Hey guys, I'm so sorry I haven't been updating recently. It's just exams are coming up and projects are due very soon. Typical excuse but it is no lie!!
Same Disclaimer.
Random comment: I am not pulling a Kakashi and my excuse is real XD
They were sixteen years old when feelings started acting up.
"Haruno Sakura, please step forward" The fifth Hokage announced from her place between the other two Kages (Raikage and Tsuchikage were not present). A pink-haired girl/woman stepped forward with a proud smile adoring her face. The same thing could be said about the Hokage, but Tsunade had to be completely professional in this event. Once Sakura bowed towards the Kages, whom all gave her approving stares, she accepted the vest given to her.
She took three steps back to her original place, in between two males who were towering over her. She could clearly feel the enthusiasm building up from her blonde-haired teammate to her left and the brooding, but secretly excited Uchiha to her right. Sakura was the last to receive her Jounin vest and everyone was waiting for their dismissal, eager to go celebrate this special day with their parents and friends. Out of the one hundred and twenty who applied for the Jounin Exam, only eleven were able to pass. Three of them were from the Sand, two from Mist, and the other six were from Konoha, which explained why there were only three Kages standing in front of their ninjas.
"Congratulations everyone for passing the Jounin exams, we are all equally proud of our ninjas and we have high expectations. Do not disappoint us. Missions will be harder and more life-threatening from now on. You are all dismissed" The MizuKage said.
The exam was held in the Mist Village this year and Sakura was glad that they were able to pass, despite the big disadvantage they had of the weather and their unfamiliar surroundings. Naruto, Sasuke, and her were able to pass with no serious injury beside the nasty cut on her lower back. Shino, Tenten, Lee, and Shikamaru were all able to pass and she was so glad with the results. Now, Lee and Tenten will finally be able to have missions with Neji again.
All ninjas gathered around their own Kage, looking for words of appraisal and some more advice. The Hokage has been smiling this whole time and when all her ninjas formed a small circle around her; she patted everyone's shoulder (ruffling Naruto's hair as well) and grinned.
"Good job all of you. I expect us all to leave to Konoha first thing tomorrow morning. I have been absent long enough. I will also depend on you as my guards so no disappointments." Tsunade said.
"Hai!" Everyone said, determined to prove their new seat and level. Once everyone was scattered, Sakura felt Naruto running towards her after his talk with his new friend from Mist.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled and before Sakura had the chance to turn around; she was grabbed by her blonde-haired friend and forced into one of his famous "bear-hugs". He held her so tight; she couldn't even voice her thoughts and couldn't even flail her arms to give him a good punch in the head. Seriously? Her, a Jounin?
"Mph mmmgh mmphh!!" Sakura "said", since her head was buried deep in Naruto's chest. Unfortunately, Naruto was completely oblivious to all this until a certain Uchiha sent him a good punch in the head himself.
"Dobe, you're suffocating her." Sasuke stated simply and grabbed the heaving Sakura away from Naruto into his body. Naruto growled as he rubbed his sore head and glared at his best friend/rival.
"Teme! Why did you do that?!" Naruto yelled, getting aggravated by his friend's action.
"You're deaf and an idiot, as usual" Sasuke exclaimed bored, releasing Sakura after he made sure that she was able to stand on her own two feet. However, he still held her upper right arm for security measures.
"What the -! Are you talking to me!?" Naruto growled back. Tenten and Lee sighed from a distance as they stood beside Shikamaru who just muttered something in the line of 'troublesome'.
"Are you blind as well? Who am I looking at other than your idiotic self" Sasuke smirked, immensely enjoying this. Sakura, to her luck, was stuck in the middle of the argument and just sighed from frustration. This was going nowhere. Before she can stop the fight from going any further, she felt a sharp pain in her lower back when she attempted to twist.
"Why you! You don't have the right to take Sakura-chan away from me! I had her first!" Naruto pulled Sakura towards him and suddenly heard her gasp. Both of the boys cut their bickering and stared at their female teammate who was flinching slightly.
"Sakura-chan! I forgot about your wound! I'm so sorry!" Naruto exclaimed worriedly, ceasing his grip on her arm. Sakura tried to heal her wound, which has began to bleed again, but her chakra reserves were close to none and she couldn't even reach it to check the damage. Sasuke stopped her and shook his head.
"It's not very deep. I think it needs a bit of cleaning only." Sakura said tiredly, trying to assure her teammates that she was fine.
"I'll just clean it and bandage it for you then. Let's go to our room. I have some supplies there." Sasuke exclaimed and gently pushed her to walk. Once the three arrived to their room, Sakura sat down on the bed and waited for Sasuke to start bandaging her wounds. It's a good thing she taught her teammates basic medical techniques, because it sure turns out handy every now and then.
Naruto didn't say anything the whole time and sat down beside his two teammates after looking for the medical supplies and handing them over to Sasuke. Sakura, boldly, raised her shirt slightly for Sasuke and waited for him to clean it up. After several minutes of all this, Naruto soon got bored and went to the bathroom to clean up after a long, tough day.
After cleaning the wound, Sasuke started wrapping the bandage around her waist and Sakura's heart started beating louder every time his fingertips brushed her skin. Her ears felt so hot and she wouldn't know why. Taking a small glance at Sasuke and his perfect feature, Sakura wondered if her feelings for him bordered on more than friendship. She's known him every since they were children and never thought of him in that way before, but as they grew older and Sasuke grew more handsome, Sakura just couldn't help herself. Her hormones acting up recently wasn't helping her either. Fighting back the urge to blush, Sakura tried to ignore the burning feeling his fingers were giving to her icy skin and tried to ignore the scent radiating from her teammate. She just couldn't waste their friendship and let something like a small crush ruin everything. Sasuke was done bandaging her up, but Sakura was too busy to notice his fingers lingering a millisecond longer than what he wished for. It was a good thing they were in a private room.
A month later, Uchiha Sasuke was enjoying his sleep for the first time in weeks until he heard a constant and loud knocking on his door. Groaning, he glanced at his clock and gritted his teeth when he saw that it was still seven in the freaking morning. He usually wakes up earlier, but just today, he wanted a break from all this. Their last mission was a tough one and they barely had any sleep the last time. One would never know when Tsunade would give them another hard-core mission. The knocking suddenly stopped and Sasuke just knew what would happen next. His eyes trailed towards the two figures jumping into his room from his open window and Sasuke 'tsk'ed at his teammate's actions. Opening the window caused a cold breeze to enter his previously warm room and that made him even grumpier. Naruto stood up and gave out his infamous grin and again Sasuke stressed out (in his mind) that it was seven o'clock in the freaking morning!
"What do you want…" came his gruff voice and glared once he saw Sakura walking around his room like she owned it. She picked up some T-shirt he threw on the floor and raised him an eyebrow. Shrugging at her silent question, he stood up, wearing only his shorts and went to the bathroom to take care of his hygiene. Before closing the door, he yelled out:
"Sakura, if you steal one of my shirts again, I will rip them off of you, whether you are wearing them or not." He smirked once he heard her curse some words out and Naruto snicker before they both left his room, probably to the kitchen. Really, one would think that would learn to stop crashing into his house without his consent. Nonetheless, he didn't kick them out anyway...
Once Sasuke entered the kitchen, he saw Naruto staring at the fridge for any sign of Ramen (which he knew he will never find) and Sakura busy doing some Omelet for the team. Just looking at his teammates roaming around his kitchen like they owned it made him feel…strange.
"Sasuke! Breakfast!" Sakura said with a smile as she placed the three plates on the table. Taking a bite out of the omelet, Naruto smirked.
"Sakura-chan, it needs more salt and didn't you put any pepper?" he scolded with a frown. Sakura growled and ignored his comment, trying to eat her meal gently.
When they were done with their meal, Sakura started fidgeting around and ignoring her teammates nervously. Naruto gave Sasuke a confused expression and the sharingan user just shrugged. It wasn't until they washed the dishes that Sakura finally spoke.
"Guys. I have something to tell you but please do NOT overreact!" Sakura exclaimed. Her two boys stared at her both with raised eyebrows and she gulped, getting ready. "I'm going on a date with Neji tomorrow night!" she blurted out and tensed, awaiting her teammates yells and glares (in Sasuke's case).
.
.
.
"WHAT!?" Naruto AND Sasuke yelled, completely outraged. Two pairs of red eyes stared right at her.
Oh boy…Sakura thought, this was going to be a long day…
Team Seven were waiting at the bridge for their Jounin teacher, who was as usual very late. Sakura had no idea why they still waste time waiting for him instead of training. She grumbled half-heartedly, for she was in no mood to think of this, since her two teammates were acting like children and giving her the silent treatment.
"Come on guys. It's just a date, you better start getting used to it. I also don't want you scaring him off like you did with the others." Sakura murmured, crossing her arms to try to make a point. However, her two teammates still ignored her and left with nothing else to say, Sakura stomped her foot (without any chakra) and walked towards her house, getting fed up with them.
It was at that time Kakashi decided to pop in and give another one of his famous excuses (that are NOT like mine!!).
"Ah guys! I'm sorry I was late. Today, I really was lost on the road of life!" Imagine his surprise when he didn't hear the usual comebacks from his team. Opening his one eye, he saw the female member of their team missing and the other two grumbling some nonsense and staring/glaring at the ground.
"Ara? What's this? It seems our Sakura-chan is missing…" he felt the aura surrounding the boys darken even more and sweat dropped "Don't tell me…you guys had a fight?" he sighed once they became even more gloomy and sighed, this was going nowhere.
"Training dismissed for today, let's just think of it as time out" before hearing out their complaints, Kakashi "poof"ed away from the scene. It was a perfect time to read his precious new book!
Later than night...
Sakura stared at the mirror again to check out the make-up Ino put on her for her date with Neji. Smiling to herself, she turned towards her female-best friend and grinned.
"What do you think, Ino?" she asked, excited for what her date would think. She was wearing a white sun dress with perfectly matching white shoes. Her short hair was left as is, but without the forehead protector. Ino gave her a "thumbs up" and grinned along.
"You're perfect! Neji's going to drop dead!" Ino exclaimed, excited and happy for her best friend. Sakura smiled and checked herself for the last time in the mirror before going downstairs…where she found her two teammates sitting in her couch looking glum and pissed off. She huffed and tried ignoring them as she walked towards her small kitchen in order to prepare dinner for the two. Ino shrugged at her friend and left the house quietly.
"Stop looking like someone stole your favorite Kunai, I'm going on that date and nothing will stop me" Sakura said as she waited for the rice to be done. Her boys just didn't say anything and she took that as a hint that they finally gave up. Satisfied, she continued preparing dinner as she thought of her time with one of Konoha's hottest ninja.
"Sasuke-teme, we have to do something about this" Naruto whispered gloomily to his best friend. The discovery that his Sakura-chan was having a date with someone else shocked him to no end. He wanted to punch that person who dared look at his precious person in that way, but another part of him felt, dare he say it, jealous? He knew Sasuke must have felt something as well when he received the news, but that bastard's poker face managed to save him somehow. He, on the other hand, couldn't keep all this inside. He has loved Sakura ever since she took him in as his friend. Ever since then, she has become the most precious person to him and then Sasuke came along and became one as well. He has loved her so much as a friend, so much to the extent that he couldn't realize that several years later, he has…fallen in love with her. As he watched her walk around the kitchen with soft blue eyes, Naruto felt his heart ache at the idea of losing her to another man.
"Okay guys, dinner is ready and my date should be arriving any second now. Play nice." Sakura said, her voice growing threatening in the end. Just as she predicted, the door bell rang and Sakura tried to make some last minute changes before taking a deep breath and opening the door. Sakura had to calm her nerves down, but when one of Konoha's gorgeous men was standing right in front of you with a sexy smile, you can't help but swoon at the said person. Catching herself from what would have been a huge embarrassment, Sakura smiled back.
"Good evening Sakura-san, are you ready for our date?" The Hyuuga genius asked, avoiding the murderous glares he was receiving from the two who suddenly appeared behind the pink-haired Kunoichi. Sakura sighed and stared back at her teammates, not able to understand why they were so pissed off about this whole deal.
"I'm ready Neji-san. I'll just go get my purse" Sakura said and glared at the two behind her. "Behave" was her warning before disappearing somewhere in her apartment. Sasuke and Naruto had a very sour look upon their face, trying to scare away the victim with their presence (like they did with the other… hundred, was it?). However, Neji was not affected by their intimidating stance and proceeded to ignore them while trying to hide his smirk at the same time.
Sakura didn't give the boys time to start a fight and waltzed right pass her boys to get to her date. She has already worn her coat, since it was already the beginning of winter and has directly held on to Neji's left arm.
"I'm going guys! Finish your dinner and don't forget to lock my door before going home!" Sakura yelled before turning a corner out of their sight.
"Sakura-san, are you sure this will work?" Neji asked, a bit hesitant about all this. Sakura giggled and patted his shoulder.
"Don't worry Neji-san, Tenten-san will feel jealous the moment she lays eyes on us. I am sure that she will make her move then! Trust me on this" Sakura said, trying to encourage the Hyuuga genius that her plan of pairing him and Tenten together will work. Neji gave her a small smile, glad that she was there to help him.
"Well then, let's get on with this date. I want you to enjoy yourself as well because no one goes on a date with Hyuuga Neji without having the time of her life" Uncharacteristically, he gave Sakura a wink, causing the said pink-haired Kunoichi to blush and bury her face with her unoccupied hand.
"Geez Neji, you can surely sweep a woman off her feet" She said slyly and laughed when she saw her date's ears turn beat red. It might be a fake date, but just for a moment, she wanted to just get spoilt, just this once. Neji was the only person she knew who wouldn't be affected by her teammate's glares after all.
Once Sakura arrived at her house (not home), she absentmindedly took off her shoes and coat and sat down on the wooden ground. She sighed and wrapped her arms around her legs for warmth. Her plan worked after all; Tenten has finally admitted her feelings for Neji and they both went back home to talk more about all this. They both thanked Sakura for helping and left her after making sure she made her way back "home".
Her senses directly warned her of an intruder in her house and she was directly on her guard. Sakura took out the senbons she kept under her dress and proceeded to silently search for the enemy. Without giving her enemy a chance, she threw the senbons at them with perfect accuracy and finally allowed herself to relax briefly before opening the lights.
"Whoever you are, you have some nerves to…" Sakura stopped in the middle of her speech and let herself stare at her idiotic teammates who were currently stuck on the wall of her living room with her weapons pinning their clothes, leaving them immobile. Naruto looked like he was going to faint any second now while Sasuke just looked angry and about to yell at anyone. Really…and they call themselves Jounin?
"What the hell are you guys still doing in my house!? I could have killed you! And why didn't you dodge!? You could have easily moved away…" Sakura said grumpily and walked towards her boys to take out her senbons instead of them ripping their clothes. She was in no mood to stitch them again. Before she took the first senbons out, Naruto decided to answer her.
"We didn't know you would start throwing death traps at us! Also, we stayed to tell you that we weren't happy about the idea of dating other guys." Sakura glared at her best friend and was about to give him a piece of his mind until the Sharingan user decided to join in.
"Sakura, do not go out with Hyuuga again. He's not good enough for you" he said with hard eyes. The pink-haired Jounin stared back at those wonderful onyx eyes and couldn't figure out why she felt… happy. Happy that they cared, maybe? Slowly and gently, she took out the senbons from their clothes and couldn't help but smile at how quiet her boys were, staring at her and hoping they didn't offend her feelings or anything. When she took out all the senbons, she let them fall on the ground as she felt her legs weaken.
Once her body softly hit the ground, she let out long, tired sigh. Her teammates slid down to her eye level and glanced at each other in secret.
"It wasn't a real date; I only did it to help Neji make Tenten jealous." Sakura whispered, chuckling when she saw her boys relax from their tense posture. Before she can joke about all this, Naruto held her shoulders tightly.
"Sakura, we really don't want you dating other guys. We want you only to look at us!" Naruto said with fixed, determined eyes. He was so close she could feel his warmth surround her; Sakura could do nothing but stare.
"What do you…mean?" Sakura said, suddenly having a funny feeling in her stomach. She then felt another presence right beside her and when she turned to her left, she came across brilliant onyx eyes who were staring right back at her with some kind of intensity.
"What the Dobe meant that you are now allowed to leave us" Sasuke stated, as if that was the simplest thing on earth. The two males of team 7 stared at the only girl who ever really looked at them and Sakura couldn't help but start shedding tears. Naruto and Sasuke then went back to being tensed as they sweat dropped and tried to figure out a way to stop her from crying.
"Ah! Sakura-chan! We're sorry! Don't cry!" Naruto yelled helplessly, but Sakura continued crying on the ground quietly. Before the boys knew what hit them, they were both pulled into a tight hug from their female teammate. Sasuke tensed further, not liking all the emotion being played in this room. On the other hand, Naruto didn't waste any time and hugged his Sakura-chan back, rubbing her back gently.
"Idiots, I am not going to leave you. You're the only people I have left" Sakura said through her soft sobs and hiccups. Sasuke didn't understand why he felt his heart squeezing tightly and beating faster when he heard her, but he felt contented knowing that he won't be alone in all this.
Naruto felt his heart skip a beat at what his Sakura-chan just said and hugged her even tighter. "Stay with us…" Naruto whispered. Deep inside, he just wanted her to look at only him and Sasuke (and maybe to some extent, Kakashi).
"Idiots, I just told you. I'm not going anywhere"
Later at night, the members of team seven were all covered in blankets and sleeping peacefully in different couches. Three empty cups of hot chocolate (and tea in Sasuke's case) were scattered around the room and the fire was still flaring with life in order to warm the three figures dwelling in the apartment. Each of the three slept with a specific thought in their mind; their current relationship. What will the future be in store for them; when they get deeper into all this, when their life would constantly be endangered with all the hard missions ahead, and when they would have to choose.
Phew, Done. I just want to say thank you to all who have been reviewing my story on almost every chapter. I greatly appreciate it and humbly accept all of them. :)
Next chapter happens when they are seventeen years old, so new and bigger things will start acting up and who knows, maybe someone we thought was dead shall...come back?
Stay tuned and please review!
Sadbird