Kakashi hadn't nominated them for the Chuunin Exams.

He'd said that he didn't think that they were ready yet, but Sasuke had his doubts. Maybe Sakura and Naruko weren't ready yet. But he definitely was.

"The Chunin Exams are meant to be taken as a team. Kakashi-san probably wants you to take more time to develop your teamwork," Itachi explained gently. Sasuke pouted and threw another shuriken at the target he was training with.

"Our teamwork is fine. If anything, it's probably Sakura holding us back," Sasuke huffed. The pink haired girl had been spending less time hounding him lately (which he'd always be grateful for), but she was now acting more vicious than ever towards Naruko. Sasuke couldn't understand her. But maybe he wasn't meant to understand girls? Most of them were annoying anyways…

"Us?" Itachi parroted. Sasuke froze when he realized his mistake. Itachi's tone had been mild, but Sasuke had heard the curious undertones. Although his back was to his older brother, Sasuke was sure that Itachi was giving him that ever-patient smile that he got whenever Naruko was mentioned.

Sasuke shrugged casually. "Hn. I meant me," Sasuke corrected. Itachi hummed once. "Naruko isn't ready yet I guess. She's not as bad as Sakura, but she's still not Chunin level yet."

"Naruko-chan has improved a great deal recently," Itachi remarked almost casually.

"She's been training with some pervert," Sasuke practically hissed. When Sasuke had met the man Naruko had gone on and on about, he'd been less than impressed. Of course, he'd met the tall, white-haired man while he had been peeping at the hot springs. It hadn't painted a good first impression. And now Naruko was spending all her time with that-

"Jiraiya-sama is a very respected and experienced shinobi. He was the Yondaime's sensei," Itachi said as he approached. Sasuke make a noncommittal grunt as he threw another shuriken. Pausing in his throwing, Sasuke allowed Itachi to readjust his form as he spoke, "It is wise for Naruko-chan to learn as much as she can from him while he's still in the village. I'm sure she will have more time for you in the future."

Sasuke froze as the tips of his ears burned. "I don't care about spending time with her! We're just teammates!" Sasuke objected.

"Of course, otouto," Itachi agreed and poked at leaf insignia on Sasuke's headband. Sasuke would have continued to argue, but it was pointless. And judging from the small smile on Itachi's face, his elder brother knew it too.

They were just teammates. Maybe an argument could made for the title of "friends", but nothing more. It had taken forever for Sasuke to be able to call Naruko his friend without cringing. He didn't have many friends, virtually none outside his family. But, he supposed, Naruko was a bit more tolerable than most. Besides, she had called him her friend first.

"Ne, Teme, let's go get some ramen!" Naruko had practically shouted at him after training. He had been laying on the grass and catching his breath when her face had appeared above his and completely blocked out the sun. Sasuke had frowned at her before sitting up slowly. Idly, he noticed that Sakura had already left but Kakashi was still hanging around with his orange book in hand.

"Why?" Sasuke asked. He normally wouldn't have bothered, but this was the first time that she'd bothered to ask him to have ramen with her. She'd normally ask Sakura or even Kakashi to accompany her. She'd only bother to invite him to get Sakura to agree.

She frowned at him in confusion. "Aren't you hungry?" she asked and grabbed him by the arm. He tried to object but she was already tugging him to his feet. "Kakashi-nii, do you-" she started but Kakashi was quick to cut her off.

"No thanks, Naruko. You two have fun," Kakashi said with his usual grin just before he vanished with a puff of smoke.

"Oh well. More for us!" Naruko said and started to pull him away from the training grounds. Sasuke had tried to pull his arm away from her, but Naruko held firm. "Sakura-chan and Kakashi-nii are missing out. There's nothing better than ramen after a nice training session and it's even better with friends."

Sasuke's struggles ceased at once. "Friends?" his soft voice repeated.

Naruko had shot him a confused look over her shoulder. "Yeah! You may be a prickly bastard, but you're still my friend, Teme," she had said so resolutely that Sasuke didn't know how to respond. So, he hadn't.

They'd made it all the way to Ichiraku Ramen before he'd realized that their arms were still intertwined. She hadn't seemed to care, but Sasuke could feel his cheeks warming. He wasn't used to others invading his space so casually. Most people kept their distance from him. He'd tried to pull away from her. But as soon as he had, she had tugged him along roughly while calling out to someone she knew. Oh great. The last thing he needed was to run into someone he knew while she was all over him like-

"Naruko! Sasuke-chan! Did you come for ramen too?"

Sasuke froze as he spotted Uzumaki Kushina walking arm in arm with the Yondaime Hokage. For a second, it looked like she was tugging her husband along, but then the blonde straightened, and his eyes had immediately sought out Sasuke.

"Kakashi-nii bailed on us so we came alone," Naruko explained.

Kushina had squealed loudly about how "cute" they were together, but the Yondaime only seemed to stare down at Sasuke with an air of intense judgment. It had been one of the most awkward meal of Sasuke's life.

~:~

Their mission for the day was surprisingly within the Uchiha clan compound. Normally, his clan members didn't bother to put in mission requests. Once, Sasuke had managed to overhear his father and mother talking about the Yondaime wanting the Uchiha to rely on the village as much as the village relied on them. He hadn't fully understood what that meant, but when he'd asked Itachi later, his older brother had gotten a content look on his face and seemed to relax slightly.

"It means that the Yondaime also wishes for the clan to be reintegrated into the village."

Sasuke had frowned deeply in confusion. Weren't they already a part of the village? He'd tried to question Itachi further, but Itachi had been quick to ask for Sasuke's help with a project (something he never did) and that had been the end of that conversation.

They were walking along the streets of the compound, Sakura marveling at the size of the compound and how busy it was. "It's like a small village," she said and stared at the shops as they passed.

"The Uchiha clan is very self-sufficient. They're one of the few clans in Konoha that are and are easily one of the largest," Kakashi informed with a casual tone.

"And they make really good senbei!" Naruko interjected with a grin. Sasuke rolled his eyes at the girl. Of course, that's what she deems important.

They had spent a few hours pulling weeds and tending to one of his aunt's garden. Kakashi had basically abandoned them at the elderly woman's door with a, "Good luck!" As they worked, Sakura had tried making conversation with him on more than one occasion, but Sasuke hadn't offered more than a few words at a time. His attention had been split between plucking weeds and listening in on the conversation Naruko was having with his aunt.

He vaguely remembered her watching him while his parents and brother were out of the village or busy. She was a kind woman and had specifically grown tomatoes in her garden just for him. He was listening in on the story of how he'd gone temporarily missing while in her care only for her to find him passed out in her tomato vines with their juices all over his face and hands.

Sasuke felt his cheeks flame when he heard Naruko's loud laugh. His aunt's joining laughter didn't help him and he tried to refocus on the weeds. He tried to block them out to the best of his ability and nearly breathed a sigh of relief when his aunt disappeared back into her home.

"I knew you were weird about tomatoes, but I didn't know it was that bad," Naruko said with a teasing grin.

Sasuke tensed and glared at the blonde. "Dobe, we're supposed to be on a mission," he hissed at her.

"I can pluck dumb weeds and talk at the same time. You just don't want me to hear any more embarrassing stories about you. But it's whatever. I've already heard plenty from Itachi-nii," she said with a sly grin.

Sasuke nearly threw the clump of weeds in his hand at her. "Liar," he accused. There was no way his big brother would tell her anything embarrassing about him! Itachi did like to tease him, but it was always something between them. Itachi would never let someone else-

"I know about Ryuu-chan," she whispered and grinned even wider. The garden seemed to grow quiet as Sasuke felt a blush rise up from his neck.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura questioned, but Sasuke didn't respond. He couldn't look away from Naruko's shit-eating grin. He'd never thought Itachi would sink so low as to tell the girl about his stuffed dinosaur toy. Just how had that conversation even come up?

Naruko laughed so suddenly and loudly that she bent at the waist. He could see the tears gathering in her eyes as she fell over. "Y-you're… so… red!" she practically shrieked and kicked her feet wildly.

"Naruko," Sasuke hissed and tackled the giggling girl.

~:~

When Kakashi came to pick them up later, he stared at Sasuke and Naruko's matching, black eyes for a few seconds before humming once to himself and starting the trek back to the mission's desk. Sakura had been staring at both of them with a look of exasperation and had sped up to walk at their sensei's side and away from them. Sasuke followed behind with his hands tucked in his pockets, his shoulders tense.

Maybe he was being a bit dramatic, but the idea that his big brother was spending his time telling Naruko embarrassing stories and secrets from their childhood didn't sit well with him. He wasn't sure what about it bothered him so much.

He barely noticed when Naruko had stepped away from his side, but she managed to pull him out of his thoughts when she shoved a senbei in front of his face. He blinked at her in confusion and saw that she was holding one as well. With a soft grunt, Sasuke took the offered food and took a bite. He was hungry…

They were almost to the outskirts of the compound when Sasuke spotted Itachi approaching with Izumi at his side. They were sharing dango as they strolled and Sasuke felt even more suspicion that his older brother was more than just friends with the girl (no matter how much Itachi denied it). Itachi had been listening to her raptly but had smiled softly upon making eye contact with Sasuke. Sasuke narrowed his gaze at his Itachi.

Seeing that she no longer held Itachi's attention, Izumi turned to face him. "Sasuke-kun, how are you? I haven't seen you in a while," she greeted with a smile.

"I'm not surprised. You have been spending an awful lot of time with my brother," Sasuke not so subtly hinted while keeping his gaze trained on Itachi.

Unlike Izumi's deep blush, Itachi's face remained impassive. "I could say the same for you, foolish little brother," Itachi said with a quick glance at Naruko. Sasuke had started to speak again, but before he could get a sound out, Itachi had managed to flick his headband up to the top of his head and land a vicious poke to his exposed forehead. Sasuke rubbed at his forehead with a pout. "Nice eye," Itachi teased while walking around him.

"Ne, Itachi-kun. You shouldn't tease your little brother so much. I think they're cute together," Izumi said as she left with him.

Sasuke was sure that his face would be red for the rest of his life. Naruko was standing next to him and scratching at her head in a confused manner, completely puzzled by the entire exchange. When Sasuke turned back around, he spotted the amused look in Kakashi's eye. Kakashi sighed once with a shrug and muttered about "young love". Before Sasuke could retaliate, his sensei abruptly turned and started walking again.

"I still don't get it," Naruko muttered and moved to catch up with Kakashi.

Sasuke noticed that Sakura didn't move, however. She remained where she was, staring at him with a sad and almost wistful look in her eyes. He raised a brow at her, but she stared down at the half-eaten treat in his hand. Without another word, she took a deep breath, gave him a resigned look, and turned to walk after the others. Sasuke blinked at her straight back in confusion. Now he didn't get it.

~:~

She was leaving the village.

Their team was being disbanded because she was to leave the village with that old pervert. When she'd talked about it, she'd sounded excited to leave. She kept bragging about how much training she would be doing and how much stronger she was going to get, but Sasuke couldn't focus on that. She was leaving them.

He'd been quiet- more so than normal- throughout their D ranks that day. He could feel Sakura's eyes on him and even Kakashi was shooting him subtle looks. Only Naruko was carrying on as if nothing was wrong. And really, was anything wrong?

Isn't this what he'd pushed for? He'd always teased and taunted her with his strength. Challenged her to get stronger- to be better than him. He didn't think that she'd need to leave to village to do it. Couldn't she stay here and train? Couldn't that old perv just train her here?

"That's enough for today, I think. We'll meet up tomorrow at 8," Kakashi said once they had finished weeding some farmer's fields.

"You mean at 10 when you'll finally show up," Sakura pointed out smartly. Kakashi flashed her a bright smile and ruffled the hair on her head before disappearing with a pop.

"See you guys later. I gotta go find Ero Sennin!" Naruko said and ran off before Sasuke could even respond. He wasn't sure what he would have said to her, but it didn't really matter in the end.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura started. Sasuke barely held back the flinch at the sound of her voice. He looked at her from the corner of his eyes, but she was staring at where Naruko had run off and awkwardly rubbing her arm.

"What?" Sasuke asked. He hadn't meant to snap at her, but this day was already wearing on his nerves and he wasn't sure if he could take her asking him out again.

"You should tell her…before she leaves," Sakura said. Sasuke turned to face Sakura with a look of confusion. Sakura didn't look at him, but she did keep talking. "You should tell her that you like her."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sasuke nearly shrieked.

Sakura had the nerve to look at him as if he were stupid. "I know you haven't told her yet. You should tell her before she leaves. You never know. She might meet someone really nice out there. But if you tell her now, then your feelings will be connected and-"

Sasuke shook his head and walked away from Sakura as quickly as he could. What the hell had that been about? He knew that Sakura had been acting strangely lately, but now he wasn't so sure that it was really Sakura. Sakura was decently intelligent, but that had been the stupidest, most idiotic thing he'd ever heard her say. Really? He liked Naruko?

Sasuke scoffed out loud.

~:~

Sasuke had gotten up the morning that Naruko had left feeling a vaguely empty feeling. He hadn't bothered to see her off. Why bother? He'd said everything he'd wanted to say already.

"You should tell her that you like her."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his ceiling with a soft scoff. Naruko was a friend in the loosest definition of the word. Contrary to popular belief, Sasuke could be (just) friends with someone- even if that someone was a girl.

Sasuke hadn't given too much thought to the kind of girl he would marry. But whenever he had, he had always imagined her to be like his mother. Calm, reserved, kind, warm, and strong. Naruko was the complete opposite of demur and quiet. Sneakily, the thought popped into his head that the girl he had just described was very similar to Hinata. Sasuke frowned deeply and rubbed a hand over his chest. If the thought of liking Naruko had made him uncomfortable, the thought of ending up with a girl like Hinata left him feeling-

"Teme!"

Barely restraining himself from leaping up from his bed, Sasuke sat up and turned a glare on the bright presence crouched at his window. Naruko was frowning at him while slipping into his room without his permission. Her dusty sandals were rubbing on his sheets. Sasuke pointedly glared at her feet, but she didn't bother to remove them.

"Don't tell me you've been here all morning," Naruko objected.

Sasuke tried to keep an ear out for his mother. His house was normally very peaceful and quiet. But with Naruko within its walls, it was as if the very air came alive. Her voice tended to travel after all. The last thing he wanted was for his mother to find her in his room. She'd only start gossiping with Itachi and Kushina about how "close" they were.

"It is my room, Dobe," Sasuke pointed out dryly. He watched her cheeks puff out as she pouted at him. Her eyes were trained on him, but he didn't know what she wanted him to say.

"Don't tell me I hit you too hard the last time we sparred. Did you forget that I'm leaving today?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You're the one with brain damage, not me," Sasuke scoffed and went back to laying on his back. He rested his hands behind his head and kept his gaze trained on the ceiling. He waited for her to start shouting, but she kept quiet. That was fine with him. He liked it quiet.

When she moved to lay next to him, Sasuke froze. She copied his pose and Sasuke scooted to the edge of the bed to keep some space between them. "I guess I'm not surprised you didn't want to say goodbye in front of everyone. You could have come over last night or something though," Naruko huffed.

"And have to explain to the Yondaime why I was standing at his door?" Sasuke mumbled without meaning to.

She snorted loudly. "Tou-chan is always scaring my friends. He tried to get Kakashi-nii to follow me around and report back to him, but he stopped when Kaa-chan got mad at him."

The conversation died down then. Sasuke had never been good at keeping a conversation flowing. He either didn't speak enough or he said something that offended the other person enough not to want to keep conversing with him. Naruko was the first person outside of his family that wasn't fazed by his poor social skills. And in a weird way, it worked. He talked too little and she talked too much. Not only that, but she made it easy for him to express himself. Granted, he was normally expressing annoyance and anger around her but it was better than cold silence.

With a sigh she rolled over to rest her cheek on her palm and look down at him. "I'll miss you, Teme."

Sasuke had tried not to look at her, but he couldn't help it. His heart had thudded in his chest once and he could feel something clawing its way up his chest. He hadn't realized how much he had wanted the confirmation that she would miss him too until he had it. (Wait, "too"?) He still wasn't sure what to say so he settled on, "Hn."

It must have been the right thing to say because she suddenly smiled brightly at him and punched his side roughly. Although he had braced for the hit, a small gasp had still escaped him as he fell over the side of his bed. She was peeking over the edge of his bed and laughing down at him without any concern for how loud she was. Sasuke glared up at her and tried to will away the blush that he knew was tinting his cheeks.

As he was pulling himself up from the floor, she moved back over to his window and crouched on the frame again. "Ne, Sasuke?"

"What?"

"When I come back, let's fight. I'm going to be training hard so I can get stronger. I'll catch up to you in no time," she proclaimed with so much conviction that he nearly believed her.

He scoffed and slipped his hands into his pockets. "We'll see about that, Dobe."

She narrowed her gaze at him from over her shoulder before holding out her fist to him. It took him a few seconds to decide but he pulled his hand from his pocket to bump his fist against hers with a smirk.

With one more grin, she shouted, "Later, Teme!" and jumped. His hand lowered back down to his side as he watched her leap over rooftops and away, carrying all her warmth and energy with her. Slowly, the atmosphere in his room returned to normal and Sasuke moved over to his window to shut it closed.

He had no idea how long she would be gone, but he would be ready for when she did. He'd promised her a fight and he wasn't going to go easy on her.