Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Day's of Leaf and Sand ❯ Arrival of the Sand ( Chapter 1 )

Ahh, and so it begins. I decided to do a little romance story instead of the usual comedy. I’m not much of a mushy-gushy person, ya know, but I think I needed a change for once. So let me know how I did…good or bad reviews accepted…If you submit a bad one, please be sure to explain why it’s bad so I can change it or improve in it. Thanks!

Team seven had just returned from a day’s mission. They had graduated to Chunnins the year prior with the rest of the Konoha “rookies.” When they got back at their usual departing place at the end of the day, the three of them decided they weren’t very tired to go home just yet.
“Why don’t we go to head courters?” Sakura suggested. “We can see if any other teams are back yet.”
Sasuke turned away and sighed “It doesn’t matter to me. Do whatever you want.”
A slightly put out Sakura replied with “Oh, alright.” She turned to look for Naruto but a glance towards a ramen stand proved where he was. He paid the chef and came back over with a steaming bowl of instant noodles.
“Ahh” he sighed. “Nothin’ like a delicious bowl of ramen to help you recover from a long, hard day, eh Sakura-chan?” he stated while opening his chopsticks.
She looked at him with a quirked brow. “Long?…Hard? *humph* If I recall correctly, Naruto, weren’t you the one Kakashi-sensei caught napping when we were supposed to be reporting our positions in the ambush? Hmm?“ she questioned.
He retorted “Well, yeah. I thought you, Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei could handle it just fine without me. Don’t worry Sakura-chan…” he said giving her a cute grin and a reassuring pat on the back. “…I would’ve been there the second you called if you needed me.”
Sakura shook him off and said “Anyway, we were thinking of meeting up with another team if any are back yet…you know, to touch up with things. I haven’t seen Lee-san or anyone for a while now.”
Naruto was all for the idea and exclaimed “Sure! I wanna say “hi” to Shikamaru, Neji, Kiba, Hinata…” he started counting out the names on his fingers.
Sasuke interjected and said “Well are we going to go or not?”
Sakura quickly answered “H-hai!” before the Uchiha had a chance to change his mind. She nodded to Naruto and they started on their way.

Chuunin headcourters~
They walked in through the double doors to find the waiting room empty with the exception of the receptionist at the counter.
Sakura walked up to her and asked “Umm, excuse me? Has any other teams checked in yet?”
The receptionist looked down inside her planner book and answered “Yes, Gai-sensei’s team has reported back, but none others.”
Sakura thanked her and turned back to the boys. “Well, we might as well turn in our report too without Kakashi-sensei.” She turned and handed the woman the piece of detailed paper. “And I guess we can go look for Lee-san’s team…”
Sakura was cut off by the opening of the entrance doors. Nara Shikamaru walked in but with someone they least expected. The pretty blond sand ninja known as Temari was right at his side carrying her giant wind fan. When they saw the other three chuunins staring at them they quickly released each others hand.
All three of team seven were dumbstruck at the sight but only two of them showed it much more than a certain sharingan user. Naruto ran over to greet and question them.
“Hey Shikamaru! What’s goin’ on?” He turned towards the sand ninja and asked in a persistent tone “Hey Temari-san, what are you doing here? Are you on a mission or on vacation? Is Gaara and Kankuro here too? Huh, huh?”
Shikamaru looked over at Temari and just shook his head with a smirk. She took the hint and a deep breath and used her wit to explain. “Why hello, Naruto-kun. I am here on official business which you cannot know, which obviously means I’m not on vacation but yes, you could call it a mission. That’s Kazekage Gaara to you and yes, both he and Kankuro are here as well. Now, do you have anymore questions?”
Naruto never flinched from the obvious tension and replied “Uhh huh! Why were you and Shikamaru holding hands when you came in?”
“Uhh…well, that’s…” they both started together.
“Yes, we were wondering that very same thing.” said Sakura; her and Sasuke walking over to join them.
Temari and Shikamaru looked at each other and sighed as if they were thinking Well, they’re going to find out anyway. Shikamaru reached over and grasped Temari’s hand once again. He said in a kind of muffled voice “The last time Temari was here, I guess you could say we spend a lot of time together. When it was time for her to go back to the Nation of Sand, we both realized how much we would miss each other.”
Temari smiled and continued “Yeah, so we decided to keep in touch…we’ve been writing to each other ever since.” She giggled and said “And now finally, Shikamaru got up the courage to ask me to dinner.”
“It was troublesome but I knew I had to do it eventually if I was gonna get any closer to her.” Shikamaru said closing the gap between him and Temari. He looked down at the paper in his hand. “But we had to drop off our report for team ten. I told Ino and Choji to just go on home…I would take care of it. I was on my way here but I guess I didn’t react fast enough when she tackled me from a bush I walked by.” He chuckled and playfully pushed in the side Temari “That wasn’t very funny by the way.”
She pushed him back a little harder and still giggling said “Then why are you laughing?”
Shikamaru sighed and shook his head. “Well, we still have our night to get back too.” He let go of Temari and went over to the counter to turn in his team’s mission report.
Temari took a look at team seven, now staring intrigued about the couple. She went over to Sakura and pulled her away to an inaudible hearing distance from Sasuke and Naruto. She cupped her hand over Sakura’s ear and whispered “And what about you?”
Sakura questioned “Eh?” not knowing what she meant.
Temari rolled her eyes and sighed “Ahh, just as thick as you were when I first met you.” She asked again “How are you doing? You know…with Sasuke-kun? If you asked me, I think he still looks a little tense.” She looked seriously at Sakura.
Shocked and puzzled at Temari’s question, Sakura didn’t know how to reply. “Uhh, umm. Well, I guess you could say it’s getting there…you know, if not there, then, uhh…it’s certainly getting somewhere.” It’s true that Sasuke looks uptight on the outside…but when I spend more time with him…A LOT more time with him…I see him start to relax. I think it’s a matter of trust. I think the reason why he’s so open to Naruto, even when he’s insulting him, is because Naruto was the first person he trusted…after his family’s tragedy.
“Really? Well, with him- somewhere is a lot further than I expected.” Temari looked over Sakura’s shoulder and saw that Shikamaru was ready to leave. She looked back to Sakura and said “Listen to me, things like love and hate happen in crazy and sometimes messed up ways. Don’t give up…just remember that unexpected things happen.” Temari laughed “ I mean just look at me…with Shikamaru. Now that’s messed up.” With a smile, Temari turned to leave with an admiring Sakura following right behind. When she got to Shikamaru she said goodbye and that she’ll be seeing them around again. “We don’t have to go back home for two weeks…even if I get the business finished beforehand.” The two turned to leave and Sakura swore she saw Temari give her a little wink.
The three watched them go and Sasuke went over to Sakura once the doors closed. “What did that sand ninja want?” he quickly and seriously asked.
Sakura was a little surprised at his change in attitude. “Umm, why do you want to know? Is something wrong?”
“No, nothings wrong…yet. Even though the Sand is our ally, we must always be cautious.” he replied with a suspicious expression.
“It’s fine” and said. “She was just asking me how I was doing.”
She could immediately see Sasuke relax. He looked at her and asked “And how are you doing, Sakura?”
Sakura tried not to show her heart’s shock and joy on her face where he could openly see her feelings. She couldn’t believe that the one she cared about the most, the one that no one could talk to…had actually asked her a question about her…as if he actually cared about her. She was too stunned to speak at once. “…well, I ahh…I’m fine…a-and how a-are you?” she clumsily asked.
He stared at her for a moment and answered “…hungry.” while looking around for Naruto.

Ramen Restaurant~
Sasuke sat at a table with Sakura eating silently. Naruto had decided to go find Ikura because supposedly he had lost a bet with Naruto over God knows what and Naruto was going to collect. Sakura thought This isn’t a date- This isn’t a date- This isn’t a date. But inner Sakura was arguing back HELL YES IT IS!! You’re sitting at a table, eating with the man…ALONE!! It’s a date!!! To Sakura’s disappointment, the “alone” part didn’t last long when team eight-Hinata, Shino and Kiba walked in. They spotted Sakura and Sasuke right away and Hinata and Kiba came and sat down while Shino got the drinks.
“Well, hello! Didn’t think we’d be seein’ you guy’s here!” Kiba greeted. He glanced around and said “And I don’t see the team clown around. Naruto isn’t here?”
Sakura welcomed them and said “No, he isn’t here.” To Sakura’s surprise she didn’t see Hinata give a look of disappointment. What’s going on? I though Hinata had a fancy for Naruto…Oh, well.
Everyone was now settled and eating. Trying to break the silence Sakura cleared her throat and asked “So what brought you guys here?”
Hinata answered because Kiba had his mouth full of steak and Shino wasn’t the type to answer a question unless it was directed exactly at him. She said “Umm, we got done with our mission a little late. We had nothing to do at home so we just turned in our reports a little bit ago and came here to eat.”
Sakura blinked at the very familiar story but there were more important things to get to. “Have you ran into the sand ninja’s yet? Temari-san said they were hear on official business. Know what it‘s about?”
Now that Kiba’s mouth wasn’t stuffed he answered “Naw. Is that Gaara guy here too? Man, he creeps me out.”
Sakura said. “Ohh, alright. Oh and that’s Kazekage Gaara.”
Hinata looked up stunned “Kazekage? But, he’s only 16.”
“I know. I was kinda shocked too. But you have to admit, he is powerful enough to be one.” She looked at Sasuke who was still slowly eating, probably just to stay out of the conversation. She thought Yeah, he was powerful enough to defeat Sasuke-kun …easily.
Kiba added “Well, now it’s just a good thing he’s one of Konoha’s strongest allies.” once again stuffing his mouth to it‘s capacity.
Sasuke finally stopped eating and stood up to signal he was finished. “I think I’m going to go home now.” he murmured. Just as he was getting ready to walk away, a chuunin messenger ninja came racing in through the restaurant entrance. He spotted the dinner table where the other five chuunin’s sat and walked casually up to it. Noticing the puzzled and in Sasuke’s case, annoyed, expressions, he got directly to the point. “Her mistress, the Fifth Hokage, has announced to all Chuunin ninja’s that they are to report to the quad area in front of the Hokage’s temple in 68 hours- no exceptions. Please inform all other Chuunin’s who do not happen to hear this message. That is all.” And with that he left.
“Hmm, I wonder what that was all about.” Kiba said breaking the awkward moment of silence. “It must be important if Hokage-sama wants to assign us in person. Then again, why would she tell us three day’s in advance…obviously it’s not an emergency.”
Sakura said “Maybe it’s about the Kazekage of the sand and why he’s here.” She looked over at Sasuke who was deep in thought. “What do you think Sasuke-kun?”
Sasuke realized that someone had asked him a question and replied “I don’t know…I’m going to go tell Naruto. Bye.” He handed Sakura some money to take care of both their portions of the meal-to Sakura’s surprise, and left. She watched him go with a don’t-go-so-soon look on her face until he was out of sight.
Hinata was the next to leave with “My parents really worry when I don’t get back when I say I am. I’d better go too. Ohh, Kiba-kun…” She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out enough money to cover team eight’s bill. “There. It’s on me. Hehe! Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you again in 68 hours. Good night!”
After a couple minutes, there was only a few empty plates and the bills sitting on the table.