A gust of cold wind blew through the air, lifting the fallen leaves off the ground and twirling them around. A soft crunching noise could be heard, as he walked along the path. The boy shivered and wrapped his coat tighter around him as he continued on his way. He had traveled far and wide in search of something only his heart remembered and when he reached the entrance to a shaded village, his heart skipped a beat. He hadn't been there for quite a few years and the events that had taken place came flooding back to him. With a cry, he sank to his knees and began to sob. A soft thud in front of him caused him to snap his head up. What greeted him was thought to only be a memory.

In front of him stood a tall, slender girl, who appeared to be about his age. She wore a pink, knee length dress with what appeared to be black spandex underneath. The one feature that really stood out was her hair; it was light pink. She hadn't changed much except for she was definitely more mature in her features. Not knowing what to say, he stared at her and tears continued to stream down his face. Glancing down for a moment, he realized that the thud he had heard was from the bag she had dropped to the ground.

"Oh…my…god…" she gasped, her hand flying her to mouth, "S-Sasuke?"

The girl rushed to his side and fell to her knees, throwing her arms around him. He wanted to say something, but he just couldn't. Why couldn't he? Instead, he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

"Why won't you say anything?" she asked, lifting his chin up so that he was looking her in the eye.

Sasuke tired, but choked on the words. Trying again, he managed to get out a couple, "S-Sakura…I…"

"What? I what? Please, Sasuke…I what?" she pleaded, softly stroking his cheek with her thumb.

"I…I'm s-sorry…"

Sakura smiled and tears slowly fell from her eyes. Sasuke's eyes widened and he shifted so that he was sitting taller. Reaching up with one hand, he wiped away the stray tears that had reached the middle of her check. Then, looking into her eyes, he leaned forward and kissed her.

Shocked, Sakura didn't respond, but when he broke away, she realized her mistake and pulled him back to her. After a few moments, Sasuke broke the kiss and leaned back. Sakura looked at him and realized a look in his eye that she had never seen before.

He sighed and slowly climbed to his feet, offering her his hand. Once they were both stable, Sasuke found his eyes drifting down her body. She had definitely grown since the last time he had seen her, though he was still a few inches taller than her. Her hair was now shoulder length and it fell in soft curls. He was dazed for a moment, as he watched the wind dance between her strands of hair. Tearing his eyes away, he realized that her bag was still lying on the ground beside them. Bending over, he picked it up and handed it back to her.

"Thank you…" she said shyly.

"You're welcome…" he replied with a soft smile.

Sakura's eyes widened. He had smiled. Sasuke, the boy with a darkened past, had finally given her a real, from the heart smile.

"What are-are you d-doing here?" she asked, trying not to sound harsh.

Sasuke looked down at the ground and said nothing for a long time. Just when Sakura thought he wasn't going to say anything, he spoke.

"A part of me wanted to come back and see how everyone was doing, and the other part of me wanted to see…" he stopped and closed his eyes.

"Wanted to see what?" Sakura asked, grabbing a hold of his hands.

"…you…" he whispered.

Sakura's stomach flipped as her heart sped up, "Me?"

Sasuke opened his eyes again and looked her straight in the eye, "You…"

Sakura tried to hold back the tears that were trying to surface, but couldn't. With a soft cry, she hugged him around his chest and sobbed into his shirt. Sasuke closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his head upon her shoulder. Minutes passed as the two continued to stand there. Finally, Sasuke lifted her chin up and smiled.

"I know that it may be fun to stand out here in the fresh air, but I'm starting to freeze…do you have a place near by?" he asked, with a sudden change of mood.

"Oh! Yes, I'm so sorry!" she cried, "You can come to my place if you'd like, though I warn you, it's not the best place in the world—"

"Shhh…your place will do just fine," Sasuke laughed, "Let's just get inside before I become a popsicle…"

Sakura smiled and grabbed her bag, "All right then, follow me…"

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The fire crackled as Sakura brought forth two cups of hot chocolate. Handing Sasuke his, she took a seat across from him on the floor, leaning her back against the wall. Blowing softly, Sasuke brought the cup to his lips and tasted it. The hot liquid running down the back of his throat caused him to let out a contented sigh as it slowly began to warm him up. Sakura smiled and shifted slightly so that her legs were now crossed.

"What made you decide to wait this long to return?" Sakura suddenly asked.

Sasuke paused and thought of how to reply, "Well, when I left, I had a million things on my mind. The only way to sort them out was to be alone…"

Sasuke cleared his throat and placed his cup on the table next to them. When Sasuke looked back up, Sakura nearly dropped her glass. The look that Sasuke was giving was something she had never seen in his eyes before. Watching intently, she prepared herself as he slowly rose to his knees. Then, without warning, Sakura was pinned to the wall behind her and soon felt his lips upon hers.

'What has gotten into him?' she thought to herself as she frantically tried to escape his grasp. "SASUKE! STOP! What has gotten into you! STOP!"

Sasuke ignored her cries and proceeded to press his lip harder against hers, trying to gain access. Breaking from the kiss, Sasuke attacked her neck, trailing kisses lower and lower.

"Stop, please, I don't want this…"

"Yes you do, I know you've wanted this since the moment you laid eyes on me…now hush…" he replied calmly.

'No…he's losing control…please god…anything but this…I have feelings for him, but this is too quick!'

Sasuke proceeded and was soon undoing her dress, removing the black shorts shortly after, leaving her in nothing except for her undergarments. He kissed down to her waist before returning to her mouth. He unclasped her bra and began to massage her breasts.

"Sasuke…please…don't…not like this…" she cried.

He brought his face up and looked down at her, "Not like what?"

"I really do like you…but I'm not ready for this…please…" she pleaded.

He ignored her once again and removed her panties, exposing everything to him. Then to Sakura's horror, Sasuke undid his pants. Covering her mouth with his hand, he entered her.

"AHHHHH!!!"

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"Ahhhhhhh!" Sakura screamed, her eyes snapping open.

Sakura took a moment to take in her surroundings and sighed in relief once she realized that she was in her own room, completely alone.

'Thank god that was only a dream…' she thought to herself as she pushed the covers off her body.

Rising to her feet, she slipped her slippers on and headed towards the door. Entering the kitchen, she was about to pour herself a glass of water when she heard a loud knock on her front door.

"Now who would that be? Especially at this time of night…" she asked herself as she cautiously unlocked the door.

Once the door had been completely opened, she almost jumped out of her skin. Standing before her, bleeding severely, was none other than Sasuke. But before she had time to say anything, Sasuke collapsed forward, landing on top of Sakura.

"Sasuke?" she cried, carefully pushing him off her and quickly jumping to her feet, "Oh my god!"

Running to the phone, she dialed a number and waited anxiously for a reply.

"Hello?" a male's voice responded.

"Kakashi! This is Sakura; you need to come over here and pronto!"

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Sasuke shivered and slowly opened his eyes. Where was he? Looking around the room, Sasuke realized that he was in someone's house rather than in the hospital. He was about to move when he noticed a head of pink hair resting on the bed on his left side. Sighing rather loudly buy accident, the figure stirred, sitting up and yawning.

Sasuke could have fallen out of bed if he had been near the edge. The figure before him was a woman, and not just an ordinary woman, but his female teammate. Sasuke thought that something looked different about her but he couldn't put a finger on exactly what it was. Snapping out of his trance like state, Sasuke cleared his throat, causing the woman to jump.

"Sakura?" he managed to get out for his voice was weak.

"Sasuke! Your awake!" she cried, hugging him tightly, "I thought that you would never wake up!"

Sasuke stared at her, not quite knowing how to respond, "Where am I?"

"Your in my bedroom…you've been out for three days after you collapsed on me…" she replied, "You were bleeding badly when you arrived, so we had to clean you up. I sewed the deeper cuts and bandaged the rest. I would stay in bed for a little while longer so the rest of you will have time to heal…"

Sasuke nodded and was just about to ask her how things were going when Kakashi entered the room. Sasuke was shocked to see him of all people, was he the one that helped Sakura heal him?

"Well, I see you've finally awoken…" Kakashi said, walking behind Sakura and placing him arms upon her shoulders.

Sasuke was confused, but decided to shrug it off. Everything was as normal, right?

"Sakura, why don't you go lay down on the couch for a while, the doctor said that you should have plenty of rest but at the same time be comfortable…" Kakashi said soothingly.

"But…all right…it would probably be for the best…see you in a little bit then?" she replied, slowly climbing to her feet.

Sasuke watched as Kakashi gave her a helping hand. Since when did Sakura ever need a helping hand? Then to his utter disbelief, as she turned sideways to step out from between the bed and the chair, he saw that she had a rather large bulge where her stomach was. Then it hit him, she was pregnant…Pregnant?! What?! When?! Sasuke's head filled with millions of unanswered questions, one in particular that he wanted to ask her was, who's the father?

He didn't have to wait long for the answer to come to him. He watched Sakura as she leaned up and kissed Kakashi on the lips. Their sensei! Something just didn't seem right. He tried to talk to them but found he could not utter a single word.

'What the hell?!' Sasuke thought, 'When did those to get together? Was I really gone that long?'

"Excuse me?" he tried to say, but still no sound emerged, "EXCUSE ME!!!"

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked up to see if Sakura had just called to him but realized that she was already beyond the door. Confused, Sasuke looked around the room, trying to find the source of the voice. Then he heard it again…

"Sasuke?"

"Hello? Where are you?" he called, watching Kakashi's figure move towards him, saying something that Sasuke obviously could not hear.

"What do you mean? I'm right in front of you…Sasuke, wake up…" he heard her say.

"Huh? Wake up? I am awake…"

"No, Sasuke, you're dreaming that you're awake…"

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Sasuke opened his eyes to find her face was inches from him. With a yelp, Sasuke tired to get out of the bed, but slipped and landed with a hard thud onto the floor.

"Sasuke!" Sakura shrieked, jumping off the bed and kneeling on the ground, "What the hell was that?"

Sasuke was about to respond, when a familiar figure rushed into the room. To Sasuke's disbelief, the figure was none other than Kakashi.

"What happened?" he asked, walking up behind Sakura.

Sasuke waited to see his hands rest upon Sakura's shoulders but nothing happened. Slowly creeping forward, Sasuke placed a hand on Sakura's stomach.

"What are you doing?" she asked, looking down at his hand.

Sasuke moved his hand around and sighed in relief when he noticed that she was completely flat. Sinking back onto the floor, he blacked out. Sakura looked up at Kakashi who shrugged his shoulders. He stepped over Sakura and lifted Sasuke up, then placed him back on the bed. Sakura pulled the covers over him and brushed a strand of hair off his face. He looked so peaceful when he slept. Then, being as quiet as they could, they exited the room, leaving Sasuke to rest in peace.