After breakfast, Sakura left for the academy while thinking about Kakashi. I wonder what happened to him. I hope he is doing better... Wherever he is. Don't worry Sensei, I won't fail you. I promise.

She thought with a frown on her face and her fists clenched by her sides. She looked around the village and found it full of life. How ironic. She smiled a little as she saw shops being set up, kids running around without a care in the world. So this is what I have to protect?

After walking a little while, she came across the Yamanaka Flower Shop. And then she noticed Ino. It seemed like she was also headed to the academy. A flash of her corpse went by in Sakura's head. She closed her eyes tight and shook her head to get it out of her. It's not real! She is here and she is alive. She is alive... SHE IS ALIVE! And then she had a wide smile on her face as she ran to her and hugged her tight. It's good to see you again... Ino pig. Sakura a thought with a smile.

Meanwhile, Ino had mixed reactions. At first when she saw Sakura, she felt a smirk coming up but then she saw her standing still as she had a shocked look on her face. And then, unexpectedly, she hugged her with a huge smile. So she did what she felt like doing in this situation... And that was to push Sakura off of her.

What the hell? Did something happen?

"Umm... Sakura? Is everything alright? Why did you glomp me like I came back from the dead?"

OH right. We were rivals because of Sasuke. Sakura wanted to smack her forehead at her stupidity. How could they fight over someone who was so self-absorbed that he didn't even knew about them? Well, no better time like now to make things right.

"Oh sorry if I surprised you. I just wanted to wish you good luck now that we are genin."

"Huh? Why are you being goody two shoes? Don't you remember that we are rivals because of you? Well, it's better for me because now if I get Sasuke on my team, I can win over him and you can just watch."

"I don't care about Sasuke anymore."

"What? Could you say that again? "What is going on with her?

"I said I don't care about Sasuke or our stupid rivalry anymore. Why are we even fighting over someone who doesn't even notice us? All we are to him are just girls of his class who annoy him. So why don't we both stop this stupid contest and become friends again? We are all equals now so... What do you say?"

Is she gonna agree? I mean, we were pretty mean to each other before. Sakura waited for her response silently. But what she saw next surprised her. Ino started bawling in the street like a kid.

"Waahh!! I-I'm so happy! Of course we can be friends again! I missed you so much, forehead!"

Hearing her nickname from her best friend made Sakura remember all the fun times they had together and pretty soon she started bawling too.

"Me too! I missed you too, Ino pig! I'm sorry!"

They both hugged each other and giggled at their expressions as they pulled back. They started walking to the academy together. They were catching up and before they knew it they reached the gates of their classroom. Before they went in Sakura decided to voice her thoughts.

"Ino?"

"Yeah?" She questioned as she was about to open the door.

"I know I said I didn't want to be rivals about Sasuke anymore but how about we become rivals as kunoichi? I want to beat you at your best."

Slowly, a smirk came up on Ino's face as her eyes flashed with challenge.

"You got it, forehead. Let's see you do your best. Try not to hold your teammates back."

"We'll see who holds back their teammates pretty soon, pig! I'll beat you in no time! Shannaro!"

"Do your worst"

They smirked at each other and then laughed as they entered the classroom.

They both turned their attention to the silent classroom as they found that everyone was staring at them as they had grown two heads. They looked at each other once again before they cracked up. Suddenly, a blur of orange and yellow came and stood in front of Sakura and exclaimed in his loud, confident voice with a beaming smile.

"Good Morning, Sakura-chan!"

For a moment, Sakura stood still as if she had seen a ghost. She remembered this idiot's grin as he died right in front of her. She remembered the grin he gave her when she asked him to bring Sasuke back. She remembered the grin he gave her when they faced off at the bridge against Sasuke. She started shaking as she saw the same idiot, who was dying, now alive, young, cheerful and back to his boisterous self. Then slowly she smiled at him and greeted him like he did.

"Hey Naruto! Good morning!"

Small tears were in the corner of her eyes as she tried to control herself. Naruto gaped at her like she just did something out of this world. And then suddenly she remembered that she hated him when they were kids. And again, in the past one hour, she wanted to smack herself. Great going, Sakura!

She decided to act normal.

"What's wrong, Naruto? Why are you standing there like a statue?"

That seemed to go him out of his shock as he shook his head and folded his hands behind his back as he grinned up at her.

"Nothing at all! It's just nice to see you!"

"Yeah... you too." More than you think, Baka.

And then they noticed the commotion. They had been so absorbed in their moment that they failed to notice the swarm of fan girls near Sasuke's desk who were fighting about who was going to sit with him. Ino and Sakura saw this from afar and thought about their past behavior. They both grimaced and shook their heads.

We really were annoying. No wonder Sasuke avoided us.

Sakura and Ino thought simultaneously. Because of the girls in front of his desk, Sakura couldn't see him. She was dreading this meeting. She wanted to see him but at the same time she wanted to bolt out of the room. She clenched and unclenched her fists at her side as she summed up her courage. Why am I so nervous? Of course she knew the answer to that. She was about to see the love of her life again who died right in front of her. She couldn't save him and kept imagining his last moments and got more and more nervous. How should I act around him? Is he still the same? Well of course he is. I'm the only one who is different here. She was in her inner debate and Naruto and Ino looked at her with confused expressions.

"Ano sa... Sakura-chan? Are you okay? You seem pretty confused."

"Yeah, forehead. You've been acting pretty weird since this morning. Is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah! I wanted to ask you guys about that! What happened with you two? Didn't you two hate each other because of that Teme?"

Both Sakura and Ino stiffened and then looked at each other. Suddenly, they both gave off bright smiles as they turned to Naruto.

"You don't have to worry about that Naruto! We are now back to being friends. And yeah, I'm fine. Just a little lost in thought. You don't have to worry." Naruto looked at her skeptically but then decided to shrug it off. Eh... its probably nothing.

She walked with Ino and Naruto through the crowd. And then she saw him. He was sitting exactly how he sat that day. Raven chicken butt hair, Arms in front of his mouth , his eyes closed, body hunched and looking completely uninterested about his surroundings. But that wasn't what Sakura was paying attention to. She roamed her eyes around his body with her trained medical eyes out of habit for any injuries but she found none. She saw him breathing and his eyes still had that shine. He was alive and he was in front of her.

She couldn't describe this feeling she felt in her as she saw her two teammates who meant the world to her healthy and alive. She wanted to smack them both then and there for making her go through their horrible deaths but she couldn't. Not because she would be attracting weird looks and suspicion but because she was so happy that she forgot her anger. She wanted to hug them both to death but she knew she couldn't. Her tears threatened to fall and her eyes were hidden by a curtain of her front hair so nobody saw them. Her hands started trembling and it was noticed by both Naruto and Ino.

"Sakura? Are you al right?"

"Yeah, Sakura-chan. You seem a little off."

Sakura looked up at both of them and gave them a shaky smile.

"What? Oh yeah, I'm fine. I'll be right back."

And then she ran out of the classroom while attracting suspicious looks from everyone including a certain pair of onyx eyes who watched her with curiosity as she slammed the door.