I awoke repeatedly punching the alarm clock for a snooze button. It did not have a snooze button. I sat upright, taking the alarm into my hands, trying to read the buttons on the back and make sense of them. My stomach rolled with the nausea of too early. I felt cold.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

I charged my hands with chakra and blasted it into the clock. It shut up. I dropped it onto the floor. I shuffled into the bathroom.

I dunked my head into the sink and turned both faucets on high.

Cold water, then hot, then warm. After a minute, the nausea subsided. I towelled my hair. I washed up. I went to my room and dressed. I stumbled down the stairs, too tired to muffle my steps with Silent Foot.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!"

"Good morning, kiddo!"

I blinked blearily at the image of Naruto and my father sitting at the kitchen table. There was something wrong here. I couldn't put my finger on it. Why were they smiling?

I mumbled something that was neither English nor Japanese. I needed something. What did I need? Something warm.

"Here, Sakura-chan!" Naruto hopped up from the table and poured a cup of hot water from the teapot on the stove, before digging around his backpack and taking out a box with large writing: INSTANT COFFEE.

I made another mouth-sound and slumped into the chair next to Naruto's. I was expecting him to take a jar of powder out of the box, but instead, it came in tiny cups that reminded me of the coffee creamers I used to see at restaurants. He peeled the little cup open and poured a dark, viscous liquid into the hot water and stirred it with a spoon.

"Hey, Sakura's-Father-san, where do you keep your sugar and-"

I reached out lightning-quick and chugged down a quarter of the coffee in several gulps. It… wasn't bad.

"… Uh. Milk?" Naruto finished.

"I'm good," I croaked.

Naruto shot me a look that could only be described as Kid Witnessing Someone Drinking Black Coffee.

Kizashi chuckled. "She reminds me so much of her mother, back when she had the midnight shift, ah. Just leave her be, kiddo. She'll come to life in a few minutes."

"Just like that?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

I ignored them and picked up the box the coffee had come in thoughtfully, reading the back. From the advertising, it seemed to be geared toward field ninja who didn't have access to a hot drink on the move. No wonder it tasted fine; it must have been actual, concentrated coffee. I smiled slightly (or at least attempted to). It was funny to imagine someone like Kakashi having these… he would probably drink it straight, though.

After several quiet sips of coffee, I tuned back into the conversation. Kizashi was saying, "… Remember my first apartment too. I was a bit older, of course. The first time my sister visited, she told me, 'Kiza-chan, how long has this soup been in your fridge? What else have you been eating?'. Oh, she was so angry when I told her I bought the bulk container when I moved in and kept microwaving it… I still hold that it killed any bacteria, though."

Naruto nodded sagely. "Makes sense!"

I shot out a fist and pressed a rough noogie against his hair. "You'd better have real food when I get there. And why are you at my house?"

Naruto gave me a bug-eyed look. "Wow! You were right, Sakura's-Father-san! She's totally awake!"

"What are you doing here?" I repeated, draining the last of my coffee. I could finally feel the chakra buzzing pleasantly under my skin.

"Oh! I woke up extra early for training, and then I went to pick up coffee and juice like you told me. And I thought, hey! Might as well go make sure Sakura woke up on time!" He beamed.

I glanced down at his satchel. Sure enough, there was also a gallon of apple juice sitting inside. I grunted, stood up and stretched, and walked over to the stairs. "Okay, let me get my pack and we'll go."

I bumped into Mebuki halfway down the hall. She stared at me blearily. "What's that noise?"

"Men."

"Ah."

In short order, I was walking with Naruto through town, listening with half an ear to his chatter, breathing deeply the cool morning air. By the time we reached his flat, I was well and truly awake and in a great mood- if a little uneasy at what I might find.

He walked me up the stairs and unlocked his door, and threw it open with a flourish. "Ta-da! This is my house!" He ushered me in with a grin. I noticed he didn't take off his shoes, but I slid mine off out of habitual politeness.

His apartment was… shockingly tidy. To be sure, there was a great deal of clutter: a few unopened scrolls on his table, a few figurines surrounding a potted plant on the window, wildly clashing mugs stacked in his sink. There were several pieces of paper taped around the room, with writing such as "Do Your Best!" and "Beat Sasuke!" (this one with a shockingly rude drawing) and "#1 NINJA!" and "Become Hokage!"

It was the kind of clutter that didn't look dirty so much as lived in. A home.

"Here, Sakura-chan! Please sit down!" He pulled out the single chair by his table and patted it excitedly. Before I even sat he was striding around his house and showing off random things like a child at show-and-tell. "This is Ukki-chan," he said, pointing to the potted plant on the windowsill. "I gave Sensei a plant too! But his is named Ukki-san." He proceeded to introduce me to five other houseplants. "And these are my mugs," he opened up a cupboard, "I like my Frog one best, but I need to wash it! I have extra though so you can have coffee every time you visit!" He threw open another cupboard door, "This is where I keep my ramen!" There were many multi-coloured packets and cups. He threw open another cupboard, "And this is where I keep other stuff! I have tea and hot chocolate if you ever want something other than coffee!" He opened his fridge. "These are the vegetables Sensei got for me! He threw away my milk a few days ago because it expired, but I got a new one!" He hefted the apple juice onto the lower shelf. "And he gets mad when I don't eat the vegetables so I cut them up and put them in my ramen! And here are some eggs, I also like eggs in ramen! There's meat in the freezer too, 'cuz I don't eat it fast enough to keep it in the fridge-"

I listened in a daze as he continued showing off every tiny facet of his home. He had special hand-labelled jars for spices. His different chopstick sets each had names. At one point he rummaged in his backpack and showed off his wallet; it was frog-shaped and frankly adorable. Its name was Gama-chan.

"Man, it's so cool to have someone visit! I mean, Sensei and Iruka-sensei visit too, but like-"

"Naruto," I interrupted.

"Yeah? What's up?"

I put my head in my hands. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but… you're probably the most well-adjusted person on our team." I closed my eyes. Even at the age of fourteen in my previous life, I hadn't had my shit together anywhere near as much as Naruto did now.

"Huh? Is that good? That's good, right?" He tilted his head to the side.

I stood up and slung my backpack on with a sigh. "Yes, Naruto, it's very good. I'm not worried about you anymore..." I hesitated. I looked around the cluttered, homey apartment. At Naruto's happy, grinning face; it was an expression that would better fit a child who had just experienced ten Christmases in a row. "I'll make sure to visit lots, though."

He may have been ridiculously well-adjusted, but he was still alone.

I slung my arm through his. "C'mon, we should head out. Don't wanna be late."

He gave me a smile that could have melted glaciers.

When we arrived at our training ground, I was a little surprised to see there were already several people there. A look at my watch told me we were still a quarter-hour early, yet. I had to smile, a little. Sasuke was here, sure, but there were three other genin around our age… Kakashi had said we valued hard work, hadn't he? He must have set us up specifically with a team that would train hard with us.

I jumped slightly as one of the genin suddenly appeared in front of me. The boy gave me a huge smile; he had glossy hair in a bowl cut and the most intense eyebrows I had ever seen in my life.

"Hi! You're Sakura-san, aren't you?"

I shrugged. "Yeah." I'd have asked how he'd known, but had learned my lesson the hard way with Shikamaru.

The boy's smile widened even further and he gave me a thumbs-up. "Would you like to go out with me? I'll protect you with my life!" His smile turned to a glare in a flash as he looked at Naruto. "And I'll defeat this one to show how serious I am! He is not good enough for you!"

Naruto and I both looked at each other, our linked arms, back at the boy, and back to each other.

He unfurled his arm from mine and cracked his knuckles. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan, I'll beat him up for you. He's annoying..."

I shrugged and looked back at the boy. "Fighting won't be necessary. I don't know you. I don't even know your name. So I don't want to go out with you. Sorry about that." There was a part of me that wondered if this was a trick from the opposing team. Girls used to have boys pretend to ask me out in middle school as a prank. I frowned. It probably would have hurt more if I actually, like, cared. But it was still rude.

I crossed my arms. "And don't be mean to my teammates. They're my best friends. If you keep talking down to them, I'll kick your ass."

"Yeah! You tell him, Sakura-chan!"

I grabbed Naruto's head under my arm and gave him a noogie. "And don't let yourself get dragged into stupid fights! A ninja should have an even temper!"

"You're one to talk," a voice said. I looked up and found the others had come over to us, Sasuke at their head. He looked distinctly ruffled; they must have already started sparring before we arrived.

I released Naruto from my grip. "Good morning, Sasuke." I quickly bowed to the other two behind him; a girl with twin hair buns piled above her headband, and a boy with long hair and pale eyes. "Nice to meet you. I am Haruno Sakura, and this is Uzumaki Naruto."

The boy inclined his head and the girl bowed equally. She was the one who spoke, "I am Ten-Ten, this is Hyuuga Neji," she gestured to the boy with pale eyes, "and this is Rock Lee." She clapped a hand over the bowl-cut boy's shoulder. "Nice to meet you!"

I glanced around the clearing. "Have either of the Sensei arrived? I know we're a little early..."

Sasuke blanched. "Sensei arrived when I did, surprisingly… But he's… occupied."

I heard a loud and distinct explosion. I looked over toward the forest where, distantly, I could see a large cloud of smoke and the tell-tale signs of trees falling. "… Occupied?"

"Did you not hear?" Lee gasped. "Your Sensei, Hatake Kakashi, and our Sensei, Maito Gai, are rivals of all eternity!"

Ten-Ten shook her head. "As soon as Kakashi-sensei got here, Gai-sensei dragged him off into the woods to fight. It's just that..." Her face had a strange, pinched expression.

"Just?" I prodded.

Neji sighed. "They went to play Rock, Paper, Scissors… I don't know how it ended up like this…"

"It's been more than a half-hour," Ten-Ten fretted.

There was silence as the six of us gazed off into the distant trees, listening to the muffled whump as a spiralling tower of fire burst from the canopy, along with a crackling sound like a lightning bolt striking the ground.

I nodded slowly. "That one was a draw."

Five faces shot back to stare at me. "How did you know?" Ten-Ten asked.

I shook my head. "It's not Rock Paper Scissors. It's… something else, with elements."

There was a pause.

"Byakugan!" Neji exclaimed, the veins around his eyes bulging out. I pale eyes scanned the distance carefully.

There were two more far-off noises I couldn't identify.

Neji let the strange eye-jutsu fade, shaking his head. "She's right. Those were both earth pillars."

I nodded. "So instead of Rock-beats-Scissors-beats-Paper, and so on… Fire-beats-Wind-beats-Lightning-beats-Earth," I sucked in a breath, "-beats-Water-beats-Fire. It's exactly the kind of ridiculous rock-paper-scissors you would expect from insane, elite jounin..."

"And with many more opportunities to have a draw," Neji concluded.

Two massive water-spouts erupted in the distance.

I scratched my head. "This might take a while, so do you want to start training without them?"

They did.

Note: Hope you don't mind the shorter chapter… I thought it would be nice to greet the New Year with something a little less serious. Hope you're enjoying the start of 2020! (PS: I'm giving up on giving chapter names after song lyrics. Too much effort.)