Missed Me, Missed Me

It was 8:00 a.m. in Konoha village.  The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and Sakura Haruno was smashing her alarm clock into oblivion.

"Mou, stop beeping already!" she cried.

beep beep beep CRUNCH bleeeooorp........beep beep

The thing wouldn't die.

"SHUT UP FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!"

The highly aggravated teen grabbed the remains of her loud ticker and threw it against the wall.  It worked.  The mess of parts and wires slid down the white wall into a trash can.

"Ugh, finally..." Sakura groaned.

She slid out her bed and took her training clothes out of the dresser to get her day going.  She quickly ran a brush through her short bubblegum hair before tying on her red forehead protector.  Standing back to look at herself in the mirror, she smiled.

"It'll do."

With that the 16 yr. old made her way to the kitchen to get some breakfast.  The house was quiet, so Mr. and Mrs. Haruno must've gone to the market already.  Sakura's eyes landed on the wall clock.  It read 8:30.

"Aw, forget breakfast, I'm gonna be late!"

She ran back to her room, snatched her ninja gear, then bolted for the front door.  Locking the door behind her, the kunoichi sprinted towards the bridge on the other side of town.

Back in Sakura's room, all was silent...

beep beep beep beep beep beep

...except for the trash can.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Sakura paused in her dead run to catch her breath.  After her huffing and puffing had ceased, she noticed the sound of children laughing and running around.  She looked up to see the Academy playground.  It was recess for the kindergarteners and they all seemed to be involved in a game of tag.  Sakura stood up and watched the game with a serene smile on her face.

"Those were the good old days, ne?" she asked herself.

*FLASHBACK*

"Gotcha!" shouted a small pink-haired girl.

She jumped forward and reached out to tag her blond friend's arm.  The child missed by a hair, and landed flat on her face.  The blond girl turned around.

" Ha ha! Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me!" she teased.

"Ew, do I really have to kiss you, Ino?"

"No, Sakura! That'd be gross! It's just a saying." Ino laughed.

"Oh." Sakura blushed from embarassment.

"Here, let me help you up." Ino held out her hand for her friend.

"Thanks!" Sakura smiled and accepted the help.

*END FLASHBACK*

Sakura giggled at the memory.  Ino had always been her best friend.

"And I'm glad she still is, even though we're rivals over Sasuke-kun."

Something clicked in the kunoichi's brain.

"SASUKE-KUN! TRAINING! I'M LATE!!" and off like a bullet she went.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Sakura nearly passed out when she finally reached the bridge where Sasuke and Naruto were still waiting for Kakashi.  Today she was glad for her sensei's constant tardiness.  The two boys looked at their female comrade as she almost literally dragged herself up to meet them.

"Sakura-chan!!" cried Naruto "where have you been?!  Are you okay?! You don't look so good!  Di- Ow!!  DANG IT, SASUKE, WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?!" he yelled at the cool-headed Uchiha who had whacked him across the head.

"Shut up, dobe.  All your yelling is making her feel worse." Sasuke snapped at the fox boy, not taking his eyes off Sakura.

It was true.  The girl was swaying on her feet, still out of breath, with one hand holding her head indicating she was dizzy.

"O-o-ha-hayo...Naruto...Sa-su...Sasuke...kun..*gulp*...so- sorry I...I'm....late...." she forced out the words before falling over.

But instead of hitting the hard concrete, Sakura hit something tall and warm that smelled like evergreen.  Said thing then snaked what felt like muscular arms around her waist, holding her close.  She looked up to see deep onyx eyes and blue-black bangs.

"Sasuke-kun?  What are you doing?" she asked with a slight blush.

Sasuke smirked slightly.

"Medics should take better care of themselves." he said.

Sakura glared at him which only made his smirk widen in amusement.  He guided her over to the railing of the bridge so she wouldn't fall again.

"Aw, darn you, Sasuke. I wanted to catch her." Naruto whined.

"To bad, deadlast."

"Why you- "

POOF

"Yo!" greeted their silver-haired teacher. "Sorry I'm late. You see, I was- "

"Save it, Kakashi-sensei!" yelled Naruto.

Kakashi sighed in defeat.  "Alright, alright.  Today we're splitting up into pairs.  Naruto, you're with me.  We need to work on your chakra manipulation.  Sasuke and Sakura, you two work on eachother's weak points.  Understood?"

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei!" answered Sakura and Naruto.

"Hn." was Sasuke's usual response.

"Very good.  Come on Naruto, we're going this way."

The four of them split off into their assigned pairings and went to find different training areas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"So, how do you suggest we do this, Sasuke-kun?" asked Sakura when they reached their destination.

Sasuke thought for a moment.

"Let's just spar one or two rounds to see what's lacking.  Then that's what we'll focus on." he said coolly.

Sakura grinned at him and nodded.  Eagerness shone in her big emerald eyes.  Sasuke smirked and they both took on their fighting stances.

"I'm not gonna go easy on you."  Sasuke warned, still smirking.

Sakura smirked back.  "I know.  Neither will I."

The pink medic made the first move.  She ran foward, aiming a punch at Sasuke's handsome face.  The Uchiha heir saw it coming and sidestepped at the last second, but before he could counterattack Sakura fell to all fours and whipped her leg out to trip him.  Sasuke jumped up to avoid it and came down on top of his teammate with a kunai to stab her shoulder.  Too bad she turned into a log.

Sasuke immediately activated his Sharingan and looked up to see Sakura throwing four shurikens at him.  He easily dodged and was behind her as soon as she hit the ground.  She spun around to punch him in the gut, but he'd predicted her movement, grabbed her wrist, and threw her at a tree.  However, Sakura was able to position herself so that she hit the tree on her feet and gracefully cartwheeled off into a standing position.

"I thought you weren't gonna go easy on me."  Sasuke sneered.

Sakura rolled her eyes.  "Same goes for you." she retorted.

"Hn."

And they were at it again.  After about ten more minutes of chakra-powered kicks and punches, dodging fireballs and lightning, and avoiding earthquakes and fissures, Sasuke was about to end the fight by trapping Sakura with snakes summoned from his sleeves.  As he stretched his arms forward to unleash the serpents, Sakura took hold of his wrists and levered herself off them to flip over his head and land nearly ten feet behind him.

The kunoichi stood up and turned around to look at the raven-haired boy.  She giggled and smiled innocently when he frowned.  Her viridian eyes danced playfully.

"Heehee!  Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me!"

Sasuke raised his eyebrows while she stuck her tongue out at him.  Suddenly, the Sharingan user smiled a smile of pure evil.

Sakura immediately started worrying.

"Sasuke-kun?  Are you okay?" she asked warily.

In the next instant, the pink-haired girl found herself pinned to a tree.  Sasuke held her wrists above her head and crushed his body against hers, rendering her immobile.  Sakura blushed furiously at their position.  She looked up at her captor with wide eyes.  He still had that evil smirk and his deep black eyes stared intensely down into her own.  Their faces were merely inches apart.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sakura asked nervously.  Was his face getting closer?

"I think..." yep, he was definately getting closer "...I'm going to kiss you."

"WHA-!"  she didn't get a chance to finish as Sasuke caught her mouth with his.

Both of them inhaled sharply at the sudden whirl of senses and emotions.  Sasuke pressed himself harder against Sakura and deepened the kiss, and Sakura responded shyly.  They were just starting to get the hang of it when they had to break apart for air.
Sakura spoke first after they caught their breath.

"So what made you do that?" she asked, still blushing.

Sasuke brought her arms back down to her sides and slid his hands up to gently massage her shoulders.

"Your little taunt gave me the perfect opportunity to get back at you for one-upping me." he smirked deviously.

"Oh."

They stood silently for a moment, feeling perfectly at peace with eachother.

Sasuke lowered his head next to Sakura's so she could feel his breath on her neck, making her skin tingle.  He inhaled her cherry blossom scent.  Sakura took advantage of his position to bring her hands up to play with the rebellious hair on the back of his head.  She felt him shudder under her touch.

"You tasted like strawberries." she said suddenly.

The avenger let out a low chuckle in the her ear that sent shivers of pleasure down her spine.  

"And you tasted like tomatoes." he planted a kiss on her neck.

Just then, Sakura remembered something that made her grin.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn."

"Remember what you said before we started sparring?"

Sasuke lifted his head in remembrance.

"Let's just spar one or two rounds to see what's lacking.  Then that's what we'll focus on."

"Aa." he affirmed.

"I think we found something we need to work on." Sakura hinted flirtatiously.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows as the meaning of her words hit him.  He gave another devilish smirk and started in for another kiss.

"So this is where you two have been hiding." came a voice from behind some bushes.

Both Sakura and Sasuke nearly jumped out of their skin at the sudden interruption.

"Having fun?" asked a certain silver-haired jounin, ignoring the deadly daggers being glared his way.

"Kakashi..." Sasuke growled.

"Mou, Kakashi-sensei, how long have you been watching?" Sakura's voice was laced with venom.

"Hey, hey, don't take out your anger on me. It was Naruto's idea."

"WHAAA-!?!" shouted another loud voice.

CRASH

The obnoxious blond fell from the very tree the two had been leaning against.

"NARUTO!!!" yelled the infuriated couple.

The Kyuubi vessel looked up at them helplessly.

"Eheheh, hey guys, I can expl-"

"Shut up, dobe." Sasuke activated his Sharingan.

"You've really asked for it now, Naruto."  Sakura cracked her knuckles.

"No!  It wasn't me!  I wasn't- AAAAH!!"

The poor boy was cut off as Sasuke and Sakura proceeded to beat the snot out of him.

~~~~~

Meanwhile, Kakashi retreated to a safer tree branch.  He watched his team wordlessly.

"Hope they don't go too far."

Amidst the sounds of kicks, punches, and grunts of pain, Naruto's agonized screams, and Sasuke and Sakura's angry shouts and insults, the copy ninja settled back and pulled out the latest version of Icha Icha Tactics.

"Now where did I leave off again?"


OWARI