Title: Falling, per chance, to change

Author: Nana chan the weird

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Unknown as of yet.

Summary: "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry- it's not a very pleasant sight so late at night, trust me." It was only at this time that the women looked around for the person who could have caused the next great ninja war over a little dango.

Author's note: Hopefully by now everyone knows that there will definitely not be any Kakashi Sakura. This chapter was really hard for me to write, especially where Sakura meets who she ran into in the last chapter. To tell the truth this was supposed to be in the last chapter, it was suppose to end with their training, but I'm a lazy butt so I didn't write it out at all. Hopefully it doesn't seem forced, I think it does but who knows. Also I'm a freshmen in college, it took a while to get used to my new routine, which is why this chapter is so late, well partially anyway. Also it was weird for me not to write from Kakashi's point of view, I hope it wasn't too weird for you guys to read.

Recap: As Sakura ran she ignored her surroundings completely. She just wanted to run until everything disappeared, until there were no more problems and no more choices to be made. She felt like she could run to the end of Earth to find such a place. Or least she did until she ran into someone.

Chapter five: The encounter

Sakura looked up in shock as the person she ran into simply started to yell at her and brandish a kunai in her face without even asking for an explanation or looking to see who had committed such an obviously heinous crime. "Watch where you're going you little shit. You almost made me spill my dango and then I'd be very angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry- it's not a very pleasant sight so late at night, trust me." It was only at this time that the women looked around for the person who could have caused the next great ninja war over a little dango. Her angered face slightly faded as she stared down at Sakura. The poor girl looked slightly afraid for her life; she was cautiously eying the kunai that up until this point had been aimed directly at her throat. The woman looked around sheepishly and began to rub the back of her head, messing her hair up a little, while smiling apologetically. "Sorry about that. I suppose I scared you a little. I thought that you were someone else. So what are you doing out here running like your life depends on it?"

"Well my sensei, Kakashi-sensei, thought that it would be a wonderful idea to place my entire team in one house to live together for two months. Normally this wouldn't be a problem but I sort of have a crush on one of my teammates and Kakashi-sensei was trying to help me by pointing out that Sasuke-kun, my crush, likes girls that are strong. He even gave me a scroll of genjutsu to work on so that I could become stronger but I kind of took offense at him thinking that I wasn't strong so I ran away. It seems really stupid now." Sakura was about to cry as she thought of how she must have worried Kakashi who was only nice to her since the entire time that she had been on the team.

"What's your name pinky?"

'Why does everyone call me pinky?' Sakura wondered. "Haruno Sakura."

"I'm Mitarashi Anko. I've known Kakashi for quite a while and one thing I can assure you of is that he doesn't lie about things like that. Also the idiot is a man and I can assure that no matter what he might have said to you he didn't mean for it to be taken offensively at all. I'm positive he was just trying to help you. Come on let me take you back. Where are you staying?"

"Kakashi-sensei told my mother that it was Takano Yumi's old house."

Anko nodded her head. It was easy to see that the girl was regretting running away, especially now that she'd thought about why she left in the first place. "I know the place. Come on".

Sakura nodded and began to follow Anko. She looked up at the woman curiously. "Where did you learn to use a kunai like that? I don't think I've ever seen someone look so natural with a weapon before." Sakura was a curious girl and inquiring minds, or in this case one mind, wanted to know.

Anko looked and the pink-haired genin, she was surprised that the girl wanted to know. She had seen the look on her face before and knew that she had scared the girl half to death with her weapon of choice. "When I was five years old I got my first kunai from my parents- it was a birthday gift. The next day they went to war and I never saw them again. My sensei at the time thought that I should concentrate on ninjutsu as opposed to taijutsu so I never used them until I met Ibiki-san. He taught me how to use kunai and soon they were my favorite weapon. Sorry for scaring you earlier, if I had realized that you were a genin I wouldn't have gotten so hostile."

Sakura simply nodded her understanding and forgiveness. She filed away the name Ibiki as someone on the top of the list to avoid at all costs. She didn't think she'd be using a kunai anytime soon.

"So what do you think of your teacher?" Anko asked Sakura. There had been some strange rumors going around lately about Kakashi that worried her a bit more then was normal. At first she had brushed everything she heard off as being a lie but here before her was proof that not all the stories were lies. She had often swore that the day Hatake Kakashi took a team would be the day that Asuma stopped smoking those cancer-sticks, Kurenai's eyes would be a normal color, and she stopped eating dango; it was strange how things changed.

"He seems okay. He's a little weird- we don't know much about him except that seems to be late a lot. The Hokage asked us to keep an eye on him, he said that he was worried about Kakashi because he seemed different recently but I wouldn't know." She ended with a little shrug as to emphasize her lack of knowledge on the matter.

'So something is up with him, hmm. Well that's good to know but what was the Hokage thinking asking his genin to watch over him, how stupid do you get.' Anko thought. "Hey pinky, why are you telling me this stuff? How can you be sure that I'm to be trusted?"

"Well, number one- you're a Konoha jounin, just like Kakashi-sensei, number two- I've heard about you before, most people don't like you but I've heard that you're not much for gossiping, and number three, the most important one- my father says that you should not be trusted under any circumstances, meaning that I should probably trust you since nothing my father ever tells me is the truth." Anko thought about whom her father must be and then it hit her.

"Haruno Akira." Sakura simply nodded. Anko looked at Sakura a little more in a new light. The girl had to deal with her father hating kuniochi and still managed to have a little spunk in her. "You know what. I think I'm beginning to like you. If you ever need help don't hesitate to ask."

Sakura looked a bit shocked, she couldn't see what she had done to warrant such an offer but she wasn't about to refuse. It was a strange journey back to the place that Sakura had surprisingly caught herself thinking of as home. She hadn't even been there for a whole day but it still felt more like a home then she could ever remember her actual home feeling like.

As the duo reached the door to the house they heard loud voices.

"Maybe if you had been nice to her she wouldn't have left." Screamed a voice that Sakura identified as Naruto's dulcet tones. Somehow she could see where this was going.

"Maybe if you left her alone and didn't bother her constantly she would have stayed." Sakura was shocked. She'd never heard Sasuke's voice become that loud. Wait why were they fighting over her? Did they think that she'd left because of them? Gathering up her courage she said goodbye to Anko and opened the door.

Sasuke and Naruto were in the kitchen fighting. Sasuke had Naruto in a headlock. Naruto was bent over but when Sakura came in he straightened up and managed to flip Sasuke over his back. Sasuke caught himself from falling full force onto the floor and kicked Naruto's legs out from under him with a great thump. Kakashi came in and started to yell at the two of them- "I know that you're upset about Sakura but stop fighting. This is not the time or place for this fight." It seemed that no one had noticed her yet, which was strange, she was in their direct line of vision but they weren't exactly looking around the house at the moment she supposed.

She walked over to both Sasuke and Naruto and tapped them both on the shoulder. "Hey guys." They turned around and blinked at her, they looked like they couldn't believe that she was actually there. It wasn't like she blamed them, she had just sort of left without saying anything to them at all, no wonder why they were looking at her like she was some sort of alien that had come down from planet nine to invade their lives. She decided to pretend not to know what they were fighting about; it would give them an out so they didn't have to explain why they fought about her. "Why are you fighting? Did Naruto say something?"

Naruto made a face like a fish gasping for water when it's brought up to the air and managed to look offended at the same time. "Sakura-chan how can you imply something like that? I never start it; it's always Sasuke-teme." Sasuke shook his head, "this time it wasn't. We were fighting over what to have for dinner, he wanted ramen and I wanted anything but ramen." Sakura giggled a little, it did sound like something that the two would fight over. She was impressed by Sasuke's lying, it was better than most that she'd heard.

"Well if that's all then I can settle it. Tonight we'll have dango, I just met someone who really likes it and I wanted to try some." Listening to Anko go on about her precious food was enough to make anyone hungry for it. The boys simply nodded and Kakashi chuckled over the power that the sole girl of the team was already exhibiting against them.

"Sakura, may I talk to you for a moment?" Kakashi asked. She stared at him, she knew that this was coming but she had been dreading it still nonetheless. She nodded, and gulped, swallowing her fear and nervousness all in one try. She followed him up to her room, where they were before she had run away.

"I'm glad you're back Sakura, don't get me wrong, but why did you leave?" He looked at her with those eyes that could always seem to be searching your soul for the truth. She shifted on her feet a little, it was the weirdest thing being felt like someone could peer into your soul and know if you're lying.

"I was afraid of what you said, you were right, of course but I didn't want to admit it. I was afraid that agreeing with you would mean that I was admitting that I was weak. I don't want to be weak- I never did." Kakashi peered at the young girl and could understand. Admitting that you were weak was the hardest thing that a shinobi had to do. It was admitting that you weren't as good as you should, or could, be.

"I understand. Please don't leave again. You might not know it but both of the boys were worried about you. They both seemed to think that it was the others fault for your sudden departure." Sakura shook her head; she knew that he was telling the truth. She remembered what the two had been yelling at each other when she first came in.

"I won't, I'm sorry for worrying you guys." Kakashi nodded and sent the small girl downstairs to go make sure that the two boys didn't try and kill each other.

At the end of the day all three genin laid down their weary heads and fell into a deep sleep. It was strange how much they resembled their future selves, after all for all of their hard experiences and the changes that happened to the trio that they had yet to face they were still the same lost kids that he had met years ago.

He decided to let them sleep until five, he thought it a generous amount of time, after all they'd gone to sleep at one. Four hours was more than enough, but someone just had to disagree. Truthfully he had expected it, he'd even been accurately able to predict who would complain- not that it was that hard when his team had Naruto on it.

"What do you mean five is reasonable? In no way, shape, or form is this reasonable at all! You old coot." Now that old coot comment was just unnecessary.

"Naruto, run fifty laps around the hose, now. Once you're done come and join us at the training ground we used before." As Kakashi started to walk away, he saw a smirk forming on Naruto's face. "No cheating either, I'll know if you do." And with that Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi walked off leaving Naruto to his fate of exhaustion before the sun rises.

When they got to the training ground Kakashi procured two scrolls from his waist pouch and held them out to the duo in front of him. "Sasuke, I want you to start looking over these doton jutsus. Once Naruto gets here I want you to spar with him, spar only- no lasting injuries, got it?" The teen nodded, sulking slightly at it being insinuated that he would ever purposefully hurt Naruto. Okay so maybe he would, no harm in that right? Kakashi shook his head. "Sakura, this scroll has some basic genjutsu that I want you to learn. Also I will be helping you with your physical stamina. While you're studying the scroll I want you to lift these weights." He held up two small bags of rice. "They weigh five pounds. Until you memorize the scroll I want you to lift them. I'm warning you now, there's a back." Sakura eyed the bags wearily. Five pounds wasn't that much but after a while she had feeling it would get extremely tiresome.

The two went on to start doing as they were told. Time passed with a few accidents, Sakura tossing one of the five pound bags at Naruto when he arrived loudly messing up her concentration, and a slight incident that involved Sasuke, a shuriken, and a foot. But really it was nothing to worry about, nothing at all.

Or at least that's what Kakashi held to when the Hokage asked how the first day went. Then they went to a mission, it was a simple D-rank one that was just to catch fish. They would have finished hours ago if Naruto and Sasuke didn't refuse to work together and if Sakura didn't complain when she got wet and if they actually worked together but instead they wouldn't. After two hours Kakashi stopped them.

"Tell me, why did it take two hours to catch fish?" He asked the three of them. Immediately excuses came pouring out their mouths. "Naruto made too much noise and scared them all off." "Sasuke-teme kept annoying me." "Sakura complained about everything." They kept on going until Kakashi stopped them. "Enough. I'm not talking about what you did wrong, but what didn't you do that would have sped up the process?" The three looked at each other. Finally Sakura spoke up, "I could have strung together a net." Kakashi nodded, "very good. What about you Naruto?" The blonde boy bobbed his head up and down in thought. "I could have sharpened more spears for us to use." Kakashi nodded and looked expectantly at Sasuke. "I could have asked for, for h- he- help" The boy managed to get the word out, barely.

"Exactly, and from now on I expect you to all think of how you can help your team mates, not beat them." He directed a look in Sasuke's and Naruto's direction. "Well let's go back to the tower and go home.

Dinner that night was a quiet affair. All of them thinking about the day and what had happened. They all had tomorrow to look forward to.

End of chapter five