Sakura had just lost her first patient ever. A young child no older than 5 years old with a heart problem. It hadn't even really been her fault. Sakura knew that but it didn't change the feeling of helplessness she now carried with her.
She took a page out of Kakashi's book and sat by the stone tracing the name of people they had lost. It was there Sakura met her emotional support ANBU for the first time long before either party was even aware it would become their thing.
"Oh… I'm sorry I can leave if you want to be here" Sakura mumbled at once when she saw the 3 ANBU members standing a bit away. When she got up to leave Bull of them signed stop before coming forward easing her down once more.
Jaguar took out a bottle of sake from somewhere and offered her a glass. Let it not be said that Sakura didn't trust her allies as she didn't even bother checking for poison.
Before long Sakura was telling them about what happened, and the others just nodded along or made an appreciating sound at the right moment. Once she finally ran out of words she just felt tired, tired but calmer inside, less like the world around her was coming down.
"Thank you very much for listening to me. It helps me greatly overcome this and a step towards recovery" Sakura said before bowing at them when she was about to leave.
Later the ANBU team would report the event to the rest and they all agreed, that if no one else would give the girl all the love, support, and affection she needed then they would do it themselves.
Alone
Sakura sat by herself in the café eating dango alone since no one had had the time to spend and celebrate together with her that Sakura was moving up in ranks. Sakura had always thought she would be celebrating among friends and family. Instead, Sakura was playing with her dango wondering when she became so lonely.
Suddenly there were sitting people around her. Sakura could honestly say that she had thought last time had been a one-time thing. In front of her was Bear and beside her was Owl. The confusion must have shown on her face when Owl took a small packet out of their pocket. Bear placed a card down beside the present. On the outside of the card, it had handwritten "congratulation on becoming Jounin" with Sakura's favorite flow painted on it.
It was by far the most touching thing anyone had ever done for her. Here were some strangers who had taken the time and effort to bring her something handmade and even spent time to figure out what she liked. Sakura had to blink trying to hold back her tears
"I- just-… Thank you" Sakura finally manage to choke out, her voice breaking as she said it. Owl nodded and Bear petted her hair both seemingly happy with that sorry excuse of appreciation.
Though out the day more ANBUs came by either with small gifts, treats, or cards. Some just stopped by shortly to patten her on the shoulder too busy for anything more. To Sakura, it had meant the world and it was the happiest she had been in a long time, and it took days for her to stop smiling.
The next day Sakura had made 10 different pies and left them on the table in their lounge. This was when fighting once more broke out on who got to be on the official "spring watch".
Passing of family
Sakura was moving some of her parents' old things out and had to stop before she began crying her eyes out again. Deep breath Sakura.
While they hadn't always seen eye to eye Sakura had always known they had loved her unconditionally no matter what. Their support had always meant the world to her even if they couldn't understand her choices. It made her feel so alone now despite still having Tsunade, but she was always so busy, Sakura didn't want to disturb the woman.
Sitting down on their- her couch Sakura put her head in her hands and focused only on breathing. She didn't even lift her head when the door was opened and closed. It wasn't until she felt a glowed hand pet her hair just the same way her father always had that she looked up to see Lynx.
She didn't even have to think about it before leasing onto the older masked man. She was so busy seeking comfort from him that she didn't see the 6 other ANBU in her living room until they made some noise.
Before she even had a chance to have a cohesive thought Cat had gotten her rapped like a burrito in blankets. Lynx was holding her in his lap on the couch and Raven showed up in front of her spoon-feeding her ice cream. Her favorite green tea ice cream with dango and cookie dough.
It was so funny watching them carry out the old stuff and arguing over what she might want to keep in sign languish while treating her so carefully it made her laugh.
Later Sakura would leave a warm blueberry pie and a bucket of vanilla ice cream on the windowsill for them as thanks. It was quickly become the most popular place to put the pies and would end up becoming a tradition.
The fight to get on "Spring watch" intensified 10-fold once they returned with bragging and Tsunade began to wonder what new training scheme the ANBU had begun doing with the quick improvement and fewer accidents.
Broken
The war had ended, and Sakura had never felt so tired in her whole life before. Around her people were celebrating with tears of joy. She stood there as Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi were made into legends- to heroes despite one being a traitor. Apparently, everything was just forgiven and forget when it came to Sasuke.
It didn't feel right with Sakura, left a taste so bitter in her mouth it made her ill at the same time it made her want to scream and trough a fit, where was the justice in this?! What about Sai?! Their loyal teammate who sacrificed his life or Neji for that matter, what about those? Where was the glory or festival in their honor? What about all the others that were lost Sakura didn't even know the name of.
At that moment Sakura hated them with a passion once used to fuel her training. Sakura never wanted anything to do with any of them ever again she swore. One day she would be offered the job as head medic of the hospital Sakura would decline just as she had delinked Sasuke's offer of marriage.
She would stay a Jounin-sensei to train the next generation and show them all that was lost to give them this life. She would train many teams each just as loyal as the next. All silently swearing that they would make the truth known. In a few generations, the legendary hero would be a young medic that gave her all, friends that lost their lives to give a future, and her loyal emotional support ANBU as was their pet named, the rest of team 7 forgotten as a side character in Sakura-sama's story.
She left when it made her too sick to stay and went to the unmarked graves she and the other medics had had to dig. It was what they had done in the beginning before they got too busy trying to keep the rest from dying. So many people swamped the tents that no one had time for the dead, but something had to be done before diseases began to spread among the living. In the end, 78% of their total dead were burned.
Sakura sat by them crying her eyes out for those no one would miss right now. It was then she heard someone step on a twig and her head snapped up. It was a small group of people from Konoha that Sakura had never seen before. It wasn't until the "leader" took a broken ANBU mask out from somewhere that she realized it was wolverine standing before her. She gave a broken laugh when it hit her that in the company of complete strangers, she felt more at home than among people she had known almost all her life.
Later that night just before Sakura fell fully asleep, she heard someone mumble troublesome before she was carried in strong arms away. There she felt safe and was quick to fall asleep under the watchful eyes of ANBU.
Crush
While the ANBU had become increasingly aware of the among of people, both men, women, and non-binary people that turned their heads when Sakura passed by, it didn't seem like Sakura had picked up on it. Which was just fine with them for the longest time. They didn't have to worry over someone breaking and when someone became too insistent and didn't understand that no meant no, they were more than happy to make an example out of them.
So, they could pinpoint the exact moment this arrangement changed. Sakura began to daydream more while at the same time stress baking twice as often, and while they got the baked goods it was still worrisome. All were quickly made aware of this new development and the hunt began to find out who had stolen her heart.
It was by pure accident they finally found out that it was the Nara heir. It had them all growling and those members that were Naras themselves bowed their heads in shame. That lazy chain-smoking nobody was hardly worthy of someone like their Sakura. He had done nothing to deserve such honor.
Sakura's last love had ended in unfathomed heartbreak that the panic attack didn't come as a surprise for the members on "Spring watch" and they came prepared. Every team always had at least one emotionally competent member to help guide them. Many of them were forced to see their psychologist to increase their chance of getting a spot on "spring watch" list.
Here it was Wolf that listen while she talked about her feelings nodding at the right time and offering his shoulder for her to cry on while bear was bring snacks and blankets.
Nightingale had gone off to bring the Nara over. While no one approved they all understood that he was what made her happy right now and that was all that mattered. Should he step even a toe out of line, they would never be able to find him ever again. It came in handy that ANBU had special cells in T&I that even the employees didn't know about.
Everyone had been surprised to see her show up in the middle of the dining table totally ignoring the three clan heads and the two other heirs. Her sole focus was on the young genius gripping him and leaving just as quickly as she had shown up, now armed with the heir over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
That lazy brat, as they had come to refer to him as, was surprised when he had been dumped on the floor upon arrival. Quickly got over it when he saw the state Sakura was in. They stayed nearby to watch as they confessed and even shared a kiss before Sakura hid her red face in his shoulder out of sheer embarrassment while he just held her close, kissed her hair, and whispered sweet nothing to her.
Once they got the boy's attention they made clear threats- warnings on his life should he ever hurt her feelings. If they had a picture or two hinging on wooden pools for training on hitting the target… well, they were just preparing in case it was ever needed.
Shikamaru would one day have to get permission from ALL ANBU members before being allowed to propose to Sakura. They would grill the poor man that any lesser shinobi would have broken under the pressure.
Sakura would still leave them sweets on the windowsill, and they would keep watch until the day Sakura would die of old age and the original members were long gone.
+1 (Or in this case how it all came about)
ANBU was the elite shinobi group of Konoha. They were the best of the best at their job. No one that wasn't directly involved with them even knew who they were under their mask or even where their head courters were. Information that wasn't a s-ranked secret was shared among them, never curtain if that information could be useful to someone else.
So yes, they all knew about the disaster that was team 7 of Kakashi's failure at teaching. It was totally unfair to the civilian girl, and they all felt some level of pity for her and maybe rooting a bit on the underdog. Especially when they all left her behind. But they never thought their paths would ever cross with hers.
It was Tiger that saw her first and how wild was that? She had somehow passed all the traps and security in place while being so quiet they didn't hear her or felt her chakra. It put them all on edge. The girl didn't seem to mind them, she just smiled shyly at them.
"Hi, I came to introduce myself. I'm Sakura Haruno, the new medic of ANBU and I will be in your care. No! Wait! You will… eeehh be in my care?" Sakura said nervously her cheeks red in clear embarrassment over her mistake.
"Anyway, I just came to say hi and I brought apple pies! Enjoy! Merry Christmas!" She hurriedly said before placing them in cat's arms running out of the room as if followed by a tail-beast. They all stood frozen in place looking at one another to ensure that they had indeed seen the infamous girl too.
Wolf moved towards cat to smell the pies to check for poison not that any of them thought the Hokage's student would turn traitor, but one could never be too careful in their line of work. They quickly got a slice each and everyone watched at wolf took the first bite waiting a few minutes to see if he had any reaction to it. When nothing happened except Wolf eating more eagerly the others began eating too.
All of them came to an undisclosed agreement while eating the pie. This personification of spring, everything good and cute had to be protected no matter the cost.
They could later be seen guarding her like they guarded the Hokage and in their lounge, there was a wall dedicated to everything Sakura. From her work schedule to her favorite food and most frequented shop. They even had extra comfort food for different occasions around in case the shops wouldn't have it in stock and every new member was introduced to it.
Well, that and her apple pies were to make mutiny for if she asked for them too. A fight ensured between them for another slice of pie.