Hey all!! I'm glad you've come across my fic and have decided to read it!

First of all let me say this is my first fanfic so please be nice. Second of all i know it starts out slow but it gets better, at least i think it does.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and im pretty glad i don't because drawing and writing all that would be way too much work for me.

So on with the story!

Night Time Melody

I lay awake after a long day of travel with my captain and team mates. Naruto, Kakashi and even Sasuke had fallen asleep. It was our first mission as a team since Sasuke's return, it has been exactly one year since he walked through Konoha's gaits upon his own free will. He had finally come home after all those years and though I was happy to see my comrade again things have never been quite the same. He had been on probation until now and the only reason he had gotten off without the death penalty was that he had killed two S-ranked criminals― Itachi and Orochimaru.

Almost all have forgiven him for leaving the village in the first place, including myself. But did he really deserve my forgiveness? Probably not. He had never asked for it, just expected it. And I had given it to him, because he was Uchiha Sasuke and he always got what he wanted. Had it been Naruto who crawled back to Konoha after a three year absence I would have punched his lights out. But the fact is that it wasn't Naruto who left but Sasuke and I still sometimes felt a dull ache in my chest when I thought about the night he left. I had not healed completely which leads me to believe that maybe I should not have forgiven him yet. I didn't want to be like those pathetic fangirls of his who forgave him just because of his good looks.

But now I was agitating myself, thinking too much. I needed sleep for the day that followed. Thinking about all the pain Sasuke's departure had caused would not help me with this.

In my restless state I found myself comforted by the sound of crickets chirping and the nightingales calling softly to each other. It was almost music in itself to me. Another sound that always put me at ease was the sound of human breathing. The deep inhale and exhale of breath as someone sleeps especially, was so natural and calming to me. Strangely enough of my three male companions Naruto is the only one who snores, even so he does it quietly enough.

Though even listening to the night time music I couldn't feel calm enough to sleep. As I sat up in my sleeping bag I trained me eyes toward Sasuke, who was sleeping next to me. The moment I moved more than a sleeping person normally would his eyes snapped open. He always was the lightest sleeper of all of us, it seemed while he was away this characteristic became stronger. As I stepped out of my sleeping bag he did nothing but close his eyes again.

"Well?" I whispered expectantly

After a moment "What?" came his reply. He still hadn't opened his eyes.

"Aren't you even going to ask where I'm going?" That's what anybody else would have done, to make sure their partner was alright.

He snorted and asked sarcastically "Where are you going?"

"I…" I had not been expecting him to actually ask. I was going to the bathroom but he didn't need to know that. Being Sasuke I'd expected him to turn over and go back to sleep. I could feel the heat creeping up my face and to make matters worse he chose that exact moment to open his eyes. I could only hope the dark shaded my face― which was now about the same color as my pink locks.

"Well?" he asked with a smirk

"What?" I snapped back

"Aren't you going to answer?" he asked throwing my words back at me

I hate him. IhatehimIhatehimIhatehim!I thought as I stormed off to attend to my 'business'. I could practically feel his smirk growing behind me.

Look what you've done! Inner Sakura yelled

'Shut up.'

He probably thinks we're mentally retarded now she raged

'Well we don't care if he does.'

Who are you kidding?! We don't just care about him; we love him, look at that face and that body! The boy is gorgeous.

'He was always gorgeous now he's just downright sexy…Wait! No, no he's not sexy and he's not gorgeous. He's just a smug arrogant jerk.'

Whatever you say boss… she replied. But as she faded into my sub consciousness she wore a smirk that was eerily similar to a certain smug jerk's.

As I finished my business and began walking back to the camp I berated myself for allowing my thoughts to turn to how hot he was. It was true though, he was sexy and having a friend who looked like that always had its upsides. And I wanted to be his friend, I wanted to forgive him. Really truly forgive him, not go on pretending that I was okay with what he did.

A small part of me even told me that we could even be more than friends. Now that he had accomplished his goal and come home there could be something between us. I had always felt something for him, that much was obvious, and I believe he had felt something for me. At the very least we could be friends I concluded. Only a monster could truly say they felt nothing for the people they had risked their life along side of. If we had never even been friends why would he have thanked me the night he left? I remembered every word we spoke to each other that night, they were fresh in mind as if it had happened yesterday, not four years ago.

As I re-entered our small campsite I could see Sasuke sitting cross legged at the small fire and decided to do the same next to him.

'Okay I'm just going to do this. I'm just going to talk to him so we can be friends and start over'

"Well, where'd you go?" he asked all self-righteous and smug.

I ignored him, I had something to do. I really had no idea where to start so I just started talking. It was something I found I was quite good at really.

"I don't forgive you." I blurted

He just turned to look at me with bored, mildly annoyed eyes.

"I said I don't forgive you"

"What for?" he snorted

"Leaving" I stated huffily. He now looked like he thought this conversation might hold his amusement for a minute or two.

"When did I-" his words stopped and I watched understanding crash down on him. What looked almost like guilt or shame seeped into those obsidian eyes of his. Of course this was Uchiha Sasuke I was speaking to, he did not feel guilt or shame. At least, not as far as I was aware.

So much for amusement.

"What do you want me to do about it?" he asked gruffly

"Come on Uchiha" I spat out his name as if it were poison, "I know you're not a total asshole"

"What do you want me to do about it?" he repeated

It occurred to me that maybe he really didn't know what I wanted from him. He had lived by himself for a good chunk of his life and I'm sure dealing with Orochimaru's cronies hadn't made for a very nurturing social environment.

"You could start with an apology"

"I'm….sorry" he said it quietly, as if he was sure this wouldn't grant him forgiveness.

"I'm sorry" he said again, this time with more certainty, but just as quietly. This time he continued. "I was…stupid and immature and power hungry."

"Do you have any idea what you put me and Naruto through?" I demanded. I was sure the others were going to wake up if I kept it up.

"I know, I'm sorry."

"No, you don't know. You were off doing whatever the hell it was you did over there." I was going to go off on a tear if I didn't stop myself now. Of course maybe he deserved to listen to me lecture him.

His only reply was silence. What could he say to that. But his eyes, his eyes were staring at me, silently begging me to understand. Understand that he made a mistake, that he wasn't proud of it.

I sighed. "Do you at least regret it?"

"I do" he whispered.

"Good…you should. Did you miss us at all?" Now I was grilling him just to see him squirm a bit.

"Hn" He grunted and I assumed that meant yes. When I glanced up at him it looked as it he were trying to stop his lips from turning up into a smile. I realized that this was Sasuke embarrassed. How cute!

"Are you really sorry?" I asked a little more serious this time.

Again he grunted and I took it as a yes.

I sighed and dropped my head side ways onto his shoulder. He stiffened but did not pull away. Slowly he relaxed and placed his hand on my knee.

After a few minutes of silence he spoke low and intimately. As if only I would ever hear what he was about to say.

"When I was with the Sound, whenever I had to sleep outside on a mission, the sound of nightingales and crickets always brought back memories from Konoha. It was…calming"

All I could do was smile and say "I know exactly what you mean."

I took his hand and we watched the fire and listened to the night time melody until the flames died down.

The End

Okay so my very first fanfic is all done. thank you to all of you who actually read it through to the end. i tried to start off slow by writing a short one shot. please give me many reviews with lots of constructive critism in them because i love it. Like i said at the beginning please be nice when you're reviewing because it is my first. no flames please and thank you!! i will always be my toughest critic so it doesn't really matter if you do flame me. If i get lots of reviews and people seem to like my work i will try to post another fic soon. also i know naruto seems the type to snore like a buzz saw but for the purpose of this story he snores very quietly. thank you all again. Lots of love,

AquaStars