Author's Notes:

Just a very short drabble for SasuSaku…I haven't written for this couple for a long time and I just thought that I would put down an idea that got in my head.

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She didn't have to come, he had told her many times, but she came nonetheless. They, meaning his old team plus his replacement, had gotten him back to the village and the hokage currently had him under house arrest. Anbu operatives were stationed outside the gates of the Uchiha's home and although he was sure that he could leave town, some reason beyond his understanding had kept him from doing so.

She knocked like she always did, "Sasuke, can I come in?"

He smirked but it didn't have much feeling behind it. Sakura no longer referred to him as Sasuke-kun when she arrived. He figured it was for the best, since there were too many things between them now. Yet, she came nonetheless…

"Go ahead," he replied, watching as the pink haired girl slowly opened the door, the light from the hallway pouring into the dimly lit room where he sat on the floor, leaning his back against one side of the couch. Funny, he found the floor more comfortable.

Sakura smiled, yet like recently, this new smile didn't remind him much of her former self; the school girl he had known would have been grinning at the idea of being alone with him. Sakura had changed a lot; he was always realizing things these days…time tends to make one more observant, I suppose.

Sakura entered the room, slipping her shoes off and closing the door behind her. It was awkward for her; the Sasuke that sat before her now was at times a stranger, yet she was still happy if nothing more to have him back safely. She walked to him, stopping to stand in front of him to hold out the bag in her hands.

"I hope you don't mind that I brought dinner," she informed, "I just finished work at the hospital, we're so short staffed so I stopped by Ichiraku on the way and thought we could eat together. You don't have to if you don't want to…"

"Ah…" was his response and he thought that he had caught a glimpse of a familiar look in her eyes, yet it was fleeting.

Sakura took out the take out boxes and two pairs of chopsticks setting them on the small table. Sasuke took this as his cue to join his uninvited house guest. The hokage hadn't let Naruto visit often, probably for the best as the idiot would pretend that nothing had happened or ramble about something that Sasuke had no interest in. Sakura was different, the once noisy girl sat quietly, like she did on many of her nightly visits since his return.

"I hope you like this flavor, Sasuke," Sakura was making small talk, "It was kind of late so I was fortunate enough to get them to make some ramen before they closed."

"Ah, it's fine," replied Sasuke, it was in fact a good meal. He felt as though he should say something and added, "Thanks Sakura."

"Don't worry about it, it's the least I could do," she politely stated with a small knowing smile, "I thought you might be tired of being cooped up in the house and could use some company."

Sasuke noticed how her eyebrow arched as if gaging his mood.

"It is nice to have someone to talk to," he admitted, taking another bite of his meal.

Sakura took moments such as these as a blessing. They had saved him, it wasn't the best of circumstances but he was here and she was getting closer every day toward her goal of finding some sort of normality. True she would always love Sasuke but her feelings had matured over the years and she could be content with just sharing meals with him.

"Naruto's been working on Tsunade-shishou and she may even budge after a few more weeks and decide that you are no longer a threat to Konoha," she informed with a chuckle.

Sasuke smirked, being deemed a threat to Konoha was still an amusing thought. "And then what?"

"Then she'll have you doing community service in the form of D rank missions," she barely could speak without laughing.

Sasuke's composure faltered for a brief instant and he could tell that Sakura was enjoying herself. Like hell if he was going to be off chasing people's dogs in the woods.

Sakura caught her breath and explained, "Well actually, Team Kakashi informed shishou today that we would take full responsibility for you; meaning that you would no longer be under house arrest and we would check in about your progress."

"So I've been awarded three, no wait, four including Sai, babysitters?" questioned Sasuke in all seriousness.

Sakura waved her hand in dismissal, "No one would know that except for us. To everyone else it would seem as though you were no longer under any suspicion and free to go about the village."

Sasuke put down his chopsticks, closed his eyes and folded his arms as if mulling this situation over. He opened an eye to view Sakura staring with the ends of her chopsticks resting in her mouth having stopped mid bite.

"I suppose it can't be helped, and you may want to finish that before it gets cold."

Sakura blushed and quickly finished her meal completely missing the smirk that Sasuke had given her. The more things change the more they stay the same he thought. The sky had darkened and it looked as though rain were threatening to fall.

"Well Sakura, then it's settled," he indicated with a smirk, "But I'll be damned if I'm going to have Naruto following me around each and every day."

"Didn't you know?" Sakura asked with a sly gleam in her eyes, "That's Naruto's hope that he can brag to you about how many times he's saved the village over the years while you were gone and be your number one babysitter."

Sasuke could see his future playing out in his head and decided it best to only concentrate on the here and now.

"Ready?" he asked her, "It looks like rain."

"Hai," she whispered, going to the door like she always did and slipping on her shoes. "Night."

She opened the door, the Anbu guard nodding to her as she closed the door. Once outside the rain had started to fall, yet about a block or so from the grounds the rain water had ceased falling as she looked overhead to find an umbrella covering her.

"Arigato, Sasuke-kun," she murmured.

"Hn," was the Uchiha's response.

Because Anbu guards were only so effective and because it was dark outside…so like each and every night that Sakura came to his house there was no way that he was letting her go home unaccompanied in the dark.

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