Author's Note: So this is my first story, please review and don't be afraid to add constructive criticism :)

Uchiha Sasuke wasn't the typical person to appreciate his surroundings, but for some reason he felt the need to leave his home and take a walk into town. The sun was out and shining in Konoha, and everyone was out and about, running errands or just simply enjoying the nice weather.

It had been a while since he went out by himself, normally he'd be at the training grounds until sundown, not bothering to go out in public unless he needed to buy food or cleaning supplies. He didn't know why he was out now, his brain told him to go back and train, but his feet just kept walking forward into town, with no particular destination.

Continuing on, Sasuke glanced at some young children running around in the streets, throwing fake shuriken and yelling in delight if one struck another child. The corners of Sasuke's mouth slightly rose, having been amused at the playful spirits of the future shinobi.

"I hit you! Now you're dead!" one girl shouted in glee

"Kagebunshin no Jutsu! Now I got you!" one boy yelled, trying to make hand signs.

"Take this!" one boy yelled, throwing a "shuriken" but missed, and hit Sasuke right in the middle of his stomach, then fell to the ground. Sasuke bent to pick it up, and examined the bent edges of the plastic.

Then he looked up and saw one of the children stare warily at Sasuke. The childrens' laughter ceased, and many adults stopped what they were doing to watch the situation, concern clear on their faces. Ignoring the gasps of the men and women around him, Sasuke walked over to the small boy and held out the fake shuriken.

"Here, be careful next time." he said to the boy.

The boy looked at Sasuke, and cautiously took the shuriken out of his hand, his eyes lowered, not wanting to make eye contact with the Uchiha.

"A- Arigatō." the boy said shakingly. He swiftly ran back to his friends and the boys ran off in another direction, almost tripping over each other. Sasuke watched the boys until they disappeared, and his eyes narrowed.

The men and women were whispering to each other while swiftly glancing at the Uchiha, distrust being present in some of their eyes. Sasuke closed his eyes, put his hands in his pockets and continued onward down the road, ignoring the stares and whispers. Sasuke wasn't in the least bit surprised, he'd been treated this way ever since he returned to Konoha a couple months ago.

Prior to his return, Sasuke had struggled with his decision to return home. Only after killing his brother did he learn the truth of why Itatchi had murdered his clan, orders from Konoha. His mind was at war.

He did it to protect the village

He was forced to kill his family, to MURDER them

He cared about the village enough to kill his clan

He spared me

What about revenge? What is my path now?

I am an avenger.

My life's purpose..

He had nothing.

"Damn it." he sighed.

He gathered chakra to his feet and jumped into the trees, letting his feet decide his destination.

He was apprehended as soon as he was spotted near Konoha's gates.

"Hey! Is that Uchiha Sasuke?!" one of the shinobi standing near the gate yelled.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He almost forgot how cautious these guards were, now that Sasuke's name was now probably branded as a traitor. He wouldn't be surprised if he was listed in the infamous bingo book. He jumped down from the branch he was perched on.

"It is! Report to Lady Hokage IMMEDIATELY!" the other shouted, pulling out a kunai.

"Don't bother." Sasuke said with boredom in his voice. "I'm not here for trouble."

The guards glanced at each other with doubt in their eyes, not believing Sasuke.

"Would I be standing here alone if I was lying? You can check around all you want, but there are no men with me and I have no plans to hurt anyone. See for yourself, can you detect any other chakra signatures besides ours in this area?" Sasuke asked them, pointing behind him into the woods. They stared at Sasuke for a long time, not speaking, and finally lowered their kunai.

"Fine. Uchiha Sasuke, come with us."

"Hn."

She had been working all day, piles of paperwork yet to be signed. She picked up a bottle of sake and drained the remainder of the calming liquid. Just as she signed one more paper, there was a knock at her door.

"Come in." she said briefly.

The door opened and two anbu entered, one's mask resembling some sort of cat, the other, a nameless animal with a turquoise blue pattern swirled around the mask.

"Lady Tsunade, we have a situation." one said.

Tsunade's eyes looked up from her paperwork, she put her sake down.

"What kind of situation?"

Her question was answered when Uchiha Sasuke entered the room.

The Hokage had her hands folded under her chin, her honey colored eyes narrowed suspiciously. Sasuke glared at the two Anbu standing at each end of Lady Tsunade's desk.

"Are anbu really necessary?" Sasuke asked giving the two animal masked shinobi pointed stares.

"I don't know, are they?" Lady Tsunade retorted. "Why have you returned? What are you planning? It must have been a difficult decision to come back and face everyone."

"I can assure you I have nothing planned. I just wish to be re recognized as a Konoha shinobi."

The Hokage's eyes narrowed further. "How do I know that you aren't lying?" she asked

"You don't." Sasuke said plainly.

The two stared at each other for a long time, not blinking once. Then Lady Tsunade smirked.

"Welcome back Uchiha Sasuke."

Something inside Haruno Sakura was beginning to slip. She stood in the middle of town, her feet glued to the ground, with her loudmouthed teammate Uzumaki Naruto as she tried to make sense of the situation. She looked at the man standing in front of her, searching his eyes for any signs of doubt or lies, she found none. She looked over at Naruto, who's fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were turning white, and he took a step toward the fellow shinobi standing in front of them.

"Shikamaru…can you.. say that again? I..just..I don't think I heard you right." for once Naruto was choking on his words, Sakura thought to herself, hell if she tried to even utter one word it would come out slurred and unsteady. But that was understandable given the current situation. She was slipping more.

Shikamaru sighed and put his hands in his pockets, taking a deep breath, concern on his face.

More.

"I just got word from Lady Tsunade." Shikamaru began.

Breaking.

"Sasuke's back. He's returned to Konoha." he said

She cracked.

Her eyes flew open and without warning, her feet broke free, and she dashed upwards, gathering chakra to her feet and dashed from building to building with lightning speed. She heard someone following her, no doubt that it was Naruto.

Sakura's eyes were burning with tears as she pumped more chakra to her feet and increased her speed dramatically, leaving Naruto behind.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura ignored Naruto's shouts.

He's back. He's finally back..

Sakura felt like her muscles were on fire, and there was a giant pit in her stomach, but she ignored her body's cries for rest. Her feet made loud clacking sounds as she landed on a rooftop made of tiles, putting cracks in some of them, but she didn't care. She had to get to Hokage Tower. She just had to. Naruto, pumping chakra to his feet, finally caught up with his pink-haired teammate. For what seemed like an eternity, they dashed and ran, finally reaching their destination.

The two ran through the halls of the Hokage Tower, nearly crashing into anyone who was in their way, including a squad of genin, who seemed shocked that two ninja could run at that speed, and dashed through the door to the Hokage's office. Naruto and Sakura's eyes widened. They stood, breathing heavily, un moving, in the doorway as they took in the figure standing before them. Sakura's eyes danced all around Sasuke's body, taking in his muscular arms, his infamous stoic appearance, the Uchiha crest he proudly wore everyday of his life…

The boy, or the man she loved was back.

Sasuke turned around and looked at his old teammates, surprised that he felt a strong wave of nostalgia hit him, although he didn't show it. His onyx eyes met blue and green ones, each pair staring at his with shock and wonder. He didn't have to be a genius to figure out who would be the first to break the awkward silence, and his guess was correct when Naruto moved an inch.

"Sasuke.." Naruto said, slowly walking over to him. He stopped a few feet away, then without warning punched Sasuke's shoulder and grinned widely at him.

"Well it's about time you came back Teme! I heard you killed Orochimaru! I knew you wouldn't let that bastard take your body! Let's have a fight right now! You and me! I'll beat you in a second just you-"

"Shut up Dobe!" Sasuke exclaimed.

Sasuke inwardly sighed, he didn't think the dobe would change, mentally at least, physically he greatly changed. He was taller, that's for sure. His voice became deeper, but nonetheless still headache inducing.

"And you could never beat me." Sasuke said, punching Naruto's shoulder like his blonde teammate had done earlier.

Naruto looked at him then with acceptance, the kind of look that only a friend would give Sasuke, especially since he went without friendly support for three years, Orochimaru far from being categorized as a friend, let alone his reunion with Itatchi.

Then there was a small whimper.

Sasuke turned to see Sakura staring wide-eyed at the door, tears ready to run down her flushed cheeks, almost matching her pink hair. He noticed her hair grew slightly, down to her shoulders, and her arms and legs were toned and looked strong. She no longer looked like the little twelve year old girl he left unconscious on a bench the night that she tried to stop him from leaving Konoha. She had one arm on the doorframe, supporting herself. Something stirred inside his heart.

"Sakura." he said acknowledging her presence.

At the sound of her name Sakura dashed forward. Sasuke expected to be hit or punched as Naruto had done, but he didn't feel the impact of her fist, but instead had felt Sakura's arms wrap around Sasuke's neck, burying her face into his shirt.

The room went silent once more.

Sasuke grunted from Sakura's crushing hug, surprised at her strength, and wanted to tell her to get off of him, but he looked up at Naruto staring at him, giving Sasuke a very serious look that said "Don't you dare."

Sasuke hesitated, listening to Sakura's hurried breaths, her hands clutching his shirt tightly. Slowly, he began to lift his arms to return his teammate's hug. Sakura was shaking violently in his arms, squeezing him tighter to her body.

"Sasuke-kun…you're..back." she whimpered softly.

Sasuke's eyes softened slightly. He rested his head on top of her pink one.

"I'm back."

Many D Ranked missions later, Sasuke had worked to earn back the trust of his former fellow shinobi, which was surprisingly successful.

He and Hyuga Neji had a pretty normal conversation between them, normal meaning the occasional nod and acknowledgment of each other's existence. Yamanaka Ino quickly accepted Sasuke back into their group, much to Sakura's dismay. Even Kakashi had graciously welcomed his former student back, occasionally having some friendly sparring sessions, this time without the means to kill each other.

However, he had yet to earn back the trust of most of the villagers, this fact staring Sasuke in the face each day, not that he gave a damn what anyone else thought.

It became exponentially worse the more Sasuke showed his face in the village, especially one day when Sakura had actually managed to convince him to take a walk with her. He didn't know why he had agreed, but he later found himself walking side by side with his former teammate through the streets of Konoha.

Everyone stared at the pair, whispering to each other and giving nervous stares. Sasuke ignored them, being stoic as always.

But what did bother him was that Sakura was not reacting to the whispers and stares around her. She chatted on like nothing was wrong.

Sasuke stared at her with confusion in his eyes. In their years as squad seven, anyone who said anything negative about Sasuke would be punched very hard or slammed into the ground by Sakura herself.

"Don't you DARE say that about my Sasuke-kun!" Sakura would yell.

But the Sakura who was walking next to him seemed like a different person, not even reacting to the villagers

"I don't trust him. Once a traitor, always a traitor." Sasuke had heard one woman say.

"I heard he actually killed Orochimaru. Who's to say he won't kill our Hokage?" another said.

"I think that he's plotting something. A rouge ninja doesn't just decide to come back to his village out of nowhere. He must have some sort of plan to destroy our village." an old woman said.

Sasuke closed his eyes, but opened them once more when he felt someone standing in front of him and Sakura. A Konoha shinobi that he didn't recognize stood in front of them smirking.

"Can we help you?" Sakura said to him, placing her hand on her hip impatiently.

"Honey, you could do so much better than that traitor." he said looking at Sasuke sneering.

"Come with me and I'll prove it it you." he said grabbing Sakura's hand. There was a hungry lust in his eyes..

Sasuke had activated his sharingan, observing his big muscular arms that could crush Sakura's arms if he wanted to, there'd be no way Sakura could fight off this guy.

But evidently, he didn't need to defend her, because what had happened next caught Sasuke off guard to an extreme level.

Sakura smiled sweetly at the shinobi and without warning punched his stomach, his bones emitting a sickening crunch from the impact, sending him flying into a group of trees, or logs, as they now were.

Sasuke froze, his eyes slowly turning from red to black. He couldn't process what had just happened, even as everyone around them went silent and stared at Sakura, then at the shinobi struggling to get on his feet, swaying back and forth like he drank too much sake.

"You might want to ice that." Sakura said sweetly. She walked back to Sasuke grabbed his arm and led him onward. The voices increased in volume drastically, but all Sasuke could do was look at his former teammate.

What. The. Hell.

"No matter what anyone says, I'll always support you and stay by your side Sasuke-kun." Sakura said looking straight ahead with a satisfied look on her face.

Sasuke felt Sakura entwine her hand with his, giving his hand a supportive squeeze. Sasuke looked at their hands, Sakura's surprisingly soft and warm despite the powerful punch she had delivered a few moments ago.

Sasuke looked at Sakura's face, expecting her to glance at him, but she continued to stare straight ahead, never letting his hand go. That's when Sasuke realized; he had support. It may not be from everyone in Konoha, but Sakura's reassurance was enough.

Returning to present time, Sasuke sighed to himself and continued his walk into town. Despite the fact that he had been back in Konoha for about five months, he hadn't really taken the time to take in the village, he only remembered the old Konoha that he lived in back when he was twelve. Taking in the buildings around him, he noticed that some of them had been recently painted or rebuilt, some shops that he remembered were even completely gone, replaced with flower shops and dango stands. Sasuke's steps were halted suddenly, hearing a familiar loud mouth voice coming out of the Ichiraku ramen stand. Sasuke smirked, he had a good idea who it was, and his guess was right when he saw a figure wearing an orange jump suit sitting down next to a tower of empty ramen bowls, making loud slurping noises.

"And then I used my rasengan to PULVERIZE him! That guy didn't know what was coming! Nobody can beat the Great Uzumaki Naruto!"

"You mean knucklehead." Sasuke said entering the stand.

"Shut up Teme! Naruto exclaimed ditching his chopsticks and picking up his fifth bowl of ramen to drink the broth.

Sasuke watched Naruto drain the ramen bowl. Sasuke would never see why Naruto was so infatuated with this ramen, he practically came here everyday to inhale seven to ten bowls of the stuff, while Sasuke only had it once in his life when he Naruto and Sakura had offered to buy Kakashi lunch, but only hoping to get a peek at his face under the navy mask he always wore back when they were all genin. He didn't see what was so special about it. It was tasty sure, but it was just ramen. Though he would never say that to Naruto, that would result in a Naruto rant which Sasuke would avoid at all costs. He went three years without one, and he didn't want to break his streak.

Naruto had just finished his bowl of ramen when a pink haired kunoichi walked into the stand, adjusting her backpack strap on her shoulder.

"Sakura-chan! What's up?" Naruto said excitedly.

Sasuke glanced at his old teammate, noticing a glimmer of excitement in her green eyes.

"Lady Tsunade summoned us, the three of us are to report to her as soon as possible." Sakura said looking at Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke turned to her.

"Did she say why?" he asked Sakura.

Sakura tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "No, but I have a good feeling about this. We may be getting a mission, who knows?!" Sakura said excitedly.

Naruto looked at Sakura, then flashed a giant smile.

"What are we waiting for?!" Naruto practically yelled, slamming money down at the stand to pay for the ramen he inhaled. "Let's go!" Naruto dashed out of Ichiraku, leaving a startled Sasuke and Sakura behind him.

"He hasn't changed has he?' Sasuke said feeling Naruto's chakra level rising with excitement.

Sakura smiled. "Not in the least."

Yay Chapter one complete! Leave some reviews and I'll post chapter 2! Or don't and I'll still post it, haha.