After a shower, I almost felt like the world was better than it was—a place of infinite possibilities and joy. The colors were brighter, and the wind playfully tousled my hair. A passing bird snatched a dark pink strand for its nest, and I let it, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth even as I trudged toward destiny: a twenty-minute quiz where I had to show my work or cheat my butt off to fill.

Almost.

But it was enough.

I knew self-care was essential for one's self-image and mental well-being. So I took that shower. Then, I had a hot meal. I took the time to make myself look pretty, even if no one else would notice or care.

It worked. I felt better. That was just how people were built, and I was no exception.

It was the little things that kept you moving—the routine. That I hadn't committed to it in a while (because I hadn't thought to bring my toiletries into the woods, you see) only made it all the sweeter.

Konoha was busy today—bustling and noisy—as they got into gear for the next month of tourism and opportunities for a quick ryo. It was good business, and the Haruno coffers would be flush this year.

This was good.

This was just enough that I didn't reflexively gut a man for trying to trip me with a chakra string from a nearby alley lined with a red fence.

Black clothing, a cat-ear hood, a smug smile, Kabuki makeup, a bandaged cocoon thing, and a sandy-blonde in a blue dress looking on, bored.

Kankuro.

Temari.

Just enough.

A hop. A skip. A step back that had me kicking up a screen of dust as I dodged. My strings came to life, lashing at the air and twisting to turn as the other reached for me again in a quickly followed line that led to a finger. Five fingers. A whole hand.

A wrist and a very suddenly, yet cleanly, crushed median nerve got me a strangled yelp and a lot of wrist shaking as someone found out what severe carpal tunnel felt like. And then, I - paused my attack as I was struck with a thought.

What is happening right now?

"The hell?!" What was left of Kankuro's string went poof as he grabbed at his wrist, the shock in his eyes becoming anger as his sister casually reset her stance for a fight. "Learn how to take a joke!"

Ah. I see. He'd wanted to find amusement at my expense… Right. This tracked. I suppose there'd been no children to beat instead.

…

Kankuro was an awful ass, looking back at it.

"I could say the same." I turned what he'd said back at him glibly; he was mad. I was not. I was winning, and his face was turning red. "I thought that was rather funny."

My smile didn't budge.

Kankuro, forgetting himself, reached over his shoulder to grab at Karasu. "You freaky looking-"

I raised a brow and waited.

If he wanted to hang himself from the noose he would make, I'd allow it.

"Kankuro. Don't screw up the surprise." Temari lifted a hand to her face to laugh into it after the reminder, making her brother's face almost purple as he forced himself to let go of his puppet with trembling fingers. "You can catch up later."

Ah. So that was how it was. They were coming for me.

How kind of her to say so.

"Yes. We will." My brow fell, and I turned to Temari in full as I noted that Kankuro would do nothing but seethe and glare. "And I have to ask why ninjas from Suna are skulking in alleys and harassing passersby."

They were older than me. Nineteen? Twenty?

Did they have nothing better to do?

Temari's eyes were like chips of ice as she looked back at me, smile sharp as she leaned on her fan. "We're waiting for someone."

Oh. Was she?

I see.

A ninshu ping told me what I'd already known, that they didn't like me in the slightest, and my good mood vanished.

My eyes flicked back to Kankuro, him flexing his wrist vaguely threateningly, as my smile died and adrenaline filled my veins. Then her, while I could only ignore the third person in the tree at my back, watching…staring. "And you stopped me?"

She already had her fan out. Ready to swing. Kankuro would take a while longer to retrieve his puppet. The question was whether I should attack him or her. And whether I could pull that off before Gaara got involved.

Shit.

What was happening right now!?

"No. That was my brother. The dumbass you just schooled. And you're right." A twist of her wrist opened her fan by half a moon. "It was pretty funny."
"Screw you too, Temari." Kankuro gripped a loose bandage in a fist.

Gaara shifted, the smell of blood and sand thick.

I breathed, my chest expanding enough to stress the fabric of my dress as Temari's eyes widened while I clenched a fist. Every knuckle popped. "Glad you think so."

"Oh, fu-"
"Temari!" Naruto ( what the shit ) came between us as he fell from the sky without warning. "Sorry about the wait!"

…eh?

The atmosphere changed immediately as I, baffled, began to deflate. Power left me, my bones clicking as Kankuro's expression went from someone ready to fight to one of abject disgust. And not at me.

Hm?

"A-ah! Naruto!" Temari choked, her fan loudly closing as she leaned on it again with a blush. "You're late!"

Late?

"Sorry, sorry! Something came up!" Naruto clapped his hands together and did a slight bow to look up at her…whatever look was on his face made Temari look away, flustered. "Forgive me?"

Kankuro made a sound that could only be described as 'despair.'

I knew what sagging sand sounded like, and Gaara's armor had just made it.

This wasn't in the script. And for all it mattered, it was as if I wasn't here as my teammate and the woman I'd almost fought got lost in each other… At another time, I'd have called it romantic.

Romance-adjacent.

They could only have known each other for about a week, and Temari was almost certainly going to try and kill him later…it would be very tragic. Dramatic as he tried to talk her down. Cliche as they kissed among the ashes and to the cheers of weary defenders putting the enemy to rout.

Then came the time skip and marriage …and I needed to stop reading Ino's books.

Absolute drek.

"Hello to you too, Naruto." My voice was almost as dry as the imaginary book I'd just put him in. "I see you're doing well."

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. That he kept himself from screaming or jumping was admirable.

That he hadn't noticed me until now, less so.

"Would you like to introduce us?"

A short pause. As everyone looked at each other, I wondered what I'd missed.

It had been a week.

"Yeah. For sure." Naruto cleared his throat as she straightened up and stepped to the side. "This is Temari." He waved his hand. "And he's Kankuro." His hand swept back to me, his 'whiskers' standing out sharply on his cheeks as he tried not to make an embarrassed grimace. "And this is Sakura, my teammate."

"Hello." I nodded, content that Gaara had decided not to join in...and when did Naruto stop swearing? "I'm pleased to meet you all."

Another short pause as what had happened the minute before Naruto had shown up went through everyone's heads.

"Hello."

"Hey."

Blood and sand.

"And there's Gaara."

I turned, ignoring the slight concern I'd just heard in Naruto's voice as I...had to look down to make eye contact with someone who looked as tired as I felt.

I'd expected something else.

He was short. Other than how he was too close for anyone's comfort and every alarm bell was ringing, that was what I noticed. Gaara was short.

Too short.

And young. There was no denying that. Sand armor or not. Crossed arms or not. Eye bags or not. Tattoo for 'love' on his temple or not. He shouldn't be here right now…but if that mattered, what should be, neither would I.

…I'd just made myself sad.

"Hello. I am Sakura." Much like I'd done with his siblings, shelving my angst and instinct to kick him like a football and run in the other direction, I nodded to him. "Pleased to meet you."

"Gaara. Of the Sands." With all the speed of a door being pushed on a rusty hinge, he nodded back...and he sounded like he'd started smoking at birth, as if his throat was full of gravel. "You're strong."

Temari gasped.

I blinked, despair overtaking me for that moment. "You too?"

He grunted and nodded back. Then he started - walking away in the same direction I'd been, to the exam hall, as his siblings stared at him with wide eyes. "Temari. Kankuro."

Kankuro cursed as he swung his puppet back into place before following at a jog. Temari took a second to wave at Naruto, shoot me another surprised look, and run off with no other words spoken...and then it was just us—Naruto and me, luxuriating in the silence. Wondering.

"So you can talk without swearing."

That silence didn't last long. But Naruto's embarrassed groan was worth it.

To a point.

"Tell me about her," I prodded politely as I followed our fellow nin, and he scratched his cheek. "She seemed nice."

And like something that should have never happened.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Getting to the exam hall was blessedly uneventful. A five-minute walk with Naruto chattering in my ear about his new 'friend' and her brothers (she was amazing. Kankuro was a dramatic dickhead. Gaara needed a nap and a bath) had us stumbling on Sasuke in short order, arms crossed as he leaned cooly against a wall next to the entrance, ignoring everyone that passed him by.

As expected.

He was still wearing the outfit I'd last seen, too, not having taken Naruto and I's ideas about color coordination to heart. All black and white, and not even a hint of green…also as expected.

Shame.

"I was starting to think you ran away, Sakura," Sasuke started, kicking off the wall and ignoring the foreign kunoichi eying him like he was a steak in favor of getting in formation. "Where'd you go?"

"Training," was my flat, instant answer.

Naruto grumbled and crossed his arms.

Sasuke hummed. "Fair enough." And he shrugged, giving the yelling people bundled around a door in the hallway a glance and nothing else as he followed me to the end of the hall. "As long as you two are ready."

I shrugged too, this time with a smile.

"Pssh. Us. Sure." Naruto laughed, hands crossing behind his head. "Don't worry. We won't show you up too bad."

Sasuke flipped him off, and I kept smiling as a fight broke out behind us (the chunin in disguise had just been attacked and were getting their asses handed to them).

I wouldn't admit it. Not out loud. But I'd missed this easy comradery—the natural back and forth and mindless chatter that wasn't just the birds again.

Birds were fine. I liked birds. But there was, in fact, such a thing as too many birds. Talking to others was something else entirely, and people should do that more.

"Remember," I said as we approached the double doors. "United front."

That was when Kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves. Before the boys could even nod, he was in front of the doors, giving us a salute. "Yo."

"Hi, sensei," we droned.

"I know, I know, you're excited to see me. Settle down. Let's talk." Putting his hand back into his pocket to lean against the door. "You know what's behind me, right?"

Ah. The 'cheering up' speech. The pep talk. A classic.

"The first testing room?" I offered.
"Our enemies," Sasuke added.

"A janitor's closet?" Naruto joked.

"Good guesses. But no. Or, well, sort of." His one visible eye blinked. "It's your future." He gave us an acknowledging tilt of the head. "And I've got good odds on you three all getting a jacket."

…Corny. But adequate for someone who wanted one of those.

Naruto blinked. "Really?"

Never mind.

I nudged the blond in the side with an elbow, pushing the air out of his lungs with a whoof . "Thank you, sensei."

He was making an effort here, and I wasn't going to be the one to discourage him.

Naruto coughed and bowed as Sasuke followed my lead. "Thank you, sensei."

"Ma ma." He scratched his cheek bashfully. "It was my privilege to have such attentive students."

Naruto, this time, knew better than to say anything.

"Well. That's all I wanted to say." He looked up at the ceiling, still scratching his cheek…and was he blushing? "You have an idea of what you'll face, I'm sure. Good luck."

And, with that, he was gone with only a tiny pile of leaves to say he'd been here at all…and the fight was still ongoing behind us. Sounded like a real brawl.

Meh. Not my circus.

I pushed the stone door open, the bottom lightly deepening an old groove in the floor as I faced some of the blandest ninjas I'd ever seen. Rows of them. A whole crowd of people who had never heard of colors that weren't somewhere between black and gray...uninteresting. It was boring even as they, as a horde, attempted to intimidate my team and me with evil looks and whispers.

Boring.

Most of them wouldn't make it further than this room. The rest wouldn't make it past the elimination round. That was all I needed to know about - I spun around to catch Ino out of the air.

"Saaakkkuurrraaaaa!" Ino hissed like a tea kettle as she pinched my cheeks between her thumbs and forefingers. "Where! Were! You!"

"Twaining." I didn't flinch when she pulled harder and twisted her wrists. "Supah secwet."

" That's not an excuse! "

"...If iz dough."

I didn't know that Ino's jaw could fall that low.

"Okay, you two, break it up. Break it up." Tenten shuffled in right behind the boys and me, a wide grin on her face and her team not far behind. "I don't see any dinner tables."

I didn't even think about it before I'd flipped her the bird, heat rising in my face.

Ino may have been slightly faster in doing the same thing as she fell off me and started straightening her clothes, flustered.

Tenten cackled…and it had been a while, hadn't it? Long enough that she was overdue for a haircut, strands of hair leaving her buns. She had more scars, too. Nice, clean, pale lines on her arms from flying shrapnel and a change in her stance I couldn't recognize. As if she was ready to brace herself on her back foot at any moment.

I wasn't the only one that had picked up some new tricks then.

"You're not funny!" Ino snarled as everyone else I knew who wasn't already here began to trickle in. "Where are your manners?!"
No one knew. Especially not Tenten.

"You'll get to help her remember where she left them later, Ino." I looked around the room, eyes gliding over everyone in my sight as Tenten squawked… I didn't see any white hair. "What have you been up to?"
I hoped she didn't miss me as badly as I'd missed her.

Torture.

"I'll tell you as soon as we're alone. Me or Hinata. This is for you too, Tenten." With one last pat on her knees, Ino straightened up with a smile I didn't buy for a moment. Too sharp. "Find us, okay?"

I hummed my agreement as the rest of my year joined us: Lee and Neji, Shikamaru (who was glaring at me for some reason), and Choji, Kiba, and Shino. All here…but where was Kabuto? "I was already planning to."

"Good."

"Yes."

The front of the room exploded in a puff of smoke, stopping the back-and-forth from going on any longer than necessary. The stern-faced individuals from Torture and Interrogation who appeared had us all turning in a rustling wave.

"Listen up, genin!" Morino Ibiki, the current head of the department and resident trenchcoat wearer (we'd met at a couple of Ino's birthdays. He was surprisingly good-humored when he was not working), yelled. "Present your paperwork and take a seat!"

The easiest part. The best part. Here and gone again in an hour.

This'll be almost pleasant.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

It was not.

It didn't even take five minutes.

And I still hadn't seen Kabuto.

"I can't believe you all copied me!" I said an hour later in front of the Forest of Death, shocked at the shamelessness of people I'd thought were my friends. "All of you!"

What I received from that observation was the equivalent of one big shrug, even from Ino.

INO!

I'd never been so betrayed.

"I didn't!" Naruto loudly denied.

Feeling the truth of his words, I nodded to him. "Good job. I'm proud of you."

Naruto beamed.

"I could have done it myself." Shikamaru scoffed. "I didn't feel like redoing the wheel."

"I knew you had the answers," Sasuke added.

Hinata, most of her head under her hood, nodded.

"Um, I didn't copy from you either, Sakura…" Choji began.

I sensed a but coming, so I withheld my praise.

"…Cuz you were sitting too far away. So I copied Shikamaru…who was copying you. Sorry."

Uggghhh.

I, heading off any further excuses that would lower my opinion of anyone, crossed my arms and grumbled.

This would be the last time I could be this carefree in a while. And I'd take it.

Whatever Ino had to tell me could wait a second longer.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

I have a place where I put my newest stuff! I am also a starving artist! Help me not starve this year by going...

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And it also gives you access to my discord, if that's your thing!