A/N: When I drink coffee, so does whoever I'm writing about.

Coffee Time: Team 7

It was just another day in Konoha for Team 7, another day where they were waiting for Kakashi to summon them for whatever their next mission might be. So, in the meantime, indulging in one of their favorite group past-times seemed more than appropri–

"SASUKE! Damn, Mr. Slow Ass, it's been five minutes and you haven't even started brewin' yet?" With an arm flung over the back of his chair, Naruto glared back at the raven-haired boy rummaging about his kitchen. "What's the hold up?"

"The hold up is where in the hell did you put everything since the last time, you blonde ass?" Sasuke grumbled, and he pulled open some cabinet doors beneath the sink. "Of course..." With an annoyed sigh, he reached in and pulled out their usual three mugs: a bright orange one adorned with ramen stickers, a subdued crimson one emblazoned with the word "AVENGER", and a cute pink one that was covered in masterfully drawn flowers. "I thought we agreed that the mugs would go on top of the fridge!"

"Eh, hold up, don't look at me!" Naruto shot back, and he jerked a thumb at Sakura who sat across the table from him. She had previously been engrossed in a magazine showcasing different ways to 'liven up your drab shinobi life' and only now was looking up at the sudden yelling. "Forehead girl over here made the last batch yesterday," he said, turning to her with a snide grin, "didn't you?"

"That's right, I did," Sakura admitted with a haughty little sniff, and she rolled her magazine into a tight bundle. "So, if we're all wondering why the mugs are under the sink it's because someone"—and she quickly struck Naruto over the head—"decided to stash his extra ramen where our mugs go!"

While Naruto reeled back rubbing his head, Sasuke rolled his eyes as he reached for another cabinet above the counter. When he opened it, alongside the criminally large amount of ramen packets taking up the entire bottom shelf, there was also a huge variety of coffee to choose from, with flavors ranging from Konoha-bred to those brought in from neighboring villages and lands.

"What's the flavor today?" Sasuke called to his teammates, thumbing over a few favorites in the front. "Yesterday we had French Toast—"

"And it was delicious as hell," Naruto quipped, licking his lips.

Sasuke nodded, his thumb lingering over the bag in question before moving on. "Better than I expected, honestly…."

"How about that Ghoulish Grog flavor?" Sakura suggested with a shrug. "It's out of season, obviously, but fall is right around the corner."

"You didn't think that one was kinda tart?" Naruto asked, balancing on the hindlegs of his chair with his arms crossed. "Nah, we need something… something festive, y'know? What abouuuuut… hmm… any flavors in there we haven't opened yet?"

"There's one all the way in the back covered in cobwebs," Sasuke noticed with some semblance of a smirk. "It's called 'Vomit.' With a name like that, I can see why it's been forgotten by time, but what I'm trying to figure out is why we even have it."

"Coffee connoisseurs like us leave no bean unturned, Sasuke," Naruto told him almost heroically, and he didn't realize Sakura had moved until she was behind him—

WHAP.

—and had struck him over the head with her magazine.

"OW! The heck was that for, Sakura-chan?"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to lean back in your chair, idiot?" she snapped, tapping her foot with clear annoyance. "The last time you fell over and hit your head!"

"I remember that," said Sasuke, chuckling as he pulled down two well-worn packets, "it was pretty funny—OOF!" He didn't get the chance to enjoy his laugh, he barely got the chance to finish his sentence before Sakura's magazine came down over the back of his head.

"It was not funny! The both of you are stupid!" she said, glaring from Naruto to Sasuke and back again.

"And you make the weakest cup of coffee out of all of us so it's a fair trade-off if you ask me," Sasuke countered, and even Naruto had to dive for cover when the pink-haired kunoichi slowly turned, her eyes, nothing but hollow slits, stabbing into her solemn teammate.

"I'm sorry, but… it sounded like you had the audacity to think you could speak on someone else's coffee-making skills, Sasuke-kun," she said evenly, borderline robotically.

A smarter ninja would have heeded the deathly chill radiating off Sakura in that moment, as Naruto was certainly trying to blend in with the floor under his table, but the tell-all signs of an impending storm were null against Sasuke and he nodded like the topic was something they had already discussed. "I do, and you do," he reiterated, ignoring the groan from Naruto's way. "What? We all know it. Right, deadlast?"

"Oh hell no, you're not draggin' me into this mess, I think not," said Naruto at once.

"We're having Island Coconut," Sakura decided icily.

"We haven't agreed on anything ye—" Sasuke started but Sakura snatched the packets he had pulled out and tossed them back in the cabinet, those eyes of hers, those piercing pinpricks, never blinking.

"I wasn't asking permission, it's what we're having," she told him pointedly, taking a rather threatening step forward that saw Sasuke take a shaky one in reverse, heeding a subconscious warning for self-preservation. She grabbed the appropriate flavor, gathered the cream and sugar, pulled a stirring spoon from the dish rack, and then finally turned to face Sasuke again when he hadn't moved. "Still here? Why don't you go sit at the table with the other idiot like a good little boy, hm?"

From where Naruto sat, having silently slinked back into his chair, it was amusing, watching Sasuke try to stare Sakura down, but the fire in her eyes was so searing that all the raven-haired boy could do was suck his teeth. "Tch, whatever…."

"You just had to open your fat mouth, didn't you?" Naruto whispered behind his hand once Sasuke had fallen into a chair looking sullen.

He shrugged uncaringly. "I have no idea what you're talking about—you mean the coffee thing? She does make the weakest cup, you know it, I know it, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that you have absolutely no tact, holy shit. That's like if someone sucks at throwin' kunai, you don't be an ass and straight up tell 'em that with your ugly ass scowl, you help 'em get better or something!"

"I thought she already knew! And who are you calling ugly, whisker-boy?"

"And they call me dumb," Naruto said, dragging a hand down his face. "Why would she know that? We've never told her! And for your information, dick, the ladies think my whiskers are cute!"

"Well I just told her, didn't I? Now she knows, now she can try to get better!" Sasuke argued. "And who are these 'ladies', huh? What, you mean the Fifth Hokage?"

"She's a lady, ain't she?"

"Yeah, one lady, deadlast."

"I'm pretty sure Shizu-chan feels the same."

"You have nothing to base that claim on, don't bring Shizune-san into your madness."

It almost begged Naruto to laugh but he didn't want to make a single noise that could possibly draw Sakura's attention. She was working feverishly at the counter, busily concocting something that Naruto felt went beyond the realm of coffee. "Really?" he whispered sardonically. "You know, defendin' her honor while she ain't here isn't gonna make her like you, Sasuke, but nice try."

The look that flared up in Sasuke's eyes, the way his chest expanded like he was about to yell, the Uchiha had to forcibly calm himself down to a strained whisper. "I do not like her, you walking target shot!"

"You call her Shizune-san," Naruto pointed out with a resplendent shit-eating grin.

"Because I respect her—not like, respect, there's a difference. She does her job, she keeps the Hokage in check, it's a respectful honorific for a woman worthy of respect!"

"Yeah, yeah, sure, and I bet you'd just love to respect her all night long, wouldn't you?" Naruto smirked and the only thing that kept Sasuke from leaping across the table and strangling Naruto to the ground was when Sakura placed their three mugs between them.

"There," she said with an air of accomplishment and an invigorated smile. "Weakest cup, my ass—try these and let me know what you guys think."

While Sasuke continued to glare daggers at his blonde-haired teammate, Naruto happily brought his mug closer, taking a few seconds to blow the steam away while carefully side-eyeing Sakura. "You know he didn't mean it," he told her.

"Yes I did," said Sasuke bluntly.

"Yes he did," said Sakura with an 'exhibit A' hand gesture at Sasuke, "but that's okay, Sasuke-kun wouldn't know good taste if it poked him in the eye."

"I beg to differ," Sasuke said ruefully, reclaiming his mug and lifting it to his lips. "I have extremely good taste—"

Naruto scoffed, rolling his eyes. "I dunno, man, choosing Shizu-chan over Tsunade-baachan? Not exactly the best example of your supposed good taste…."

Before the rage that flew to Sasuke's tongue could unleash itself, Sakura snapped her fingers at both of them. "Hey, hey, concentrate, I'm not trying to have you distracted on the first sip. Button your yaps, drink, and then we'll talk about Sasuke-kun's more than ever apparent lack of taste."

"That sounds like a mad case of jealously…" Sasuke muttered under his breath, yet when Sakura's head spun in his direction with a nauseating crack, he quickly cleared his throat. "Thanks for the cup," he said hastily.

"Yeah, thanks, Sakura-chan," Naruto chimed in.

"Uh-huh, sure, just drink."

And in unison, Naruto and Sasuke took a sip, both of them taking a few seconds to let the steamy, sweet liquid mull about over their tongues.

Then Sasuke carefully set down his mug and joined his fingers together in the way he usually did whenever thoughts of his elder brother cropped up. Several tense seconds passed by way of the Uchiha knitting his eyebrows with a grimace pulling at the corner of his mouth, a visual display of the inner turmoil he was struggling against, until he finally uttered his feelings, his verdict, summed up in one single word: "Damn."

That was all he said, but that was all Sakura needed to hear and she beamed.

"Thaaaaat's what I thought," she said royally, leaning forward on her elbows to bask in the Uchiha's sullen expression. "Who's your coffee queen now, crow-boy?"

Boisterously, Naruto slammed down his own mug, which was noticeably already one-third empty. "Wheeeeew! I didn't know Island Coconut could taste like that!" he exclaimed, wiping his bottom lip with his forearm. "What did you do, Sakura-chan?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Sasuke grunted, examining his coffee mug with an eyebrow flared suspiciously. "How did you cheat?"

Now Sakura sat back with her arms crossed, leering at her teammates like they were her loyal subjects. "I didn't cheat," she responded.

"Bull. We've had Island Coconut hundreds of times and it's never tasted like this, not once—this stuff actually tastes like it's from a real island," Sasuke said incredulously, ignoring the way Naruto snorted into his cup. "What kind of flavor packet did you use?"

"The very same kinds we've always used," Sakura revealed, along with a dramatic flip of her pink locks. "See, I didn't want to shame you boys when you were just so confident in your coffee-making skills, trading measuring tips and what creamer to use with what flavor; it was all so cute, you and your little paltry ways….I just watched from the background, never saying a word, keeping quiet, all the while developing my own skills, making my own techniques. And what you've just tasted? It's the fruit of my labor, it's the ceiling that neither of you are even close to reaching."

And she reached for her own mug, taking a moment to enjoy the wafting scent, to further revel in the looks of twin surprise carved into the faces of her teammates—and then she drank.

"Mmmm, yes," she cooed, tracing her top lip with her tongue. "The taste of victory is so delicious."

Neither Naruto nor Sasuke could find a proper response to give, and after a few minutes of allowing Sakura to enjoy her rightfully earned triumph, Naruto was quick to make a determined fist. "You might be on top right now, Sakura-chan, but now that I know that you're capable of this," and he indicated to the mug in his other hand, "oh, believe it, I'm comin' for ya'."

"Naturally," added Sasuke casually, though there was something stiff about his posture, perhaps a longing to throw his gauntlet into the coffee ring. "This is some next-level coffee right here, there's no denying it. And pretty soon, it's going to be yesterday's coffee when I surpass you both."

"You're welcome to try," said Sakura genially. "The best part is that this just means better coffee for all of us. Who's best is just that added spark."

"And I want it," Naruto declared, then he settled down a few notches, poking out his bottom lip in thought. "Hey, uh, Sakura-chan?"

"Hm?"

"You, uh…"—he pointed offhandedly at his cheek—"you don't think my whiskers look stupid… do you?"

The sheer nature of Naruto's abrupt question caused Sakura to blink, but then she continued to enjoy her latest liquid creation. "No, I don't," she said easily. "Why would I? I actually think they're pretty cute."

"Ah-HA!" Naruto yelled, causing Sakura to jump while he jabbed a finger at Sasuke. "Told you so, you jerk!"

"Oh shut the hell up, deadlast," Sasuke snapped, not really wanting to talk as that would take time away from enjoying his coffee at its peak warmth. "Since when did Sakura classify as a lady anyway? I thought you said ladies, not girls."

"I'm quite sure that Shizune-san would still consider herself a girl despite her age," Sakura pointed out crisply, glaring at the Uchiha over her mug.

"She would not, she's above that," said Sasuke.

"Oh? Well then, why the debate? We could just go ask her if that's the case."

A bit of coffee dribbled over Sasuke's lip when he twitched. "W-we… there's no need for that, we'd just be disturbing her," Sasuke blustered, swiping at his stained shirt. "Besides, she's busy doing work for the village."

Tipping back on his chairs hindlegs again, Naruto plucked a few napkins off the kitchen counter and handed them to Sasuke with a grin. "Yeah, you're probably right, Shizu-chan only has time for people that actually matter."

"That must explain why you do your absolute best to avoid Anko-sama, then," Sasuke pointed out, and when Naruto started choking mid-sip, the smirk that curled Sasuke's lips was beyond malicious. "Oh, what, you thought I hadn't noticed? I see you like a little bit of danger to go along with your ladies—in fact, you probably loved it when she cut you at the beginning of the Chunin exams, didn't you? Makes sense. A freak for a freak is a love story that just writes itself—"

Naruto leapt to his feet. "YOU BASTARD!"

Sasuke matched him with a challenging grin. "Bring it on, deadlast!"

Halfway into their arguing, Sakura had had the good sense to turn herself sideways, almost as if able to predict what was about happen, so when her two knuckle-headed teammates eventually flipped the table amidst their fight, she was left comfortably seated, her mug tucked between her thighs while she gracefully caught the orange and crimson ones that were knocked into the air.

"What is it with you two and older women?" Sakura questioned, but the blistering sounds of combat, of ricocheting kunai and deflected shuriken, all but drowned her out. "HEY!" she shouted, stomping a foot. "You two idiots better cool it and come finish this coffee! I didn't make this just to have it go to waste!"

A/N: #yearoftheoneshot