Author's Note: Okay, I am sooooooooo sooooo soooo soo so SORRY for not being able to update sooner. Actually I was able. I'm almost always able to write. It's just that I only got back from college on the 10th of November and my family and I've been busy spending time together so much, I really had no appetite to write. I wrote most of this chapter in my scrapbook months ago but the thought of typing all of this on the computer made me ill. So basically, I was just being fucking lazy! Sorry again to all my readers! I love you guys but I'm a lazy bum at this. Sorry. Please forgive me!

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies. You all know I don't own anything anyway so this will be the last time.

Warnings: AU, age alteration…Lemons in future chapter…

The night was a dark vast of nothingness. The sky wasn't sprinkled with its normal cluster of stars nor was the pearly white moon out shinning its soft pale light. The sound of the crickets chirping and the tall grass leaves waving as the wind blew a gentle breeze.

Uchiha Sasuke watched the branches of trees moving with the wind from his window. Everything was still pitch black but being a shinobi enabled him to have special talents, one of them was having the eyesight of seeing things even though it was dark. This wasn't extraordinary given that each and every shinobi were taught to have sharp eyes since birth. Sasuke silently felt an angry flame burn in his chest.

Something wasn't right, he could sense it. Something was definitely not right. He had not yet found the person, but there was definitely someone who had been following him for the past few days. That certain 'someone' had been following the great Uchiha with great skill the past few days. He or she (though Sasuke highly doubted it was a female due to instinct) was no ordinary shinobi. This person was thought some skills and techniques even other shinobis would not have learned had they settled for the normal Ninja Academy education. Only a person who was thought secrets of spying in extremely dangerous situations knew how to stalk a person this expertly. A person who went on S-ranked missions. A person who was ANBU.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. The dark haired Uchiha suddenly felt the urge to break someone's neck; preferably Tsunade's. She had to be the one behind all this. She was the one person who truly treated him like a traitor who couldn't be trusted. The fifth Hokage lady had been so prying lately she was almost breathing down his neck. Never an excuse went unnoticed and unsatisfactory. She wanted specifics and details and even then Sasuke saw her cold untrusting eyes narrow in hostility at his words. Damn it, he knew she never believed him even if most of the things he told her were true.

Sasuke hadn't heard anything about Itachi. He was certainly on edge though he hid it very well. The Uchihas were always one for hiding their feelings. They were a clan of genius shinobis after all. Lately though, Sasuke had not had the chance to grab his kusanagi, leap out a window and chase after an elusive and impossible to catch Itachi.

Thinking of Tsunade and Itachi made his skin itch in anger and frustration. In his fury, he slapped a lamp on the table only to hear it break with a loud crash. The crash calmed him down a bit but he still felt his skin crawl.

Exhaling loudly, Sasuke sat at the edge of his bed. He buried his hands in his hair and took a deep breath as a means to calm himself.

So what if the ANBU were set to spy on him until the end of time? Sasuke was smart and he was also considered a very powerful shinobi. Powerful enough even to become ANBU himself. There had been countless times when both Sakura and Kakashi suggested this to Tsunade.

Unfortunately for the both of them, Tsunade could not find it in her heart to trust the Uchiha brat with the position of an ANBU soldier. She knew Uchiha didn't have a grudge against Konoha; that he didn't want to have anything to do with it. What she was afraid of, however, was that the Uchiha brat would do anything in order to get information about Itachi. He would even sell all of Konoha's secrets just so he could get his grubby paws on his lunatic brother and that made the Uchiha brat dangerous. She simply couldn't risk it.

As for Sasuke himself, he showed no interest in becoming ANBU. ANBU training took ages and dedication—he needed to be dedicated to only one thing and that was his brother. He did not believe there was any use for ANBU training in his goal. He was strong enough to take down Itachi, strong enough to kill the man without the help of ANBU training.

Sakura and Kakashi had known it was best to stop suggesting ANBU training for Sasuke to Tsunade. They knew neither of them would budge. Sasuke was too obsessed with killing Itachi and Tsunade was too obsessed with Sasuke's loyalty issue.

'You're lucky I didn't order to have his head on a spit, Haruno!'

And Sakura knew she really was lucky Tsunade hadn't decided on that.

The sole survivor of the Uchiha massacre stood in front of his now open window and looked up to the moon with great determination aglow. It was only until he felt his bare torso feel the chill of the wind did he realize he had been sweating profusely…And Uchiha Sasuke did not sweat.

O o O o O

It had been a few days since I last had that dream of the gigantic fox. By the time I woke up from that dream, I convinced myself that it wasn't real. My mind had taken its toll from all the mental stressing I had done and that had resulted in my dreaming of monstrous creatures. I blamed it all on my encounter with Haruno Sakura.

There was absolutely no way I could ever manage to imprison a massively huge fox in my body. Where would there be any space? I know full well I have breasts and that they are quite large but surely the fox couldn't be stored up in there? I'm also very skinny and that makes it ridiculous to think of a humungous fox stored up in me. Surely the fox couldn't possibly be imprisoned inside me. Besides that, I also knew that it was logically impossible for something like that to be true. Well, not unless you are a shinobi or a wizard or something of the sorts and unfortunately I'm none of those.

So after a day of convincing myself I didn't have a gigantic fox caged up in my stomach, I started going out to my favorite spot in the woods again.

The first time I went there, Sakura didn't show up at all and I was partly glad she wasn't there.

The next time however, Sakura turned all smiles as she tried to 'befriend' me.

She talked for hours on end and I couldn't concentrate on what I was reading at all. I managed to ignore her but sometimes when she spoke about her missions and the trainings she went through I found it hard to resist from joining in the conversation.

I kept reminding myself that if I got too close to her, I would put both myself and mother at stake. Also, I guess I didn't really believe about the whole giant fox thing but I still had my doubts…They weren't big doubts but I was too afraid of taking any chances.

Sakura would talk about anything that came across her mind. That day though, it was mostly about her mission that she went on the day before.

"It was pretty dangerous, you know," Sakura said in these excited tones, her pretty green eyes sparkling at me.

"I had to make sure Princess Kira's statue did not get stolen from rogue shinobis and all."

Her words beckoned me to say something. I could almost feel my ears pricking up and my eyes shining just like hers were that moment. I opened my mouth to ask her if she ever did get to fight rogue shinobis or not but before I did, I snapped my mouth shut in time.

"Oh come on!" Sakura cried, poking me in the ribs.

"Say something! I know you wanted to so what's holding you back? I won't bite, you know?"

My face flushed at the fact that I had been caught with appearing interested in her words. I felt like slapping myself for being so careless.

Glaring at her, I grumbled and forced my attention back to Icha Icha Paradise. I was trying to read it and I guess I was but every single word that came across me were blocked and I didn't understand anything at all.

Instead, my ears heard Sakura's girlish voice chattering about her fight with the rogue shinobis. She mentioned the various powerful blows and kicks she landed on the unlucky shinobis. And at the mention of jutsus, I almost broke all resolve but managed to hold firm at the very last second.

I tried to look like I couldn't care less about it but in truth I was listening to everything she said; and I was listening intently too.

I wanted to know what happened next, I was so immersed in her experiences that by the time I walked back home I told myself that I wanted to be friends with her.

Dragging my feet slowly, I could see myself and her talking, laughing and going out like all friends do. The thought of hearing a friend, someone to laugh with and play with filled my heart with such longing, I thought, 'Who cares if I was friends with her?" More than anything else, even more than making certain which gender I was; I wanted to be Haruno Sakura's friend.

It was like a spell I was in. I told myself the next time I saw her, I would try and speak with her. The spell broke when I opened the door to my house and I saw mother smiling at me.

No…I couldn't risk destroying what I had with mother…

So the next time I met Sakura, I did the same thing I did before. I ignored her and when she did something funny or anything I tried my best not to appear amused.

The same thing happened the next time we met. And it went on for days until about a week later the unthinkable happened.

The sun rays peeked through the gaps that appeared from the branches of leaves that hung from great big barks of trees, making the ground look like a carpet of gold spotted with dark spots.

The brook rushed forward as usual in a steady stream of clear, cool water.

I brought Icha Icha Paradise out there again and was reading the last chapter of the book when I tripped and fell.

The book flew out of my hands and my face crushed into a small rock, cracking my lips open.

I blinked a few times in surprise before I realized I was in pain.

Hastily, I grabbed the end of my shirt and tried to wipe away the blood rushing out of my nostrils in two red rivers.

As I wiped at my face, I heard a low whistle and turned only to see a pair of startling green eyes in a pale heart shape face framed with the bubble gum pink hair.

Haruno Sakura stood staring at me, a small smile splayed on her face as she watched me with amusement. One pale slender arm was held out touching the bark of a large tree while her other hand was firmly placed at her hip.

She studied me for a while before letting out a small chuckle.

The sound of that chuckle made me glare at her. Wiping my nose for the last time, I got up by pushing my palms on the ground, all the while glaring at her.

Part of me felt ashamed that she had witnessed my fall. I was ashamed because I thought that as a boy, falling down and bleeding in front of a female was humiliating.

I turned my face from her and scowled at nothing in particular. I could feel my cheeks burn and I knew I was flushed.

"You're a girl, you know…" I heard the words float out and reach my ears.

For a moment I didn't move. My whole body felt fix to the ground. It was as if everything froze when she spoke those words. And within that moment I felt nothing, no fear, no anxiety…I only felt numb. Utterly numb. My burning face had suddenly turned ice cold. I ceased sweating almost immediately.

Some seconds later, perhaps it was an eternity, I didn't know but slowly, very slowly I turned to look at her face.

Sakura was smiling at me and I was suddenly gripped by the fear of her knowing my secret.

"What…?" I whispered silently, my voice shook with my fear.

Sakura continued to smile and it did nothing to my fears; if anything, it only fed to it.

My fingers curled together; gently, softly at first and then I squeezed tightly. A blonde strand of my hair fell into my eyes but I did nothing about it. I just kept blinking my eyes at her, afraid to even breathe.

My tongue slowly went out to circle my upper lip in an attempt to moisten my chapped lips. As the wet appendage swiped at my lips, I tasted the coppery taste of blood once more.

My hands flew to my face and I pulled back to look at my blood-stained fingers in surprise. My nose was bleeding again.

"I said, you're a girl if you scowl like that after a fall," Sakura said nodding her head at me.

Her green eyes travelled to my bleeding nose and an unreadable expression came over her face. One that I found I could not read.

I was relieved when I heard her explanation. I stopped blinking so much almost immediately.

Sakura looked at me with that unreadable expression for a couple more minutes and then she sighed.

Walking over to me, I was unprepared at all when she brought out both arms to my face, her hands glowing faintly with a light green glow.

I reacted instinctively and swiftly drew back from her. I think I watched her the way the demon fox watched me in my nightmare—like an animal wearily acknowledging an outsider's presence, ready to pounce if she so much as moved an inch…Hostile.

"Whoa! Calm down, boy!" she laughed lightly and put both her hands up. "No need to fear. I'm a medic-nin so I specialize in healing jutsus…" she explained.

Sakura watched me as I lowered down my guard. My breathing relaxed and I avoided her gaze, no longer feeling the need to glare at her and watch her every movement.

She took a step closer though I pretended not to notice, and then another step, then another.

Soon, she was standing right in front of me again and I silently thanked god mother didn't put the "jutsu" on me. If she had then surely Sakura would've noticed the vast difference of height compared to my jutsu form.

Once mother does the jutsu on me, my height will increase among the many things that change about me. No longer am I a girl but I turn into the thing mother wanted me to be—a boy. If asked to describe how the "jutsu" works, I would be inclined to say that I do not know. Things related to my real gender are not discussed with mother. She never brings up the subject and neither do I so it is left unknown. I do not want to ask mother things concerning the "jutsu". I think I would rather die first before I learn anything about that hateful "jutsu".

There is however, one thing that I know about this jutsu, and that is when I change into a boy, I really do change into one. My breasts shrinks until I'm completely flat-chested, I have broader shoulders, my waist becomes straight and narrow and yes, I actually saw it; the thing in between my legs, the thing that can only be identified as MALE.

God, when I first saw it (the thing), I almost fainted! There it was, right in between my legs, long and rather thick in its velvety skin…I couldn't stop throwing up after looking at such a monstrosity. How could my mother make me grow such a thing when in fact I was a woman? I truly hate that awful jutsu.

Such thoughts were fleeting through my mind as Sakura brought her tentative fingers to my bleeding nose and cut lips. Her hands were glowing again and I shut my eyes for fear.

"There you go," Sakura stated with a satisfied nod, "All better, see?"

I blinked at her and tried to feel the blood on my face but all I felt was my smooth clean skin.

"Next time you gotta be careful, okay?"

Staring at her in awe, I nodded vaguely.

She giggled at my expression and ruffled my hair.

"You're just too cute!" she cried, "So why don't you show some appreciation to me and say 'Thank you, Sakura-sama!'"

"Thank you, Sakura-sama!"

My immediate response made her laugh even more but this time I didn't feel like slapping her face after hearing her laughter. The only thing I felt when I heard her soft girlish laughter was that I felt pleased. I was pleased I had managed to make her laugh, pleased to have known her. At that moment in my life, I had wanted nothing more than being Haruno Sakura's friend. At that very moment as well, I made up my mind that I would be her friend. To hell with the consequences and to hell about mother. I was going to be Haruno Sakura's friend.

And I guess I was after that…

O o O o O

Haruno Sakura returned home that night with a smile on her face.

It was a nice thing to have a new friend but it was even better to know that now she had truly won the fight.

And Sakura had won. She won against Naruto's stubbornness. Now Naruto was her friend and Sakura decided she liked Naruto's company more than ever.

The boy was so adorable, so curious and so dense at times that Sakura couldn't help but think of him as a younger brother, one whom she had to take care of and look out for.

Naruto, Sakura had to give credit though, did put up a pretty good fight. He was pretty good at ignoring her and pretty good at appearing nonchalant too. In fact, he was almost as good as Sasuke. Almost.

For a while, Sakura was beginning to think that befriending Naruto was going to take a lot of effort. She knew that he wasn't as bad as Sasuke and that meant it wasn't impossible to be friends with him but Sakura was beginning to wonder if befriending Naruto was such a good idea since it was so draining.

She was glad the boy's stubbornness finally lost to her persistence.

Sakura boiled a pot of coffee and sat in a comfortable sofa while waiting for it to boil. Flipping through a fashion magazine, Sakura gazed at the pictures that whirled by in boredom.

Today had been fun with Naruto. She had been telling him all about her training as a kunoichi, all from the days back when she was still at the academy to her days as a jounin.

Naruto had given her his full attention and had asked questions on almost every single thing that popped into his mind.

"Was it difficult, the Chunin exams?"

"Did you lose to the Ino-buta?"

"Is Sasuke really that handsome?"

When he'd asked the last question, Sakura couldn't help but laugh at the sarcasm in Naruto's voice. The blue eyed blonde practically rolled his eyes when Sakura described how handsome the last remaining Uchiha in Konoha was.

When Sakura told him about her rivalry with Ino, the blonde had had a look of pure disgust.

"Why would two best friends want to fight over something as useless as a boy?" he had asked in disbelief.

"Hey, wotcher, mate!" Sakura had chuckled at his question, "Yer a lad yerself. Albeit a wee one but a lad nonetheless!"

Frowning, Naruto waved a hand at her.

"Ha ha. Very funny. Cut it out with the weird accent, will you?" he muttered grumpily, "Girls are weird!"

"On the contrary my friend!," Sakura said, "To us girls, you boys are the weird ones."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Naruto said in a bored tone, once more waving his hand as if to swat away an annoying housefly.

"Anyway, why would you fight with your best friend? It just doesn't make any sense."

Sakura felt a familiar twinge of guilt at his simple statement. More than once she had regretted the fact of becoming rivals with Ino, her best friend. After all, look what it got them both? Ino wasn't even in love with Sasuke anymore and neither was Sakura. In the end, nothing mattered and both girls actually just became friends again.

Sakura didn't regret being friends again with Ino. What she regretted was ever fighting with the girl. It was such a complete waste of time. "Well, I really liked Sasuke-kun during those days, y'know?" Sakura began, "And I wasn't exactly the prettiest girl around and neither was I really good at anything. Ino, on the other hand, was really pretty even back then in the genin days. And she was way better as a kunoichi than I was at that time…She was also really great at ikebana…"

"At that time, huh?" Naruto said slyly, wriggling his eyebrows at Sakura, "So you're saying you're better than she is now?"

Sakura brought a swift kick up but Naruto managed to duck just in time.

"Hell yeah, I'm better than she is! And don't you forget it you lil' pip squeak!"

Both youngsters stopped and looked at each other for a couple of seconds and then both burst out laughing.

"So what happened to this Ino-buta girl? How is she now?," Naruto said after they'd stopped laughing.

"She's fine and we're still friends. We've gotten closer ever since."

"Is she with Sasuke-kun?"

"No."

"Oh?"

"She has a boyfriend that goes by the name of Nara Shikamaru."

"A Nara, huh?"

"Yeah."

Naruto stared at Sakura's expression for a while as if deciding what to say next. He studied her serious face. It looked like Sakura was reminiscing about old memories.

"Was it worth it, fighting with Ino to get to Sasuke?"

Sakura was surprised at the question and she bit back a smile. Only seconds ago she'd thought the exact same thing.

"No," she said after a while, "It wasn't worth it at all. It was the stupidest thing both of us ever did."

"Why was it stupid?" Naruto asked though he already seemed to know the answer.

"'Cause in the end nothing mattered. Both of us didn't get Sasuke and both of us didn't even want him."

And as soon as she said it Sakura felt better than she had in a long time.

Naruto stared at Sakura again and heaved a sigh of relief.

"Well, I'm glad you and Ino are friends again."

Sakura widened her eyes and stared at Naruto in what looked like an expression of wonderment. And then she smiled a pure, genuine smile.

O o O o O

As time progressed, the friendship between Sakura and Naruto grew.

Naruto kept it hidden from her mother of course and it seemed Kushina didn't notice anything. Of course the blonde also didn't tell Sakura her true gender.

Both grew closer and it was almost everyday Naruto and Sakura met. They were always meeting up in their favorite spot in the forest.

On that day however, an excited Sakura rushed over to her spot and Naruto's in order to deliver some good news.

This was a chance to widen Naruto's circle of friends, a chance to let Naruto become like every other kid his age. From what Sakura had seen from Naruto's lifestyle, she basically thought Naruto's mother was trying to turn her son into a freak. And she was succeeding at it as well. Naruto was very well turning into an anti-social freak if he kept going on like that.

"Naruto, Naruto, Naruto!" Sakura cried, perspiration streaming down her forehead. She waved the white envelope she had in her hand wildly.

"Look, look, look!"

Naruto turned happily to look at a beaming Sakura.

"Okay, okay, okay, Sakura-chan!" he giggled, "Well, what is it?"

Sakura tore off the envelope in her hand and read aloud the card in it.

"You are invited to attend Hyuuga Hinata's nineteenth birthday celebration. You are allowed to bring a guest with you."

Sakura's green irises travelled across the rest of the card.

"It says here the party starts at 8 pm!" Sakura cried, "Say you'll be my guest! Oh, please, please, please, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaasssssssssse Naruto-chan!"

Naruto stared blankly at Sakura. He grew paler by the second and he looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"N-Naruto?" Sakura asked timidly, "Naruto-chan? Daijobu?"

Naruto began to tremble. Shaking his head in horror, he turned to look at Sakura.

"I-I c-can't go, Sakura!" he gasped, "M-m-m-Mother would kill me!"

Sakura made a grab at Naruto's hands. She searched his face in concern and tried to comfort him.

"Shh, shhh! Naruto-chan, it's okay. Your mother's not gonna kill you," she said in soothing tones.

"I want to go!" Naruto cried out, tears in his eyes, "I do! But Mother…She won't let me!"

"It's okay!" Sakura grinned at him, "Leave that to me! I'll handle everything for you!"

Naruto blinked at Sakura, not too sure if he should trust her.

"R-really?" he asked tentatively.

"Trust me!" Sakura winked, "All you have to do is to prepare yourself for your first social gathering!"