Teammates

Kakashi-sensei tilted his head when Sakura finally reached the roof - the only sign of surprise the man allowed to slip through his usually nonchalant appearance. He was perched on the railing not far from where she was standing, holding a Icha Icha book and seemingly very engrossed in its pages. Despite the trembling in her muscles, Sakura elegantly flipped herself over the railing, biting back the low whimper of pain that was climbing up her throat.

A few seconds past before Sakura realized Kakashi-sensei had no intention of acknowledging her presence. So, with forced casualness, she sat down. She uncertain how much time passed before Naruto and Sasuke arrived, but she was certain that she saw Kakashi-sensei briefly glancing down at her in puzzlement from the corner of her eye.

It was a testimony to how well she knew the man that she could immediately interpret that brief look; he was impressed that she had remained silent. Between that and her casual use of Chakra Adhesion, he must be re-evaluating his opinion of her. Which, despite not having exchanged a single word with her, was undoubtedly low since she was kunoichi with no clan background.

Sakura never really succeed in convincing herself that her teacher thought of her as someone worthwhile, seeing as he never invested time in training her, but at least she got good at pretending like it didn't hurt, so there that.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto loud yelling interrupted her self-pity session, the blonde boy ran towards her with a wide grin, "that was aaaaaamazing! You can walk up walls like grown up ninja, you know, like those with the masks that keep butting in my pranks! That's so super cool!"

"Thank you," she smiled at him even though his yelling made her ears hurt.

Naruto altered between singing her praise and loudly speculating just how many pranks he could pull off with such an ability. Watching him jumping up and down, Sakura was acutely reminded that he would summon frogs at one point and fought the urge to laugh.

Sasuke's dark gaze lingered on her for a while before he said, in rather accusing manner, "We didn't learn that in the academy."

Coolly, she met his eyes, "Very observant."

He narrowed his eyes at her.

She smirked.

Naruto's head darted back and forth between them as if watching a ping-pong match, letting out a confused; "Eh, eh, ehhhh?"

Kakashi-sensei cleared his throat, what was visible of his face crinkled up in a smile as he said, "Ah, young love."

It was hard to determine which one of them that looked most outraged, but Naruto was certainly the one that protested the loudest. Sakura sent Kakashi-sensei a truly venomous glare, which he was unfairly unbothered by.

"So, let's move on to the introductions, " the older man said cheerfully, "Likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams about the future?"

Naruto went first, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! What I like is ramen, especially the kind at the Ichiraku Ramen shop. What I dislike is the three-minute wait after you pour in the boiling water. My hobbies are eating different types of ramen and compering them. And my dreams...my dream is to be the next Hokage!" Naruto finished the declaration by jumping up and pointing a finger to the sky, "And I'm going to get the whole village to acknowledge my existence."

Her heart clenched in her chest – in anger and in pain, because that was ridiculous depressing thing to say, yet Naruto proclaimed cheerfully.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I have a lot of dislikes, but no likes in particular. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality: I'm going to restore my clan and kill a certain man."

Silence greeted Sasuke's statement, much like it did in Sakura's memories, but the boy himself seemed unaffected by it. For a split-second, Sakura could have sworn he shot her a challenging look, one saying 'try topping that', but while Sakura could buy Sasuke being that petty, she could also admit her dislike might be warping her vision.

And yet, when Naruto and Kakashi-sensei turned to her expectantly, she felt almost obligated to say something impressive. Lifting her head high, she gave them a sharp smile, "I'm Sakura Haruno. I like puzzles and reading, I hate traitors. My hobbies consist of doing what I like. My dream…," she trailed off, because 'breaking free of this potential genjutsu' was not an answer she wanted to share, "my dream is to become the world's greatest genjutsu master."

Kakashi-sensei tilted his head again and this time Sakura couldn't help feeling a little uneasy.

But it proved unnecessary, for Kakashi-sensei moved on to talking about his test for them tomorrow. The words 'sixty six present failure rate' and 'don't eat breakfast' lingering ominously in the air, at least for Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura, on the other hand, felt an idea take root.

She turned towards Naruto the second Kakashi-sensei disappeared. Smiling brightly, she asked, "Do you want to join me prepare for tomorrow? I can teach you Chakra Adhesion."

Naruto nodded so eagerly she was half-worried his head would fall off, "Yeah! That is an awesome idea, but, eh, charkram what?"

She blinked, observing Naruto's bashful expression for a few seconds before remembering the abysmal education Naruto has been subjected to so far. Her fists clenched, but her expression softened, "Chakra Adhesion. It how I walked up the wall."

Naruto's expression rippled – something fragile flashing in his eyes before disappearing again. He looked down, going still. "You would teach me that? Really?" Naruto asked quietly.

And Sakura couldn't talk, she couldn't even breath in fear of worsening the pain in her chest, so, she nodded.

When Naruto's smile surfaced, Sakura felt the pain wane, but not disappear. Guilt refused to leave her, especially when she had ulterior motives for her kindness. Naruto let out a joyful yell and she allowed herself to bask in it.

Predictably, Sasuke intruded. The sullen Uchiha heir had been pretending he wasn't watching them, weighting cons and pros of joining the conversation, and spoke when his annoyance tipped the scales, just as Sakura knew he would. "Hn. As if that would be enough for you two to pass."

Naruto protested in outrage, "Teme! You're just jealous because you can't do it!"

The words made Sasuke's face twitch, which Naruto definitely noticed, for he smugly continued, "Tomorrow you'll be the only one of us that can't do it."

She forced back a smile. Naruto was playing his part so perfectly that one could be fooled into thinking he was in on her plan.

"Actually," Sakura plastered a hopeful smile on her face, "I was thinking on asking if you want to join us Sasuke, it could be a team-bonding exercises."

She ignored Naruto's complains on 'why they had to include that bastard' just as she ignored the impulse to roll her eyes when Sasuke agreed after an absurd performance of reluctance.

They went to a training ground not far from her home. It had plenty of trees they could practice on and the proximity to her house meant she could bring food, which was all the convincing Naruto needed. She patiently explained the mechanism of the technique to Naruto on their way there and throw in some basic charka information for good measure. Naruto listen eagerly and asked many questions once he realized she didn't mind. Sasuke was mostly silent, only offering a few scathing comments on Naruto's ignorance, which pissed Sakura off immensely.

Fortunately, her little ball of sunshine was not easily dishearten, but Sakura did not appreciate Sasuke's sabotaging her attempts on creating a healthy learning environment where Naruto could feel secure in asking all the things he wondered.

The knowledge that Sasuke would soon be unable to do anything of that sort again was the only thing keeping her temper at bay.

Reluctantly, she agreed on a sparring session first, but only because it was Naruto who insisted. She tried hard not to be insulted when both of her teammates gave her identical surprised looks when she offered to go first.

"You don't have to Sakura-chan, I don't want you to ge-" Naruto had enough sense to stop talking when her glare turned almost lethal.

Sasuke, on the other hand, possessed as much tact as he did compassion. He made derisive sound and said, "Fine. Let's get it over with."

Sakura cracked her knuckles in reply, a sneer marring her face. "Bring it on."

Sakura had more experience fighting, more knowledge, more skills and more importantly, she wanted to hit Sasuke, badly. However, it was easier said than done.

They assumed fighting positions, eying each other warily, though Sauske gaze grow more arrogant the longer he looked at her. Gritting her teeth, Sakura decided to take the initiative. Channeling a chakra to her legs, she quickly closed the distance between them, surprising Sasuke with fist rapidly moving towards his face. He nimbly side-stepped the attack, knocking her elbow aside, veering her off track, and his hand flashed down to hit the back of her neck in a blow that would end the match if she did not move.

She barely managed to roll out of the way.

The rosette gritted her teeth, her fist should have punched his face before he could even form a thought of attack, but the chakra channels in her body were underdeveloped. Too small and slow for her to direct chakra as she wished. It did not matter she knew how and where to direct it, nor that she had perfect control, because it meant nothing without enough practice to craft the necessary chakra pathways.

They traded blows, twirled around each other in a flurry of kicks and punches. Sakura was at clear disadvantage. The only reason she hadn't lost yet was because she could direct enough chakra to make up for most of her physical limitations and she could anticipate Sasuke's moves.

A kick in the stomach sent her flying after she miscalculated her reach and she cursed her limps for being too goddam short.

Sakura hated feeling weak, hated being weak even more. This body was impractical mess of gangly limbs and soft skin, and its every inadequacy made worst by the fact that it was hers. She had grown so used to belong inside a trim muscular body with calloused hands and aching scars, so how could she possible feel home in such a crampy and delicate form?

Sharp pain ripped through her as she once again strained herself while pushing her body to do more. At once her skin felt too tight, memories of former strength and competence bursting inside her, ready to tear through skin if need be. And yet, the only thing that leaked out was blood was her blood as she hit the ground once again.

It felt like she was fighting her body as well as Sasuke.

Said opponent was pinning her to the ground and the fact that he was breathing heavily was only a small comfort since she was gasping for air and every muscle in her body screamed in pain.

"Yield?" Sasuke asked, a kunai pressed against her throat.

She growled, but could not muster the breath to reply.

Naruto jogged towards them, his gaze shadowed with worry as he hovered over her, his concern obvious, "Sakura-chan, are you okay?"

She nodded, then reached out a hand so he could pull her up. He smiled brightly after pulling her back at her feet, "That was awesome! You really are amazing," he said earnestly.

She forced herself to grin, "Not enough it would seem," she poked his nose, "Avenge me, 'kay?"

Naruto's face immediately turned serious, he nodded grimly, "Teme will fall."

Sakura left then to their battle, promising to bring food but doubt they heard her immersed as they were with bricking.

"Just..just wait a little."

"Hehe, Sakura really did a number on you, neh?"

"Hn. I'm the one who won."

And you should have killed me, Sakura thought, while you had the chance.

Sakura walked home sluggishly, the adrenaline seeping out of her body and leaving her a tired husk. She hopped Naruto and Sasuke could keep each other entertained long enough. The mixture she was planning to make needed a little time. She had fortunately enquired all the flowers she needed when she visited Ino yesterday, seeing as this particular poison was one of her top candidates for her plan to deal with Sasuke.

It was technically not a poison, it was pretty harmless when indigested in most cases. Few people knew how to arrange the circumstances that would make it lethal. Which would make it hard for anyone to trace it back to her. Not to mention it would take time before Sasuke died from it, thus less reason for anyone to suspect her.

Her hands felt clammy when she handed her teammates the lunch, and something close to anxiety churned in her stomach. The sound of their posturing and complaining almost drowned out her pounding heartbeat as she led them through the tree climbing exercise. She allowed them carry on until the twilight, chakra exhaustion amplified the toxicity of her poison and if she allowed it to work bit by bit, Sasuke would be gone in a couple of months. She just needed to find ways to encourage him engage in activities that stimulated growth of chakra passages. The breakdown of the enzyme produced by the cells to facilitate such processes will be slightly increased by her poison. Giving time to hoop up in the blood, and reduce the capacitate of the liver, which is responsible of get rid of those particular waste products, and bingo: death.

She would need to go on with this carefully, but she would not failed. She was not fully convinced she wasn't in a genjutsu, but ridding this world of Sasuke would be a weight of her shoulders. This Naruto would never be killed by someone he considered his best friend, in fact, he would not be killed by anyone if Sakura had any say in it.

Exhausted, she fell into a fitful sleep that night. In her dreams, there was a lot of blood on her hands and her knuckles dirty and gritty and she never felt more herself. When the world morphed into nightmares, sickening in their simplicity, Sakura screamed and screamed because, because its only her, completely alone with no one to hear her. She stumbled and dragged herself through an endless space, so isolated and so confused. When she finally found someone, a person who looked at her with the same startled disbelief burning inside her, she almost wept with joy.

Her hand reached out but the touch that greeted her was cold and slippery. It took a few more attempts before she realized that she was touching a mirror, and even then, the disbelief only grew.

She could not recognize the confused woman staring back at her.

The next day, Sakura walked through the village, every step echoing her heartbeats. She saw them in her head - people who are dead - that have been dead for a long time - causally inhabiting the space around her. They were painted into the landscape so impressively, with hands that clearly paid the greatest attention to the smallest details, that Sakura struggled to convince herself that it was nothing but an illusion.

Maybe it wasn't.

Shaking her head, she tried to focus on the bell-test. Knowing that she would see Naruto and Sasuke was grounding. She was uncertain how she wanted to proceed with Kakashi-sensei test. Obviously, they would pass as long as they preached/acted according to the whole teammates and loyalty concept Kakashi-sensei pretended to care about.

He does care, a small voice in her heard protested, but she was feeling rather uncharitable towards Kakashi-sensei, especially since that stupid philosophy contributed to team seven's irresponsible insistence on reasoning to Sasuke. Though, to be fair, the whole fiasco had been a team effort.

Finally reaching the training ground, Sakura was surprised to see Kakashi-sensei already being there, on time. Naruto was sitting on the ground next him. Her stomach turned in an unfriendly way as her eyes tracing the line of Kakashi-sensei clenched jaw. She could tell, even from this distance, that his body was taut and muscles coiled.

Tension rose inside her with every step, but she could not pause, her body was moving on autopilot. Words crumbled to dust in her mouth when her feet reached his vicinity. He loomed over her like a tombstone and she left whatever good cheer she had managed to muster today shiver and die.

Her heart was beating so loud she was sure he could hear it. From the corner of her eye, she could she Naruto trembling.

Kakashi-sensei's gaze weighted heavy on her when he said;

"Sasuke is dead."

So apparently, I can't answer guest reviews, who knew? I'll just have to answer here, Rizatus I can safely say I have an ending planned for this story and an infinite loop is not what I'm going for ;) Thanks for the sweet comment and I hope you also had a nice day(and many more) 3

Anyway, I really appreciated the comments I received so far, so thank you very much :D I hope you guys like this two chapters and please let me know what you think, reviews really motivates me to write. Stay safe 3