Title: Two Avengers are Better Than One
Category: Anime/Manga » Naruto
Author: XxCrimsonNovaxX
Language: English, Rating: Rated: T
Genre: Drama/Romance
Published: 06-09-09, Updated: 01-31-10
Chapters: 4, Words: 8,508

Chapter 1: Fate

EDIT 01-31-10: I WROTE A NEW CHAP. AND COMBINED OLD ONES.

I wish Naruto was my creation…but he's not…:(

That night….about five years ago

Mr. and Mrs. Haruno were known for being against any and all violence. This wide array of a topic includes dog fighting, bullying, waiting for the doors to open at a major retail store the day after Thanksgiving, and above all, being a ninja...well, in this special case, a kunoichi. That was actually the purpose of the late night stroll the Harunos were taking. The mission: How to get their 8 year old daughter to accept the fact that under no circumstances was she to get any further in this ninja business. Of course, she could not see the fact that she could get killed or be taken prisoner and tortured for her information. No, all she gaped at was helping people and maybe being a little excited for being a part of something that was far bigger than her. They had tried everything, and failed. Finally, the parents have just come to accept that it was not their fault if she turned down the 'wrong' path. They absolutely knew that even if their plan did not work and she did turn down that road, it would not have anything to do with them.

Little did they know, the sole reason that Sakura would become one of the most powerful kunoichi that Konoha had ever seen actually had everything to do with them.

Itachi hated the smell of blood. Being a ninja, you would think that he would have gotten over it by now, but it still attacks his senses every time he is around it. The almost tangy iron smell made him sick. So obviously, as he watched the pools of blood around his aunt and uncle grow in size, tonight was going to be greatly disturbing to him.

'Next house' he grimaced. The thought of this and he was not even half way through.

Trying not to be seen he quickly ran from house to house killing anyone and anything. The only words that even ran through his mind was 'complete mission'.

He was making his rounds hastily, not wanting any outsiders to ruin his deception through the night. He had already told himself no matter what the council said that there was going to be a survivor tonight..but only one. If any other unfortunate people came by...sorry.

Mr. and Mrs. Haruno had just finished the plan and had decided to turn around and go back home when Mr. Haruno stopped abruptly.

"Did you hear that?" Mr. Haruno turned to look at one of the huge entrance gates to the Uchiha district, the symbol of the powerful clan dominating most of it.

"No, what are you talking about?" Mrs. Haruno looked around nervously. She knew Konoha was safe from other villages, but not from their own actual scum.

"I thought I heard someone scream…in there." He pointed very lazily into the Uchiha compound. Everyone knew them and the crest. They were Konoha's police. He turned back to look at his wide eyed wife, her jade colored eyes sparkling from the full moon that night.

"Do you think we should go in there and see if anyone is hurt?" he asked.

"Honestly, no! They are the police. Who would we call, them?" She stopped and tilted her head to the right, looking behind her husband, "Oh! Look, let's just ask that young man if everything is alright. I think I see his—yes that is a Uchiha symbol. Ask him!"

'This way,' she thought, 'we don't have to get involved. He will take care of it.'

"okay." Mr. Haruno quickly turned his attention to the young man briskly walking across the street completely unaware of them, or just ignoring them.

"You there! Yes, you!" Satisfied that he had gotten the young man's attention, he lowered his voice and continued.

"Is everything alright? I thought I heard a scream come from in there." The young man slowly turned his body towards them. Mrs. Haruno slowly started backing away.

'Something's not right.'

Mr. Haruno turned and gave a weird look to his wife, " They sure don't say much, do they?"

He just stared. Itachi could not believe the lack of luck these poor bystanders had. He had tried to spare them. He looked down and tried to act invisible, but no, the man had to make him look up. He just had to get his attention, only to ask about the screams he had created in the first place.

Maybe it was his fault, he could have ignored them. He could have spared them if he wanted to. But nonetheless, it was too late now. He had seen the pink hair, and they had seen his eyes. The woman turned to run. The only thought he had while he threw two perfectly placed kunai was 'Wrong place, Wrong time.'

Mr. Haruno held his already dead wife in the thirty seconds he had left. With a tear running down his cheek, he thought about his little cherry blossom. In his last seconds, he decided that any path she wanted to take would be accepted by him.

Sakura was sobbing her head off in her favorite purple pillow when the knock at the door came. Twenty minutes before the only thoughts that were in her head was how she had nothing else to live for. Now all she could think about was how dumb it was for her parents to not take their keys with them. She rolled off the bed and in a very grumpy way thudding her way to and down the stair way, only to fling the door open.

"MOM! You guys can't remember to take your—Who are you?"

The said stranger looked nice, for a ninja. He was about thirty and had nice blue eyes with brown hair framing his face. He looked down at her and with more emotion than she had learned a ninja was supposed to have.

"Miss Haruno, there has been an incident involving your parents. Can you please come with me?"

She observed the Konoha headband wrapped neatly around his arm,

"You're a ninja; my parents would never associate with you."

She tucked a mass of tangled, slightly damp, pink hair behind her ear. The unknown man just looked down at her with a sorrowful look.

'Something's wrong.'

Before she could fathom up any "what ifs" he spoke again.

"Please Miss, we will explain everything when we get to the station," he pleaded," I suggest you get a change of clothes."

'Kami!' she turned and ran up the stairs, glancing at all the family portraits her family had taken together over the years. She silently hoped that her parents were okay, but the pain in her heart and gut told her it was everything but okay.

Uchiha Sasuke was sitting in a cold metal chair beside some guy he presumed was supposed to be there for comfort when she came in.

He had already stopped crying, already numb. Like he needed some guy to tell him it would be alright. Stupid.

'Pink hair'

He looked up just in time to see his classmate walk by.

She glanced at him, and then walked by briskly, the worry on her face undeniable. They put her in the same room he went in two hours before. He watched her scoot her chair to the table and prop on her elbows as she sat down through the glass window placed for interrogation purposes. He knew her from the academy they went to last year. She was smart…and she had a crush on him. 'Who cares' he concluded. All he could think about how his brother…no, his enemy...

And with that, Sasuke was swimming in his head full of the turmoil that had occured that night.

'Ugh' He couldn't even hear his thoughts with all this noise! He looked up and heard which direction and exactly what room it was coming from. That's when he realized it was her that he heard, screaming her head off. He turned to look at her, blinking his eyes. It was if the emotion that she was carrying on her heart was too much for crying, and screaming was the only thing left to do. Carelessly flinging her arms, she threw the chair she used to be sitting in. Only pain could be seen in her eyes. She thrashed while two male ninja tried to supress her. He looked back down and wondered what happened. Nothing could be more worse than his night, obviously.

The man who was sitting beside him noticed the attention the girl was getting, he angled his head at Sasuke.

"You know, you are not the only one that lost their whole family tonight. He orphaned her too."

At that exact moment in time, the numbness disappeared. Then he felt it, the hate, crawl in him and take over all his senses. It was almost overwhelming.

YEARS LATER

It was the first day of being a genin, and sitting in this cheap school chair propped on her elbows made Sakura feel anything but different. Then, as Iruka sensei started calling out names for teams, she turned to her own thoughts instead of listening. This team stuff didn't interest her. She didn't care who she was put on a team with, as long as they pulled the weight. She didn't need the looks of sorrow from people, as long as they stayed away and didn't poke thier nose in her business. And she definitely did not need Uchiha Sasuke around, he just reminded her of the bad dream that turned reality so long ago. So sitting here in this place looking at Iruka-sensei not call her name just seemed plain ole boring. She looked around at her school mates she had been with for the past five had never really gotten close to anyone. Actually, only two had made it past the 'What's your name' stage. There was her hyperactive outcast friend named Naruto. Then came Ino, with the nails and hair of a model. The rest just looked like people she would never see again. The real question is who really cared? Turning her head back to the front of the class she thought about the training that she was going to do tonight.

She noticed someone walking towards her from the right.

'Late...' she thought, but Iruka hardly noticed and continued to drill on.

She twisted her neck only to see her own personal reminder to what happened five years ago. Like a clock with an alarm, the thoughts of that night came buzzing back into her head like a swarm of bees. She quickly swatted them away and looked up. Immediately, her dark green eyes met the black holes that she remembered so long ago. Uchiha Sasuke.

'So here we are, waiting for our lives to change.' She silently commented to him.

It's not that she was scared of him, no; it's just terribly uncomfortable between them. You know, with the massacre of their parents and all, it would only be awkward silence. It just seemed normal for them to train, eat, sleep, and act happy…apart from one another. He gave her a slight acknowledging nod before deciding to sit on the other end of the three man seat, leaving a space in the middle. This being only intelligent from all the dumb crushes their classmates had on him, even her 'sort of friend but really an aquaintance' Ino had a crush on him. Sheesh.

'Smart move…who would want to sit between the two orphaned loners?' she accredited him before turning her attention to the racket coming from her right. Her other best friend was running full-speed at her.

"Sakura!!!! I was, um, wondering if I could sit with you?" He asked sheepishly. This translated into, 'no one else wants to sit with the monster..so please?'

"Of course Naruto, here is a seat right beside me." She smiled a small smile of pity and motioned to the seat in between her and Sasuke.

"But Saaaaakkura-chan! It's by him…." hissing out the last word while making a face at Sasuke, who in turn, ignored him and the rest of the world.

Sakura sighed before doing Naruto's will and scooting over to the next cold cheap chair. She huffed.

'Wouldn't this be one fun three man team to be on?' she thought oh so sarcastically as she looked from her left to her right.

Much to the amazement of others, Sasuke was not a stoic ice statue. Actually, he was far from it. Having grown up really not wanting to talk to anyone, seeing as only useless girls wanted to talk to him anyway, he came up with alternative ways to keep himself from going insane. So that only left himself. Of course, that was only on the inside. On the outside, the majority of his answers were 'hn' and 'no' while staring straight ahead. But on the inside, he was quite the motor mouth. But no one said he was optimistic...

'You have got to be kidding me! Has fate not had it's fun with me already?!'

Sasuke could not believe his ears. A three man team with him, Naruto, and Sakura! Could this get any worse?

Naruto hated his guts, and the feelings were everything more than mutual. At least that was not all bad. But to have Sakura on his team would be more or less…unhappy. She had clearly tried to avoid him from the day that happened, now he was going to have to spar with her, or worse, talk to her…face to face! Sasuke calmed himself down..

It was only a few months of this team stuff before they were separated right?He looked at the newly founded team 7....

'I wish Johnny raincloud would keep to himself these days.'

As he sat in the classroom waiting for the new sensei to come and take them away to ninja-land, Sasuke could only feel even more forgotten. It had been two hours already, this was getting beyond ridiculous. So, remaining his usual stoic self, he decided to look around while acting as if he wasn't looking at anyone or anything at all. Up front, he observed Naruto having his fun at trying to think of new and exciting dirty words to write on the board, while Sakura just sat there much like himself. Suddenly, whether she felt his eyes or she was trying to sneek a peek at him as well, they caught each other's stares in thier own.

'Oh crap…'

Their eyes lingered on each others before she moved to lay her head down. He wondered what kind of fighting skills she had, or if she even was any good at all. He had never seen her train, but he had heard those words that night.

Flashback

He looked in horror as they had to restrain her. She was wrestling with two ninja at the moment, screaming bloody murder. She was struggling very hard to get away he observed.

"LET.. ME GO I SAID!!! I TOLD YOU…. I'M GOING… AFTER HIM!!! I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!!!"

And that was when the glass window broke with the blow her foot had just made. Seeing her bloody ankle, she stopped resisting and calmed down, but not before having the last word.

"You just wait and see how powerful I become. He will NEVER stop me."

End Flashback

Maybe she was good. But then again, maybe she was not. Then a thought struck him oddly.

'I hope she doesn't think that she is going to be the one to kill him..does she?'

Sakura had her eyes open under the tangle of her arms and hair.

'This desk is dirty.' She grimaced. It was only a distraction thought, one to get her mind off of that boy. Uchiha…

She really did not know if she could go through with this or not, being on the team with him. Really, how was she supposed to cope? No longer could she be a mystery to him, no longer could she avoid him, and no longer could she act like they didn't have anything to do with each other. She sighed into the little cave she had created, making it humid and hot. For the need of fresh air, she picked her head up and opted for the usual position of leaning on her elbows. The thoughts of doubt quickly vanished.

'Oh well, this is not for me..this is for them, mom and dad. And I will get through this. ..To get stronger.'

She was looking at Naruto trying to spell a word that she had never seen before whenever the new sensei came in. He looked at the board and gave Naruto a 'you have got to be kidding me' look and then turned his head towards Sasuke and I.

"Come on, time to get some fresh air." He drawled. The mask on his face with the silver hair oddly went together. It actually looked..normal. He turned around and started walking then, looking over his shoulder, he called to Naruto.

"And you there in the orange...Do you even know what that means?"

Sitting on the roof always made Kakashi feel better. It was wide open with plenty of wind to gently blow on his face. Considering he wore a mask, wind was good. He switched his attention to the mere young, very young, adults before him.

'So this is team 7.'

"You, with the black hair. What are your dreams, goals, likes, and dislikes…and your name would be nice too." With that, Kakashi's eyes curved into a smile.

Sasuke opened his eyes from where he had been trying to ignore everything. Sigh. Okay, here we go.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like training. I don't like certain things. My dream is to be the best. And my goal is to kill a certain someone." He finished. And then closed his eyes again.

'Well, I'm gonna have to get a hold on this one…I can't have an avenger ruining his life.' Kakashi thought, while at the same time signaling to the girl in the middle.

Sakura's hair blew with the wind as she started talking. She had not really thought about the answers, she was just going to say what she felt. Wing it.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I love to train, and have people over for dinner. I hate being alone in a big house, it's lonely. Please understand, my hair is natural. It runs in the..family. Um, my dream is to be a wonderful ninja. And my goal is also to kill someone." She added the last part hesitantly while not making eye contact with the mentally gaping Uchiha or her sensei who was wondering why he got placed with the rookie team of emos.

"Okay then, um, in the orange. Your next." He was trying to keep smiling but it was hard.

"I'm Uzamaki Naruto!!!! And I'm going to Hokage and write Itcha Itcha books…this man at the hot springs gave them to me. He said I would be enlightened. And I like ramen, it's the best. And I don't like…him." He pointed to Sasuke with a snarl on his face, "And that is about all huh. Uh, yeah!"

....The smile disappeared from Kakashi's face, but underneath the mask no one noticed. The old perverted frog summoned had done it again. He was going to have to do something about this, he could not go around and corrupt young men's heads all the time!

Kakashi sensei knew he could not teach all three of these…disturbed individuals. That is when he started formulating a plan behind that mask of his.

Listening to the sound of a distant bird calling, Kakashi 'poofed' into oblivian.