Thank you for all of the amazing reviews, I hope you all had a great Christmas (if you celebrate) and if not, then that you're at least enjoying your break ;)

Now, onto the story!

It turned out the supposed 'princess' was already waiting for us at the main gates, standing by the door of her carriage, and, as we drew closer I noticed that she was surrounded by four tall, muscular men whom I simply presumed were her guards. The curious thing was that none of them seemed to be a ninja.

Once we were next to them, sensei made an effort to formally bow – Kaoru and I followed almost immediately – and proceeded to pledge our loyalty to the princess and offer our 'humble' services as her escorts. It turned out the princess was from the Grass Village, and had come to Konoha to renew the allied status of Konoha and Kumo, and secure the protection said alliance provided for her people. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Akane wince slightly when the princess said Grass. It would take over a day to get there at ninja speed, but considering the fact that the Princess was a civilian and most probably would be opposed to the idea of a piggy-back, we'd be travelling at civilian speed, which meant that the journey would take at least a week, and considering Akane's hyper personality, that would kill him.

The Princess herself didn't seem too bad, I supposed. She must've been older than us, probably about sixteen, but with her child-like face and big, seemingly innocent eyes she could pass as a twelve-year-old quite easily. She had sleek black hair that went down to her waist and wore an expensive green silk kimono. To be honest, she looked quite average for a princess, but I noticed that Akane was already staring at her like she was a goddess. Kaoru must've noticed that too as I heard him sigh dejectedly from beside me.

Noticing the silence which settled around us, sensei stepped in. "Are you ready to move, Hime-chan?"

The Princess, whose name was still a mystery, giggled and nodded, and settled in her carriage. So, without further ado, we set off.

It had not even been three days, and I was already that close to shoving a kunai down that girl's throat. The 'innocent' appearance was about as true as the statement that Akane was a calm and respectful boy. Not only that, she had reduced him to a love-struck fool, and then proceeded to ignore him which made the redhead gloomy and depressed for most of our journey.

Everything started the moment we were a fair distance out of the Village. The princess had crawled out of her carriage, migrated to Kaoru's side and started pestering the brunette with meaningless questions. Kaoru, being the quiet boy he is, gave her monosyllabic, yet at the same time polite answers, and I could almost see the frustration radiating of him due to being forced to speak multiple times in a minute. I had hoped that the girl would grow bored with such short, vague answers, but she seemed delighted and it only increased her determination to 'get to know' Kaoru more. When we stopped at a small village to rest the night, the princess got up on her tip-toes and kissed the brunette on the cheek, before she bounced away followed by her guards.

Kaoru's hand flew to his cheek and his eyes widened in shock. I laughed at his flustered, blushing face, shortly followed by Akane and Izaya-sensei.

"Aww," Akane cooed mockingly. "Kaoru-chan is blushing! So cute~!" he teased.

The brunette sent him a murderous glare. "Not a word, Akane. Not. A. Word. Or I'll make sure you regret it." He hissed.

For some reason, the threatening aura which surrounded him just made me laugh harder, and made Akane look at me like I'd gone mad as he cowered under Kaoru's scathing glare. While he was apologising profusely for upsetting Kaoru, who I now suspected was much, much scarier than I'd originally presumed, I was wiping away at the tears which had gathered in my eyes from laughing so much. Kaoru was definitely less emotionally-handicapped than I'd believed if he was capable of being so threatening yet hilarious at the same time. I was tempted to even thank the princess for uncovering that side of him.

Unfortunately, as it was, my desire to thank the girl and apologise for ignoring her previously disappeared the moment we got back on the road. The princess had apparently deemed that she knew Kaoru well enough now as a friend, so she quickly moved onto flirting with him. A permanent blush seemed to have settled on Kaoru's cheeks, and he was even more flustered than the night before. I grit my teeth and try to ignore it, even when the girl went further and wrapped her arms around Kaoru's neck and proceeded to hang on it like a monkey. I glanced at Izaya-sensei and noticed he was staring at me with a knowing look in his eyes. I frowned. Sensei's smirk widened as he mouthed.

"Remember, Sakura-chan, she's still the client. Don't get too jealous."

I gaped at him in indignation. Jealous!? I wasn't jealous, I was annoyed! I thought a princess would have enough dignity and courtesy to not behave like a hormonal teenage girl. Guess I thought wrong, fine, but why did she have to choose Kaoru as her victim?

I was balancing intense anger with the knowledge that regardless how tempting it was, I couldn't just storm up to her and obliterate her brains because she was the client. However, that balance tipped when the girl leaned her face closer to Kaoru's and puckered her lips. Driven by some unknown, but still impossibly strong emotion, I used the speed I'd so meticulously trained for and flashed to Kaoru's side. Before anyone even noticed, I pushed the girl away and grabbed Kaoru's wrist, then dragged him to the front so we could walk side by side.

The brunette seemed slightly shaken due to being tugged around in a split second, but when he calmed down he sent me a small, albeit grateful smile which made having to listen to Akane's sniggering in the background worth it.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan." He murmured after he made sure no one was listening. "She was quite annoying."

I smirked. "Any time, Kaoru. As long as you get Akane off my back, I'll help you with the girls which are bound to harass you."

We arrived at a small village inn and stopped for the night since the guards had demanded a break because the princess was apparently 'tired of the constant travelling'. Immediately, I realised the inn wasn't a high-standard one, so we'd probably end up having to share a room.

It turned out I was right, but as we stepped into the room I decided it wasn't so bad, as long as I got the bed by the window which was in the very corner of the room, far away from the others. Unfortunately, sensei seemed to have the same idea as I could see him heading in the direction of the bed. Not to be beaten, I once again used my speed to flash in front of him and jump on the bed, seconds before he reached it. Izaya-sensei's eyes widened a fraction, before he mock-pouted.

"Aw, that's mean, Sakura-chan. Are you really going to make me sleep next to carrot-boy and the rock wall? They'll drive me crazy!" he whined, and once again the thought of is he really a jounin? crossed my mind. Honestly, sometimes sensei was like a little kid who didn't get his candy.

But I had no pity. "Hai. Deal with it, sensei." I deadpanned.

The pout stayed on his lips, and out of the corner of my eyes I noticed Akane fighting to keep down his laughter, but, yet again, Kaoru had no such repercussions and was shamelessly chuckling at our childish sensei. I tried to remember what my Academy sensei had described a 'normal' gennin team; calm, responsible, mature and looking out for each other. I stifled a snort.

Well, it was already quite obvious we weren't exactly a 'normal' team.

Once we had all showered and changed into some more comfortable clothes, we settled into our beds, yet with no intent to go to sleep. I simply wasn't feeling tired enough to sleep; the mission was more like a holiday to me and the constant walking allowed me to relax my tense muscles.

Akane, being the hyperactive thing he was, was bouncing on his bed, his bangs flying everywhere and a silly grin on his face, while Kaoru followed my example and lay on his bed with a reading book on his lap. Sensei just watched with an amused glint in his eyes.

"So, pinky, I never knew you had a jealous streak." Akane hummed.

Sick of hearing the same accusation the second time in one day, my relaxed state evaporated and I exploded; "I'm not jealous! Where did you get that idea from anyway, baka?" I almost shrieked.

"Well, you jumped Yukio-hime when she wanted to kiss Kaoru-chan… that must mean something, right?" his eyes glinted mischievously.

"I just thought that as a Princess," I stressed that word out, "she'd have the courtesy to be slightly more professional." I huffed.

"Uh-huh…" Akane mocked. "Because that's believable."

I glared. "Shut up, Carrot-boy." I hissed murderously.

"Hm, whatever you may say, I still think there was more to it than just courtesy. It looked more like you wanted to be in her place, especially when she nearly-"

"Shut up, Akane!" Kaoru and I shouted in unison at the infuriating redhead.

When it looked like Akane was once again going to ignore our warning, sensei got up. "That's enough, Little Red. Though I'm glad my little ducklings are getting along so well," even the power of three deathly glares was not enough to stop him from chuckling. "I'm afraid I need to stop you before it spirals out into a Shinobi War. Also, I need to tell you something, a little something for you to consider. Akane, never, under any circumstances, fall for the client before the mission is completed. If afterwards you ask her, and she will want to keep in touch with you, that's fine, just make sure the mission is over before you do. Sakura, I told you, you can't just suddenly jump the client! You could've hurt her! And Kaoru, next time, don't run away when a pretty girl is obviously interested in you! Be happy, damn it!" sensei commanded.

Kaoru pouted slightly. "But she wasn't even that pretty…" he whined, and I wondered what caused him to be so out of character.

Unfortunately, Akane heard him, and the redhead proceeded to jump on the reclining brunette and shake him by the shoulders. "Are you blind? Gay? Both? Or just plain stupid?" he shouted, each accompanied with a rough shake.

"No! None of those!" Kaoru yelled back, successfully pushing the smaller boy off of him. "I just have standards, unlike you!"

Suddenly, Akane went quiet. "Oh, you did not just go there!" he shrieked, and, before the brunette could react he jumped on him, pinning his arms above his head and attacked his sides by… tickling?

Izaya-sensei burst out laughing at the ridiculous duo, and I could not help the small, genuine smile which blossomed on my lips at the sight. It was surprising, yet cute at the same time that all it took to get a relaxed, happy Kaoru was a shower, a bed, and some friendly teasing.

Friendly?

Were we friends now? Before, we were teammates, and we didn't get along too well, so much so that the mere thought of them caused me to cringe, but now? Now, when Akane laughed and turned to me, gesturing for me to join in and continue tickling Kaoru, and I immediately agreed, and laughed along with the redhead?

Suddenly the term didn't seem so foreign anymore.

We'd finally reached Grass Village, returned the Princess to her father without any complications and set off on our way back to Konoha since it was still light outside. We travelled at ninja speed, a great relief for my bored mind and a great chance to finally stretch my legs. Naturally, I kept having random bursts of speed which made me rush to the front as I hadn't had the chance to do a proper long-distance run in a while, and I was just reacquainting myself with the motion. Luckily, it only took a few minutes, and soon I was able to maintain a constant pace and stick to our formation – the three of us in a triangle formation, Kaoru at the top with Akane and I at the sides, and sensei covering the back, making it a rough arrow/square shape.

We traveled until the sun set as we were all, well, apart from Akane, who hadn't even considered it; sensei, Kaoru and I were all anxious to cross the border of Fire Country before nightfall. Although we were officially allied with Kumo, one can never be too careful in our profession.

I first felt it when we were setting camp; that unnerving feeling that someone was watching us. I looked around and dismissed the idea, since Izaya-sensei went to set traps around the camp, just in case, and I trusted his abilities. But the feeling stayed, and it only got stronger when Kaoru and Akane disappeared into their tents. I debated whether I should tell Izaya-sensei, but decided against it. He'd probably laugh me off – I couldn't justify the feeling, and gut instinct wasn't enough of a reason to demand to move camp.

I bid my sensei goodnight and settled into my tent, fatigue creeping up on me, but I fought it off. As long as that feeling stayed, I would not fall asleep. I refused to be caught off guard. Sighing, I took out a soldier pill and swallowed. Not the best source of nutrition, but it served as a good replacement of food and necessary rest, and had just enough caffeine or whatever drug it was they put in it to snap me wide awake. Unfortunately, being awake meant remaining suspicious and uptight, which resulted in me jumping at every possible sound, kunai drawn and ready for an attack.

Soon, I lost track of time, but that omnipresent feeling was still there. I decided I couldn't take it anymore and left the false security my tent provided me with and sought out Izaya-sensei.

Surprisingly, I found him sitting in his tent, back straight and katana drawn. It seemed like my warning was useless now, but I still felt the need to say it.

I gulped. "Sensei…" I was surprised at the hoarseness of my own voice. "I think we're being watched."

Izaya-sensei nodded wordlessly. "Go wake up the other two. If we can, we'll run. If not…" he trailed off. I obeyed and soon we were all standing in the middle of the clearing, Akane still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. I cursed myself inwardly – one of us should've taken guard when we arrived.

Suddenly, a small purple ball rolled towards us, stopping just a few feet away from Akane.

"Huh?" the redhead mumbled sleepily, and I could see his confusion. Sensei's eyes fell on the ball and widened.

"It's an ambush! Hide!" he yelled, but the bomb had exploded before he finished, engulfing the whole clearing in heavy purple smoke. I used my unnatural speed and flashed to one of the trees, hiding behind some branches, all the while holding my breath and hoping against hope that my teammates had enough common sense to realise the smoke could have been poisoned. I heard coughing, and swore quietly when I recognised it as Akane's. I closed my eyes, focusing on the chakras around me, trying to distinguish my teammate from the dozens – Dozens?! – of other chakra signatures.

I jumped to what I assumed to be Akane's side and grabbed him by the arm. However, he was blinded by the smoke and obviously unable to recognise chakra signatures, so he tried to fight me off. "Stop it!" I hissed at him, "It's me, you idiot!" he relaxed, and followed more willingly, tripping occasionally.

I led him to where I was hiding before, too shocked to appreciate the fact that sensei had already gathered Kaoru. I let go of Akane's arm and focused on controlling my breath.

"Sensei. I sensed a good twenty signatures out there, we should run." I gasped.

"And let Kumo get away with treason? No, Sakura-chan. We can't run." Sensei coughed, but still maintained the stern, certain look.

I glanced at the purple smoke still surrounding us, then at my teammates. Kaoru was struggling to hold his breath, and Akane was turning slightly blue. Without thinking of the consequences, I grabbed an explosive tag from my pouch and threw it at the clearing. The blast managed to clear the smoke, but also set fire to some of the trees.

I stilled when I heard laughter. Slowly, we all turned our heads to the source. My heart skipped a beat then restarted double the speed at what I saw.

At least thirty men now stood in the clearing, every one of them muscled, tall and brandishing a weapon of some sort. I gulped. Thirty against four? Not my favourite odds. Suddenly my eyes fell on a familiar face, and I gasped.

"Those men…" I whispered, pointing at the group of four. "They were the Princess' guards!"

"Shit!" sensei cursed. "So it was a set-up from the very beginning. Just peachy." He hissed.

I was all the more convinced that we should flee. However, sensei seemed intent on staying, as did Akane if the determined glint in his eyes was anything to go by. But I knew when the odds were against me, and it was not cowardice which made me want to leave as soon as possible, but the knowledge that if we stayed, it was quite likely one of us would not return.

As a last resort, I turned my pleading eyes to Kaoru, the most rational of us. He sent me a sad glance. "I'm sorry. But they look like they could outrun us if we fled. I think it's better to stay and fight. Sorry, Sakura-chan." He consoled me.

"Pinky, if you're really that scared, you don't have to fight." I turned my eyes to Akane in surprise. "Just make sure you stay clear and don't get in the way!"

I was shocked. And it was the pleasant shocked either. It was the fact that he thought I would get in the way. But, to my surprise, sensei nodded, agreeing with his words. Too hurt to argue, I jumped away the moment they left the hiding place.

I tried to get away from the sounds of metal clashing, the screams and jutsus being called out, but it was futile. I was too worried to leave my teammates, but too aware of what could happen if I returned to the battlefield.

Suddenly, a scream rang through the air. Akane. Resolve not to get involved shattered, I turned on my heel and ran back to the clearing, only to witness the gruesome scene it had become;

Sensei was battling five ninja at the same time, Kaoru executing a group genjutsu which managed to catch six or seven men off guard, all the while defending against a katana wielding nin with his left hand. But it was Akane who'd screamed, and I soon saw why. One of the men had trapped his leg with some sort of earth jutsu, while three others were taking their time in slicing at him with their katanas, sadistic grins on their faces. Long, bleeding cuts covered Akane's body, and I heard the tell-tale crack of a bone braking when the earth around his ankle tightened its hold, effectively snapping it. Akane's eyes closed at the pain, and he collapsed to his knees, sobbing. I snapped out of my daze when one of the men raised their katana over their head, and swung at the redhead's shaking form, aiming to bring the final blow.

No!

Before my mind could catch up, my body acted on its own, jumping between the ninja and my teammate, hands flashing, making brain-matter splatter on the grass with a single touch. My sudden intrusion made the men who were standing around watching come at me, but I was angry, and unable to stop. When the others realised that all it took was for me to touch them, they backed down, instead focusing on Kaoru. Panicking, I didn't know what was my main priority – taking Akane to a safer location, or helping Kaoru.

I decided Kaoru could fend for himself for a few more seconds, and grabbed Akane, easily destroying what was keeping his ankle captive with a concentrated burst of chakra. The redhead was too heavy for my petite body to lift on its own, so I was forced to keep a constant flow of precious chakra to my arms in order to not drop the redhead.

Once in a 'safe' location, I returned to the clearing, in time to see one of the ninjas launch a kunai in between Kaoru's shoulder blades. The tall brunette cried out, but didn't disengage from the two ninja he was currently fighting. I threw two well-aimed kunai at both of them, killing instantly. Kaoru turned in surprise, just in time to receive a hard kick to the stomach from one of the ninja. I winced at the sound of bone cracking. Not thinking much about the corpses around me, or the fact that my teammates kept dropping like flies, I jumped into the mass of bodies and pointy objects, and began my dance.

A few minutes later, I stood alone amongst the pile of corpses in the burning, destroyed field. My side was bleeding quite badly, my left wrist was most probably dislocated, and my head felt like it was on fire. Even I didn't escape the battle unscathed, but I was in the best state out the four of us, simply because I was still conscious.

Akane fainted, probably due to the pain, or blood loss; Kaoru's genjutsu backfired, and he was currently unconscious, wincing and moaning out in pain. Izaya-sensei… he was the worst out of all of us. Forced to take on those who were too scared to fight me, he found himself looking like a hedgehog with the amount of swords and kunai which stuck out of him. My first priority was to bandage the most important wounds, but I decided to leave the swords in his body, since removing them could cause him to lose too much blood. I winced. Decision making was not my best forte. I never acted well under pressure.

I had just unintentionally received my first real taste of the shinobi world. The pain, the death, the responsibility which comes with being the only one left standing. If any of my teammates didn't make it, it would be my fault for not treating their wounds properly.

I heaved a sigh and sobbed, but no tears left my eyes. When the battle ended, I dragged sensei and Kaoru to where I had taken Akane, but now I was at a loss of what to do next. My back slid down the tree trunk as I sat down, head in my hands.

From where I sat, I could still see the mess of the battle, and as I stared at the gory, bloody mess which was left of our opponents, I decided to at least pay them a little respect.

And calm my paranoia that they might get up and go after us. My mind whispered.

I got up as casually as I could and walked over to my pack which was in my tent, still surprisingly intact. I held in my hiss of pain as I leaned down to retrieved the matches. Next, I set out to look for some firewood, since, although it was unnecessary, the walk calmed my mind. Once I had enough, I piled all of them in the middle of the clearing where the bodies lay, lit the match in my hand and dropped it onto the wood. It caught fire instantly. As I watched the flames spread and smelled the stink of burning bodies, I suddenly remembered the song dad used to sing to me.

"Tell me would you kill to save a life? Tell me would you kill to prove you're right? Crash crash! Burn, let it all burn! This hurricane's chasing us all underground…"On the last note, I watched as the wood turned to ashes and crumbled. A smirk tugged at the corners of my mouth, and I accepted the fact that together with the wood, a part of my sanity, and the walls I had so precariously built around myself crumbled as well.

I blinked, and the horror of what I'd just done hit me with the stink of burning corpses. Frightened, I looked around and let out a sigh of relief when I saw my teammates in the same place I'd left them. But I was still clueless on how to transport them to Konoha.

"Damn it!" I cussed, and my chakra lashed out angrily like a whip, the tip wrapping around one of the fallen branches and as I tugged my hand up, the whip followed and sent the branch crashing into a nearby tree. I blinked in confusion. Huh? Curious, I repeated the action, this time more controlled; I elongated the chakra, moulded it so there were to ends to the 'whip' and made it grasp a branch each. Slowly, I reduced the amount of chakra which shortened the 'chakra whip', and soon both branches lay on the open palm of my hand.

Intrigued, I considered that in order to carry out the plan which bloomed in my mind, I would have to solidify my chakra at one end, while keeping it connected to myself on the other. Carefully, I sent my chakra in the direction of Akane's hand and let it slowly pool underneath. When the chakra spread so it covered the surface area of the redhead's hand, I slightly lifted my own hand to see if the connection worked. I grinned – Akane's hand hung suspended in the air, a light blue bubble of chakra underneath it.

The Hidden Leaf Village was greeted by a shocking sight early morning, a week after the news of a Kumo attack on a small group of gennin reached the village. Only the select few trusted ninja knew the true extent of the damage, as they had seen with their own eyes the report a group of jounin travelling by had given – ultimate destruction. But back to the matter at hand; the villagers who were bustling about, preparing their stalls, or just minding their own business all turned in the direction of the main gates. A small pink haired girl, covered in blood, grime and sweat appeared, but what shocked people was the chakra… tray? Bed? Bubble? Which was connected to her. What surprised them even more was the fact that it carried three unconscious, badly wounded males on top. The girl herself looked ready to drop, but when she met the people's eyes, she sighed.

"Finally." She whispered happily. The pinkette stood for a few more seconds, before she suddenly collapsed face-first on the ground.

A moment of silence and stillness and then; "Someone get the Hokage! And the medics! Now!"

Well, here it is! I was working on it for a few days, hope I didn't disappoint ;) Sakura's little freak-out will be explained in the next chapters, as will her weird chakra-bubble-thingy.

Sorry it came out so late – I'm preparing for a basketball camp so I wanted to get it out to you guys before I leave tomorrow… Also I've just discovered the awesomeness that is Kuroko no Basuke, so I'm quite hung up on that ^_^

Hope you enjoyed, and please REVIEW!