Sasuke's POV

Age: 14

XxX

"Do you think we'll get an A rank mission this time?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke sighed. "You know they won't. They're not letting me out of the village until Orochimaru signs the blood pact."

"Still?" Naruto leaned over the edge of the bridge and groaned. "Sometimes, I hate my dad. He should just go get the creepy bastard and make him sign the damn papers! I want to start going on A-rank missions! We're more than ready, believe it!"

And they were. It'd been a year since the chunin exam disaster, but leaving the village still wasn't an option right now for Sasuke. And, as angry as he was at himself for grounding Team 7, his teammates weren't angry with him at all, since all three of them actually benefited in the long run. Naruto was able to train under the Toad Sage, Jiraiya, when he came to the village, and Sakura had been able to train extensively under Tsunade. Sasuke was introduced into the world of his brother that he never knew existed. Genjutsus, Uchiha secrets, and a deep sibling rivalry were Sasuke's evenings and weekends.

"Too bad your dad sucks," Sasuke said nonchalantly. He of course was kidding. Minato was the father he didn't have at home. Fugaku was a good father, a father who taught his sons right from wrong, but he wasn't warm. Not like the living sun that was Minato, who clapped Sasuke on the back every time he saw him and gave him weird but strangely helpful advice.

"You know, if you weren't my best friend," Naruto growled, "I'd strangle you right now."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, I'd strangle myself too. I'm getting antsy. It's been a whole year since the Chunin exams-"

"What the fuck is Sakura wearing?"

Sasuke blinked at his idiot friend. "What are you talking about?"

Naruto was wide-eyed and pointing, his mouth opening and closing like a dying fish. "I-I mean what the fuck is Sakura wearing?"

Sasuke finally turned around and almost fell over.

Sure enough, the teammate he formally thought of as short, gangly, and awkward, was walking towards them wearing something that nearly made her unrecognizable. She was walking towards them, Kakashi at her side, like she didn't just cause both of her male teammates to have heart palpitations.

Sasuke looked at her outfit in more detail and felt a great seize in his stomach. What the fuck was she wearing? Instead of her normal red dress, she wore a red top with thick straps and a mesh shirt beneath that did nothing to hide her belly button or stomach. Tight, black shorts were covered by why Sasuke barely considered a skirt; it was pale pink and pleated with slits for what he assumed was easy movement, her legs exposed and lengthened by healed ninja boots. In summary, there was a lot of skin.

He had no idea why or how it happened, but Sasuke felt his stomach do a flip.

What is happening to me, Sasuke thought, his thoughts racing. It's just clothes, he tried to convince himself. She's not any different.

She just looked… different.

"Good morning Naruto, Sasuke," Kakashi greeted. "We've got some houses to paint today!"

"We aren't doing anything until Sakura explains herself!"

Sasuke whipped to face Naruto, the idiot boy forever pissing off their female teammate. Even Sasuke knew not to mention anything but positivity when a girl changed their outward appearance. He had learned the hard way with his brother's girlfriend, Izumi.

Sakura had the nerve to look confused. "What? Oh, this?" She gestured at her outfit, a bit shocked. Her cheeks flushed when she met Sasuke's eyes and quickly averted her gaze. "It's just clothes, Naruto. I outgrew all of my old stuff and…"

Sakura trailed off, looking between Naruto and Sasuke like she might start hyperventilating. "Do I really look that bad?" she squeaked, her face heating. She looked up at Kakashi with accusations written all over her face. "You told me I didn't look that different!"

Kakashi remained unbothered. "You're still wearing red."

Sakura gaped at him. "Seriously?" She looked at the ground and said miserably, "I knew I should have listened to Ino when I showed her this morning."

Both Sasuke and Naruto's eyes narrowed. They'd always been defensive of Sakura when her weird friendship with the Yamanaka girl went a bit too far. "What did that stupid blonde say this time?" Naruto asked.

Sakura blinked and looked up, her expression morphing into one of horror. "I'm not saying it in front of you!" She gave Sasuke a strange look. "Or you. Let's just forget about it. I'll go buy something else after painting today and-"

"You look fine," Sasuke finally said. Green lanterns for eyes turned to him, but he didn't budge. He never did, even if he was deeply unsettled by this weird, new looking Sakura. He needed her to go back to normal. "Tell Ino to shut up. She's a bad influence if she's got you more worried about your clothes than your shitty shuriken skills."

Sakura's mouth popped open. "I…"

Sasuke gave her a look. "What? Am I wrong?"

The other two men looked on incredulously. No one got away with talking to Sakura like that. Naruto was borderline abused by the girl and even Kakashi was cautious when talking to her about anything outside of training. No one got away with it except for Sasuke on the rare occasion he decided to actually say anything to her about something other than shinobi life.

Sakura snapped her mouth closed and looked at Sasuke harder, her eyes doing the analyzing thing that made his skin crawl. He hated sometimes how piercing her stare could be. If Naruto knew him well, Sakura nearly always seemed to know him better, just by looking at him. Naruto could guess well enough after a conversation, but Sasuke could never utter a word, and he could tell that she still knew. When he was in pain, when he was jealous, when he was afraid or feeling reckless, Sakura was aware.

"What," he snapped again, although with less bite than before.

Sakura didn't blink for a long moment. Eventually, she said, . "Nothing. You're right. Ino, Naruto, and I are all being ridiculous." She glared up through the sunlight to snap at Kakashi, "So? Are we getting started or what?"

And just like that, today was a rare day.

When they headed off on their joke of a mission, Sasuke waited until everyone was in front of him before he smirked. He could usually get Sakura back on track by mentioning her being girly when he knew she had mostly grown out of it. Sakura might not realize it, but Sasuke was good at pushing Sakura in the right direction. His direction.

Sasuke blinked at the thought, confused by the unintended meaning. He meant his direction of training, not towards, well him.

Sakura used to be a girl who cared only about her appearance, her social status, and… well, her crush on Sasuke, much to his embarrassment. He'd never gotten used to the attention from girls, especially the one with freaking bright pink hair. However, when they both joined Team 7, she changed into the girl he'd now grown comfortable around. Well, not totally comfortable, more like used to. She was a constant and steady presence that he could rely on in battle and as a friend. She was a good listener and she was kind, but she was also strong and resilient in a way neither he nor Naruto were.

Sasuke looked up to find her. She was a few feet in front of him and walked side-by-side with Naruto, laughing at some stupid story the dobe told. She was smiling and happy and weirdly… sparkling in the sun? No, that wasn't it. Sasuke looked at her harder until suddenly, he felt his stomach do the strange flip thing again. His hand flew to his stomach and he made a face.

What is going on…he thought to himself. His mind raced and he glared at Sakura's back as if it were her fault he was thinking weird things about her and looking at her legs while she walked and wondering why she got a top that exposed her abdomen enough for him to hold her side-

Sasuke's stomach flipped again and he froze, the feeling suddenly hitting him like a freight train.

Oh no.

Oh fuck no.

This couldn't be happening. Not to him, not to Sasuke Uchiha, the boy who never went on dates and hadn't noticed anything remotely enticing about girls in his entire life.

Sasuke wanted to hurl when he realized he thought his ridiculously pink haired teammate was pretty.

XxX

Sakura's POV

Age: 12

XxX

Sakura sighed and went to another stall for tomatoes, but alas, they were sold out too.

"Ugh!" Sakura felt like stamping her foot in anger. Of course they would be out of tomatoes the day before Sasuke's birthday! She couldn't believe her luck. Ino had already teased her endlessly about growing fresh tomatoes for Sasuke and she wouldn't even have-

"Sakura."

"Ah!"

Sakura whirled around, panicking at the idea of her thoughts conjuring Sasuke out of thin air. Instead, she found herself staring at an equally terrifying scenario she never considered happening to her.

Itachi Uchiha stared at her impassively, waiting for her response.

"Uchiha-san," Sakura breathed, straightening up. "I-I'm sorry, you just startled me."

Itachi's head tilted ever so slightly in her direction. "I apologize for frightening you. You did seem lost in thought."

Sakura bowed slightly. "No need to apologize! I should have been paying attention!"

Itachi nodded slowly, his expression shifting slightly. "You are Sasuke's new teammate."

Sakura felt like her knees were going to give out. Did Sasuke mention her? Did he seriously talk about her at home enough for his brother to-

"I took an interest in my brother's team."

Her heart deflated.

"You were top of your class for the most part," Itachi said, eyeing her in the critical way she'd only seen twice before on his brother. "Yet you are more preoccupied with gaining his affection than becoming a formidable kunoichi."

Sakura gaped at him. "I- What- You-"

Itachi didn't sound reproachful when he said, "You need to focus on more important things if you want to be a valuable member of your team."

"I-I do value other things!" Sakura couldn't help it. She glared at the famous and deadly Uchiha. "I want to become the strongest kunoichi! And not just in Konoha, but in the world!"

Itachi considered her words seriously, she realized after a moment. He was weighing them with what he saw and heard, his head tilting from side to side before he eventually asked, "Do you think your emotions are a bad thing?"

It was so out of the blue, Sakura answered without thinking. "Of course not! Caring about your teammates ensures that you protect each other."

Itachi nodded. "You are correct." Then, he asked, "Can you keep your emotions in check when training? In the heat of a battle?"

Sakura tried to say yes, but found that she couldn't. She was a bit of a blushing mess around Sasuke the last two days. Today, she had purposefully missed a few kunai throws to try and cajole him into helping her. He had only scoffed and told her that if she did it fine in the academy, she should be able to do it today. She wondered if she could actually behave normally around Sasuke while liking him as much as she did.

Looking up at his older brother, Sakura realized the point he was trying to make. Sakura didn't need to forget her feelings for him, but she did need to learn how to push those feelings to the side when more important matters were at hand.

Sakura bowed again, more deeply this time. "Thank you, Uchiha-san. You've given me a lesson I needed."

If the older Uchiha was surprised by her words or actions, she couldn't tell. She gave him a small smile because she was Sakura and she just couldn't leave a conversation without one, and turned to head home, tomatoes long forgotten. They weren't needed anymore.

"Sakura."

Sakura turned back around, curious as to what Itachi would say next. Her childish fear of him was gone and a new ally was found. "Yes, Uchiha-san?"

Itachi smiled then. It was a small smile, but it was there. "You are Sasuke's teammate. You may call me Itachi."

"Of course, Itachi-san," Sakura said, a bit nervously. She still smiled, happy that she was so welcomed by a member of Sasuke's family.

His smile didn't waver. Instead, he took a single step closer. "One last piece of advice. Sasuke doesn't care about beauty, he cares about strength. If you want to be the strongest kunoichi in the world, that would certainly get his attention."

Sakura couldn't stop grinning all the way home.

XxX

Sasuke's POV

Age: 12

XxX

Sasuke was ready for the silence of his home after his third training session with his genin team. He was exhausted mentally and wouldn't mind stepping into the Uchiha training grounds with Itachi to get a bit more physically exhausted before bed.

"Sasuke, dinner is almost ready!" his mother called from the kitchen.

Sasuke sighed. After dinner, then. He set his things down in his spotless room, just like Itachi taught him to do at a young age. Although his older brother rarely did it anymore, he used to inspect Sasuke's room. It was more of a game between brothers than anything, but Sasuke was getting older and playing with his brother became increasingly uncool. He wanted to learn more about fighting, not about how to fold the corners of his bedsheets properly.

Before Sasuke could get undressed, Itachi was there at his door. "Otōto. How was your day?"

"Great," Sasuke muttered, shrugging his shirt off and throwing it in the hamper. "My teammates are a bunch of idiots, so I'll probably die before making chunin."

Itachi saw that Sasuke was angry, but didn't comment on that. "You have a kyubi and the top student in your class on your team. I sincerely doubt Kakashi-sensei would let your training stray so far that their innate talents went to waste."

Sasuke sighed. He finished changing before responding, "I know you're trying to teach me a lesson, nii-san." And I'm not in the mood, Sasuke finished in his head.

"And what lesson would that be?"

Sasuke grit his teeth. He loved his brother more than anyone, but he was this close to telling him to marry Izumi and have a baby if he wanted to act like a dad all the time. "That it's only been three days and I should probably give them more time to get to my level."

Itachi gave him an unamused look. "No. The lesson is to look underneath the underneath."

Sasuke closed his eyes and bit his tongue in order to keep from snapping. He hated this lesson more than any of Itachi's ridiculously wise words of advice. Especially since it was the lesson Itachi constantly threw at him. "What did I miss?"

"How many days have you trained together?"

"Four."

"And what kind of training do you think your teammates had beforehand?"

Sasuke was about to say none, considering the last four training sessions, but he knew better. "Naruto has trained with Lord Fourth. I don't know about the girl, but probably not."

"You do not know your third teammate's name?" Itachi's voice was far, far too soft.

"It's Sakura. And she's honestly worse to be around than Naruto."

"Why?"

"Because she's a girl and a weak little thing!" Sasuke felt a bit bad, but he couldn't help it. He'd been wanting to complain about it ever since he found out she was on his team. "And she's got some stupid crush on me. It's annoying."

Itachi made a noise of understanding. Sasuke looked up after a while when his brother didn't respond. "Well? Are you going to get mad at me for being mean to a girl?"

Itachi slowly shook his head. "No. But I will be disappointed if you disrespect your comrade."

Sasuke felt very small. "It's not disrespect, it's-"

"Do you think that you are not a child?"

"What? What does that have to do with-"

"You are a newly formed team. It will take time for everyone's emotions and goals to adjust to accommodate one another's." Itachi looked past Sasuke and said thoughtfully, "I wasn't on a genin team for long, but any ninja team operates the same. You have to leave room for your teammates to do their role and grow as people."

Sasuke didn't say anything. He knew his brother wasn't done.

"The three of you are unique individuals, each with skills that benefit the team, otherwise Kakashi-sensei wouldn't have selected you."

"Then I have no idea why he chose her." Sasuke wrinkled his nose. "She pretends to not know how to do things and I have no idea why. She's a teacher's pet and is emotional."

"Why do you say that?"

"She cried over a cute cat the other day!"

Itachi pursed his lips. He looked like he wanted to say something, but changed his mind at the last minute. Finally, he said, "Were you not at one point, enamored by Mr. Mittens?"

Sasuke looked darkly at his brother. "Nii-san."

"We won't talk about it ever again if you give your teammate a chance to grow. If you don't, she'll never improve, and it will partially be your fault."

Sasuke gaped. "How would it be my fault?"

"Because as her teammate, you are just as responsible for her formation as a ninja as she is for yours. The same goes for Naruto." He gave Sasuke the look that signaled this conversation was over for the time being. "You will learn things from them that I cannot teach you."

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Fine. I'll… do better."

"Good. Now, let's go. Okasaan made beef."

Sasuke's stomach grumbled and Itachi laughed, waving his brother forward. Sasuke, knowing what was going to happen, walked forward with a bit more pep in his step. No matter what, this always made him feel better.

"Let's go," Itachi said after poking him in the forehead. "Before you start eating your pillow."

XxX

"So, Sasuke. How's your team doing?"

Sasuke looked up from his food and swallowed quickly. He should have been more thankful his mom waited until after his conversation with his brother to ask about Team 7. "It's only been a few days, but we're…working on it."

His mother beamed and looked at her husband. "Can you believe our youngest son is finally a genin?"

Fugaku's severe expression didn't shift once when he swiveled to face Sasuke. "You are on the same team as the jinchuriki?"

Everyone in the village knew the story. On Naruto's birthday, Obito Uchiha unleashed the tailed beast from his mother, Kushina, the previous kyubi for the Nine-Tailed Fox. He was defeated by Minato and Kakashi, the two eventually able to make Obito see reason long enough to end his life. He was only a distant cousin, but the weight of his actions heavily weighed upon all Uchiha.

The weight came from the knowledge that Obito's actions forced the Nine Tailed Fox to find a new kyubi; the newborn Naruto Uzimaki, who struggled for years to contain the demon inside of him and still struggles today.

"Yes, Otosan," Sasuke said finally, putting his chopsticks down. His father required his attention when speaking at the dinner table, a lesson he learned the hard way at five.

"What of the third member?" Fugaku asked.

Sasuke barely glanced at Itachi before answering. "Her name is Sakura Haruno."

Fugaku blinked, the only sign of his surprise. "I do not recognize her surname."

"She doesn't belong to a clan," Sasuke said tightly. He knew his father was old fashioned, but it became especially apparent when his eyes hardened at the news. Sasuke weirdly felt the need to defend his new teammate. "She was the one who beat me in several tests."

There. That ought to give him something to think about, Sasuke thought to himself. His father had been very displeased to hear his son admit he wasn't the top of his class in everything like his older brother. If anything was going to impress Fugaku, it was beating an Uchiha at something.

And, sure enough, Fugaku's expression became less stone-like. He didn't respond, but it was as good as Sasuke could have hoped for, so he bowed his head and turned back to eat.

"Well, what's she like?" Mikoto asked. She leaned into the table with her hands in her lap, the only outward display of excitement he'd really ever seen her make. His mother was surrounded by her boys all the time since Izumi was no longer allowed in. Fugaku let them in the garden, but no dating would occur under his roof until official courtship was started.

Which was ridiculous, but Sasuke didn't care. He'd worry about that in a few years. Like ten.

Sasuke realized he hadn't answered and shifted in his seat. "She is…" Sasuke fully looked at Itachi this time, wondering what the hell he was going to say about his teammate that was nice.

Itachi's eyes could have burned him on the spot. Find something, they silently ordered.

"She's loud," Sasuke blurted, wincing when his mother's eyebrows drew together. "I mean, she's opinionated. It's because she's so smart, but it can be… a lot."

"Well, she must have studied very hard to score so high," his mother said lightly. "I'm sure it's much harder for someone without a clan or family of shinobi supporting them to do so well, wouldn't you say, Sasuke?"

"She did study a lot," Sasuke found himself saying. He didn't remember an exact time or location, but the girl always seemed to be reading some textbook every time he saw her in the early years of the academy.

"Hmm." The usual bleak, noise Fugaku would give in order to appease his wife every dinner finally made an appearance.

"I've met her. Today, actually."

Sasuke whipped his head around to look at his brother. "What?"

Mikoto looked just as shocked, but happily so. "Oh? Where was this, Itachi?"

"Yeah," Sasuke bit out. "Where was this?"

Mikoto gave her youngest a reproachful look before turning back to her oldest.

Itachi looked completely at ease. "She was in the market, so I introduced myself. I startled her, but she was extremely gracious and was obviously raised well. We talked for a minute or two before she left to go home."

Mikoto immediately smiled, her eyes filled with excitement. "Oh, that's wonderful!"

Sasuke could already see her cajoling him into inviting his team over just so she could fawn over Sakura. Still, he couldn't help himself from asking Itachi, out of fear that Sakura was using his older brother to gain intel on him for her and her blonde friend. "What did you talk about?"

Itachi raised a single brow. "I asked about how training was going and she said it was going well. When I asked her about her goals, she said she wanted to become the strongest kunoichi in the world."

Sasuke had already heard her ridiculous claim, but it seemed to endear his mother to the girl even more. "Well, she must have potential if she's on your team, Sasuke. You should do well and remember the strength that only a kunoichi knows."

His mother's famous wise words. If Sasuke knew he was going to get it from his older brother and his mom, he might have considered getting ramen with the dobe. "Yes, Okaasan."