Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and Kudozaki Lucine. The rest belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Uchiha Sasuke

As I quietly ate my lunch, I couldn't help but think about Lucine's face back in the forest, she truly looked scared. She usually does that when I give her punishments, but that's the point with punishments, right? She needs to learn from them and not rebel again. So there's no need for me to feel bad, right? I tried to reason with myself, but I still felt slightly guilty for some reason.

I looked to my side and towards her. Naruto was sitting next to me, tied to the post, and Sakura next to him, while Lucine sat on the other side of Sakura, so she was as far away from me as possible. She hadn't touched her food once, she hadn't even looked at it. Now a bit concerned, I frowned as I watched her look straight ahead, she looked deep in thought.

Why is she in such a bad mood? She should be content since she managed to steal the bells from Kakashi. Although it's technically thanks to me, since I go him to lower his guard.

Naruto's stomach growled interrupted my trail of thoughts, which made everyone look at him. "Heh, don't worry everyone! I'm not hungry at all, I can go days without eating, believe it!" It was a obviously a lie, as his stomach growled again.

Suddenly, Lucine slid her lunchbox towards Naruto. I widened my eyes and stared at her in bewilderment, as did everyone else. "Take it." she said when no one made a move.

"Are you... you giving your lunch to Naruto?" Sakura asked in surprise, her mouth agape. I was just as surprised; Lucine has never shown any hint of kindness to anyone throughout the years we spent in the academy, barely even speaking unless completely necessary. It's understandable to see Sakura having difficulty to process Lucine's suddenly acting out of character.

"Lucine-chan, I didn't know you were so nice." Naruto muttered, obviously feeling touched by her kindness as his eyes welled up with tears.

Lucine looked away, turning her back to us, "Don't misunderstand. I'm only giving it to you because I'm not hungry." Much to my surprise, again, I saw a hint of redness on the tops of her ears. Is she blushing? My eyes almost popped out of their sockets. I have never ever in my life managed to get a single blush from her. So why is she blushing now? ...Is it Naruto that is making her blush? I felt fury start to build in the pit of my stomach at the thought, and I glared ferociously at the idiot sitting next to me. He is not worthy of that attention from her.

"Take mine instead." I interjected quickly, and held up the lunchbox towards Naruto. He looked even more shocked that I was offering him my lunchbox, even more than when Lucine did it. "You'll need the strength for when Kakashi comes back." Which was technically true, if Naruto is hungry he'd just get in the way.

"S-Sasuke-kun too?! You can't do that! You'll get in trouble, Kakashi-sensei said we couldn't give Naruto any food!" Sakura whisper-yelled, until she stopped herself, now looking hesitant. Suddenly her green eyes lit up with determination and she held out her lunchbox towards Naruto. "Wait, take mine Naruto. I'm on a diet anyway."

"Sakura-chan..." Naruto sniffed once again getting too emotional. In the end, we all ended up offering our lunch to him.

Sakura was about to feed him, until Kakashi suddenly reappeared in front of us in a flash, startling everyone, "YOU!" Dark grey clouds formed in the skies, and the mood seemed much more ominous than it was seconds ago. "You disobeyed my orders. Ready for your punishment?"

Naruto gulped in fear, but managed to word out hesitantly, "B-but you said-..."

"Yes?" Kakashi urged.

"That there were four of us... and that's why..." Naruto looked at the us for assistance.

I widened my eyes in realization. "We're all in this team, and we're all in it together." I defended, now understanding the objective.

Sakura was determined as she added her own input, "Yeah, that's right! The four of us are one!"

Lucine sighed as everyone looked at her, waiting for her to say something in their defense. "There must have been a point in assigning us into a team." she said calmly, but the point remained the same.

"Yeah! Believe it!" Naruto cheered from his spot.

"The four of you are one? That's your excuse?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly, now looking amused. Was this a trick the entire time? Naruto and Sakura frowned, ready for what was coming. He smiled, and without hesitance, he spoke his next words casually, "You pass."

"...Huh?"

"You. Pass." He repeated.

"What do you mean? How do we pass?" Sakura asked, now the one who looked completely bewildered, Naruto mirroring her expression. Lucine had a raised eyebrow, but otherwise she didn't give much of a reaction. I sighed tiredly, feeling disappointed that I didn't immediately understand the objective of this exercise.

Kakashi proceeded to explain, his eye indicating that he was smiling under his mask. "The others fell right into my trap and followed my orders. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." He said the last part almost nostalgically, almost as if it wasn't truly his words, but something he had heard from someone else.

Naruto looked like he was going to cry again, "This guy is so cool."

Kakashi held up his thumb and finally declared what we had all wanted to hear, "Team 7 starts their first mission tomorrow!"

"Yay!" Sakura cheered, jumping up and down in joy as she stood up from her seat.

"I did it, I did it! I'm a ninja, NINJA!" Naruto cheered too, from happiness, but couldn't express it to the same degree as Sakura, since he was still tied up.

I looked at Lucine. As expected, she looked didn't look visibly happy, but there was an almost pleased glint to her eyes.

"Come on, let's go home." Kakashi said, turning around to walk away. We all stood up and walked after him, Lucine following silently.

"Hey! Don't leave me behind!" We heard Naruto shout behind us, but no one bothered to go help him.

Content with the results, I stepped up next to Lucine. But when I tried to grab her hand, she swiftly dodged me and sped up her pace, now walking right next to Kakashi who was pretending not to watch the exchange.

Now slightly hurt by her cold behavior, I frowned in disappointment. She didn't have to walk away from me. Why must she be so stubborn? I wanted to walk up next to her and try again, but I decided to let her have her way for now, as Kakashi was giving me a warning look. I'll talk to her when we get home.