Sakura was worried. Extremely so, about the exam. On one hand, she wanted to take the test along with her team and show the world how capable of a kunoichi she was. On the other hand, she wasn't that confident about her own skills. She knew that she and her teammates had improved greatly since taken under Kakashi's wing and had learnt a lot but… the ones that had improved the most was Satsuki.
She and Haruto were secondary. But the Senju had his own personal trainers—Haruto had said that his family members were coming to train him—so he didn't have to worry much. She had no one to teach her anything, again, she had to confront Ino about this. Her blonde best friend might be able to help.
Her friend's place was where she was heading now but she decided to stop by the flower shop just in case she was tasked with looking after the store again. Sakura's instincts were right because Ino was there, sighing about a bored day. But the blonde girl brightened considerably when she saw her best friend!
"Sakura!" Ino waved wildly, gesturing for her to come forward hurriedly. "What brings you here?"
"I need help," Sakura moaned and started pouring her heart out to her best friend. Unnoticed by her, Ino's lips thinned when she mentioned her feelings towards the redhead Senju. "What do you think I should do?" she griped. "Should I join the exams?"
Ino was tempted to say no, because then Sakura would be hanging off Haruto's arm like a leech and Ino didn't want to see it. But one look at her long time best friend made her swallow all the cruel words and smile blithely. "Well, you can look for a female teacher who can understand your concerns," she ventured, not knowing what advice to offer without sounding too bitter and giving the other girl a better advantage over her. "How about Kurenai-sensei? She's a mistress of genjutsu and you have an affinity for it, right?"
Sakura nodded, biting her lip and considering. "But what about Haruto-kun and Satsuki-chan?"
Ugh. Outwardly, she tried to remain pleasant. "If they like one another," she said deviously, trying to keep the bite out of her tone. "Maybe you should just give up."
Sakura looked up, shocked at that. "Ino!" she said. "I thought you would be the last person to tell me to give up!"
Ino felt resentment stirring in her—a tumor of bitterness, jealousy and annoyance that she'd been carrying around ever since she saw Sakura and her new team chattering away. That Team Seven had been the talk of the town, of how great the clan scions were and that the teacher was famous; even Sakura who was nothing special (just a civilian child), had been brought into a special light—
"My, isn't she a bright girl to be on the same team as such great people"
"She must be a child prodigy, too then."
"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think you did," the Yamanaka returned scathingly, face and tone cold.
Only when Sakura stood and turn to flee the shop did she realize she'd been too mean. She winced. "Wait, Sakura—" she stretched an arm out but her friend stumbled away.
"Sorry," she said, her voice cracking. "I—I won't bother you ever again."
The mint-eyed girl choked back a sob as even her best friend turned her back on her. What should she do now? She needed someone to spill her worries about the Chunin Exams to, her parents just won't do because they'd actively discouraged her chasing the career as a ninja, and would probably lock her up to keep her safe from the dangers of the Chunin Exams. She couldn't even tell them about it, she thought sullenly.
"Sakura," a sharp voice cut in scathingly into her thoughts, the tone of voice almost as impersonal and cold as Ino's earlier. Sakura swallowed thickly, pushing back the memories of her falling out with her friend to the back of her mind and turned to face the speaker. She was mildly surprised to see Satsuki.
The Uchiha's clothes—her blue shirt with the signature red fan wet with sweat and her shorts dirty—clung to her skin like a second layer. She had her arms crossed and she was slightly breathless; no doubt she had been training while Sakura was moping around and whining.
"Yes?" Sakura asked when she realized her teammate was looking at her with something akin to concern in her dark eyes. "Do you need anything?" What could I possibly give you, she thought bitterly.
"Have you…" the pale girl arched an eyebrow. "…been crying?"
Vehemently, Sakura rubbed away the remnants of her weakness. "No," she said forcefully.
"Someone bullied you?"
That statement inflamed Sakura's temper, somewhere, she knew that Satsuki was only concerned about her but she could barely keep her bitterness in check. Even Satsuki, her own teammate, thought she was weak and couldn't defend herself. A deadweight.
"The Chunin Exams," she said through gritted teeth. "I'll be there."
"Good," Satsuki said even though she herself was mystified with Sakura's attitude. When her pink-haired teammate left, she had half the mind to call her back and glare at her till she talked. Pursing her lips, she settled for following her, maybe there was some bastard out there bothering her?
She wouldn't admit it but she was starting to grow fond of her team. Sometimes, when she thought about them or when she saw their team picture—their poses etched eternally into memory and never fading—it kept the nightmares and dead memories at bay.
Even if for a moment.
***
"Oyabun, as a reward for mastering the jutsu you taught me, will you play ninja with me and my friends?"
Haruto lifted his golden-eyed gaze—which Moegi thought was superbly cute and she could already feel a crush developing—to inspect the friends Konohamaru had brought with him. When the brunette had suddenly sped off without so much as a thank-you after the lesson, he thought it was rude and it had left him with nothing to do. He didn't expect the brat to bring his lackeys with him.
"I am a ninja," the Senju said after a long moment.
Konohamaru pouted.
"Humor us!" With a sigh, confronted with three puppy-eyes from the kids—so this nagging feeling of guilt was how his guardians felt whenever he used this card on them?—he agreed, albeit reluctantly.
"So, who's the bad guy?"
"Well, you," Udon—or so Haruto thought his name was, he didn't care much about the name—said, his tone carrying a heavy undertone of "duh" which was able to rub the redhead the wrong way. Man, the kid really was snotty, especially with his running nose. And, ugh, ew, he just rubbed the germ with his sleeves. As a part-time medic-nin, Haruto felt disgusted and he was tempted to lecture them the importance of proper hygiene but he had a feeling they wouldn't appreciate it.
He settled for groaning. "Fine." When he saw Moegi pout at this rather enthusiastic response, as a gentleman, he mustered up a grin. "You better run, or I'll win!"
The kids ran, laughing, overjoyed they finally got to play with someone other than their own gang. Haruto ran after them half-heartedly, silently wondering would it be wise to continue playing when he should be getting ready for tomorrow's exam. A part of his mind said that now would be too late to actually learn anything and he whole-heartedly agreed with his inner voice.
"Haruto?" the boy paused, stopping in his jog as he turned around, eyebrow twitching in annoyance at the female voice—enough fangirls had approached him for today, he didn't need anymore thank you very much—but it dispersed to be replaced by a grin when he realized it was Sakura. "What are you doing here?" the girl asked curiously.
Sensing that the older boy had stopped pursuing, Konohamaru was the first to pop out of his hiding place. He approached the redhead boy, followed timidly by Udon and Moegi, staring at the newcomer shyly and with no little amount of curiosity.
"Who's she, Oyabun?" the Grandson of the Hokage asked rather snobbishly though Haruto knew he didn't mean it. A devious grin crawled up his face. "Is she your girlfriend?" he giggled at the flaming cheeks of Sakura and a tint on Haruto's face. The latter grabbed him by the shoulder in warning, like he wanted to flung the younger boy into the sky but Konohamaru continued with his comments. "Hehe, don't have to be so embarrassed but if you ask me, her forehead's a little bit big though…"
The last comment was followed with echoing calls of agreement from his friends. Haruto made the mistake of saying, "Eheh, you're right but—" he stopped when he felt the killer intent. He blanched when he saw Sakura cracking her knuckles, ready to give them all a good beating. "Yikes! Run!"
Seriously, Sakura's almost as bad as his mother; he just hoped that the day where they unite in beating him up would never come.
"Ow!"
Haruto skidded to a stop, hands snatching up Udon's and Moegi's collar before they ended up colliding with the unknown ninja like Konohamaru did. He sensed Sakura stopping too, the killer intent dispersing as she faced the newcomer; she hastily lowered her fist when she noticed the foreign headband. The different headband drew Haruto's attention too but he remained and impassive face.
The calmness facade disappeared as a frown fought its way there when the foreign ninja snatched Konohamaru up by his long scarf. "You little brat," the tattooed-face boy spat in annoyance, angered at something as petty as this, wow, he must've ego the size of an ocean. Wisely, Haruto kept that comment to his himself when an not-so-pretty grimace appeared on the other boy's face. "Watch where you're going, or am I gonna hafta' teach ya a lesson, huh?"
Haruto scowled heavily at the slur. "Unhand him," he stressed, trying to keep the hostility out of his tone but he must've failed because the look the taller boy shot him was not one of diplomacy. "It was just an accident."
"Yeah," said Sakura, piping up to save the quickly worsening situation. "We're so sorry. We were just playing around and he must not have seen you—"
"You guys are ninjas," the mean guy sneered. "Shouldn't you be more perceptive of your surroundings? And playing with kids?" He snorted dismissively. "What a bunch of losers."
Haruto was tempted to snarl fuck you, but since there were kids there, he refrained from outright cursing. Before he could retort, Konohamaru beat him to it.
"My Oyabun can kick your ass any day!" he yelled, clenching his small fists and glowering up at the boy holding him captive. "Bring it on! He'll show you that you and your village suck badly!"
"That does it kid, no one insults my village," the ninja snarled, raising a hand to punch the grandson of the Hokage. Before he could seriously hurt him though, Haruto sensed, rather than saw, a stone connecting painfully with his knuckles. He whistled appreciatively, if the assailant had applied more force to it… she could seriously break some bones.
The foreign ninja howled in pain—and he called the Konoha ninjas losers—dropping and pushing the brat roughly away from him. Moegi and Udon caught Konohamaru and as one, they skirted off to hide behind Haruto and Sakura, still brave enough to stick their tongues out to mock their opponents. He snarled, whipping his head up to the tree that canopied them to see whoever had attacked him.
Haruto smirked, already knowing who it was without looking. "Great timing as ever, princess, such a show-off."
Satsuki ignored her rival, eyes narrowed and cold as she glared down at the foreign ninja, noting how he'd pulled the mummy on his back out, muscles tensed as if wanting to pick a fight. "Go back to your village, boy. What do you think you're doing when you mess with the Hokage's grandson? Are you trying to incite a war?"
"She's right, Kankuro," a new female voice stated. Sakura scowled when she saw the female ninja approaching them, hips swaying seductively, her eyes aimed on Haruto and her smile flirtatious. "He's the Hokage's grandson and you'll be paying with your life if you hurt him." Then she winked at the group of Konohanians. "Ignore my brother's idiotic tendencies. We're from Sand actually—"
"Get out of my way, Temari," Kankuro snarled in a tone that one won't usually use on their older sister. "I'll teach these bunch of tree-huggers a lesson they'll never forget!"
Satsuki's eyes flared red but she kept her temper and Sharingan in check. "The only tree-hugger here is that Senju," she jabbed a thumb at Haruto, seemingly offended. "And the only one being taught a lesson here will be you once we're through with you."
"I can't watch this," Temari sighed, shaking her head, already imagining the disaster this would cause.
"Kankuro… Temari… stop this nonsense now," a masculine and raspy voice rasped, shocking the group of gathered ninjas. "You're an embarrassment to our village."
Haruto jolted, shocked that he hadn't notice this new presence when the speaker had been hanging off a tree-branch. Had the new boy not spoken, he wouldn't have noticed his presence. Man, either his presence was that unimpressive or he was really good at concealing it. He looked up this time, noticing Satsuki's wide-eyed expression but she recovered quickly and jumped down; she was grumbling to herself, most likely wondering how she didn't notice him. Haruto was annoyed at himself too, and at the foreign ninjas, why are they so many of these freaks bothering his peaceful day like this?
Temari and Kankuro paled considerably, which made Haruto assume this new guy had quite a power over them. He shot them a curious look as they stammered excused to this suspicious Gaara character; what was there so much to be afraid of this eyebrow-less, gourd-carrying, red-headed… er, freak?
"Wait!" called Sakura with an outstretched arm when they tried to made their leave. "You're from Sunagakure, am I right?" Temari nodded, flashing the absurd-hair-colored kunoichi a curious look, wondering what she wanted. "Suna and Konoha may be allies but that doesn't mean you can come and go as you please—"
Temari rolled her eyes, already anticipating where this was going. She dug her hands into her pocket before producing a passport in their faces. "See this? We already got permission. We'll be staying here for the duration of Chunin Exams." She flashed them another curious look. "Are you all joining too?"
"Yes," Haruto responded tersely. Who knows, maybe they'll sabotage them or something if they let their guard down. He would've let them leave if the trees had not been complaining about something monstrous and unnerving. He frowned, assessing them and their chakra. It was the most likely that Gaara was like him… a Jinchuriki from how his Mokuton reacted. His sensor went nuts.
"You," the golden-eyed boy made eye-contact with the teal-eyed boy, but unlike the Senju's eyes, his fellow redhead's eyes were empty and dead, only the shimmering bloodlust evident in his eyes, the only emotion seemed to be craving for bloodshed. "Yes, you, what's your name?"
"My name," the boy spoke in an older, raspy voice as if he was thirsty or something. "is Gaara." He leveled his own version of a curious stare at the Uchiha and Senju. "What about you two?" His eyes darted between Satsuki and Haruto to make it clear who he was referring to.
Instinctively, Haruto shifted so that he obscured half of Satsuki protectively, missing Satsuki's scowl. "Senju Haruto," he said coolly, hands in his pocket belying the tenseness and how he was ready to spring into action at any moment.
"Uchiha Satsuki," the pale girl said with equal calmness though her eyes were hard.
"We are very much alike, you and I," remarked Gaara as he turned to leave. "Your hate." His eyes scrutinized Satsuki heavily before turning to Haruto. "And your tenant."
Haruto's fists clenched; the people behind his back were his friends, he didn't feel like losing them anytime soon just because some stranger—Jinchuriki kin or not—spilled the beans. He tried to remain a diplomatic smile even as he wanted to chase them away already.
"Don't you have anything else to do?" said Satsuki, but her tone was clear that she wanted them to leave.
"Yeah, yeah," muttered Kankuro, sending a wink Sakura and Satsuki's way which irked Haruto greatly. "See ya later." His eyes narrowed threateningly at Haruto but he didn't leave a scathing comment like he expected to.
"You can't let those pricks win," grumbled Konohamaru, adjusting his scarf around his neck so that the ends don't touch the ground. He was clearly shaken by the encounter but the courage he showed and how well he hid his fear made Haruto beam with pride. "Kick their asses, Oyabun!"
Haruto smiled. "You bet!"