The sun shined on Sakura's face, causing her to stir. She rubbed her eyes and sat up on her bed. She stretched her arms and remembered that she was going on a picnic with Sasuke today. She jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom to get a head start on the day. After she brushed her teeth and brushed her hair, Sakura browsed through her closet, looking for the prettiest dress to wear. She chose her favorite green dress with a pink flower tree on it. She grabbed the red ribbon Sasuke gave her and tied it neatly on the top of her head, smiling as she examines herself in the mirror.
Sakura's palms started sweating, and her heart beat faster. She always spent time with him alone, training, why was this any different? They were spending time and eating together at the Academy every day. It was the same thing. Except, it wasn't.
She rushed to her parents' room. She jumped up onto her parents' bed, waking Mebuki and Kizashi from the sudden movement. They awoke to find Sakura in the middle of their bed, grinning.
"Sakura. Mommy and Daddy are sleeping."
"Mommy! You promise to help me make my food for my picnic with Sasuke-kun!"
"There's still some time left."
"Picnic? Sasuke? A boy?" Kizashi asked, sitting up on the bed.
Kizashi went into protective father mode at the sound of Sasuke's name. His daughter was going on a date! At least, an eight-year-old version of a date. He thought he didn't have to worry about this for at least a few more years, and even then, he'd disapprove of her dating. But this? This was too soon.
"He's the first friend I made at the Academy! He's the best in the class, and he's even helped me with my weapons training!"
"And you're going on a picnic with him today?" Kizashi asked. "Just you two?"
"Mhm! So Mommy, can you please help me now?"
"You okayed this? Sakura meeting a boy for a-a date?"
"They're seven. It's not a date," Mebuki waved her hand. "Besides, we were barely eight ourselves when you started chasing after me. It's perfectly normal for Sakura to develop her first crush at this age."
"A-A crush?" Sakura blushed. "I don't have a, we're just..."
"Come on, Sakura. Let's go make your food for the picnic," Mebuki got up and picked Sakura off the bed. "Then Mommy can go back to bed."
They left the room, leaving Kizashi flustered and concerned. Mebuki set Sakura down on the kitchen island and proceeded to gather rice into the rice cooker before filling it with water. She turned on the rice cooker then started to rummage through the fridge, looking for healthy snacks for her to take. Sakura watched her mom set down fruits and veggies on the countertop. Sakura swung her legs while she waited for her mom to gather all the ingredients. Mebuki started washing and cutting up vegetables. Sakura watched as her mom put together a nice salad in one bento box. Mebuki cut up some apples and put some grapes into another bento box. She lifted a grape toward Sakura's mouth, and she ate it.
She lit the stove and poured some oil onto a frying pan. She got out a salmon filet and started cooking it. After the salmon turned into an orangey-pink color, she lowered the fire and set a lid on top of it. After a few minutes, the light switched on the cooker, and the rice was done. She fluffed the rice and scooped some into the box. Turning off the stove, she set the salmon on top of the rice and closed the bento lid. Sakura stacked the bento boxes together, and Mebuki tied it all up in a cloth before handing it to Sakura. She grabbed Sakura and set her down from the counter.
"Thank you, Mommy!" Sakura gave her mom a big hug before heading out of the house.
"Wait, Sakura!"
Sakura was already out the door. Being much too eager for the day, she didn't even realize that it would be a few hours before it would be noon. Sakura started running through the marketplace and towards the Academy. Kizashi entered the kitchen as Mebuki was cleaning up.
"Shouldn't we be meeting this boy first?"
"I'm sure we will. Right now, let them enjoy their little picnic. It's cute, don't you think?"
"No. No, it's not."
Mebuki chuckled and told her husband he was overreacting. They'd meet Sasuke one day, but right now, they needed to let the kids be kids before turning it into something more.
Sakura arrived at the Academy and waited by the door. She held her lunch in her hands, waiting patiently for Sasuke. Iruka came out of the entrance and spotted Sakura. He walked up to her, wondering why she was here on her day off.
"Oh, Sakura. What are you doing here?"
"Iruka-sensei! Good morning! I'm meeting someone here for lunch!"
"Lunch? Isn't it a bit too early for lunch? It's only ten o'clock."
"E-Eh?!" Sakura blushed, realizing in all her excitement, she didn't check the time. "I still have to wait two more hours?!"
"You can always come back, you know," Iruka chuckled.
"N-No. I'm already here. I'll just wait. Maybe I'll train a bit until then," Sakura said.
"You know you really have improved, Sakura," Iruka smiled and patted her on the head. "Whatever you're doing, keep it up. You'll be a great kunoichi."
"T-Thank you, sensei," Sakura blushed.
Iruka left the pinkette and the Academy. She sighed and leaned back against the wall. Two more hours. She didn't bring any of her weapons with her. What was she going to do for two hours?
Mikoto found Sasuke in the kitchen. Rice stuck to his hands and the seaweed stuck even more to his hands than the rice ball. Mikoto held Sasuke's hand and washed their hands in the sink. Sasuke gave her a puzzled look as she dried their hands with a towel. She grabbed the salt shaker from the cabinet, and poured a bit into her hands, and then onto Sasuke's.
"Before you make onigiri, you have to sprinkle your hands with salt," Mikoto said. "Then you shape them, see? And if you want to fill them with something, you make an opening in the center and put them in. Then you cover it back up."
Instead of wrapping them in seaweed, she added two rice triangles on the top of the onigiri. Sasuke watched as she cut out little seaweed pieces and turned the onigiri into a cat. She lifted it, presenting it to Sasuke. He took it in his hands and grinned before placing it in a bento box. He proceeded to shape the rice into a cat onigiri. It wasn't perfectly round, nor was his seaweed perfectly cut, but the finishing touches made it resemble like a cat. Sasuke lifted it in the air proudly, as Mikoto smiled approvingly. They proceeded to make a few more before wrapping his lunch.
"Are you training again today, Sasuke?"
"No, I'm going on a picnic with Sakura!"
"Really? That sounds like fun, Sasuke! I'd like to meet her one day. Maybe she can come over."
"Really, Mother?"
"Of course. Have fun today, Sasuke."
Mikoto smiled and handed Sasuke his bento. He smiled and said goodbye as he left the house. Mikoto started cleaning up the kitchen and remembered when Itachi started receiving love letters and other gifts when he was in the Academy. Shisui always teased him about them. He never seemed to return any feelings, but she did remember when he walked with a girl home. She didn't get a good look at her, but it was the first time she had ever seen Itachi with someone. He never talked about his friends, or if he even had any. She was worried Sasuke would be the same, but the way he talked about Sakura eased her worries.
Sasuke ran through the Uchiha compound, waving to his aunt and uncle before heading to the Academy. He hurried as fast as he could through the marketplace. When Sasuke reached the Academy entrance, he found Sakura leaning against the wall, just like they planned.
Sakura perked up as she saw Sasuke waving to her. The biggest smile appeared on her face as she waved back. Without a word, he held her hand and they leaped up to the buildings. They jumped from building to building until they were on top of the Hokage Rock, overseeing the whole village. Sakura had never been on top of the rock before. Sasuke led her near the edge, getting a closer view of their home, and the view was breathtaking. The villagers looked like tiny ants, going about their day, shopping, and playing.
Sakura leaned forward trying to get a better view but she noticed how high up they were and became terrified. She grabbed Sasuke's shirt and leaned into him. When she noticed how close he was, she let go of his shirt, blushing hard.
"You okay?"
"Y-Yeah. Let's eat, I'm starving!"
They sat down and opened their lunches. As they ate, they talked about school and what they were learning in their other classes. Sakura told him all about the flower-arranging class and how Ino helped her out that day. She gushed about how Ino used flowers and threw them as if they were shuriken. Sakura expressed hope that she could be as skilled as Ino one day. She laughed as she recalled how Ami fell backward. Sasuke made a note to try and be nicer to Ino, or at the very least, stop acting like she doesn't exist, since she helped Sakura out.
When Sakura inquired about his other classes, he claimed they were too easy for someone like him. He could do it in his sleep. Sakura giggled and took a bite of her food. Sasuke was determined to graduate early just like his brother had. He told her even got the top score in all the classes combined. Surely, his instructors would see that he is as every bit a prodigy like Itachi.
"You'll definitely be able to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura smiled. "But, then it looks like we won't be on the same team. There's no way I'm graduating early."
"Then I'll become a Jonin quickly and we can be on the same team them. As your sensei!"
"Sensei?!"
"That's right, I'll be Sasuke-sensei!" Sasuke puffed his chest as Sakura laughed.
They heard yelling and turned to see blonde hair peeking above the rock and a paintbrush near his head. The blonde glanced over the rock and blue eyes noticed Sasuke and Sakura eating together. They recognized that it was Naruto holding the paintbrush and eyed him curiously, wondering what he was doing. He blinked and opened his mouth to say something until voices shouted at him to stop. When he realized he was being chased, Naruto quickly painted a few things on the other three Hokage faces, before running away. Soon after, a few Chunin ninjas followed after him. Sasuke and Sakura turned to each other and sighed in unison. Naruto wasn't just a troublemaker in class, but everywhere he went.
"He's always causing trouble, isn't he?"
"Tch. He should focus on his ninjutsu instead of fooling around."
"I'd hate to see who gets him on their team, assuming he graduates."
"As long as it's not us."
Little did they know, five years from now, it would be them. They would be put on Team 7 and become Naruto's teammates. Not only that, but Naruto would also improve drastically, and they would not recognize the same boy they attended the academy with. But that would be a few years from now, right now, Naruto was just a troublesome kid. Breaking rules, goofing off in class and failing.
Sasuke and Sakura talked for hours about school, family, and dreams. Sakura assured Sasuke that everything was fine at school and that she wasn't being bullied anymore now that they know Sasuke is her friend. She opted not to share the fact that whisperings about her skills and talent were happening behind her back. Sakura didn't want to concern Sasuke about it. Besides, once she proves it to them, she's not just another hopeless civilian trying to be a ninja, they'll stop. Sakura was more than capable of becoming an amazing kunoichi.
Sasuke spoke about his family and how he wants to be a police officer just like his father one day. He wants to protect Konoha and maintain peace. He'll become an exceptional shinobi that catches rogue ninjas, and graduating from the Academy with excellent scores and skills is the first step to achieving that dream.
"What do you want to do, Sakura?"
"Mmm, I want to help people. I want to be a medical ninja! I want to heal people, but not in a hospital. Ninjas get hurt the most on missions. If I was a medical ninja then I can help them on missions!" Sakura grinned. "Do you think we'll both be able to become what we want?"
"We definitely can," Sasuke smiled.
They sat on the Hokage rocks and watched the sunset, as it created a beautiful glow over the city. Konoha has been so peaceful for the past few years. They thought that every day would be like this. Easy, and happy. They didn't know the horror that was going to invade their lives in a few months.
A/N: Thank you for all the reviews/follow/favorites. I'm trying to stretch this out to be a ten-chapter story before I write the sequel, so you can expect more. I know it seems to go a little fast because of the scenes that correspond with Sasuke's flashback episodes, but those were only four episodes. There is so much more to see. We still have six more chapters!