Standard disclaimer applies.

Thanks to all of my lovely readers! I'd like to hear all of your opinions.

Oh and frankly, Ino is probably my least fave character (no offense), so I don't know how much Ino bashing there may be. I do it subconsciously. Giving you fair warning now.

Also I know I said I was going to take out the japanese besides shannaro and dattebayo, but i decided I'm going to keep dobe and teme as well. Those should be fairly simple.

Enjoy!

"Sakura-chan!" Haruno Sakura's head swiveled around to see an anxious Uzumaki Naruto and a stoic Uchiha Sasuke.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Come on! Let's go train with Kakashi-sensei!"

She gave a soft smile and followed with a nod.

"Hey Naruto," she cocked her head and looked at him curiously, "don't you have a date with Hinata-chan later? Should you be going training? You might be late." Her voice turned into a teasing one.

"W-what? What are you saying Sakura-chan? It's not a date! Hinata-chan's making me some homemade ramen of her own because I don't have enough money to take us to Ichiraku!" Naruto squirmed under his teammates gazes.

"That sounds like a date dobe. Denial doesn't really suit you" even Sasuke had for once joined in on the fun. His lips twitched upwards as he fought to keep down a smile.

Wow. Sasuke has really changed since I came back. He would have never done that before. We're getting closer too. I can feel it.

"What did you say teme!"

Although, their rivalry hasn't changed.

These days, Sakura hadn't changed much. She went to the Hokage twice a week to speak with him about her future and what differences have already been made by her being there.

The mission to the Village Hidden in the Mists had gone almost parallel to the first time. In that time, Sasuke had gotten his Sharingan and Sakura watched carefully on how he grew stronger and progressed.

The Chuunin Exams were coming up soon and she was anticipating what she was going to do. Her first priority was to stop Orochimaru from biting Sasuke. Her second was to "come out" as a stronger kunoichi during her fight with Ino. Ooh. She grinned. She was looking forward to fighting Ino.

She missed her best friend yes, but they were still rivals in this time. She remembered that Ino had told her before she died along with her fiancée Shikamaru that even though they were rivals, they would always be sisters a well.

She shook the thoughts out of her head. She needed to center her thoughts around something else besides those she lost.

"Sakura?" a voice called and she jumped. Sasuke was looking at her funny. Like she was mental. Naruto had run ahead to the training grounds to see if Kakashi was there yet.

"What is it Sasuke-kun? What's wrong?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

Sasuke looked at her for a moment more and chills ran down her spine.

The moment was broken by a shouting Naruto however.

"Hey! Teme! Sakura-chan! What's wrong? You guys okay?"

Sakura's head shot up and she lost eye contact with Sasuke.

"Yeah! We're fine Naruto. Sasuke just wanted to ask a question, but its fine. Is Kakashi-sensei there yet?"

"Nah. That lazy-ass." He answered as they caught up.

Sakura giggled. Sasuke remained quiet.

POOF!

"Aaaah! Sensei! For once you're not that late!"

"Yeah. I got sidetracked on the road of life."

"LIAR!" Sakura and Naruto called out simultaneously. Old habits die hard.

"Where were you really Kakashi?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow and gave him the Famous Uchiha Death Glare. Daring him to lie.

Kakashi cringed and sweatdropped. "Actually, I was at the Hokage's office. I signed the three of you up for the Chuunin Exams."

"Wow, cool!" Naruto shouted. "Um wait. What are the Chuunin Exams again?"

Everyone fell down anime style.

"Naruto! I thought I explained that to you once before!" Sakura sounded exasperated.

"Oh! Is it that one thing with the nations coming together and the genin fighting to become chuunin?"

"Yeah that's basically it." Kakashi sweatdropped.

"Dobe." Sasuke snorted.

"TEME!"

Sakura decided to cut the tension. "Why don't we all go have a picnic in anticipation of the Chuunin Exams? Afterwards we can go train. I already have food packed for all of us plus extras. I was kinda hoping we could go on a picnic. We can invite Hinata-chan too." She added the last part for Naruto.

"Yeah!" he shouted and jumped up and down apparently pumped up on adrenaline.

The boys made their way to a clearing while Sakura promised them she would meet them after she found Hinata. They took the food and told her that they would set up, but not to take too long because they wanted to hurry so they could start training.

She promised she would take as little time as possible and sped off. For most of the way, the three were silent with occasional shouts from Naruto. As soon as they had set up however and Sakura was still not there, Sasuke looked up and started speaking.

"Kakashi, Naruto. Have you noticed anything weird with Sakura?"

"What do you mean teme?"

"She's…different. There's a lot that she's not telling us."

"I'm sure you're imagining things Sasuke. Then again, I didn't know Sakura before you joined my genin team so I can't really say much."

Crap. This is not good. Sasuke is starting to suspect. Kakashi thought. I don't know if Sakura wants them to know yet. We should tell them soon though. What are we going to do if they somehow come to a conclusion themselves?

"I've noticed it too teme." Said Naruto starting to speak up. "She seems sad a lot and she's starting to spend a lot of time at that one bench. I don't know why though. She says it brings back memories."

This was news to both Sasuke and Kakashi.

Naruto continued, 'I always see her playing with that ring of hers too! Why? That's a wedding ring/engagement ring isn't it? Why does Sakura-chan have it?"

"Have what Naruto?" Sakura appeared behind them with her finger in her mouth in curiosity and Hinata was behind her looking over her shoulder.

"N-nothing S-sakura-chan! We weren't talking about anything! Ahahaha!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head in nervousness. "Oh! Hinata-chan! You're here! Sit down right here next to me!"

"T-thank you. Naruto-kun." Naruto grinned at her.

In all actuality, Sakura had heard their conversation perfectly clear. She bit her lip as she sat between Kakashi and Sasuke. Maybe she was a bit too obvious. As always, when she was nervous or was thinking, her fingers folded over the ring on her neck. She was left to her thoughts as everyone else started eating. Save for one person.

Uchiha Sasuke was in shock. How? He had completely forgotten about it these past few weeks. Hadn't even given it a second thought. That ring. He tightened his fists and fought to control his anger.

"Sakura-chan? Sasuke-san?" a quiet voice roused them from their thoughts. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"Yeah!" they called out simultaneously and started eating quickly.

The other three watched them with amusement and before they knew it, the rest of the morning had passed in happy contentment

The kids of Team 7 plus Hyuuga Hinata were walking down a pathway on their way to a well deserved lunch of Ichiraku ramen after a hard day's work of training. Lately, Hinata had been training more with them than her own team.

Kakashi and Sasuke wondered whether it would cause problems because Hinata would learn their fighting styles, but dismissed the thought. Hinata was not that type of person and anyways, they learned her style as well.

All of them were gradually getting stronger. They could feel it. All except for Sakura. It seemed as if she was growing stronger, when in truth, she was letting more of her true strength show.

Konohamaru suddenly appeared before them and shouted, "Boss!"

"Hey Konohamaru! What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in a while!"

Konohamaru looked behind him to Sasuke and Sakura who looked back at him, and then to Hinata who stood behind Naruto clinging slightly to the back of his outfit.

"Oh! I can see why! Hey Boss," he said the last part in a whisper and pulled Naruto's head down so that he could hear better. "is that your girlfriend there? With the white eyes? Pretty smooth Boss!"

"What are you talking about Konohamaru?" Both Naruto's and Hinata's face had gone beet red.

"That brat" Sakura muttered under her breath.

"This is pointless." Sasuke announced. "I'm leaving. See ya." He walked off.

It wasn't surprising that Sasuke decided to walk off. They had had to drag him there in the first place. This was becoming so familiar to Sakura. The 'girlfriend' comment from Konohamaru. Sasuke's leaving. The Chuunin Exams.

A jolt hit her. Wait a minute… Gaara!

At that moment, Konohamaru had run into a boy maybe a year older than them who wore black and had a type of…was that purple makeup on his face?

He grabbed Konohamaru's arms and snickered.

"Hehehe! Look at the shrimp here! You better watch it squirt."

"Hey! Let go of me! I said let go!" Konohamaru flailed and tried to loosen Kankuro's grip.

"Kankuro! What are you doing? We have to go!" A sandy blonde girl with four ponytails called out to the person apparently named Kankuro.

"Hold on a bit Temari. We have a few more minutes before he gets here. Why don't we mess with these punks for a little bit?"

"Fine" she said to him, "but don't expect me to be a part of this." She sighed.

"Hey you! Get your hands off of him!" Naruto shouted.

A rock came flying out of nowhere and hit Kankuro in the head.

"Aaah!" he cried out.

Sakura took the chance and grabbed Konohamaru out of Kankuro's grip.

"Hey!" he called. "Who threw that rock?" He looked up to see Sasuke sitting in the tree above him.

"You're a long way from home you know. And you're way out of your league" He called out to them.

Temari looked him over and smiled. Well, well. Local hottie.

Kankuro growled. "Oh great. Another twerp to tick me off." He turned to the others and Sakura stared him straight in the eyes while Naruto stood in front of Hinata so as to protect her if something happened.

Sasuke crushed the rock in his hand and let the wind blow the dust away. "Get lost."

Kankuro was looking pretty ticked off right now. He snarled at Sasuke and said, "You're the kind of guy who ticks me off the most. All talk and nothing to back it up."

He pulled at the strings on his shoulders and Temari gasped. "You're going to bring out the Crow for this?"

"Kankuro." A new voice called out. "Stand down." The sound was a low one and it sent shivers down everyone's (even Sakura's) spines. Sasuke looked behind him to see Sabaku no Gaara hanging from the branch.

"You're an embarrassment to our village."

How did he get there? Sasuke pondered this question. He didn't make a sound and I didn't even feel him coming either. Only jounin at Kakashi's level are that smooth.

"Hey Gaara." Kankuro called out to him nervously. "L-look. Here's what happened."

"Shut up," He cut him off. "Before I kill you." He turned slightly towards Sasuke and said, "I'm sorry, for any trouble they caused."

There was a rush of sand and he reappeared before Naruto and the others on the ground.

"Come, Temari, Kankuro. We didn't come here to play games." He turned away as if to leave when Sasuke called out after him.

"Wait. What's your name?" Temari turned around.

"You mean me?" she had a flirty smile on her face that made Sakura feel sick. Temari too?

"No not you." Sasuke corrected her and pointed to Gaara. "You. The one with the gourd on his back. Who are you?"

Gaara turned his head and answered him. "I am Gaara. Of the Desert. I already know your name. All of you."

He turned his whole body around and looked Sakura in the eye. She took a step back.

He knew something. She could see it in the way he looked at her. Her suspicions were confirmed when he said,

"Sakura-san. It's good to see you again. I would be pleased to see how you've improved." Nodding his head to her, he left and motioned to his siblings to follow.

How did he know?

Naruto, Hinata, and Sasuke stared at her while Konohamaru tried to get Naruto to teach them a new jutsu.

How did he know?

This was just really a filler chapter!

Keep reading! I know you all have questions with all of the plot twists! Like:

1. Why does Sakura have a diamond ring around her neck? (chapter 1)

2. Who is the father of Sakura and Hinata's children? (chapter 1) (A/N should be obvious)

3. Who was the person Sakura saw in the mirror? (chapter 2)

4. How does Gaara know Sakura? (chapter 3)

5. WHEN IS SASUKE GOING TO REALIZE HE LOVES SAKURA?

Okay that's all I have to say. The next chapter will be out soon if I get at least 3 reviews (or I get impatient and can't wait.)!

Love ya! KIKI KOALA :heart: