The pinkette woke to rustling sheets beside her and she instinctively rolled over to brush the soft spiky hair of the blond. Groggily waking up to search the room before a voice echoed in her head and the chains clinking softly against her pale wrist.

"Wake up, you make me question a lot of things Sa-ku-ra." She could tell from Kiyoshi's voice that he wasn't pleased at the display of affection she gave the blond jinchuuriki.

Sakura merely got up to rub the sleep from her eyes as she glanced over at the alarm seeing how early she had really gotten up. It displayed a flashing 6:00 am and she muttered soft curses before sliding out of the tangled limbs or her and Naruto. Donning on a black turtleneck and some baggy shinobi pants she went into the kitchens with a few thoughts swirling in her mind. Was Kakashi going to register their team for the chunin exams? Musing quietly she went to make some tea for herself and some coffee for Naruto if he woke up which knowing him, her absence in bed would definitely wake him up. 

lo and behold the blonde teen cracked one eye open and scanned the still warm sheets before looking around to find the pinkette, quickly sniffing to smell the coffee and he yawned. Rolling out of bed to dress himself before meeting his room mate for some breakfast which was a simple onigiri plate with some miso soup. Sitting down he lazily stared at his best friend and observed how she often held a glassy look in her eyes when she was occupied in the early mornings. 

Naruto wasn't blind, after years of living with her he could pick up a few signs when she didn't want to be interrupted from her mind and today seemed like a good time to not talk to her just yet, so instead he munched on a rice ball and hummed quietly thinking about how the years flew by and how much Sakura seemed to be trapped by something. If she hadn't taken him in after his initial home was ransacked and raided he wouldn't know what he would have done. Quietly he sipped at his soup as his own thoughts drifted to people they knew. Sasuke being one of the top... threats to his beloved rosette's life. Coughing slightly Naruto noticed Sakura slip out of her daze and flash him a quiet and serene smile yet she looked more tired then usual.

"when do you think Kakashi will announce our participation to the chunin exams?" The blond drawled out as he sipped at his coffee, his plate clean of his breakfast.

"Most likely today, we're supposed to be meeting up for training with Sasuke and Kakashi so i'm sure our sensei will announce it then." Sakura leaned back and took a bite of her riceball. eyeing how the dawn started to shift into a bright morning. 

"I suppose we'll have to get ready to meet them then?" Naruto stretched and downed the last of the invigorating drink before taking his plates and cup to the sink to wash them.

"Yeah, talk on the streets is that the major hidden villages are here, what do you think the exams will be like?" keeping the edge off her tongue she hummed "Maybe we'll have to be solo?"

"Highly doubted Saku-chan" Naruto popped his head around the corner, his hitae-ite hanging loosely around his neck "They'll probably be team based no?"

"Hm..." Green eyes flitted to the door and then the clock before she finished off her meal and went to clean the dishes. She eyed the chain on her wrist and grimaced slightly before going off into their shared room to get ready to meet the other half of her team, Naruto following behind to make sure he had everything as well. The two set off, locking and trapping their front door and turning to walk the cobbled streets slowly. Knowing their sensei he was going to be late so the two took their time to get to the usual team training grounds. 

Arriving to see Sasuke already there sitting under a shady tree, the two gave him a mere nod as they went off to stretch and warm up. Feeling the burning onyx eyes staring at the two from the tree before hearing the rustling as their third member got closer.

"Is there something I can do for you Sasuke?" Sakura turned and raised an eyebrow, mid stretch as the blonde beside her shifted slightly closer.

"Nothing..." Sasuke shuffled his hands into his pockets and kept observing them with a strange look in his eyes, mostly directed to the pinkette who huffed quietly to resume her stretches.

Thirty minutes had gone by before Kakashi finally showed up, orange book in his hand as he gave a fake smile "Hey there kiddo's I got the chunin exam slips for you all to sign. The location you have to be is written down below so make sure you get ready to be there tomorrow morning." 

The three teens went over to grab the slips, examining them a bit before tucking them away into their holsters, after Sakura chimed up "Will we be training today or having the day off Sensei?"

Kakashi eyed her and then hummed quietly "Take the day off to restock supplies and get ready for the exam, good luck kiddos." he gave an eye smile and poofed away leaving the three alone in the clearing.

Sakura snorted and folded her arms as their sensei abandoned them once again, turning to Naruto she hummed quietly "What do you wanna do Naru?"

The blonde muttered something under his breath and them leaned his head on her shoulder "Well we had Ichiraku alot.. should we seek out the foreign nin to gather information or just relax?" Naruto slid a lazy eye over to the Uchiha who was merely watching them.

"Maybe we can go bother Gaara-san again, he seems like a good person to annoy" Sakura drawled out thinking back on her encounter yesterday with the panda looking red head. Kid looked like he lacked sleep for years which made the girl curious. While the two talked Sasuke simply retreated, not wanting to keep watching them nor associating with them. He stuffed his hands into his pockets to go wander off to do some solo training.

When their third teammate left the two remaining looked to each other and chuckled quietly, truly a sight to see. Agreeing on visiting the foreign nin the two walked side by side to locate the red head when they stumbled on a familiar teen. Haku was at the market buying some groceries when he spotted them and gave them a wave.

"Sakura-san, Naruto-san!" The long haired beauty gave them a bright smile as he jogged over with his bag full of vegetables and the two teens gave a wave back.

"Haku-san how are you? Are you fairing well in Konoha so far?" Sakura chuckled quietly as the teen had stopped in front of the pair. Observing his groceries she smiled as it seemed he was adapting well. 

Haku falling into step with them as he juggled his bag hummed "Well Zabuza-sama and I share an apartment, the Hokage actually let him keep his sword which is nice and he's mostly on probation because they don't trust giving him missions quite yet, but we're getting there. I for one have mostly been maintaining our living space and was allowed earn money through small odd jobs like painting fences or watching over children." Haku scratched his cheek as he leaned over "How have you two been, I haven't seen you guys since we entered Konoha."

The pair looked to each other and hummed quietly recalling memories from their past missions and telling the other teen of how their training would go. The dynamic of the two others on team 7 and so on. Haku listened and gave soft inputs of his opinion when he could and as the three walked they had reached Haku's apartment complex. Bidding their goodbye Naruto and Sakura wandered off to find the Sand nin to occupy the rest of the day with, as they walked around the village they chanced on the three siblings wandering about.

"Gaara-san and.." Sakura eyed the other two not quite remembering if they had introduced themselves when they met earlier

"Names Temari and this is my brother Kankuro." The girl with dirty blonde hair quipped when she noticed the rosette's gaze flick to them, Gaara whom was beside her shuffled slightly at the sight of the girl and Temari could only wonder what had happened nonetheless the guarded sand nin watched the duo warily before popping the question.

"Is there a reason you're striking conversation with us?" Temari's voice was cold and bordering on suspicion.

"Well Naruto and I were bored so we came to see if you three had any plans today?" Sakura mused as she felt a hot yet deadly stare from the red head

Naruto noticing Gaara stare at the rosette slowly turned his head to in turn stare back at the opposing nin, his cerulean eyes narrowing slightly as if asking the silent question as to why Gaara was staring so ferociously.

"We could do without leaf nin company" Temari stated snidely as she eyed them warily, what were these two up to?

"Well so be it, you three have a pleasant day then." The rosette chuckled as she guided Naruto away, firm in her grasp as she could still feel a strange bloodthirsty stare at the back of her head, no doubt from the redhead.

The three foreign ninja watched them before walking off back to their quarters, feeling an odd sense of chilling dissatisfaction that seemed to ooze in the air, what were they hoping to achieve by bothering the siblings? Temari slid the lock on the door effortlessly but as she began to walk away she could feel the sense of being watched, turning around abruptly as her gaze flitted to the window she saw the duo on a roof a few blocks down. Watching them. watching her. Her gaze hardened when she noticed the two lean towards the other and whispered something yet their eyes never seemed to leave her own.

How creepy

How... perverse

Temari forced herself to look away and avoided the room Gaara occupied, Avoided the room the monster dwelled in as she felt sand shift around her. She hurried to her room and shut the door not liking the unnerving feeling the two leaf nin had left on her. Hopefully tomorrow when the exams started she could retain her nerves to calm. She and her brothers had no choice in the matter, they had to go through with the exams no matter what, they would not be beat into fear and submission by the pathetic village hidden in the leaf. Gripping her large fan she grimaced as her thoughts roamed wildly in her head.

But what was that look?

Was is bloodthirst?

was it curiosity?

She'd find out eventually