention to Sasuke, who had stepped forward to cover Sakura slightly. He glared down at the midget, hatred burning in his black orbs.
The redheads mouth twitched down a bit before he looked over to Sakura. The said girl felt a wave of cold rush through her veins. There wasn't anything natural about him. Nothing at all.
"What's your name?" the boy asked, turning back to look at Sasuke.
"Gaara," the girl hissed as she came up behind him. He glanced back at her and she stiffened, a bead of sweat forming on the side of her face. "Umm, who are they?"
Sakura tried to take a step forward, only for Sasuke to grab her wrist. He shot her a look of caution and she stopped. "I'm Haruno Sakura," she said, looking her in the eye. "You?"
"Temari," she replied, "This is Kankuro and… Gaara."
Sakura nodded slowly, "The blond is Uzumaki Naruto, I'm sorry in advance for everything," that earned a shout of protest from the whiskered kid, "And the brooding hunk is Uchiha Sasuke."
Sasuke immediately choked on his spit, snapping his head to the side to stare at the said girl. His mouth opened and closed like a fish and Sakura noticed the tips of his ears turned a slight pink.
Kankuro snorted, Temari raised an eyebrow, and Gaara remained passive.
And Naruto smacked his hand on his knee, howling with laughter. Any and all attention that hadn't been on them suddenly turned towards the group of six.
Across the room, Ino scowled. Beside her, Shikamaru sighed and shook his head, and Choji munched on some chips.
Hinata and Shino glanced at each other while Kiba was mimicking Naruto's behavior. The Inuzuka's heightened senses let him hear every word of Sakura's playful jab.
Neji was scowling over at her while TenTen giggled. Lee was in the corner doing some push-ups and seemed totally oblivious to everything.
"Sakura-chan," Naruto gasped out when he finally caught his breath, "How'd ya do that, 'ttebayo?"
Sasuke seemed to finally find his words and ripped his hand off of Sakura's wrist like it was some kind of blazing hot iron. "What the hell?" he asked.
Sakura giggled and patted his shoulder, "Sorry, sorry," she said, "I just wanted to…" she collapsed into a fit of laughter, having to hold onto Sasuke in order to keep herself off the floor, "Hahahaha."
"Whatever," he huffed out, "Just try not to act like your blond friend anymore."
Sakura bristled at the comment and reached towards his skull, smacking him upside the head. Kankuro snorted again and Temari barked out a laugh at the look on the Uchiha's face.
Naruto howled once more, "She got ya good, teme." Sakura leaned over and bopped him on the head as well.
"Oww," he whinnied, "What was that for, dattebayo?!"
Sakura glanced over to the three Suna genin and inwardly smiled. They were looking like casual people to them; simple genin that probably wouldn't pass the test.
Temari opened her mouth to start some more conversation, only to be cut off as fifteen proctors and a man with two parallel scars on his face walked in.
Any and all chatter that was floating around the classroom stopped within seconds.
The scarred man walked up to the podium in the front of the room. He raked his eyes across every kid that was present and smirked.
"All the girls need to head to the front left corner," he snapped, slamming his hand down on the wood.
Silence.
Sakura glanced around the room. Every kunoichi, including her, was frozen, not moving an inch. They were all too scared to actually step forward and find their seats. She didn't blame them, though.
The scarred jonin's – he had to be a jonin, there was no way a chunin could be that frightening – scowl deepened as a minute passed and no one moved.
One of the other proctors gulped and turned to the person standing next to him, whispering something. The scarred man whipped his head to the side and cleared his throat. The two men straightened up and went quite.
The pinkette turned to stare at the man standing at the podium with wide eyes. He didn't even raise an arm. The said man turned back towards the genin in the room and opened his mouth: "Do I have to repeat myself?"
More silence.
Sakura watched as his face hardened. "All those who can bear a child need to report to the front left corner of this classroom and sit their scrawny little asses down in a seat!" he yelled.
Sakura flinched.
She glanced back at Sasuke and Naruto, who each gave her a reassuring – albeit frightened – nod, before walking towards where the man had told them to go. Temari did the same, throwing another insult at Kankuro and sending Gaara a weary gaze.
"The two remaining shinobi on their teams need to find another place to sit," the man ordered, not having calmed down in the slightest, "You're not allowed to be in the same section. Is that clear?"
He got a few mutters in response. "I asked if that was clear you low ranked maggots!" he roared. Everyone in the room straightened up and screamed a yes before scrambling to find their seats.
A minute hadn't even passed before the man spoke again, "My name is Morino Ibiki," he said, "And I'll be your examiner today."
Sakura looked around at the kids sitting near her. All the other Konoha shinobi had flocked towards the back of their section, so she was surrounded by foreign nin.
"Great," she muttered to herself, sinking lower in her seat. That meant if there was any questions on Konoha then they'd all turn to cheat off her.
The Oto kunoichi next to her smirked and skootched closer to the pinkette. "Are you scared?" she whispered.
Sakura turned to look at her and raised her chin up, "Not in the least," the Haruno replied. The Oto kunoichi raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"You will answer questions one through nine within the allotted time without cheating," Morino-san continued, motioning for the other proctors to pass out the papers.
Sakura turned in her seat to find Sasuke and Naruto. The former quickly caught her gaze and nodded. The green eyes genin smirked and nodded back.
"Anyone caught doing so more than three times will be kicked out."
Sakura scanned the room to find Naruto in the corner across from her, seating near the door on the other side of the room.
He was still looking over his flashcards, muttering things to himself. After a few seconds of watching him Sakura turned her head back to Morino-san.
Naruto would be fine. He'd never cheat, that was against everything he stood for. Whatever that was.
"When you are done flip your paper over and put your pencil down," Morino-san said, "I will personally inform you question tens contents when everyone it done. You may begin."
Sakura grabbed the paper in front of her and snatched up her pencil, staring at the first question.
Decipher the following Morse code and translate it into Kiri's character/number code used for B-rank missions.
- ... . / ... ... .. .-. / .. ... / -.-. .- -. -. - -. .-.-.- / .. / .-. . .-. . .- - / - ... . / ... ... .. .-. / .. ... / -.-. .- -. -. - -.
Sakura bit back a groan. Great. Just great.
She sighed and started to translate the dots and dashes. An hour to do ten questions? It'd take her at least fifteen minutes to just do this one! She despised codes. They were an absolute pain to use, and Kiri's code was the worst.
They used a combination of numbers and kanji, both of which she hated with a passion.
Sakura grumbled through the problem and was about to start the second when one of the proctors smacked his clipboard on his knee, "Three seventy," he called, "Your out. Take your teammates with."
The pinkette turned to stare at the boy that had gotten up. He looked about ready to start shouting, but a look from Morino-san shut him up. Sakura gulped and glanced at Sasuke.
Within a second he'd felt her eyes on him and turned to face her. The Uchiha kept her gaze for a bit, nodded, and then looked back down at his paper. Sakura bit her lip. Well, he'd be no help.
Sakura started on the second question, which had to do with the history of Suna. She blew past it, along with the third and fourth, but got stuck on number five, which had to do with angles of kunai and shuriken.
She managed to finish it and blazed through the rest. Twenty minutes were left, and she was already halfway through question nine.
'Maybe I overthought it,' Sakura thought to herself.
The voice snorted, 'Don't jinx yourself, kid.'
Suddenly, a chair scraped against the floor, and a Suna shinobi – Kankuro, if Sakura remember correctly – got up. "I gotta piss," he deadpanned. Across the room, Naruto bit back a snort.
Morino-san scowled and motioned for a proctor to follow the boy out. A minute after he left, the room returned to normal. But not for long.
More and more genin were eliminated, each dragging their team along with them. Feet shuffled across the floor every other minute, dragging their owners with them towards the door.
The girl next to Hinata collapsed out of her seat, taking both the Hyuga's and her own paper with her. Hinata squealed and jumped back.
Morino-san grinned and stomped over towards the fallen kunoichi, poking her with the tip of his boot.
"Passed out," he grumbled, as if he was disappointed, "Hyuga, grab your paper."
Hinata nodded and scooped one of the sheets, stepping on the other and scuffing the writing on it. Morino-san grabbed the remaining test and crumpled it up into a ball, tossing it over into the trash can.
Hinata set her paper down and started to erase near the top of the sheet. Sakura strained her neck slightly to look at it, only to find Hinata wasn't erasing a question answer. She was getting rid of a name.
'She took the other girls paper,' Sakura realized.
'Smart,' the voice commented, 'Must've used her poisons.'
Hinata was cheating. Hinata was cheating. Sakura's eyes went wide. Of course. This wasn't to test their knowledge, that'd be too easy. No wonder all the questions were harder than usual.
They had to cheat. Sakura bit back a grin.
This would be fun.
Note, the Morse code says 'The ship is cannon. I repeat, the ship is cannon.' ~Koi