Yay new story! :) This has been swimming around in my brain for a couple of years now, so I'm excited to be able to share it with you lovelies!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, because if I did, there'd be more happy endings.
It was already past midnight when a lone dark figure approached the village walls. Past the time that any normal person would be safely tucked up in their beds, sound asleep. But the ANBU ninjas keeping safe watch were wide awake, waiting for the slightest change in their normal nightly routine, keeping the hidden village of Konoha safe.
It was no shock, however, when the lone cloaked stranger approached the city, a large group of ANBU ninjas surrounded them instantly.
"Heh, I always knew you'd come back." One of them said from behind a sinister looking fox mask. His tone was light, as if this were a normal conversation with an old friend, instead of a hunted S-class ninja. In an even quieter voice he added, "She's been waiting for you, you know."
The cloaked stranger smirked. The moonlight's rays illuminated his features, making him easily identifiable. He'd changed in the years he'd been gone. He carried himself with an air of dignity, despite his status in the village. His hair hadn't changed much, a bit longer in the back, but nothing else different. His gaze was haggard, having witnessed and partaken in far too many battles for someone of his age. His form was lean, masking the powerful muscles hidden beneath his clothing. There was an abnormal sized bulge beneath the side of his cloak, but he gave no mention of it.
"I presume this means you surrender?" Another ANBU asked, crossing his arms over his chest confidently. Lavender icy eyes could be seen through his mask, one that resembled that of an owl. Older, wiser and with just enough of a sneer.
Dangerous eyes narrowed sharply on the lavender eyed man, but his face soon fell into a confident smirk. "If that's the way you want to look at it, Hyuuga. I need to see the Hokage." The young man answered.
Naruto smiled. "Hell yeah! Let's go wake the old hag up!"
The rest of ANBU escorted the cloaked figure into the village.
Hokage tower was all a buzz when they arrived. Tsunade had passed out on her desk, as per normal, with a half-empty bottle of sake beside her. Naruto glared, sending Neji a questioning glance. The Hyuuga merely held up his hands and gave his shoulders a slight shrug before taking a step back. The "captured" shinobi was staring curiously at the unconscious form slumped over on the desk.
Naruto took that as an answer and then slammed his hand down hard onto the desk.
"OI! BAA-CHAN! WAKE UP!"
Tsunade jerked upright, a document pasted to her cheek with a small train of drool that had escaped in her sleep. It slipped away from her face, fluttering silently to the floor.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT BOY?" She shouted, blinking sleep and confusion from her eyes. Her groggy almond gaze came to rest on the lone newcomer standing in her office.
"Who the hell is this? Naruto? What is your explanation for this?"
"Perhaps I should come back, when she is actually sober?" Questioned the cloaked figure. He turned his back slightly to depart.
"But S—!" Naruto began in protest.
"Naruto." The Neji interrupted sharply.
Tsunade glared hard and chucked her half-empty sake bottle at the cloaked stranger. "I'm as sober as I've ever been, boy. Who are you and why are you here?"
He dodged the projectile easily, watching with detached amusement as the bottle collided with the wall beside the door, shattering into many pieces and drenching the wood with the strong intoxicating substance.
Just then, the door to Tsunade's office banged open.
Everyone save for the stranger jumped. There, in the doorway stood a fuming kunoichi. Even at the late hour, with her hair mused, dark circles evident under her eyes, she had a violent air of malevolence about her.
"With all due respect, sensei, if you ever assign me another mission like that again, I will make it a personal vendetta of mine to make your life a living hell." She vowed, glaring hard at her sensei for a moment, before taking in the Hokage's current condition.
She sighed heavily after a long moment of scrutiny, the anger in her washed out with the weight of the sigh. "Of course you pick the perfect time to be completely intoxicated."
Naruto grinned and spoke for the first time since her entrance.
"She's always like this after a stressful day, Sakura-chan. You should know that by now."
The pink haired kunoichi rolled her eyes in annoyance. Instead of adding a snarky comment, she lightly placed a scroll down beside her sensei's hand. "I'll be back in the morning to discuss the mission specifics." Her eyes lingered on the broken sake bottle lying on the floor, to the feet of the one standing in front of the desk.
Without a backward glance, she moved swiftly away from the desk, towards the exit. She felt eyes drilling into her back and she twirled fast, drawing a kunai and firing it in his direction.
"Who is this, Naruto?" She murmured, her eyes narrowed on the figure as if she were seeing him for the very first time.
He had been masking his chakra, which explained why she hadn't sensed him. But now that her fiery emerald eyes were on him he felt the growing desire to unmask himself. He watched her gait as she turned to go, noting the slight limp in her step and the rigid tenseness of her posture.
She was injured.
Without any response from neither he nor Naruto, Sakura brushed by him then; unnecessarily vehemently slamming the door shut to Tsunade's office. He had the strangest feeling to go after her, but he had something to take care of first. He would find her later, he told himself.
All eyes returned immediately to the stranger standing in front of Tsunade's desk.
The right hand of the figure disappeared into his cloak, drawing out the bulky object from beneath the folds of fabric. He lifted it above the ledge of the desk, only to thump it down rather sharply onto the wood. It landed with a sickening thud.
Tsunade was now glaring at a rather bloody burlap sack. The one who had drawn it, reached over to yank the loose string off. The burlap bag sagged open, revealing a severed head.
Tsunade's almond eyes narrowed. Even in her slightly intoxicated condition she still was conveniently and coherently aware of what it was that sat now leaking old blood onto her desk. She lifted an eyebrow, as if to question the one presenting this…token before her.
"What is this…" she began in a wary tone.
The cloaked figure smirked as he reached up, pulling the hood of his cowl away and revealing the haggard but triumphant face of Uchiha Sasuke.
"I seek amnesty, Hokage-sama."
Jaws dropped on the Konoha side.
Sakura stood fuming on the other side of the door. There was something…off about the cloaked stranger that had been standing in her sensei's office when she had arrived. Her usually in-tune instincts weren't picking up anything out of the ordinary, however. But there was something different. She could feel it in the way her booted feet seemed to be incapable of moving. She was literally rooted to the spot as her sharp ears listened hard for anything.
"You WHAT?!"
The loud shriek had Sakura clamping her hands over her ears, a pained expression covering her face momentarily until the door opened and Neji calmly closed it behind him. Ever careful of his surroundings, the elder Hyuuga was surprised to find her standing just outside the Hokage's office still.
"My apologies, Haruno-san." His polite tone was low.
Sakura shook her head, with wind slapping her pink tresses gently in the face. "It's fine. What's going on?"
Neji smiled tightly. "I thought you were intent on getting out of there quickly." He lightly joked.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "The next time Tsunade-sama assigns me another assassination mission surrounded a drunken cartel of drug lords where I'm to seduce every single one of them…" Her voice trailed off as she caught herself ranting.
Her cheeks reddening, she shook her head and dropped her gaze. "I'm sorry. You were saying?" She asked hopefully.
Neji sighed.
"It would be pointless for me not to tell you. I'm certain that you're going to find out sooner rather than later, but—"
"HYUUGA!"
Sakura was nearly bowled over as Naruto came storming out of the Hokage's office.
"Uzumaki." Neji answered.
"Did you see where Sakura-cha…?" His voice trailed off as Neji pointed to the slight figure crouching on the thin railing.
"You knocked me over, you stupid dolt." Sakura muttered, hopping down and engulfing Naruto into a good natured hug.
"Sakura-chan!" He squeezed her tight. "You'll never guess who's back!"
Neji sighed, and as her eyes shot to him, a pit dropped open in the bottom of her stomach.
At her silence, Naruto's broad grin disappeared. What replaced it was something she rarely ever saw.
Remorse filled his eyes as he gently let her go. "I'm just sorry it took me nearly ten years to bring his sorry ass back to you."
Sakura swallowed the lump that was rising in her throat. "Naruto…I…" Emotion was fast becoming difficult for her to handle, and so before she made a complete fool of herself, Sakura turned abruptly and disappeared.
"SAKURA-CHAN!"
Neji clamped a hand tightly over Naruto's arm as the blonde shinobi turned to go after her.
"Get off of me, Hyuuga." Naruto growled.
"Shut up and think for a minute, Uzumaki. She's waited all this time for him to return. She just said she'd returned from a difficult mission, only to have an age-old wound torn open all over again. Can you not imagine what she must be going through right now?"
Naruto pulled Neji's hand free. "Why do you think I want to go after her?"
"If I disappeared for ten years, Tenten would kill me." Neji said plainly.
Naruto blinked.
"She needs space right now. Give her that, and I'm positive she'll be the light hearted girl we both know tomorrow."
Naruto frowned. He didn't like it, but he would respect Sakura's wishes.
Sometimes…he wished he hadn't grown up so much.
The moon still shone high in the sky, the night still peaceful and uninterrupted, save for the dull pounding sounds deep in the forest.
Blow after blow, knuckles had split and blood seeped through into the splintering wood.
The old scar on her left arm stung greatly with each pounding blow. She didn't use chakra, knowing she would demolish the tree, and that would defeat her sole purpose for pounding the shit out of it.
Anger poured through her, saturating every cell in her body. Stupid—son—of a—
She froze, realizing for the first time what that nagging feeling at the back of her mind had been.
Her right arm was trapped in a restraining hold, keeping it from delivering its next blow to the tree. Her left hand was cradled in someone else's.
"Stop."
Sakura jerked.
"This will not help you."
"Let go of me." She growled softly. "You know nothing."
The hold on her tightened, and she felt him step closer to her; her back pressed against a warm chest.
"I know that beating yourself up will not help you." She felt her body slowly fall back against him as he pulled.
An arm twined around her waist.
"I know that starving yourself out of anger and self-loathing won't change anything either."
Her body trembled in anger.
The muscles in her arms twitched with eagerness for a fight.
"And…" His words whispered next to her ear. "I know that fighting the sadness and defeat will only destroy you faster."
Emotion shot through her and had he not effectively pinned her arms already, she would have shown him just how quickly she could destroy. "G-Get off of me. You have some nerve—" She croaked her voice breaking. Cursed tears had worked their way up to her eyes. She squeezed them shut to keep them in.
"Sakura." His arm around her waist tightened the hold. "Go home."
She shook her head stubbornly and growled, "Go to Hell."
Pulling herself forward, she struggled against his firm grip. Her body screamed at her for her to stop, but she refused to acquiesce. Blood dripped from the bone deep open slash in her thigh, and her muscles trembled from fatigue.
"Kuso..." She whispered, as she felt her legs give out from underneath her.
Her mind closed off the sensation she felt next. No warmth flooded her cheeks as she felt Sasuke catch her and lift her up into his arms as if she weighed nothing at all.
"Hn."
Turning her head from him, she felt her body go rigid. "Put me down. I'm fine."
His eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. He disappeared into the trees, leaping as fast as he could through the forest back to the village.
He landed outside one of the apartment complexes on the outskirts of the village. Sakura, ever tense in his arms, felt her stomach tighten as he took off again, leaping up onto the rooftops until he reached the balcony of one of the top floor units. She resisted the urge to bury her face in his shoulder, fearing what was going to happen to her now. Thank Kami she wasn't shaking, however. She'd rather be caught dead than show any sign of such pathetic weakness in front of him.
"Put me down Uchiha. You don't need to do this." Her voice held just the slightest hint of hysteria.
"The hell I don't."
Sakura stayed quiet as Sasuke carried her inside. He passed a few doors in the hallway after he'd entered the apartment, and stopped outside one of them. He slid the door open, revealing a relatively empty room with a window on the far side. A neatly folded up sleep palate lay on the floor parallel to the window.
Sasuke moved deftly into the room, keeping the lights off and setting her down only long enough to shake out the bedding and lay it out for her. "Stay here." He murmured softly before he disappeared.
Sakura rolled her eyes. She listened hard for any footsteps before she crept to the window. She eyed the distance between the balcony and the ground. It wasn't all that far…
"Try anything and I'll hear it." His voice was right next to her.
She jumped, barely stifling her yelp of surprise. His arms closed around her again and her feet left the floor.
She didn't protest until he had set her gently down in the bathroom next to the bedroom and drawn a kunai.
"What the hell are you doing?!" She nearly shrieked.
He smirked. "I can't take care of that wound unless the fabric is removed. Stop moving."
Sakura tried rolling away from him, but he was fast. He gently but firmly restrained her.
"Look, I'm a medical ninja, Uchiha. I can take care of myself."
"And yet you don't." He countered, anger seeping into his eyes and voice. "Stop fighting me."
"No! You have no right to do what you're doing!"
"I do."
Sakura shot him a glare. "Bullshit."
" 'Those who don't follow the rules are trash,' " Sasuke murmured, his voice low in her ear.
Sakura's eyes widened. "No, stop it! Stop it now!"
" 'But those who don't take care of their friends are worse than trash.' "
Sakura ceased her struggles. Tears leaked out from under her closed eyelids.
"Bastard." She whispered softly.
The kunai sliced through her dark pants, cutting them halfway up her thigh to reveal the nasty injury. She didn't move as Sasuke gently removed the fabric from the bloody and swollen torn skin.
He cleaned the blood and dirt away, using a few squares of gauze to dab antiseptic over the open gash. Sakura hissed through her teeth as the stuff stung the serrated edges of skin.
"What did this?" He murmured softly, distracting her temporarily from the pain. He knew by design how it must have happened as well as the cause. But Sakura was on edge enough as it was, and to keep her talking would be best.
"A katana." She said through gritted teeth. "I wasn't fast enough."
She felt a warming sensation next, and looked down in shock to see Sasuke's hand glowing with soft, green chakra.
The wound slowly began stitching closed. Sasuke repeated the actions, carefully cleaning and healing a little each time, until the pain was mostly gone, and hardly anything remained but a thin layer of raw skin.
She would have finished the job in the exact time he had. Where had he learned how to reattach muscle tissues and ligaments that way? Simple epidermal cells were easy enough to replicate, but the skill level he had shown was incredible.
He pulled out a roll of bandages and carefully wrapped her thigh. She ignored the light caresses his fingers made on her skin. But she couldn't help the shiver that escaped as she watched him.
He was very meticulous, Sakura decided. He quickly disposed of the used cotton balls and gauze before coming back to her side. He took her shoulders in his hands and easily lifted her up to lean back against the wall.
"Let me see your hands."
Sakura averted her eyes with a shake of her head.
"Sakura, let me see them." His voice was patient, but held just a hint of warning.
She sniffed in discontent. "I can do it."
With a frustrated grunt, Sasuke yanked the armguard from his left arm. He bit through his right thumb and smeared the blood across the summoning tattoo. "Kuchiyose no jutsu," he said quietly.
Four small snakes appeared.
Sakura had frozen in shock.
"Keep her still." He muttered.
The snakes immediately wrapped around her arms, neck and one around her waist, restraining any further movement from her.
"K-Kuso..." She choked out.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she gasped as the snake around her waist slithered up her torso, tightening its grip and squeezing the air from her lungs.
Sasuke growled softly, but lightly stroked the top of the snake's head and down its spine. "Lighter. I said keep her still, not suffocate her."
Immediately the burning sensation in her lungs dissipated as the snake loosened its hold. Fresh air filled her lungs and she tried not to breathe it in too deeply. Any sign of terror would be perceived as weakness, and though she still didn't understand why he was here, she was a smart kunoichi, and not about to gamble with her life.
Sasuke gently took one of her hands in his. With a steady hand and a pair of tweezers, he carefully removed the splinters of wood from her bloody knuckles. Once he'd done the same to the other hand, he cleaned the cuts and bandaged them.
"Enough." He murmured. The snakes disappeared.
Sakura slumped to the floor, shaking. Her carefully constructed control had shattered, splintering and breaking into pieces as tears flowed freely down her cheeks.
Sasuke gently lifted her up and sat her in his lap, his right arm gently wrapped around her. Her horrified emerald eyes never deviated from his left arm.
"You need to eat something." He said quietly.
Sakura found her nerve again and tried to push herself away from him. "S-So? If I don't you'll strangle me again?"
"No."
She couldn't stop trembling. He was different than before. Still an icy bastard, still cocky. But underneath all of that he was dangerous. Powerful and deadly. She'd been a fool to allow herself to be out in the open like that tonight. She'd never sensed his presence until it was too late.
She pushed herself away from him, crawling backwards on her hands and feet towards the door. "Why are you here?" She whispered finally, her terrified gaze never leaving him for a second.
He was by her side in an instant. Though his hands were empty of any weapon, she still cringed away. "G-Get away from m-me!" She stammered, shutting her eyes and ducking her head. He scooped her up easily and held her with care.
Two fingers curled around her chin and gently guided her head back toward him.
"Sakura, look at me."
Her breath started coming faster, fear pulsating through her veins. Her emerald eyes opened, tears spilling out onto her cheeks as they lifted to meet bright crimson.
She flinched back instinctively. "N-No!"
"Just rest." He whispered softly to her.
She felt her eyelids droop, and her head fell back in his grip. She would have fallen if the arm supporting her back hadn't been there.
He stood with her cradled in his arms and carried her from the bathroom back to the bedroom. The night had started to fade into early morning. The birds were fluttering about in the trees nearby, not quite chirping, but signaling that dawn was nearing.
Sasuke laid her down on the sleep palate, pulling the top cover off and tucking her in. He gently brushed her hair from her face before he backed away.
He sat down on the floor next to the window and watched over her as she slept.
When she opened her eyes some hours later, it took her a moment to distinguish her surroundings. She was in a strange room she had never been in before. The morning sun rays poured through the window, illuminating her face and making her squint as she came fully awake. There was a dark figure sitting near the window, she saw. The only recognizable feature about him was the spiky hair poking up from the back of his head. She'd have to be a complete moron to displace that hair on someone else.
Then, as if a wave had crashed into her, the events of the night before came flooding back.
Sakura was up and pushing herself against the opposite wall in an instant. Her emerald orbs narrowed on his passive face. He was watching her closely.
Slowly, she stood up, wincing slightly at the lick of pain that shot up her left leg.
"There are fresh clothes waiting for you in the bathroom." He said in a low voice, standing and walking towards the door, staying in the shadows.
Sakura said nothing, but continued to watch him warily.
"I'll wait for you downstairs. Come down when you're finished."
With that, he disappeared through the doorway, quietly sliding the door shut behind him. Sakura stood there, dumbfounded as she leaned against the wall for support. Where the hell had all her nerve gone?
Oh. Right.
She shook her head sharply as she walked on unsteady legs to the bathroom. Cranking on the faucet, the water sprayed out from the showerhead. She adjusted the dial before pulling her hand out. She'd give the water a minute to warm up. And she needed a damn minute to figure out what the hell she was going to do.
Her eyes scanned the bathroom, noting the simple signs of occupancy. Sasuke had been back in Konoha for all of a day or so, and he'd found himself a place to live. Which meant that Tsunade-sama had plans for him. So he wouldn't dare harm her…right? Her hands clenched tightly on the countertop, the bandages tightening over her sore knuckles. The memory of his old summons appearing before her eyes in a non-combatant setting still freaked her out. He'd been utterly indifferent to summoning them too, as if he'd merely needed them to be tools…
She was going to see the Hokage.
With her mind made up, Sakura worried her lower lip between her teeth as she assessed herself physically. Plans or not, Tsunade-sama had no idea that she was here. If Sakura were to show up in her sensei's office looking more bedraggled than she had the night before, the Hokage would become suspicious. And the very last thing Sakura needed on her plate right now was a target painted on her back for Sasuke to utilize. Shivering a little, she glared at her reflection as steam filled the bathroom.
Carefully stripping her ruined pants off, her vest and black top followed, and then her underwear hit the ground as well. She slowly unwound the bindings she'd wrapped around her chest.
Her skin was colored by bruises, ones she'd proudly earned on her latest mission. She would give them time to heal on their own, as she did for most of her injuries. Pain was a useful training tool.
Not to mention…after her latest mission, the bruises she wore to scrub off the memories were therapeutic as well.
The bandages around her knuckles would also have to go, she decided. She couldn't properly cleanse herself with those hindering her. She tugged one side of the bandage free with her teeth, pulling it off completely instead of unwinding it. The pain wasn't too bad, once she'd yanked off the bandages. Her gaze studied the angry, red, swollen skin of her knuckles before she gathered green healing chakra to her hands. The skin closed up quickly, stitching itself together as she repaired the damaged tissue, nerve and epidermal cells.
Steam rose from the top of the shower as she finished. Partially satisfied, she climbed in, groaning with relief as the hot spray hit her sore muscles. She tipped her head back, allowing the hot water to saturate her pink tresses and massage her scalp.
She cleaned up, rubbing shampoo into a lather in her hair. It felt good to scrub the filth of the last mission off of her, and the soft washcloth was gentle against her skin.
She rinsed herself completely, standing underneath the hot spray again, this time turning around so that it hit her face.
When she emerged, Sakura found a fluffy white towel resting on a towel rack beside the shower. She marveled in its softness as she carefully patted herself dry. Her skin was still tender, but that did not stop her. The bandages around her leg were soaked, so she stripped them off as well. The wound from before was hardly visible now.
Being an apprentice to the world's greatest medical kunoichi had its advantages.
Yay for self-healing chakra, she thought silently.
She found the clothes Sasuke had mentioned. They were resting on the counter, folded neatly. Everything was black. Surprise, surprise.
She eyed the shirt, debating whether or not to put it on. She grabbed the black pants and yanked them on, tying the drawstring tightly around her hips so the baggy pants would not fall off of her.
Deciding to forgo the shirt he had provided, Sakura swooped up her gray vest from the floor and pulled it on over her head. She wouldn't be here much longer. She toweled her hair dry, running her fingers through the long tresses that reached just inches past her shoulders, and quickly twisted it into a braid to keep it off of her face.
Grabbing her sandals from the floor, Sakura wandered out of the bathroom, debating on what to do. Sasuke said that he would wait for her downstairs, although she couldn't really believe that. Her best chance for getting out of here in one piece would be to go out through the window in the bedroom where she'd slept. She gave herself a moment to prepare, as she sat on the sleep palate and fastened on her black heeled sandals.
Her light footsteps made no sound as she snuck to the edge of the room. No sooner than she pulled the window open, did she feel a heavy arm wrap around her waist.
Sakura froze.
Her body went rigid. Her heartbeat sped up.
"I thought I said to come downstairs." He murmured huskily in her ear.
Sakura didn't move. "I need to report to Tsunade-sama, Uchiha." She said coldly. "You cannot hold me here against my will."
He smirked. "I remember when there was a time when I wouldn't have had to."
Sakura growled as she spun herself around, throwing a punch at his jaw.
Of course he caught her, gently catching her newly healed fist and tipping her off balance so he could pin her down on the floor. Sakura glared up at him, her fear masked carefully with anger. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she struggled to pull air into her lungs.
"That isn't funny, Uchiha! That stupid little girl you knew is long gone. Now let…go…of me!" She panted, struggling hard in his grip.
Sasuke shocked her when his free hand came up to cup her jaw. His thumb lightly caressed her lower lip. "That tongue of yours is a sharp one, Sakura." He murmured softly, his eyes narrowed.
"For good reason," She countered. "I use it to keep assholes like you away from me."
With a burst of strength, she used her legs and shoved him off of her. She pushed herself backwards on her hands and flipped back, landing several feet away from him. Her hands formed a fast seal and she disappeared in a poof of smoke.
Sasuke smirked. That had been far too easy. Sakura was still affected by him, no matter what she tried to pretend. Her walls might be powerful and strong, but he was going to have no trouble at all tearing them down.
She may have thought she'd escaped him, but he knew exactly how to track her down. He wasn't going to let her go so easily this time.
He would find her again.
Her breath was short as she appeared inside her office at the hospital. It took her several moments to recover from the shock, and she thrust out a hand against the wall to support her weight, her knees all but threatening to give out on her.
As soon as the shock wore off, the anger came, replacing it with a searing wave of fury.
How DARE he!
How DARE he?!
Sakura's fist clenched and she slammed it into the cinderblock wall beside her, punching through it easily and leaving a gaping hole in its wake.
"KUSO!"
Just as quickly as it came, the anger subsided and the fear came back again as her calculating mind kicked back into gear.
Uchiha Sasuke was different. Unpredictable. Dangerous. The very notion that she hadn't been able to read any of his moves sent chills down her spine. Gone were any sort of familiarity that she may have once known about him, even the famed Uchiha bloodline limit, his Sharingan, was different.
She hadn't known him to be able to render someone unconscious before, but now…? Her instincts flared for a moment and her sharp eyes shot to the window.
Had she locked it?
She jumped when she heard a light thump on the rooftop, and her fingers were quick as she sealed the window shut and threw the curtain into place.
The last thing she needed right now was another confrontation with him. The last thing she wanted to do was explain to Tsunade how the gaping hole in the wall had gotten there either.
What she needed right now was a strong mug of tea and a hot bath…and a hell of a lot of alone time.
Just then, the door to her office burst open, and a not-so-cheerful Hokage appeared with a rather large stack of paperwork in her arms. "Sakura! You were supposed to report in to me this morning, what kept you?"
The pink haired kunoichi didn't respond immediately, but lowered her chakra infused fist slowly as the shock wore away. "S-Sorry, Tsunade-sama. I was…held up."
The Hokage regarded her student with watchful, narrowed eyes before she plopped the leering pile of paperwork onto Sakura's desk. "You are to report in to me by the end of the day. I want those filed, and the patients in rooms 205 and 306 need to be tended to. Oh and Sakura?"
Said kunoichi raised her eyes to meet the sharp almond brown gaze of her sensei. "Hai?"
"As I am sure you know already, Uchiha Sasuke has returned to Konoha. The village elders are questioning his motives, and I myself don't trust the boy as far as I could pummel him, which, of course, isn't really all that bad of an idea right now. But you my dear," She pointed to Sakura. "Are to stay focused. I don't want your attention deterred from your work or your training; otherwise I'll pull your active duty status. We clear?"
Sakura's fists had tightened with fury, but she managed a small, polite smile. "Hai, Tsunade-sama."
Tsunade saw through it, but she kept silent. I'm sorry, Sakura. But this is for your own good.
A couple of weeks passed.
The village Elders convened in secret many times over, questioning the Uchiha's motives for returning to the village. His responses remained a constant, however. The Restoration of his clan could not happen any other place than Konoha. The people he had hunted down and destroyed had only previously made or posed threats to the village, and his destruction of Akatsuki only further exemplified his motives.
Tsunade didn't buy it.
At age 22, he and the rest of Rookie Nine had all grown into powerful shinobi. His power had grown astronomically, it had been rumored.
Tsunade cleared her throat.
All eyes in the room turned to her, and her almond eyes narrowed on the young man seated before them.
"You have returned, Uchiha Sasuke, and admitted back into the Village of Konoha under the good graces of my temper and this council. Bringing us the head of Uchiha Madara I will take as a token of confidence."
She saw a look of anger flash through the Uchiha's eyes before it was gone a second later.
Gotcha.
"You have been gone for ten years. Rumors of your abilities have spread far and wide. It is for the concern of this village, and those shinobi who also reside here, that we must understand the full extent of your abilities."
He carefully hid his smirk.
"You will, in one week's time, undergo examination, at which point your abilities will determine the threat you may pose should you choose to turn against this village again and…" Tsunade waited a beat before continuing with…
"And your level and status as a re-instated, on probation…shinobi of Konoha."
The Uchiha couldn't help the shock that spread across his features at this.
A chance to show off…or a real chance of redemption.
…
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…
…
…
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A/N:
YAY! Finally publishing this!
I'd started writing this back in the spring of 2008, trying to find some muse for some of my other work, and this was the result. Only a year or two ago, it became further inspired by the song by Christina Perri, Jar of Hearts. It was such a dead ringer for the mood theme for the beginning of this ficlet. :)
I wanted this story to have some face time, but also wanted Strength of The Heart to finish out before I posted this new one. It won't be angsty for long, I promise. You guys show know I'm a total sucker for happy endings. ;)
Halfway into my first semester of my senior year of college now. I'm about to graduate with two bachelor's degrees next summer, so I can't promise a regular update. It will not take me years to update though. ^^;
But reviews and critiques and encouragement area always welcome! :)
xoxo
Konoha no Uchiha Sakura