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

Rays of Spring Sunshine

Chapter Twenty Two

Kakashi was on time for the first time ever the next morning. The three of them stared at him in surprise.

"Sasuke, Sakura." He said in a solemn tone, handing them each a slip of paper. "You've been summoned by the Hokage."

Sakura went pale, eyes flicking to Sasuke. He scowled, meeting her gaze.

"What? Why?" Naruto demanded.

Kakashi shook his head. "That's none of your concern, Naruto." He said sternly. "Come on. Hokage-sama isn't a patient woman." And he turned on his heel and started marching toward the Hokage tower. The three children were given little choice but to follow.

Sasuke knew what this was about. Someone had reported him. Someone had seen him and Sakura at the gates the other night and run to the Hokage with the information. He looked at Sakura again. She looked petrified. Either she was the one who ratted him out—the idea made him quiver with rage—or she was in trouble for not reporting him herself.

They were waved through immediately. "Wait here, Naruto." Kakashi told him at the door.

"Why can't I come in?" He demanded. "You all get to!"

"They were summoned." Kakashi pointed out. "I am attending as their commanding officer. You are not required for this meeting." Then, he sighed and ruffled Naruto's hair. "Just wait a few minutes, Naruto. I'll try to get us a decent mission afterwards, okay?"

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms, leaning exaggeratedly against the wall. "Fine."

Sasuke made a sound of contempt as Kakashi pushed the door open and motioned them through. He held his head high as he stepped into the Hokage's office; Sakura followed meekly behind. Kakashi closed the door as the three of them came to stand in front of the desk.

Tsunade was standing when they came in. Sakura stood to attention, as protocol dictated, but Sasuke merely shoved his hands in his pockets. The Hokage eyed him up and down. "Uchiha. I take it you know why you're here?"

"Someone couldn't keep their fat mouth shut?"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him. He scowled at her. "I hardly have to remind you that treason is a capital offence, kid." She growled.

"One I didn't commit." He raised his chin defiantly.

Tsunade glared at him. Then, she sat down, steepling her fingers, watching him. "No." She agreed. "And for that you should thank your friend. From what my witness reported he overheard, you'd be a wanted criminal by now without her."

He saw Sakura twitch out of the corner of his eye. 'He overheard'. So it hadn't been her. Something in him relaxed, letting go of a small bit of anger. But not enough.

"I didn't actually do anything illegal." He pointed out with a sneer, uncaring that he was disrespecting the highest ranking shinobi in the entire Land of Fire.

"And you won't get the chance to." Tsunade agreed, pulling a manila folder out of her desk drawer. "Kakashi." She handed it to him.

He flicked through it and sighed. "Understood, Hokage-sama." He said with resignation.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his teacher. "What does that mean?" He demanded of the Hokage.

"It means you're grounded, essentially." She said with finality. "No leaving the village until I say so. All of your missions for the foreseeable future will be conducted within the boundaries of Konoha."

"What?" He snapped, composure forgotten. "You've got the be kidding—"

"I promise you, I am entirely serious." Tsunade leant back in her chair. "It's as much for your protection as it is to keep an eye on you. Orochimaru wants you. I don't plan to give him an opportunity to find you." Here, she pinned him with her stare and he stiffened. "You will be under surveillance by ANBU until further notice." She said simply.

"What?!"

"Sasuke." Kakashi clamped his hand down on Sasuke's shoulder. It was only then that he realised he'd taken a threatening step forward. The curse mark burned on his neck. "Control yourself."

Sasuke was trembling with fury. How dare she?

"I don't like wasting the resources either, kid." Tsunade said sharply. "But you've already proven that you can't be trusted not to make stupid decisions. And as much as you piss me off, I don't want Orochimaru to fuck you up even more."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Tsunade sighed. "I know Orochimaru well. We were teammates for a very long time." She said, surprising him. He recalled something about them being the students of the Sandaime, with the pervert Jiraya. "Everything that man touches gets fucked up. His lackeys go insane. People die. You don't want that for yourself."

Sasuke snarled. "How the fuck do you know what I want?" He demanded.

"Any sane person would want to keep their distance from that snake." Tsunade said sternly. Then, abruptly, she sniffed. "Wait outside, Uchiha. Haruno, stay." She turned her steely gaze to the pink-haired girl. "You and I need to have a little chat about reporting incidents like this. You should have come to me the second you knew about it."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Sakura said in a small voice.

Sakura watched as Kakashi steered a livid Sasuke out of the room. When her teacher returned, Tsunade cleared her throat. "Relax, Haruno. This is for show to protect your anonymity. Kakashi tells me you don't want Uchiha to know you were my informant."

Sakura let out a shaky breath and nodded. Kakashi clapped a hand on her shoulder. "You did the right thing, Sakura." He said warmly. "Because of you, the village can now take the necessary steps to protect Sasuke." She nodded again, though she still felt guilty for betraying him. Even if it was for his own good.

"Is there anything else you can tell us?" Tsunade asked brusquely. "Anything at all?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, Hokage-sama. I went to the gates on… on intuition."

Tsunade sighed deeply. "Very well. Give it another minute and then you can leave. If he asks, you were given an informal reprimand."

Sakura nodded. Then, she squared her shoulders. "Actually, Hokage-sama," she said in as steady a voice as she could manage, "I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh?"

It had been on Sakura's mind ever since that night. When she'd gotten home the night before, her mother had freaked out at the number of cuts and bruises on her body. She'd spent three hours sitting on the couch while her mother exhausted herself trying to heal the worst of them. Haruno Mebuki was no medical ninja, so she'd only just barely managed the bruises, but Sakura was impressed enough that she wanted to be able to do it too. She'd spent the evening peppering her mother with medical questions and watching the purple blotches fading from her skin.

Besides, she'd gotten a taste of just how strong Sasuke already was yesterday. If he had left that night, she would have been useless in trying to bring him back. She was so far behind her peers. In the Forest of Death, she'd wanted to be the one to stand before them, to protect them. But ever since that realisation, she hadn't made a single step toward that goal.

She took a breath. "Please, I want to be your apprentice!"

Kakashi blinked down at the pink head of hair in front of him. Had he heard her correctly?

"Say that again." The Hokage narrowed her eyes.

"I—I would like you to make me your apprentice! Please." Sakura said, as confidently as she could muster.

Tsunade rested her chin on interlaced fingers, looking the girl up and down. "And why do you ask such a thing?"

Sakura looked down, fidgeting. "I've been thinking…" she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "If Sasuke-kun had left, then Naruto would have gone after him, and I wouldn't have been able to help at all." She took a deep breath, visibly fighting down her nerves. "I've been a burden to my team in the field; I don't want to be any more. I want to be able to protect them the way they've been protecting me. But Kakashi-sensei is going to have his hands full training the boys, and it wouldn't be fair to hold them back just because I need to catch up, and… and… my mother is a doctor! So I've been around hospitals, and—"

Tsunade held up a hand, stemming the flood of words. "Kakashi!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Do you have nothing to say at the prospect of my stealing your student from you?"

Kakashi's lone visible eye crinkled. It made a hell of a lot of sense, if he thought about it. Sakura was a supportive force on the team; medical ninjutsu would be the perfect fit for her, if she could master it. "I have no issue with it whatsoever. Sakura has genius-level chakra control and an exceptional mind, but her physical skills are lacking. I think the attention of a dedicated teacher is exactly what she needs. With my needing to keep an eye on Sasuke and Naruto, it wouldn't be fair to allow Sakura's training to fall by the wayside." Not that he'd ever really known what to do with her, anyway.

Tsunade hummed in agreement. She returned her gaze to the hopeful girl in front of her. "Very well."

"Hokage-sama…?" Sakura's eyes widened.

Tsunade nodded. "I like that look in your eye. I'll take you on as my apprentice. But I won't be going easy on you."

Sakura clasped her hands. "Oh, thank you, Hokage-sama! I'll work hard!"

Tsunade gave an evil grin. "You'd better. I don't take too well to little girls who waste my time." She stood and made her way to the bookshelves that lined the walls, pulling out a thick tome and thumbing through it for a moment, before nodding to herself in approval. Snapping it shut, she approached the girl and handed it to her. "I want you to read the first three chapters of this book by tomorrow. Report here by nine in the morning." Sakura nodded, cradling the book in her arms. "You'll also continue to attend team training sessions. Kakashi, you and I will need to work out a schedule."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"After missions and training, you will come straight here and remain until I dismiss you." The Hokage continued. Sakura clutched the book tightly to her chest and nodded. "Good. Kakashi, bring the boys back in. There's something I need to discuss with you all. Saves me from having to send another summons."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." He stuck his head out the door, dreading what he was going to find. There had been no sounds of a fight, but that didn't necessarily mean that all was well. To his surprise, the boys were simply leaning on the wall on opposite sides of the door, very determinedly not looking at each other. "Naruto. Sasuke. The Hokage requests your presence."

"She couldn't have brought whatever it was up while I was in there?" Sasuke grumbled, but pushed ahead of Naruto to enter first. Kakashi sighed as Naruto growled. Apparently, there was still animosity there after their fight.

Kakashi fought the urge to check Naruto's irreverence for their village's leader when the boy grinned at Tsunade, hands tucked behind his head. "What's up, Baa-chan? I thought you only wanted to see them?"

Tsunade, however, merely sniffed and gave him the stink-eye. "I didn't know I'd need to speak to you until ten minutes before you got here." She crossed her arms and leaned forward. "I've decided to remove Naruto from Team Seven. Today will be his last day as an official member."

There was absolute silence for about five seconds, as three and a half sets of eyes widened. Kakashi could not have been more surprised. This was the first he'd heard of any of this.

Naruto, of course, was the first to break it. "What?!"

"Calm down, Naruto." Kakashi planted a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I'm sure Hokage-sama has a good reason…?"

Sasuke snorted. "Maybe she finally realised he's a dead last loser and decided to send him back to the Academy."

"You shut your fucking mouth, Sasuke—!"

"That was mean, Sasuke-kun—!"

"Children!" Tsunade's hand slammed down on the desk, rattling the floor under their feet. Kakashi winced at what looked like a handprint indented into the wood when she removed her hand. "I received a request this morning," Tsunade held up a piece of paper, waving it in the air, "from Jiraya. He wants to take you on as his student, Naruto. I've decided to permit it. Naturally, as Jiraya travels from place to place, you will be unable to remain in the village for the duration of your training."

Kakashi heard the unspoken reasoning; the Akatsuki were targeting Naruto. This was less about Naruto's training—though he was sure he could learn much from a sannin—and more about keeping him on the move with a very strong bodyguard. A protection detail. Make the target hard to find, and, if found, place your strongest pieces around him.

It seemed the children didn't catch the ulterior motive. Naruto was beaming with delight, whooping with his fist in the air. "I knew it! I knew Pervy-sage liked me!"

"You made quite an impression during your Rasengan training." Tsunade nodded. "I'm sure your time will be well spent, so long as you don't allow him to turn you into a lecherous fool like himself." She looked up at Kakashi. "Our arrangement regarding Sakura's training still applies. I will see to the majority of her personal training. You will train Sasuke. Sakura will join the two of you for group training sessions and missions. For those, you can coordinate with the other genin team leads for a third member. No need to submit a request each time, I'll make sure the missions office is aware of the situation."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Kakashi bowed low.

"That will be all. Now, all of you, get out of my office. Naruto, go home and start packing after your mission. You'll leave in three days."

The kids filed out with thoughtful expressions on their faces. As Kakashi bowed one last time and followed them, Naruto's voice floated back to him. "Hey, Sakura-chan? What did Tsunade-baa-chan mean, she'd train you?"

It was a relief, Kakashi thought. With how volatile the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke was at the moment, perhaps some time apart would do them good.