Sass-suke

Chapter 14

Naruto gleefully tossed on his signature orange and blue jacket, shoving past Sakura to look at himself in the mirror. "Neh, Sakura, how do I look? Good enough to convince the bastard to come back to Konoha?"

Sakura rolled her eyes, swatting him on the arm. "Sasuke isn't going to care what you look like. He'll be too busy trying to rip your heart out like last time. Frowning, the blonde adjusted his collar.

"Well last time he never really went through with it in the end." Sakura sighed, scooting next to Naruto in front of the mirror. "I suppose not." She glared at Naruto, humming happily now that she could look down on him again.

"No distractions, Naruto. You can't go running after Sasuke yourself. And absolutely not telling him or anyone else you're from the future." Sakura poked him on the nose, letting out a small giggle.

She turned back towards the mirror, frowning at the long skirt that went below her knees. "Tsunade-san said that Sasuke was spotted near the shopping district, right?" Naruto let out a hum of agreement.

Glancing down at her friend's clothes, then back down at her own, the girl let out a sigh. "Good. We're going shopping." Naruto laughed out loud, showing his approval with a clap on Sakura's back.

Half a second later, Sakura returned the clap on the back, except 20 times harder and with her fist. The girl glared down at Naruto, who looked up at her with a laugh on his face, hands raised up in surrender.

WIth a huff, Sakura turned back to the mirror, tying her short hair up in a high ponytail. "Alright then." She grinned at her reflection. "Let's do this." From the ground, Naruto let out a whoop of joy, earning himself an eye roll from his teammate.

Thirty minutes later the teammates were giggling on the grass, reliving funny stories from the future while waiting for their sensei to arrive. "Yea!" Naruto laughed out loud, "The bastard was so pissed off I couldn't hold my laughter in!"

The pink haired girl next to him giggled as well. "I still can't believe he fell for it! It was the oldest trick in the book!" Nodding eagerly, Naruto's eyes sparkled, "Oh god Sasuke's face was priceless! And the fact that he was soaking wet made it all better!"

"What's this about Sasuke?" A baritone voice asked, their sensei poofing into existence in front of them. Naruto and Sakura fell silent. They had just seen him a couple days prior, but at that time there was too much happening to truly get a look at their sensei.

Naruto's eyes widened, and images of electric blue and blood red flashed across his mind. Gulping, Naruto pushed the images down, but there was so much blood, so much red, and he couldn't cope-

A delicate hand on his shoulder drew him out of his thoughts. Realizing that Kakashi had asked a question, the boy scrambled to answer it. Naruto stammered, "Uh, Sasuke he, um-"

"We're talking about how we're going to prank him once we bring him back." Sakura interrupted him. Her voice was steady, yet her fingers squeezed Naruto's shoulder with a grip fit to bruise.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at his students' strange behavior. "Oh really? You two are confident that we will bring him back?"

Naruto gave him the same blinding smile he used to wear as a child, pushing down the urge to break down, to hug his sensei and never let him go again. "Of course!" He puffed out his chest. "Or my name isn't Uzumaki Naruto!"

Sakura's heart felt like lead in her chest. Watching Naruto try so hard to be ok, to put a grin on his face hurt. But she followed his easy grin with a bright smile of her own.

Sakura snorted. "With how many times you've said that and failed, I wouldn't be surprised if the Konoha records no longer have your name in them." Naruto gasped looking offended, the moment of grief over as quickly as it began.