Uchiha Sasuke stumbled upon the ground, clutching his stomach with a bloody, bandaged arm. His raven hair was a rat's nest, bits of twigs and leaves tangled in the knots. His clothes were torn, his face was scratched, he had no chakra and he was on the verge of death. To put it simply, he was having a bad day. A major under statement. The Uchiha would finally have to give in to the last resort, one that he had told himself he would never, ever, ever do under any circumstances. The one he had abandoned, the one he had broken all bonds with.

But deep down, deep, deep, deep down, Sasuke had always known he hadn't severed the bonds completely. There were some friendships that always lasted. Naruto made sure to remind him of that.

And now Sasuke was shamefully making his way back to Konoha, to face the punishments he deserved. He wasn't sure what everyone's reaction would be. He wasn't particularly looking forward to it either, but he had no other place to go, and he was tired of running now. Itachi had been dead for 5 years, and he had finally realised that destroying Konoha was pointless, therefore leaving him with no purpose. And if death be his punishment, he may as well die in honour knowing that the closest things he'll ever have to friends have him back, rather than dieing quietly and painfully in this godforsaken forest alone.

The road to Konoha was a long one, and the last thing Sasuke needed was any trouble along the way in his weak state. But he grudgingly dragged himself along the ground, wheezing and grunting with every painful step. There was a thick trail of blood following him, and with every movement his head felt slightly dizzier. But he forced himself to carry on, to keep going until he ran out of every last drop of strength.

It felt like hours before he finally reached the gates of Konoha. By that point, the moon had risen, and darkness had befallen the land. All was quiet apart from the chirruping of crickets and his heavy, laboured gasps. Sasuke felt eyes land his way, and looked up to see the gate guard gasp upon sight of the Uchiha. He pointed a trembling finger at Sasuke, and spluttered something incomprehensible. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm dying man, not invading. Fetch me Uzamaki Naruto." The guard nodded nervously, and disappeared down some steps. Sasuke sighed, slumped down against the city walls, and waited.

It was a while before the guard arrived, and Sasuke ad nearly fallen asleep by the time he did. He was awoken by a sharp intake of breath, and opened his eyes to see who it belonged to. "Sasuke." Naruto breathed, shaken, the name rolling off his tongue with an unfamiliarity that had never been there before.

"Yes, dobe. Now help me up before I die."

Naruto crossed his arms and glared daggers at Sasuke with all the hatred he could muster. Sasuke winced. If looks could kill, he'd almost definitely be dead by now. "Why should I? Tell me Sasuke, give me a clear, valid reason why I should help you?" Sasuke clamped his eyes shut and told himself to take deep breaths. "Don't get me wrong Sasuke, I'm happy as hell you've come back, but I haven't seen you in 3 years. And the last time I did you made yet another attempt on mine and Sakura's life. I waited. I did everything in my power to bring you back. But you didn't listen. I tried to keep my promise to Sakura, but she and Kakashi lost hope in you years ago. I tried to persuade them, tell them that you would come back. But eventually I lost hope in you too. And now you've turned up on the brink of death expecting us to give you a hot chocolate and some freshly-baked cookies?"

Sasuke stared at Naruto, mouth agape. He wanted to protest but all he could manage was, "You've changed."

Naruto snorted, but to Sasuke's surprise he held out his hand and said, "It's been three years Sasuke. I'm twenty-two, what did you expect? Now get up, you teme." Sasuke gratefully took his hand and hauled himself up, gasping with pain. He grasped at his stomach, where a fresh, new patch of warm, wet blood appeared on his shirt. Naruto grimaced. "That's a nasty injury you got there." He pointed out. Sasuke could think of a million snide comments, but decided not to anger his only chance of survival, and only… friend? Was that what he thought of Naruto now?

Sasuke shut the thought from his mind and leaned on Naruto's shoulder. "You." Naruto pointed at the guard. "Help me with this lot. Sakura will want to see him." Sakura? Sasuke thought. Uh oh.

"No, no, no, no, no, no." Sasuke said hurriedly, stopping in his tracks. "She'll kill me."

Naruto laughed. "'Course she will, Sasuke! What did you expect?"

Sasuke didn't think it was sarcasm. Naruto's face went serious. "Come on, she's not gonna kill you, Sasuke. She's just going to be very, very angry."

"Angry?"

"Either that, or she'll be so depressed she'll never be the same again. And then I'll kill you."

Sasuke decided not to push the matter. He leaned on Naruto and the guard, as they made their way into Konoha. After walking painfully for several minutes, Naruto put him down and said, "Right then. I'll go fetch the nurse." Sasuke shot a questioning glance at Naruto, who rolled his eyes. "I mean Sakura. Her parents were killed in an accident, so she's staying at my place." Killed in an accident? Poor Sakura.

Naruto then disappeared into down the streets, and the guard left after about 30 seconds, leaving Sasuke on his own in the dark streets of Konoha. Sasuke waited. And waited. And waited. He practically jumped out of his skin when he heard someone in the distance say, "Alright, just down here." Sasuke opened his eyes and looked up to see Naruto appear out of the shadows, closely followed by the person he had dreaded seeing most.

Sakura stepped into the moonlight, looking exactly the same as she had done years ago. When she looked up and saw who was lying on the floor in front of her however, her face was so grief-stricken Sasuke couldn't bear to look at it. "Sasuke." She whispered, and Sasuke was hurt at the absence of the 'kun' on the end of it. "It's really you." Her voice was so sad, and longing, yet when he brought himself to look at her eyes, there was no hatred, just pain.

"Yes, and he's dying, so although you hate him with all your guts, do your healing thing, because that guy's like a brother to me." Naruto gestured at Sasuke. Sakura nodded, snapped out of her trip down memory-lane, and rushed to Sasuke's side. Sasuke said nothing, and he wasn't sure whether it was because he was too weak to, or because he couldn't bring himself to talk to her. He just watched as Sakura pressed her glowing chakra infused hands onto his side, closing her eyes with concentration.

There was no, 'this might hurt a little', or 'be prepared for the pain', but Sasuke figured if she had to save his life, she deserved to be able to see him suffer as she did it, because Sasuke did suffer. His eyes widened as the pain gripped him, and he attempted to gasp out some words, but nothing came out other than a pitiful wheeze.

Sakura tried harder, sticking her tongue out in determination. Naruto knelt down beside her, genuine concern in his eyes for Sasuke. That gave him a warm feeling. That guy's like a brother to me. Was that really what Naruto thought of him? Naruto had been more of a brother to Sasuke than Sasuke had ever been to him. That made him feel guilty.

Suddenly, the pain stopped and Sasuke was filled with warmth; his head felt less dizzy, and the strength slowly returned to his body. It was a fuzzy feeling, one that made him tingle, yet not unpleasantly so. Sure, he had been healed many times before, but never had his injuries been as drastic as this, and it was so relaxing he fell in to Sakura's arms, making no effort to get up.

Sakura wiped her palms on her forehead, in a kind of 'phew' gesture. "Thanks." Sasuke said, and closed his eyes peacefully.

"That took a lot of chakra, so you should be grateful." She said, though she didn't try to push him off her lap. Instead she ran her fingers through his hair, pulling out bits of twig and leaves. "You must have gotten into a real fight back there. What happened?"

This confused Sasuke. He had tried to kill her more times than he could count, threatened war on her village, abandoned her on a cold park bench after she announced her love to him, hadn't seen her for three years, yet she was asking him how he had gotten so injured? It was unbelievable. "Why don't you hate me?" he asked.

Sakura shrugged. "I do. But everyone deserves a chance, don't they? Even traitorous, murderous, S-ranked criminals like you." She said it so non-chalantly, Sasuke found it hard to believe this was the same girl from three years ago.

"You've changed."

"So have you."

"Yeah, but you've changed more."

"Why did you come back, Sasuke? After all this time." her voice dropped to a murmur.

"I had nowhere else to go." He tried.

"You left us. Naruto, Kakashi, me." She said. Naruto smiled sadly at the mention of his name. Sakura put her arm under Sasuke's back and hauled him up, so he was sat up. She looked him in the eye, with a sad, sad look. Then, she reached out a hand, and brushed her fingers lightly down his cheek. Sasuke flinched at first, but quickly relaxed at the feel of her skin. "But you're back now. I forgive you. And that's the important thing."

Sasuke pondered this thought. If Sakura had it in her heart to forgive him after the things he had done, maybe there was a life here for him after all. Filled with a feeling of new hope he had never experienced before, he ran a hand through her hair, and smiled. It wasn't a smirk, but a real, genuine smile. "Yes." He said. "I'm back."