Author's note: This idea wouldn't leave me alone, but I'm also dead tired, so have the first part of this two-shot! It's similar to "There Comes a Time" as you'll see, though it doesn't take place in the same universe. An alternate one maybe? I don't know, my brain isn't really cooperating.

So yes, this will be a two-shot and in the meantime I'm working on other updates. I'm a mess, I'm sorry for that.

Warnings: Kakashi's pov for this one; canon setting; A/B/O dynamics; references to canon typical violence; kind of NOT FOR SAKURA FANS!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto owns it.

I hope you'll like this first part!

Part 1

There was the occasional moment that Kakashi sincerely questioned why he had ever agreed to take on Team Seven. Those moments when it felt like someone was playing a joke on him or perhaps it was the universe getting him back for something he had done in the past. Moments when –

"There is something wrong with Sasuke-kun, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura fretted, wringing her hands together.

Naruto snorted, plopping down on the ground. "When isn't there something wrong with the bastard?" he scoffed.

That earnt him a fist to the back of his head instantly, making him whine and clutch his head. "Sakura-chan!"

"How can you be so flippant when Sasuke-kun might be really ill?!" Sakura demanded shrilly before she turned her attention back to Kakashi, turning into a worrying mess immediately like a switch being flipped. "Sensei, there really is something wrong with Sasuke-kun!"

Kakashi resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. He normally didn't care about the time of the day, but he felt like early in the morning really wasn't such a great moment to already have his team arguing with each other.

"What's wrong with him?" he inquired, because for all that Sakura was too quick to worry about the Uchiha heir, if something really was wrong, he would need to know.

"He refuses to come out of his tent!"

While not exactly a cause for concern, that, it actually was a bit odd considering Sasuke was always one of the first ones to be awake. It could be that he was merely tired from the mission they had just finished. A simple mission to retrieve the lost dog of a woman had turned into a chase after a thief had tried to steal the dog. Somehow that had ended in an actual brawl in which both Sasuke and Naruto had taken care of the thief together. Sasuke hadn't looked seriously injured, but with all the chasing they had done, perhaps he was simply exhausted. Even an Uchiha wasn't immune to a mortal issue like exhaustion after all.

"When I called out to him, it's as if he couldn't even talk!" Sakura continued distressed.

"How is that even weird?" Naruto squinted up at her. "He barely talks to start with."

This time at least he was smart enough to dodge her next enraged punch.

"Sakura, stop trying to beat his brains out," Kakashi sighed, which made her turn a bit bashful. "We don't need two incapacitated team members. Sasuke didn't react at all?"

"He just made an odd sound, I guess," she said hesitatingly.

Kakashi frowned. "What kind of sound?"

"I don't know, I can't really describe it," she replied and gnawed on her lower lip. "It was some kind of … growl maybe?"

While Sasuke could be quite reticent, Kakashi very much doubted he was the type to growl instead of talking.

He turned to Naruto, who was looking between him and Sakura with his arms crossed, appearing a tad puzzled. "Did you hear anything out of the ordinary coming from Sasuke?"

"Why would I go to his tent to listen?" Naruto asked baffled. "Maybe the bastard's just being his bastard self again and is being rude to Sakura-chan."

"Sasuke-kun wouldn't be rude to me!" Sakura snapped at him and looked ready to lash out.

Swiftly Kakashi stepped between them, preventing another beatdown. Honestly, this team.

"I'll go ask if something's wrong," he said, because they would have to leave soon if they wanted to return to Konoha before the evening. If there was something wrong with Sasuke, he would need to know now.

There was no sound coming from Sasuke's tent when Kakashi walked over to it. His chakra appeared undisturbed; could he simply be sleeping still? Perhaps Sakura was just worrying too much again. She had a tendency to do that when it concerned the Uchiha heir.

"Sasuke?" he called out and paused in front of the tent opening. "Are you awake?"

It was silent for a moment until Sasuke shuffled inside his tent. Good, at least he wasn't injured to the point of being immobile then. That was already a good point. This might end up simply being Sasuke oversleeping for the first time.

"We're ready to leave. Are you nearly finished?" It was a moot point considering the tent was still up, but Sasuke could be finished with packing up the inside of it at least.

Another bout of silence, but this one stretched out now and Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows. As much as Sasuke wasn't a talker, he would never ignore Kakashi in this manner. Shit, was something wrong after all? Had that thief managed to injure the boy more severely than a couple of bruised knuckles and some scratches?

"Sasuke, I know they say that silence is gold, but I need some kind of answer here," he said lightly. "Because if you don't say something now, I will open the tent to check on you."

A threat like that should normally rankle the independent dark haired boy into reacting, but the silence continued and Kakashi couldn't help but start feeling a bit uneasy now. He had checked the thief's weapons and none of them had appeared to be covered with poison, so Sasuke couldn't be having a reaction to something like that.

"Okay, I'm opening your tent now," he warned and reached out to unzip the opening.

He was aware of Sakura and Naruto coming closer, but most of his attention was focused on the heavy scent permeating the tent. It was almost stifling and had Kakashi's proverbial hackles raising in response before he reigned in his instinctive reaction. He switched from breathing through his nose to his mouth, but that didn't do much to lessen the oppressive scent freely spreading out now that it was no longer contained by the tent. A low growl came from the furthest corner in the tent and Kakashi bit back a sigh when he met Sasuke's red tinted gaze. Red soon overtook the black colour and a tomoe started swirling madly until it settled and a heated Sharingan gaze was staring back at Kakashi.

With only one tomoe developed, Sasuke's Sharingan was far from impressive to someone like Kakashi, but that combined with the new scent and the obviously aggressive stance Sasuke was in right now had Kakashi on guard nevertheless. One wrong move and he would have to grapple with one of his own students, who would see no reason to hold back.

"Is Sasuke-kun Presenting?" Sakura squeaked out shocked when the scent reached her nose. She clasped a hand in front of her mouth and her green eyes widened.

"Figures the bastard would be an Alpha," Naruto complained and pouted. "So unfair!"

"Just because you ended up being an Omega!" Sakura shot back annoyed.

Naruto puffed up his cheeks, appearing ready to retort – which would be a first considering he usually just let Sakura do whatever she wanted – before a puzzled look crossed his face and he leant a bit closer towards the tent, sniffing carefully.

"Naruto, don't start bothering Sasuke-kun now!" Sakura complained and reached out to pull him back, but he evaded her touch easily.

"Is he really Presenting now?" he asked baffled.

"Of course he is, why else do you think his scent is so strong now!" she snipped and rolled her eyes.

"But shouldn't he have Presented already?"

Naruto's bewildered question had both Kakashi and Sakura staring at him. Sasuke had quietened down in his tent, but the older man was still aware of the heated gaze piercing his temple. Fortunately for him, Sasuke had so far not remembered yet that he could use fire jutsu to actually set his sensei on fire.

"What do you mean, Naruto?" Kakashi questioned, but even while he asked the question aloud, his mind started to race, putting together the pieces.

"Well, his birthday is before mine, isn't it?" Naruto explained puzzled and rested his hands on his knees. "Like isn't it in July? That means he should have Presented already, no?"

"What are you implying?" Sakura instantly bristled. "There's nothing wrong with Presenting later!"

It wasn't exactly the usual state of affairs either. Naruto was right; with Sasuke having turned twelve in July, he should have Presented as an Alpha back then. It didn't make sense that he only Presented now at the start of November. People normally Presented during the night of their birthday; Kakashi could only think of one instance in which the Presenting would occur at a later date and that was when the body held back on Presenting due to trauma.

Considering Sasuke's older brother had killed their entire clan in cold blood when Sasuke had been just a kid still, it didn't take long to come up with the kind of trauma that would keep him from Presenting on time. Kakashi supposed they should be glad that it hadn't taken years for Sasuke to Present, but Presenting today didn't exactly make it better either.

They wouldn't be able to get Sasuke to move until he was done Presenting which could take up to two days in the worst case scenario. Trying to get him to move could actually end in bloodshed, especially because Sasuke was clearly Presenting as an Alpha. Kakashi would rather not explain to the doctor on duty why he and his student looked like they had been mauled by an animal. They couldn't leave him alone either, however; even with the extra aggressiveness he was currently experiencing, Sasuke was still in quite the vulnerable position right now.

Ah, what to do, what to do? Kakashi sighed and rubbed over his face.

A jet of fire suddenly shot straight out of the tent, forcing Kakashi to dive to the side or have his face be burnt to a crisp entirely. Sakura screamed in surprise and Naruto fell back in shock, gaping.

"What the hell, bastard?!" he squawked in disbelief. "What is wrong with you?"

"I'm guessing our presence is aggravating him," Kakashi surmised and slowly rose up, keeping his distance from the tent as he made his way over to his other students. "He's not exactly in a verbal state now, so I suppose this was his way of getting the point across."

"Are all Alphas that much of a dick?" Naruto complained, eyeing the tent apprehensively.

"Don't call Sasuke-kun a dick, you idiot!" Sakura hissed and smacked his arm. "He's going through a lot now!"

"I Presented a few weeks ago but I didn't try to attack anyone!" Naruto shot back before he furrowed his eyebrows and squinted up at the sky. "At least I don't think so."

If he had, no doubt the Hokage would have informed all the Chuunin and Jounin about it.

"You can't compare yourself to Sasuke-kun!" Sakura snapped.

In this case Naruto really couldn't, considering they were dealing with someone whose Presenting had been delayed by several months.

"Sasuke is having a bit of a hard time now," Kakashi said carefully. "We'll just have to give him some space and - "

A bone chilling snarl echoed through the field and Kakashi had to deflect a kunai next. Ah man, this really wasn't going well at all, fuck. He had thought that by keeping their distance, Sasuke would have calmed down a bit by now. If anything, he actually seemed to become more aggravated which was – not good. Not good at all.

"I'm not joking, are all Alphas this bad when Presenting?" Naruto asked and sounded a bit nervous; his shoulders hunched.

Sakura appeared too shocked now to defend Sasuke's honour; obviously she hadn't expected this violent outburst either.

"They normally aren't," Kakashi answered. "But Sasuke's Presenting was a bit delayed, which might have an effect on how he feels right now."

Right now he was feeling quite pissed off clearly, because two shuriken shot out of the tent next, obviously aimed at Kakashi's face. He deflected them with one of his kunai and backed even further away from the tent, pulling Sakura and Naruto along with him, hoping that would make Sasuke settle down somewhat. It didn't.

If anything, he actually seemed to grow more aggravated and the flaps to the opening of his tent caught on fire when he launched a fireball. Kakashi was quick to use a minor water jutsu of his own to put out the fire so that his student wouldn't burn himself to death, but that only made things worse.

Because out of nowhere Sasuke rushed out of his tent, his Sharingan spinning madly, and launched himself straight at Kakashi.

AN2: So any guesses what's going to happen next?

I'm hoping to update I Choose You this weekend this. For the readers of Never Again, sorry for the huge delay again, I'm sleep deprived and working on that story isn't really easy. I am aiming however to update it again next week!

I will also be posting Halloween oneshots, so keep an eye out for those too if you're interested!

Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.

I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!

Cuddles

Melissa

P.S. For more information about my upcoming and posted stories, please visit my profile.