We're finally to the chūnin exam finals. Watch the complete lack of action in this chapter.

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 Fifteen

Things weren't looking good for Naruto for a while in his match against Neji, but he won in the end. Sakura had barely managed to breathe a sigh of relief before she began to worry that Sasuke was late.

It wasn't like him to be late to anything. Sakura hadn't seen much of him in the past two weeks, but she was confident that Sasuke would be there. He was eager, in his own way, to participate. He wanted to fight, to prove himself, to measure his strength against the best, as he'd said just before the preliminaries.

Sakura had noticed a change in him since the Forest of Death. He was colder than he was before; his temper was shorter, and his tongue sharper. Sakura had suggested he take a day off, three days ago, for his birthday, but he'd snapped at her with such vehemence—that he would, under no circumstances, take a break from his preparations—that her shock must have shown on her face. He'd looked surprised for a moment before his face slid carefully into a blank mask and he told her that he would see her later, shutting Kakashi's door in her face. She hadn't seen him since.

She cringed inwardly. Sure, Sasuke had never made a big deal out of his birthday, but he'd always stopped by and allowed her parents to fuss over him. Knowing his dislike for what he deemed to be impracticalities, she'd taken to buying him weapons for his birthday for as long as she'd had an allowance—special, high-quality kunai that she knew he still had and used on missions, shuriken sets when he started to run low. This year, since thirteen was a special year, she'd been saving up all her mission pay for an ornate tantō that was currently stashed at the bottom of her closet. She'd even paid a little extra to have it emblazoned with the uchiwa at the base of the blade. But after he'd snapped at her she hadn't had the courage to go back and give it to him.

Instead, she threw herself into her research on ninjutsu and genjutsu. Unfortunately, without any idea what her chakra nature was, she couldn't really begin to teach herself anything more than the theory. Jōnin instructors were typically the ones who tested for their genin's chakra natures, but Kakashi had been so busy with Sasuke that Sakura hadn't been able to approach him. Besides, going to his apartment meant seeing Sasuke.

She hadn't seen much of him, but she didn't like this new version of her friend. Sasuke had always been focused, but for the three times she'd seen him over the past two weeks, he'd seemed almost obsessed.

"I'm going to hunt down the man who killed my clan. I will kill him and avenge them. I don't care what I have to do to do it."

Sasuke's words from the preliminaries echoed in her mind. She'd known he had a goal to kill somebody, but she'd never really allowed herself to think about it since his admission on the day they'd became genin. But knowing, now, the reason behind it… made it seem more dangerous. More real. She was afraid for him. What could he do against someone who could take out an entire clan? Who had likely only gotten stronger since then?

He'd taken the deaths of his family hard, she remembered. Sasuke had always been a quiet little boy in their early years at the academy, but he'd become aggressive following his return after the murders. He used to get into fights with Naruto and Kiba almost daily for a while before Sakura started running interference and distracting him. It was so at odds with the quiet, but smiling boy he used to be when his mother picked him up from school just weeks before.

Sakura had tried to give him some of the warmth he was missing from his family, even if she didn't recognise what she was doing at the time. Her family had enquired about taking him into their home when they were eight, after Sakura and Sasuke's friendship had been established, but the Hokage's office had rejected their request; Sasuke was officially the head of the Uchiha Clan, now, and placing him in the care of anyone else would be seen as undermining that authority. It didn't matter that the clan was made up of only one person, and a child at that; he had all the rights and expectations that Hyūga Hiashi had, as head of the Hyūga clan.

It wasn't fair, Sakura thought as she chewed on her bottom lip. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad now if he hadn't been forced to grow up alone. If he'd been given the chance to be a real kid, even after the deaths of his clan. Sakura's parents had never wanted to take his parents' place; they'd just wanted to see him looked after and safe. But it wasn't meant to be, and thirteen year old Sasuke was now becoming a miniature ball of hatred and resentment in a child's body, forced to grow up and experience the darkest parts of life well before he was ready.

"What's wrong, Sakura?"

Sakura snapped out of her daze as Neji was stretchered out of the arena by the medics. She turned to her left to see Ino looking at her with a strange look on her face. "Huh?"

"What's wrong? You look like you want to cry."

Sakura swallowed a lump in her throat. "I'm fine. Sasuke-kun's match is next. It's just that he's fighting that creepy Gaara guy."

Ino frowned, but shrugged and turned her eyes back to the battlefield. "Is he even here?"

"Why are you even sitting with me, anyway?" Sakura changed the subject, not wanting to admit she didn't know. "I thought you hated me."

Ino shrugged. "It was either you or Hinata, and she's hanging out with Kiba today." Ino's nose scrunched up. "He's almost as bad as Naruto."

"Naruto's not that bad, you know." Sakura defended loyally. "He's a bit loud, but he's a really good guy."

Ino's eyebrows rose. "Oh?" She said with a teasing lilt. "Are you turning away from Sasuke-kun, then?"

Sakura's cheeks coloured. "I don't know what you're talking about. They're both my friends."

"Sure, sure." Ino waved her hand dismissively. "We both know how you really feel, Forehead."

Sakura opened her mouth to spit a retort, but was cut off by the proctor.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" He shouted towards the stands. "One of the contestants for the next match has not arrived yet! Therefore, we will push the match back and begin the next one!"

Kankurō's immediate forfeit soured the crowd even more. The upside was that Shikamaru and Temari's match was actually interesting, at least to Sakura. She'd always known Shikamaru was smart. He was probably smarter than her, and Sakura was known for her intelligence among their classmates. Seeing him use that on the battlefield was a treat, even if he did end up giving up in the end.

Sakura sighed as Ino and Chōji, who had appeared at the beginning of the match, carried on beside her. Sasuke still wasn't there. If he didn't arrive in the next few seconds, he would be disqualified, and Naruto would go on to fight Gaara. Remembering what he did to Lee in the preliminaries, Sakura shivered. She didn't want either of them fighting him.

The crowd cheered as Sasuke and Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves. Sakura's eyes zeroed in on Sasuke's face, even from so far away. He was talking with Naruto, who had leapt down to chastise Shikamaru. His hair hung forward, obscuring his eyes from the crowd.

"He needs a haircut." Sakura muttered.

"What?!" Ino screeched from her side.

Sakura cleared her throat. "He needs," she repeated, "a haircut."

Chōji laughed uproariously as Ino spluttered; Sakura giggled a little, the tightness in her chest easing, even if only for a moment. She spotted a familiar green jumpsuit from behind him and brightened. "Lee-san!"

Lee smiled at her, but his greeting was cut off by Ino. "Y'know, Forehead, your team is pretty special. I mean, Naruto beat the genius of the Hyūga clan, and Sasuke-kun is already a prodigy!"

Sakura watched Lee's face crumple. She felt a pang in her chest. "Yeah… but they both had to work hard to make it here." She said, loud enough for Lee to hear her. He caught her eye and smiled again, then turned away with Gai to find a seat. He was still wobbling on crutches, his bad arm in a sling. She felt bad for him.

Kakashi appeared in a gust of wind. "Yo, Sakura! Gai!" His eye lazily drifted over to Lee. "Lee-kun. How are you doing?"

"Sensei," Sakura stood up and tugged on his sleeve. "Have you got a sec?" Kakashi blinked at her and shrugged. She turned to Lee. "Lee-san, you can have my seat if you want it. I don't think I'm going to be able to sit down for this match."

"Thank you, Sakura-san!" Lee attempted a bow, but nearly overbalanced and fell. Gai caught him and steered him to her seat.

Sakura fixed Kakashi with a look and tugged him up the stairs toward the back of the stands. Judging by the cheer that rose from the crowd, the match had already started. Looking around briefly, Sakura leaned in and whispered, "I wanted to ask before, but Sasuke-kun was always around. The mark…?"

Kakashi leaned against the wall, eye on the match beginning below. "You've got no need to worry." He said calmly. "It's under control."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, sagging against the wall next to him. She focused her attention on the fight happening below, her anxiety rising for an entirely different reason.

Sasuke had been preparing for this. Kakashi had described Lee's grisly injury to him in detail, wanting to prepare him for this moment. Naruto wasn't going to be a problem, and he wasn't concerned about anyone in the other block. This was the big hurdle he would face today.

His training would pay off. He was certain.

"Sensei!" Naruto appeared as Gaara encased himself in a dome of sand. Sakura could see the bright red of blood trickling down Sasuke's arm, even from way up in the stands. "You've got to stop the match!"

Kakashi eyed Naruto with mild interest. "Hello, Naruto."

"I'm serious!" He insisted as Shikamaru appeared behind him, hands in his pockets and somehow looking both bored and concerned. "That Gaara, he lives for killing people! He told us himself! Shikamaru, tell him!"

Sakura gasped, hands clutching the fabric on her chest as Naruto spoke. She could easily imagine it. If Lee had been even a little slower in the preliminaries, it wouldn't have just been his arm and leg crushed.

"There's no need to worry." Kakashi ruffled Naruto's hair. "Sasuke has trained for this. We weren't late for no reason."

"But still, he's really dangerous." Sakura chewed on her lip. "Haven't you noticed? Even his own siblings are afraid of him." She'd noticed it in the prelims.

Kakashi's other hand ruffled her hair. "Have a little faith in him, you two." He said calmly.

Sakura looked up at him. "I do, but… what did you mean, you were late for a reason?"

"Just watch." Kakashi nodded down at the fight. Sakura looked down to see Sasuke leaping backward, sticking to the wall with his chakra. "You might be surprised."

As she watched with bated breath, lighting began to crackle up his bandaged arm. She heard Naruto suck in a breath as Gai approached.

"Just what kind of training did you do with him, Kakashi?" Gai demanded. "I saw him use Lee's taijutsu earlier. His speed has increased greatly in the last month, and now this jutsu…"

"Two weeks, actually." Kakashi corrected, voice mildly disinterested. "He copied Lee's taijutsu just before the first exam. I had him practice it to increase his speed." His eye drifted to his green-clad rival. "As for the jutsu… well, he's the same chakra nature as me. It seemed fitting."

"What jutsu is that?" Naruto demanded.

"It's called the chidori—or the raikiri, the Lightning Cutter." Gai explained, his usual exuberance gone. Sakura shivered; she'd only ever seen Gai being flamboyant and eccentric. To see him like that was chilling, almost. "Kakashi's own unique jutsu, used specifically for assassination. The chakra turns the arm into a blade that can cut through almost anything. All it takes is one hit, and your opponent is dead."

"Isn't that… the jutsu you used on the bridge to kill Haku?" Sakura asked, eyes wide. "You taught him that?!" Having such a deadly jutsu in his arsenal… Sakura gulped.

"It is." Kakashi nodded. "He needs it for this fight. Now hush. Things are getting interesting."

The curse mark is making itself known.

We're moving into Konoha Crush, which is something I've been excited for for a while.