(A/N) Guest: Pfft, duh she wasn't ever a fangirl, this was designed for the intention that she wouldn't ever be one, not fixing a problem already there. It's preventing fangirlism, not cutting it off. And your ship opinions are your own.
"Almost got it," Sakura whispered, before slamming the butterfly net down over the flower. "Ha! Caught it!"
Her and Shino peered down at the trapped butterfly. It was a very pretty shimmery yellow and black, with splashes of blue on the lower wings.
"A Swallowtail butterfly. If anything, I would say it is somehow mixed with a Blue Morpho butterfly."
Sakura already had a notebook out and was sketching the butterfly, finishing quickly, and pulling out colored pencils to color it in. When she was done a moment later, she showed it to Shino, who inspected the drawing, then the butterfly, then back to the drawing.
"Looks just like it. We can draw it on the chart later," Shino decided.
Sakura released the butterfly, watching it fly away before she was abruptly crashed into, notebook and pencil flying out of her hands.
"Oh, sorry 'bout that!" The blond that had crashed into her apologized quickly. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
"Clearly," Sakura remarked dryly. "Well, watch where you're going next time, alright?"
And that was their first meeting with Naruto Uzumaki. Right after the blond left, a pair of Chuunin came though, asking them where Naruto had gone. Sakura helpfully pointed off to her left, the opposite direction Naruto had gone. Shino didn't stop her.
They started another school year, and due to a few dropouts, their classes had been rearranged, and Naruto Uzumaki was now in a class with Sakura and Shino. He, of course, made a beeline straight for them and sat down on the other side of Shino.
Sakura kept a discreet eye on him, realizing that their Sensei wasn't calling on him when he raised his hand. She exchanged significant glances with Shino, and they both decided then and there that Naruto now had a pair of tutors. Maybe he'd stop before he crashed into them next time.
"You want to what?" Naruto asked, stunned.
"Tutor you," Sakura said patiently.
"Seeing as our teachers are clearly incompetent." Shino agreed.
Naruto just blinked at them. "Really?"
Sakura gave him a deadpan stare. "Yes. Really."
Shino pulled out his textbook and took Naruto's from his hand. "I will be comparing yours and mine. Why? Because I worry that they sunk low enough to sabotage your education to that severe of a degree."
Sakura grinned, a fist held at the ready. "I'm finding out your learning style! I have the fun job!"
Naruto shuddered and backed up a bit. "It's not gonna hurt too much, right?"
Sakura smiled sweetly. "Probably not!"
Naruto shuddered again but followed her to the side, where an academy training field was located.
Shino settled underneath a tree, scanning both his, and Naruto's textbooks. They were very different and Naruto's had clearly been heavily edited to have incorrect dates and names. Shino wasn't sure how this got past the Hokage, but no longer. He'd have to speak to Sakura after she was finished testing Naruto's learning style. For now, he would purchase a new set of books for Naruto, giving an excuse about loose termites. It certainly wasn't out of place, as Aburame termites were notoriously hard to control. The only thing that would've been more believable was an Uchiha coming in for new books because they accidentally lit their old ones on fire with a Katon jutsu. Shino did, in fact, feed Naruto's old books to the termites, so it was technically true.
The Hokage was rather worried, and a bit irritated when Shino delivered the only remaining one of Naruto's original textbooks, highlighted in very pretty colors where it was incorrect. Sakura may have had a bit too much fun color-coding it. He had known she was meticulous, and he was prone to it as well, but this was a bit overkill.
Last Shino heard the book guy that had sold Naruto the textbook was probably somewhere near the Kumo border. Whether he was living there or buried there, Shino did not know.
A weapon seller quickly followed, then a couple of grocery shop owners, then a couple more grocery shop owners, until Shino was relatively sure that at least half of the shops in Konoha were owned and manned by off duty ANBU and a few retired shinobi.
Naruto was, of course, a bit confused when the prices at stores dropped abruptly but didn't question it. The Hokage told him not to worry, so he didn't.
Naruto's birthday was up next, Shino got him a brand new quality set of both kunai and shuriken and Sakura picked her old hobby back up, crocheting Naruto a pair of orange socks. He started crying when they gave him their gifts, and the two simultaneously realized that this was probably the first time anyone had given him a gift or even done anything except try and beat him up or kill him on his birthday.
After five attempts to vandalize the apartment, burn it down, and/or possibly kill Naruto, everyone involved was oh so done with it. They quickly relocated to the Aburame compound and finished there.
"That was a really good cake," Naruto said happily, leaning back and patting his stomach.
Sakura's mother smiled. "I'm glad you think so."
"And it was orange," Naruto sighed, expression telling of his absolute bliss. "How great is that?"
"Sakura said you like orange, so I made it orange," Sakura's mother was well and truly amused, and thought that she liked the boy. He was very sweet, despite what he held. He would be a good friend for her precious Sakura-chan.
"Come on Naruto, Shino pulled out some of his mom's craft stuff," Sakura chirped, pulling him off of the couch. "Don't you sew or something?"
Naruto let himself be pulled deeper into the compound. "Yeah, why?"
"Cause, I just said that Shino pulled out some of his mom's craft stuff! They don't have any crochet hooks though, so I'm making bracelets with some of the yarn and beads."
Naruto blinked at the veritable mountain of fabric, Shino attempting to organize it by color. "That's a lot of fabric."
"You don't say," Sakura said sarcastically, laughing.
Later that night, while the three kids were sitting in a mess of yarn, fabric, and embroidery thread, Mebuki, Sakura's mother, looked out of the window to see a smoke cloud rising into the air.
"Stay here, I'm going to go check something out," Mebuki told her husband. She may have been retired since she got pregnant with Sakura, same with her husband, but she had been a chuunin, and still remembered a lot of her old training. Including leaping over rooftops. That was kind of an ingrained skill though.
She stopped in front of Naruto's old apartment. It was little more than rubble and ash now, and even sifting through the rubble didn't bring up any of Naruto's things.
She traveled back to the Aburame compound over the rooftops, and Shibi, Shino's father, let her in again.
"You saw the smoke."
Mebuki nodded. "It was Naruto's apartment."
Shibi nodded. "I had assumed as much. If you so wish, I open my house for the night."
Mebuki nodded. "Thank you. We appreciate it."
Everyone just had a sleepover that night at the Aburame compound. It was kinda late, and no one really wanted to fight their way through the crowds mourning and/or celebrating the attack of the Kyuubi 8 years ago.
"I really can't," Naruto argued. "I can't ask you to do that. I'll just get another apartment from the old man."
Sakura sighed. "We're not talking you out of this one, are we."
Naruto shook his head.
Shino sighed minutely. "We haven't been able to talk you out of something ever. Why? Because you are exceedingly stubborn."
"Well," Sakura sighed again. "When my mother brings over meals, don't refuse them or Kami help you, she will literally force them down your throat. She was a chuunin, she can, and will do it."
Naruto nodded meekly. He'd learned that the hard way a few days ago when despite his vehement protests, the lunch that Sakura's mom had apparently made for him, ended up in his backpack anyway. Sakura had bullied him into eating it. On the plus side, his new socks were really warm, if a bit oversized. Sakura had said it was so he could grow, and they would still fit him.
Sakura smiled, reluctantly turning away at Shino's hand on her shoulder. "See you tomorrow Naruto."
"See you tomorrow," Naruto agreed. He waved to them as he left, making a beeline right for Hokage tower.
He was stopped three-quarters of the way there by an old man with a bandaged face.
"Naruto Uzumaki. The Hokage has already selected a place for you. Come with me."
(AN) *evil grin* Also, poll, go see!
