AN: Sorry about not updating my other stories for awhile. It's just I'm having trouble coming up with ideas and scenarios on how they should play out. So for this story, I was at work and a scandalous idea popped into my jaded mind. This chapter may foreshadow the scandal…. Or you'll just have to wait for the next chapter to find out. But for now, just enjoy!

Chapter 1- A Fit to Fight

The sound of clinking bottles pierced through the drunken atmosphere. The bartender behind the bar held a glass bottle containing heavy brown liquid and tipped it into a clear crystalline glass. Out of the corner of his eye, a woman with vivacious pink hair caught his attention. Mesmerized by such an unusual combination of roseate hair and forest green eyes, he kept his attention upon her the entire night, hoping to catch snippets of her conversation. Maybe she was an interesting girl? Unfortunately, the sound of drunken clamor drowned out the conversation that she was having with the two men at her table, and he went back to refilling drinks, sullen and disappointed.

"Oh Sasuke, stop brooding. It's depressing…" the pink-haired girl reprimanded.

Naruto took a swig of his beer. "But Sakura-chan, teme always broods…"

She scowled. "He looks even moodier than usual…" She followed Naruto, and took a swig of her own drink.

"Hnn…" the darker-haired man grunted.

"You can't blame teme for missing us, even if he doesn't want to admit it," the blond admonished. Both Sakura and Naruto glanced at Sasuke expectantly, hoping for a smidgen of reaction, "especially if he's going to be kicking ass alone…"

"Hmm…" Sakura taunted, "I would've thought he wouldn't have minded so much… Since he's always such a drama queen." She sent a smile in his direction, "Isn't that right Sasuke?"

Sasuke scrunched up his nose in disgust and simply glared at her.

"She's just kidding teme. Don't throw a fit now…" Naruto chuckled.

"Drama queen," Sakura whispered behind her beer.

"ANYWAYS," Sasuke admonished, "What are you guys going to be doing now that you've resigned from ANBU?"

Naruto replied after popping a peanut, or at least he hoped it was a peanut, into his mouth, "I'm going to train with baa-chan to become Hokage. I also heard from Baa-chan that Sakura-chan here is going to be assigned a jounin team."

"Yup. That's correct Naruto." Sakura smiled, taking a gulp of her beer. "And guess what? I get to boss them around."

Sasuke looked at her. "You know, I have a strange feeling you and Kakashi have similar tutelage methods…"

"You know Sasuke, they ARE jounins. It's not like I have to teach them basics. I'll just train them…"

Naruto interrupted. "ACTUALLY, Baa-chan told me that they're ROOKIE jounin."

Sasuke chuckled. Sakura simply glared.

"But you know," the blond continued," I heard that you have the best rookie jounin on your team."

Downing the rest of her beer, she responded, "You mean Matsumoto Yuki?"

"Yeah…I heard he's a shoo-in for Anbu," Naruto said enthusiastically. "I heard from Ibiki that he should've made jounin when he was 17, but unfortunately, Ibiki didn't like his attitude and failed him."

"Doesn't sound that hot," Sakura replied skeptically, "I made jounin at 16."

For the third time that night, Sasuke decided to grace the group with his opinion, "I've never met the brat, but from what I hear, he's rude, anti-social, and moody."

"Sounds like you," Sakura commented casually.

Sasuke replied indignantly, "I am not moody."

Naruto choked on his drink. Sakura simply stared at him. "You're joking right?" the pair asked simultaneously.

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke asked Sakura, "Do you think you can handle him?"

"Oh no… I almost forgot I had to meet them tomorrow!" the pink-haired girl exclaimed as she slammed one hand onto the wooden table, causing the table to rattle and the base to splinter like a 3.0 earthquake on the Richter scale.

"Ahhh! Sakura-chan! Watch it!"

"Sorry Naruto," she said casually.

Sasuke cleared his throat, grabbing the pink-haired woman's attention. "I'll drop by tomorrow to see how you're doing."

She shrugged. "Fine. Do whatever you want." Her voice was laced with mild antagonism. Apparently, Sasuke thought she couldn't handle some snot-nosed brat. She felt it was her duty as a human being, to prove him wrong. If she could tolerate Sasuke, then she could tolerate almost anybody. However, that statement might've been more or less factual, for she in fact couldn't tolerate Sasuke. "But I think you're not giving me enough credit here. He's just an 18 year old kid. We're 8 years off. I'm still his senior and superior."

"Whatever," the man responded, "But I'm still stopping by."

"Okay then," she gritted.

"Okay," he confirmed.

It was more or less childish, but who said adults had to act like adults.

Naruto decided to change the subject. "Soooo teme, how are you and your girlfriend?"

Sakura twitched at Naruto's question. It suddenly got very hot in here. Sakura shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She was sure that she tasted bile.

"Hnn," Sasuke grunted, which in Sasuke's world meant 'it's going good'. "We're talking about moving in together."

Naruto excitedly exclaimed, "Congratulations! Let's celebrate!"

Sakura simply stayed quiet.

The blond waved the waiter over to order shots all around. She crossed her arms and quietly observed her two teammates, hoping that the sharp pain within her chest would subside quickly before Sasuke noticed her discomfort. The whole situation seriously just sucked.

Soon, the waiter laid out 20 shots on the table and went back to bustling tables.

Sasuke eyed Sakura darkly. Unfortunately her sour demeanor didn't go unnoticed. He watched her as she downed two shots with suppressed misery. As she opted to reach for her third shot, his arm shot out and grabbed the tiny glass from her reach.

Surprised, her glazed, down-trodden eyes found his. Her mouth hung open, on the verge of refuting to his actions. However, she paused, and her emerald eyes hardened; the misery instantly dissipated as if it was never there. Shrugging with nonchalance, she said, "Excuse me, I'm going to go grab a drink at the bar."

Naruto didn't notice her leave as he attempted to get a hold of the waiter once more to see if the place served any ramen. Sasuke's eyes remained on her retreating figure through the crowd.

Holding back the urge to decimate the place, Sakura staggered towards the bar. "What can I get for you?" the bartender politely asked her.

She grunted and glanced back at Sasuke, whose eyes were still watching her, "Whiskey, straight up."

The bartender set the drink down as she quickly downed its contents. Pushing the glass back in his direction, she signaled for a refill.

Tipping the bottle of whiskey into her empty glass, he spoke, "You know, it's not healthy to channel your frustrations through alcohol."

She shrugged nonchalantly as she finished the glass in one smooth motion. "Another one," she ordered and pushed the glass towards him once again.

Hesitantly, the man poured the pink-haired girl another glass. "So what do you do for a living?"

She paused and for a second, almost snorted into her drink. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Yes and no… Outwardly, it's very hard to believe you're a shinobi. However, you have that look."

"What look?" she asked as she finished another glass.

He paused and contemplated his response, "Jaded and rough around the edges."

She chuckled. He was right. She was jaded. "You're observant."

"Gee thanks," he replied, sarcasm laced within his voice. His voice turned serious, "So, it seems like you have a thing for that guy over there." He motioned over towards the brooding Uchiha.

"Eh…" she shrugged. "He's in love with someone else." She pushed for another refill.

"How can you be so sure?"

She paused for a second. For the first time through their conversation, she looked at the man. Her emerald eyes connected with his shocking amethyst ones. "You know, this really is none of your business."

He laughed as he ran a hand through his golden-brown hair, "Well, I make it a point to help out alcoholics with matters of the heart."

She contemplated his response. "Fair enough," she said in between mouthfuls of whiskey, "and I know because I know him better than anybody else."

"I see," he said thoughtfully, "You know he's looking this way right?"

She turned around and low and behold, his onyx eyes were still on her. "So?" she said bluntly.

"He doesn't look like he's very happy with me," he said smiling at her.

She glanced up at his amethyst eyes once again; the color held her attention, "He's just probably over-protective."

"Yagami Aki," he said while extending his hand out.

She paused and looked thoughtfully at his greeting. After a brief moment, she extended her hand out, "Haruno Sakura."

"So Sakura, how much are you willing to bet that that brooding almost-human being over there isn't jealous of our conversation?" Aki said playfully.

She smiled, and for the first time that night she realized there was more to this bartender than she thought. "How much do you have?"

Aki seemed amused at her response. "Hmm, that would be mean of me though."

"Why are you so confident?" she questioned. Her interest no longer laid within her half-filled glass of whiskey.

His hands guided her shoulders so that her emerald eyes met with Sasuke's intense glare. "You know what I see from his eyes?"

"Constipation?" she replied skeptically.

"Yes," he answered, "constipation." He laughed at her cynicism. "Not only that, but there's yearning, anger, desire, and panic." His voice was now a mere whisper from her ear.

She was quiet for a moment. "You're deluded," she simply stated. "That man is dead on the inside."

"While that might be true, you might not know him as well as you think you do."

She scoffed. "You are awfully confident. I didn't realize that you had your head so far up your ass. You might be right. I have such awful character judgment, seeing as how I'm still talking to you."

He leaned in and gave her a point-blank stare. "You must be. You still haven't picked up that I've been flirting with you this whole time." She raised an elegant pink brow. "See, this just proves you're oblivious."

She shrugged and turned back around, avoiding Sasuke's dark gaze.

Aki leaned in towards the pink-haired girl and whispered, "Let me prove my theory to you."

Her eyes widened as he pressed his lips against hers.

The blond was waving his arms around fanatically. Hey, he had to distract Sasuke somehow? The man was currently sipping his drink in a broody manner. Oh joy… Naruto always got stuck with the short end of the stick...

Sakura was yonder over at the bar seemingly enjoying a delicious kiss with an amethyst-eyed bartender. Naruto wasn't quite sure if Sasuke noticed, but as long as Naruto kept Sasuke distracted, he was sure it wouldn't click in Sasuke's mind what Sakura was doing.

"So you know Baa-chan says that I have a lot to work on!" Naruto embellished loudly, "But still, my job is much tougher than it looks. Bet you couldn't do it!"

By now, Sasuke didn't seem to be paying attention to Naruto altogether. Naruto inwardly sighed. Well hey, at least he tried.

Sasuke glanced back toward the now silent blond. "You can go over there if you want to Sasuke," Naruto mumbled warily.

He simply grunted and abruptly stood up. His footsteps seemed calm, but Naruto knew Sasuke better than he supposedly knew himself, and those were definitely frantic footsteps. Naruto sighed into his drink. This was going to be a very long night.

His lips were soft, and he tasted wild and male. She could slowly feel the oxygen leave her lungs and the numbness in her legs. It was an odd combination considering she was sitting down. There was flirtation and caution in his kiss, and she felt lost within his intoxicating smell. This amethyst eyed bartender made her feel exciting and dangerous, something she hadn't felt in years.

As she was about to give in to this man, an agitated noise caused her to jerk away from the gorgeous bartender. Sasuke, apparently, was clearing his throat louder than she thought was possible. Flushed with anger and embarrassment, she glared at the offending man.

Aki gave the man a bright-eyed smile, as if he was expecting him. "What can I get you?" he asked Sasuke cheerfully.

Uchiha Sasuke narrowed his eyes in disapproval and answered blandly, "Vodka, straight up. And just water for the lady."

The pink-haired kunoichi tilted her head in confusion. Aki turned his gaze towards her and gave her a flirtatious wink as he poured Sasuke's drink and handed Sakura a bottle of water. Immediately, Sasuke's hand circled around the girl's wrist, and she was dragged back towards Naruto's direction.

She did not protest nor resist, and allowed the man to his twisted desires.

Naruto seemed rather amused as his cerulean eyes sparkled with mischief. Sakura, on the other hand, was slightly confused and miffed now as she finally gathered the situation. However, she did not appreciate exposing her agitation to this man. Ignoring the situation, she popped off the cap on her bottled water and took a quick swig. "Thanks," she waved the bottle to indicate what she was referring to.

The dark-haired man 'hnned' in response.

Sakura flashed him a smile before walking away without another word.

The one thing that Sakura didn't appreciate during her genin years was her porn-loving sensei's lack of punctuality. She had a feeling that though the new kid didn't in fact possess a high affinity for porn (or so she hoped he didn't), he wasn't that punctual. He was late, and she was pissed.

The other two had shown up on time. They were simply gazing at her with skeptical expressions plastered upon their young, unjaded faces, and she immediately wondered if there was something on her face that she had missed during her shower that morning.

When the rookie had finally decided to grace her with his presence, he was an hour late. She could almost feel her blood pressure rise from his lack of respect but held her temper in deference to her own dignity. The kid wore a smug, 'I'm too young to understand what kind of predicament I'm in' smile.

She did not address his tardiness and started their first training session. "My name is Haruno Sakura, and I will be your jounin squad captain."

The two early boys gave her a skeptical smile, while the late boy seemed rather bored with her introduction.

Sakura paused and waited for their introductions. Hey, she just wanted to be polite. It wasn't as if she gave a shit who these puberty-hit kids were.

Apparently, Maki and Tenjou didn't seem to like her very much, and the rookie of the year, Yuki, had a snotty 'I'm better than you' attitude. Oh how he reminded her of a certain brooding dark-haired man….

Their introductions never came, but she had known who each and every one of them were before their meeting. Maki, as she recalled from Tsunade's files, was the one on the far left. His weight was placed on one leg as he stood there tapping his leg impatiently as if he was expecting her to spontaneously sprout horns. He reminded her of Hyuuga Neji with his mid-length brown hair and silver eyes. However, his pupils, unlike Neji's were dark, giving the man's eyes a contrast that was definitely more than sexy.

Sakura rolled her eyes. This kid seriously thought he was every female's wet dream. She suddenly wanted to make him cry.

Tenjou, an equally handsome boy, seemed much more humble than his counterpart. However, she sensed a certain sense of doubt radiating from the boy. His honey eyes seemed to disapprove of her, while he struggled to maintain a proper image in front of his superior. He seemed like the proper type. Sakura could tell, this boy spent hours in front of the mirror just to get his dirty blond hair in perfect condition. She almost felt like puking.

Sakura was sure she could handle these two, no matter how high maintenance or stuck up they were. But the last young man…she was sure she would snap with a couple of hours. Yuki had an indescribable attraction. It was a combination of mystery and darkness that awfully reminded her of Uchiha Sasuke. She immediately developed distaste for the young jounin.

"I would appreciate a brief introduction. A name would be nice," the pink-haired captain said dryly.

"Hyuuga Maki," the silver-eyed young man answered boredly.

Her eyes immediately shot to the gorgeous young man. "You're related to Neji?"

He seemed interested now as the silver within his eyes changed to grey. "We are cousins. I am from the main house."

She tasted a slight bitterness in her voice as she spoke to this young man, "Neji and I are friends."

It seemed that was all that was needed to be said. She knew that she had earned the boy's respect. After all, Hyuuga Neji wasn't the easiest person in the world to deal with.

The boy nodded respectfully, seemingly losing his haughty edge. She turned to Tenjou expectantly.

"Raigayashi Tenjou," the honey-eyed individual murmured.

The pink-haired kunoichi scrutinized the brunette. He was technically royalty. The Raigayashi clan was the biggest contributor to Konoha's yearly funds. Oh joy, she was going to be stuck with a spoiled brat.

"Tenjou, I brought your father back on that rescue mission last year," Sakura stated. The kid seemed shaken as he continued to remain quiet. Her eyes finally rested upon Yuki. She paused and turned around. "Let's start training then."

Yuki's eyes never left the ground.

Sasuke was right. She DID inherit Kakashi's tutelage methods; in other words, his laziness. The worst part about this situation was that she felt as if her distaste in pornography was actually ruining the current moment. She just didn't feel right without an orange book of smut in her hands.

The boys were sparring as she lazily stretched under the warmth of the sun. It felt nice to have time for herself. Being in Anbu didn't allow for these precious moments of recreation. Now that she retired from Anbu, she would spend more time getting a tan. She thought that maybe working at night and infiltrating underground torture chambers had made her a bit pale.

Besides, the clanking of swords was quite soothing. The boys were apparently sparring with katanas. Kids these days…so violent. She shrugged off the noise and lost herself to the whistling of the wind and the metallic spark of metal. Just as she was about to drift off to la-la land, the familiar swishing sound of metal piercing air disrupted her peaceful nap as she rolled away from her spot against the tree, narrowly missing being gorged in the face by a shiny metallic saber. What a great way to start out the day… almost shanked in the face.

Lazily, the pink-haired woman opened one eye only to come face to face with the blade of a vibrating sword that had buried its tip into the trunk of her recreational spot. She sighed. So much for peace and quiet…

The men were alarmed as Maki and Tenjou gaped at Sakura. Yuki simply sported a smug expression. Sakura yawned lazily and pulled herself up from the ground. "Ah, you guys are too loud. Maki, you should keep your movements less exaggerated. Tenjou, your movements don't have to be so reserved. We aren't running a beauty pageant you know…. And Yuki… you should probably start practicing…" She yawned again and headed into the bush, fully intending on taking a long deserved nap.

Yuki narrowed his eyes disapprovingly. "Why should I take any advice from you?" the Sasuke-wannabe asked monotonically.

Sakura spun around, pink hair cascading a whirlwind of pink behind her, and smiled, "You don't have to take any advice actually. You actually don't have to listen to me at all."

Yuki's smug expression returned.

"However, just because you don't have to do anything I say doesn't mean you don't have a responsibility towards the other two kids on your team," Sakura finished dryly.

Yuki rebuked. "I don't see you doing any training. You're just lying around. To be honest, you don't seem like someone we should be taking orders from."

Sakura smiled. But this time, she didn't seem to be looking at looking the three boys. "Sasuke-kun!"