Rewind
Chapter 1
(2007/7/15 Re-written)
"Uzumaki Naruto!" Said blond twelve year old boy gave a squawk as he fell off a stool he had been sitting on. The shriek had come from Team Seven's lone female teammate's room, Haruno Sakura. Naruto rubbed his pained bottom, eyeing the door that connected the two rooms together through his fox-like eyes warily. His teammate's temper was something not to be trifled with.
The third member of Team Seven, also known as their generation; Rookie Nine's prodigy, Uchiha Sasuke, gave a very unimpressed glance at the dobe of the team. His clan had once been great and feared, up until the next heir, Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother massacred the whole clan in one night, to test himself. Driven by years of hate and rage, the lone Uchiha isolated himself from everyone.
The last and final member, Hatake Kakashi, Team Seven's chronically late sensei. Known as the feared Copy-Ninja, and Sharingan Kakashi, looks can be deceiving though, for he constantly has his face glued to the pages of Icha Icha Paradise, a porn novel written by an anonymous author who goes by the pen name 'J'. (But it is a somewhat widely known fact the author is actually Konoha's Toad Sannin, Jiraiya.)
Suddenly, the door burst open, and a very teary eyed half black and pink haired girl stormed in, already clad in her pajamas. The three male members of Team Seven raised their eyebrows rather comically, (Naruto raised his in absolute fear for his head.)
"I know it was you!" Haruno Sakura snarled, advancing on the poor prankster, who in turn, quickly scooted away from the enraged hormonal teenage girl. She grabbed Naruto by the scruff of his (blinding) orange jumpsuit, Sakura then nailed the blond head with a shaking fist, making the boy wail in pain, his eyes squinted shut as tears leaked out. "How dare you put dye in my shampoo!"
Shaking his head, Sasuke got up and headed out of the room, muttering something about, 'Childish idiots', and their sensei resumed reading his porn.
After a few hours of Sakura-style beating, Kakashi decided Naruto had learned his lesson (he had promptly dropped to the ground unconscious the moment Sakura released him), and promptly offered to help Sakura dye her hair. (So she didn't look like a demented clown.) Of course, Kakashi didn't realize that this was his undoing. Gone were his nightly dose of Icha Icha before bedtime, for he had to deal with Sakura's hormonal whines of 'Sasuke-kun won't notice me anymore!'.
He defiantly made a mental note not do offer any seemingly innocent help to any of his students from then on. (And dubbed 'Hormonal Sakura' as approach with caution.)
The next day, after Naruto had miraculously awoken from a pain-free night of sleep, Team Seven left the inn and headed back to Konoha. Their second escort mission (including their very first to Wave Country), has come to a close.
As the team stopped by a stream to rest, Naruto had shed his jumpsuit and pants to dive into the cool water. It was a warm summer afternoon, Sakura had been complaining about the weather, accumulated a total of six 'You're annoying' from Sasuke, and finally kept quiet.
The Uchiha had been lounging on a patch of grass near the stream, when Naruto had started their verbal war of 'You teme!' and Sasuke's 'Dobe' (and so on), Sakura had suddenly dropped to the grass beside Sasuke. Sasuke, however, thought it was another one of her ideas of 'getting close' to him, started to inch away, when he realized she seemed to be out of it. Irritated by the unusual silence from her, Sasuke demanded a simple, "What are you doing here?"
Completely ignoring Naruto's "Saaakura-chaaan!", Sakura motioned Sasuke and Naruto the lean closer. (And acting mature, instead of squealing happily, Sasuke noted relieved.)
"Have you ever wondered what Kakashi-sensei was like when he was our age?"
As if appalled, Sasuke quickly leaned away, shooting a quick glance to their teacher sitting on a rock with his nose stuffed in the novel still.
"What?" He grunted, before adding, "Such a childish question."
Naruto grinned, "Never thought of it, Sakura-chan! But..won't that be kinda weird?"
Sakura nodded, "I saw a photo of a graduating class at the Academy, I think it was taken years ago. And I saw Kakashi-sensei…."
Raising a quaint black eyebrow, Sasuke muttered, "….And?"
Snorting, Naruto retorted, "I thought this was too childish for you, Sasuke-teme!"
"Shut up, dobe"
Shrugging, Sakura smiled, happy that Sasuke was actually paying attention to her for a change. "He was tiny!"
Bursting out in a loud chortle, Naruto toppled over, stray grass sticking onto his wet body. His head was suddenly hit from behind, and a shadow loomed over the three. Three heads looked up, Kakashi gave his famous eye-smile and spoke, "We're leaving!" (And ignoring Naruto's whines of 'That hurt, sensei!', ending up with a short lecture of always paying attention to your surroundings.)
That had been two weeks ago, Sasuke thought as he eyed Sakura and Kakashi's spar. Beside him, Naruto was silent for a change, watching the fight intently. Both of them sat underneath a large oak, away from the sun's glare. Their round had ended with Sasuke unceremoniously flipping the blond to the ground, earning a mouth full of grass and dirt.
"Sakura-chan has improved, hasn't she?" The blond muttered, wiping away beads of perspiration from his brow. "It's not like she wasn't great before-" And ignored the 'you're kidding' glance from his rival, "But she was able to keep up with us during our morning jog!"
"Mm." Was the absent reply, obsidian orbs glued to the scene before them. Their sensei was holding back, like he usually did when he trained them. Kakashi had given them a laid-back, lazy impression from the first day they met, up until their first out-of-the-village mission to Wave Country, during the fight with Zabuza, that they realized how deadly their sensei was.
Sasuke watched Sakura brush away black tresses that fell into her eyesight, the black hair courtesy of Naruto, who had been careless and misplaced Sakura's shampoo with black dye on a mission. (Or so, that's what he had explained. But of course, Sakura didn't really believe him.)
"She knew a lot of different jutsu, too! There was even one that surprised Kaka-sensei!" Naruto ranted on, oblivious to the fact that his rival was only half listening.
Kakashi had been staring at her differently after that day….Sasuke pondered, before frowning. I've noticed a few other jounin sensei glancing at her too…especially Kurenai and Asuma.
"-Is it just me, or has Kaka-sensei been giving Sakura-chan extra attention?"
"I've noticed that too." Sasuke cut in abruptly. "I applaud to your observing, perhaps you're useful after all."
"Gah! Shut up, chicken head!"
"…Chicken head?"
Ignoring the raging blond, Sasuke looked back to the incident…just a week ago….
Sakura's voice blared over the mike, " I found the kitten, it's heading into the clan's district."
" Alright, Sakura, you go on and retrieve her. You're closest. Naruto, Sasuke, head back to the bridge. We'll meet up there."
" Got it, Kakashi-sensei!"
" The damned cat's a girl?!"
" Naruto, shut up!"
" Dobe." Sasuke muttered, dropping off the branch from a tree that had been his hideaway for the past twenty minutes, and headed back to their meeting spot.
To Sasuke's chagrin, Naruto and Kakashi had arrived earlier than him, the latter leaning against the bridge, his porn book out.
It was twenty minutes later, when Naruto asked the question that had been on their minds.
" Don't you think Sakura-chan's taking a bit too long?" The blond mused out loud.
The sharp snap was heard, Kakashi had closed his book abruptly. " Let's go look for her."
The three took to the roofs, and leapt to the district.
" It shouldn't have taken Sakura a long time, it's only a ten minute walk from here, five from the roofs." Sasuke muttered, obsidian eyes darting left to right, scanning the older, abandoned part of the clans district, where the once great Uchiha and Hatake clan strived.
" Hm," Kakashi grunted, and leapt from the roof, landing silently, and walked quietly into the compound.
Naruto and Sasuke quickly followed.
They found Sakura, lying on the ground, her dyed black hair reflecting the slowly setting sun, the kitten meowing beside her. Naruto darted forward, completely ignoring the sudden still man that was their sensei, and knelt beside his female friend.
" Sakura-chan's unconscious!"
" We can see that, dobe," Sasuke said, scooping up the kitten into his arms, careful of not letting it get away; again. He glanced again at his sensei, wondering why the hell he was standing there, staring at Sakura like he had just seen her for the first time?
Sakura started to stir, emerald eyes slowly opening. Then she sat up abruptly, startling Naruto, making him fall over onto his ass.
Sasuke never understood why Kakashi had emitted a soft gasp and Sakura looking absolutely grateful yet mortified at the same time.
And the next thing that came out of his and her mouth.
"Sachiko?"
"Kakashi?"