Beep! Beep! Be-!

I quickly quieted the screaming alarm. With a big yawn turned to groan, I stretched out in the bed and rolled over onto my right side.

To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I hoped in the night that I would be back in my own world when I woke up. Next to my love, our dogs, the cat. My reality was not so merciful to me. It was nearly pitch black in the room despite the bright moon and stars still hanging out before the balcony. Dawn would crack around the time I arrive at the training grounds.

I dragged myself out of bed and did a few more stretches to loosen up remaining stiff muscles. After I took a quick shower and got dressed, I grabbed the large, pink shoulder bag in Sakura's closet. I shoved a pillow in it, as well as a couple of books from the bookshelf. I made my way down the stairs as quietly as I had come up them and took a couple of bananas from the fruits basket on the counter.

As I ate the bananas, I walked around the house. There was cozy furniture spread throughout the house in neutral colors. I looked at all of the pictures and decorations on the shelves next to the sofa.

Sakura looks so happy in all of these. Some jealousy spread through me. I will never be able to have pictures of my loved ones again.

I made quick work on breakfast and busied myself out of the house. I had to rack my brain to remember the way to the training grounds, but the extra time to mentally prepare myself away from others was nice. When I arrived at the training grounds, Sasuke was already there. As expected.

"Good morning," I mumbled, throwing my pack down at the foot of a tree and taking a seat with my back against it. I didn't give Sasuke a second glance, not feeling talkative in the slightest. It was too early. No reason not to get comfortable for the next, oh, five hours? I brought out one of the two books and flipped open to the first page.

All About Traps

Sasuke had grunted in response to my greeting and continued standing.

You'll be standing for a while. I thought, flipping through the introductory pages impatiently. Naruto walked towards us zombielike with an arm outstretched.

"Morning." Naruto said through a yawn and I returned his greeting.

Eventually, Naruto got down to his knees and began nodding off. Sasuke stayed standing. I already finished with the book about traps and moved on to the second book.

The Great Five Nations

It only took a couple of hours to finish both of these... With a sigh, I got up and began practicing my forms. Naruto dozed off for sure this time and Sasuke's back was turned. I guess I wouldn't feel too self-conscious doing it in their presence. I fell into a rhythm of forms and let my mind wander for the first time this morning about the bell test.

Do I let it play out as it was written, or do I change the timeline?

I knew it was dangerous to change anything drastic. Originally, all of Team 7 had been selfish and thoughtless of their comrades. But what if it could be done right? Would I end up changing something that was key to Naruto or Sasuke's development? Or Kakashi's perception of the team?

This is hopeless...

I sat back down against my tree and crossed my legs. I closed my eyes and put my fists together to begin meditating. I tried focusing on the feel of my chakra without using any of it. Anything but the fear that was bubbling dangerously inside the heavy pit weighing in my stomach.

"Hey, guys, good morning!" Kakashi appeared out of nowhere.

"Hey! You're late!" Naruto yelled angrily. Sasuke's arms crossed. A huge grin spread on my face as I snapped out of my meditation and pushed myself up from the ground. Finally.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way." Kakashi was pointing towards the main path to the training grounds.

Naruto was growling.

"Good morning, Sensei." I greeted.

Kakashi cleared his throat and sent a nod of acknowledgment. "Well, let's get started." He began walking towards the wooden poles and placed a clock on the middle one, pushing down the top button as he did. Then he pulled two bells from his pocket.

"Your assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it." He gave them a little bounce so that the bells jingled against each other. "If you can't get 'em by noon, you go without lunch. You'll be tied to those posts and you'll watch while I eat my lunch in front of you."

Naruto and Sasuke's stomachs both growled together at the perfect time. My bananas were tiding me over, thankfully.

"Oh? So if I don't get a bell, I can see what you look like under that mask? There are only two bells there and three of us, Sensei." I questioned with a smirk on my face.

Kakashi looked bashful and brought his hands up in front of him.

"I wouldn't risk failing the test to see something as trivial as this face. At least one of you will end up without a bell and tied to a post, ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission. That one goes back to the academy." His look became serious.

"Then again, all three of you could flunk out, too. You can use any weapons, including shuriken. If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells. When I say start, you may begin."

"We shouldn't underestimate Sensei today, you guys." I spoke quietly to Naruto and Sasuke, remembering how Naruto lost his cool in the original timeline. "Sure, he didn't dodge the eraser yesterday and he's wasted a lot of our time the past 24 hours. But let's not rush into this headfirst."

Sasuke seemed to agree with me there, but Naruto being the impatient kid that he is whipped out a kunai and rushed Kakashi.

"Naruto!" I gasped, watching as Kakashi flickered behind him. One of his hands was on Naruto's head and the other was wrapped around Naruto's kunai-wielding hand. He was pointing its sharp point towards the back of Naruto's head. You could see Naruto begin to sweat.

"Don't be in such a hurry. I didn't say start yet." Kakashi spoke. Naruto was struggling, trying to get out of his grasp. Sasuke and I both backed up a few steps.

"Well, it seems you're prepared to come at me with the intent to kill. So you've finally acknowledged me? It looks like I'm beginning to like you guys." I rolled my eyes. A common occurrence towards Kakashi's words, it felt like. I guess the eraser to the head bothered him more than I thought.

"Get ready..." Kakashi said, I straightened up and began to bend at the knees, focusing my chakra.

"And... Start!" We all leaped at that. I followed in the direction of Sasuke's area, knowing that Naruto would end up standing his ground again out in the open.

"You and me! Right now!" Naruto yelled, his arms crossed. A determined look on his face. "Fair and square! Let's go!"

Oh, Naruto... I shook my head at the boy as I continued searching for Sasuke's hiding spot in the branches. I couldn't hear much else of their conversation aside from Naruto's yelling. I would need to check back on Naruto in another minute or two to see if he had fallen for the trap or not.

Didn't Sasuke say he set some traps up last night... Speaking of the devil. I cleared my throat quietly to get Sasuke's attention. I don't want to get attacked by shuriken. He looked down at me from his branch, eyes narrowed. He was annoyed.

Pumping a little chakra into my feet, I jumped up on the same branch that he was on and spoke lowly.

"We should come up with a plan to get the bells from Sensei with Naruto." I suggested, looking through the leaves to see Naruto on Kakashi's back. Naruto clones were rushing towards them. There wasn't much time.

"You'll slow me down." Sasuke scoffed, his gaze also trained on our teammates. "Besides that, there are only two bells."

"I don't care if I get a bell in the end or not, you can both have them. We can't take Kakashi down solo."

"Are you stupid?" Sasuke fumed, throwing one of his famous angry faces at me.

I feel like I get that look a lot.

"You and Naruto have significantly more meaningful goals than I do, right?" I snapped back, frustration evident in my tone. Sasuke's eyes flickered over my face, an analytical expression on his face, surprised by my abrupt, self-deprecating sincerity.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" Naruto shrieked, dangling upside down by his feet. I sighed, mentally resolving that if Sasuke ended up throwing shuriken at Kakashi as he did in the original timeline, that I was truly just wasting time and breath with him.

You can lead a horse to water, but...

"Besides that, Kakashi just used the trap that you set up against our teammate." I teased, giving Sasuke a pointed look. He avoided my gaze, watching Naruto dangling from the snare he created and making a "hmph" noise. I watched him and waited on a response. Something in his expression changed.

"Now...!" Sasuke announced quietly, whipping shuriken from his holster until he had two handfuls.

No, Sasuke! I bit my lip, anxiety twisting up my stomach.

He threw his arms out, his hands curling to produce extra throwing power as he fired the weapons towards Kakashi. I could barely track their movement at the speed he hurled them. I was pleasantly surprised by their targets.

One set of shuriken sliced through the rope holding Naruto. The other set embedded into Kakashi's side. Blood burst from Kakashi from the impact point as he fell over to the side from the force. Naruto's head crashing into the ground echoed throughout the clearing and I fought to hide the smile on my face when he shot right back up into the air upon landing. His foot entangled in the backup snare.

"SASUKE, YOU BASTARD! YOU WENT TOO FAR!" Naruto shrieked, upside down once more, waving his arms in panic.

Poof!

"Damn it! He showed an opening on purpose and I fell for his trap." Sasuke cursed.

"And Naruto fell for yours again. Sensei knows where we are now." He clicked his tongue at my observations.

"Let's split up, for now. Meet back at the posts in 10." Sasuke directed and disappeared in a flash. I felt my eye twitch.

Yeah, okay, we'll just split up. We only have 25 minutes to go! I scowled and jumped down from the branch.

"Sure Sasuke, I'll go cut Naruto down from your backup trap and wait around for you with him." I said to myself sarcastically, pushing through the brush towards the clearing. I didn't feel concerned of whether Kakashi was watching or not.

Of course, as luck would have it, I saw the tips of familiar grey spiky hair poking over some brush ahead. I crouched down and tried to hone in on the feel of his chakra.

Sakura, behind you. I thought to myself, expecting to hear the words aloud. I felt his chakra move.

"Sakura, behind you." Kakashi whispered from behind me. Even though I was foreseeing it, the way that Kakashi said it was still eerie. I whipped my head around and saw him crouching, his hands brought up into the Ram sign.

Leaves began to cyclone around me, making me feel like I was in the eye of a storm. They whisked around so fast that I was unable to focus my eyesight. Soon enough they all died down, drifting back to the ground. I was in a whole new place in the forest, somehow.

"Hmm... Where did Sensei go?" I wondered aloud, examining my surroundings. Some rustling came from behind me.

"Sakura..." A pained voice came from a tree, a familiar voice. A voice I'd learned to recognize numerous times from Sasuke's genjutsus the previous night. I turned my head to see Sasuke collapsed to the ground, shuriken and kunai sticking out from him and blood flowed freely from the wounds. There was even a kunai going into part of his face.

What a horrible sight to see... Kakashi really went overboard on you, Sakura. Did he always project his feelings about his own childhood team onto you?

"Sensei, that's going too far!" I shouted, bringing my hand up. "Kai!"

The illusion of Sasuke dissipated rapidly.

I made a beeline into Naruto's direction and was met with an array of shuriken lodging into the ground at my feet. I stopped just in time to keep from getting any in my legs. With a growl I whisked a kunai out and turned around, carefully stepping backward over the shuriken towards Naruto as I scanned my surroundings. More shuriken whistled in the air, pushing me to dodge with a tactless roll. Kakashi was driving me further from Naruto. I quickly flicked my wrist into the direction the shuriken came from, the kunai tore from my hand and I heard it thunk. The shuriken ceased fire long enough for me to gather my wits together.

My attempts to reach Naruto and cut him down from the snare were futile and I wouldn't be able to evade Kakashi's ranged attacks much longer with the stamina and training I've had. I was lucky that Sakura's body was inherently more qualified at picking up on the subtle queues of attack than my own would be.

Sasuke's face shot in my mind and I turned in the direction he had run off in to begin sprinting, driving a careful measure of chakra into my legs to amplify my speed. Relative to a snail's pace in Kakashi's eye, certainly. I had no doubt he was holding back on Genin fresh out of the Academy though. Regardless, the adrenaline was pumping furiously through my shaking body and I ran like hell fire's flames were kissing my feet. The sound of more shuriken hitting the ground behind me sent another surge of raw energy through my body.

Am I afraid for my life, or excited by the artificial threat of death?

Before long, I broke a line of trees and my attention was caught by something sticking out of the dirt that shouldn't have been. My focus was startled by the alien sight of Sasuke's head, just his head. His expression was comparable to that of a cat in a bath. I rushed over to him and essentially crumpled to my hands and knees in exhaustion before him, my chest heaving as I filled my lungs with much-needed oxygen. His eyes widened, I imagined from my unsightly manner. If I didn't know any better, I would have mistaken his look for concern.

"Hey..." Sasuke said, low enough to have been a whisper. I sucked in a couple more deep breaths before pooling some charka into my fingertips and clawing chunks of earth out from around Sasuke's head with quivering hands.

"Let's get out of here and to Naruto." I breathed, keeping my focus on the task at hand.

"There's not enough time left before lunch. We won't have time to come up with a plan and get it into that idiot's head. I already touched a bell, next time I'll get them." Sasuke stated as I drew one of his arms out.

With one arm now released, he was able to push against the ground and begin working out of the hole. I maintained clawing chunks of dirt out from around him carefully. I grabbed his other arm when it emerged and positioned his hand on my shoulder, ignoring the odd expression on his face. I pumped chakra into my biceps to give me the force to help hoist him out the rest of the way, my hands grasping under his arms. He pushed against the ground with one hand and pulled up with the other, using my shoulder as anchorage to clamber out. In the strain and momentum, he fell onto me into what outsiders may perceive as a clumsy hug.

Stiffly and without eye contact, we separated and took a moment to catch back up with our original predicament.

"We're out of time, Sasuke..." I groaned, glimpsing at the position of the sun as if I was actually smart enough to know the exact time that way. "Kakashi meant to incapacitate us all and waste our time. Even if you booked it by yourself, the alarm would ring before you could get anywhere closer to hunting him down and taking a bell." It went without saying that this was it. It was over, and we had failed our mission.

Sasuke scowled down at me hatefully as he stood. I swept a bit of dirt on my skirt off, hands still trembling from the exertion of digging Sasuke out, as I fought off the chilling energy rolling off of him. I looked up at him nervously. His gaze seemed to soften as I slowly pushed myself up off the ground to meet his eye level. He turned his back to me and a long moment passed. The wind picked up and whirled throughout my long locks and his messy spikes. Leaves swirled down in the wind away from the trees.

Oh, no...

A key moment that I had forgotten about. One between Sasuke and Sakura. I forgot the bastard had let his guard down with her and shared a glimpse into his past, the events that made him who he was today. He opened up to her long before he had with any other member of Team 7.

Was she his first true friend? Am... I?

The realization stunned me. I was reminded that I was truly a part of this world now. In this world, the people were more than just characters in some storybook.

"I'm the only one that can kill that man." Sasuke said morosely, breaking the silence and my train of thought. He spoke just above a whisper. I wandered a few steps closer to understand him better and waited patiently for him to continue.

"That time... I was crying." Between the emptiness of the boy's voice and the memories that spurred from his tone, my heart broke once again for the Uchiha brothers in that moment. I wanted to reach out and comfort him. I wanted the lost, orphaned little boy to know he wasn't really alone. That there was still hope and faith to be found in this cruel, deceiving world. Both for him and myself.

It's so surreal... To think that in this world, all that heartache was his daily reality. My tears and pain in the past are nothing compared to what they have felt over these years. The things they went through. I'm afraid there's not much hope for Itachi at this point. But, Sasuke...

I had been wringing my hands with so much worry that I could fuck things up in this timeline. I could get myself killed.

"It was my..." Sasuke began, struggling to speak of and name the person that his entire life revolved around. The loving older brother he adored and looked up to as a child. The bloodthirsty monstrosity of a brother who he came to loathe. Someone he's never been able to talk about with another person.

Some things are worth changing.

I reached out slowly and touched his back, smoothing my hand over to wrap around his shoulder in the most modest show of physical support and affection I could think of that wouldn't spook the boy.

Maybe there is still hope for you yet, Sasuke.

"You're an Avenger." I said, recalling his words to Sakura in the past as I walked around to his side and met his eye. He looked hesitant in that moment and what I recognized as fear and insecurity graced his features. I gave his shoulder a squeeze before I released him from my grasp.

The sound of Kakashi's alarm went off and Sasuke cursed, scolding himself for wasting time. He seemed to snap out of whatever sad trance he had pulled himself into and his face became stone once more.

"You don't have to explain yourself or your past to me, Sasuke." I said as we were walking back to the clearing with the posts to meet up with the rest of Team 7. "I'm your teammate. I will always support you in your goals and help you reach them however I can. I give you my word on that."

Sasuke was silent

"Though, I can also be your friend and listen if you want me to." I finished quietly.

A/N: Not gonna lie y'all, I got hella baked and cooked some fire smoked roast stew. Got a new gaming PC this past week and set it up today when the desk for it came in today. It created the perfect environment to sit and spit another chapter out. Its 10 at night my time right now and I have to be up for work in 5 hours, but I couldn't stop typing and editing.

Please let me know what you think. I wanted to sit on this chapter some more, as I'm sure it can use more work. but I just got excited and wanted to go ahead and share it with you all.