#misplaced dynamics

It’s not Sakura’s fault, neither is Sasuke’s, if they were to put the blame on someone, they would blame Kakashi, for not realizing that Sasuke’s interactions with Sakura, were different than Naruto’s interactions with the pink-haired Omega.

It started after waves.

In Sakura’s defense, she never thought of her teammates as part of her pack before that mission, she’s only ever had her mom and her dad, an Alpha and a Beta to command her as the Omega of the house and they were both the only members of her pack as far as she was concerned.

It was different for the males apparently.

The three of them Alphas and also sadly, orphaned and left without a pack, they threw themselves into pack dynamics at the very moment Team 7 was assembled. With Kakashi as the leader of the pack and a father figure so to speak, Sasuke as the second in command, Naruto as the Beta, even though he was an Alpha, and Sakura as the Omega.

Sakura never thought much of it when they scented her or when Kakashi and Sasuke growled at her and Naruto for stepping out of line, she never thought much of it when the boy protected her or sheltered her while on missions. Her parents were exactly the same and for some time, even Ino did some of those things. She rarely interacted with people outside of her pack and she didn’t know that people outside of a pack would never dare to scent Omegas that didn’t belong to them.

No wonder her parents were always angry after she came back from training.

A few days after waves, just a few days left before they could finally come back to Konoha, Sakura started to feel the clear signs of a Nesting Frenzy.

It should be obvious that it was going to happen. The only times she’s ever fell into a Nesting Frenzy was both when she thought she was going to lose her parents.

Once when she was three and her father went on his first mission outside of the village since her birth and once when she was seven and her mother fell ill with a virus from Kiri and had to take residence at hospital for two entire weeks.

Both times when members of her little pack were threatened in her eyes.

Seeing Sasuke, one of her Alphas, at death’s doors, triggered the feral necessity of having her pack close and safe. It should be obvious, but she didn’t understand what her body was demanding because she honestly didn’t consider team seven as her pack.

It started with the need of being close to Kakashi. He was her oldest and strongest Alpha on her pack and even though she already had a father, her instincts told her that he was the safest person to be around for what was to come.

Then she started to take care of Naruto; to feed him if he whined about being hungry, to take his arm if he was about to trip like the clumsy idiot that he was, she also started to sleep near him just to be sure that nothing could happen to him while asleep.

The fact that Sasuke decided to sleep near them was just a bonus.

They only noticed when she started to take their things.

“Naruto,” She demanded a few days into their trip, “Give me your jacket.” She wasn’t prepared for the three Alphas to stare at her as if she was being irrational.

“Sakura-chan?” Asked Naruto squinting at her with a confused expression on his face. Sakura growled at him in response, only earning a growl aimed at her from Kakashi, who didn’t appreciate Sakura threatening the Beta of the pack for no good reason according to him.

“I’m cold,” she lied looking directly at Naruto, “Please give me your jacket.” Her scent was pitiful enough for Sasuke to growl at Kakashi and Naruto eventually yielded and lend her his jacket.

It was big on him but not on her, it was a little rough, not soft enough to make part of a nest like she used to make back home, but it smelled like Naruto and for her Omega, it was enough.

Then she asked for Kakashi’s gloves, “I’m cold, Kakashi-sensei” She lied again, “Please give me your gloves” she made sure to release a distressed omega scent right away. She was so close to make her nest, she just saw a big three near them for her to lie her sleeping bag, she had Naruto’s Jacket to cover her and she managed to steal everyone’s pillows. She only needed her pack’s Alpha gloves to actually feel safe on her makeshift nest.

Kakashi didn’t give her his gloves, instead he smiled under his mask and handed her his jacket, “Do you want to lie down, Sakura-chan?” He asked, holding her by her shoulders and nuzzling her hair with his shin.

“Yes,” she sighed, “there’s a big sugi over at the clearing we just passed, I want to stay there.” Stated the pink haired girl melting in his embrace.

Kakashi guided her kindly to the tree while the boys moved their things with confusion clear on their faces “Sakura-chan is nesting” explained Kakashi, allowing Sakura to lie down and arrange their things as she saw fit.

“Nesting?” Questioned the blond alpha, too young and sheltered to be aware of the Omega’s pack habits.

“It’s a thing Omegas do when they feel threatened or when they feel someone on their pack may be threatened,” explained Sasuke, “Sakura just needs to be surrounded by our scents and everything will be fine by tomorrow, probably.”

“Just like that?” Questioned the Jinchuriki unsurely as he saw Sakura hiding under her sleeping bag.

“She probably won’t” Sighed Kakashi scratching the back of his head, “She doesn’t have her parent’s scents near so her nest won’t be complete with just our things,” he explained defeated. 

Obviously vexed by the fact that he had to admit that one of his precious packmates was also an estranger’s packmate and Omega.

“So, what do we do?” Asked Sasuke with a frown on his face.

“We can comfort her,” answered Kakashi with determination, “we may not be her original pack but she clearly recognizes us as pack or she wouldn’t be nesting right now,” he explained as if trying to convince himself, “she recognizes the dynamics of our pack and we can reinforce those dynamics so her Omega can be calmed by our presence near her.”

“Wouldn’t that mess up her dynamics with her parents, though?” Asked Naruto with clear concern.

Kakashi had the decency of looking just a little bit sheepish, Sasuke wasn’t as kind “She’s a Kunoichi,” he growled, “her dynamics were bound to change early, just like all of our dynamics changed.”

“But you can’t just decide that by yourself!” Screamed Naruto, in distress, “she’s vulnerable right now!”

“She couldn’t expect to be split up between packs for much longer!” Screamed Sasuke in response, “It doesn’t work like this! She’s ours or she’s theirs but she can’t belong with the both of us!”

“She doesn’t belong to anyone, you idiot!” Growled Naruto, “She’s her own person!”

Kakashi only intruded when they grabbed each other with the intention to physically fight, he couldn’t allow their little pissing contest to ruin Sakura’s nest, after all.

“As much as I hate this too, Naruto,” Intervened Kakashi, “If we leave her alone for much longer, she might go feral,” he warned them, “Sasuke is right anyway, shinobi do detach themselves from their family earlier than civil kids, Sakura will be fine, we will make sure of it.”

“What do we do then?” Asked the blond with a tired sigh.

“We have to scent her one by one,” explained the jounin, “it will be different for everyone but your instincts will tell you what are your dynamic with her in within the pack.”

“So, we just follow our instincts…” pondered Sasuke.

“Yes,” smiled Kakashi.

That was his mistake.

When It came to Kakashi it was easy to understand their dynamic; he was a father figure for Sakura and that was pretty much it. Same with Naruto; he was like a brother to her and after an affectionate round of hugs their dynamics where more than cemented.

It was different for Sasuke, it was obvious that they were not ready to acknowledge their dynamics at their age by the way Sakura wouldn’t even ask for Sasuke’s belongings for her nest and Sasuke would only feel the need to be near Sakura if she was in danger or if she happened to get too affectionate with Naruto.

They weren’t ready but Sasuke was following his instincts when he hugged Sakura close to his chest, they weren’t ready but Sakura was following her instincts when she presented her neck to the alpha she almost lost a few days ago.

They weren’t ready but Sasuke was following his instincts when he bit her mating gland, growling low from the back his throat as Sakura growled alongside him.