Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters.

This is my first Naruto, and so first SasuSaku fanfic. The characters might be OOC, especially Sasuke. You have been warned.

Dry leaves crunched underfoot whenever he landed, though only for a moment as he alighted again almost at once. With every jump he was that much closer to Konoha. Sasuke wondered if he still had the right to call that place his home. He felt their chakra from far off, the knucklehead and the kunoichi. As soon as the gates of the hidden leaf came into view so did the mess of blond hair and the curtains of pink. She had kept it short, just as he remembered it.

"Sasuke!" Naruto called, waving at his approaching figure with his prosthetic hand. The Uchiha slowed down as he neared the gates; they had repainted the leaf symbol on the wood of the gates, he could tell. The electric blue of Naruto's irises showed through the slits of his eyes on his grinning face. Sasuke replied with a barely incomprehensible nod.

"Okaeri, Sasuke-kun," said the rose haired kunoichi, drawing his attention toward her. The diamond on Sakura's forehead was vibrant in the autumn sun. Her lips were pulled into a small smile that managed o reach her eyes somehow.

And everything he did which could have wiped that smile off her face forever haunted him again. She forgave him, she said, but no apology he ever offered would be enough for him to forgive himself. He let his thoughts slide for a moment; just long enough to muster the strength to say: "Tadaima, Sakura."

"… And the set the date for this Sunday. I have no idea what to do, Sasuke…" Naruto was saying, recounting to him how Iruka Sensei, Rokudaime a.k.a. Kakashi Hateke and Hiashi Hyuuga had set the date for his and Hinata's wedding. He had, apparently, insisted on Sasuke's presence. Sasuke could not think of any logical reason for Naruto to do so, except for the lure of making the sole Uchiha heir look less important than him for once. Not that he minded, and not that it mattered who looked important. "Say something!"

Sasuke sighed. "You're acting as if I'm some sort of expert at weddings. You should talk to Nara. He would be able to help you out."

Shikamaru had already married the last time he left for a mission; the bride was the girl from the Sand with the huge hand-fan. Temari was her name if he recalled correctly. All this wedding talk was beginning to grate on his nerves.

Naruto paused and stroked his chin with a finger. "Hm, I guess you're right-ttebayo." Two bowls of steaming Ramen were set in front of them. Naruto dug in immediately. "You know, you've got to settle down too."

This caught Sasuke off-guard\, and it would seem like it did not bother him at all, if it were not for the almost indiscernible pause.

"I mean," the blond continued, "you are the last of the Uchihas, one of leaf's most renowned clans. With your Sharingan and all…"

Sasuke did not hear anything else the knucklehead said, not consciously, at least. He ate his ramen silently, while his mind showed him the night he left Konoha, a decade ago. It showed him the pleading emerald eyes, glassy with tears. She knew him well enough, even back then, to guess he would leave. He was grateful for that. Not many people did understand him back in those days.

Something inside him felt heavy. He had hurt her in many ways. He knew what the heaviness meant. After everything he did, no matter how hard he worked to make amends, he would never deserve her.

But there was one last thing left to do in order to completely redeem himself.

Naruto tripped on his own foot and fell on his face right in front of the head of the Hyuuga clan, his new father-in-law. Hinata, his newly-wed wife, stared at his stooped form aghast, a hand over her mouth in shock.

"N-Naruto-kun!" she launched forward to help him up.

Konohamaru burst out laughing. "Who's tripping on his own foot now?"

Sasuke felt his brow twitch. Could this guy get any stupider?!

Naruto's forehead had a patch red from the head on collision with the ground when he finally got up. He rubbed at the spot with a hand absently. Forehead protectors were not allowed for the groom during a wedding ceremony. "Ah. It hurts-ttebayo. This isn't funny, Konohamaru! I'm nervous!" he shot at the younger ninja, and everyone present at the venue cracked up at that, even Hiashi Hyuuga on his blessing pedestal. That is, everyone except Sasuke, who barely managed to control his annoyance, and Sakura, who, standing next to him, only sported a nostalgic smile.

She noticed his gaze on her and shrugged. "Guess the knucklehead's never going to grow up, huh?"

She wore her shoulder length hair in a bun held in place with a traditional head piece for the occasion, her bangs remained loose, framing her face. A full-length, long-sleeved qipao on red graced her figure. On her face he saw hints of make-up, shades of color carefully chosen to complement her natural looks.

Something warm spread inside him. He replied with a curt nod before turning away to ponder his chances.

The rest of the day went by with him watching from the sidelines. At the end Naruto took Hinata to the house he had bought in a less crowded part of town. Sasuke had been amazed Naruto could save up enough to qualify for a loan.

"He saved up enough to buy a TV once," Sakura informed him. "It was huge! He lost it when Pain attacked though. Blasted to bits."

Sasuke was walking her home. Everyone else had gone their own way for the night. The sun was beginning to set. He did not intend to end up alone with her, but found himself volunteer nonetheless.

"You missed a lot during those years, Sasuke-kun," she said.

"Hn."

"I'm glad you came back," she said after a few minutes of quiet. "I wish you'd let someone in though."

He stopped, and she stopped as well.

"I'm not demanding you let me in. I can only imagine what it's like to be a survivor, the sole survivor. It's lonely, I can tell, but unless you move that muscle the cramp will stay there forever; you deserve to have someone who understands you, like everyone does-"

"You're blabbering, Sakura," he said, cutting her short.

She blushed. "You're right," she said looking away. "I should stop."

Someone who understands me – he thought – who understands me? His conscience answered him with a handful of faces. One of them was a man in a face mask, with one eye hidden under his headband. One was the man whose best ma he had acted as today. A third, was the face of a twelve-year-old rose haired girl, standing on a gravel path at midnight, tears threatening to spill. She did not have the diamond on her forehead then. He did not know when she had got it, only that she did at some point, like her master.

Whatever the odds were, he had to give it a shot. One last step toward redemption.

Just as she turned to walk toward her apartment she found himself calling out to her.

"Sakura," he said.

She paused. The autumn breeze blew her hair softly over her face, just like that night when she had begged him to stay. Because she cared. "Hm?"

"Marry me." The words tumbled out before he had the strength to suppress them. They came out to sound, not they way those words were supposed to, with a choice offered and the certainty of a certain choice to be taken, but almost as an order, with full knowledge that the recipient had both the right and the strength to not obey it.

Her eyes widened.

They stood there, in the middle of an alley, with the golden glow of the evening sun slowly ebbing away. They stood, eyes locked, both looking for answers. The color had slowly risen to her cheeks. And when she looked away, eyes closed, her lips were smiling, a kind smile that seemed to say, if that is how you want to play, then so be it.

"Okay," she said almost inaudibly. "If you say so."

Sasuke let Sakura lead him to her parents' house reluctantly. She had insisted on telling her parents before anyone else. Kakashi was busy with his hokage duties, as usual. Naruto was busy spending his first day as a married man sleeping in. No one else in the whole of Konoha seemed to care when Sakura called his apartment in the morning and informed him that she had taken a shift off from the hospital to go and announce their engagement to her parents. He felt his heart sink at the thought of social interactions, especially given the current circumstances. He doubted Sakura's parents would approve of him, what with his infamous reputation.

He let her do the talking.

"Mom, Dad, Sasuke-kun and I are getting married," he heard her say. "We came to ask for your blessings."

There was an awkward silence during which the Haruno's were all staring at each other. Sakura, waiting for her parents' approval, and her parents looking at each other, then at her, then at him, trying to figure out if this was a big prank, and id it was not what consequences the decision would have. Sasuke sat sweating, his knees folded, wishing they would not scrutinize him thus. But, it was an effect of his choice, so he sat without complaint.

"This isn't a joke Mom." Sakura said, her voice quiet.

He saw Mebuki Haruno smile with an effort. "Well, if it makes you happy, Sakura-chan," she turned to her husband and nodded almost incomprehensively. "Congratulations! Always be happy, sweetheart!"
They both came around to hug her in one go. Sasuke felt a load he had not even noticed lifting off of him. All the Harunos were turned away from him, and only now did he let the reality of the moment sink in. He was getting married. He would have to move in with her... He would no longer be the only Uchiha, even if she was a Haruno by blood...

His aimless thoughts came to an abrupt stop when a hand grasped his wrist and pulled him into the embrace of not one but three pairs of arms.

Sasuke Uchiha was engaged.