Always

He masqueraded cold indifference. She was seemingly indulged in tales of romance: always excitable, emotional and fantasizing. 'Fantasising' because she had long acquiesced - that kind of love was exceedingly rare or simply non-existent.

"He's back."

Her face did not waver; clear emerald orbs swept to the side as if retrieving some not-too-distant memory - then back again, unabashedly, to Naruto's bright cerulean.

Naruto gave her an uncertain smile, shook his blonde locks and planted his broad hands at the back of head...as if he wasn't excited - as if he wasn't torturing himself by not sprinting full chakra to the village gates and giving the bastard a hearty welcome.

"What do you think we should do?" Naruto said feigning nonchalance, though there was no mistaking the hope in his earnest gaze.

Sakura snorted and looked away. "Baka. Go greet him already." Her long fingers wrapped around the thin stem of her glass, and she held it up, poised in the air like the silence that had suddenly sprung up between them.

Naruto searched her face for any trace of discomfort, perhaps he had even expected hostility, but found nothing; his smile became a fully-fledged grin. "You really mean it...Sakura-chan?"

The corner of her lips quirked into a smile, amused at how loyal Naruto was - how he still held back for her, even though his body was all geared up to go and greet his long-time rival and teammate.

"I'm alright, idiot. It's what we've always wanted. Did you think I'd kick him out now that he's finally home?"

If it was possible, his grin became even wider.

"You're the best, Sakura-chan!"

He calmly stepped outside the bar and kicked up a dust storm in his haste to be the first to arrive at the village gates. Not that there was anyone else who wanted to be there first.

They had all seen it coming. Uchiha Sasuke, 5 years missing-nin, had finally achieved his lifelong ambition of revenge, had killed not only his S-class blood-brother but the slimy Otokage too - as if he had ever planned on giving up his body and his clan's legacy. The moment he had severed Orochimaru's head from his decaying bodying, his future was as clear as day. There was nothing else for him to do - no where else to go but Konoha.

Sakura tipped her face upwards as she took a swig out of her glass and drained the last of the golden-brown ale. Setting it down on the wood with a precise clack next to her payment, she rose out of her seat and sauntered out of the bar...ignoring the weighted gazes and not-so-inaudible whispers behind her.

She rolled her eyes in mild annoyance as she turned the corner. "Damn bastard, hasn't even set foot in the village and already -"

Without warning a flurry of bright, auburn hair and tanned skin flushed with exertion filled her vision and she was lifted off the ground in a tight embrace.

"Sakura...," he breathed into her pink tresses. Her arms circled his torso automatically albeit a little confusedly.

"...what is it?" She murmured into his collarbone, gently detaching herself from his arms. Caramel orbs shifted hesitantly and the reason for his discomfort was all too clear.

"Didn't I tell you not to listen to gossip, Ryo?"

He flushed an adorable shade of pink and her lips curved into a lopsided smile, the kind she made whenever she tried to be stern and yet was undeniably amused at the same time. Konoha's elite medic. Konoha's sweetheart. His girlfriend.

"So you're not going to go see him?"

She shook her head. "I did not say that, Ryoichi," she said gently.

Ryo's throat clenched. He blinked his worries away, ginger lashes brushing briefly against freckled cheeks, before losing himself in the forest green depths of her eyes. Her eyes were always so clear - so clear he could see his reflection in them; the humble civilian grocer, good-looking but not obviously so, as tall and as built as any ordinary villager could be...

He had always wondered -

Long, deceptively delicate fingers brushed his angled cheekbones, and warm palms gently held his face.

- what had drawn her to him?

"Sasuke is no reason to be insecure," she said softly, hitting the nail on the head.

Of course. He smiled wryly.

"You have a knack for breaking hearts, Sakura," he said honestly. "I don't want his return to act as a catalyst for anything."

Her emerald eyes widened slightly and she laughed warmly. "Do you know why I've been with you for as long as I have, Ryo?"

His heart trembled, fearing the worst. But she gathered him into her arms, squeezing tightly and pressing her lips to his in a chaste kiss.

"It is because you are so damn honest.

"It's what I love most about you."

He leaned into her again, heat thrumming through his body and he returned her kiss sensually.

"You understand me better than the rest because you're open about your thoughts and insecurities. Because you're not too proud to do so and don't have unreasonable expectations of me understanding something that hasn't been put into words."

She returned his kisses as fervently as he gave it to her, and when they pulled away gasping for air he couldn't help but flush at the disapproving glances sent their way.

Sakura chuckled again, leaning back hesitantly to thread her fingers into his and drew him to her side as if protecting him from the judgmental gazes and whispers of the villagers.

"...he may be a record holder but mark my words, it's only a matter of time."

If she had noticed his grip on her hand tensing at the words she said nothing. But the moment they hit a back alley she pushed him gently to the redbrick, hands threading through his auburn locks and kissing him on the forehead, the tip of his nose and brushing her soft lips along the sharp line of his jaw until all he could do was look up at her breathing raggedly, hopelessly loss in the sensation that was...Sakura.

"Stop thinking of the future, Ryo. Now is the only time that matters."

Her tongue traced his bottom lip. She was so good...so good at it. How many men had there been before him? A handful, he had heard.

He had been bewildered and anxious and dazed with wonder and delight when Sakura had confessed her love for him.

"I am in love with you."

Over time he had learned the significance of her careful words; she only ever promised the present. Haruno Sakura was not one to confess undying love.

"Teme!"

Naruto stood at the gate his feet wide-apart, pearly white teeth bared into a grin and a kunai hidden loosely in the hands resting at the back of his head.

Onyx eyes shifted slightly in acknowledgement but there was no expression on his handsome face. For a moment Naruto thought he would not say a thing, then thin lips muttered almost wordlessly. "Dobe."

Naruto's eyes widened and so did his smile, though it hadn't seemed possible and the kunai was flung swiftly, almost carelessly at the tall, dark man who dodged it just as easily with unconscious grace .

"You didn't think you could just barge back here without a fight, did you?" Naruto yelled, momentarily causing Sasuke to freeze but then he recognised that familiar glint in the idiot's eyes with a surprising pang of nostalgia - no, he refused to admit that he had missed it. Yet even so the corner of his lips curled and adrenaline pumped in his veins, preparing for a long and arduous battle.

Home sweet home.

For the first time he was moving freely again, his sinuous body gliding and rippling as he reacted to Naruto's attacks. He was free of Orochimaru, beginning to free himself of Itachi, was free to spar...just for the heck of it. He had missed it...fighting not to kill.

A corner of his mouth lifted smugly as Naruto cursed and brought his fingers into the first seals of an age-old sequence; Sasuke knew Naruto would never best him in pure taijutsu.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!"

And just like that by sunset they had found themselves half-seated half-lying on the ground, utterly drained of energy, grinning like a fool and a long-lost boy who had finally stumbled on the right path. Then Naruto stiffened as if he suddenly recalled something. "Where's Sakura-chan? She said she'd be -"

Sasuke looked up mouth very slightly slack, surprised that he had forgotten about her and then surprised to see that she was perched comfortably on the roof, draped in a dark blue blanket - when had she arrived? He must have been more absorbed in the fight with the Dobe than he had realised. Briefly his gaze turned dark as he contemplated what would have happened if it had been an enemy who had stumbled upon them - then he shook it off, realizing somewhat strangely that he didn't have to be so hard on himself anymore. It was no longer so critical. Being so close to the Dobe and his village had lured him into a (false?) sense of security again. He was growing complacent. His finely-honed senses as a rogue-inn would go to waste. But it was alright. Things were alright now.

Pitch-black met sharp, watchful emerald once more and for a moment he thought they would start a staring contest, both too stubborn to look away and show their uncertainty in how to treat the other. Then Sakura blinked and tilted her lips in a small smile and he was suddenly thrown into thinking how unexpectedly toned-down and mature the small action had been.

Instinctively he scanned the rest of her, noting her slimmer, slightly more tanned face, how rose-hued hair had grown long again but was pulled into an elegant braid - no longer the impractical shock of bright pink loose over the frail shoulders from his past.

With muted surprise he realised that she was...attractive somewhat. Her forehead was still wider than the norm, even her other features were not in perfect proportion, yet there was something about her that was simply and undeniably mesmerising. Pink lashes dusted the gentle curve of her upper cheeks, and he was beginning to pinpoint the charm in the forest green of clear, clear eyes and the crookedness of her smile.

It seemed that while he had been appraising her, she had been doing the same.

"You've gotten even more attractive."

Sasuke froze. A belated splutter came from the ground on his right; he looked over to see Naruto was pointing hilariously at him, clutching his side width the other arm and guffawing.

"Teme! You should have seen the look on your face! Hahaha! Got him good, hey Sakura-chan? Ahahahaha!

Sakura chuckled and stood up from her haunches, flicking her braid neatly to the side. She leapt down from the roof with a soft, muted thud. Sasuke watched her uncertainly, at a loss of what to expect. With Sakura it had always been complicated - of course he didn't expect her to just come up to him calmly and say...

"Welcome back, Sasuke."

His jaw slackened slightly, eyebrows furrowing perceptibly as he mulled over her reaction. She stood before him, just out of his reach, gazing unabashedly into his eyes.

He knew he was attractive, he had just never expected her to say it so...bluntly. As if it was merely a fact - which it was, mind you - a simple observation and nothing more. He did not know whether to feel smug or insulted. Hell, since when did he care whether it meant something more?

But he had expected drama. Tears perhaps. Or a proud display of anger. But she had done just what he had expected her not to do; calmly welcome him back to Konoha as if all had been forgiven. As if he had not tried to kill her twice. As if she had not been absorbed in the task of dragging him home for the greater part of her life.

It was as if it had never happened at all and he was just a teammate who had been out for a long solo mission - always destined to come home.

Perhaps he was?

Welcome back, Sasuke.

His sharp mind had unconsciously analysed her words in a way that would have made Itachi proud.

Welcome back - a suitably ambiguous, generic reply that spoke volumes of the strange distance he felt between them even though she was nothing but friendly.

Welcome back to where and to whom? (To Konoha? Team seven? To her?)

Sasuke - no bitterness or open anger that would have been obvious if she had resorted to calling him by his last name or attaching a stranger's polite suffix to either name. Yet her calling him so bluntly (without the affectionate -kun that he had become accustomed to) struck him as something significant.

They had been close teammates and she would acknowledge that past relationship, but she no longer idolized him like she had in the past - and to this his first thought was a relieved and satisfied "Good."

Only a small part of him was curious as to why...and that small part did not matter. It had never been in his character to ask - and still wasn't.

Yet things felt strangely settled.

Everything was in its place.

"Tadaima."

He was home.