He had been lucky, his sentence would be light thanks to the support of the Hokage Kakashi and Naruto seeing as everyone respected his opinion after the war. The only stipulation was that he wouldn't be allowed to leave the village while his loyalty was still in question but Kakashi said that the council would ease of in a little while. The biggest change would be that he would be doing missions on his own as his former teammates had moved onto bigger and better things than working with a genin.
Sasuke wasn't exactly excited to be going back to doing D ranked missions again, but he hoped it wouldn't be long before he could start doing some really missions; it would be a waste of a shinobi of his talents to be chasing after kittens all day. However returning to his career wasn't his true reason for returning, he mostly wanted to be in a place that felt like home and the village was the closest thing to it; he may have even missed some of the people in it.
"I can't believe it, its really you." Naruto let out, clearly shocked, he had been waiting for this moment for years, he'd been waiting for so long he had almost given up hope.
"In the flesh." Sasuke plainly stated.
"Sakura isn't this so great." Naruto couldn't hide his enthusiasm, but when he looked over to Sakura he could tell that she didn't share it.
Sakura said nothing, gave a look of disgust when she saw Sasuke and then walked off towards the Hokage tower.
"What's her problem." Sasuke had expected her to welcome him back in open arms, at least he wanted her to.
"Its probably going to take some time to deal with some issues she has with you, but she'll come around. I can't believe that team 7's going to be back together."
"Hardly, Kakashi's Hokage so he's not going to be going on any missions and I'm going to be stuck doing D ranked missions for a while, I've already been given my first one."
"Oh, how bad is it." Naruto asked, half concerned, half amused.
"I have to find a flower somewhere in the village, I'm going ask Ino for help seeing as she's an expert about them." Sasuke said with a bored look on his face.
"Wow Sasuke you're asking for help, Ino of all people, I'm proud of you."
"Shut it loser!" He spat back.
"Thats the spirit!" "Well good luck." Naruto waived before going off to follow Sakura.
Sauke gave a wave back.
The two years after seeking his revenge had mellowed him quite a bit, he was actually capable of having a conversation with someone without sounding like it was the least appealing thing in the world, he may even had started to enjoy human interaction, although there was no way that he would ever admit it. Ino shouldn't be so bad, she used to like him, but so did Sakura, maybe it was like in the case of the Uchiha that those who love so strong hate so bitterly.
At Ino's flower shop.
Ino's face was priceless, she was staring at him almost in disbelief, Sasuke Uchiha had just walked into her family shop and he was even better looking than she remembered if that was possible.
"So its really true." She didn't even know she said it out loud.
"Hello to you too Ino." Sasuke smiled. Inside he was panicking thinking he was going to have a repeat of Sakura.
"Ah sorry, I didn't mean to stare." She smiled back hoping to keep the atmosphere loose the last thing she wanted to do was make a bad impression.
"Its fine, I could use your help finding a flower for a mission."
Ino started laughing.
"What is it." He was getting worried, he tried to hide his frown but it was creeping in.
"I commissioned this mission, I never would have thought you would be the one doing it." She continued laughing
Trying to ignore her outburst he tried to quickly gather some information "Oh, I see, well do you have any hints about where I could find it?"
"Sorry, they just seem to grow at random, that's why I commissioned the mission because I couldn't be bothered to spend hours finding it."
"I see, anyway thanks for your time."
"No problem."
If Ino couldn't be more precise about where the flower could be located, he knew who could help him to find it.
While Ino wasn't able to give him much help about where to find the flower their conversation went pretty well, it appeared that his fears were unfounded, at least for the moment, it was time to test his luck with the next person, Hinata Hyuga.
Getting words out of Hinata's mouth was a little like pulling teeth, although he wasn't really one to talk, he hoped she had made as much headway as him in that area. He was somewhat dreading this visit, he considered just looking for the flower himself, yet that could take days and he couldn't afford to fail his first mission, a lousy D ranked one at that.
It was just his look he found her before he ended up knocking on her door, he didn't want to have to speak to Hiashi Hyuga, that was the part that he was dreading the most, she didn't look particularly happy but Sasuke just assumed that this was the way she had always looked, nevertheless Hinata looked beautiful, he could barely believe it was the same woman, in all of his travels he hadn't seen anything like this, he was a little intimidated.
Hinata on the other hand was both bored and repressed by life in the Hyuga compound, not only was there never anything to do other than listen to another lecture from her father about how she was such a disappointment and then inevitably go cry in her room. She would much rather be on a mission around people she could stand rather than the pathetic sycophants surrounded by her father. She had to get out, even if only a little while.
"Hinata."
Hinata was a little shocked to say the least to be called by Sasuke Uchiha, she had heard that he was back but she had no idea why he would want to speak to her of all people. She was almost speechless.
"Sasuke, er welcome home!" She stuttered out.
"Thank you, you see Hinata I could use your help with a mission, if we succeed, I'll give you all the earnings from it."
"A mission erm, what can I do to help." She said stroking her hair, she was still nervous.
"I want you to use your byakugan, to find a flower somewhere within the village."
"Do you know what this flower looks like?" She avoided eye contact and stared of into space.
"There should be a description on the mission scroll" Sasuke unrolled it and showed Hinata "Ah, here it is." Pointing to the important part.
"Its pretty distinctive, it shouldn't be too hard to find." She said looking carefully at the scroll.
"Good, lead the way."
Hinata was actually happy to be helping Sasuke with his mission, it meant that she actually had something to do, yet she was a little worried that throughout it they wouldn't find anything to talk about, neither of them were known for their conversation skills, yet somehow that didn't happen. Sasuke surprisingly put her at ease right away, maybe the walk eased her nerves, besides it wasn't going to take long.
"I assume a lot as changed since I was last here."
"Well we have a knew Hokage, all of the other rookie 9 are jounin but other than that I guess the village as a whole is the same."
"Congratulations."
"On what?"
"Becoming jounin."
"Oh that, yes I'm very happy." Her voice expressed doubt
Sasuke picking up on this pushes it further. "I'm sure lord Hiashi must be proud."
"Lord Hiashi, you don't have to call him that when he's not around." She said a little embarrassed.
Sasuke was almost comically scanning his surroundings
"What are you doing." She asked confused by Sasuke's erratic behaviour.
"Just checking he's not following us." He said sarcastically.
"No he wouldn't do that,"Hinata thought about it some more. "I think." She wasn't really sure.
"And no, I think he was disappointed that it took me so long." She added.
"Well just think, you got there faster than me, I am a Uchiha who is still a genin, 6 years after graduating the academy " Sasuke joked.
Hinata smiled.
He continued. "And I can't even complete my mission without help from a member of the Hyuga clan, but I guess its marked D for difficult."
"Sasuke stop." Hinata could no longer contain herself, her laugh spilled out of her mouth and into the streets.
"Still we can't let Ino down." He said with resolve.
"Ino, oh of course." Hinata felt a bit silly she didn't realize it sooner."
"After all these years you're the one giving her flowers." She cried out like a school girl finding out someone had a crush.
Sasuke, took a short glance at her face, he could tell she was enjoying this. "Lets just keep that between us." He said with a smirk
"Of course it will be our little secret." Her hand briefly touched without knowing it as they walked down the street.
The mission was actually more difficult than they first thought, they had been wandering around the village for hours before they could find Ino's elusive flower; Sasuke felt really bad that it had taken so long.
"Sorry, that it took so long, who knew the damn flower would be so hard to find."
Hinata looked at him and shook her head. "Its no problem, I didn't really have anything to do anyway, I just wanted to get away from the Hyuga compound, honestly I'm glad that it took this long."
"In that case lets go and get something to eat, my treat for mostly your hard work."
"Oh, okay sure." This kinder Sasuke was taking a little getting used to, but it was a pleasant surprise.
They wandered around for a while until Sasuke finally found what he wanted.
Sasuke pointed at food stand "Lets go here, they sell karaage and I've been craving meat a lot recently."
Hinata's eyes lit up. "This really is a treat, they rarely serve meat in the Hyuga household."
Sasuke ordered, he made sure to get lots of the stuff because they were, hungry, they could barely carry all of it; then they proceeded to sit at nearby bench next to a small park.
"This is good, I really wished that they would serve meat at home, the food I have to eat everyday is so bland just like my father." Hinata complained.
"My father was pretty bland too but my mother used to make amazing food."
"I'm sorry to keep bringing my family up, I know you must miss your family..." Hinata looked down to the ground, "here I am complaining at my own."
"Its fine." He stroked her arm to reassure her. "I'm not so sensitive about it any more, its good to reminded of the happy memories for a change."
"I see." Her head started to raise back up.
"Next time, we'll have the try the ones with the cheese in the middle." He went on to take another bite of chicken.
"Next time." She said little surprised, she turned towards him for a some confirmation however, they were interrupted by a rowdy blonde.
"Hey Sasuke what are you doing sitting down here eating with Hinata I thought you were on a mission!"
Sasuke looked over in annoyance. "The mission's over, Hinata here was a lifesaver, its only right that I thank her."
"You made Hinata do your mission, your first mission in 5 years, are you insane!" Naruto screamed.
"I didn't make her do anything, anyway I better get going and hand in the flower. Hinata I'll give you your money the next time I see you, I would come to your house but I don't want to have to deal with your father."
"That's no problem, good bye Sasuke."
"See you, Hinata, Naruto." He said the latter name while glaring at the blonde in question.
Naruto glared back.
At Ino's flowershop
"Mission complete." He said with satisfaction.
"Sasuke you didn't have come here, you should have gone straight to the Hokage to get paid."
"I thought I might as well stop by so you would get it faster, besides all the money's going to Hinata she found it, I was just along for the ride." He explained while handing over the flower.
"Well I appreciate the gesture," She said happily, putting the flower in its correct place.
Sasuke smiled.
"But I shouldn't be surprised you look like the type to delegate all the menial tasks, next you'll be sending academy students on your missions " She joked.
"That doesn't seem like such a bad idea, thanks for the tip." He declared, knowing she didn't really mean it.
"I was kidding."
"I wasn't." Sasuke said before turning around and heading for the door.
"Thanks for the flower."
Sasuke raised his arm to the air and then walked out.
The next morning.
Sasuke opened the fridge only to find it empty, that makes sense he had never actually bought any food since coming here. This was actually good opportunity, he had plenty of money and only since he had returned to the village did he have an opportunity to spend it; now it was shopping time.
Sasuke made his way to the grocery store, he didn't really know what he wanted, preferably some meat and some tomatoes. He was surprised how many items caught his attention, before he never really cared for food, but now he was feeling all sorts of emotions that he had never felt before. He collected all his desired items and headed off to pay.
"Oh crap I don't have enough money with me." Ino cried out. "Let me take some of this back."
"No need." Sasuke interrupted.
"Sasuke." Ino gasped in surprise. "You don't need to do that."
"How much are you short?"
"1000 ryo."
Sasuke handed over the money, along with the money for his own food.
"Thanks a lot Sasuke."
"Anytime Ino." He said while walking past her.
"Wait, Sasuke, how about to show my appreciation I buy you dinner later."
Sasuke paused a moment before speaking. "That would be nice."
Thank you for reading, let me know what you think!