Take This To Heart: KakaSaku

Ice

Sasuke wasn't the only person she had been in love with at age twelve.

It was something silly, Sakura spending the night at Ino's between missions, early genin girls wondering how they were going to do their hair to try and impress Sasuke the following day at training. Ino had asked Sakura if there was anyone else she had liked, and while the pinkette thought about it long and hard, she couldn't come up with anyone. So tentatively, she asked Ino her opinion of Shikamaru, only to see the girl's face go up in a mess of crimson, sputtering words and no he's just my best friend is all.

Best friend. Right.

Sakura wasn't stupid.

But still, as the days following that particular sleepover passed, Sakura walked with her head high and lips pursed, wondering silently who stood out to her. There was not anyone in the village who was as cute and as mysterious as Sasuke.

Or so she thought.

It had happened at training one particular fall afternoon, the three of them against Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke, ever being the Uchiha he was brought up as, was quick and calculated, moved precise; the exact opposite of the loud and brash Naruto. It was moments of weakness, seeing the two boys together, that Sakura truly felt like the third wheel. Their team didn't get along at all, and they never talked to her about anything. They had made a plan, sure, but Sakura was the only one to stick to said plan.

So she sat in the tree, waiting for Sasuke's signal to move. When he burst from the trees without alerting her, Sakura had been upset, who wouldn't have? She felt forgotten, and dammit she was not useless! Her near perfect chakra control had given her the ability to climb the frosty trees, but not the ability to cross slippery bridges.

Kakashi had easily jumped over the river, being a high ranking jounin that he was, it was easy. She had been crossing the river, the bridge lacking a standard safety rail when her foot caught ice. Sakura's eyes had widened, her heart shooting into her chest as she felt towards the frozen river. She closed her eyes for the initial impact, but a strong grip caught her wrist, and pulled her back up, the twelve year old breathing erratically.

The two boys hadn't even noticed, too busy arguing with each other, and Sakura had clung to Kakashi's flak jacket for the life of her, jade eyes wide. "Are you okay, Sakura?" His voice was low, slightly worried and his visible eye was wide as he waited for his answer. Sakura was unable to answer him, her voice catching on her throat as she looked up to her teacher.

And on that bridge, when she was twelve, she realized maybe Sasuke wasn't the only mysterious one.