Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"I wanted to ask you something." Sasuke's voice was thoughtful and that alone snapped Sakura out of her fangirl haze.

Sakura blinked and sat straighter on the hard bench, her blush disappearing as she listened.

"What do you think of Naruto?" His eyes were intense as he stared earnestly into hers.

Sakura looked down at her sandals, her hands tightening on her knees.

"I study hard." Sakura's voice sounded like it was on the brink of tears. "You wouldn't know how hard it is to be the only civilian in a group of clan kids. Naruto…he's got the Hokage, at least. My family had to bribe a jounin into endorse me. If I pulled half the stuff he's done, I'd be kicked out in two seconds flat and my family would lose their only foothold to get my little brother into the Academy."

Sakura's head snapped around, fixing Sasuke with a heated glare. "People think I'm a teacher's pet, and bully me; they don't realize that I don't have a clan name to excuse any misbehavior."

"Naruto knows nothing about me." Sakura's hands tightened and her voice came out harsh. "He pleads for me to take me out on a date, or to go out for ramen but-" Sakura's voice shook. "- he doesn't know me. I don't even think he likes me, he just wants to humiliate the civilian girl." Sakura looked down again.

"He's just annoying."

Sasuke sat back, his eyes wavering as Sakura continued- though on a more "Sasuke-kun" oriented avenue.

'Is that seriously what she thinks?' Naruto wondered, so shocked that his henge almost wavered. 'That I only want her to come out on a date with me to- what? Stand her up?'

"-all I want is for you to accept me."

Naruto's eyes widened in panic as Sakura's eyes drifted shut and her head tilted and –

His eyes fluttered shut as their lips met and he just let go. The brief discomfort he'd felt earlier in the day ceased as he gave himself over the fluttering in his stomach and the warm feeling encompassing his heart.

Sakura tensed when her lips met his, expecting the rejection that had made up the majority of her nonexistent courtship with the Uchiha. Instead, his lips pressed earnestly back on hers and she could feel herself shiver and curl her toes in her sandals-

Naruto sighed, so caught up in the euphoria that he let the tight control he had on his chakra loosen-

-she felt the cool lips of the Uchiha morph into something warmer and she gasped as it ignited into something that reverberated down her entire body, cooled somewhat by the rough, calloused hand that reached up to cradle her cheek-

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto muttered, pressing his forehead against her own.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura drew back sharply, her eyes flashing open as she took in the object of her first kiss.

Instead of the cool, unflappable face of her crush she found the flushed face of Naruto Uzumaki, the boy she had just belittled minutes before.

"N-naruto?" she gasped, recoiling in shock.

"H-hello, Sakura-chan?" Naruto said weakly, waving at her.

"Naruto?" Sakura scrambled away from him, nearly falling off her bench in her haste to put some distance between herself and the reason for her vibrant red blush.

This- this was not how it was supposed to go. She was supposed to kiss Sasuke and run away together and get married and have tons of Uchiha babies.

She was not supposed to kiss Naruto Uzumaki.

And like it.

"I-I," Sakura's eyes darted from Naruto's hopeful face to the ground. "I've gotta go."

"But Sakura-chan-"

She turned her back on him and ran, back through the open gates of Konoha and into the city proper.

Chapter Text

Naruto was worried he broke Sakura-chan.

Being ignored by the kunoichi wasn't unusual—in fact that made up about 95% of their interaction—but she was almost utterly silent. She didn't fight with Ino over who would sit next to Sasuke-kun, she didn't loudly proclaim how much she hated Naruto…

She was quiet.

This is weird. Naruto thought, glancing over at his teammate for the umpteenth time. Her eyes were unfocused, and she was staring into the desk with an intensity that Naruto had never seen in her before. He was caught between worrying for his safety (she hadn't punished him for kissing her yet, so he was still on his guard) and hoping that maybe Sakura would go on a date with him now.

Naruto grinned, puffing his chest out a little. Maybe he could add Ninja Casanova to his list of titles…?

He looked over, catching Sakura's eye as she shook herself out of her stupor. Naruto watched with wonder as Sakura's face slowly filled with red—he grinned at her (more of a smile, really, not one of his blinding, masking grins) and watched as she ducked her head. Pink hair fell between them, and Naruto allowed himself a pat on the back.

Today was a good day.

XXX

Today was the worst day of Sakura's life.

Sakura was oscillating between rage and humiliation. She was a mess; she was probably breaking every rule her Academy instructors had impressed upon her.

Rule # 25: A shinobi must never show emotion.

How dare he? How dare Naruto trick her like that—she didn't care how lovesick or pathetic Naruto made himself out to be, he didn't have the right to kiss her under false pretenses. She felt somewhat violated and betrayed by her own affections.

The fact that Naruto—Naruto of all people—was able to pass himself off as Sasuke to the point where Sakura had been willing to kiss him revealed some unpleasant truths. There were only two explanations; either Naruto was a good enough ninja that he could impersonate Sasuke to a tee, or Sakura had never known Sasuke very well in the first place.

Her Inner was making it very clear what camp she rested in. It's not like you like Sasuke very much anyway. Her own voice echoed snidely in her head. You like the idea of him on your arm. You like the idea of someone more popular than you noticing you, like some sort of fairytale. That's what happened with Ino, wasn't it?

Sakura made a distressed sound in her throat. No, that's not it at all-

Don't lie. Inner-Sakura snorted. I'm you, remember? Better yet, I'm the better, more improved you. I'm stronger, faster, smarter—because I don't let anyone hold me down.

You exist in my mind, Sakura thought. If I had anyone in there to 'hold you down' I'd be diagnosed with a dissociative identity disorder.

Sakura felt Inner-Sakura shrug. Think what you like. All I know is that Sasuke has never been anything more than a bystander when people bully you. Doesn't that mean he agrees with them? Inner–Sakura let that thought sink in for a moment. Why waste your time on someone with that clan mentality?

"Sakura-san?" Sakura blinked, and looked up from the floor. Iruka-sensei was looking at her, concern wrinkling the scar across the bridge of his nose. She noticed that she was standing in the doorway of the classroom, blocking the way of the students behind her.

"A-aa." Sakura's neck flushed and she quickly made her way to the back of the classroom. She ignored the weird looks from her classmates and sat down in an empty seat near the corner. Sakura really wasn't in the mood to fight with Ino over a seat next to Sasuke.

Sakura scowled. Was she really so shaken up by a single kiss from a guy she didn't even like that much? Was she so desperate for attention that a single, physical sign that someone else liked her could cancel out three years of crushing on Sasuke-kun?

But things were a little different now. For instance, Naruto actually legitimately liked her. She'd always assumed it was his idea of a funny joke—a way of placating the bullies by publicly proclaiming his love for the weird, pink haired civilian girl, humiliating her in the process. It had worked too. Ami and her cronies had never picked on Naruto; they seemed to reserve their vitriol for Sakura alone.

It had been very easy to believe the worst of a boy her parents said was cruel and mean.

In fact, Sakura was at a bit of a loss. If she took all of her preconceived notions and stereotypes and threw them out, she realized she knew very little about Naruto. He liked ramen, wanted to be Hokage, was good at pranks- everyone knew this about naruto, no matter what they felt about him. He was just that loud. That left her with very little intel on how to interact with him. Somehow, berating him and beating him around the head seemed inappropriate now. Before he'd been a stalker of sorts, a distasteful tag-along that just wouldn't go away.

What was he now? Acquaintance, friend, significant other...?

Sakura glanced down the classroom toward the bright orange of Naruto's jumpsuit. Their eyes caught, and Sakura was mortified to feel blood rush into her cheeks.

Oh god, this was embarrassing-

Then Naruto smiled.

He didn't grin, all teeth and squinted eyes. It was a simple, small smile. Sakura ducked her head, her long hair falling to cover the crimson of her face.

Sakura decided she would very much like to know Naruto better.

XXX

Kakashi had never had a more awkward team in his life.

Really, he intended on citing it as a reason for failing them in his report to the Hokage later. If this silence went on any longer, he would kill one of them.

Probably the broody Uchiha.

"Uh, introduce yourselves, I guess."

Insert another awkward pause.

"Like what?" Finally, the pink one spoke up. Strange, Kakashi's dossier on her had said she was a bit of a chatterbox and a fangirl to boot. She was being oddly quiet and un-fangirly.

Curious.

"Oh, you know." Kakashi waved his hand. "Likes, dislikes, that sort of thing. Goals for the future, yadda yadda."

"Yatta!" Naruto yelled, leaping to his feet. He grinned, and Kakashi was amused to see that Naruto looked as genuinely happy as he acted. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen and Sakura-chan!" Naruto cut his eyes to his female teammate.

Oh, was she blushing? Kakashi smirked. Interesting. This was just like the plot of Icha Icha ANBU, when Miki and Reiko-

"-and I'm going to be the Hokage one day!"

"Is that so?" Kakashi blinked lazily, vaguely annoyed at being brought out his ruminations. "Next. You, pinky."

The kunoichi blinked. "Er- I'm Sakura Haruno. I, uh-" she cleared her throat. Her eyes flickered from her blond to her dark haired teammates. "I don't know."

"You don't know your hobbies, your likes, or your dislikes?" Kakashi made sure to sound as incredulous as possible in order to maximize embarrassment even as he noted her strange behavior.

Sakura colored, and shrugged.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. Hmphf. He didn't like puzzles,and this team was turning into one big headache. What kind of genin team deviated from their Academy dossier's on graduation day?

Well, except for the Uchiha. He was almost disappointingly predictable.

Whatever. It wasn't like they were going to pass anyway.