Hello everyone. This is the sequel to 'Coincidental return', I hope you enjoy it. Anyway – since English is my second language I already want to apologize for the errors there'll definitely be…

I really hope you like this story; please feel free to message me with any questions, comments or criticism.

I'll try my best to update weekly but I can't promise anything – I suffer from writer's block quite often…

So then, thanks for reading.

Against all odds

… She really didn't know what she was doing here…

After what had happened, she shouldn't have come here, it would probably cost her the little progress she had made lately, but they had needed a medic-nin and so she had volunteered to accompany them or rather persuaded them to let her go and although she was reluctant to admit it, she really was worried, which was still pretty much of an understatement…

"They should be close now, can you see them Neji?" Shino asked the man who was running next to him in his usual calm voice, as if all the running didn't strain him at all.

"…" The Hyuga scanned the tree-filled area in front of them with his Byakugan, before he nodded his assent, but left it at that.

"Are they alright?" Naruto, who was leading their little group had turned his head around and looked with an impatient expression at the Hyuga.

"Seems so…" The brown-haired man nodded with a fierce look on his face and caused a startled expression to appear on Naruto's face.

"They are?" – That was definitely unexpected, considering that they were missing since nearly two weeks now, but actually it was good news… however the look on Neji's face made him doubt that somehow and he couldn't help but to feel rather uneasy.

"Oh c'mon – does that really surprise you?" Suigetsu, who looked as if he badly needed a break, grinned at the blonde, before he moaned: "Didn't you say they were close?"

"Hm…" The Hyuga nodded grimly, before he slowed down, as they came upon a small clearing, which was bathed in the pale, but still strong and warm light of the early morning sun. It was such a peaceful scene… The clearance was nearly a perfect circle, entirely surrounded by a dense wall of vibrant green trees, which seemed to glow from within, as the sun was nearly on level with them. The entire ground was covered with lush grass, speckled with buttercups, chamomiles and various kinds of wild flowers, which were studded with tiny pearls of morning dew. Like a secret garden, created by no one else but Mother Nature herself.

And there they were, standing right in the middle of it, as if they aimed at being seen… It were just the two of them, Sasuke and Karin – no sign of the other two or anyone else – but at least they looked entirely unharmed and yet that didn't soothe them a bit… Not with the way they were standing there, as if an invisible wall separated them from their group and they didn't seem in the least inclined to overcome that illusionary barrier… Something was terribly wrong; they didn't need to be saved… at this point there was no more doubt about it…

It was hard to look at them. Karin's eyes held so much scorn in them and then the boastful, arrogant grin on her full lips and the way she drew closer to Sasuke and wrapped her arms around him in such an obvious manner – as if he belonged to her now and she wanted the whole world to know it… Never averting her mocking red eyes from Sayuri, who looked as if she had seen a ghost, she whispered something in his ear with a lewd expression on her face and her grin only grew wider and became even more malicious, as she realized that her action had the intended effect on the girl in front of her.

Looking at Sasuke however was even harder to bear… How he just stood there with his blank emotionless face and the hard, empty eyes. He didn't react to Karin's embrace or to her whispering in any kind, he just kept staring at them and it made something snap in Sayuri's chest to see how terribly cold his eyes had become…

She wrapped her arms around her stomach, not knowing where else to put them and feeling as if she needed something to keep herself from crumbling apart. She still didn't understand it… understand why they had failed like this and as she saw them there, the two of them together, so clearly separated from the rest of them, she couldn't help but to wonder about how it could have come to all this…

… … …

1. Introduction

It was a nice and sunny day in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. After the uncommonly cold and harsh winter, spring had made an early arrival and the streets were filled with lots of people, who were eager to enjoy the first rays of warm sunshine or who were otherwise busy… After the attack, only about six weeks ago, Konoha was still one huge building site, so there were more than enough possibilities to occupy yourself… Things weren't as bad as they looked, though… all these huge scaffolds conveyed a wrong impression. Actually all the destroyed buildings had been restored or put up again – they were all inhabitable in any case and that's what was most important – so it was only about the final touch now.

It was only of advantage, that the village was not only home to some of the best ninja there were, but also to numerous skilled craftsmen – but still if it hadn't been for the aid of Suna-Gakure, they would have never managed to handle things this quickly. After all the entire south-western part and a lot of the centre of Konoha had been destroyed for the most part and the rest had suffered to a considerable extent as well. Therefore they were all too grateful for the aid of their allied nation, which was not least a redemption for not having helped, when the attack had taken place – even though everyone in Konoha knew perfectly well that they couldn't have done anything, since it had been a surprise attack, so they didn't hold any grudges.

In spite of the high number of losses and not to forget the even higher number of wounded people, it hadn't taken long before the Hokage had decided to take on new missions again – especially high-ranked ones… On the one hand they badly needed the money, considering all the expenses the construction work brought with it, but they also needed to show that they had regained their old strength again – otherwise they'd probably find themselves in the centre of the next assault, long before they were ready for it – so it was the best preventive measure they could think of.

That was another thing – the Kazekage had sent a lot of Suna-nins, even though that meant neglecting their own defences, to Konoha, as conspicuously as possible, to show that in case someone meant to fight the Leaf Village he'd also have to fight the Sand Village and apparently his plan had worked out – otherwise things wouldn't have gone this well… They really owed Gaara a lot, maybe even the well-being of the entire village, but they weren't ready yet to return the favour, which didn't mean they wouldn't do so… forbearance is no acquittance – they'd get back to them as soon as they could.

Apart from the missions and the public works, the hospital was still one of the busiest places in the whole village. Not only as an after-effect of the attacks, but also as a result of working accidents, which became unsurprisingly more and more frequent lately…

Today was one of the days, when the casualty department of Konoha's hospital was jam-packed with people, who had nails sticking in various body parts, or who hadn't thought it necessary to wear helmets, while walking underneath some insecure scaffolds… Besides those however the first ninja had arrived from their missions and some of them were in far greater need of medical treatment, than those clumsy do-it-yourselfers…

The A&E-department of Konoha's hospital was rather big, and yet there was hardly any room to accommodate all the injured people and everything seemed just entirely confusing and chaotic. Not only because there were doctors and nurses running around just about everywhere, but also because of the numerous curtained beds, the various machines surrounding them and not to forget the general noise level, which would put some concerts to shame and made it really hard to concentrate…

Amidst all this mayhem was Sayuri; due to the urgent requirement of any kind of medical personal, they had reintroduced fixed shifts to make sure they were never short in staff and that the various medic-nins would get enough rest, as some of them didn't seem to know something called finishing time, so it had happened quite frequently that some of them had to be hospitalized themselves after collapsing from exhaustion…

She had been here for just about three hours and yet she already felt completely knackered… it wasn't even physical exhaustion, those tiny little ailments she had to heal were hardly worth mentioning – it was more the running from one bed to the next, listening to all the wailing and at times even entire life stories instead of the anamnesis she had actually asked for, or in most cases not…

She had only just finished treating a man who had broken his leg after falling off a scaffold – this had been the only case up to now where the medical history of the patient had actually mattered; even though it had made her doubt the man's psychological condition somehow – in her opinion a scaffold wasn't really the place for a narcoleptic, but maybe she was just a bit narrow-minded …

With a slight feeling of relief, she left the man to one of the nurses and passed on to the next bed. After taking a second to breathe through and trying to block out all the noise, which was pretty hard admittedly, Sayuri groped for the patient-chart, while she pulled back the curtain with the other hand and stepped forward. She flipped through the file to see what ailment she had to treat this time, before she pulled the white curtain shut again and finally looked up.

"Oh…" Her grey-blue eyes widened in surprise and the corners of her mouth rose up a little, as she recognized the person in front of her, even though he had his back turned to her.

"You're back" She regarded the raven-haired man in front of her, who was leaning against the side of the bed, rather than sitting on it, with a beaming smile. He'd been gone on a mission for a bit more than a week, which wasn't really long though, but still she was really glad to see him again.

He nodded in assent and turned his head farther around to look at the girl behind him, whose eyes were resting on the really painful looking wound on his shoulder.

"What happened?" She enquired, with a clearly worried tone in her voice, as she walked to the other side of the bed, to get a better look at Sasuke's injury.

"We had to get some hostages out of a cave when it collapsed." He replied without wasting any more words than necessary and kept a close watch on the violet-haired girl, who was now leaning over his shoulder; her hands emitting a radiant green light, which sent a pleasant, warm feeling through his entire arm. He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, enjoying the feeling of the healing chakra, while his head slowly moved closer to Sayuri's and he opened his dark eyes again as she raised her voice: "What about the others? Are they hurt, too?"

"Not gravely…" He nodded his head and Sayuri could have sworn he was smirking, but at second sight his face was as blank as usually again, so there was no way for her to find out.

The second the green light vanished from underneath her hands, the Uchiha wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer. A quiet laugh escaped Sayuri's lips, before they were sealed with a kiss and even though this clearly wasn't the place for this, she couldn't bring herself to offer any resistance. This was the first time this day that she was actually glad about the background noise and the utter chaos and not only because she didn't really perceive any of that any longer anyway…

Once the lack of oxygen became too much to bear, they finally broke the kiss, but Sasuke still held the young woman close to him. He rested his chin on her smooth hair, while Sayuri leaned her head against his hard chest and just enjoyed the closeness and his pleasant scent, she could even perceive through his shirt, until she eventually remembered that she was actually supposed to work here and pulled away from the Uchiha-heir with a heavy sigh. He didn't let go of her though, but placed another kiss on her lips, before he leaned his forehead against hers and whispered: "You're coming over later?"

"Once my shift is over…" She murmured in a soft voice, all the time keeping her eyes closed, until Sasuke finally let his hands drop from her waist and released her. He got up from the bed and pulled his sleeve over his shoulder again, before he muttered a brief goodbye and walked off.

Sighing wearily, she followed his departure with her eyes, until the white curtain obstructed her view. It took her some seconds to recollect herself again and walk on to the next patient. Once again, she found herself in front of a well-known person, whose voice was even clearly audible over the din of the people surrounding them, so she didn't even need to look into the patient chart to know who it was.

"Hey Naruto…" She grinned at the blonde, whose head was covered with numerous bumps and bruises and his right eye was completely swollen, so there was hardly anything visible of it, but a narrow slit that at least indicated its position - actually he must have been in quite some pain, so compassion was called for, however he just looked so funny that Sayuri could barely bite back a huge grin and it's not like he missed that, at least he looked rather sourly and offended…

"Did you get beaten up by Sakura again?" The violet-haired girl chuckled, even though she couldn't help but to feel a little guilty about it…

"Haha… lame one… can we go back to serious now or is there something else you have to get rid of?" The Uzumaki asked wryly and yet clearly irritated, with his lips pressed into a thin line – he must have been the butt of quite a lot of jokes already…

"Not spontaneously… no…" She shook her head and finally regained control of her mimic again and managed to force back the inappropriate grin. "So how did you manage to end up like that?"

"Tze… just so that you know, I saved like uncountable people from their certain deaths…" He made a sweeping movement with his arm, but then grimaced, as this action apparently hurt him.

"Did you…?" Sayuri smiled and started treating the bumps on his head and her words seemed to be exactly what he had wanted to hear, as they triggered him to begin retelling his heroic story, managing to use at least ten times as many words as his team-mate had needed before, to explain the exact same thing.

"We've been sent to the Land of Forests to free a princess – and a really pretty, no stunningly beautiful one – and some other politicians, too, from a group of ninja dropouts, I don't know… they weren't really strong – it took us hardly two hours to track them down, but once we had gotten into the cave, where they'd been hiding the hostages, they caused it to collapse and we still had to get them out of there. I tried to send my bunshins to them, but they vanished, when the stones hit them… It was quite a piece of work, I can tell you, but I used my Rasengan to bust some new holes into the cave walls and then we could get them out through these…" He vividly retold the story, while his face slowly but surely looked human again.

"And where is the part when you acted as a human umbrella?" The medic-nin grinned, but luckily the Uzumaki couldn't see that, because her sleeve was hanging in front of his eyes at the moment.

"Haha… thought you were done…" The blonde pouted and frowned at the girl next to him.

"Sorry, but that's really it now… … I think…" Sayuri bit on her lower lip and proceeded with her treatment, while Naruto still looked rather unhappy, but raised his head as the curtain surrounding his bed was pulled open.

"Ask him where he got that black eye from…" Now Sayuri looked up as well and noticed the brightly grinning Nara, who stepped to the end of the bed and nodded briefly in salutation.

Naruto tensed up noticeably and shot a killer look at Shikamaru, his eyes literally screaming the word 'traitor!'. "How did you know I was here?"

"Well, it's pretty hard not to hear you; you're really loud you know." The Nara crossed his arms in front of his chest and raised an eyebrow expectantly; causing a cold shiver to run down Naruto's spine, as he already heard Sayuri raise her voice and he couldn't help but to hunch his shoulders up defensively.

"Where did you get that black eye from, Naruto-kun?" The violet-haired girl enquired in a bitter-sweet voice and turned to the said body part, which wasn't really black though, but looked like someone had drawn a rainbow around the bump, behind which Naruto's eye was hidden.

"Hmm…" The blonde Genin grimaced and mumbled something unintelligible, but Shikamaru wouldn't let him get away with that.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite get that - could you repeat that again?" He sneered mockingly at the Uzumaki whose head had taken on a bright red colour, which wasn't visible though, as his head was entirely green from Sayuri's healing chakra, so he didn't so much look like a tomato but rather like an alien.

"… an old woman hit me with her purse because she thought I wanted to grab her or something…" The blonde pressed out through closed lips and lowered his head in humiliation, while Sayuri and Shikamaru grinned at each other, before the medic-nin, exclaimed in a feigned scandalized voice: "You grabbed an old woman?"

"Of course not!" He shouted indignantly and crossed his arms in front of his chest, not understanding how his friends could seriously believe he would do something like that. "She tripped and I wanted to catch her – I guess you can imagine the rest… and then old people always grouse about young people having no manners… so much to thankfulness …"

They carried on chatting and kidding around for quite some time; Naruto was such a mess that it took Sayuri quite long to heal him, despite the increased self-healing power he owed to the Kyuubi…

Somewhat around eight o'clock she was finally done with everything; actually her shift had ended an hour earlier, but there had still been so much to do that she couldn't possibly have left on time – the shift system really worked…

It was an indescribably good feeling to be outside again and breathe in the fresh and clean evening air and not the dazing stench of the disinfectants… Most of the building sites were deserted already; it was too dark to balance across a scaffold or apply an even coat of paint to a house wall – even though she wouldn't put it past some of the people she's had the pleasure to meet today, to at least try it…

The hospital wasn't too far away from the Uchiha district, which was good because otherwise she would have been in danger of starving on the way… She didn't believe that Sasuke had anything to eat ready though… the only thing she has ever seen him make was rice with rice… He didn't really care about what he was eating as long as it was eatable… At least that's what he said… She didn't really believe him, though; she was sure that he was either too lazy or that he just couldn't even cook if his life was at stake… at the beginning he had still made his speciality meal quite often (actually just for himself though) however lately, as they were seeing each other more often and almost on a regular basis, which meant at least three or four times a week, he hadn't bothered to do so any longer and had waited for her to make something, which was at least a bit better and more varied than simple sauce-less rice. She didn't really mind doing this though… she'd have to cook either way, so if she did so for one person or two really didn't matter and this way she got some company, so that was okay… It was a mystery to her anyway, how he had managed to live through years on his own without suffering from malnutrition… but then the same applied to Naruto as well, who didn't eat anything but his ramen and still he was alive and perfectly healthy…

As she walked through the streets, many different and in most cases pleasant smells wafted into her nostrils and didn't really help her to forget that her stomach was entirely empty – she hadn't gotten the chance to take a lunch break, so she had made it through the day with nothing but a sparse breakfast, which had mainly consisted of coffee, apples, cookies and some more coffee…

Not really keen to do the housewife thing, Sayuri went into one of the smaller and less busy restaurants she came across and ordered some food for the two of them, which fortunately didn't take long to be prepared, so hardly five minutes later she was outside again, hardly able to resist the delicious smell coming from out of the white plastic bag with the two small paper boxes inside.

Once she stood in front of the wall, surrounding the entire Uchiha district, she was overcome by a queasy feeling, just like every time she came here… She really hoped that she wouldn't come across any of his old team-mates, who happened to be his neighbours now. She really couldn't think of any plausible excuse for what she was doing here at this late time of day, with a bag full of food in her hands… Usually they were rarely here at this hour… She knew that Juugo was in the hospital right now – to help out though and not to get help for his own problem… there was still too much going on at the moment, so Tsunade could hardly spare the time, but she had promised him to start their project as soon as the situation had calmed down again… The Hokage had repeatedly warned him that she didn't know if there was anything she could do for him and even though Juugo had always nodded and assured her that he was aware of that, it was still obvious that he had pinned all his hopes on the Sannin and her skills… He was really doing a lot for the village – ranging from carrying out missions, to helping out on the building sites or in the hospital - it seemed as if he already meant to show his gratitude for the help he was about to receive, or simply for the fact that they were giving him a chance, despite knowing that he was dangerous… They never let him go anywhere alone, though, but he was okay with that, in fact he wouldn't have wanted it any different – hurting someone was the very last thing he wanted to do, so he gladly accepted the surveillance, which had up to now been redundant, though, but that didn't have to mean anything…

Karin was on a mission at the moment, so she wasn't in any danger of crossing her path… The red-head was getting a lot of missions; her special skills were just all too useful… She complained quite often about being exploited, but then she always added something like: "I don't know how they got along before I was here…" in a really dramatic voice and then it was clear that she was actually quite proud of it… She talked really much about how she was surrounded by idiots and how she had to do everything by herself – so nothing new really; that was just the way she was; anything to put herself into the centre of attention…

With Suigetsu it was a little different… he showed that he enjoyed being here quite a lot, but he always emphasized that he was in no way connected to the village and could leave any time he liked… he always made a point of having a certain reason for staying and that he would leave once he saw no further use in being here… Except for doing a couple of missions and a lot of training, he had made it his business to test every single one of Konoha's numerous restaurants and give marks according to offer, taste and ambience… Up to now they had all scored ten points out of ten – he really wasn't too picky, when it came to stuffing himself…

And here again she was thinking about food, but luckily she was almost there and she hadn't come across a single person yet, which wasn't too surprising, as two of the four people who lived here were definitely somewhere else…

Up to now, they had been successful in hiding their relationship – if you could call it like that… She kind of did think of him as a boyfriend and thought she was in something called a relationship, but she didn't really have any experience with that and didn't know how one was supposed to feel like, so she really didn't know… but then 'relationship' was such a broad term – it actually fitted to just about every kind of arrangement, so maybe this was the right word after all – just not the most suitable and descriptive one… But then her vocabulary didn't feature any more fitting words and she had no idea if there even was one… and they had never really spoken about what there was between them anyway, just that they weren't ready yet to tell anyone, or didn't want anyone to know in general… and somehow that made her think that Sasuke didn't really know himself – same as her, but if that should be reassuring or not was questionable… either way she had at once agreed to that, but mainly because she just couldn't imagine telling anyone – that would be really awkward… and admittedly all this hiding was somehow exciting, but it nevertheless made her feel like she was an affair or something at times… Just the fact that they acted like strangers whenever they were among other people, was slightly unsettling at times… especially when Sakura was around – she felt horrible for not telling Sakura… it wasn't like she had talked much to her lately, but this was definitely one of the things she felt she had to tell her. Most of the times she saw her, they were keeping everything down to mere small talk – or rather a simple greeting and a goodbye – that was about everything. At times, especially when she had just heard some new rumour from Ino and just couldn't keep it to herself, the Haruno actually talked to her…. However at some point she would realize what she was doing and then turn into a stranger again… It was really a pity that things had developed like that and maybe she was wrong but she had the impression that Sakura didn't even want things to be like this herself… Those initially rare occasions when she had talked to her in spite of herself became ever more frequent lately and she seemed to become a little less reserved… And even though Sayuri was kind of glad about that, it also made her feel all the more guilty and she thought, she really deserved that cold treatment after all… Well, she'd tell her soon enough and after that she'd probably wish the time back when she had still been in the dark about all this – a really lame excuse for her cowardice…

Once she stood in front of the imposing mansion, she knocked at the door, after looking up and down the street again, just to make sure there really was no one around… After a couple of seconds, the door was shoved open by the Uchiha-heir, who stepped to the side then, to let her enter. He kept his eyes fixed on the violet-haired girl as she took off her shoes, before he saw the plastic bag in her hand and a light frown appeared on his forehead.

"You bought food?" He asked, sounding almost puzzled, as if it was something completely extraordinary…

"Well I'm starving and I thought you were too, so yes… I did…" She answered and rose up on tiptoe to kiss him.

He still eyed the bag with a weird look on his face, the frown remaining unaltered, before he muttered in his usual husky voice: "Tell me how much it was and I'll pay you back."

"Oh nevermind… it's like my good deed for the day – something to support Konoha's economy…" She grinned, but the Uchiha still looked kind of unhappy, so she just walked past him and entered the kitchen, before he could carry on with arguing about such trifles…

She had already sat down at the table and placed the white paper boxes, containing the food, on its surface, when Sasuke entered as well and sat down on the other side of the low wooden table, which still looked a little battered and was full of scratches, but it was at least the right way around now… Before he had even opened his box, Sayuri was half-way done with hers already and finally felt good and reinvigorated enough to slow down with the rest of it.

"You've been training with Suigetsu again?" Sayuri asked, as she noticed that the Uchiha was wearing his usual dark blue training attire with the tiny red and white fan on its back – the symbol of his clan.

"No. He's on a mission, so I could finally train alone…" Sasuke sighed, before he turned his attention back to his food.

"Really? You know how long he'll be gone?"

"Why?" The dark-haired man looked up again and shot a sceptical look at the girl in front of him.

"Oh – because of the festival… I thought he might like to go there…" She answered, before she placed her hands on the floor and leaned back a little, after having finished her dinner.

"What festival?" Sasuke frowned and his question caused Sayuri to do so as well.

"The one on the weekend after next… Well, actually there are three events… the cherry blossom festival, Sakura's birthday and Tsunade's annual as Hokage… so it'll be really big…" The violet-haired girl explained, not knowing how he could have missed that, because it was what just about everyone was talking about at the moment and then there were also all the flyers and posters…

"You'll go there?" She asked and shot a hopeful look at her opposite.

"Not if I can avoid it…" He grunted and closed his eyes briefly, but Sayuri wouldn't give up yet.

"Oh, come on…It'll be fun…" She tried to convince him, but without much success. "You are the representative of the Uchiha-clan, right? – so you really should drop in at something as important as the Hokage's annual…"

"Tze…" He merely hissed and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"And it would be good for the others… they could get in touch with more people then…"

"Then they should go there…"

"Phew…" Sayuri sighed in resignation. Actually she didn't even know why she wanted him to be there. It's not like they'd go there together or at least hang out together the entire evening or something. The festival would span over at least a quarter of Konoha, so it wasn't even a given that she would see him at all… and even if she did, she couldn't behave with him the way she did now…

At the beginning, she had been worried that they just wouldn't work out, simply because their characters kind of excluded one another – they were different in the wrong things and equal in the wrong things as well… None of them was really talkative, which is where Sayuri had spotted the first problem… she had feared that they just wouldn't find anything to talk about – fortunately she had been wrong about that… she wouldn't say he talked much, that would definitely be an overstatement, but at least he used words to answer instead of just some sounds – at least most of the time… and she no longer felt awkward when she talked to him; at the beginning she had been afraid that she'd annoy him, because his reactions had always been rather brusque and disinterested… and even though she knew that this was just the way he was, her lack in self-confidence had convinced her that she was simply boring him… however he had changed a little lately, really not much, but he was trying at least and that's what it came down to. Even though it was a bit weird at times, almost funny to see how he had to remind himself of giving full length answers or even asking questions himself… it was as if he had to renew his entire socializing skills and he really wasn't too good at it, but he only just started so this wasn't the time to label him a hopeless case yet…Just one more reason for him to go to the festival, too…

"Well, once Suigetsu and Karin get to know about it, they'll drag you with them anyway, so I'll see you there…" Sayuri grinned cunningly and the annoyed expression that invaded Sasuke's face after her words, told her that he knew she was right…

…

…