Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did Kakashi would be my man servant.
Spoilers: AU. The truth has been twisted to meet my needs, as all truths should be!
Warnings: No beta. Some cuss words.
Prologue
The weather was getting cold again. This meant that she would have to move again. Over the years she had discovered that she hated cold weather. She did all that she could to avoid the snow. Snow meant cold weather, which equaled covering up.
As she had matured she had discovered that she loved her feminine body. She now wore short red dresses with green and pink flowers on them. The dresses were tight with slits on the sides. Her nails were painted a seafoam green and were long and pointed. She had let her hair grow long over the years. She kept it up in buns using senbons to keep them in place. She liked making people think she was weak simply because she looked well put together. In the eyes of many femininity was seen as weakness. It worked to her advantage many times and she loved proving them wrong.
She was finally being comfortable and confident in her body after so many years and she'd be damned to cover it up.
Moving this time would be hard. She was making good money, but damnit if this part of the fire country didn't get cold in the winter. Sakura sighed as she contemplated where to travel to next. She decided to go out to eat tonight since it might be her last night in town. Locking the door to the little house she rented Sakura walked toward the town. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it had some real hidden gems when it came to food. She picked her favorite tempura restaurant and walked in.
"Welcome back. Sit wherever you like."
She was greeted as usual and she sat in her usual booth in the back of the restaurant. When the server came by she ordered her food and a bottle of sake. As she sat and drank her sake a tall man walked in followed by a short brown haired teenager. Sakura turned her attention to the cup in her hands as the blond hair made memories she had long forgotten come back to the surface.
"Do you mind if I join you?" The voice was deep and serious. Sakura was sure he had all the girls drooling over him.
"If you insist." Sakura sat back and took in the sight of Naruto. Six years sure does change a person. His features were sharp and strong. His hair had gotten longer and he had gotten taller. The marks on his face now added to his features instead of distracted from them. He definitely had all the girls fawning over him.
"You are one hard person to find."
"I like it that way."
"You are so much like her, its funny. And man, you've gotten hot."
"Yeah, but I know how to hold my alcohol." Ignoring the complement, Sakura offered Naruto a sip, which he took. "So who's the kid guarding the door?"
"It's Konohamaru. I'm training him."
"He's short."
"So was I."
Sakura took another sip and sighed. She knew Naruto didn't come all this way just to chat. "Just get to the point. I need to pack tonight."
"Leaving again? I have good timing." Naruto gave her one of his wide, toothy smiles. She almost smiled back.
"Idiot."
"Tsunade sent me." At the mention of her name Sakura gripped her cup. Tsunade understood why Sakura had left. She promised not to force her back until she was ready, and she wasn't ready. "Some things have happened recently."
"What things?"
Naruto leaned back in the booth and took a deep breath. It was at that time that the server appeared with the food Sakura had ordered. She placed the dishes on the table and quickly left obviously sensing the tension.
"We've spent the past few years looking for all of Orochimaru's underground compounds. Well some were compounds, others were just small housing facilities. He had them all over the place and they were damn hard to find. But recently we found one of his labs."
Sakura lifted her eyes and stared at Naruto. He looked tense. "What did they find?"
"I was there when we found it. The place looked like something you'd see in nightmares. It was mostly abandoned, but there were only two people there; an old man and a boy. The old man was given orders to care for the boy and not let him unless given permission."
"What did Orochimaru threaten him with?"
"It was actually Kabuto, and he told him if he left he would turn his wife and children into test subjects."
"That asshole." Anyone would rather wish death on their family than be subjected to Kabuto's tests.
"I couldn't agree more." Naruto took the sake bottle and lifted it to his lips. He spoke before taking a sip. "Sakura, you're not asking me the important question."
"Who was the boy?"
Naruto put the bottle on the table and lowered his head. "You know about Yamato, right."
The cup that Sakura was holding in her hands shattered at his words.
"Naruto-sensi?" Konohamaru walked up to the booth, obviously concerned by her display of anger.
"It's okay. Go wait outside." Naruto smiled at him. It seemed to put the boy at ease as he walked outside.
"Tsunade wants you to come back to teach him. She feels, and I agree, that you would make a good teacher."
With the cup broken, Sakura grabbed the edge of the table. It started to protest under her grip. "Have Kakashi or Yamato do it."
"Kakashi won't take another team, and Yamato is back on the Black Ops team."
"Sai then."
"Sakura, seriously?"
"Why not you then."
"I have a student already."
"Why me?"
"He doesn't know anything. He's lost and confused. He needs someone who will be patient with him and who understands. He has no one, and we both know the results of that."
Sakura let go of the table and sighed. She picked up the sake bottle and drank what was left. When she got up to leave Naruto moved to get up as well, but Sakura stopped him with her hand.
"Don't follow me."
"Need time to think? We leave tomorrow night just so you know."
As Sakura approached the door she turned to look at Naruto. "Are you sure it's him?"
"I saw him Sakura. There is no doubt."
Sakura spent the night in her little house packing. There really wasn't much to pack. She traveled light. As she stuffed things into her pack she opened a small pocket on the side of the pack. Inside was a small photo album containing only pictures of Team 7 over the years. Sakura lingered on the image of Sasuke.
"Fuck."
If there was a chance to right all of the wrongs she had committed in the past she knew she had to take it. Maybe then she could start the process of forgiving herself.
"Guess I'm going home."
Author's Note: At the time of posting this (2/2013) I have written two additional chapters. I've been re-reading and editing this for quite some time now. It's been a long, long time since I've written something that isn't a one-shot. In my head I don't see this being an epic like my previous discontinued story. I learned a lot from writing that, more specifically to not let the story stray from my original end goal.
I am kinda bummed that I ended up writing so much dialogue, but whatever. That's how it came out.
Let me know what you think and I'll post the next chapter soon.
Thanks for reading :)
