I love the Team Seven genin dynamic. I hope I'm doing it justice.
Have a Sakura chapter, guys.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything associated with it. All rights to Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto and the other proper entities.
Summary: Sakura had been by his side since he lost his family, following him around since they were seven years old, trying to ease his loneliness in whatever way she could. He didn't even know why he allowed it. He just silently allowed her to claim the seat next to him at the beginning of every term.
Rating: M
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Pairings: SasuSaku / eventual light NaruHina
Rays of Spring Sunshine
Chapter Nine
Life returned to normal following their disastrous mission in the Land of Waves, with one small exception.
They were assigned more C- than D-ranks now, much to everyone's delight; missions that involved retrieval of stolen property, capturing dangerous animals, or guarding the occasional civilian were now their norm. It did wonders for their morale, now that they weren't subject to the whims of irresponsible pet owners or busy parents, and Sasuke found himself looking forward to the times when their work would take them out of the village. Each and every trip was an opportunity to improve himself a little more, and with the interest that Kakashi was taking in him and Naruto, their skills were improving.
Sasuke was on watch, charged with tending the fire while the others slept. In an hour, he would wake Naruto for his shift and finally sink into his sleeping bag. Their escort mission had been relatively uneventful, but they'd run overtime due to the whims of their client, and now had two days to make a three day return journey, forcing Kakashi to push them harder than he otherwise would have. His legs ached from the punishing pace the jōnin had set, but he relished the sensation. Pain meant that he was pushing his limits, and pushing his limits meant that he was able to improve. Ever since his encounter with Zabuza and Haku, he'd been even more zealous in his training.
Sakura sighed for the nth time that night.
"Go to sleep." Sasuke said in a low voice, so as not to wake the others.
"I can't." She whispered back, pink head appearing from within her sleeping bag. "I'm not tired."
"We ran all day. How can you not be tired?"
She grimaced. "You guys ran." She sighed again. "Sensei carried me, remember?"
He grimaced. Right. Sakura had been unable to keep up with the boys, so Kakashi had hauled her onto his back and taken off, leaving Sasuke and Naruto to keep up on their own. Sakura's speed was fine, but her endurance was terrible; when it became apparent that she was lagging behind, Kakashi usually called a break or modified their pace so she could keep up, but unfortunately their tight schedule meant that they couldn't do that this time.
Anyone who looked at Sakura compared to the rest of their team would think that she was lazy, but Sasuke and Naruto knew different. It was just that her skills weren't in the same sphere as theirs; she was the unofficial first aid provider on the squad, the smart one with the genius-level chakra control whose tiny chakra signature meant she could hide rather well as long as she didn't move. She was often their lookout while the others worked offensively; twice now, on other missions, she had alerted them just in time for them to avoid messy fights. She was the personable one, the one who dealt with the clients and locals when they were forced to pass through the odd village.
That wasn't to say that she didn't need to improve. As it was, if she was caught in combat, she was done for. He had a sneaking suspicion that that was why Kakashi gave her the easy jobs.
"I can take over, if you want to get some extra sleep." She offered.
"You already took your watch. I'm fine."
"But Sasuke-kun—"
"Go to sleep."
She sighed and rolled over, facing away from him.
As had become habit, Sakura led her teammates home when they arrived back in the village. Naruto had taken to the new ritual with his customary enthusiasm—dinners at Sakura's house usually meant sleepovers, and after spending most of his time alone, Sakura suspected that he was glad to be included in anything vaguely resembling the familial.
Sasuke, she got the impression, only went along with it because of her mother's insistence. The next few times after their first sleepover, he'd declined Sakura's invitations, only to be bullied into attending anyway by Mebuki. It had become so common that the boys simply left their previous set of clothing to be laundered at the Haruno household, so they didn't have to pack an overnight bag anymore.
"I think Okaa-san said something about ordering out for ramen this time." She said brightly to Naruto as they climbed the steps to her home. "She's probably working right now but I'll call the hospital and let her know we're home."
"Awesome!" Naruto cheered, always enthusiastic about the idea of his favourite food. "Hey, Sakura-chan, do you mind if I have a shower? I've still got mud in my hair."
"Go ahead." She waved him over to the stairs. "Sasuke-kun, you can have the next one after him. I can wait."
A note by the phone told her that her father was away on a mission for a few days. She dialled the hospital from memory and waited for someone to answer. "Hello. My name is Haruno Sakura. I'm looking for Doctor Haruno Mebuki?"
"One moment."
She leaned against the wall as she was put on hold, the tinny music floating in one ear and out the other. She could vaguely hear Sasuke shuffling about in the kitchen, likely making tea.
"Sakura?"
"Hi, Okaa-san." Sakura chirped. "I just wanted to call to let you know that we're back from our mission. Do you know what time you'll finish tonight?"
She heard her mother sigh. "Not until late, unfortunately. We're short-staffed and I was asked to do a double shift. Are the boys there?"
"Yeah." Sakura pressed her lips together. "Do you want me to send them home?" She'd never had them over without her parents there, before.
"Of course not." Her mother huffed. "There's money on my dresser. You can either make or buy something for dinner, but don't let Naruto into my kitchen again."
Sakura giggled. The time before last, Naruto had insisted on helping her mother make dinner. The result had been rather a large mess and two broken appliances. "I think we'll just go get ramen. Do you know when Otou-san will be back?"
"A few days. I've got to go. I'll see you in the morning. Love you."
"Love you, too, Okaa-san." Sakura farewelled and hung up the phone. When she wandered into the kitchen, Sasuke was measuring tea leaves carefully with a spoon. "Looks like Okaa-san won't be back 'til late, and Otou-san's away from the village. I figured we'd just go out for dinner at Ichiraku or something after we've all showered?"
He glanced up at her before dumping the leaves into the hot water. "Fine. At least it'll keep the idiot happy."
She beamed at him, pleased that he didn't even ask to go home. She was starting to suspect that he liked these visits more than he let on, sometimes. It had to beat an empty apartment, right?
The sound of the water running upstairs cut off abruptly. Naruto's voice called out, "Sakura-chan, where are my clean clothes?"
"In the cupboard under the sink!" She called back. Giving Sasuke a fondly exasperated look, she shook her head. "You'd think he'd remember that, considering they've been there the last three times, right?"
"I keep telling you," Sasuke huffed, "he's a moron."
Sakura sat between her boys at the ramen stall, eyes sparkling with mirth at Naruto's exaggerated retelling of one of their most recent exploits. The owner, Teuchi, and his daughter Ayame, were listening with rapt attention.
"That's not what happened, idiot." Sasuke cut in for the third time, not looking up from his bowl. "You fell on your ass and Sakura tackled the boar."
Sakura flushed as Teuchi and Ayame's eyes travelled to her. "You, Sakura-chan?" Ayame gasped. "I never pictured you as a fighter!"
"I'm not, really." She bit her lip, trying not to smile. "But it saw Sasuke-kun barring the gate and ran by me, and… well, we were meant to catch it, right?"
"You were awesome, Sakura-chan!" Rather than be embarrassed that he'd been caught embellishing the details, Naruto turned to her with genuine praise. "Even Kakashi-sensei said so! I don't think I've ever seen you move so fast!"
"Guys, it was just a wild boar." She demurred, fiddling with her chopsticks. "It wasn't like it was a person who could fight back."
"Wild animals are dangerous." Teuchi reached out to ruffle her hair. "You still have to be careful when dealing with them."
"He's right." Sasuke said, unexpectedly. Sakura's neck snapped around to look at him so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash. "Remember when he," he jabbed his chopsticks in Naruto's direction, "wrestled with that ostrich?"
"Hey, we agreed that that never happened! And that bird wasn't wild!"
"Neither was Daimyo's wife's cat, but it still scratched you to shit every time."
"Yeah and I'm not convinced you didn't use some kind of witchcraft on it when you carried it around!"
"It's called 'catnip', dumbass. Kakashi gave it to us, remember?"
Sakura laughed. These were her favourite times; sitting with her friends and listening to their bickering. This wasn't the type of fight that would turn physical; this was just them getting under each other's skin for the fun of it. She'd gotten good at recognising when something was going to get ugly and required her to step in, but ever since the fight with Haku on that bridge, the boys had seemed to develop a grudging respect for each other. Sasuke still called Naruto an idiot and Naruto still called Sasuke an asshole, but the bitter sting of the words had long disappeared by the time they returned to Konoha.
She was glad. For a while, she had been afraid that they really would hate each other forever, with her caught in the middle. Sasuke was already her friend, and she was determined to be friendly with Naruto, after her little epiphany all those months ago on the day they were assigned as Team Seven. But it seemed like things had fallen into place.
Not to mention, when it counted, the two boys worked really well together. She bit her lip and frowned into her ramen at the thought. The longer she was with them on missions, the more she realised that she didn't really do much. Kakashi gave her the easy jobs—stay with the client; keep a lookout; distract the mark while we sneak up on him, I promise we won't let him hurt you; Naruto and Sasuke got themselves hurt again, can you give them first aid while I finish up? Nothing that really demanded anything from her. She didn't even really get to participate in team training sessions anymore. Most of the time, while the boys worked with each other and their sensei, Sakura would resort to perfecting skills she already had, like her chakra control or her aim with shuriken or kunai.
She never did have that talk with Kakashi-sensei that she promised herself she would. She wondered if it was too late, now.
"What's the matter, Sakura-chan?" Naruto broke through her glum thoughts.
She blinked, looking between Sasuke and Naruto; the boys were peering at her with identical frowns. "It's nothing." She forced a smile. "I'm just tired."
"Me too!" Naruto made a show of stretching his arms over his head. "Let's head back after this bowl, okay?"
Sakura offered to run errands for her mother in the morning, so she walked with Naruto and Sasuke into the village. Halfway to the market, the little kid that followed Naruto around like a bad smell appeared as if from nowhere.
Sasuke's eye twitched as soon as Naruto called the kid out. He ignored the beginnings of their bickering and turned away; he had no interest in whatever they were about to start on about.
"Hey, Naruto-nii-chan! Who's that girl?" A glance over his shoulder revealed the little runt pointing at Sakura. "She your girlfriend?"
"Nah, she's Sasuke's girlfriend." Naruto snickered.
Sasuke almost choked. A tug at the hem of his shirt forced him to look down. "Not bad, Sasuke-nii-chan." The kid whispered with a wink.
The twitch in his eye grew more pronounced.
"Naruto!" Sakura, being closer, was the first to hit the idiot over the head. "Quit saying things like that!" Then she whirled on the little kid. "And you!" She hit him too for good measure. "I am not Sasuke-kun's girlfriend!" She turned around, cheeks pink and nose in the air, and started stalking away.
"Oww," Konohamaru whined at Sasuke's feet. "Naruto-nii-chan, are you sure that's even a girl? She hits like one of Jii-chan's monkeys!"
Sasuke shook his head at his stupidity and took several careful steps to the side when Sakura froze mid-step. The dangerous intent rolling off her was more palpable than many a jōnin's.
Taking advantage of everyone's distraction, he escaped to the trees, watching them disappear around the corner. He leant against the trunk of the tree and exhaled before deciding to head to the market on his own.
Naruto's shouting drew his attention before he departed. Sticking to the trees in case Naruto was just making a fuss over nothing, he rounded the corner and took in the sight of Konohamaru dangling from the grip of a Suna-nin.
We're finally heading into the Chūnin Exams arc!