Chapter One When Team Seven was Still Team Seven.

Sakura was running through the town. "Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! Where are you Sasuke-kun? Sasuke-kun, Naruto!"

Almost as soon as she had finished a blonde and orange blur ran out a nearby house and hugged her. "Sakura-chan!"

The pink haired girl gave a small smile to Naruto. She moved her gaze to the house he had just come from and met a black, blank stare. She blinked before smiling and pulling away from Naruto, who pouted slightly. "Sasuke-kun!"

The said boy twitched slightly and turned around. He was not in the mood to deal with her right now. He started to walk away and heard her following him. He sighed and speed up. Sakura also quickened he pace.

Sasuke turned right and tripped over a piece of loose gravel. He cursed at the ground as he pushed himself up only to be pushed down again by Sakura. "Good Morning, Sasuke-kun!"

"Oww! Sakura! Get off me, that hurts!" Sasuke tried to pry the girl off him but that wasn't working. He turned his head and saw Naruto. "Get her offa me! I'll buy you ramen for a year if you do." pleading expression evident.

Naurto's eyes began to light up but Sakura quickly countered. "Two years if you don't! I'll buy you ramen for two years!" she offered. This was like an auction for Naruto's assistance.

"I'll give you anything you want!" Sasuke pleaded.

"I'll kiss you!" Sakura declared quickly. At this Naruto smirked and backed off.

"Sorry Sasuke." Sakura giggled and hugged the defeated Uchiha tighter.

After a few minutes Sasuke was starting to give up hope that anyone would come and rescue him from the strawberry-haired girl. Suddenly a blonde head peeked in. Blue pupilsless eyes widened at the two. "Sasuke-kun! Sakura! Get off of him, NOW!" Ino ran over and kicked Sakura hard in the side,

"Ow!" The pain in her ribs forced her to unwillingly let go of him. Ino pulled Sasuke up and glared at the girl on the ground, clutching he stomach.

Sakura watched, wide-eyed as Ino smirked at her before pulling Sasuke to the other side of the room.

"You owe me one now, Sasuke-kun." she said, manipulation pure in her scarlet voice, before planting a small kiss on Sasuke's pale face, which was now red with embarrassment. A few tears made their way down Sakura's face before she pushed herself up and ran out of the room, not seeing either of the boys' worried looks, or Ino's sudden satisfaction.

Sakura tripped over a crack in a sidewalk, but quickly pushed herself up and kept running again. A few blocks away she fell to the ground, she pulled herself up slightly and slumped down against a wall, sobs raking her body vigorously.

Footsteps reached her earshot and the sound of the ground moving slightly told her someone was now sitting next to her. She felt two tan, orange-covered arms wrap around her and pull her close. "'ey Sakura-chan. What's wrong?" he asked, obviously concerned for his teammate.

She looked up and met soft blue eyes. Pastel green eyes shimmering with tears, she managed to stutter

"I-I thought that since…since I was in the same group as him…we could be friends and he would learn to like me but…" a sob choked her words.

Naruto frowned and hugged her again. "Come on. Sasuke's just a jerk. I'll make him say sorry to you!"

He stood up and pulled her with him. He drug her back to the house and flung the door open, causing it to slam against a wall. He pulled her to the room that Sasuke and Ino were in and threw open the door. "Sasuke-Teme!" He stormed over, leaving Sakura over by the door.

Sasuke looked up from where he was sitting. "What do you want dobe?" Ino, sensing trouble of a fight, left two minute previous of Naruto's entrance.

"Tell Sakura-chan you're sorry right now! And stop being so mean to her!" When she heard her name Sakura looked up and started to slowly walk forward. Sasuke looked up at her.

"I, don't have to apologize to anyone." his words hit Sakura like an arrow through the heart.

"Knock it off! I'll fucking hit you if I have to!" He burst out in rage. "Sakura doesn't deserve this from a low-life like you!"

Sakura gave him a small, watery smile, as an attempt to avoid a brawl. "I'm sorry Sasuke…I won't do it anymore if you don't want me to, okay? Friends?" She held out her hand to the boy on the floor hopefully.

Sasuke looked around reluctantly, but he took it. "Okay then. Friends." He gave her a small smile back. A single, rare, smile.

Naruto grinned, happy that this was over. "We really need to get that Ino off of our backs." he declared, his teammates nodded, Sasuke's eyes wide, Naruto continued. "I have an idea. You guys have heard that Shikamaru likes Ino, right?" his friends slowly nodded. "Well, I've heard that with his hair down he rivals Sasuke in looks!" Sasuke gave Naruto a disblieving look. But Sakura didn't doubt Naruto for a second.

Sakura jumped up, remembering something she had forgotten a while back. "Oh right! I was looking for you to begin with, because I met this guy who lost his sword to some guys that sounded like they were from the Village Hidden in the Mist. So maybe if we could get...Ino's team to help, we can kill two birds with one stone! What do you say?"

Sasuke nodded. "If it's ok with Kakashi-Sensei and Ino's team, then it should be alright. Does anyone know where Kakashi-sensei is?"

"He's with Iruka-sensei. I saw them talking when I was looking for you two. So if we can find Iruka-sensei then we'll find Kakashi-sensei."

"I have a few ideas of where Iruka-sensei is! Come on!" Naruto pulled them out and started towards his favorite place.

When the group reached the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, they looked in and around, but their sensei was nowhere to be found. Sakura grinned a little and poked Naruto when she saw the three people who were, though. She walked in, "Hey Shikamaru, Ino-pig, and Chouji. We're trying to find Kakashi-sensei, have you seen him?" They shook their heads no and Sakura was about to leave when she thought of something else. "Hey guys, we need another team to help us with a mission and we were wondering if you guys would help us. How 'bout it Shikamaru?" She asked, voice small.

Ino glared at Sakura. "Why are you asking him? I'm the leader." she hissed lowly.

"No you aren't. And if it's ok with Asuma-sensei then we'll be glad to help you." he stood, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Come on Ino, Chouji." Shikamaru started to walk out, followed by his teammates.

Sakura stopped Ino. "Hey Ino-Pig! Why don't you pay for your friends, ne?"

Ino tunred to glare at said pink-haired girl. The two boys had stopped and looked back. "Uh-oh."

"They aren't my friends. Just my teammates." She scoffed. Shikamaru glared at her before pulling out his wallet and paying for the food Choji had eaten. "What a drag..."

"Shikamaru, you shouldn't always pay for your girlfrie--OWWW! What did you do that for?" Sakura rubbed the side of her face, the impression of a leather wallet impinted on it, while glaring at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru walked over to her, picked up his wallet and left. Ino glared at Sakura one last time before following her teammates. Sakura sighed and walked out, still rubbing her face. She looked at her own teammates and sighed. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her, "What did you do now?"

"Shikamaru got mad at me for calling Ino his girlfriend…oww. And they don't know where Kakashi-sensei is."

Naruto grinned. "I have a way of getting Iruka-sensei to come to us. Come on!" Naruto pulled the two to the fountain and jumped on top of it. "IRUKA-SENSEI!" he shouted, no meekness hinted in his loud voice.

Moments later the brown haired man was running towards Naruto. "Naruto! Are you okay? What's wrong? Why did you call for me?" He sidestepped Kakashi and the other man stopped next to Iruka.

Naruto grinned. "I'm okay Iruka-sensei but Sakura-chan needed to talk to Kakashi-sensei."

Sakura started talking right after that. "Sensei, I met a man who lost his sword to a group of mist nin and I was wondering if we got help from another group, like Shikamaru's, if we could go get it back?"

"No. Or don't you remember the last mist nin we met?" Kakashi looked at them from his one uncovered eye. Sakura sighed and pouted. "That's not going to work. You three may have gotten stronger but not strong enough. Let someone older and stronger take care of it."

Kakashi grabbed Iruka and pulled him away, ending the conversation. So the three headed back to the house. When they got there Sakura paused and said that she had better go and tell the man, Muteki, that they couldn't go get his sword. She dashed off.

Naruto had already gone inside while Sasuke watched their teammate run off. He stayed outside a few more minutes before walking inside. He walked into the room where Naruto was and saw he was looking depressed. "What's wrong, Naruto?"

The blond looked up and sighed. "I'm really happy for Iruka-sensei and all but…now I don't have anyone to love…or get love from."

Sasuke sat down behind Naruto and put his arms around the other boy. "That's not true. I can still love you. I still do love you."

Naruto looked up sharply and was kissed on the lips. Sasuke pushed him down and he began to move his hands to Naruto's pant-line when suddenly the door opened. A man a few years older then them walked in.

"Muteki did not need to see that." The boys jumped apart and looked at the man.

"Who are you?" The black haired boy asked, looking him over.

"Muteki. And Muteki was sent by the pink haired girl to tell you that she has gone to get Muteki's sword back."

When Sasuke heard this he jumped up and ran out the door. The two inside watched as he ran down the street. When they couldn't see him anymore Naruto looked once again to the man to spoke in the mysterious third-person. "What did you say?"

"The pink haired girl went alone to get Muteki's sword." he repeated.

Naruto blinked before jumping up and following in Sasuke's footsteps, running to save his friend. "Sakura-Chan!"

XXX

Sakura jumped and started to whisper to herself again. "Oh come on, Sakura. It's not like you need those boys to do everything. You aren't that weak, are you? NO! That's what I thought."

Sakura stopped when she saw a man a head of her on the bridge. The man slowly turned to face her. "Hello there, young lady." He smiled at her.

"H-Hello." Sakura smiled back at him, a bit uneasily.

"What, may I ask, is a lady such as yourself, doing out here alone in such times?"

"I'm on a mission. And I can take care of myself. I'm a ninja, see?" She pointed to her headband. "And I could ask you the same. What are you doing out alone?"

The man laughed. "I am on my way home. And I am alone because I am also a ninja." He held open his cloak to show a headband though Sakura couldn't see from where.

Suddenly a voice cut through he air. "Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan, where are you? Sakura-chan!" Sakura quickly started to walk across the bridge, not looking back. The voice called out again, this time closer. "Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan wait!"

Sakura's pace quickened but Naruto was still able to catch up with her. "Sakura-chan! What were you thinking coming out here alone? You could have gotten hurt. You are ok, right? Nothing happened, right?"

Sakura pulled away from him. "I'm fine! I'm not some weak little girl that needs protecting all the time! I can take care of myself!"

Naruto looked at her. "What? Sakura…I never said you couldn't take care of yourself but…What's wrong?"

"Nothing…"

Neither of them had been watching the other man who had been watching from behind Sakura the whole time, a small smirk falling on his face. He walked closer to Sakura before slipping his sword around her neck and pulling her to him, making it so she couldn't get away.

Sakura screamed and was pulling against the sword, trying to pull away, fear in her eyes. Naruto was glaring at the man. "What the hell? Who are you and what do you want? Let Sakura-chan go! NOW!"

The man just smirked again. "You can call me Satsugai. And since I know who you two are I feel no need to introduce each other and waste time. What do I want? I guess for now I'm just going to have fun with you two." He then looked down at the girl trying to get away from him and laughed. "Do you want to know what your teammates do when you're not around? They kiss each other. Even knowing how much it would hurt you if you found out."

Sakura froze and looked at Naruto, eyes wide. "I-is that true Naruto?" The blond looked up and his eyes told her what she needed to know. Her eyes quickly filled up with tears and she looked away sharply.

"But Sakura-chan I still love you too!"

Sakura looked up again, tears rolling down her face. She was glaring at him. "I HATE YOU! I hate you." She sunk to the ground and Satsugai let her. He grinned at them before disappearing.

Naruto ran over to her and put his arms around her. She pushed him and stood up. She started running back towards the village and ran into Sasuke. He grabbed her arm. "Sakura, what's wrong?

Sakura tried to pull away but Sasuke wouldn't let her. "Let me go! Let me go now! I hate you! Both of you! I never want to see you again!" When Sasuke heard these words his eyes widened and he let go of her arm, allowing her to dash off into the forest.

XXX

Sakura couldn't remember how long she had been running but her legs hurt and she was lost. She had stopped crying, only because she couldn't see through the tears and had kept falling. Now that she had time to think she knew she had over reacted a lot and when she found her way back she would have to tell them she was sorry and she hadn't meant it. Hopefully they wouldn't be too mad at her.

She looked around her trying to remember which way she had come from but she couldn't. Oh she really was lost! She sighed and stood up; she had to try to find her way back.

She started walking, thinking about what had happened and thinking about how she had made it worse for her friends. She really was no good sometimes. This was one of them. She looked up and saw there were people in front of her. She gasped when she saw who it was and tried to find a place to hide before they saw her but it was too late.

Orochimaru walked over to the girl. "Well, well, what do we have here?"

END CHAPTER 1

(This story is written by SalimaLiAkiyama, Yureidoru, and FallenSeraphim.)