"Sasuke-kun! You made it!" Sakura smiled graciously towards Sasuke Uchiha. She wore a red sweater with black pants, and had a pink scarf wrapped around her throat. A large hand bag sat on the floor beside her seat.
"Hmph." He immediately looked away. "Damn emotions. They're so hard to keep under control." Sasuke thought glumly. Sakura stopped smiling.
"You okay? You didn't have to come." She looked concerned, and Sasuke couldn't help but slightly blush. "You're kinda rosy. Do you have a fever? You should go home." She spoke quickly. Finally, he gathered up enough strength under all that mushiness to bat her hands away and step back.
"I'm fine. Besides, how would I treat this anyway? No one's there to help me." He said rather rudely. Maybe a bit too rude. Sakura looked taken back and she sat back down.
"Sorry for bringing it up. Just wanted you safe and healthy is all." She murmured softly. He looked at her. "Damn, I'm messing everything up."
"Heh, Ramen here I come! Oh, I'm so hungry. This is gonna be awesome! BELIEVE IT!" Sasuke heard an obvious someone yell just outside. Why is Naruto here? Sakura seemed to brighten as she heard his voice.
"All of us are here! Great, I can talk to both of you at the same time." Sakura spoke to no one in particular. The curtains were pushed inside as Naruto jumped in.
"Hey Sakura-chan! Hey...you bastard Sasuke." Naruto's enthusiasm died down as he noticed the raven-haired boy. The blonde's face set into a mocking grimace. Sakura scowled.
"Naruto, you idiot! You don't say that to ANY one. Got it?" Sakura's seemingly nice expression evaporated as she put down Naruto.
"Awe, Sakura-chan! You're taking it too far! Just calm down, already!" Naruto whined and pouted. "What a child. He sure is an idiot." Sasuke thought.
"Oh, fine, you knucklehead. Anyways, I need to talk to you guys." Sakura's voice had returned to the volume and sweetness to before. She smiled slowly.
"Sasuke, remember when I said I talked to Kakashi-sensei to get your phone number?" She asked the Uchiha. He nodded slightly. "Well, he also asked me to help improve our teamwork." Naruto's jaw literally dropped. Sasuke stood shocked. Improve? The two boys had thought it was going pretty well. All of their missions had succeeded since they became ninjas.
"If anything is wrong, it's all Sasuke's fault! He always takes the spotlight!" Naruto started complaining, which ticked Sasuke off a lot.
"You idiot! It's because you can't do anything right! You're a good-for-nothing dumbass!" Sasuke yelled. Naruto glared at the boy.
"Why don't you step down, then?! You're always in my way! Making me screw up!" Naruto shot back. Sakura couldn't take it anymore. "This is exactly what Sensei was talking about."
"SHUT UP!" Sakura yelled. "You guys need to calm down, or I'll knock both of you to kingdom come!" The pink-haired girl looked mad as hell, and the boys backed down immediately.
Never mess with the girl with the pink hair, was the saying in the young ninjas' age group's gossip arena. "Now, if you guys don't stop blaming each other, then you'll both be considered worthless. Kakashi-sensei came up with a pretty good way to improve this bickering we have."
The boys' faces were question marks. Sakura sighed. "Do I always have to explain things to these two? I thought Sasuke-kun was better than that." She thought with a hint of mocking.
"We spend more time together, and not just on training. Well, the time must also be divided by a group almost exactly like us, except they're not ninjas." Sakura explained with a bit of excitement. She knew the group of three and was glad that she would get to spend time with them.
Naruto thought it over. Well, he could spend time with Sakura. But Sasuke, damn, he has to deal with him. That bastard. And the three that he'll also be spending time with...who are they?
Sasuke just stared off into space, imagining the gruelling type of team improvement. Naruto? Were they joking? And Sakura, she clearly lacked in ninja skills, but she was still...pretty. And the next three he was going to have to deal with. How was he going to deal with them?
"The none-ninjas, however, are extremely good in the ninja arts. It's just that they were never in the Academy. They didn't graduate. They're returning a favour that Kakashi had asked of them, along with their caretaker type person, Komugi. She's really nice." Sakura started getting into the details. Naruto half-listened, he was paying more attention to the ramen he silently ordered. The old man behind the counter knew him well, that's for sure.
"...And, of course, we have to train. It might be easy, we work on the areas one is weak in most. Like one by one. Okay, we could start today, but its 6 o'clock. Is that still early to you guy?" She asked.
Naruto shrugged with his mouth full. When he finished swallowing noisily, he answered. "Doesn't matter, I guess. I go to bed whenever I want to. Gonna be hard to wake me in the morning, though." He had on his trademark goofy smile. Sakura groaned. She always walked by his place to check on him, making sure he was ready and all that. Most of the time, he was still sleeping.
"I'll be fine. I suppose I go to bed whenever I want to, as well." Sasuke murmured. He looked at the ramen he barley touched. He was hungry before, but now, with the news he had heard, he didn't have an appetite anymore. Sakura smiled.
"Okay, then. After we finished our ramen, we can go over to their place. I'm spending the night over there so I could get sort of a head start." She explained. Naruto only nodded and gobbled down the rest of his ramen. Sasuke ate some more, knowing he'll be hungry later. "I need decent food. I need some sort of cook." He thought. He didn't want to take a cooking class, or whatever it was. Most likely, there was going to be a lot of girls there.
After walking around the village, Sakura led the two boys to an apartment, close to where Sasuke lived. Also, it seemed, by a book store. Sakura stopped for a second, looked at the building, and went inside. The condition of it seemed rugged. It had taken a lot over the years. Naruto wasn't creeped out even in the slightest; he was amazed about how careless things seemed around here.
Sasuke, however, was analyzing every crack in the wall for something to jump out at him. He didn't like the message the building seemed to send to him. It was old and spooky, and sent every nerve in his body on high alert.
"Here we are. Number 009." Sakura told the ninjas. They hadn't walked far from the entrance, only down the hallway of so many doors. She knocked a small rhythm on the door and it immediately opened.
Sasuke was instantly on his guard. What? THAT girl, he was supposed to be spending more time with HER? The pink-eyed girl who delivered his tomatoes scrunched up her face as she took in who were standing at her door.
"Sakura-san? Why is HE here? You know how I feel about him." She said strongly, without a waver in her voice. "It was enough that I had to spend 10 minutes with him, but most of the evening?" She looked desperately at Sakura.
"I don't want to be here anymore than you do." Sasuke said through gritted teeth. Without warning, a fist slammed into his face. He slid across the hall from the impact and his hand instantly went to the slight bruise on his cheek. He bit his lip to stop him from punching her back. "She's not a ninja, she's not a ninja." He repeated in his head.
"Kitsune-san!" Sakura yelled. "This is not heading off to a good start." She murmured. Once he had calmed down, Sasuke stared stunned at the pink-eyed girl, whose name was Kitsune. What had set her off so easily? Was it merely his presence? What did he say?
"What, you never got punched before? You spoke out of turn, hot shot. You better not be doing that around here." She warned as she headed into the apartment. Naruto followed, a mask of grudging respect towards Kitsune. "She just punched Sasuke. Wow, she's got guts." He thought.
Sakura apologized to Sasuke for the girl's rude behaviour, but he was only hearing words. His mind was on the thought about how the other kids were. Were they like her? Getting mad for speaking out of turn?
Sakura skipped inside saying, "Hello! Ookami, Tonbo, Kogumi! How are you guys?"
He thought about their names. Kitsune, a fox. Heh, how fitting. Ookami, a wolf, how was he like? And Tonbo, a dragonfly...How interesting.
Suddenly a loud thud came from inside as Sasuke walked in. He realized that two people were fighting. Kitsune and a boy who had sunglasses. His hair was a spiky blonde-brown, and the long trench coat he was wearing got ripped as Kitsune stepped on it. The boy fell hard to the floor.
"Damn it, Kitsune! Ugh, you can be such a...a...bitch!" They boy yelled. Kitsune only smirked and punched the boy in the face. There was a grunt of pain from the boy.
"And you're a little pain in my ass, Tonbo-KUN." Kitsune told him with an emphasis on the kun. So that's Tonbo, Sasuke observed. He reminded Sasuke of an Aburame clan member, but his loud and cocky personality proved him otherwise.
"Jeez, shouldn't you be cooking? You're going to burn the apartment down." Tonbo asked her. A flash of worry crossed her face as she softly exclaimed, "Supper!" and darted to another room. Sakura shrugged apologetically to Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto only smiled and headed to Tonbo. Immediately they started laughing and talking as they both rested on the couch.
Sasuke walked in a little more only to hear a loud clang from the other room. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the room where Kitsune ran off to. A boy that was chuckling walked out of it and took in the small group.
Tonbo and Naruto on the couch, both somewhat the same. Sakura, standing alone by the couch close to where Tonbo and Kitsune were fighting. And Sasuke, alone, closest to the door, had the most lost face on ever.
"Hey, you lost, buddy? Wrong apartment?" The boy asked with such friendliness that Sasuke couldn't help but be polite to him.
"No, I'm just...wondering what I'm doing here with my squad." Sasuke spoke not only politely, but honestly. That was weird. The boy smiled. His blazing red eyes were hidden among his shaggy hair.
"We all are, especially Kitsune. She punched you, eh?" The boy asked. Obviously, the boy's name was Ookami, the last person of the unofficial squad. Sasuke nodded.
"Yeah, pretty hard, too. And, well, she gets on my nerves." Sasuke mumbled. Why was he speaking the truth? Why wasn't he not speaking to him like he does to everyone else?
"Everyone gets on her nerves, but that's why we sorta need your help. You see, your squad is like ours, in a sense. Kitsune needs to control her temper, a lot like you do, by the looks of it." He explained. Sasuke was instantly confused.
"How did you know that?" He asked. Ookami shrugged.
"You didn't punch her back, did you?" Sasuke shook his head. "Exactly. If she gets on your nerves, then, well, you got a temper. A real bad one. Tonbo does, and they fight every waking moment of the day." Ookami explained, always with a smile planted on his face. Sure, his name means wolf, but this guy, he was more of a puppy than anything else.
"Oh. So, how am I supposed to help her? It's not like I can survive around her." Sasuke mumbled. Ookami shrugged. He made it look like he didn't know anything, but his eyes gave off a glint that couldn't be missed. "He's got this whole thing figured out." Sasuke thought with a gloom and doom feeling.
"Just stick around here. She'll get used to you. You might go home with black eyes and stuff, but she'll soften up." Ookami smoothly told him. Tonbo, who was slightly eavesdropping, perked up.
"Not true! I have been here 2 years and she still hasn't softened up! Don't listen to him. He'll twist your thought and make you do things!" Tonbo yelled with a fake horror narration at the end. Naruto laughed his head off and they were suddenly engrossed in their own conversation. Sakura wandered off into the kitchen, where Kitsune was.
Even though Ookami assured Sasuke that Kitsune was only doing that to Tonbo because he pushed her, Sasuke couldn't help but let the words sink in. 2 years and she still hasn't softened up! He'll twist your thoughts and make you do things!
He couldn't help but agree with the yellow-brown haired boy. Already, Sasuke could tell Ookami could make him speak truthfully and tell him things that he couldn't tell anyone else. Kitsune, she wasn't going to soften up, that was certain.
Suddenly, he was thinking the same thought from after the phone call. "I'm in for one hell of a night."