Cool black eyes met equally cool amber eyes that gave him no hint of what the mind behind those eyes were thinking. The only thing that Sasuke could conclude about this meeting with the Godaime Hokage was that she was trying to intimidate him with numbers and power. Not a single person in this room was lower then the rank of Jonin and there no less then a dozen shinobi in the room; thirteen if you counted the Hokage’s assistant although he had no knowledge if she had a ranking. One did not have to have a rank to be a ninja nor know how to fight like one. Besides the woman was the assistant of the Hokage; she had to know something about fighting.
He carefully assessed the shinobi that surrounded him, making him feel like a cornered beast. Out of the twelve in the room, only four did not wear the masks or have the signature spiral-like tattoos on their left shoulder that identified those who were ANBU. It may have been years since he had seen them, but he had little problem identifying the four.
The silvery pupil-less eyes of one of the female Jonin made her easily identifiable as a Hyuuga, but it was the serenity in her expression that told him that she was the Hyuuga heiress and not her younger sister. Hyuuga Hinata, he had remembered had been a more peaceful soul then her younger sister, which made it a bit of a surprise that she had reached Jonin level. Apparently the heiress had found something inside her to fight and make it so far high in the ranks. The other Jounin female was even easier to recognize. Long blonde hair pulled up into a high ponytail, bright blue eyes, and a body that could probably and did stop traffic on a frequent basis; there was no doubt that this was Yamanaka Ino. While he hadn’t participated in such conversations, Sasuke remembered hearing the other boys talk about and make bets about Ino growing up into a blonde bombshell. It seemed she hadn’t let any of them down.
From the intimidating frame of one of the male Jounin and the similar armor and hairstyle of Akimichi Choza, he guessed the man to be Akimichi Choji who had been on Team 10 with Ino. When they were younger Choji had seemed obese, but now it seemed that the man had grown into his weight so that it looked better on him. The other Jounin was even more easily identifiable by his glaring similarities to Maito Gai. It seemed that except for height, Rock Lee had not changed much in physical appearance, Sasuke thought with some amusement.
As for the ANBU, he wasn’t sure of most of their identities. ANBU were trained at concealing or masking their chakra in case their targets were skilled in searching for enemies by this method. And he no longer had Karin to help him with this kind of problem, so he could only surmise their identities by physical clues which with ANBU wasn’t much to go on since they were all wearing their masks and the hoods of the cloaks they were all wearing were pulled up to hide a distinguishable feature like hair. From a first glance all he knew was that out of the eight, two were women. A second glance told him that one of the men had to be an Inuzuka although he wasn’t sure if it was the Inuzuka that he knew. Kiba wasn’t the only Inuzuka that had reached his majority and this could even be one of the much older clan members. Besides, Kiba’s ninken, Akamaru hadn’t been that big when he left Konoha and he didn’t think it could be possible for the dog to grow that much. The mutt hadn’t seemed to be a breed that would get much bigger then he had been back then.
So he knew who four of the ninja in the room and at least could identify the clan of one of the ANBU, but the other seven were a mystery. And it annoyed him, for several different reasons, that Naruto and Sakura weren’t in here. They had been his former teammates so he would have thought that they would be here or making a ruckus of not being allowed. They had both been quite determined to bring him back in the past so they would have wanted a say now that he had returned. Besides Sakura had been the one to bring him back to the village.
Sasuke didn’t know what had possessed him to go into the Forest of Death before heading for Konoha, but he had decided to follow his instincts and they had led him to the straight to the clearing where the Cursed Seal had first awakened in him. And in that clearing he had found a kunoichi with her back turned to him with hair a distinctive shade of pink that he knew could only belong to one person. He had been surprised when she had heard him move closer; the Sakura he had once known would have never sensed his presence, but the one today had. He had been filled with a sense of pride for his former teammate for the way she had fallen into a ready position that he recognized would have allowed her the mobility to defend or attack.
A part of him knew that she had changed over they years. He had seen a few times in the years after he had left the village, but his mind had always continued to think of her, as well as their other teammate, in the way they had been when they were all twelve. It was only now that he had seen her again that Sakura was no longer a child, but a young woman. Her attire had been, he realized now, somewhat similar to Tsunade’s.
Like the Godaime Hokage, Sakura had been wearing a kimono coat although the younger kunoichi’s had been red, with the lining around the collar and down the coat flaps being white. He also remembered seeing the white circle on her back that had been prevalent on her outfits when they were younger. She also wore similar pants to Tsunade although hers were tighter and black instead of a dark navy blue the older woman wore, but Sakura’s shoes had been identical to the blonde as well as Shizune’s.
Not surprising really as his mother had had a liking for that style as well since they allowed a woman comfort and mobility to allow her to fight if she had to, yet also allowed her to be fashionable as well. The only major difference between the two women’s outfits besides color was the fact that Sakura had been wearing a red halter top that had bared a bit of abs when she moved and that she had been wearing hitai-ate in the way that it was supposed to be instead of a fashion accessory which was her normal custom unless she was taking her fighting more seriously then usual.
But still it had been quite obvious that Sakura shared similar fashion tastes as the Godaime Hokage. Not surprising since Orochimaru had told him long ago, before Sasuke has slain him, that Tsunade has taken his former teammate as her apprentice. The Sakura he had known had lacked the confidence in herself that she needed to succeed and from what he knew of the Godaime Hokage, she had been the right person to help Sakura change that. It was little wonder why Sakura choose to emulate her shishou in some way, although he wondered what else she had chosen to emulate about the Hokage. She had seemed more reserved when he had told her that he was returning to the village and had allowed her to restrain him while she escorting him back.
“Uchiha Sasuke,” Tsunade said softly, drawing his attention from his wandering thoughts about the people he had known and the situation at hand. “Eleven years ago you left Konohagakure without permission, becoming a missing-nin like your older brother.” There was just the barest hint of Sasuke tensing at the mention of Itachi. “There have also been documentations of you attacking Konoha-nin; worse is the fact that those attacked were your former companions. Yet now you have returned in restraints by one of your former companions. What do you want? You know that it is impossible to expect to just walk back without repercussions.”
“I want to return home.”
“And what of your revenge against Uchiha Itachi?”
“He’s dead,” Sasuke replied flatly, although if a person knew what to look for they could see that there was a wealth of emotion behind that statement that the last Uchiha did not want to discuss, let alone think about. He reached into his pocket, making the shinobi in the room tense although there was no need since they had already confiscated all his weapons. He pulled out a hitai-ate with a scratch mark through it and tossed it the Tsunade who caught it and examined it. There was little doubt who this could belong to. There were very few missing-nin from the village these days and everyone knew that Naruto and Sakura possessed Sasukes old hitai-ate. “I’ve avenged my clan. Now I want nothing more to return home and restore it to its former glory.”
“You do realize that even if I allow you to return, it will be under strict conditions? And then there is the fact to consider that most of the village will not accept you back within the fold so easily. If you’re not accepted, there is no way you will be able to return the Uchiha clan back to its former standing.”
“I’m not afraid to fight for what I want,” he said, his voice laced with pride and determination. Perhaps he had not made the best decision to run off on his own to avenge his clan, but it was the decision he had made. Everyone had been relieved when Itachi had left. No one in the village had given a damn about avenging one of its clans. No that wasn’t right…
“I swear! I would do anything for you! So please, just stay with me. I´ll even help you with your revenge. I don´t know what I could do but I´ll try my best to do something.”
Sakura’s youthful voice filtered through his mind. He didn’t think she had understood completely how much it meant to him to avenge his clan back then, but that hadn’t mattered to her. She had wanted him to stay and had been willing to do anything to help him accomplish his goals because she had cared about him. So there had been one person who had cared, perhaps two if he counted Naruto. When he thought about it now, he was sure the boy that had beaten a place for himself into Sasuke’s life would have helped him in his revenge if he had been asked.
“Very well,” Tsunade said, after a moment of silence as she considered what to do. There were no pesky council members to worry about since they had all been old, holdovers from Sandaime’s reign, and had died of old age. Until new ones were elected and chosen, there were only three people’s advice that she took under consideration and she was certain she knew what they would want.
“Uchiha Sasuke, you will be taken off the missing-nin list and allowed to return to Konoha but only under these terms. First of all, for the next year, you will take any missions assigned to you, regardless of difficulty or the fact that you still holding the rank of Genin might class them as unavailable to you.”
Sasuke nodded. What she wasn’t saying was that he would probably get assigned some of the most difficult missions and have to put his life on the line time and time again for the next year to prove that he would be loyal to Konoha again. He had as expected as much. And while he held the rank of Genin still, they both knew his abilities exceeded that of the Genin level.
“Secondly, you will also begin training to take the Chunin Exam that will be held two months from now in Suna.”
That condition he understood to be a matter of pride for Konoha. No Leaf-nin at his age would be a mere Genin. Usually those who had no hopes of reaching Chunin level often put in their resignation then face the disgrace of never being strong enough to move higher. At twenty-three, he should have been at least a Jounin by now and he would have been had he stayed in the first place.
“Finally to make the transition for the village as well as you, you will be assigned two guardians for the period of three years. One or both of these guardians must be with you whenever you step one foot outside the Uchiha district and will accompany you on missions. They shall also be living with you within the Uchiha district and have the authority to appoint other shinobi to stay within the district as a precaution. The funds of the Uchiha clan were frozen at the time when you turned your back on Konoha, but will be unfrozen as you are the sole heir to the Uchiha wealth. The only restriction is that all financial transactions will have to be approved by one of your guardians.”
It didn’t sit too well with the Uchiha that he would be under house arrest for the next three years. He had always been a private person and now he would have to share his home with two others and whoever else they decided. If the Hokage chose two party animals, then the Uchiha district would become the new hotspot of Konoha. It wasn’t a prospect that he would look forward to and it’d be hard to rebuild the clan when the district might be continuously suffering from damage from idiots who wouldn’t appreciate his home as he would. He could only pray that the woman showed him some sympathy and choose responsible guardians. He could bare (barely) having guardians if they weren’t the type to drive him crazy.
“Your guardians will be Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura. Do the two of you accept your mission?”
Shock radiated through Sasuke as the words of Godaime Hokage sank in. His former teammates were to be his chaperones and they were in this room, which mean that…
“Sure thing, Tsunade-baachan,” a voice said from the direction of the door. Sasuke glanced at one of the ANBU standing and watched as the man pulled off his mask, which he now belatedly realized was that of a fox. A fox to symbolize the Kyuubi that was sealed within the man’s body. The face looked much older then the face he remembered as a child or as the face he had last seen when they had been seventeen. But those blue eyes were the same. Still filled with the same openness and determination that was characteristic of the Jinchuuriki.
“Naruto…” Tsunade said slowly in a dangerous tone. The idiot just had to antagonize the woman by referring to her as grandma. It didn’t matter if the woman was old enough to be anyone’s grandma. Her jutsu allowed her to keep her youthful looks and she didn’t care for anyone to remind anyone that she wasn’t really that young anymore.
“I accept as well, Tsunade-shishou,” a female voice said, in an obvious attempt to make her teacher forgot her ire over her companion. Already having guessed earlier because of Tsunade’s words that Sakura was one of the female ANBU in the room, he had guessed correctly to look at the one who stood closest to the Hokage.
Sakura took off her wolf mask and met Sasuke’s eyes. Her lips curved slightly as to say to him, ‘See? I was strong enough to become an ANBU.’ He gave her the faintest of smiles to acknowledge her achievement. They both knew that he would never have believed in a million years that she would be ANBU.
“The rest of you are dismissed,” Tsunade said. Everyone in the room except for the former Team 7 and Shizune disappeared. “I’ll leave it to you three to figure out the details of the next three years. I don’t think any of the buildings of the Uchiha district are habitable so you’ll have to figure out what to do until one of the houses can be repaired for you to live in. Report here at noon tomorrow for mission assignments. You are dismissed as well.”
Sakura bowed her head in respect to her teacher while Naruto gave a distracted wave as he began pushing Sasuke out of the room with all the eagerness of a hyperactive puppy. Exchanging amused looks with her shishou and Shizune, Sakura followed behind the two and chuckled softly as her companions seem to fall easily into their old habit of quarreling.
“Took you long enough to get your ass back here. You’re lucky that I didn’t come looking for you,” Naruto said, eyeing Sasuke critically and apparently not caring much for the fact that Sasuke hadn’t given up his look since his time with Orochimaru. “Your fashion sense could be better. You should have dropped the Sound-nin look long ago.”
“I had things to take care of,” Sasuke replied, with his signature smirk. “I can’t believe they let you become ANBU, dobe. What was the Godaime thinking?”
“Okay, okay. We’ve got more important things to talk about guys,” Sakura said quickly, sensing that she’d have a fight on her hands if she didn’t step in. Maybe the two were mature enough to do some verbal sparring without it ending in any fists flying, but she wasn’t about to take any chances. She and Naruto had just been passed the test yesterday to become ANBU and had been officially inducted among their ranks this morning; Naruto would probably be a little defensive of anyone doubting his ability to be one for the first few months until he was settled into this position.
“We have to go to the Uchiha district to see what kind of repairs will be needed,” Sasuke said, his mind already considering the possible repairs that would have to be done to restore the corner of the village that had been reserved for his family. It would take a considerable amount of money as well and he was sure there would be some people who wouldn’t care to work for him no matter the financial incentive. No matter, he’d do it himself if he had to. But first thing was first; he would have to restore his home for himself and now for two roommates.
“No, we don’t,” Sakura countered and then continued when she got a perplexed look from Sasuke. “I’ve checked the Uchiha district every six months since you left Konoha and kept track of its condition. I have a file at home of all the required repairs that would have to be done to revive it.”
“And it’s not that bad as you’d think,” Naruto added. “I went with Sakura-chan sometimes and we’d fix a few things here or there. Your old house isn’t that bad. It’ll probably a few repairs and to be checked, but I think we should all be able to move within the week. But until then, I guess we’ll all be staying at Sakura-chan’s apartment.”
“Huh? WHY?” the kunoichi demanded. Sakura had just moved into the apartment a few months ago after another argument in her father had had her being kicked out or moving out of her own free will, depending on who told the tale. She had roomed with Ino for a while, but had to find her own place since she couldn’t deal with the blonde’s messy lifestyle. While she was quite willing to help Sasuke get accepted back into Konoha, she hadn’t been too thrilled with the all the details of her guardian duty. She liked her apartment and just when it was starting really become home to her, she’d have to give it up to move in with Sasuke and Naruto in the ghost-like Uchiha district.
“Well because your place is bigger then mine,” Naruto replied in a tone one usually reserved for those who were slow-witted, which Sakura was most certainly not. She cracked her knuckles threateningly, making him back away hastily. He might have been a good half a foot taller then Sakura and outweighed her by a hundred plus pounds, but she was still scary as hell when pissed. She had always had a bit of a temper, but after blossoming under Tsunade’s tutelage that temper had become scarier and bit like the Godaime Hokage’s temper. It was one of the reasons he made sure to avoid topics that would piss off both women when they were all in the same room.
“Besides mine’s all messy and I haven’t had a chance to clean it since my last mission. And I think the food that’s left in the fridge has gone bad. And Tsunade-baachan did say we have to live together.”
“Fine. I think my fridge is empty, so I’ll go pick up some things for dinner while you two go over to Naruto’s and gather his stuff. Later.” With a wave, she was gone.
~*=*~*=*~*=*~*=*~*=*~*=*~*=*~*=*~*=*~*=*~
Sakura was setting her small dining room table when she heard knocking on her door followed by Naruto’s loud, “Sakura-chan!!!” Really, her neighbors would probably be thrilled to get rid of her just so they wouldn’t have to hear Naruto anymore. The man may have won the villagers over with his determination and love to protect them all, but he certainly hadn’t endeared himself with her neighbors with his loud ways.
Shaking her head, she quickly finished setting the table and headed towards the door before Naruto decided she hadn’t heard him the first time. “Hey guys. Perfect timing,” she said, flashing a smile as she let them in.
She watched Sasuke as he examined her home, wondering what he thought but only in the sense of wanting a friend’s approval instead of something more. She had moved on from her younger days of crushing on him; in those last few weeks together before he had left, her feelings had been something much stronger and pure then any crush. She had truly loved him with all she had and it had broken something in her when he had left. She had been broken further when Naruto had been able to bring him back and he and the others had gone after Sasuke and had come back so injured.
It had helped push her to train harder so that she could help instead of standing on the sidelines. But after those meetings with Sasuke when they were fifteen, she had felt more pain at not being able to get him to come back and by the way he had treated them. She knew and understood his reasons why, but it still hurt. So she had laid her feelings to rest and focused on him as a lost companion while she watched over and protected Nartuo from those bastards of Akatsuki. She was certain she was over him now and felt only the fondness of an old companion.
Whatever fluttering feelings she had inside when he had given the barest of smiles earlier was just hormones. She was a medic-nin and knew more then anyone would want to know about the body and its processes. She was just reacting as any healthy young kunoichi would have to a smile from an attractive male. No matter what her feelings were now, she could no more deny that Sasuke was still very attractive as she could the color of her hair.
“A vast improvement over the dobe’s place,” was the only response she got, but after her fangirling years and the time spent as his teammate she knew to interpret that to mean he liked her place. And it was a vast improvement over the Kyuubi’s apartment which looked like a disaster most of the time unless she or Hinata went over there to clean it up for him.
“So are we having ramen for dinner,” Naruto demanded, making her roll her eyes in exasperation. How anyone could eat as much as ramen as he did and not get tired of it was beyond her. There was just so many times she could eat ramen or anything before she wanted some variety in her diet.
“No, we’re having udon,” she replied, ignoring the grumblings of the blonde as she led the way into the kitchen. She dished some of the noodles and soup into bowls and placed them on the table as the men got comfortable. “Stop complaining. At least I made a noodle dish. You know Naruto, it would do you wonders if you ate something besides ramen for a change. It can’t be that healthy to eat it so much.”
“That’s impossible,” Naruto retorted, already slurping away at his noodles. It might not have been ramen, but Sakura’s udon rated high among his favorite dishes. He pretended to be absorbed in his food as he watched Sakura sit down next to Sasuke. Her kitchen table sat four, two settings on one side and one on the other. As soon as he had seen that he made sure to beat Sasuke so she could sit next to him. Sakura may have said before that she didn’t care for the Uchiha as anything more then a friend and a companion, but the Kyuubi doubted that. He may have not been a genius like Shikamaru or Neji, but over the years he had learned how to understand the feelings of those dear to him.
Sakura may have tried to forget the past and her feelings, but Naruto had not. He had remembered how strong her feelings had been in the past and the years that followed after he had left. It was only the last five or six years that she had said begun to say that her feelings had become platonic for the Uchiha. There was no way a love that had burned inside her could have faded away into the gentle flame of a friend’s love. He knew how he felt about Hinata now and he knew that there was no way he could ever love her in any other way then he did now, so there was no way Sakura could love Sasuke any differently in the past.
One thing he shared with his pink-haired best friend was the same fiery and passionate nature, so it was logical to assume she would love in the same way he would too. Which was why he was determined to make her realize this and nudge her and Sasuke in the right direction. Of course, this was probably something that he probably shouldn’t do alone. He sometimes had bad luck with matchmaking people, like that time with Gaara and Matsuri…. well let’s just say if Shikmaru and Temari hadn’t stepped in, there wouldn’t be no romance between them now or one Kazekage founding himself currently working up the nerve to ask his girlfriend to marry him.
But it seemed to him he’d have to put some effort on his own now since no one seemed inclined to say anything. He just chalked it up to the fact that the two were sitting next to each other and were experiencing some sexual tension. He knew he sure did when he was next to Hinata at Ichiraku’s and she’d give him that little smile with her the occasional blush and his temperature rose a few notches along with other parts of him.
And while he no longer crushed on Sakura and loved Hinata, he was still male and there was nothing wrong with his eyesight; Sakura was an attractive young woman. She was a favorite topic among the men when they got together and Naruto often had to bust a few heads when their talk got disrespectful of one his favorite kunoichi. It wouldn’t be surprising if Sasuke was noticing this fact.
He had no idea how right he was.
Sasuke found himself distracted by the scent of lavender coming from Sakura as well as the heat from her body sitting next to his. She had really changed a lot physically since they were kids and when he had last seen her. She had let her hair grow out again, but kept it restrained in a braid. He had noticed it earlier, and more so now with her sitting next to him, that she had developed the feminine curves that she had lacked when they were younger. If he had recalled correctly, she hadn’t had much in the way of those when they had ran into each other at seventeen, but that wasn’t the case now. Howver her breasts were small compared to Ino’s or Godaime Hokage’s, but anyone would be considered small compared to those two particular kunoichi.
He had returned to Konoha to rebuild his clan and its honor. He had returned to rise up in the shinobi ranks like he was meant to. He had returned to the people that had reached through his loneliness and pain to give him some happiness and light in the darkness that consumed his soul. To those people who snuck into his heart when he wasn’t paying attention and became his important and precious companions that he would have died for. The very same people that he had had to run away from because he was afraid they’d make him weak and unable to avenge the important people that had come before them.
He had not returned expecting that in the first day he would begin to experience lust towards one of those important people. But there was no denying that he didn’t feel it and that it wasn’t caused by Sakura. It wasn’t the first time he felt his baser nature rise up in reaction to a woman. Just the first time that it was towards Sakura. Because with her, he had always felt himself become a bit softer and more protective. Not the sort of emotions to evoke lust and they had been too young for that sort of thing to be really considered back then, although Naruto seemed to have been the exception to that rule.
In the past, when he felt a sexual attraction for a woman he would usually act upon it and find a way to have the woman who had caused the lust or find another willing body. It had all, for the most part, been rather impersonal. One of the many rules of a ninja was not allowing yourself to be distracted; you either trained yourself to ignore it or found a way to get rid of it. In the case of his hormones, he had sought a way to sate himself.
But Sakura wasn’t just some random woman that he could slack his lust off of. She was one of his important people and he would sooner cut out his heart then hurt her. Again. He didn’t know how she felt about him, although he had noticed her behavior was more reserved and calmer around him then she had once been; but regardless of what she felt for him, the point was that he didn’t want to hurt her. And while he didn’t know the extent of his feelings or what they were completely, he knew he cared about her and didn’t want to screw up what they shared which he realized had become more then a bit fragile over the years.
“Good udon,” Naruto said, trying to break the silence. Damn it, what else could he say? Why had it been easier for him and Sasuke to fall back into their old habits? He’d have to talk to Shikamaru about that one.
“Hn.”
Naruto glared at the dark-haired man. Typical Sasuke response. You’d think he would have learned some new words along with all those new jutsus. “Sakura-chan makes the best udon in all of Konoha. Probably out of all the all the countries.”
“Mighty high praise coming from the ramen lover,” Sakura said, amused but a little confused by the Kyuubi’s sudden enthusiastic praise. “But I don’t think it’s the best of all the countries. I’ll just settle for Konoha.”
“Don’t be modest. You’re a great cook. None of the other kunoichi can cook like you can. Man, Ino nearly killed us in that last mission.” In another apartment of Konoha, said kunoichi sneezed. “I mean, I couldn’t even recognize what it could be. Tenten and Hinata aren’t too bad though. Speaking of Hinata, I think she was thinking about asking you for some lessons.”
“Lessons, eh?” Sakura repeated, a teasing glint in her eyes. Naruto silently cheered seeing that she was beginning to relax more in Sasuke’s presence which only proved his point she still has some feelings hidden inside for him. Otherwise why would she be so tense? “Now would these lessons have anything to do with possible wedding bells?”
“Why would Hinata want to marry that dobe,” Sasuke said, also noticing the difference in the kunoichi. They were starting to settle back into the team they used to be. It was slow, at least between him and her, but it was happening. “I would think she had better taste then that.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, teme,” Naruto demanded. “Hinata has perfectly good taste. Besides, by marrying me she’ll be the wife of the future Rokudaime Hokage.”
“Don’t tell me you’re still harping about that, dobe.” While he may have picked at Naruto, Sasuke actually did believe that the Kyuubi would accomplish his goal. He had that personality to make people believe in him and considering his parentage and the approval he had from Sandaime and Godaime, Naruto had a pretty good chance of making his dream into reality. That still wasn’t going to stop Sasuke from picking at him about him. It would only drive the blonde shinobi to work harder to reach for his dream.
“I will be Rokudaime,” retorted, banging his fist against the table. Luckily Sakura had bought a nice solid table that wouldn’t break under such circumstances. She knew what kind of friends she had. She just had to remember to control her temper because that really would break the table. “So you better hurry and get accepted by everybody, teme, because you’re going to be one of my right-hand men.”
Sasuke didn’t know how to reply to that. Their friendship had always been one rife with rivalry despite the undertones of brotherhood and ‘I’d-die-to-protect-you’ stuff. It wasn’t often that either, even Naruto, would voice something like what the blond just had. Naruto seemed to realize that his words had taken the light-hearted feeling in the room and deepened it into something else, since his face begin to redden a bit and look flustered.
“Great meal, Sakura-chan. I’m done so I’m claiming dibs on the first shower. You two can clean up.” The Kyuubi rushed out of the room before the other two could respond or the pink-haired kunoichi could yank him back to insist he help with the dishes. He knew very well Sakura’s rule about dinner. She cooked, everyone else cleaned.
“Let the dobe go,” Sasuke said, standing up and beginning to clean the table. He flashed her one of his rare smiles; this one she recognized as being used when Naruto had just done something that he would realize too late was a mistake. “He’ll realize soon enough that it wasn’t a bright idea to take a shower while we’re doing the dishes.”
The two worked together in harmony clearing the table and then without having to say a word to the other, Sakura washed the dishes while Sasuke dried them. They had done this often enough on missions when they were younger. Kakashi always seemed to manage to slip away when it came time to clean up and Naruto would often fall asleep after eating. It was so natural and automatic to work in unison that it allowed Sakura’s mind to wander, all though in the past her thoughts centered upon how to make Sasuke notice her more in a better light.
Now her thoughts, while still thinking about Sasuke, were more along the lines of how to help him get the Uchiha district repaired so it no longer resembled a ghost town and how to get the rest of the village to accept him. She knew that Team Gai and the members of the Rookie Nine would be more likely to accept him back first. Then again they might also be the hardest group to win over since his leaving could be seen as betrayal of the camaraderie they had all once shared. It was hard to say and the villagers would be hard to win over too, regardless of whether they were shinobi or civilians.
A cup slipped from her hand into the soapy water, causing some of it splash up at her and Sasuke. “Hn,” was the male’s reaction and she snuck a glance at to see him if he was annoyed by the little accident. She received one of the patented Uchiha glares. Yep, he was annoyed. Oh, well he’d just have to deal. She continued to wash and then shrieked when an icy spray of water hit her in the face.
“Sasuke-kun,” she snarled, the nostalgic moment making her tack the ‘-kun’ at the end of his name. She used the back of her arm to wipe the water from her face, jade green eyes promising retribution. She had splashed him on accident; that was no reason to take the hose and spray her in the face on purpose. But she couldn’t help feeling a bit happy; a playful Sasuke was so rare. With everything that happened, she would have thought it would have been even rarer still.
“You’re going to pay for that!” She flung soapsuds at him, although it was a pointless cause since he had always been rather good at dodging things. And he did have that hose still in his hand. He raised it again and she moved to duck, but slipped on the water that had dripped onto the floor.
Sasuke immediately reached out to grab a hold of her, but fates would have it that he lost his balance too. They both hit the tile floor with pained grunts, the more pained one coming from Sakura who was on the bottom. She was definitely going to be forming some bruises from this.
“You know this wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t splashed me,” Sasuke said, which in Sasuke speak was about as close to an apology as she’d get at the moment. He wasn’t the type to say ‘sorry’ or ‘thank you’ often since it was considered weak and he didn’t like being in the wrong. He only said those words when it was something rather serious.
“It was an accident. Spraying me in the face was deliberate act of war,” she retorted, glaring at him before it hit her how close his face actually was to hers. The glare faded and she watched as realization sank into his eyes as well. Sasuke found he was having a harder time ignoring his hormones with Sakura’s body beneath his. And then there was that expression of hers, soft and a bit unsure and hesitant. It brought out a protective urge in him for her that warred with the more primal side.
They stared at each other, neither quite sure of what to do or how address the tension that had increased the room. Something stirred inside the kunoichi as she stared into the dark eyes of the first male she had loved that hadn’t been her father.
‘I don’t feel that way anymore about,’ she told herself.
‘Keep telling yourself that, babe,” Inner Sakura retorted. ‘Ignoring facts isn’t going to help you.’
‘Shut up,’ she snarled at the other personality. Since she had become more confident and assertive in her life, Inner Sakura had become quieter over the years but still piped up every now in then with her two cents which was often a hard pill to swallow. Thankfully the inner voice remained silent, although it was doubtful that it would continue to keep its mouth shut about this particular topic for long.
The magnetism between the two comrades drew them to each other and it seemed that Sasuke’s face was becoming closer to hers. He wasn’t…. was he….
RING! RING!
Their faces moved away from each other, startled by the phone in the living room. Sasuke got up and helped her stand up, although she couldn’t quite meet his eyes and her cheeks were a bit flushed. She hurried into the living room as he mentally scolded himself. He could have ruined their friendship if had acted instinct and hormones. Until he knew exactly what his feelings were for his teammate now, he needed to control himself better. A moment of lust was not worth a friendship of a lifetime.
He moved to stand in the doorway into the living room and watched her from the shadows as she picked up the phone sounding a bit breathless, to him, with her greeting. His eyes narrowed as he watched as her expression become hard and her tone become frosty. Wanting to know what had caused the change, he moved a bit closer so he could hear her side of the conversation.
“Hello Otou-san….Yes, he’s returned… No, Tsunade-shishou allowed him to return… There are certain restrictions and obligations that he has to fulfill, but I don’t think that will really be a problem…. No, I can’t do that. Shishou assigned me and Naruto to watch over him as a mission….”
Her voice seemed to get colder with each response as whatever her father had said seemed upset her more and more. He didn’t know exactly what her relationship was with her father, but he found that her responses said a lot. Sakura had always been the type with a hot temper. For her to be so cool and distant was unlike the girl he knew.
“No, I will not,” Sakura snarled into the phone, her grip on it becoming visibly tighter and he heard a crack as if something was being crushed under some pressure. “He was, no correction, still is my teammate. I will not turn my back on him….. Then we have nothing further to say to each other.”
Surprisingly, Sakura placed the phone back gently on its base. There was tenseness in her stance and her hands were clenched into fists. Sasuke was unsure of what to do but finally decided to see if he could get her to talk. He remembered his mother always saying it was better to talk things out with your friends when family gave you trouble.
“Sakura?”
She turned her head and looked at him. There were so many emotions fighting for dominance in her eyes. Anger… determination… resignation … pain… It was that last one that got to him. Once she and Naruto had snuck themselves past his shields, it had become intolerable to him for either of them to feel any pain. But it had always been Sakura’s emotional pain that had always unnerved him a bit and he had tried to protect her from it. Leaving had been that much harder when Sakura had tried to stop him, but he had had to break the bonds to fulfill his goal. But it still hadn’t sit well that he had hurt her, nor did it sit well that she was in pain now. He was beginning to develop a sudden dislike her father.
“All done,” Naruto declared, walking into the room in his PJs and noticing belatedly a change in the atmosphere. “Sakura-chan?”
“I’m beat,” Sakura said, forcing a smile. “You can help Sasuke-kun finish cleaning up the kitchen. Good night.” The kunoichi then turned and fled to her bedroom as both men watched. Naruto stared at the closed bedroom door for a few moments, concern evident in his eyes.
“What happened, Sasuke?”
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Final Thought from Sasuke:
That dobe’s an ANBU? Is the world ending?
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kunoichi - female ninja
hitai-ate - the forehead protector worn by nins
baa-chan - Naruto's way of referring to Tsunade which basically means grandma or old lady
-shishou - teacher/mentor
dobe - idiot
teme - a really rude way to say 'you'
Otou-san - father
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Disclaimer: I do not claim any rights to Naruto or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Kishimoto Masashi and anyone else he says has rights to it.
