Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Basic Training

"Ne, ne, Sakura-chan, it was pretty awesome when I used the Shadow Clone Jutsu on that guy, wasn't it?" The pink haired girl nodded meekly as her teammate prattled on about their latest mission. "I was so cool! And did you see how teme used Chidori daggers on that other guy? I didn't even know he could do it!"

Team Seven had been travelling for days, steadily making their way back to Konoha after a B-rank escort mission. While the trip to Kumo had been relatively uneventful, they had come across a group of rogue ninja on their way home, and had subsequently been forced into battle. Luckily, they had come out as the victors, and, while they were tired, remained largely unharmed.

"Hai, Naruto, it was cool."

"And you, Sakura-chan! When you cracked the ground open, it was amazing! I thought girls were supposed to worry about getting dirty and stuff, but look at you now: You're covered in mud and you don't even care!"

Sakura quickly eyed her clothing. While she was a little worse for wear, she wasn't really covered. She crossed her arms self-consciously as Naruto continued speaking.

"Ne, remember when we were twelve and you wouldn't let anything dirty touch you? You'd leave all the mud and stuff for us to take care of. But you've really grown, Sakura-chan! I mean, you're pretty much a boy now! Don't you think so too, teme?"

The Uchiha boy eyed his female teammate for a split second before nodding slightly. "Ah."

Sakura was floored. A boy? An embarrassed red flush spread across her cheeks. Even Sasuke-kun agreed! She would have given anything to be noticed by the boy, but not like this!

"Ah, look, we're back." Kakashi's mild voice broke through the girl's inner turmoil. Sure enough, the gates of Konoha were visible at the end of the road. "You three go home and rest. I'll take care of the report. Meet for training at noon tomorrow."

"Wow, Kaka-sensei! You sure are in a generous mood! Ramen, here I come!" Without waiting for his teammates, Naruto sped towards the center of town. Sasuke muttered a small "dobe" under his breath and continued on at a steady pace.

"Ja ne, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura mumbled as she passed her teacher. The jounin's eyebrows rose at her unusually glum farewell. The girl was typically much more excited, even when she was tired after missions. He watched as the only female member of Team 7 walked away, her shoulders slumping in a defeated manner.

At eleven thirty the next day, Sakura found herself waiting at the bridge for the rest of her team to arrive. She practically glared down at her reflection in the river. Naruto's comment from yesterday still echoed through her head. She knew that her figure wasn't as curvy as Ino's or Hinata's, but that didn't make her any less feminine! Her eyes were lively and she often received compliments about how pretty they were. Her arms and legs were slim and toned from the hours she put into training. Her hair was pink, damn it! There wasn't a more girly color than that!

"Yo!" Sakura whipped around to find herself staring at a mass of silver hair. She was immediately on guard, pulling a kunai from her holster. The man crouching on the banister raised an eyebrow at this move. "What are you doing?"

"Kakashi-sensei would never come to training early. Who are you and what do you want?"

The man sweatdropped. "No, it's me, Sakura. I thought I would come early in hopes of catching you alone." The girl was evidently still suspicious, but lowered the weapon slightly.

"Why?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the behavior of our two boys yesterday. I know their words hurt you." The tough expression on the girl's face crumbled to reveal one of utter defeat. So she had been read so easily? Sighing, she put the kunai back into her pouch.

"It's not fair, sensei. When we were genin, all I cared about was being pretty so that Sasuke-kun would notice me, and my skills suffered accordingly. But now that I'm working with Tsunade-sama and getting stronger, my appearance has apparently suffered." Her green eyes prickled with the unwanted feeling of tears as she turned to her teacher. "Do I really seem like a boy?"

The older man ruffled the girl's hair affectionately. He had the inclination that she was deeply troubled by her teammate's insensitivity. "No, Sakura. I see a beautiful young woman who shouldn't let careless words bring her down. You know how dense Naruto can be at some points. His comment was meant to compliment your achievements regarding your skills, rather than insult you."

"But, sensei, next to them I don't feel like my skills are great." The girl sniffled lightly. "I mean, Sasuke-kun has the Sharingan and he's so fast and he has fire jutsus and Chidori! And even Naruto has his Shadow Clones and Rasengan and he just has so much charisma…"

"And you're a medic on the rise. You can't deny how much you've progressed thus far in your training with the Hokage. And your chakra control is far better than Naruto or Sasuke's – it has been since we first met."

The girl ran her finger down the railing absentmindedly. While Kakashi did have a point, she still felt inadequate. "I just don't feel like I'll ever be better than them, sensei. I still feel like no matter what I do, I don't measure up, you know?

There were a few seconds of silence following this statement. The jounin rubbed his chin as if he were contemplating deeply. A light bulb evidently went off in his head. "Tell me, Sakura. What's the one thing you have that Naruto and Sasuke don't?"

The girl sighed and rolled her eyes. "Breasts, Kakashi-sensei?"

His one visible eye crinkled, indicating a smile behind his mask. "Precisely."

It was the girl's turn to sweatdrop. "I wasn't serious, Kakashi-sensei! And in any case, how would having… you know, help with anything?"

"Sakura, it's about time we taught Naruto and Sasuke a little about sensitivity towards the opposite sex, don't you think?"

The girl thought about it some. They were rapidly approaching sixteen and yet her teammates were relatively clueless when it came to anything related to girls. Perhaps if they were more educated they would be a little more considerate to her feelings. A devious smirk made its way onto her lips. "Okay."

"Good, then you'll need to go home and…"

Uchiha Sasuke was annoyed. It was currently ten minutes pass noon, and only Naruto was present at the training grounds. The absence of Kakashi wasn't abnormal; however, the fact that Sakura wasn't already there meant something was different. And different things were annoying.

For the third time since he arrived, he turned to look down the path to see if anything remotely pink was making its way towards them. When he discovered there was nothing, he mentally sighed and returned his gaze to the flowing river.

"Ne, Sasuke-teme, where do you think Sakura-chan is? She's never this late! Do you think we should go look for her? Maybe she's in trouble or something!"

Worry quickly entered the Uchiha's head, but it was only a fleeting emotion. The girl was probably fine. If something had happened, they would have heard something. But then again, if she knew she was going to be late, she would have told someone…

The teen was just about to agree to the search when Kakashi appeared next to them in a puff of smoke. "Yo!"

"Kaka-sensei, you're here early! Well, you're late, but you're early by your standards." The blonde boy rubbed the back of his neck. "Ne, have you heard from Sakura-chan today? She's late, and that never happens!"

"Well, she did tell me she was going to be a bit late… But isn't that her coming now?"

Both the teens turned their heads in the direction their teacher was looking. Upon seeing pink, Sasuke glanced back at the water, only to do a double-take. The pink hair made it undeniably Sakura, however, everything else looked entirely different.

The girl's hair, which normally hung straight to her shoulders, was pulled into a simple bun, with loose strands framing her face. Her eyes were emphasized with liner, and her lips appeared even redder. The bigger shock was her attire, however. Her long dress and green spandex had been switched for a tighter-fitting red tank top, black bike shorts, and a short tan skirt. Instead of standard issue ninja sandals, her feet were clad in knee-high boots. The changes made the Uchiha feel uncomfortable. Since when had Sakura had… well, curves? Even Naruto was stunned into silence.

"Hello everyone! Sorry to keep you all waiting." She smiled brightly at the boys. "What are we doing today?"

"I thought that we would practice our taijutsu today. We seemed to become a bit sloppy after using up most of our chakra yesterday, so we need to keep our skills sharp. Let's begin with Naruto and Sakura sparring, while Sasuke practices with me." Kakashi clapped his hands together eagerly, a mischievous twinkle in his lone eye.

After the first spar, Naruto was sporting an injured side and multiple other abrasions. Sakura-chan's make over threw him off his game. With all her hair in a bun, Naruto had a clear view of her slender neck. Her bright green eyes were almost hypnotic with the light make up, and she even smelled good. The changes had been too distracting, and he suffered accordingly.

Sasuke didn't fare much better when it was his turn either. While he should have been concentrating on which side she was favoring, he could only focus on the brief glimpses of skin that he had never previously seen. When she kicked, her skirt fluttered and her shorts underneath hiked just a tiny bit higher up. Since when had her legs been so long? He narrowly dodged a kunai which was directed at his head. The quick change in momentum caused him to fall hard on his backside quite ungracefully.

Just as he began formulating how to ignore her attire, Sakura stopped. Smiling, she reached out her hand to help him up. "Gomen, Sasuke-kun, but I have to be in the hospital in ten minutes. Tsunade-sama said she would teach me a new technique today."

Waving as she walked away from the group, Sasuke couldn't help but focus on how her hips swayed with each step. Since when had she moved like that…? Realizing exactly what he was staring at, the boy turned his head, a warm flush creeping over his neck. Next to him, Kakashi chortled.

"You two seemed at bit distracted today." The jounin's remark was meant to be casual, but his tone implied so much more.

Naruto practically burst at the invitation to talk. "What was she wearing, Kaka-sensei? We've never seem her look like that before! It was so weird. What do you think, teme?"

"Hn. It was an impractical outfit."

Kakashi frowned at his students. "Now, now, it was actually better for combat compared to her usual dress. Less fabric means less opportunity for something to get snagged by a kunai or grabbed onto by enemy shinobi."

"Yeah, but sensei, you don't think it was a bit…" Naruto's eye shifted around the training ground, as if he was expecting the pink haired girl to be eavesdropping on them. "Revealing?"

The jounin's frown deepened as the normally stoic Uchiha nodded in agreement. "You two have been awfully insensitive to how she might feel." At their confused expressions, he continued, "Sakura is a growing girl. As you noticed today, she is changing. Your ability to adapt to these changes will determine your ultimate success in our next unit. It's time we complete some basic training!"

"Tch," the dark haired boy scoffed. "We're Chunnin, weren't we supposed to cover basic a long time ago?"

"No need to be so skeptical, Sasuke. Today I'm going to teach you the basics of interacting with girls." Pulling out his favorite orange-covered book, Kakashi smiled menacingly. "Now, where do we begin?"

The next day Sakura woke up feeling completely refreshed. Not only had her training session with Tsunade gone exceptionally well, but she had also received many compliments on her new attire. Perhaps it would become her regular outfit from now on. Smiling, she opened her front door, eager for the day. Before she could exit, however, a bouquet of flowers and card on the doormat caught her attention.

She sniffed the pink carnations as she flipped over the piece of paper and read its message.

"Sakura-chan,

We had no idea what you had to go through as a girl. We're really sorry for all the times we made fun of you and were insensitive to your emotions. You're really pretty and strong and the best girl in the world! Please don't hit us for being bad teammates.

Love, the next Hokage and his emotionally-crippled sidekick

P.S. the flowers were all teme's idea. They're supposed to mean something like gratitude. Me thinks he likes you!"

Evidently Kakashi's "basic training" had worked. She would have to ask him how he accomplished it. Smiling once more, Sakura turned back inside to put the flowers in some water.

Lurking in the bushes next to Sakura's apartment, Naruto and Sasuke breathed out sighs of relief. "I think the smile means she wasn't PMS-ing."

"For once, dobe, I think you're right."

Kakashi's lone eye crinkled with amusement as he watched two of his students crawl out of the bushes around Sakura's house. His kids were just too funny… Just wait until they discussed where babies come from. His smile widened. It was sure to be a fun lesson.

Author's Note

I just really love all the what-could-have-beens of Team 7, don't you? Reviews are lovely :)

xo, Katie