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The Flower Blossoms

Practice was getting harder and harder all the time. Naruto was quickly catching up to Sasuke and Sakura, and all had improved greatly. Sasuke sometimes felt bad that his two teammates had suddenly put on a burst of work and caught up to him. He remembered when he had sneered at their clumsiness to do anything. But he refused to let this bother him, although he did try to work harder and strive to stay the best of the three. It was also especially hard for Sasuke because of his new found…feelings. They would be doing three way sparring, a complicated matter, when his eyes would notice Sakura. Whether she was swiftly retreating, only to throw herself back into battle again, or attacking one of them with vigor, hair whirling about, his heart skipped a beat whenever he saw her. Love. It sounded awkward even in his mind. It had been so long. However, these thoughts slowed him down, which often was rewarded with a strong kick or a tap of a blunted kunai to tell him he had been hurt. After practices, in his lonely dark house, he often thought on it. He had gone so long without affectionate emotions, he didn't know what he could do to let Sakura know. He could try to impress her, but he didn't know how…

Sakura hadn't let all this go unnoticed. She often caught Sasuke staring at her funny. She couldn't tell if it was dislike, anger, or confusion. He had no reason to hate her, did he? No, Sakura was one of his closest friends. She was also becoming increasingly alarmed at the growing feeling of affection for Sasuke, again. Sakura feared that again her mind and body would suffer and be weighed down by blindness. She desperately tried to get rid of it. She enjoyed her new skills and took pride in them. She valued her new friendship with Sasuke and didn't want to ruin it. How could she have thought that her crush was gone forever! Foolish. During practices, she sought out chances to fight Sasuke, or especially targeted him in three way combat practices in an attempt to convince herself that she didn't feel anything for him.

Still, the two spent more and more time on walks together, waking up early to meet each other, or staying out late after practices. On days off, they spent almost the entire day together. They enjoyed each other's company, and found they shared many interests, and discussed anything that even touched the subject of ninja. Sakura now suspected that Sasuke might have feelings for her, for the new Sakura. He hadn't been attracted to her at first because of her immaturity, but now she had shown who she really could be. She was close to surrendering to her feelings for him, but continued to fight, trying vainly. Secretly, she hoped he did like her, but she wasn't sure. She thought she was almost positive, but that tiny little sliver of doubt held her back. Little did she know, but it was the same for Sasuke. She was so cold, so in control of what emotions showed on her face and when, he couldn't tell. She used to like him…did she still? He recalled the look on her face as she stared steadily back at him that first day. It's gone. I'm positive. He told himself, and shook his head.

The very next morning, Sakura vanished from practice. They trained until early afternoon, then called it a day. The next day, they had a break, and Sasuke went to the oak tree near the edge of the village where he usually met Sakura. She didn't show up. The day after that, Sakura was still missing. Kakashi didn't seem to mind, and apparently knew what was going on. However, he would not reveal anything to Naruto's intense questioning, as Sasuke watched with a bored look. Inside though, his stomach was churning. Did she change again? What might happen? Maybe she didn't… Where is she, then?

Sakura scribbled furiously on a piece of paper, her eyes dark in concentration as the afternoon sun streamed in through a nearby window. Tsunade walked into the room. It was one of the many side rooms that came off of the Hokage's main work room.

"What do you have?" The Hokage asked her. Sakura handed her the list. Tsunade read it. "Not bad. Some of these might be a little tricky, but considering what you've become, it shouldn't cause too much trouble. Keep thinking, and pick one you want to develop."

Sakura nodded without saying anything, and took the paper back. When Tsunade returned at dark, Sakura gave her the piece of paper. One line that was loaded with words was circled. Tsunade inspected it, and then told Sakura.

"Nice idea. We get started tomorrow morning, and get some sleep, you will need the energy."

What would be the fourth day of Sakura's sudden disappearance came, and Sasuke walked towards the bridge with heavy feet. He was getting seriously worried about her. His shoes suddenly tapped upon, the bridge, and he looked up, startled at how quickly he had arrived at the bridge. Sighing, he leaned back on the railing, and looked around at the early morning sky. An odd figure caught his attention. On the very top of a slender, tall tree, a familiar figure stood. Her hooded sweater was zipped up, and the calm day had no wind. She simply stood there, watching the sun slowly rise and the soft rainbow it made over the horizon from her high position.

Sasuke strolled over to the tree and looked up. In what he hoped was a casual voice, "Hey. Sakura. Nice to see you back." She looked down, and a smile spread across her face. She leapt off the top of the tree, and Sasuke's eyes widened. His arms automatically flew out, and caught her, his knees bending a little to take in her weight. She giggled at him.

"I could have landed safely, you know."

"Don't scare me like that." He said, wondering whether to be annoyed or relieved. She laughed.

"Don't be silly." To his surprise, she gave him a little kiss on his cheek before jumping out of his arms. She saw his shocked expression, his eyes motionless, and giggled again. Taking his hand, she dragged him towards the bridge again, and met up with Naruto, who of course, made a big hullabaloo about her coming back. Kakashi appeared later (late as usual) and smiled at them all.

"Hey, Sakura. Well… Let's go…eh?"

After their daily warm-ups, stuff like climbing trees and simple techniques, Sasuke and Naruto began to prepare themselves for the fight practice. But Sakura sat down. When asked why, she just said.

"Nah, I'm going to save my energy for later." This puzzled the two of them. There wasn't much left to do in training after their mock fights. Sometimes Sasuke trained his Chidori and Naruto his Rasengan, but Sakura didn't have either of that. Still, they continued with their mock fight.

It didn't last though, because there was one less person to pair up against , and the three way wouldn't work without a third person.

"I've got plenty of chakra left for Rasengan." Naruto mumbled to himself at the end. "I think I'll stay some more at the training grounds."

"I think we all will." Kakashi said, mildly. Naruto looked at Sakura, but at a nudge from Sasuke, both ran off through the treetops to the wall of thick natural stone that bulged out of the side of a hill away from the village. They arrived, breathing lightly, to find Kakashi and Sakura already awaiting them.

"What the…" Sasuke muttered, his neck prickling as he saw Sakura's cheerful…pretty… face. He pretended to ignore her, and pulled a gibbering Naruto over next to him as they faced the massive wall. It was pockmarked with the marks of multiple Chidori attacks and Rasengans. As Naruto began to collect his chakra, Sasuke began a sequence of rapid hand movements. He heard a light swishing sound, and saw a slender pair of white hands form another sequence, that he didn't recognize. He looked up to see Sakura, his hands freezing.

"What're you doing?" he asked her.

"Practicing." She replied, curtly, although flashing him a grin. He shrugged, and began to allow a bright electric blue ball form in his lowered hand. A swirling ball of blue lines appeared in Naruto's. To his surprise, something erupted from Sakura's hand. Any sign of chakra or electric flashes disappeared from the boys' hands. The girl didn't seem to notice anything. Her eyes had turned an alarming solid pink, and she didn't seem to see anything anymore. It wasn't hot pink (author: ew that's just ugly), it was a soft faded pink that radiated danger. Sasuke turned his attention to her upraised hand, her arm vertical above her head.

It was pink, first of all. Then his eyes adjusted to the glimmering brightness, and he saw what it really was. It was a flower petal. It was long, and the bottom of the petal where it would normally be attached to the flower was narrow. The petal started narrow, and gradually broadened until it was near the tip. Then it rounded off, leaving a blunt small rounded point at the tip of the petal. A purring sound filled the air, that made everyone's skin tingle. She stood there for a moment, her head drooping down, eyes almost closed, and the long ..chakra petal? spearing the sky from her hand. Then, her head lifted and her pink eyes opened wide, then narrowing in concentration. Her hand flashed downwards and out, and Sasuke felt wind blow past him. He turned on his Sharingan, and saw the power of the attack. Sakura had definitely improved a lot, the attack looked to take a lot of effort. He felt a resistance too, and somehow automatically knew that his Sharingan could not copy this, for a reason he did not know.

Sakura's arm flashed back and forth and when she stopped, Sasuke almost gasped at what he saw.

Sakura's weird little thing had left long thin gashes that looked very deep, spread across her part of the wall. Without saying anything, she extended the petal again, stepped closer to the wall, and thrust her hand so that it was inches away from the surface of the wall. The petal had sunk deep into the rock. Her eyes closed, and she moved her hand slowly in a circle, then pulled her hand with some effort, away from it. Along with it, a cylindrical chunk of stone fell out of the wall. Sasuke had watched the entire thing with amazement. Sakura's petal had sunk into the wall, and the top half of the petal had suddenly sliced sideways through the rock. As she moved her hand in the circle, the curved part of the petal had rotated around in a circle too, cutting out a cylinder. Pulling it out, the petal had gripped the back part of the cylinder, using the same style that ninjas used to climb trees and such. What incredible control, Sasuke thought. Feelings also seemed to emanate from the knife-like petal. There was, over all, concentration, deep and intense. There were others too, that seemed to single out people. Sasuke with his sharingan could tell there were others, but he could only find two in the purring sound. The other emotions probably singled out individuals. One was the concentration, and the other was a deep friendship. He thought he sensed something more in the friendship, but it wavered and he couldn't pinpoint it.

His attention was dragged back to Sakura as she let out a soft sigh, and her eyes darkened to a blackish green, but then lightened to their previous teal-green color. She grinned at the shocked faces of Naruto and Sasuke. Then, she knelt down beside the chunk of smooth rock, and a pink, tiny petal of pink chakra popped up from her index finger as she carved the genin team's name and Kakashi-sensei's name into it.

"Heyy, Sakura, you're being a showoff!" Naruto stammered.

"Impressive, Sakura." Kakashi said, smiling.

"Why'd you develop a technique like that?" Sasuke asked.

"It's the Full Bloom Technique, Tsunade-sama made up the name." Sakura replied, an ear-to-ear smile on her face. "I just got sick of watching you guys practice your power moves. Why can't I have one too? I am strong too, aren't I?"

She refused to answer any more questions. Kakashi announced he had yet another meeting to run to the next day, and told them they had a free day. Naruto automatically announced he was going to train anyways and then go eat some ramen at Ichiraku. Sasuke caught Sakura's eye and they silently agreed on the oak tree next morning.

They decided the day was over, even though it wasn't too late in the day. All had much energy left, because Sasuke and Naruto hadn't even fully used their attack on the stone wall before they stopped to watch Sakura. Naruto ran off to hang out with friends like Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Chouji and the sort. Without saying anything, Kakashi disappeared, and Sasuke and Sakura began to walk deeper into the woods.