RBK

Chapter 1: thoughts on the stability provided by routines

It was a common story: anyone who saw Haruno Sakura splinter the ground with one fist was quick to fall in love with her. Personally, Kakashi didn't see what all the fuss was about. Sure, such a display of raw strength was unexpected from a girl so slight and so colorful, even for those who were warned beforehand of what they would see, but past the shallow appeal of finding such extremes within one pretty package, Haruno Sakura wasn't that big a deal. At most, she was shaping up to be the second coming of Tsunade, based on the descriptions of her delicate fresh-faced beauty to her exceptional chakra control, as evidenced by the purple diamond-shaped seal on her forehead.

The most notable thing about her was her civilian lineage — despite being a prodigy, Kakashi understood the value of putting in the work, regardless of one's natural talent or intelligence — but even that wasn't so interesting. It was uncommon for sure, but every now and then, a shinobi of civilian descent would show promise, and Haruno Sakura seemed to be one such example.

She was a blip in Konoha's radar, one among many, as Kakashi once was. But something nagged at Kakashi, something that hoped Konoha wouldn't chew her up and spit her out the same way it did with him, with his father.

And so he took note of her every time they happened to cross paths. By no means did he intentionally seek her out or follow her, but over the next few months, he bumped into her enough to have some vague awareness of her weekly schedule.

Without fail, she had combat training with Tsunade-hime every morning at five, save Sundays. (This appeared to be more for Tsunade-hime's benefit, if the rumors of her drinking habits were to be believed.) Then almost immediately after, she would work a six-hour shift at the hospital, starting at nine and ending at three. At four, she could be found on one of the training grounds next to the lake, one clone meditating on top of the water's surface while she either practiced her taijutsu with Gai or worked with Kurenai on genjutsu detection and development. On Monday and Thursday evenings, she would go grocery shopping before finally heading home.

Like many fine shinobi, she was disciplined. And like many fine shinobi, she was so incredibly boring and predictable, despite what people said about the raw physical strength that pulsed through her veins.

Or rather, she was incredibly boring and predictable, until she came across Naruto. Kakashi harbored far too much guilt and shame for one person to carry in one lifetime, and his failure to watch over Minato-sensei's boy over the past five years was just another he had quietly added to his growing list. And besides, there were too many excuses, too many reasons to explain why he just couldn't. ANBU was a time suck like no other, one that he welcomed as a distraction from the regrets that haunted him, but it also left him little room to feel anything for the boy other than a passive, apathetic acceptance of the boy's circumstances because despite Naruto's loneliness, he seemed to do just fine on his own.

Haruno didn't seem to agree.

"That's not a good idea, little man," she said, eyeing the stacks of instant ramen he had in his shopping basket as she reached above his head to pick up a box of bonito soup stock.

From his spot by the butchery section, Kakashi observed as Naruto stilled, unsure whether she was addressing him. He slowly turned his head up to look at her, mouth opening and closing as he tried to find the words to speak.

"Are your parents good with that?" she spoke again, her tone amused.

To this, Naruto could respond.

"My parents aren't around anymore."

Kakashi watched as Haruno's eyes glistened with emotion, her gaze fixed on the endless boxes of bonito.

"Me too, kid," she said quietly. "It sucks, doesn't it?"

"It's not so bad," Naruto said, apparently keen to avoid upsetting his conversation partner. "I never met them, so I'm used to being on my own."

For the first time, Haruno finally looked at Naruto, her eyes calmly registering the whisker marks on his chubby cheeks. The boy ducked his head, as though trying to hide his face.

"I know you say that to make things sound better, but it really doesn't," she said wryly. "So why are you stocking up on instant ramen? The food at the orphanage not doing it for you?"

Naruto fidgeted.

"I got kicked out today. They said I couldn't live there anymore because I'm five now." Given the vitriol and the vicious whispers aimed Naruto's way, Kakashi was surprised that the orphanage even allowed the boy to stay six months after news had spread of his jinchuuriki status, but he was not terribly shocked by their cruel timing. "But jii-chan set me up with my own place! It has a kitchen and everything!"

"Why isn't your jii-chan around to help you with your grocery shopping? Everyone needs help their first time doing that."

"He's really busy doing Hokage stuff," Naruto said, yawning. "When I grow up, I'm gonna be Hokage too, just like him."

Haruno nodded slowly.

"Can I tell you a secret about future Hokage?" she whispered conspiratorially. Naruto leaned in, eyes wide. "Future Hokage take care of themselves. If they want to be the strongest shinobi in the village, strong enough to take care of everyone, they can't fill themselves up with instant ramen every day. If they do, they won't have enough time to do Hokage stuff because they'll be stuck in the bathroom the whole time from being too backed up."

"That doesn't sound good," Naruto said through his giggles.

A soft smile radiated from Haruno's face.

"No, it doesn't," she agreed. "How about this; what if I help you do your grocery shopping tonight and teach you how to cook an easy meal? We could use your brand new kitchen."

"Okay!"

Haruno sighed.

"Before you agree to invite a complete stranger into your home, you should probably ask for their name. I'm Sakura. And you are?"

"Naruto!" the boy said exuberantly.

"With a name like that, it's like you were destined to fall in love with ramen," Haruno lamented, winking to show him that she was just teasing. "Now let's put all of these back and get some real food. This round of groceries is on me. Consider it a birthday present."

And so Tsunade-hime's beloved apprentice walked side-by-side with the monstrous jinchuuriki, espousing the benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables the entire time. Something thawed inside Kakashi, but he didn't think too much of it. It was certainly a sweet gesture on Haruno's part, but if there was anything Kakashi learned from watching the Sandaime and all the rest, it was that no one, not even the most well-intentioned souls, would spend time on anyone or anything that didn't further their shinobi career.

At the very least, Kakashi thought dryly, Haruno Sakura would be a blip on Naruto's radar. A rare blip of kindness that the boy would remember, probably for the rest of his life. And he supposed that was better than nothing.

Haruno Sakura had a new routine.

Right after her shift ended at three in the afternoon, she would immediately head to the Academy, where a boisterous Naruto would run out and jump into her arms, excitedly telling her about all the cool new shinobi moves they learned that day. He would watch her train, his clumsy little limbs doing their best to imitate Haruno's taijutsu movements, and occasionally, he would even try to meditate by the lake, the water gently lapping at his feet and knees on windier days. While Haruno still did her grocery shopping on Monday and Thursday evenings, Naruto was a permanent fixture by her side, dutifully filling his basket with fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and the occasional pack of instant ramen as a treat. And after grocery shopping, she would go to Naruto's apartment and help the boy cook in bulk so that he could have ready-made meals on hand.

It was certainly a neat little system, but Kakashi was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. All it would take was Haruno's rising star to eclipse her interest in keeping the jinchuuriki company, to dismantle this new routine that she had been keeping up for four years now.

In the end, Kakashi wasn't right, but he also wasn't wrong. At twenty-one, Haruno was inaugurated as the head of Konoha's brand new Medical Ninjutsu Training Program, and while she had less time to spend with Naruto, she was steadfast in greeting him every day once the Academy dismissed its students, and instead of Mondays and Thursdays, grocery shopping and meal prep was relegated to Fridays.

And then one day, Haruno Sakura disappeared, shortly before she turned twenty-four. Kato Dan and his niece Shizune took over the Medical Ninjutsu Training Program. Short of asking Tsunade-hime about her apprentice, there wasn't much Kakashi could do to suss out the reason behind her sudden absence. While Haruno slowly earned a reputation for being charming, polite, and easy to work with, her desire for privacy and lack of friends made her a bit of an enigma. Kakashi didn't have too many friends either, but at least his reasons were obvious. Haruno's were not.

This was probably why he was surprised to find that Genma of all people knew exactly what Haruno was doing during her now ten-month stint away from home.

"She's trying to become a Slug Sage," Genma said around his senbon. "Tsunade-hime warned her that wasn't a thing, but she insisted."

"I didn't know you were close to Haruno-san," Kakashi said, voice pleasantly neutral as always. He turned a page in his book.

"Yeah, she's cool," Genma said, nodding. "Her folks helped me out when I was in a tough spot, so when they died, I checked in on her every now and then. Even helped her with her target practice until Tsunade-hime snatched her up."

"I've never seen you two together," Kakashi said thoughtfully.

"You been watching her?"

Kakashi carefully avoided Genma's wide grin.

"I watch everyone, Genma."

He peered innocently over Icha Icha as Genma shuddered.

"She lives next door to me and across from Tenzou, and she makes dinner for us once a week. Or at least she used to, when she was still around." Genma pouted around his senbon. "She's really fucking good at cooking. I miss her."

Kakashi wanted to ask Genma if he knew that she had been sheltering Minato-sensei's boy from glares and vicious comments for the past seven years, but given Genma's earlier reaction, it was probably better to keep that question close to his chest. And so Kakashi moved his eye unseeingly over the words in Icha Icha, wondering who else Haruno Sakura cooked for.

Kakashi stared helplessly at the two files in front of him. Uzumaki Naruto. Uchiha Sasuke.

Despite the boy being Minato-sensei in miniature with Kushina's exuberant grin, Kakashi thought only of one name: Obito. He also saw whispers of himself in the last Uchiha, and Kakashi knew that he would rather relive his most unsavory ANBU mission a hundred times over than be put in charge of this barely functional genin team. At least everyone made it out of that particular mission alive. Kakashi wasn't feeling too hot about his success rate with these two genin, their young faces eerie echoes of people long lost.

Dully, he noted how Rin had no counterpart in this team. Perhaps even the universe decided that such an arrangement would have been unusually cruel.

Kakashi steeled himself, ready to face his ghosts.

And so when an eraser landed on his head as he opened the door to the classroom, he was a little more than surprised to come face to face with Haruno Sakura. He wondered what happened to her goal of becoming a Slug Sage.

"Hello, Hatake-sensei," she said, her voice low, a taunt in there somewhere.

So she knew who he was. He regarded her coolly, one eye sweeping over the diamond on her forehead.

"You look a little old to be one of my genin," he said mildly.

Haruno grinned. Kakashi told himself he wasn't charmed by her smile at all.

"I'm not one of your genin. My name is Haruno Sakura —" as if he didn't know who she was, "—and I took the liberty of sending Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun outside to run laps around Training Ground Three to burn off some energy," Haruno said pleasantly.

"If you want them, you can have them, Haruno-sensei. You'll be doing me a favor."

She crossed her arms, unbothered.

"I'm not here to poach your students, Hatake-san. I came by to check on Naruto. He insisted on leaving the eraser above the door for you, and I have a hard time saying no to him, hence..." she trailed off, gesturing casually at the eraser on the floor.

"I think Naruto will be very pleased to know his little trick worked," Kakashi said drolly, his eye curving to indicate a smile.

Haruno smiled back at him, leaning back against a desk.

"If we could speak about Naruto, just for a moment." At her tone, Kakashi put his book away. "I need to know he'll be treated with patience, consideration, and respect."

Kakashi almost bristled.

"What makes you think he won't be?"

Haruno shrugged, her face neutral.

"The Uchiha boy was almost certainly placed under your care so that he could learn from someone with the Sharingan. His natural talent means he's easy to teach. But even the best teachers forget to pay attention to the charge who needs more time and patience for concepts to click."

"Despite what you've heard about me, Haruno-san, I don't abandon my teammates." The book was back up over his face. "Naruto will be fine."

A soft hand clutched his wrist and Kakashi stiffened.

"You misunderstand me, Hatake-san. I wanted to talk to you about this because..." she trailed off, exhaling loudly. "I know what it's like to work my way up from nothing, and Naruto will have to do the same. I'm not saying that you haven't worked hard to get to where you are right now, but the learning process works a little differently for the prodigy than it does for the below-average shinobi. I'm sure we can both agree on that."

Kakashi stayed silent for a moment, desperately trying not to think of Obito.

"Why do you care so much about him? He's nothing to you."

Haruno frowned.

"I care about him because he's nothing to everyone, and that's no way for a child to grow up." She let go of him and Kakashi ignored how his wrist yearned for warmth all of a sudden. "If you need help with him or the Uchiha boy, come find me. I know a thing or two about teaching difficult charges."

As Kakashi suddenly realized that the woman in front of him had no discernable scent, she smiled pleasantly then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

When Kakashi arrived at Training Ground Three, Naruto and Sasuke were laying on their backs, breathing heavily as Haruno pleasantly walked them through the importance of improving one's physical stamina.

"I think I can take it from here, Haruno-sensei," Kakashi said, his gaze fixed on her face.

The boy who looked too much like Minato-sensei rolled over onto his belly, blue eyes wide.

"Whoa, is this sensei?" he said in awe. "He's old."

To her credit, Haruno did not laugh, but the corners of her mouth twitched ever so slightly.

"Show some respect, Naruto. This is Hatake Kakashi, otherwise known as the Copy Ninja, and he's a very talented and respected shinobi," Haruno said, smiling as she stood. Kakashi noted that she did not bother to mention that he was only two years older than her. "That means it's my cue to leave."

"You can't stay, Sakura-sensei?" Everyone looked at Sasuke, surprised by his question. Although his cheeks were ruddy from exertion, the shade of red grew more intense under everyone's scrutiny. "Your advice is useful."

Haruno grinned and rested her hands on her knees to reach Sasuke's eye line.

"Tell you what, Sasuke-kun. Why don't you join me and Naruto for dinner tonight after you're done training with Kakashi-sensei? And if you both decide that you like sensei, you can invite him to dinner as well." Haruno glanced over at him slyly. "We can both give you all sorts of useful advice and answer any questions you have."

Both boys nodded and she cradled their cheeks fondly before nodding at Kakashi.

"They're all yours, Kakashi-sensei. Maybe I'll see you later for dinner."

She disappeared in a swirl of leaves. The two little gremlins looked at Kakashi, suddenly unimpressed, and he quickly reconsidered his original plan to make some hasty introductions before telling them to come back for actual training tomorrow. He cleared his throat and jingled a lone bell on a string with a twitch of his fingers.

"How about we introduce ourselves first? Then I can tell you about this fun little thing called the bell test."

As Sasuke spoke about wanting to kill a certain man, Kakashi vaguely recalled that Haruno Sakura smelled delicate, like white tea leaves.

Kakashi did not join them for dinner. Instead, he perched himself onto a tree branch, chakra suppressed, and watched Haruno set up two prep stations, one for meat, the other for vegetables, assigning the boys to man each one. The boys chatted animatedly as they recounted the events of the bell test to Haruno, who smiled fondly as she listened to their overlapping voices.

"— and then Kakashi-sensei made it so that we saw you injured, but I didn't fall for it —"

"Yeah you did, idiot, I had to pull you back to keep you in our hiding spot —"

"— and then I was like, oh wait, nee-chan's too strong to get hurt in the middle of a training ground doing nothing —"

"You cried and blew our cover —"

Haruno giggled as she directed the boys to carefully slide the meat into the pot of boiling water.

"So who ended up getting the bell and who ended up getting tied to the tree stump?"

"One of my clones got the bell, but it was Sasuke's idea to bombard Kakashi-sensei with clones —"

"So we told Kakashi-sensei it was a joint effort —"

"Then he let us go!"

Haruno smiled sweetly, ruffling Naruto's hair and then Sasuke's.

"What an amazing first day you two had! As a treat, we can have some mochi ice cream after dinner."

"Sasuke doesn't like sweets," Naruto supplied helpfully.

"That's fine. What would you rather have instead of mochi ice cream, Sasuke?"

The Uchiha boy blushed, avoiding Haruno's eyes.

"Tomatoes."

Haruno laughed then pulled some money out of her pockets.

"If you two run, I'm sure you can make it in time before the store closes. Go grab some tomatoes while I finish up here."

As the two boys scampered out of the apartment building, Haruno walked over to the open window and stood still for a moment, her eyes closed. When she opened them, her sclera, irises, and pupils glowed mint green, and a bright pink streak marked the skin across her eyes, temple to temple. Sage Mode, Kakashi noted with some wonder as those blank green eyes focused directly onto him, despite the dense thicket he had shrouded himself in.

"They had fun today," she said. "Did the boys not invite you to dinner?"

They did, but Kakashi wasn't going to tell her that from a tree. On his perch, Kakashi remained quiet, unmoving.

"Genma once mentioned that you liked eggplant. We're about to make a miso soup with eggplant, if that's something you'd like to help with."

Kakashi considered his options. He was never one to turn down a free meal, so what was his excuse now?

He didn't have one, which was why he found himself knocking on Haruno's apartment door two minutes after the boys returned with Sasuke's precious tomatoes.

"Kakashi-sensei is here!" Naruto exclaimed joyfully, running back to the kitchen after leaving the front door wide open. Kakashi removed his shoes, one eye sweeping over the soft, cozy decor and the well-maintained plants. He wondered if Tenzou had a hand in that.

"Sorry I'm late," Kakashi said sheepishly, his hand scratching at the back of his neck. "I had to help an old lady carry her groceries home."

Haruno smirked.

"Kakashi-sensei can help with the eggplant," she said, throwing an apron at him.

Kakashi shrugged the apron on, ignoring Naruto's giggles as the frilly pink fabric shone brightly against the dark neutrals of his jounin uniform. Eye curved upwards, he picked up a knife, twirled it between his fingers, and said, "Watch carefully, my cute little students."

In the blink of an eye, he chopped the entire eggplant into even cubes, setting the knife far away from Naruto and Sasuke as they both inspected the chopped eggplant with awe. Haruno hid her smile with a hand.

"Can you teach us how to do that, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto begged.

"Only if you make eggplant every Friday to say thank you to your poor, overworked sensei," Kakashi agreed.

And as Kakashi sat at Haruno's dinner table with Naruto and Sasuke for the ninth Friday in a row, he wondered if perhaps it was for the best that Haruno Sakura kept to herself as often as she did. While it was common knowledge that anyone who saw Haruno Sakura splinter the ground with one fist was quick to fall in love with her, no one ever warned Kakashi that anyone who witnessed Haruno Sakura's ninth attempt to patiently walk Naruto and Sasuke through cooking instructions — this time for oven-roasted eggplant — would be in it (whatever it was) for the long haul.

She smiled at him, green eyes darting down to the eggplant dish the boys had carefully set down in front of him. He scooped some into his bowl, popped a piece of perfectly diced eggplant into his mouth and chewed slowly.

"How did the boys do?" she asked. The boys, who started squabbling over yet another missed opportunity to see his face, quieted.

Kakashi's heart thudded in his chest a little too loudly for his liking. His eye curved upwards.

"My cute little students are such talented chefs!"

As the boys cheered and high-fived each other over the dinner table, Haruno smiled slyly at him and served him more eggplant. The skeptical part of Kakashi wondered, for the umpteenth time, how long this slice of domestic bliss would last, how long until life ripped this away from him too, but he found himself pushing the intrusive thoughts away. So entranced was he with the stability provided by somehow becoming part of Haruno Sakura's routine that he barely noticed the increasingly calculating looks Naruto and Sasuke exchanged over the dinner table.

Chapter 2: thoughts on the nature of (im)mortality

Sakura was nine years old when her mother and father died in Iwa. An earthquake caused a roof to collapse on them as they conducted business with fabric merchants. No one in the room survived.

"I'm sorry, Haruno-san," said the chunin who was given the unfortunate task of delivering the news. He swiveled the senbon in his mouth to the left. "I met Kizashi-san and Mebuki-san a few years back. Your folks were good people."

Sakura wasn't surprised. Her parents had always preached the importance of kindness, and made it a priority to help out anyone in need. Life is easier for everyone when you're kind, they told her once. As she stared unseeingly at the chunin's bandana-style hitai-ate, Sakura wondered what kindness was worth when it did nothing to protect you from a collapsing roof. The chunin shifted uncomfortably.

"When you're ready, you can look at their will." He pressed a scroll into her limp hands. "And I guess if you need any help figuring anything out, come find me. My name's Shiranui Genma. Ask for me at the front desk of Hokage Tower."

Sakura did not look for Genma, but she was surprised to see him again at her parents' funeral. He was dressed in somber black, and he stood in the back until it was just him and Sakura left standing in the rain.

"Thank you for coming, Genma-san," she said quietly. Sakura was surprised to discover that she meant the words.

"I told you, kid. Your mom helped me out when I was in a tough spot, and your dad made sure I never went hungry. The least I can do is pay my respects and see how you're doing." Genma shuffled up next to her, hands in his pockets. "You wanna get something to eat?"

"No."

Her answer was cold, clipped. Genma nodded.

"I get it. I couldn't eat for months after my folks died. Everything tasted like dust."

Sakura blinked some rainwater out of her eyes.

"What makes it better?"

Genma paused, thinking.

"Time," he replied honestly. "But there are ways to make time go by faster, so that you don't notice." He straightened to his full height. "Come on, kid. Let's throw some shuriken."

They spent five hours throwing shuriken at a target, or rather, in Sakura's case, around the target. Sakura's stomach gurgled, but she couldn't find it in her to feel any sort of embarrassment. Her parents were gone, and among other things, she would embarrass herself in front of all of Konoha a million times if it meant that they could come back. Without saying a word, Genma collected the shuriken and gestured for her to follow him. They ended up at a ramen stand, and Sakura's eyes watered as she sipped on the piping hot broth.

"Sorry, kid," Genma said, slurping on his noodles. "I would've cooked for you and all, but I'm not that great. Besides, Teuchi-san makes a mean pork bone broth."

Genma showed up on Tuesdays and Thursdays by the Academy gates after the school day was over, and like clockwork, Sakura would walk with him to the training posts where he would bring her an assortment of kunai and shuriken to practice with. She asked when he would teach her how to use senbon, and he chuckled.

"Nah, I'm not teaching you that. Senbon are my thing. Go find yours."

"But I have really good chakra control," Sakura argued. "I can think of a million ways to use that with senbon."

Sakura threw a kunai. The wooden target split in half with a resounding CRACK!

"Yeah, I bet you can. You're smart as a whip." Genma furrowed his brow. "But there's probably a better way for you to use that chakra control."

The next day, Genma introduced her to a brown-haired girl who looked to be the same age as him. Her name was Shizune, and she was training to be a medic nin under Tsunade-hime herself. Shizune's kind brown eyes assessed Sakura as she spoke of her uncle's goal to standardize assigning a medic nin to every shinobi squad.

Sakura thought of her parents, buried under too much roof, and daydreamed of healing their crushed skulls back into shape. She collapsed to her knees, bowing lowly.

"Please train me," she begged, her voice shaky.

Shizune and Genma exchanged a look.

"Your chakra reserves look a little small, Sakura-chan," Shizune said thoughtfully. "But if you do some meditating every day, you can make them grow! I promise to find you after you graduate from the Academy."

Sakura graduated from the Academy at eleven years old, stunning her teachers as she walked steadily across the lake next to the Academy building. On Sakura's last day, Shizune showed up with Tsunade-hime herself. The Sannin was as beautiful as the rumors said, and Sakura stood stiffly as the woman's eyes glinted against the brightness of Konoha's midday sun.

"I came here to offer to teach you medical ninjutsu, but I can taste the anger in your bones. Do you want to learn how to break mountains with a flick of your wrist as well?"

If she could break mountains, then she could certainly break everything else, including a caved in roof. Sakura trembled, nodding. Tsunade-hime laughed softly.

"If I take you on, you're not getting a genin team. Are you fine with that?"

Sakura nodded once more, green eyes fierce.

"Good. Find me at the hospital. Nine hundred hours sharp."

Two hours later, she found Genma on guard duty by Konoha's gates. She waved at him and yelled, "I need your help."

"Getting you a mentorship under Tsunade-hime wasn't enough?" Genma said incredulously. He hopped down, landing with a soft thud. "What do you need?"

"I want to move out," Sakura said breathlessly. "I can't — civilian kids aren't allowed to get their own apartments. But I'm not a civilian kid anymore."

Genma eyed her.

"You gonna sell the house?"

"No," Sakura said. "I can't. But I can't live there either."

The Haruno house was large and imposing, far too empty for a tiny slip of a girl to be living in by herself, and Genma nodded because he knew. Two weeks later, they were moving Sakura's things into the apartment unit next to his.

"I promise I'm a good neighbor," Genma said wryly. "Probably the worst you'll hear is a cooking experiment gone wrong or some bad singing. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Sakura wiped some sweat off her brow as she set the final box down. When Genma left, the first thing she did was unpack everything that belonged to the kitchen. She then went grocery shopping, selecting the finest looking pork bones and cuts of meat from the butcher. With great care, she nestled some fresh vegetables into her shopping basket, the way she saw her father do for years. And when she got back to her tiny kitchen, she felt her father's spirit guiding her hands as she chopped vegetables, reached for seasonings, turned down the heat on the stove.

Carefully, Sakura packed half the food into glass containers and knocked on Genma's door. He opened it, eyebrows raised when he saw her.

"It's late, kid. You good?"

"I know you probably already had dinner, but you can always save this for tomorrow. And there's enough here to last you two or three days," Sakura said, shoving the stack of glass containers into Genma's arms. "This is to say thanks. For everything."

Sakura avoided Genma's eyes. He tucked the food under one arm and reached out to ruffle her hair affectionately.

"You're a good kid, Haruno."

When Sakura sat on the floor of her messy kitchen, a steaming bowl of pork bone stew in her hands, she took one sip from the bowl and cried. For a moment, she felt her mother's gentle hand on her back, heard her father's uproarious laughter, and felt the tiniest flicker of bittersweet love push back at the anger that hollowed out her bones for the past two years.

Sakura cried the first time she splintered the earth. Suddenly, Tsunade was in front of her, inspecting her right fist with a careful eye. She found no injuries; Sakura had executed the technique perfectly.

"Sakura, speak to me. What's wrong?"

The words wrangled themselves out of Sakura's closed up throat: "My parents died because of an earthquake. A roof collapsed on them."

In the ensuing silence, Sakura thought of her parents' last moments. She wondered if her father was quick enough to shield her mother's body with his own, or if it was her mother who cradled his head to her chest as she curved her back to protect him.

With a sigh, Tsunade laid a gentle hand on Sakura's back.

"I'm so sorry." She cleared her throat. "I lost my little brother when I wasn't too much older than you. He was on a mission, and an explosive took him out."

They sat together in the dirt, Sakura's sniffles slowly disappearing into the peaceful quiet of daybreak.

"It's not fair, shishou," Sakura finally said, her voice far too soft for someone who had just broken the earth beneath their feet. "Your brother was a child. My parents were good people. Why couldn't it have been someone else?"

Tsunade shook her head.

"That's not how death works. But we can give people a fighting chance. And while we can't control everything, we can control more than most." Tsunade gestured at the crack in the earth before them. "You made this. And if you work on it, you can make it so that every single fissure is where you need it to be. But if you don't want to do this, I understand. There are other ways I can teach you to fight. Just say the word."

Sakura thought about it.

"Can we learn more healing techniques today?"

Tsunade nodded, stood, and held her hand out. Sakura gripped onto it for leverage as she stood.

"Let's go. I think you're ready to start reconstructing bone."

It took Sakura two weeks to muster up the courage to create another earthquake, and she collapsed bonelessly into her shishou's strong arms as the older woman murmured words of encouragement. It took Sakura another two weeks to create earthquakes without shedding a tear, and she felt Tsunade's eyes examining her closely for signs of another mental break, and when Tsunade found no signs of it, she began walking Sakura through the steps of creating her very own Strength of a Hundred Seal.

Sakura stared at the purple diamond on Tsunade's forehead, daydreamed of regenerating brain tissue in the blink of an eye, and got to work.

The place Sakura missed the most in her childhood home was her mother's office. It was a bright, cheerful room, decorated with plants to liven up the empty spaces, and Sakura's mother often entertained her by whispering sweet sentiments to her plants, insisting that they could hear every single word. In an attempt to recreate a similar atmosphere in her apartment, Sakura visited the Yamanaka Flower Shop to scope out her options, but not before allowing Yamanaka-san's cute toddler to poke and prod at the purple seal on her forehead.

"Ah, I'm so sorry, Sakura-san," Yamanaka-san said apologetically, scooping the toddler away from the countertop. "Ino, keep your hands to yourself!"

"It's alright, Yamanaka-san," Sakura said, smiling gently at the toddler and holding her arms out. "May I?"

The blonde woman nodded. Ino clumsily tottered over and squealed with laughter as Sakura carried her, spinning once.

Ino giggled into her fist before happily shouting, "Forehead!"

Sakura laughed, and the sensation felt odd. It had been years since she genuinely laughed at anything, and something inexplicable, something that felt like joy buzzed through her veins and filled her heart.

"Clever Ino-chan!" Sakura exclaimed, blinking tears out of her eyes. "Can you help me choose some plants for my apartment?"

With Ino's assistance, Sakura decided on a total of five plants, and Yamanaka-san laughed as her daughter clumsily threaded a yellow daisy into Sakura's hair.

"You're very good with children, Sakura-san. Ino-chan doesn't usually like customers."

"Well, luckily for Ino-chan, I plan on stopping by every now and then to pick up some flowers for my apartment," Sakura said, smiling as Ino thumbed her seal one more time.

To Sakura's dismay, she did not inherit her mother's talent for maintaining plants. All five of them wilted within two weeks, and Sakura wondered if she should have spoken to them the same way her mother did. But either way, a lost cause was a lost cause, and a chakra-deprived Sakura dragged the ruined plants outside her front door, resolving to throw them away the next morning. She stilled for a moment, the hairs on the back of her neck rising.

She was being watched.

Sakura quickly turned to face the unit opposite hers, and the door hastily clicked shut. It appeared she had a new neighbor, and whoever they were, they were nosy.

When Sakura walked out of her front door the next morning, she was surprised to find the plants rejuvenated, looking the way they did when she purchased them. Stunned, she touched a finger to the leaves, and she whipped around again when she heard the door opposite her close. So not only did she have a new nosy neighbor, but this neighbor was also shy and had a hell of a green thumb. After Sakura brought her plants back inside, whispering sweet words to them as she did, she quickly swept five of the chunky walnut and chocolate chip cookies that she baked last night into a brown paper bag and knocked on her neighbor's door.

There was no answer, so Sakura leaned the paper bag against the door and said, "Thank you for helping me with my plants. I left some cookies for you, if you want them."

When Sakura returned home later that evening, the paper bag was gone. And as Sakura fell into a peaceful slumber that night, she wondered if enough time passed by, the way Genma once told her it would.

"These meals are top quality, kid, but you don't have to keep making them for me. I know how busy you are."

Sakura smiled, handing three glass containers to Genma.

"Don't be silly, Genma. Consider this a token of appreciation for every time you watch over my apartment when I'm out on missions."

"You do the same for me, and I don't cook for you."

Sakura shrugged. Genma examined the containers.

"This your eggplant stir fry?" At Sakura's nod, Genma hummed. "A buddy of mine loves eggplant. The guy's a bit of a health nut, but I think even he would give your eggplant stir fry a chance."

"Who doesn't like stir fry?" Sakura said, eyebrows raising.

Genma laughed.

"Kakashi's always been very particular. I don't question it."

"You're friends with the Copy Ninja?"

Sakura didn't even know the Copy Ninja still lived in the village. The boy, only two years older than her, was a legend as much as he was a specter.

"Don't forget that I'm neighbors with the second coming of Tsunade-hime and the only living Mokuton user in the world." Genma smiled around his senbon. "Not sure what I did in a past life to rub elbows with such esteemed company, but I'm not complaining." He paused. "Speaking of friends, how come I haven't seen you hanging out with any? You shy or something?"

Sakura thought about it. As Tsunade-hime's apprentice and a good-natured team-player, she had no shortage of invitations to various social gatherings, but she never felt the need to accept any of them. She had gotten too used to going home, tucking herself underneath a blanket on the couch and poring through yet another medical textbook until it was time to go to sleep, and a part of her felt nervous about disrupting that routine.

"I train with Gai and Kurenai at least twice a week. That doesn't count?"

Genma shrugged.

"I guess it kinda does. But you don't just have to keep working on taijutsu or whatever freaky genjutsu shit Kurenai's got planned out. Like when was the last time you just had fun with a bunch of friends?"

The honest answer was when she was nine years old, at Suzuki's birthday party, the day before she found out her parents were gone. But that was too depressing an answer, so instead, Sakura shrugged and said, "A while ago."

Genma's eyes focused in on her face.

"Listen kid. I know I said that training helps time go by faster, and it does. But you don't have to keep at it forever. You're in a good place now, right?"

She was. Sakura's eyes didn't even water as she nodded. Genma grunted.

"Be kind to yourself, kid." He poked her shoulder. "For me, that means getting wasted at the Rusty Kunai with my buddies to feel alive again. You go find your thing. You deserve it."

Sakura thought about Genma's words for weeks, turning them upside down in her head, unsure of what to do with the well-intentioned but ultimately incorrect sentiment. Sakura was being kind to herself. She expanded her chakra reserves from the pitiful nothing that they once were, she successfully manifested her own Strength of a Hundred Seal at the age of fifteen, she boasted a 100% success rate for major surgeries and healings at the hospital, she could punch the ground below her and plan for every fissure she made, down to the depth, width, and angle —

And despite all the strength she hoarded, there was no one for her to protect. Her parents were still gone. She didn't know what she deserved, but she knew it wasn't this loneliness, this ache.

So she tried something new within the safe confines of her routine. When Sakura saw a little boy with a shopping basket filled to the brim with instant ramen, she thought of her mother laughing as she emptied Sakura's basket of candy, and her father's voice, teasing her: That's not a good idea, little lady.

Automatically, Sakura spoke: "That's not a good idea, little man."

She wasn't quite sure how she ended up in the kid's apartment, but as she helped him make some omurice, Sakura felt it again, that electricity that thrummed in her veins, the fullness in her heart. It felt correct. And for the first time, she began to understand her what her parents meant all those years ago.

A steely-eyed Yamanaka Ino and cherub-faced Hyuuga Hinata were the youngest students of the Medical Ninjutsu Training Program at nine years old. Sakura was thrilled. The girls were about the same age as Naruto, and while Ino was a firecracker, asking question after question, Hinata proved to be a tougher case. The girl was meek, hugely under-confident, and second-guessed herself every step of the way.

"I'm so sorry for wasting your time, Sakura-sensei," Hinata squeaked miserably, tears leaking out of her eyes as she hyperventilated. "I don't know why my father enrolled me in the training program."

In a rare moment of tactfulness, Ino concentrated on the practice mannequin in front of her, gaze locked fiercely on her hands. Sakura sat with Hinata for a moment as she considered her next move.

"You're not wasting anyone's time, Hinata-chan, least of all mine," Sakura said quietly, smoothing a hand over the girl's hair. "Do you know how long it took me to learn the Mystic Palm Technique?"

Hinata shook her head. Sakura held up five fingers.

"Five weeks," she said quietly. "And that was with help from Tsunade-hime and my supposedly amazing chakra control after graduating from the Academy. Do you have any idea how incredible it is that you and Ino-chan are able to channel chakra through these mannequins three weeks into the training program? And you haven't even graduated from the Academy yet!"

Hinata blushed hotly, but the tears kept trailing down her cheeks. Sakura dabbed them away with her sleeve.

"If you feel that this isn't for you, then I won't stop you. But can you try something for me first, Hinata-chan?" The girl nodded. "Don't worry about whether you're doing it right. Just try what feels right to you. And if you don't know what feels right, at least try something and start from there. What's the worst that can happen?"

Sakura laid a hand on a mannequin, applied too much chakra, and she and Hinata jumped a little as the mannequin cracked open.

"Ah, so that's what happens when we apply too much," Sakura said thoughtfully. She winked at Hinata. "It's a good thing we're not practicing on real people."

Hinata giggled, wiping the remaining tears off her face.

"You're allowed to make mistakes here, Hinata-chan. Remember that."

With a wobbly smile, Hinata got back to work, a determined expression on her face. Sakura got up, walked over to inspect Ino's mannequin, and nodded approvingly. Ino blushed.

"Sakura-sensei, how long did it take you to get that seal?" she said, blue eyes fixed on Sakura's forehead.

"Two, almost three years," Sakura answered honestly. "Are you interested in getting one yourself?"

Ino nodded eagerly, her short hair swaying around her shoulders.

"I want to be a great kunoichi just like you, Sakura-sensei."

Sakura smiled fondly at the girl.

"If you work hard, I have no doubt you'll join me very soon, Ino-chan." She grinned mischievously. "Do you remember the first time we met?"

"No, Sakura-sensei." Ino's eyes grew wide. "Did I do something weird?"

Sakura laughed.

"I'll tell you the story one day, Ino-chan. When you get your own," she said, tapping the diamond on her forehead.

When, not if. Ino grinned broadly, pushed her hair out of her eyes, and dove back in.

"Please don't leave, nee-chan!" Naruto begged her, his face wet with tears. The vegetables were burning on the stove, forgotten, and Sakura moved swiftly to turn down the heat. "Or take me with you! Hokage no jii-chan will understand!"

Sakura did her best not to cry, but the desperation in Naruto's eyes was too much to take. How could she explain to him the rage she felt when Tenzou described the horror of stepping foot on the blood-soaked Uchiha compound? How could she explain to him the numbness she felt when she realized she had been one of the ones who slept peacefully while Uchiha Itachi slaughtered his entire family, save for his younger brother, in the dead of night?

"I'm not leaving you, Naruto," Sakura said carefully, dotting at her eyes with her apron. "I'm just going away for a bit. To get stronger."

Tsunade said that Slug Sages didn't exist, that she'd be going in with no guidance. But if there was anything that Sakura learned over the years, it was that help often came from the most unexpected places, and that was enough to make her want to try.

"But you're the strongest kunoichi in the village already!" Naruto exclaimed, clinging onto her even tighter.

Sakura disagreed.

"Tsunade-hime is the strongest kunoichi in the village," she corrected him. "And she and the Sandaime are going to need all the help they can get if they want to keep Konoha safe."

"Can't you wait until I graduate from the Academy?" Naruto asked, his voice breaking. "Please nee-chan! I'll do anything!"

Sakura closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"How about this, Naruto-kun: what if I promise to come back by the time you graduate?"

She remembered how her parents always gave her a clear deadline for when they'd return, how it always helped her feel better whenever they both had to leave. Years old grief prodded dully in her heart at the thought of them, and she sat with it, let it ache until it faded away on its own as Naruto considered her words.

"That's so far away, nee-chan."

"It is," Sakura agreed. "But there's always a chance I can come back earlier. And whether or not I achieve my goals, I will come back to you. I promise you, from the bottom of my heart."

Naruto sniffled.

"What if something stops you?"

Sakura smiled sadly, cradling his cheek in one hand.

"It's going to take a lot to keep me from coming back to you, Naruto-kun." She tapped the diamond on her forehead and winked. "That's why I worked so hard to get this seal. So that I can keep the promises I make to precious people like you."

"What if I graduate early?" Naruto asked daringly. "Will you come home by then?"

Sakura laughed through her tears.

"You cheeky little thing. I will try my very best."

She was a little later than she liked, but technically, she had stuck to her deadline.

Her eyes glowing mint green against the pink streak across her face, Sakura stood at the top of the Hokage Monument, in awe at the ebb and flow of chakra pulsating around Konoha. Home had never looked and felt so beautiful before, and a tear whipped down Sakura's cheek as she focused in on a dark, roiling mass of power enveloped inside the warm orange glow of another chakra signature. Naruto. He was in one of the Academy classrooms with one other person, someone whose chakra glowed a cool fiery blue.

Like water, Sakura slipped through Konoha's rooftops, unnoticed, and finally stopped before the classroom door. She took a deep breath, opened it —

— and blinked when an eraser dropped onto her head.

"Nee-chan? Nee-chan!"

Naruto barreled into her with the force of a thousand Akimichi, sobbing hysterically into her shoulder. She deactivated Sage Mode, her eyes settling on a boy who had to be the final Uchiha. He regarded her warily, unsure of what to make of her and his crying genin teammate. Sakura winked, pointed at Naruto, and mouthed, "This may take a while."

The Uchiha boy blushed bright red then offered her a reluctant smile. Sakura grinned widely in return.

It was good to be home.

For someone who was called Cold-Blooded and Friend Killer behind his back, the Copy Ninja had a refreshingly sharp sense of humor. Perhaps she shouldn't have been so surprised; after all, Genma didn't seem like the type to befriend dull personalities. And despite the witticisms that were quick to fly out of his mouth, Sakura could feel the weariness underlining each word, the apathy that soaked into him, bone-deep. Hatake Kakashi was a dead man walking, and Sakura couldn't help but wonder if she would have ended up like that if Genma hadn't helped her out when she was —

Sakura stopped running, and Naruto slammed into her with a yelp. Sasuke, who was ahead of them, turned around.

She understood, all of a sudden, that it wouldn't just have been her. It also would have been Genma if not for her parents. And if not for her parents, if not for Genma, if not for her, then one day, Naruto would have turned out like —

"Sakura-sensei, are you alright?"

She turned her watery gaze to Sasuke, who looked embarrassed that he even spoke in the first place.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun, I'm alright. How lovely of you to ask," Sakura said, smiling tremulously. He ducked his head, blushing.

Given the cruel circumstances that life had thrown his way, it was a wonder that the boy hadn't gone cold yet, but even Sakura could tell that he was holding onto that warmth by a thread. Something critical inside of Sakura told her that she should have stepped in much earlier, swooped in on Sasuke the way she had been lucky enough to do for Naruto the first day he was told to brave the world on his own, but she pushed it away; she was here now and she would bring Sasuke back from the brink, and, if he let her, she would bring Hatake Kakashi back too.

And some hours later, as she took in the sight of the elusive Copy Ninja wearing her father's ridiculously frilly apron and the two rambunctious genin squabbling over how much water to put in the second pot for the miso soup, Sakura felt whole again, for the first time in years.

The key to bring you back was with me the whole time, okaa-san, otou-san. I will never forget it again.

Chapter 3: thoughts on assembling a family

Sasuke was eleven when Itachi slaughtered the Uchiha clan, and all he saw in his dreams was the smile that stayed on his mother's face as Itachi's blade impaled her heart. It was a soft, sad smile, one that she opted for instead of the horror that twisted his father's face into something unrecognizable. It was the last memory he had of her, and he guarded it jealously from whatever Yamanaka that peered through his mind on a monthly basis.

This month, it was the Yamanaka clan head himself.

"Are you certain you don't want to move into an apartment, Uchiha-kun?" Inoichi asked, pale blue eyes focused on his face.

"Yes," Sasuke answered, his mind far away.

"You have the funds for it," Inoichi pointed out. "And according to your teachers, you are on track to graduate from the Academy on time —"

"My current arrangements are sufficient," Sasuke bit out.

He could not bear the thought of tearing himself away from the last place he saw her alive, not so soon.

Inoichi nodded, and without waiting for a dismissal, Sasuke stood and left the room. On his way back to the Uchiha compound, street vendors pressed boxes of food into his chest, either out of pity for him or reverence for his mother, and he took them only because he knew that she would have been disappointed if he rejected these gestures of kindness.

The new food joined the stack of unopened boxes by the door, and Sasuke fixed himself a simple meal of tomatoes and grilled beef sprinkled with salt and pepper over rice. He ate in his parents' room, eyes fixed on the spot where he saw his mother draw her last breath. Every Yamanaka who looked through his mind and came across this macabre ritual never seemed to understand that the grief was more bearable when he thought more about her and less about him.

And so Sasuke did not bother to explain that it was increasingly harder to hold onto her memory with each week that passed, especially ever since the Sandaime ordered an ANBU squad to remove the blood-soaked furniture in his parents' room and replace all the bloodstained tatami mats and screen doors.

But he tried his best. As he chewed mechanically through a mouthful of rice, his eyes tried to trace, from memory, the outline of her blood on the clean tatami mat.

Haruno Sakura was beautiful, and the air rushed out of Sasuke's lungs because for a painful, merciful second, all he saw was his mother. It didn't make sense; the two women looked nothing alike, but the moment she laid eyes on him and winked like he was already in on an inside joke, just between the two of them, Sasuke's heart dared to beat again. For the first time in months, he felt a smile, however small, tugging at his face.

Itachi's voice, deep, dark, resonant, billowed in his mind, and the smile disappeared.

"When did you get back, nee-chan? Are you our jounin-sensei? What are you gonna teach us first?" Naruto asked. He had stopped crying, and now his body was vibrating with all the energy of an excitable puppy.

"I just got back. I promised you, didn't I?"

She cradled Naruto's cheek with one hand, and Sasuke told himself he wasn't jealous.

"And unfortunately I'm not your jounin-sensei, but both of you can call me Sakura-sensei while I stand in for your real one," Tsunade-hime's apprentice said playfully. "Naruto, can you introduce me to your teammate?"

"This is Sasuke. He's such an asshole, nee-chan!" At her pointed look, Naruto corrected himself: "Sakura-sensei!"

Sasuke couldn't help but snipe back: "She's mad that you called me an asshole. Idiot."

Naruto went purple with rage.

"Don't call me an idiot in front of nee-chan, asshole!"

Fists went flying, and Sasuke dodged them with ease, kicking Naruto's legs out from underneath him. The boy landed on his ass with a heavy thud, and Sakura-sensei looked like she was holding in her laughter when she hauled both of them up by the scruff of their collars, their feet dangling uselessly above the floor.

"Let's play nice, boys. You two are going to be working together for a while, so you might as well try to get along."

Sasuke crossed his arms as Naruto glared at him, and he knew they both looked ridiculous because Sakura-sensei still hadn't set them down. He felt a blush warming his cheeks.

"Sakura-sensei, if you're not our assigned jounin-sensei, then who is?"

She smiled at him and finally allowed their feet to touch the floor before letting go of them.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. But time is of the essence. Let's go to Training Ground Three and run a few laps together!"

Suddenly, a clone of Sakura-sensei appeared next to her.

"I'll stay here and let your jounin-sensei know where to find us," the clone said, waving them off cheerfully.

When they got to Training Ground Three, Naruto yelled, "How many laps, Sakura-sensei?"

"Twenty!" she decided after a pause.

Sasuke and Naruto side-eyed each other before —

"I bet I'll finish them way before you, asshole!" Naruto shouted, sprinting forward wildly.

Sasuke scoffed, certain that Naruto would tire himself out by the eighth or ninth lap.

He was wrong. Naruto started slowing down by his seventh, looking winded as Sakura-sensei jogged alongside him to keep his spirits up. Smirking, Sasuke passed them both, but turned his head when he heard Naruto yelp and crash to the ground. He stopped altogether when he saw that Sakura-sensei was standing completely still, her eyes wide like she just saw a ghost, and a shiver ran down Sasuke's back as the memory of his mother's face flashed in his mind's eye the moment before —

Swallowing hard, Sasuke wiped his suddenly sweaty palms on the back of his shorts and said, "Sakura-sensei, are you alright?"

Her green eyes snapped onto him, shiny with unshed tears.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun, I'm alright. How lovely of you to ask."

And when she smiled a heartbroken smile at him, Sasuke saw his mother kissing the top of his head to thank him for noticing her empty cup of tea and refilling it. Sasuke saw his mother cupping his cheek with a soft hand each time he set the table for dinner or volunteered to help her as she made rice balls. Sasuke saw his mother hugging him close to her chest every night before she tucked him into bed, her soft comforting scent of freshly chopped ginger and yuzu enveloping him as he fell asleep.

Sasuke saw the smile that stayed on his mother's face as Itachi's blade impaled her heart, and he gasped for air, blinking furiously to get rid of the dark spots that clouded his vision.

"Come on, boys, we've still got a few laps to go!"

Naruto goaded him into sprinting faster, and soon, both boys were sweaty, winded, and red-faced by their eighteenth lap. Sakura-sensei waved them over to the middle of the training ground, and their knees buckled when they reached her, both of them dropping on their backs on either side of her. Sasuke's hair brushed against Sakura-sensei's leg, and he closed his eyes, imagining that she was combing through it with her fingers, the same way his mother would after taijutsu practice. Sakura-sensei's voice was soothing, and Sasuke breathed deeply as she spoke about the importance of pacing themselves and how to assess their stamina levels, not just with running, but with chakra usage.

"I think I can take it from here, Haruno-sensei," a masculine voice said drolly.

Sasuke's eyes snapped open, and he looked at the man standing before them. With his slumped shoulders, droopy eye, and wild gravity-defying grey hair that somehow managed to look deflated, he looked a little like a cat that had just escaped a harrowing encounter with a turbulent river. Sasuke's muscles tensed up; he had seen this man once before, walking alongside Itachi.

"Whoa, is this sensei? He's old," he heard Naruto say.

Sakura-sensei's leg brushed against his hair as she stood and introduced their jounin-sensei to them. Hatake Kakashi, the Copy Ninja. Sasuke avoided looking at the man, avoided looking at the tilted hitai-ate that hid his infamous Sharingan implant.

"That means it's my cue to leave," Sakura-sensei said, a hand raised to say goodbye.

Sasuke's heart beat a quick, panicky rhythm in his chest, and the words came out before he could reign them in: "You can't stay, Sakura-sensei?" He felt everyone's eyes on him, but he didn't care. He noticed her hesitance, and he tried to convince her: "Your advice is useful."

It was not the best articulation of all the reasons he wanted her to stay, but it was enough because now she was inviting him to have dinner with her and Naruto, and she was cradling his cheek. Sasuke leaned into it, and he almost cried because no one had touched his face this gently ever since —

She was gone, replaced by a flurry of leaves, and Sasuke turned to look at Kakashi-sensei, his gaze icy. Even Naruto looked deflated by Sakura-sensei's departure. Contrary to Sakura-sensei's optimistic prediction, Sasuke did not think they would be inviting Kakashi-sensei to dinner tonight.

Kakashi-sensei cleared his throat, and his visible eye curved upward as he jingled a bell in his fingers.

"How about we introduce ourselves first? Then I can tell you about this fun little thing called the bell test."

Naruto spoke: "Uh, what do you want us to say?"

The jounin shrugged.

"Your name. Likes. Dislikes. Hobbies. Dreams for the future. Stuff like that."

Sasuke scowled. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner he and Naruto could have dinner with Sakura-sensei. He dove in first.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like training with Sakura-sensei."

He glared pointedly at Kakashi-sensei as Naruto yelled, "You just met nee-chan today, asshole!"

Kakashi-sensei didn't even blink. Sasuke continued: "I dislike sweets, and a lot of other things that I don't want to talk about. And when I'm strong enough, I'm going to restore my clan and kill a certain man."

Unbidden, the image of Itachi's blade piercing through Sakura-sensei's heart flashed before his eyelids, and Sasuke seethed, momentarily blinded by rage.

In the ensuing silence, he heard Naruto blink.

"Okay. Nice to meet you, Sasuke." Kakashi-sensei's eye wandered over to Naruto. "Your turn."

In the middle of Naruto's blathering about ramen, Sasuke interrupted and said to Kakashi-sensei, "You haven't introduced yourself."

Kakashi-sensei's eyelid and shoulders drooped down even further.

"Haruno-sensei already introduced me."

"But you didn't tell us your likes, dislikes, hobbies, or dreams for the future!" Naruto protested.

Their jounin-sensei sighed.

"Like Sasuke, I dislike a lot of things and I also don't want to talk about them. The same goes for things I like. I don't think I should tell you about my hobbies —"

"Is your hobby reading that pervy book?" Naruto asked, pointing at the sliver of orange peeking out of Kakashi-sensei's pocket.

"— and I haven't really thought about my dreams for the future. Staying alive's a pretty good one, I guess."

"That's it?" Naruto said in disbelief. "That's not a real dream, Kakashi-sensei. Mine is to become Hokage!"

Sasuke snorted. Naruto rounded on him, snarling, "What's your problem, asshole?"

The sound of a bell jingling stopped Sasuke from responding. Kakashi-sensei sighed.

"Argue later. Let's do this now." He jingled the bell once more. "One bell, two Academy graduates. Whoever gets this bell from me within the next three hours officially becomes a genin. Whoever fails gets sent back to the Academy." He paused. "And also gets tied to a tree stump. Just for fun."

"How long will the loser be tied to the tree stump?"

Kakashi-sensei's eye bored into Sasuke.

"Until everyone in Konoha is done with dinner and tucked into bed."

In other words, this bell test was a golden opportunity to rid himself of the dead-last once and for all, and the cherry on top was dinner with Sakura-sensei without Naruto screeching in the background. Sasuke smirked at Naruto, who was practically snarling at Kakashi-sensei.

"Any questions? No? Good." Kakashi-sensei hooked the bell to his belt and took his book out. "Let's begin."

They had thirty minutes left to get the bell from Kakashi-sensei, and nothing had worked so far. To Sasuke's dismay, Naruto had noisily planted himself in Sasuke's hiding spot, and he felt a migraine coming on because the dead-last just wouldn't shut up.

"— and I know what you're doing!" Naruto was saying. It's like the other boy didn't know how to whisper. "You also want that bell because you wanna get dinner with nee-chan without me! But even if you win, it's not like you can!"

Sasuke scoffed, keeping his eyes on Kakashi-sensei, who was leaning against a tree and reading his pornographic book at a voracious speed.

"What are you talking about, idiot?" he grunted.

"You don't know where nee-chan lives."

Sasuke blanched.

"I can find out," he lied, his monotone doing a good enough job to hide the panic swelling in his chest.

"No, you can't," Naruto insisted. "No one knows where nee-chan lives. She doesn't like people knowing personal stuff like that."

"Then how do you know where she lives?"

"Because before she left, we cooked together every week, and we used her kitchen a couple times when we had to make more complicated stuff," Naruto said smugly.

Scowling, Sasuke shoved Naruto.

"Tell me where she lives."

"Nope."

"Tell me!"

Suddenly, Naruto went very still. Seconds later, he started shaking.

"Sasuke. Look," he whispered, tears welling in his eyes.

Sasuke peered out through the leaves, and he saw Sakura-sensei stumbling out of the tree line, countless kunai sticking out of her back and her limbs. Sasuke could not breathe.

"Naruto-kun...Sasuke-kun...help."

She collapsed, green healing chakra flickering weakly in her hands.

"Sakura-sensei!" Naruto cried, bursting forward.

Instinct had Sasuke pulling Naruto back, despite his trembling hands and the cold sweat that had broken out all over his body.

"Genjutsu," he said hoarsely. "Sakura-sensei is taller than that. And there's no blood."

"You've got a good eye, Sasuke-kun," Kakashi-sensei's voice resonated from directly behind them.

Naruto screamed, and Sasuke darted out of the bush, dragging Naruto with him. It was a mad dash to the bush below them, and Naruto landed on his back with Sasuke dropping heavily on top of him. As Naruto gasped for air, Sasuke sat up, grabbed him by the collar and shook him.

"Listen to me, idiot," Sasuke hissed. "You tried your shadow clones and I tried my traps, but we're up against the Copy Ninja. If we try using shadow clones and traps together, then maybe we've got a shot."

"But there's only one bell."

Sasuke thought about it.

"Technically, if we both get the bell off of Kakashi-sensei, then he'll have to let both of us pass," Sasuke finally said.

"How do you know he'll do it?" Naruto asked, scrambling to sit up.

Sasuke smirked.

"Do you really think Sakura-sensei would let him fail one of us when she hears that we both worked together?" Sasuke said. "Besides, genin teams need at least two genin. I think Kakashi-sensei is bluffing when he says he'll send one of us back. He either keeps both of us or he doesn't."

Naruto nodded slowly.

"Okay. So what's the plan?"

Kakashi-sensei was perched on a tree branch, his hair looking even wilder than when they first saw him. His eye was focused on the bell, held between Sasuke and Naruto's hands.

"My cute little students," Kakashi-sensei said in a voice that revealed exactly how cute he thought they were. "Who did it?"

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged glances.

"We both did it," Naruto said, puffing his chest out.

"So you're telling me that both of you swiped the bell from me at the exact same time?" Kakashi-sensei's eye curved upwards. "Tell sensei the truth!"

"That is the truth," Sasuke said coolly. "We planned it together. And we executed the plan together."

For a second, Sasuke wondered if he overshot. The Copy Ninja looked like he was two seconds away from offing Sasuke and Naruto himself and dumping their bodies in the lake. But then he jumped down from the tree, ruffled their hair with both hands, and this time, the upwards curve of his eye seemed a little less threatening.

"The bell test is a teamwork exercise, and you passed with flying colors. Congratulations — you are officially genin!"

Naruto whooped, throwing the bell up in the air. Even Sasuke could not help the grin that slowly pulled at his mouth.

"Let's go to nee-chan's! I'll show you the way!"

Kakashi-sensei hooked a finger into the back of Naruto's collar.

"Training at five hundred hours tomorrow."

Naruto squinted upwards.

"Aren't you coming to dinner with us, Kaka-sensei?"

"Maa, I don't think I can. Didn't Sakura-sensei tell you that I could only go if both of you invited me?"

"Yeah, and we're both inviting you," Naruto pressed. "Right, asshole?"

Sasuke grunted.

"Sure."

"See?" Naruto said.

Kakashi-sensei let go of Naruto's collar.

"Don't be late."

And he disappeared in a flurry of leaves. There was a silence.

"Does he mean for dinner or for training tomorrow?"

"Who cares. Let's go."

One hour later, all three of them were sitting with Sakura-sensei at her dinner table, and when she slid some more tomato slices onto his plate, Sasuke felt guilt settle in his gut, and it spread inside him until it numbed the tips of his fingers and his toes. He looked at Kakashi-sensei, who had all of his father's height and none of his sternness. He looked at Naruto, who was louder in one second than all of Itachi's loudest moments combined. And finally, he looked at Sakura-sensei, who looked nothing like his mother and yet he already found a way to replace her in less than a year and Sasuke felt sick.

He stood suddenly and stumbled to the bathroom, locking the door behind him. He let the water run in the sink and forcefully pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes, but the tears still leaked out, and he stayed this way for what felt like hours.

There was a soft knock on the door.

"Sasuke-kun? Are you alright?"

"Yes, Sakura-sensei," he managed in a relatively normal sounding voice.

She was quiet on the other side.

"I'm going to get some air. Do you want to join me?"

Sasuke turned the water off, swallowed the lump in his throat, then opened the door. His eyes felt tender and swollen every time he blinked, and he knew that she was doing her best not to make him feel self-conscious. Sakura-sensei swiftly led him past Kakashi-sensei and Naruto, who were arguing over the last piece of eggplant in the miso soup, and opened the sliding door to her balcony. He walked through first, sitting only after she did. Even though the diagonally-placed chairs were facing each other, she trained her gaze outwards, towards the lights dotting Konoha's streets, and they stayed seated quietly for a while. It was not the awkward kind of quiet; it was comfortable, the kind that made the tension in Sasuke's shoulders dissipate and unclench his fists.

"I'm sorry for leaving the dinner table, Sakura-sensei," he said stiffly.

She smiled, waving a hand.

"That's alright, Sasuke-kun. Everyone does things for a reason. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."

Sasuke's eyes watered and he squeezed them shut. His breathing was noisy. Sakura-sensei didn't pay it any mind.

"I just want to say thank you for joining me and Naruto-kun for dinner tonight," she said softly. "I've mostly eaten by myself since I was nine years old, after I lost my parents." Sasuke looked at her, surprised. "But then I met Naruto-kun seven years ago, and he was kind enough to help me cook dinner once or twice a week. I could never replace his parents, and he could never replace mine, but it was nice, being able to share a meal with someone the way I used to with my family. And over time, it was almost like Naruto-kun and I became a little family of our own."

Imperceptibly, Sasuke nodded.

"I felt a little bit of that once more, having you and Kakashi-sensei here with us. It was really nice, and I hope we can do this again."

Sakura-sensei squeezed his hands, and she was so, so warm against his cold skin.

"Let's have some tea. I brought home a container from Suna, and I've been wanting to try it all day!"

She stood, and before she could go back inside, Sasuke darted up and forward, squeezing her tightly as he buried his face into the crook of her shoulder. She laid a gentle hand on the back of his head while the other rubbed small, soothing circles on his back.

"Naruto-kun, can you please help Kakashi-sensei boil some water for tea?" she called into the living room.

"Yes, nee-chan!" Naruto replied, and from the sounds inside the apartment, Naruto had probably tripped over at least two different things on his way to the kitchen.

Sasuke let go only when he heard the kettle whistling, and Sakura-sensei smiled fondly at him, wiping the tear streaks away from his cheeks with the sleeve of her haori. She then touched her fingertips to his temple, and he felt the tenderness and swelling in his eyes disappear.

"Go splash some water on your face, Sasuke-kun. We'll have a cup of tea ready for you."

Sasuke ducked back inside, making a beeline for the bathroom once more. When he emerged again, the three of them were talking animatedly over each other, with Kakashi-sensei drolly explaining why oil was not a necessity in cooking while Sakura-sensei fiercely disagreed and Naruto goaded Kakashi-sensei into cooking next week's team dinner. He slid into the seat next to Sakura-sensei and sipped from his cup quietly.

There were notes of ginger and yuzu in the tea, and Sasuke did not cry. Instead, he basked in the aroma and felt his mother's presence alongside him and Sakura-sensei as her rich laughter filled the room.