A/N: A huge thank you to those who reviewed and all that. You are made of awesomeness!

Also, thank you to my lovely beta chase3136 who is doing a fantastic job! I'm learning, I swear!

Don't forget to review! Let me know if you like it, and if you don't, let me know as well so I can improve my work.


Chapter One: Not a Girl

Team 7 didn't work often as a team anymore. There was no particular reason to it except for the fact that they all had their own paths to follow now.

After much work and dedication, Sasuke finally made it to ANBU. His next goal was to become a captain and lead his own team. Sakura herself was now a Jounin, working full time at the hospital. Naruto, though - also a Jounin – despite having passed the exam the year after Sakura did – had been working as a teacher at the Shinobi academy, and would soon be in charge of his own team of Gennin.

Kakashi knew they had all become strong, confident Shinobi despite the ups and downs they had gone through; especially after Sasuke had left Konoha of his own free will. When they brought him back, it had been hell for his three companions, because the young Uchiha had been angry and immensely frustrated that he had not been strong enough to do something as simple as escape successfully. Furthermore, the Hokage had been deeply displeased and the Council became too suspicious of Sasuke to deem him trustworthy.

For a whole year, he hadn't been allowed to leave the village or to go on missions. Those were dark times for Team 7, who had to deal with Sasuke's anger, his bad temper, and his determination to become stronger no matter what; as well as the constant fear that he would cross the line and leave again. Kakashi had done all he could to train him as much as he wanted and thankfully, both Naruto and Sakura had been mature enough to help and share some of the things they learned from their other masters with him.

Needless to say, he developed much faster than his teammates, being the first to make it to Jounin and joining the ANBU, even before Naruto had the time to catch up. He won back Tsunade's trust by protecting Konoha when the Akatsuki attacked.

Two days before Sasuke's eighteenth birthday, Team 7 was reunited and sent on a special mission to the location where it was believed Uchiha Itachi was.

It wasn't easy to track him down. Sasuke was already eighteen by the time the elder Uchiha was killed by him.

To everyone's surprise, the fight had a psychologically devastating effect on Sasuke, who took his sweet time to recover from whatever bruises Itachi had left in his heart. He didn't want to talk about any of it, and neither did his teammates dare to ask.

Things went smoothly from then on and Sasuke calmed down considerably, despite still being the same antisocial perfectionist everyone knew. The only thing that changed about him was the fact that he became somewhat more relaxed and tended to say 'yes' more often to his teammates instead of the typical, constant and straightforward 'no'. After all, their bonds had strengthened over the years; they were like family now.

But he was still a cold-hearted prick, according to Naruto. It was good to know that some things never changed.

Kakashi was proud of them and trusted that, in a few years, they would all be well known for their achievements.

For now, even though the time they had to hang out was more than scarce, it was nice to be together on rare occasions such as this, when they could pretend they still worked regularly as a team. Sometimes, Kakashi wished his three students were still twelve.

They weren't. Naruto was eighteen, Sakura was a nineteen year old young woman and Sasuke was about to turn nineteen as well. They had their own lives and still much to learn – things only time could teach them. But the three of them had grown up beautifully.

It was Saturday on a hot summer day in Konoha, and Team 7 was hanging out together on the training fields just because they could. Sakura had the day off and since Sasuke was on vacation and Naruto didn't work during the weekends – except when he had missions – they had arranged to meet. Kakashi was there too because...well, it wasn't like he had much to do nowadays, anyway.

The older man was sitting next to Sakura under a tree, both enjoying how much cooler the temperature was under its shadow as they watched the other two young men sparring vigorously in front of them.

"That was cheating, you bastard!" Naruto yelled angrily after he had just ducked from a new fire technique coming from Sasuke's mouth that had scorched his hair slightly. "We agreed we wouldn't be doing any Jutsu, damn it!"

"Must have slipped my mind," Sasuke said, shrugging lazily and grinning evilly as he took a fighting stance with both his hands in front of his face. "Come on, dead last, stop whining and fight me!"

Sakura laughed softly as Naruto held his kunai tightly in his left hand before they started fighting once more.

"Those two never change," she said in an affectionate way, straightening the fabric of the skirt of her blue dress while she watched them. Had she known they intended to spar, she wouldn't have worn such pretty clothes. She wanted to join them and yet, she couldn't do it with a skirt and high heeled sandals. But she had wanted, so much, to dress up to be with her friends once more that the thought did not even cross her mind.

Kakashi, who had his face buried in one of his perverted books, just muttered something intelligible before continuing reading with his back against the tree trunk.

It wasn't like Sasuke and Naruto were dressed to spar, but still, jeans and T-shirts were more appropriate. It was amazing how they carried their weapons everywhere and in places no one dreamed about. At least, that was something they had in common.

Half an hour later, both boys were panting heavily and sweating in front of each other, while supporting their hands on their knees.

"Shit, it's so hot!" Naruto complained, straightening up and wiping the sweat off his brow with his wrist. "I'm totally melting!"

"It's your fault for wanting to fight Sasuke-kun whenever you have the chance," Sakura said good-humoredly, searching inside her purse for the water bottle she had brought.

"Well, if Mister I'm-too-good-to-let-others-know-I'm-alive here didn't disappear from time to time, I wouldn't have to, 'cause we'd spar more often, right?" Naruto said, defending himself. He went over to Sakura and grabbed the bottle she extended to him before sitting down cross-legged between her and Kakashi, who lowered his book.

"Oh, is it over?" The grey haired Jounin asked absently, as if it was a surprising thing. "Who won?"

"I did, obviously." Sasuke said in his usual proud way, approaching them elegantly and stretching languidly.

"Yeah, right!" Naruto exclaimed frowning as he unscrewed the cork from the bottle. "That last blow was mine, and you know it!"

"Yeah, but you didn't hit me, so it doesn't count."

"It does count!"

"It does not."

"You have more scratches than me!"

"Big deal, you heal faster than me."

"I call for a rematch!"

"Just drink the water, idiot."

"Shut up, I'll drink it whenever I want!"

"Now come on boys, the last thing I want is to waste such a nice time together by watching you pick on each other for the rest of the day," Kakashi said pleasantly, setting his book aside on the dirt ground and straightening up. "How about we eat the wonderful meal Sakura prepared for us, uh?"

"I'll start taking out the food then," Sakura said with a nod, at once reaching behind her for the adorable straw basket she had brought with some homemade cooking, just in case someone got hungry.

Naruto shrugged dismissively and finally took a sip of water.

Sakura, now, was on her knees unfolding a large piece of cloth as Naruto's electric blue eyes watched Sasuke remove his red t-shirt to expose a huge amount of white skin that would be perfect, if it weren't for the occasional scar here and there.

At least he has some scars to brag about, unlike me. Naruto thought, eyeing his friend enviously.

On a closer look, there was something else that seemed like bruises or something on Sasuke's chest. Naruto drank more and tried to focus his eyesight to see what exactly it was, and ended up choking and spitting the water all over Sasuke's feet – which jumped backwards the next second - scaring the shit out of Sakura.

"Watch it, Dobe!" Sasuke roared angrily.

"B-but you...!" Naruto stammered, pointing his finger dramatically at him, only to get smacked across the head by the pink-haired girl at his side.

"Geez, I almost dropped the food, Naruto!" she scolded.

"But Sakura-chan, look at him!" Naruto insisted urgently, pointing more firmly at Sasuke's chest. The young man was looking mad but completely oblivious to what caused Naruto's horror.

Sakura snorted but turned her eyes to her not-so-former crush. At first, she found herself blushing at the sudden sight of Sasuke's toned chest, but then she saw what Naruto had seen and the small bento she held in her hands fell over her lap with a dry 'thump'.

Kakashi was not the type to be overly curious about his students' moments of silliness, bed up facing the Uchiha boy anyway, to see what was causing all the fuss.

And he saw it alright, since it was pretty obvious. Kakashi's only visible eyebrow was arched slightly in amazement.

Those were...

"Friggin' hickeys!" Naruto gasped, clutching at his chest like it was one of the most horrible things he had ever seen. "How? What? You, Sasuke?"

Sasuke's expression changed from anger to confusion until he looked down at his own chest and realization struck him.

"Oh, this..." he said, his facial expression relaxing at once; "It's nothing. I'm just kind of seeing someone."

That being said – and in an almost absent minded way – he folded his T-shirt as neatly as he could and kneeled down in front of his comrades, ignoring the deadly silence that fell over them, but ignoring, particularly well, the way Naruto's mouth moved wordlessly.

Sakura was clearly having difficulty breathing, even though she tried her best not to show it, her eyes fixed on Sasuke's skin as if it would contaminate her.

"This is...interesting," Kakashi said, as joyfully as he could despite how unpredictably awkward the topic was. "I'm happy for you, I guess!"

After all, Sasuke was the last person Kakashi would think would be able to actually become interested in someone, let alone have any kind of intimate relationship with.

"Yeah." The Uchiha said, with a slight nod. Sasuke calmly took the bento from Sakura's lap and put it over the cloth in the center of the weird circle they made.

"But...you didn't tell me anything!" Naruto protested, pouting.

"That's because it's none of your business." said the brunet, throwing him an intimidating look that he clearly hoped would put an end to the conversation. Unfortunately, Naruto ignored it, and probably on purpose.

"I'm your best friend, it is my business!" The blond Shinobi was over the shock and now he just looked hurt. "You were the first person I talked to when I started dating Hinata..."

"Yes, and I appreciated all the unnecessary details you told me as well." Sasuke mumbled.

"...and Sakura-chan told us she was thinking about dating fuzzy eyebrows even before she started to actually date him! Just how long have you been seeing this…person?"

"As I said, it's none of your business!" Sasuke hissed coolly, throwing him a dry look. "You're making a big deal out of nothing, and if you want to know why I didn't tell you a fucking thing, this is the reason!"

"Kids, you each have your own private lives, and you have all the right to keep it to yourselves," Kakashi decided to intervene before things got too personal between those two. Besides, he was getting worried about Sakura's lack of response on the matter. "I'm sure Sasuke was planning on telling us, eventually."

"Of course, he was." Naruto's teeth were clenched as he set the bottle heavily on the ground. "I'm sure he's been hiding her just so no-one knows who she is, the bastard."

Sasuke sighed, ran a hand over his sweaty hair and rolled his eyes.

"It's not like that. It's just that we don't need for the whole village to know we're together. We just decided to start…dating… a few days ago." Clearly the word 'dating' did not fit well in Sasuke's dictionary.

"I don't care, I'm pissed at you, bastard." Naruto shoved his dirty middle finger in front of Sasuke's face and crossed his arms over his orange T-shirt.

"That's fine by me." Sasuke spat, mimicking his friend and crossing his arms as well.

They immersed themselves in what seemed to be a staring contest, only the rules were not exactly the same as they were struggling to see who could look more menacing.

Kakashi would have found the whole situation hilarious on a different occasion. Right now, he was too worried to even feel honestly happy for Sasuke's new development on his social life.

For some reason, he had a bad feeling about it.

Sasuke was the pillar that held Team 7 together. Kakashi was sure that, conscious or unconsciously, his friends relied on him and loved him despite how unkind and cold he was at times. He was like a wall they could lean on when they needed, a force that made them stronger, a presence that assured them that he would be there, unchangeable, predictable; the only safe thing that they knew would be the same when 'moving on with their own lives' stabbed them in the back. They took him for granted while hopping and believing that he would always be the Sasuke they knew.

But the raven haired ANBU was taking his own path as well; he was moving on, taking an unpredictable turn that would probably take him away from them. Not away for good, but he was sure to distance himself even more. Kakashi knew that Sasuke loved his friends with all his heart – for all his sensei knew, they were now all his heart knew how to love – he was just a little too selfish for his own good and he did not know how to show it. However, Naruto and Sakura were oblivious to this.

They were shocked, yes, but they were not thinking rationally because once they did, all they would think about would be how this new person in the Uchiha's life would affect the little time (and little place) they had in his life and heart. And it would be hell on earth.

Kakashi felt his muscles tense at the thought.

The older man was brought out of his thoughts by Sakura shifting slightly, waking up from her trance to continue to automatically take out the rest of the bento boxes from inside the basket like nothing had happened.

Three sets of eyes turned to her. Kakashi was curious, Sasuke was neutral and Naruto was worried. After all, despite what she said, everybody knew she was only dating Lee because Sasuke turned her down three times.

As if the conversation had been the most pleasant thing in the world, she finished taking out the food and straightened her back, green eyes looking up to meet Sasuke's as a sweet, falsely happy smile lightened her features.

"I am really happy for you, Sasuke-kun," she said softly, bowing ever so gently. "Congratulations, I hope you can find true happiness like Naruto and I did."

Sasuke's eyebrows shot up but he politely accepted the bento and chopsticks she extended to him with the points of her fingers, clearly making an extra effort not to touch him.

"Thank you, Sakura." he said, nodding slightly. "That's very nice of you."

Naruto was speechless. Kakashi deduced he was either seething or way too concerned about Sakura's mental stability to say anything.

The girl extended the rest of the boxes to Naruto and Kakashi and kept the smallest one for herself; taking the lid off and breaking apart her chopsticks.

"Itadakimasu!" she said joyfully. Her teammates repeated the word after her before digging in. And then, she spoke again.

"So, will we get to meet her?" she asked, as sweetly as before. Naruto stopped his chopsticks halfway from entering his mouth.

"Yeah, Sasuke-kun, when will we get to meet your girlfriend?" he teased, almost spitefully, waving said chopsticks with sushi on them.

Kakashi understood why Sakura and Naruto would want to press the subject further and yet, he felt like maybe they were both taking it too far when clearly they were not taking it all too well.

Sasuke pressed his lips together for a brief moment before frowning deeply.

"I never said it was a girl." he muttered almost inaudibly.

Silence followed the statement.

"Come again?" The blond asked, blinking several times.

"I said, Naruto, that it's not a girl." Sasuke repeated.

Sakura froze once more.

Naruto's jaw dropped. His big blue eyes became huge.

Once more, Kakashi thought that it would be great if he could just laugh it off and pretend that his bad feeling was nonexistent. He wanted to, really, because the irony of it all was just too damn perfect. He did not feel like laughing, but he did anyway, hoping to break the ice.

"Well, isn't this a surprise!" He exclaimed. "And quite kinky if I may say so...I didn't know you swung that way, but good for you!"

"I don't."

"Oh, so you're Bi-curious? I respect that. Happiness is all that matters after all, love sees no genders."

"Shut up, Kakashi."

"Not a girl?" Naruto inquired dumbfounded. It seemed as though he did not understand what that precise sentence meant, or maybe he was still processing that particular bit of offending information.

"Not a girl," Sasuke repeated, staring into his friend's eyes as if daring him to say something about it. "It means it's a person with no boobs and has a dick instead of a vagina. That's commonly known as a 'male', a 'guy' or, to put it simply, a 'man'. Is that clear enough for you?"

Oh yeah, it was clear enough for Naruto alright, and for Sakura as well, for she seemed to pale and looked to be about to throw up.

Naruto blushed, then gasped loudly, then blushed more, and then decided that pointing his finger at Sasuke again was still an intelligent thing to do.

"So that means you...you're...you're a Homo!" he squeaked incredulously. "Sasuke's a...Holy shit!"

"I am not a Homo, you idiot." The raven muttered, inhaling deeply.

"You're dating a guy! And you have...sexual intercourse with him! That makes you as Homo as it gets!"

"Sexual intercourse is a big word for that plebeian mouth of yours, and no; it does not."

"Sasuke is an open-minded person, not a Homo." Kakashi tried to placate things to no avail because neither was listening.

Sasuke, who had been trying to be patient, was quickly losing it, and all because Naruto was too ignorant and too hot blooded to care for what was coming out of his mouth. Kakashi sensed that the blond was panicking, and unfortunately, Sasuke was not sensible enough to see it.

"Fuck you! And it does! How can someone like you be a Homo, Sasuke? You're in ANBU! You..."

"What exactly does that have to do with anything?" And Sasuke was definitely losing it.

"It does! Someone like you can't be like that! You want to restore your clan and all that shit! You're like...a role model, you're an Uchiha! What will people say? We don't have things like that in Konoha!"

"How do you know?"

"I've never seen it!"

"That does it, I'm leaving." Sasuke said, putting away his bento aggressively and standing up with impressive speed.

"What?" As he watched Sasuke put on his t-shirt, Naruto became even more agitated.

"You heard me correctly; I'm getting the fuck away from you." Sasuke spat.

"Sasuke-kun, Naruto is just upset..." Sakura's voice mumbled weakly and was left unheard.

Dropping everything he was holding carelessly and getting up as well, Naruto jumped hurriedly over the cloth to grab Sasuke's right arm and force him to face him.

"You can't leave, bastard, this is serious shit we're talking about!" he yelled.

"It's only serious as far as it concerns me!" The raven shouted, shoving Naruto away. Both Kakashi and Sakura shivered slightly at his tone. He was so furious even his Sharingan was activated; bloody red, fixing menacingly on sky blue that was too horrified to be coherent. "If me being whatever it is that's not as perfect as your pathetic excuse for a relationship bothers you that much, then you can kiss all the best friends' bullshit you've given me over the years goodbye!"

With that, Sasuke vanished in a 'puff' of smoke, leaving his team behind.

Naruto's mouth was hanging open; his hands were closed into fists. His body was shaking so violently Kakashi wondered how it was possible that he was still standing upright.

Kakashi wanted to say something, anything to make Naruto feel better and to prevent Sakura from shedding the tears that were welling up in her eyes, but nothing was appropriate enough because Sasuke was not at fault, and yet he did not want to reprimand Naruto when everything about him was a complete mess at that moment.

Naruto swallowed hard before turning his back on them and walking away with heavy steps.

When Sakura began to sob gently, Kakashi wondered when those three would settle whatever issues they still had going on between them. Now more than ever, they had to face these issues before something bad happened and they ended up going in their different directions, to never meet again.

Sasuke and Naruto were opposites, and yet they complimented each other in the most ungraceful, yet beautiful way. They loved each other with an intensity no one could understand. Sometimes they hated each other in ways that overpowered rationality. They were the ones who had the biggest issues and Sakura was just an accelerant that confused and mixed everything together, to unbalance them because it made her feel safe. She did not want Naruto as a lover but she could not help but feel grateful that he probably still loved her. She wanted the three of them to be like a family, but wanted Naruto to look at her and not at Sasuke, and needed to know that Sasuke did not think too much about what Naruto meant to him because that would mean that he would become somewhat nicer, and then Naruto would completely forget about her. As long as they kept their distance from each other, they would always have time to think about her.

Both Naruto and Sakura wanted to move on while knowing that Sasuke would still be there for them, that he would still need them. He had them, the reason why he was never lonely.

But how would things turn out, now that there was someone else to play that part as well? If Sasuke had someone then he would not need them, or so they might think.

These were complicated things that the elder Jounin knew about but did not dare confess to his beloved students. These were things he had noticed for years, things that had yet to be solved.

Kakashi did not condemn any of them for their foolishness. Love was a complicated thing and Team 7 had been through many trials together as it was. He only wished he could be the one to tell them what to do, how to act, and which way to go.

He could not. He would not, because they wouldn't listen; they never did. They had to learn from their mistakes, which was part of growing up.

All he could do was wait, be there for them, and pray to some divinity that they would find a way to sort things out before it was too late.

TBC...