Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
"Where's Kakashi? It was his idea to train together today and he's late!" Kurenai said, angrily putting her hands on her hips.
"Get use to it, Kurenai-sensei," Sakura said, cleaning her kunai.
'Especially when Kakashi-sensei finally get's the nerve to ask you out,' Inner Sakura said.
"Can't we just start without him?" Naruto and Kiba asked for the hundredth time.
Hinata was sitting next to Sakura, trying to meditate, while Shino was standing quietly under a tree. Sasuke was sitting at the base of the same tree with his eyes closed.
Kurenai let out a sigh as she said, "OK, let's start. Naruto, you and Hinata will be training together. Sakura, you will be training with Shino. Sasuke, you'll be with Kiba. Everybody got it?"
Everyone let out a 'yeah' and got up, excited to finally start.
"Hey, guys, I know I'm a little late, but I was helping an old lady-" Kakashi said, poofing out of no where in a cloud of smoke.
"You used that one last time, sensei!" Naruto yelled pointing angrily at him.
"Oh, in that case, I got lost on the path of life," Kakashi said, smiling at his students from behind his mask.
"That was the first excuse that you used on us, sensei. Don't think we've forgotten," Sakura said, also pointing at him angrily as Sasuke stared at his teammates.
'Just like old times,' Sasuke thought, 'Now that I think about it, this is the first time we've trained as a team in years...'
"OK, OK, you guys get back to training and I'll have a talk with Mr. An Hour Late For Training," Kurenai said, walking over to the silver haired man.
As Sakura was training with Shino, she glanced over at Naruto and Hinata to see how they were doing. They were practicing their kunai throwing and one of Hinata's kunai hits a tree two feet away from the target.
'It's a good thing Naruto's so oblivious to her messing up on purpose,' Sakura thought, dodging a swarm of bugs coming her way.
The pink haired girl then threw a punch at Shino as he jumped back to dodge it, and countered with another swarm of insects. They buzzed by Sakura's ear as she moved to the side and continued to observe her blonde teammate and blue haired friend. Naruto was standing behind her, positioning her body and guided her arm forward to demonstrate how to throw a kunai properly. Hinata was blushing madly from the contact, but luckily didn't faint. She then did what Naruto did and hit the target. Sakura saw that Naruto gave her a high five before turning her full attention back to her own training.
"OK, guys, you all did really good today! Go get washed up and get a snack into you before dinner," Kurenai announced.
"Yes, but Hinata, I still think you need a little more help with your positions. Naruto, would you mind helping her?" Kakashi asked, giving Hinata a secretive wink, which she responded to by blushing.
"Oh, sure, I'd love to!" Naruto said with a smile. He, Kiba, Sasuke, and Shino then excused themselves and left.
"I think our plan is working out really well, Hinata," Sakura said to her friend.
"Y-yes, thank you again f-for doing this for m-me," Hinata said.
"No problem! Hey, after we freshen up, do you want to go browse through the markets?" Sakura suggested as the two started walking away.
"S-sure. We can get dinner a-after that. I wonder if the other girls are free," Hinata said.
Before they left, Sakura looked back to find Kurenai and Kakashi both laughing as they walked away together.
"Mmm, the dango is amazing here!" Ino said, reaching for her third, and last, stick of hanami dango.
"Pace yourself, Ino," Sakura said, taking another bite of her anmitsu.
"But it's so good!" Ino exclaimed.
"Don't you just love dessert time?" Tenten said, setting down her white colored dango and picked up her green tea, blowing on it and sipping it slowly.
"Aren't y-you going to have anything, S-Sasuke?" Hinata asked while finishing her first stick of dango.
"No thank you. I don't have much tolerance for sweets," he answered, drinking his tea.
Sasuke sat there and listened to the girls' gossip as they finished their desserts.
"Well, it's getting late and team Guy's having 'extreme' training tomorrow, so I need my rest. I'll see you guys later, K?" Tenten said, getting up from her seat.
"Yeah, I guess it is getting late. I should go too, before Mom and Dad kill me," Ino said jokingly and walked away with the brown haired girl.
"U-um, I guess I should go t-too. N-Naruto arranged for u-us to train tomorrow," Hinata said, "I'll see you two later."
"Bye, Hina," Sakura said as Sasuke waved a good bye.
'Hey, have you forgotten something?' Inner Sakura asked.
'I forgot how peaceful it is without you barging into my head, but you just ruined that,' Sakura responded.
'You idiot! You promised to meet Itachi tonight, and of course, you forgot!' Inner yelled.
'Oh shit, I did forget.'
'Oh, really?'
"Hey, Sakura, is everything OK?" Sasuke asked, looking at her with slight concern.
"Oh, yeah, I was just thinking that the girls were right. It is getting kinda late, so we should go," Sakura said, secretly hoping he would comply.
"I guess it is... let's go then," Sasuke said as they both got up and walked toward her house.
Sakura got her keys and opened her door. She noticed that Sasuke was following her inside, so she blurted out an excuse, "Um, I'm really tired tonight, and I have an early shift at the hospital tomorrow, so I'm gonna go to sleep early. I'll see you tomorrow, OK?"
Her boyfriend stopped and looked at her, confused. 'What's wrong with her tonight? She's acting all jumpy.'
"Sure, Sakura. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night," Sasuke said, pushing away his thoughts as he placed a kiss on her cheek and left.
Sakura looked as he walked away, and then proceeded inside to find Itachi sitting on her couch, waiting.
"Was that my little brother?" He asked, staring at her with his usual emotionless mask.
"Yes it was," Sakura responded, locking the door and closing the blinds.
Itachi let out a sigh as everything went awkwardly silent.
"I'll go get the the needle ready to take your blood. I'll be back soon," Sakura said, heading for the bathroom. She opened the closet in there and took out a needle, syringe, tourniquet, adhesive bandages, cotton balls, gauze, and alcohol wipes. She then washed her hands and carried the supplies to the living room.
"OK, Itachi, take off your cloak and just stay still...," Sakura said, concentrating as she went into medic mode. Itachi did as he was told and took off his cloak, holding out his arm.
She tied the tourniquet around his arm and found a prominent vein. She then removed the tourniquet and cleaned the area with the alcohol wipes. Sakura took the syringe with the needle and inserted it in and filled the tube.
"Good job, Itachi," Sakura said instinctively.
She removed the needle and put the gauze on the bleeding spot and applied pressure to stop the bleeding. She then discarded the needle and labeled the tube. After the bleeding had stopped, Sakura applied a cotton ball and bandage.
"All done," Sakura said, discarding the waste and putting the materials back into the bathroom closet. She walked back and sat on the couch. "I'll take this to the hospital tomorrow to check it out."
He nodded and asked, "You keep needles and syringes in your bathroom?"
Sakura laughed from the random question and answered, "No, I took then from the hospital yesterday. Lady Tsunade was too drunk to notice."
Itachi nodded and asked, "How is Sasuke?"
"He's doing fine," Sakura answered.
"Is he still planning on killing me?"
Sakura looked at Itachi with surprise and said, "Please don't tell me that you still want him to kill you."
"No, I just need to know," he replied.
"Why?"
Itachi stayed silent and Sakura asked, "Are you afraid that he'll try to kill you if you two meet?"
"Yes. I also need to know if he's still faithful to Konoha," Itachi said, turning his head toward the pinkette.
"He came back on his own free will, Itachi. He's one hundred percent committed to this village," Sakura explained, "And, I'm not sure if he'll try to attack you. I wish that I could say that he won't, but he's been acting weird whenever we mention our pasts and family. I think he's having trouble accepting the fact that he still loves and misses you."
"I hope that that's the reason...," he replies.
"Do... you want to meet him?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Yes, but I don't want him to hate me."
"Well, you'll never know until you try, Itachi," Sakura said.
"Yes, I know," Itachi said with a sigh, "I should probably be going now. You have to wake up early tomorrow for work, right?"
"Actually, I don't have to work until the afternoon tomorrow," Sakura said with a smile, "But I guess I should go early to test your blood."
"Then I'll leave so you can go to sleep. Good night," Itachi said, standing up to leave.
"OK, I'll see you tomorrow night to give you the blood results," Sakura said, also standing up. She then raised her arms up for a hug.
"Hn," Itachi said before complying and giving her the hug. He then poofed away as Sakura went upstairs to sleep.
Thanks for reading! I had to do a little research for the blood drawing scene, so I hope it's right.
***Also, since school's starting soon, this story will most likely be put on hold for a while. I will put up one more chapter for sure, but after that, this story should be on hiatus. Sorry, but education comes first :( ***
E person :)
8-13-11