Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sakura should have known today was going to go to shit the moment she opened her suppressant pack and noticed she was running dangerously low. A bad portent, if there ever was one.

Not to mention, she'd been feeling off these last two days — unusually hot, clothes constricting and itchy — but she didn't have a fever, she'd checked. There was also a strange pressure in her lower belly, almost like cramps but less painful and more as if she was bearing down.

She counts. Two. Just enough to get her back home from this mission she was currently on with her five teammates.

The ten day mission had been successful, as was natural for them working as a compatible  group. They had the highest mission success percentage than any other group in Konoha.

An all alpha group, minus herself of course.

Usually, she had back up suppressants about twelve days before she was actually going to run out, but this mission had come up so quickly and right before she'd left for it, she'd had a code blue at the hospital; elbow deep in someone’s ruptured lower intestine, the thought of a refill was completely wiped from her mind.

For a moment, she thought that she must be mistaken and rummaged around her pack as discreetly as possible with her teammates at her back, getting ready to camp for the night: In all her years taking suppressants, she'd never failed to have at least a few as back up. She resisted the urge to shriek and dump all her contents out because that would surely clue in the five men behind her that there was something wrong.

A problem that they did not need to be privy to because it was personal…

…and also a problem they didn't actually know she'd ever had to contend with seeing as she'd kept the fact that she's an omega a secret from them for years.

The day she'd designated had been one of the worst days of her life to date. Sitting in the hospital on her first round of heat suppressants, she'd known at the age of twelve that her budding career as a kunoichi had just taken a huge nosedive. Omegas were not shinobi, shinobi were not omegas unless you came from a formidable clan, like Ino.

Not to mention omegas were now becoming a rarity, with about a handful being born in each generation and alphas outnumbering them ten-to-one, at least in Konoha. They were usually considered a liability on teams, a distraction. Among the things that could go wrong, unintentional bonding during a spontaneous heat could cause a heap of problems, as well as the actual heats themselves. Biases abounded around omegas in the workforce, let alone the shinobi force, and having to take a few days off every three to six months for heats did not win omegas any favors. That and omegas were usually considered docile, nonviolent beings that wanted to stay home and cook. Nothing that described a borderline feral Sakura on most days. Actually, the only one that description came close to was Hinata and that was only sometimes. Ino surely did not fit the submissive mold either. They were the only other two omegas Sakura knew personally, but they weren't very cookie cutter, to say the least.

She knew from that moment on, that she would be forever labeled and judged on her designation. Would never be able to surpass the image and stereotype, no matter what she accomplished, if that was anything at all anymore.

So on that day in the hospital, Sakura made a life-altering decision and said nothing, pretending as if this hadn't happened to her with a distaste bordering on hate for her designation. Her medical records were confidential, nothing anyone else could get their hands on, not even her parents although she'd probably tell them just because they deserved to know. So she shut her mouth, closed her mind off to her omega status and asked for suppressants, which were standard issue until she turned sixteen when her omega hormones would stabilize enough for her to have regular heats. At that time, suppressants were expected to only be taken when she didn't want to go into heat.

But at sixteen, she'd already been Tsunade's apprentice, so with her new status as a medic nin, she'd kept prescribing herself continuous suppressants, so she wouldn't go into heat and her omega – her scent, her hormones – would stay locked up tight.

Sakura had told Tsuande because she would have found out eventually, what with her medical record showing uninterrupted suppressant prescriptions, and she was honestly tired of keeping the secret. Tsunade, a strong alpha in her own right, had ripped her a new one for not telling her sooner and then proceeded to bombard her on the reasons why taking uninterrupted suppressants was a terrible idea, physically and mentally: her body would eventually build up a tolerance and then all hell would break loose. Literally. She said her omega nature would regenerate with a vengeance and that her subsequent heat and emotions would be intense, to say the least.

But Sakura hadn't cared and explained it all to Tsunade, what her designation would mean if it became public. Tsunade had softened, explicitly told her she was still stupid, but that she understood. And Sakura kept taking the suppressants, shoving the nagging and terrifying thought that they could one day stop working to the back of her mind. Cross that bridge when she got to it and all that.

The day Naruto and Sasuke had been designated as alphas, Sakura had tried not to let it bother her in a way she didn't want to explore. She knew what it meant in some far off corner of her mind, knew the implications.

The day she'd found out that her teammates — Kakashi, Yamato, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai — were a pack, connected through primal and esoteric bonds, she shut down and concentrated on her career and research.

She was not what they needed (or what they wanted, she was sure); the omega the powerful alphas needed was a beautiful, prim, and docile thing that waited on the five shinobi everyday with dinner on the table and a lamblike smile. Someone that calmed them as omegas were supposed to do for alphas and not someone who got into a (justified!) short-tempered induced street fight at least once a month.

Docile and meek, Sakura was not. She was angry most days, an unpolished disaster every other day and generally a hot mess, what with all her obligations. She also was not ready, if she ever would be, for everyone to know she was an omega and bonding into a pack would certainly make her designation loud and clear.

So she withdrew from that possibility. Watched them live their lives, interact with other women, omega and beta alike, knowing that one day they'd leave her behind.

It was okay though, she told herself most days. She had her research, her work as the accomplished shinobi she'd been allowed to become because she'd kept a big part of herself hidden.

And it was enough.

Maybe she'd tell them one day. When they were settled with their omega and had several children running around and the ache in her chest wasn't as cataclysmic.

Her plans, though, had a way of spitting in her face and kicking her in the kidney.

…

Kakashi eyes her worryingly the last night they're making camp in a leafy green copse of trees before their return to Konoha. “Are you all right, Sakura?” he makes sure to keep his question quiet, not alerting the other men.

Did she misstep? Make a mistake? Sakura thought she'd been keeping it successfully under wraps, the heat of her skin and the dizziness, but Kakashi always noticed everything.

What the hell was wrong with her?

She smiles reassuredly at him. “I'm fine, just ready to go home.”

Kakashi furrows his brow at her, expression saying he doesn't really believe her, but he doesn't question her again.

…

It happens two hours before they reach Konoha. Just two measly hours before she would have been alone at home without witnesses.

The intense feeling within her surges, heat rolling through her body and she stumbles on the familiar dirt path leading home.

They're all moving at a leisurely pace, having no rush to return because they'd finished the mission early. Naruto and Sai are even teasing Sasuke behind her – Naruto in his usual loud and obnoxious way and Sai in a more subtle but brutal manner.

They don't notice at first that Kakashi has caught her elbow to stop her falling, Yamato hovering on her other side. “I knew there was something wrong. What is it? Are you sick –?”

But Kakashi doesn't get to finish his sentence, cutting himself off with a sharp inhale: with the small touch of his skin on her bare forearm, all hell breaks loose.

A sudden rush and outpouring of her scent leaves her skin, saturating the air around them.

…

The ambrosial smell hits each one of the men in the team individually like one of Rock Lee's devastating punches.

The scent is sweet, fresh in a manner that has no right belonging to a human, let alone their pink-haired teammate. All-consuming and right and theirs.

They inhale the perfume that is Haruno Sakura and their world immutably shifts.

…

A heat spike. One she didn't recognize in the initial stages because she'd only felt it once before at the cusp of puberty before smothering it with suppressants.

Once she realizes what is happening, her head snaps up in terror.

Kakashi, her former sensei and current team captain, inhales sharply and grips her arm in a bruising grip, nostrils flared, eyes darkening with primal intent.

And she's absolutely fucked.

Sakura tries to tug her arm away and the next second she realizes with dawning horror that they are downwind and everything has gone completely silent – no more teasing Naruto and Sai.

She swivels her head around to find four other men with similar expressions, nostrils wide and hungry expressions aimed laser-focused on her.

To make matters infinitely worse, her own body reacts accordingly. She doesn't entirely understand why her scent only increases in volume and wetness gushes between her legs – like she'd just gotten the most intense period of her life – in response to their reactions. She does understand, though, that the five men are the absolute most radiant and magnificent thing she has ever smelled. Whiffs of earthy wood, campfire smoke, sunshine and honey, cool mint, and pencil shavings reach her and saturate her senses in a vertiginous swirl.  She blanches at the intensity of her reaction.

Sakura drags herself out of her stupor with a harsh exclamation in her own head and an almighty effort.

Kakashi's still gripping her arm and she yanks it away with a bit of chakra enhanced strength, but he only grabs her again.

Panic is written all over her face when she meets Kakashi's eyes and maybe it's this that has him closing his charcoal eye with a herculean force and turning his head so he can breathe away from her.

“Tenzou!” He barks while at the same time reaching into a pocket on his vest and pulling out a small blue capsule, he breaks it under his fingers and smears the oily substance on the cloth of his mask where his nose is.

A scent neutralizer she realizes. Something you would find standard issue in any shinobi pack in case of emergencies. Descenters only helped so much, though, and they wore off fast.

Yamato and Kakashi have an established comradery born of years of friendship, so it only takes the commanding intonation of his name for Yamato to understand and spring into action.

Yamato wrenches himself away from Sakura, crushing his own capsule under his nose and traps an advancing Sasuke, Sai, and Naruto in a mokuton cage. They snarl, and toss themselves against their wooden jail, lost in the all-consuming call and urge to pursue an omega on the verge of heat.

Kakashi and Yamato, being older, probably have more self-control than her younger teammates, but she knows that control is only hanging on by a flimsy thread by the way Kakashi tries to limit his breathing and Yamato steps quickly away from her.

He turns towards her again once he has built up more composure. His gaze and grip soften when he meets her frightened one.

“Come on, Sakura. Let's get you out of here.” He grabs her around the waist and shunshin's them away from her growling teammates and their wolf-like gaze aimed straight at her.

…

Sakura is sitting in the dirt against a giant tree, arms around her knees and head buried in her lap.

Kakashi has taken them about a mile down from where the incident occurred and where her teammates are currently losing their minds.

For the last several minutes, Kakashi has been trying to get her to lift her face, but she won't do it. He's about ten meters away, super far for a normal comrade to be, let alone try to hold a conversation with, and she knows it's because he still can't trust himself around her.

Sakura tries not to feel shame, she really does, because it's not fair. This is her biology, something she cannot control, but the rabid eyes of her team flick into her mind like she was watching an old talkie. And she's ashamed.

She should have known something like this would happen – it was only a matter of time. An inevitability that she'd ignored, hoping it wouldn't happen to her even though Tsunade had warned her.

Her suppressants were not working anymore.

And she knows what this means now. What she has to do.

She's blessedly cool now, the unusual feeling having subsided, but she still buries herself away.

“Sakura, please?” Kakashi asks again, an edge of panic in his voice. “Will you just look at me?” His voice is closer now, probably having surmised that her heat spike had abated.

Sakura only tightens her grip around her knees. She digs her fingers into the meat of her calves, probably bruising herself, when about forty minutes later she hears four pairs of feet rushing towards them.

“Sakura!” She hears Naruto's frantic voice first, but still she doesn't look up. “Are you okay?”

There's a hesitant touch on her shoulder and she flinches away. She's not sure who it was, her senses having dulled again now that her suppressants had decided to do their job.

“No,” Kakashi commands. “No touching.”

The four retreat a few steps back and Sakura decides enough is enough. She needs to stop acting like this and nut up.

She takes a deep breath, thankfully only smelling the clean scent of her laundry detergent and not her own fluctuating scent, and lifts her head.

“I'm sorry,” they all say at the same time.

Sakura wrinkles her nose in confusion. “Wait, what are you sorry for?”

“For reacting the way we did,” Sai answers, black eyes searching her face in confusion as well. “What are you sorry for?”

Sakura blinks. “Making you all react that way?” The statement comes out sounding like a question.

“That's dumb,” Sasuke says tactlessly. “You can't control that.”

Sakura glares at him, her despondency slowly being replaced by anger. She pops up out of her crouched position, not liking them towering over her even though they're more than a few feet away. “Well, neither could you.”

“We're sorry for scaring you,” Yamato adds before she and Sasuke can get into a full-blown argument.

“You didn't, not really,” Sakura responds, because they hadn't. Her fear had been entirely coming from the repercussions of the incident. First and during, that they would unintentionally bond with her and ruin their own lives because their biologies were screaming at the alpha in them to bond the unclaimed omega, and second because she knew what followed this revelation. It was scary.

She doesn't tell them this though and instead chooses to deflect. “I would have been able to get out of the situation if it came to it.” She's not entirely sure about this: each one of her teammates was a force to be reckoned with and nothing short of drugging or poisoning them would have stopped their advance. That or breaking their legs so they couldn't pursue, and that would have made her feel bad later.

She sees their doubt at her confident statement and also about her not being scared. Well, they could believe whatever they wanted. She wasn't scared for the reason they thought.

“Why did you never tell us you were an omega?” Kakashi changes the subject abruptly, staring hard at her.

Wasn't it obvious?! “If I would not have kept this a secret, I probably would never have even been on a team with you all. I wouldn't be here, period! You know how omegas are treated! I chose my career over this for a good reason.” She sees the realization dawn on them before they can mask it. They all know she's right, they're just being stubborn.

“You don't know that for sure,” Sasuke objects.

Sakura gives him a withering stare. “How many shinobi omegas do you know? Besides the ones that have clans to protect them?” She abruptly sighs and rubs her hands down her face, already tired with the conversation about stratification in designations – a divide she’d had to surmount and come to terms with since she was twelve. “It doesn't matter. Not anymore anyway.”

“What do you mean?” Asks Yamato, furrowing his brows at her in puzzlement.

Sakura offers an ‘isn't it clear?’ look. “I'm going to ask Tsunade-sama to take me off the team. Officially.”

If she thought pandemonium abounded before, it was nothing compared to the reactions her teammates gave her to this news.

“What?!” Naruto shrieks in disbelief.

“That's taking things a little too far don't you think?” Kakashi tries to reason.

“You will not,” Sasuke all but commands.

“Not reasonable, Sakura,” Sai adds, shaking his head.

“What are you thinking, Sakura?” Yamato shakes his head too, looking disappointed.

“Whoa, whoa!” Sakura exclaims, holding up her hands. “Why are you all reacting this way? It's obvious that I can't possibly be on a team and go on missions with five unbonded alphas while my suppressants aren't working! You all must see that it's extremely dangerous on all fronts. I'm going to have to stick to hospital work for the foreseeable future.” She tries not to let her heartbreak and anguish show on her face while she says this. No more Naruto and Sasuke bickering with Sai subtly egging them on. No more steady Kakashi and Yamato always having an answer to everything. All they have gone through together, even an entire war, and this is how it ends?

They stop badgering her and look at each other with expressions she can't exactly read. Something like calculating energy and hope mixed together.

“What?” Sakura asks, looking between them. She feels like prey again under those guileful looks.

Naruto brushes it off with a soft smile. “Nothing. We don't want to hear anymore about you quitting the team, okay?”

“But –” Sakura tries to protest. They don't understand! Why prolong the inevitable? It was better to pull away now.

Naruto doesn't let her. “No. We'll figure something else out.”

“Yes, Tsunade-sama must have a solution for us,” Sai adds. “She is the leading researcher on alpha and omega physiology, after all. She'll know what to do.”

Yamato nods along with them. “Listen to them, Sakura, they're right. Something will come up.”

Sasuke just glares at her, at the audacity of her attempt to accomplish something he sees as reprehensible in his eyes. Even though they'd never said it, she knew they were all like family, and it's confirmed with the stubborn look in Sasuke's eyes.

Kakashi offers one of his patented eye-crinkles. “Don't worry, Sakura. This will work out. Let's head home before it gets dark.”

Sakura looks around at the men and offers a watery smile at their attempt to reassure her. “Okay.”

…

An hour and a half later, she's standing in Tsunade's office.

When they arrived at the gates earlier, her teammates had tried to assuage her fears with more platitudes.

Kakashi had told them all to go home and write their mission reports to hand into Tsunade the next morning together – said they'd speak to her about Sakura's situation then and Sakura had nodded along obediently.

She doesn't know if they'd noticed the alpha who took a closer sniff at her when she'd walked by, or how another alpha's nostrils had flared when she'd brushed by him. Or the few other alphas who'd had the same reaction to her changing scent. It wasn't long now before it was out that Haruno Sakura was an omega and she wasn't going to wait for things to get worse.

So here she is, in front of Tsunade with a heavy but determined choice made.

“Tsunade-sama, I want you officially to take me off Team 7 and missions for the foreseeable future.” They didn't always take missions together, as teams didn’t necessarily have to, but if a registered team had one inactive member, then the whole team could be considered for disbandment. She wouldn't do that to them – better to take care of this now and remove herself from the team.

She's sure Tsunade already knew where this was going as soon as Sakura had walked into the office and Tsunade had taken a sniff. She needs to say it anyway to her stern-faced mentor. An ‘I told you so’ is probably coming too.

“Dammit!” Sakura curses, throwing her hands up in frustration as five very familiar chakra points pop into existence in the office with her.

“Oh no you don't,” Kakashi chides with a wagging finger.

“Come on, Sakura,” Yamato follows, arms crossing in disappointment. “Give us a little credit.”

Sasuke smirks. “You never give up that easily.”

Sai only shakes his head at her.

“Really, Sakura?” Naruto sighs, running a hand through his hair as if she was the biggest issue in his life.

She turns back to Tsunade, choice even more reinforced. Tsunade's still watching them with glittering eyes, hands tucked beneath her chin.

“Take me off the team, Tsunade-sama,” she repeats with more steel in her voice.

“We do not consent to that,” Kakashi answers bluntly.

“It’s my decision!” She can’t quite keep the tone of desperation from her voice.

Tsunade finally speaks, moving her hands to splay flat across her desk. “Actually, there needs to be a formal letter submitted by the team member in question and their respective Team Lead for that to happen.”

The five men look triumphant for a second before Tsunade leans back and crosses her arms.

“Unless,” she continues, “there’s extenuating circumstances that need to be reviewed.”

Sakura perks up at that. “There are! I’m sure you could tell the moment I walked in here, but my suppressants aren’t working anymore, Tsunade-sama, like you said would happen. I can’t go on missions and therefore I cannot be listed as active on a team. It’s too risky for everyone involved.” This she aims at her five stubborn teammates. Or soon-to-be ex-teammates, she thinks, heart wheezing in her chest at the thought.

Tsuande nods patiently. “That is true.”

Sakura sighs in relief. “So you’ll sign the paperwork?”

“No,” Sasuke says to her, obstinate and stepping deliberately closer. Sakura ignores him, eyes trained on Tsunade because if she looks at them for too long she’ll chicken out.

Then Naruto looks at Tsunade and pokes the bear. “We will make your life very difficult, more than we have in the past, if you do this.”

Tsuande spears Naruto with a petrifying glare and the temperature in the room goes down a few degrees. “I am not one to be threatened, Uzumaki Naruto. Watch your words.”

Sakura gets her hopes up.

Naruto glances at Sakura and squares his shoulders. “I meant what I said.” Sai stands in solidarity next to him, looking the most stubborn she’d ever seen him.

“Sakura, please, can’t we talk about this?” Yamato asks, looking a little desperate himself.

Sakura shakes her head brusquely once, still keeping her eyes on Tsunade. “I have made my decision.”

And because she won’t look anywhere else but her mentor, she sees the moment Tsunade has had enough of this.

“Get out,” Tsunade barks, standing to her full height and placing her hands on her hips. “I do not have time for you all to be arguing about personal matters in my office.”

Sakura blanches. “But, shishou –”

“No!” Tsuande snaps. “I will not hear any more of it. Get out.”

“Why are you doing this to me?” she cries, finally turning to look at her teammates with all the despair bare on her face. Why did they want to prolong this? String her along while she watched them make their lives with someone else? She didn’t understand! She wanted out now that her secret could not be that anymore. Before it hurts more!

They don’t respond and only look back at her with unyielding determination, if a bit of guilt.

“I don’t want to see or hear from any of you until you make a unanimous decision about this matter.” Tsunade stares them all down. “Are we clear?”

“Affrimative,” Kakashi confirms quickly.

He’s suddenly in front of Sakura.

She doesn’t even get a word of surprise out before he tosses her over his shoulder and shunshins out of the Hokage’s office.

…

Sakura punches his back when they land in her apartment with the rest of her teammates. In response, he thumps her down on her ass on her familiarly lumpy couch.

Sakura glares at a spot of white wall that does not have those assholes in her line of sight, crosses her arms and legs tightly, and closes her mouth in one thin line of rage. She will stay like this forever, live like this.

Screw them.

“We need to talk about this, Sakura,” Kakashi finally says.

She keeps her mouth shut and pretends they’re not there. Silent treatments were their own special brand of torture, and she was going to torture the hell out of them. They’d asked for it.

“Don’t be like this, Sakura,” Naruto pleads.

Silence.

“You’re being childish,” Sasuke says.

And more silence.

Sai moves around so he’ll be right in front of her line of sight. She just shifts her gaze to another untainted spot. He waves a hand in front of her face. She doesn’t even blink.

There’s more movement from her left but she pays it no mind…until Kakashi lightly zaps her thigh with lightning.

“Fuck off!” Sakura shouts with a yelp, jolting in place. Her arms and legs uncross from their stiff position and she rubs the offended spot gingerly. Nothing more than a tingle now, but they’ve accomplished what they wanted to. If Tsuande is like poking a bear, then Sakura is like poking a giant bear straight out of hibernation from the Forest of Death, what with her omega resurging.

She bolts off the couch. “What is wrong with you all?” she practically snarls at them. “Just because you can say reassuring words and hope that everything is going to be okay, it doesn't mean that it will be! Face the facts that are staring at you all in the face, dammit! My suppressants are not working anymore. I do not have control of what is happening to me right now and it is only going to get worse. Do you really want a repeat of a few hours ago? You all need to stay as far away from me as possible, at least until I can get this under control.”

They’ve all just stood there patiently during her tirade, letting her get it all out.

Then Naruto approaches her slowly. He looks her dead in the eyes, takes her hand with such gentleness but also with an energy saying he has something very important to say. He inhales and says, “No.”

Sakura is not above manipulating them with tears and the wave of emotion cresting now, the tightness in her throat, are being prepped for just that –

Oh no, wait, those are real.

Sakura bursts into tears.

She hasn’t cried in a while, maybe years, but her stupid omega and her worst nightmare practically coming true has her a tad strained, to say the least. So she cries a messy cry.

Naruto grips her hand tighter. “Is it okay if I hug you?”

Sakura sniffs pitifully and nods. They aren’t the most touchy-feely group because with alphas, touch can mean many things, but her and her teammates are close and the occasional hug or caress is not unusual. Sometimes they even leave clothes in her apartment because they’re over so much.

He still smells like sunshine and honey, but less pronounced, and it’s nice. He’s warm and solid, reliable Naruto.

“I hate this.” She cries harder into his shoulder when she feels the others move closer and offer comforting touches on her arms, back, head. “You know this is my worst nightmare coming true, right? I never wanted anyone to find out and now look at what's happened. When we walked in through the gates, there were already alphas sniffing at me. Do you know how annoying that’s going to be once my suppressants entirely wear off?”

The air is charged again and she pulls back to see barely concealed looks of murderous intent.

“We’ll keep them off you, Sakura,” Kakashi says as if he’s swearing an unbreakable oath.

“Just point us at them,” Yamato adds, eyes narrowing dangerously.

“Do you remember what they looked like?” Sasuke questions, plotting.

Sai whisks out his notepad and a pen. “Describe them.”

This has her tears drying up like nothing else could. She rolls her eyes and huffs out a watery laugh. “You guys are ridiculous, you know that? I can look after myself. I just needed it out there that this is very inconvenient.” She wipes her eyes and nose on her sleeve, then winces. This was probably why they didn’t want her, she was a mess. “Ugh, I never thought I’d envy Ino, but being bonded does offer her a level of freedom that I’ll have to fight to get alone.”

“You’re not alone,” Naruto reassures. “You have us.”

Sakura rolls her eyes again. “That’s sweet but you know what I mean.”

“Does Ino know?” Yamato asks, curious.

Sakura nods and snorts. “Ino’s always had a knack for pulling out my secrets and this was no different.” She remembered the day with irritation and fondness because Ino had berated her like Tsunade had when Sakura had told her about the uninterrupted suppressants.

“Who else? Knows, that is,” Kakashi asks.

“Just my parents and Tsunade obviously. Just four people in total.” She frowns again. “For now, until it gets out.”

“You worry too much, Sakura.” Naruto offers her a big gooey smile. “Everything’s going to work out. You’ll see. No more trying to quit the team, okay? We won’t go on any more missions either until you can.”

“It’s not like you all are leaving me any other choice,” Sakura grumbles. “And that’s dumb, go on missions if you have to. I'll just be rotting in the hospital.” Suddenly she beams. “Actually, it’s not all bad, I’ll get more time for my research projects!” Why hadn’t she thought of her beautiful, wonderful research and her lab? There was the silver lining she could cling to for dear life!

The others chuckle at the look on her face.

Kakashi offers her another crinkle smile. “We’ll keep close.”

…

And boy, do they mean it.

Over the next week, she sees them everyday for hours at a time. Sometimes it’s not all of them at once, just a couple, but they’re consistent. Before, they’d go at least a few days without seeing each other, having their own things to do, but it seemed as if they’d cleared their schedule just for her. Which they kind of said they would, but still.

She even thought she’d sensed Sasuke’s chakra outside her window one night but when she’d gone to investigate, there had been nothing and no one.

Sakura lets them hang around, knowing that they’re worried about her state and also the ever increasing scrutiny from other alphas.

They’ve also been unusually demonstrative.

Sakura just figures it’s something that has to do with being an omega and some kind of dynamic between them and alphas. She wouldn’t know. When she'd been designated as an omega, she’d obstinately refused to do research on her own designation, in complete denial, she knows now. Sometimes, she caught herself looking too long at the soft materials they sold at omega nest stores before wrenching herself away in disgust. She did not need a nest, did not want a nest. The bottom line, though, was that she didn’t know much (besides what was common knowledge) about what was happening and going to happen to her.

So when Sai had one day pushed his face into the crook of her neck, inhaled and rubbed his nose in real good, she hadn’t thought much of it.

Sakura blinks. “Okay.” He smells nice, like sage, pencil shavings, and those expensive acrylics he likes to paint with, so she keeps her neck angled while Sai drags his nose along the curve of her neck. He stops eventually and doesn't offer an explanation and Sakura just shrugs and goes about her day.

The next day, Naruto had done the same. Then Sasuke. Yamato. Even Kakashi had removed his mask to do it, which was a bit astonishing in and of itself: Kakashi hardly removed his mask. She was glad, though, that that hadn’t been the first time she’d seen his face or else it would have been entirely anticlimactic, which just wouldn’t do.

One day she worried if alpha-omega etiquette stated that she should be doing it back, but brushed it off almost immediately. She didn't want to be weird and commit some social faux-paus. Her omega wasn't even of any use in this situation either as she wasn't yet receiving any urges to reciprocate.

They’d been over so much that she’d started finding their clothes neatly folded into spaces in her apartment. And one day, she couldn’t find even one clean shirt in her closet, but there had been one of Yamato’s so she’d just slipped it on for lack of anything else to wear. She’d found Sasuke’s jacket another day before heading out, hanging on the couch, and had donned that one because she was too lazy to go grab hers. Nowadays, she was wearing their clothes more than hers, hers seemingly disappearing as soon as one of her teammates’ appeared. It didn't bother her and on the contrary, their combined smells was very soothing to her ever manifesting omega.

They were also always bringing her food! That part she loved the most. Her fridge was always stocked with some kind of her favorite foods and she was feeling pretty special.

Then at least once a day, she’d come crashing down, remembering that this was temporary. That they’d leave her because her situation was not one that had an easy solution, not one that was sustainable in its current capacity. They couldn’t be anywhere near her when her suppressants wore off entirely and she truly went into heat. She’d have to be locked up in a heat-and-rut house or just tough it out by herself even if that would prolong her heat. Ino said that would be very painful, but Sakura had a high pain tolerance, so she didn’t think too much on it.

Her life was a mess, but at least she had chocolate lava cake in her fridge.

…

“I almost had to mind body switch an old lady for those ham canapes, I hope you know,” Ino says with an exhausted puff of air. She plops herself down next to Sakura in a cloud of summer flower scent, blue sun dress floating ethereally around her. “They were the last ones and she had her eyes and sprint trained straight on them.“ She smirks. “A little water jutsu stopped that.”

“Ino!” Sakura chastises, a bit horrified by the lengths her best friend would go through to get what she wanted. She shouldn’t have been surprised with her tenacity though. Ino was persistent until she got what she wanted, no matter how small or big the desire. A few years ago, when she’d bonded with Chouji and surprisingly Genma, two alphas, she’d also included Shikamaru, a beta, into her group. Entirely without his knowledge.

When he’d found out her intentions, he’d fought her tooth and nail on it, but eventually Ino had persevered, stating that she knew Shikamaru belonged in her pack and he was just being stubborn. Sakura wasn’t completely sure of the reservations Shikamaru had had, the reasons behind his hesitancy, but she’d bet it had something to do with not being enough for Ino as a beta. Which was ridiculous, really. Many packs had betas mixed in with omegas and alphas – often, they helped stabilize a pack. She wasn't one to judge what was ridiculous or not though, considering her own situation.

Whatever the reason, Shikamaru had eventually relented (Ino had worn him down) and now they were a happily bonded pack of four. Sakura had helped deliver their first child, Akio, a year ago. They were currently celebrating his first birthday at Ino’s pack house with many of their friends, as well as people she didn’t recognize. Her teammates had surprised her and all shown up at her house so they could attend together and here she was, sitting on a couch with a morally deficient Ino. Each of the five men had been taking turns bringing her food – they’d just randomly appear while she chatted with her friends, suddenly with a tasty morsel, so often that she didn’t even have time to wonder when the next one would come.

They were being so considerate and sweet that she was starting to feel terrible about freaking out on them a week ago.

“Oh, calm down,” Ino says, entirely unbothered about elderly abuse. “I made sure she fell into the stacked marshmallows. She was fine.”

Despite herself, Sakura’s lip trembles in laughter.

“So,” Ino starts with a sly tone, “how’s everything been going?”

Sakura had had a selfcare day with Ino a few days ago where she’d told her absolutely everything that had happened with her teammates, including the odd quirks that they had been displaying as of late. Ino was a great ear to unload to when the time came for it.

Sakura shrugs as Yamato shows up with a decadent looking chocolate mousse in his hand. He hands it to her with a soft smile and disappears into the crowd again. The people part enough for her to trace his destination, that being Kakashi and Sasuke standing together not really that far away from herself, talking to Shikamaru.

Earlier, Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke had been approached by a bodacious omega and Sakura’s heart had plummeted to somewhere near her knees at the sight. The omega was luscious, polished with hair and nails professionally done, and all-in-all the complete opposite of Sakura. Her throat had seized as she wondered if this was it – if this was finally the time where they paid attention and picked an omega for their pack.

Their seemingly unending bachelorhood was seen as odd in many eyes; all her teammates were heralded as accomplished, respectable, and handsome men, men that should have been settled with an omega already. Sakura agreed they were commendable, but was secretly in no rush to see them settled as that meant they wouldn’t have time for her anymore.

She knew she was selfish as she couldn't offer what an omega who hadn’t been on suppressants for half her life and whose time wasn’t eaten up by shinobi and medic duties alike could, so as she watched that beautiful woman walk up to her teammates, she tried to let the feeling go and wished her luck.

All of her wool-gathering had been in vain though because as soon as that woman had made initial contact with Kakashi, he’d gently brushed her off and stepped away with a raised hand between them. A clear no if there ever was one.

And yeah, okay, maybe she was full of shit because despite her earlier resolve, Sakura had felt elated and a bit as if she’d had a few glasses of wine, lightheaded and floaty.

Ino had smirked at her from across the room at Sakura’s expression and she realized she needed to work on her poker face.

Then, not two minutes later, Sai had shown up with a ham canape and now Yamato.

Sakura beams down at her pastry and digs in. “It’s been okay. As okay as it can be with my omega clawing her way back up.” She’d been balls-to-the-wall lowkey going insane for the last week, emotions fluctuating and hormones deciding to throat punch her when she least expected it. “My teammates have been making everything a little easier, though. They’ve been really supportive.”

“About time,” Ino huffs, blue eyes rolling in exasperation. “I was starting to think they’d never make a move. Honestly, I had a bet going with Genma about how long it would take.” Ino smirks. “I won. Thanks for that, Forehead. Or maybe I should thank your repressed omega.”

Sakura, a bit spacey because the dessert was so good, takes a minute to process Ino’s words. Her brow furrows. “What do you mean?”

“I told Genma that they would do it before the year was out. He still thought you were a beta, you see, so he thought that they would be more careful about it, so as not to scare you. But even with me knowing you were an omega, I knew they'd take you off the market – you have too many other men circling around you for them to be okay with waiting any longer.”

Sakura completely passes over the ‘other men circling’ because that was just nonsense – she’d never noticed anything like that happening and she was the observant type – to land on ‘take you off the market’ comment.

“Ino, what the hell are you talking about?” Sakura asks with rising disbelief, dessert now completely forgotten. The spoon sits partway in her mouth.

Ino looks at her like she’s being intentionally obtuse, but the longer she stares at Sakura’s stymied expression the faster Ino’s transforms to one of perplexity.

“Oh shit, Sakura,” Ino breathes out in pure astonishment, blue eyes widening with realization. “You really don't know?”

“Know what?” Sakura almost snaps –  she hates beating around the bush.

“This whole time, Sakura? I just thought you wanted your privacy, that’s why you never talked about them much even to me!”

“Ino!”

“Sakura,” she takes her hand gently in hers, as if she's going to deliver life-altering news – actually it reminds Sakura of her own actions when she has to deliver hard news to patients, “they’re claiming you.”

Sakura blinks and her mind blanks out. “No, that’s not possible.”

“The things you've told me? The scenting, giving you their clothes so you smell like them which warns others off, giving you food constantly? That’s all part of it — part appeasing your omega and part courting you. Even what happened with that omega earlier. Kakashi didn’t want her touching him so he wouldn’t smell like her. Hell, she shouldn’t have even approached them in the first place – your scent is all over them. It’s obvious that they’re not really available even if they’re not bonded yet.”

Sakura’s mind is still somewhere in another universe when she turns slowly around. She feels out of body, as if she’s a mere feather in the wind and the stupid spoon is still dangling from her mouth. Slack-jawed, she realizes that she’s on some level of shock when she locates Kakashi, Yamato, and Sasuke through the crowd and stares at them in mind-numbing disbelief.

They’d been listening, she knows this because the moment she makes eye contact with them, they look guilty as hell.

She snaps her gaze away and turns back to Ino, still in a daze.

“Are you okay?” Ino asks, searching her face worryingly.

She finally lets the spoon drop as she stands stiffly. “I have to go, Ino. It was a fun party, thanks for the invite. I’ll see you later, okay?”

Without waiting for an answer, Sakura floats off in the direction of the front doors, a buzzing starting in her mind.

…

Ino blazes a path through her own house until she catches their scent: the cowards had disappeared before Sakura had even said goodbye. She follows the trail that leads out into the gazebo in her backyard, where those five bozos stand gathered in the fading twilight.

They’re furiously talking to each other, completely absorbed in their conversation, that they don’t notice Ino marching up to them as in the first wave of a siege.

“Hey!” Ino barks. They start and turn around to face her. “What is wrong with you assholes, huh? Did you not make your intentions clear with Sakura? Why in the fuck did my best friend look like I’d just given her the biggest shock of her life when I told her you all were claiming her?”

They do look extremely guilty, but that’s not good enough, no, they’ll have to suffer in some other, coldly-calculated way, she decides.

“We didn’t want to scare her away!” Naruto justifies with a gulp.

“We thought that if we were more subtle about the integration of our intentions, then she wouldn’t be as alarmed,” Sai adds.

Ino offers them a magnanimous eye roll. She plants her hands on her hips. “Give Sakura some credit, yeah? She’s not flighty or delicate.”

“Wait,” Kakashi interrupts, looking around Ino then back to the house. “Where is Sakura, Ino?”

“She said she was leaving and she looked like someone just waterboarded her.” They’re still there, standing like the idiots they are. “Well? Go!”

They take off and Ino resists the urge to follow, wishing she could be the fly on that wall. Juicy gossip was harder to come by these days, what with her domestic bliss and baby consuming most of her free time.

She could probably get the rundown from Sai later – he was a terrible gossip.

Chapter Text

Sakura traces the familiar path back home with the help of the now lit streetlights, mind and limbs on autopilot. She sees nothing of the buildings she passes by, blindly allowing muscle memory to take her back home which is why she doesn’t see a burly alpha intercept her path until she bumps into him.

Sakura bounces off the stranger, nose wrinkling in distaste, a knee-jerk reaction to his smell of tobacco and whiskey. Some might find that scent alluring, but not her. She can’t help but compare it to her teammates’.

At the initial meeting, he’d shot out a hand to steady her, but he still hadn’t let go. Her skin crawls where he’s touching her bare arm. The short-sleeved, green dress she picked that morning was modest enough, but she suddenly wishes she was wearing her jounin attire instead.

“Sorry,” Sakura apologizes with a polite smile. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

The thirty-something-looking-year-old-brown-haired-man looks a bit annoyed at first but when he tilts his head down to actually look at who he’d bumped into, his expression quickly changes into one of intention.

“Oh, no problem, miss,” he says, offering her what he probably thinks is a charming smile. He inhales and his nostrils flare lightly. “I’d gladly bump into such a pretty omega any day.”

Oh great, Sakura thinks with an internal eyeroll. “Yeah, well,” Sakura offers, trying not to be too rude – she’d already filled her quota for the month and gotten into her street fight about two weeks ago. “Sorry again. Goodbye.” She tugs her arm away.

Or tries to.

He holds on fast. “Say, aren’t you Haruno Sakura, the Hokage’s apprentice? I didn’t know you were an omega. I just got off a mission, you want to come grab a drink with me? My pack’s going to be there too.” He looks eager and he’s still grabbing her.

She yanks her arm away from his grip. “No, thank you.” She makes as if to leave.

This motherfucker blocks her path.

“Don’t be like that. I just want to get to know you a bit better, is all.” He offers her another slimy smile.

Time to turn on the unhinged. Just a tad.

“I’m just going through a lot, okay?!” She wails, making her eyes water through sheer will. “Can’t a girl catch a break? Why doesn’t he love me?!” This she almost howls.

Instead of driving him off, like any normal person, the man only nods sympathetically and reaches for her arm again, caressing down the length. “I’m sure he’s the stupidest person on the planet. Why don’t we go somewhere quiet and talk about it?”

Sakura almost gags at his touch. Well, crap. He was one of those. A lot of people were turned off by crazy, but then again, many weren’t.

Get away, creep! For once, her and her omega were in complete sync.

Sakura immediately turns off the waterworks. “I said no. Take the hint and stop touching me.” Ugh, she was going to smell like him for a bit. She’d have to go home and scrub her arm with disinfectant and maybe bleach. Gross.

He still touches her arm. “Hey, I’m just trying to be friends –”

Well if there was no avoiding it. Sakura prepares to give him the reminder that he’s dealing with the Hokage’s apprentice, because he obviously seems to have forgotten in the three short minutes since she’s met him, when her arm is suddenly out of his reach.

Sakura blinks at the broad shoulders of Kakashi and Yamato standing in front of her. She feels Naruto, Sai, and Sasuke surrounding her from behind.

“Back. Off,” Kakashi growls. An honest-to-goodness growl. In fact, there’s low warning sounds coming from all her boys.

“Our scents are all over her,” Yamato adds in a dangerous voice. “You know there’s alphas courting her, so why were you stupid enough to engage?”

“Hey man,” the Creep says, holding up his hands to show he isn’t a threat. Sakura sees him through a gap in Yamato and Kakashi’s arms. “She seemed interested –”

Sakura scoffs in disbelief. “I did not, you cretin!” That’s it! She was just going to have to appease Tsunade with vintage sake or something because this was happening twice this month. She was wearing a dress, so flashing her panties was just going to have to be a liability to her actions.

She tries to push past Kakashi and Yamato to give him a piece of her mind, but three sets of hands grab the fabric of her dress and haul her back.

“Leave,” Kakashi coldly commands. “And do not ever look her way again.” She knows the look he gives the Creep, the vibe, and Yamato’s she’s familiar with too. While she’s thankfully never been on the receiving end of it, she’s seen it aimed at enemy shinobi who decide that they’d rather be doing something else and turn tail and run.

The man blanches and scurries off.

Sakura glowers after his retreating back and crosses her arms. “Asshole.”

Sasuke turns her around in one swift movement. He glares at her, reproachful. “Why didn’t you punch him into the nearest building as soon as he touched you?”

“I can’t get into another fight this month in the village! Tsunade-sama only allows me one a month since I destroyed the fertilization production plant two years ago when I threw five people into it.”

Smiles twitch into existence on their faces. Well, at least she’d successfully toned down the killing intent that had been rolling off them in hot waves.

Then she remembers Ino and the things Ino had said…and what Yamato had just said. Our scents are all over her. You know there’s alphas courting her…

She narrows her eyes at them all and tries not to let her former shock overtake her again.

They sober up right quick.

“We, uh, should probably go to your place, yeah, Sakura?” Naruto reaches back and awkwardly scratches his head, blue eyes looking sheepishly down at her feet.

Sakura nods slowly.

When she doesn’t move, Sai gently maneuvers her around and nudges her forward. She starts walking with her team around her, occasionally getting a whiff of that alpha's nasty scent on her arm. She rubs at it with the sleeve of her dress in disgust. Sasuke notices and helpfully offers his jacket. She accepts it gratefully, hoping this will cover the appalling scent. When she gives it a couple rubs, she freezes and remembers again. Sakura stops and silently hands the jacket back to a tight-lipped Sasuke.

She slowly falls back into her state of disbelief as her apartment comes into view.

…

Sakura sits on the couch, staring at the five men, wide-eyed and subdued. “Is it true?” She swallows dryly. “Are you…are you claiming me?”

It’s Naruto who comes over to sit next to her, his mouth a firm line, and takes her hand in between his. They usually let him do the talking when it came to de-escalation which is how Sakura knows this is going to be a real whopper. “We probably should have told you, but we honestly thought you knew what we were doing to some degree and –” Well, think again, buddy.

Sakura can’t contain it anymore, so she blurts out, “But there’s five of you!” Not really what she meant to blurt out…Bonded packs of six or less were not uncommon, but six in a pack and five of them alphas? That was pretty rare. There was usually a beta in the mix to keep the group balanced, like in Ino’s bonded pack. Did they all really want her? The five of them? No, there had to be something up here.

Naruto winces. “Yes, well we're a package deal. We’ve known since we first met. Kakashi’s pack leader.” Naruto takes a deep breath and she knows he’s gearing up for a life-altering truth. “Look, Sakura, truth is,” he glances briefly at the four men watching her reactions intently, “we were going to ask you to be a part of our pack before we even found out you were an omega. You’ve always felt like pack and we were just trying to find the right time to ask you. And the right way – we didn’t want you to run away from what we offered. I know five alphas is a lot in one group – would be a lot for you…” Sakura’s slack-jawed, absolutely bamboozled, and Naruto starts to rub soothing circles on her palm with his thumb. “You being an omega doesn’t really change anything, it just makes things a little easier.”

“Easier how?” Sakura half-whispers, still stuck somewhere between disbelief and incredulity.

Naruto flushes a little, ears turning pink. “Well, everything’s just more instinctual this way. We won’t really have to explain our…reactions.”

Sakura blinks. “You mean sex?” Heats and ruts and stuff like that is probably what she should have said because they all turn furious shades of red and look away. Sakura wasn’t really shy about this stuff, having a weekly sex ed class where she answered all manner of sexual health questions for teenagers and old women alike. She detested her omega nature and never extensively studied the mechanics of heats out of pure spite, but she’s starting to wish she hadn’t been so petty.

She was, however, not personally experienced or interested in this stuff (what happened a few days ago notwithstanding, that was her needy omega and her suppressants wearing off), which might lead to awkwardness later. So she needed to bring it up. Also…well, bonded groups usually involved group sex, that much she knew.

Hence, five!

She needed to say it. “Like all five of you?”

More embarrassment on their end.

And why? Didn’t they have sex all the time? Ino made it seem like alphas were always turned on.

Despite their embarrassment, Kakashi winces and speaks, looking a bit scared now “Are you…do you not…want some of us?”

Sakura scoffs. “Don’t be silly. It’s just all very…” she taps her chin, trying to find the right word, “...intimidating.” She continues to their absolute horror and maybe amusement? There’s something in their eyes that speaks of astonishment mixed with mirth. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I do not have that many holes. How does it work? Like are some of you into each other? Because I feel that would take some of the pressure off of me. What are the mechanics, exactly?” She turns around and grabs the pen and notepad lying on the small table next to her. She hovers the pen over a clean sheet, poised to take notes. “Go on.”

Naruto’s grinning now, an astonished grin. He covers her hand with his and pushes her supplies down, but before he can speak again Sakura does.

“I feel like I have to tell you that I’ve never actually had sex before, if that matters. I just never felt the urge, so there was no use for me to seek it out, really. Tsuande-sama says that a side-effect of suppressants is that prolonged use can significantly lower your libido or maybe it was because I hadn’t found my scent matches yet, which happens in some cases, or a combination of the two, but honestly? It didn't bother me. There were always more interesting things to do.” 

“Like what?” Sakuke asks with a smile of his own.

She’s sure her eyes are sparkling with the level of adoration she feels when she lifts her fist and looks off into the distance and says, "Scientific endeavor.”

Naruto finally laughs.

Yamato speaks next. “We, uh, kind of figured that you’d never, well, um, you know,” he clears his throat, awkward, and Sakura resists the urge to sigh. “We would have smelled him on you otherwise. But we still couldn't be entirely certain. I mean, there are some days where we don’t see you, so the smell could have had time to wear off.”

She’s not sure how she feels about that.

“Good thing too, or else we probably would have murdered him,” Sai adds. “Sorry, but you should know we are possessive.”

She’s sure how she feels about that. Sakura wrinkles her nose in distaste but before she can get really riled up, Sasuke speaks up again.

“How long were you on suppressants?”

Sakura thinks back for a second. “Um, about ten years. Ever since I presented as an omega at twelve.”

They all blanch.

“What the hell, Sakura?” Naruto exclaims, angry. “Why? And have you never had a proper heat then?”

“Do I have to remind you that I hate being an omega? I wanted to cover that up as soon as possible. It was not going to interrupt my career.”

“How long do suppressants take to wear off?” Kakashi asks, looking a bit faint.

“About three weeks, give or take a few days if I quit cold turkey, which I probably will since they’re worse than useless now to take. And no, I’ve never had a proper heat before. When this one comes, it’s going to be insane. So jot that down in your calendars or something. Tsuande-sama said at least a week.” She’d met with Tsunade a few days ago to ask specific questions about her situation after giving her a few days to cool off. Her mentor had still launched a stapler at her head when she sensed Sakura’s chakra coming through her door. Sakura, after dodging the projectile, had quickly explained that that was not why she was there, she just had questions.

Sai peers hopefully at her. “Does that mean you are saying yes?”

Sakura retreats again, closing herself off while her mind bombards her with exclamations.

When she doesn’t answer, Kakashi speaks again. “Sakura, you will call the shots here. If you want all of us there, then we will be. If you want just one at a time, then that’s the way it will be.”

She was seriously delusional if she ever thought she’d say no to them. Also, now that they were offering, well, she didn’t really like the idea of riding out by herself or going to a heat house so… “I – okay. I think just one for the first time.” This was all she would promise, nothing more. Everything was fine right now, with sweet promises and confident words, but once the reality of life with her sunk in, what that actually meant, they might feel different. She was leaving them an out, even if they didn't realize it right away.

Naruto tries to hide his jubilant expression with another question – probably trying not to startle her with the intensity of his happiness. Sakura melts a little, thinking she really was as dense as Ino believed because their adoration now was clear as day. “Do you want to pick? There’s usually a hierarchy, so as pack leader, Kakashi would be it, but you can pick whoever. It’s important that we talk about this first before you actually go into your heat and are slightly incoherent.”

Sakura’s mad all over again. She clutches at her hair and groans. “Ugh, I hate not being in control of my body! I can control everything down to my blood pressure, but this? Useless omega!” Sakura realizes they’re all watching her go steadily mad and quickly composes herself. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Kakashi’s fine.” She huffs out a put upon breath and crosses her arms. It didn’t really matter who was first, she loved them all equally, so it was easier to just abide by the pack hierarchy.

Then she’s word vomiting again because her outburst has just made her remember why she kept everything hidden for so long. “But I’m not what an omega is supposed to be! I’m not soft, I get angry like a lot – I’m angry right now! I will not stay at home waiting for you to return with dinner ready on the table. And more often than not, I come back home with blood all over me! Am I really what you want?”

Sasuke, not being one for sentimental confessions, scoffs. “What, in all our years of us knowing each other, made you think we would want a subservient omega as our partner?”

She ignores that very poignant question and gets to the doozy. Sakura side-eyes them. “What if your scent match shows up?”

Sasuke answers again, his tone highlighting how ridiculous he thinks her question is. “Do you know how rare scent matches are? Anyway, we're pretty sure you are our scent match. We had strong reactions to you a few days ago and you weren’t even in proper heat and on suppressants. We won’t know until the suppressants clear out entirely but it doesn’t matter anyway.”

“Why?”

Sasuke's eyes darken with something predatory. “You're ours.”

Sakura sucks in a sharp breath at the intensity in his eyes.

“Easy now,” Kakashi admonishes Sasuke lightly, but he doesn't seem inclined at all to contradict Sasuke's claim.

Sakura's spontaneously upset again. She covers her face with her hands and breathes in through her stupid hysteria.

“Sakura, I didn't mean to upset you,” Sasuke says, chagrin in his voice.

“It's not that,” Sakura almost wails. “It's just…” She lets her hands fall to her lap as she sniffles, thumbs fiddling. “I'm really happy that you all chose me, really. I just want you to understand that I had consigned myself to a life without you all – planned out the rest of my life with how it would be like alone and this is a really big change is all. I was prepared to see you with a beautiful, docile omega, what you needed for your pack…it's just a big pivot, okay?” And the thought of them with some other omega now makes her want to claw that imaginary woman's face off! She's momentarily incensed, the rush of anger bolting through her before being replaced with weepy Sakura again.

Fuck, she wants to claw her own insides out! How did omegas feel like this everyday?

This was going to be a rough few weeks, getting used to her resurgent omega, an omega that had a vendetta against Sakura and all the suppressants she'd taken over the last ten years, it seemed.

Sai sits on the opposite side of her and takes her hand. “You're exactly what we need and want, Sakura.”

Sakura bursts into tears. “That was so sweet!” she cries.

Naruto grips her other hand tightly again, looking a little desperate at Sakura's outburst. “Damn, Sakura, don't cry, please? Shit! We really should have told you sooner. There was never a future without you in it, no matter what.”

Sakura cries harder, but squeezes both their hands. “Don't pay attention to this,” she hiccups. “It's not indefinite. I'm just getting a lot all at once. Things I've never felt before, okay? This isn't the norm, I just need to get through these next few weeks getting used to not being on suppressants.”

She hadn't realized that Kakashi, Yamato, and Sasuke had moved closer to her, driven by the instinct to comfort. She sniffles and looks at them through watery eyes. Someone offers her a tissue.

Kakashi crouches in front of her. “Sakura, I want you to understand that you're in control here, all right? You tell us what you need and when. And if at any point you feel it's too much, then you let us know. If you say stop, then we stop.”

Sakura's heart soars, like those dumb, sappy romance novels describe – it’s practically grown feathery wings and booked it out of her chest. She gives Kakashi a wet kiss on his forehead and he practically melts, if his red-tipped ears are any indication. “I know. I trust all of you implicitly. I'm just warning you. All this coming up at once after ten years of medically induced repression is going to be something to behold.”

Yamato pats her knee. “Do your worst.”

Sakura offers a smile.

After a few seconds of silence where the tension slowly ebbs, Sakura finally pats the knees of the two men beside her and stands. “It's late and I'm feeling a lot better, really. You should all go rest.”

Naruto coughs lightly into his hand and Sakura turns to see him donning a sheepish expression. “What is it?”

Naruto clears his throat, reddening again. “Can one of us stay here?” Sakura quirks an eyebrow. “Not for that!” Naruto quickly reassures. “Well, ever since it came out that you are an omega, we've uh – we've been taking turns keeping watch outside of your apartment. You know, for safety.”

So she did feel Sasuke’s chakra that day, it wasn't just her imagination!

A bit miffed, Sakura draws her eyebrows together and purses her lips. “You know I can literally punch someone's head off, right?”

“We're not questioning your capabilities,” Sasuke answers. “We told you we're possessive and with you presenting as an omega, you know it's a rare thing. There's been countless other alphas sniffing around and we will not tolerate it.” His tone and expression sharpen, actually all five of them do, sudden murderous intent suffusing the air, after the mention of other alphas sniffing around her. “All it would take is one scrape of teeth for them to bond you.” They're angry again with the reminder and she can discern low growls from at least a couple of them.

“Again,” Sakura reminds, “I'd punch their head off before I'd let that happen.”

“You're going to have to put up with it,” Kakashi says with no wiggle room. “At least until you're bonded to us. Then we'll ease up a little.”

Bonding! Oh man, she hadn't thought that far ahead yet. They would want to bite her, show their claim in an indelible mark on her skin and in turn she'd bite them and then that would be it forever what if they changed their minds later and she wasn't what they thought they –

“Stop it!” Sasuke snaps, breaking her out of her internal turmoil. “I can see you're starting to spiral again. Don't overthink it. It won't happen until you're ready.”

Sakura lets out a huge pent up breath and gives him one quick nod.

“You can stay,” Sakura concedes. “But unless you want to sleep on the floor or couch, it's going to have to be just one of you. My bed isn't that big.”

She realizes she's said something that people usually think twice before saying when she feels five laser-focused eyes on her again. Not one of them had ever slept in her bed before, but bunking next to each other on prolonged missions wasn’t any different. It really wasn’t a big deal. “Oh, not like that. I really don't feel the urge, I just want you to be comfortable.” She thinks about a few days ago when she'd been practically creaming her pants just at the smell of them and glowers. “I'm sure that'll change soon though, don't worry.”

Naruto chuckles. “Only you can look mad over that.”

Sakura shrugs and crosses her arms in frustration. “It's going to eat into my research time and it's already limited what with missions and Tsunade-sama having me run the hospital.”

“We're going to have to fix the bed situation,” Kakashi boldly states. “Do you want a nest?”

Again Sakura's angry. “Yes.” There. She can finally admit it. Then she sighs letting go of the anger with their amused reactions to her expressions. “I'll go tomorrow and start buying things. I’ll just get rid of my old mattress and switch it with my nest since that's all I'll probably use anyway. I'm glad we have a few weeks to prepare.” Despite herself, she's feeling a bit excited about her future nest.

“You can pick out everything you want, but you're going to let us buy you everything,” Kakashi states. “Starting today, we are officially courting you and this is what is involved.”

Sakura rolls her eyes but doesn't object. “Fine. Thank you.” If they were going to put up with her manic mood swings in the coming weeks, then she could certainly cooperate with this and tolerate their possessiveness... to a degree. “Who's staying?”

“It was my turn for watch, so me,” Naruto pipes up, maybe a little too eagerly.

The other men give him cutting glares.

Sakura tilts her head at this observation. “Is there jealousy involved? Does that still happen within a pack? Are you all going to be jealous when you see me having sex with you all? It doesn't seem very beneficial.”

She's done it again. Said something out loud that people usually try to tone-down or insinuate at best.

Sasuke actually chokes a little.

“Sorry, I'm just not shy when talking about this stuff. You should hear what some of the teenagers ask me in the sexual health class I teach every week.”

They all relax and chuckle, Sasuke's and Sai's mirth a more subdued grin compared to the others’.

“No, Sakura, there isn't much jealousy usually, and when there is, it's manageable. We're pack and that means we always knew we'd share a partner, omega or not.” Kakashi snaps his vivid stare back to Naruto. “We just need to make sure we are on the same page about pacing with you and not get ahead of ourselves.” He says this very pointedly at Naruto who's pretending he doesn't notice Kakashi's cutting glare.

Naruto stops pretending Kakashi's dominating state isn't trying to skin him alive and says, “I get it, okay? I promise I'll behave.”

Sakura is stuck at Kakashi's comment about sharing a partner, though. “Have you all shared women before?” Then, blazing, fiery fury. Now that she had allowed herself to picture it after their talk – to let hope unfurl in her gut –  they were hers, and she was feeling possessive herself. “Do you know what? Don't answer that! It's making me murderous again.”

Sai comes up to her and buries his face in the crook of her neck. Scenting her, Sakura now realizes. She pauses for a second, gauging her body's reaction. Nope, still nothing.

“You do not have to worry about anyone else, Sakura,” he murmurs against her neck, making sure to really rub himself in there. “Everyone else was just a body to get us through ruts. You're the only one we want. The one we choose.”

Well, that kind of quelled the rage, if only just a tad because he had mentioned other bodies. She needed to calm the fuck down.

She takes a deep breath, “Okay. I don't want to be mean, but can you all leave now? Except Naruto, I guess. You're all making me inexplicably angry. Guess I'm possessive too.”

Yamato tries to hide his amusement but fails. “It's normal,” he reassures.

“Yeah, well…” Sakura trails off, making it clear what she thinks of her own feelings.

They leave with a quick hug, making sure to rub their scents into her hair, neck. Then it’s just her and Naruto.

“Let's change into pajamas and go to sleep,” she suggests because he’s just staring at her. “I’m tired. You have some clothes here.” A lot. He has a lot of clothes here. They all do and now she knows why.

He nods and does as she says. A few minutes later, they’re in bed, facing each other. Naruto’s not touching her, but he’s still looking at her: he has an expression about him that says he’s psyching himself up to say something.

She just blinks at him and waits.

She doesn't have to wait long. “Can I kiss you?” He blurts out.

Sakura blinks again and nods. She’d actually kissed someone before, but when it was completely underwhelming and unimpressionable, she’d decided that wasn’t for her either. Things were different now though, having the men that she actually wanted, so she agreed.

Naruto shuffles forward shyly, meets her eyes again before he lifts his head slightly so he can get the angle right. His soft lips meet hers in a tentative pressure, increasing in intensity when Sakura reciprocates.

It’s nice, she concludes, his lips moving with hers, the exchange of breath when they break apart. His alluring sunshine smell. One hand is buried snugly in her hair. She knows that the feeling is subdued, somewhat innocent on her part, because of the suppressants, but the intimacy is nonetheless comforting and helps her feel more connected to him.

She knows when it starts taking on a new edge for him when Naruto groans and pushes forward. He grasps her leg and places it over his hip, slotting them together. It’s hot where they touch through thin clothes, she observes. He then rocks his hips forward and she realizes he has an erection and he’s pushing it between her legs.

It doesn’t do much for her, but she lets him because he’s probably incredibly pent up, what with these last few days being so hectic.

She keeps kissing him too, curling her hands in between her chest and his  –

“Fuck!” Naruto shouts, practically hurtling away from her. “I’m sorry, Sakura! You just smell so nice and it’s been a while – damn, that’s no excuse!” He shuffles up to her again and cradles her face. “Are you okay?” he asks, blue eyes searching her face in the dim light. “I should have let Kakashi stay – he has more self control,” he bemoans.

Sakura offers him a benign smile. “I’m fine, but I told you, I don’t really feel it yet. Sorry. You can continue until you orgasm if you want. Do you want me to take my clothes off? I don’t mind, really.”

“What?!” He looks horrified. “No! We’re not doing this until you’re fully participating too. And don’t apologize for something like that.”

Sakura shrugs. “Suit yourself.”

Naruto groans and flops onto his back. “Nothing fazes you.”

Wrong, but she doesn’t correct him. “I liked the kissing. It was nice.”

Naruto slaps two hands over his face. “It was supposed to be more than nice. But I guess I can’t complain when you have no sex drive to speak of.”

She grabs his hands and uncovers his face. “It was nice and you should feel complimented. I like feeling close to you that way.”

Naruto stares hard at her, probably gauging if she’s telling him the truth or not. “Okay,” he finally says. “But I’m staying over here for the rest of the night…or I’m going to the couch. I apparently can’t be trusted near you.”

“That’s too bad. I liked you hugging me.”

Naruto groans pathetically again and turns so his back is facing her. “Can we keep this between ourselves?” he asks two minutes later.

Sakura scoots closer to him, lightly touching his arm because that feels nice too. Then she runs her fingernails through the hair at his nape until he relaxes. “Yeah, don’t worry. I don’t want there to be one less pack member before I even officially join.”

Naruto sighs defeatedly.

 …

A day later, Tsunade calls her teammates for an urgent one week mission. Sakura obviously cannot go, what with her rampaging omega.

She tries to put on a brave face for them and not pout like a child when they say goodbye to her with another round of scenting on her neck, reassurances of her stable state practically being pulled from between clenched teeth. She does not like them going without her…but there’s no avoiding it.

“Ino said she and her pack would check in on you everyday,” Sasuke reminds her, tone close to a warning – to her or other alphas not present, she doesn’t know. She tries not to roll her eyes in exasperation and only nods along to assuage their anxiety, if nothing else. They’re practically vibrating with the restraint of not grabbing her and making a run for it.

Sakura takes a deep breath. “It’s fine, really. Everything will be fine. Don’t worry about me. There’s still a few weeks before things get really hairy and you’ll be back before then.”

They take one last lingering look at her and force themselves to turn away and leave.

Exactly five days later, she eats her words.