Chapter 1.

Every day is a chance to forget the pains of yesterday,
see the change in a brand new day,
to dance and laugh again,
to make up for the wrong things done.
But most of all, it's a reminder
that life lives on.

-Sasuke Uchiha-

Sasuke POV:

CREEEEAAAKK!

Immediately, my eyes snapped open and I turned my head towards the door. Since it was dark in the room I assumed it was the middle of the night.
Light from the other side of the door illuminated the hospital room I was sharing with the dobe, Naruto. I saw a silhouette of a girl entering the room, closing the door behind her before switching on the lights.

For a couple of seconds I blinked several times, blinded for a moment from the sudden light enliven the white room.

"Hey, you awake?" A familiar voiced asked me.

I turned my head to face Sakura. She was weakly smiling down at me as she walked over. Diverting my attention away from her, I saw Naruto sleeping soundly at the next hospital bed. He only had a few bandages all over his body, unlike me, because I had bandages plus innumerable wires connected to me. Ok so I'm exaggerating a bit, but still you get the point.

From the corner of my eyes I saw Sakura examining the machines next to my bed before writing some stuff down on her clipboard. She sighed and turned towards me, "Its 5:30 in the morning. You should rest."

'Huh. I guess I was wrong about it being the middle of the night,' I thought to myself as I stared at the ceiling above me.

Since I didn't give a reply, she continued talking about how I need to look after myself if I ever wanted to get away from the hospital. I wasn't paying much attention since I zoned as she checked Naruto's machines. I was thinking about the things that happened before I ended up in one of Konoha's hospitals.

-_-x-X-x-_-

After Itachi showed me the true reason behind our clan's massacre, my hatred only grew. But this time my hatred wasn't for Konoha. Instead it was directed toward Madara.

What he told me about Itachi and my clan was indeed true, but he didn't exactly tell me the whole truth. Itachi showed me though, and now I know that it was him. It was Madara that convinced the Uchihas to plan a coup d'état against our village. It was his plan all along. My elder brother and I had been his blind pawns in this wicked game he had created. I was disgusted. I wanted him dead.

Rushing out towards the battlefields, I thought about how there was just no way I was going to stand aside while he destroyed the village I grew up in. Deep down in my heart, I finally admitted that Konoha will always be my home and that I cared for the people in it. There are still certain people in that village that I actually still love and cherish, even though I wouldn't admit it to them.

As I searched for the real Naruto in each battlefield, I thought about how him and annoying little Sakura were out there somewhere, fighting and risking their lives in this war. I felt pang guilt in my heart. Even after years of hurting them and several attempts of killing them, they're still keeping to their word. They're still hoping and struggling to bring me back home.

Home…

"Sasuke…"

It's a place I thought I had lost and never will have again. But I knew differently now. I still had a home and I'll be going back there after killing off the cause of all this havoc.

"Sasuke!"

After all, home is where the heart is, isn't it? So my home is with my friends, my teammates, my comrades.

"SASUKE!"

-_-x-X-x-_-

I snapped out of my thoughts and felt two hands on either side of my shoulders, shaking me gently. I'm guessing that Sakura was trying to wake me up from my trance. I looked up at her and saw her worried face.

She sighed in relief as she place her right hand over her chest, "You scared me there you baka!"

I blinked once. Twice.

*Did she just call me baka?*
*Yeah or are you deaf?*
*Tch. annoying inner.*
*you're calling yourself annoying.*

Ignoring the voice in my head I looked at Sakura who was still blabbering on I only manage to decipher a couple of sentences, "What were you thinking? You were out of it for quite a while. You okay?"

"Hn" I said out of habit. Sakura might not be the timid, helpless and fragile little girl anymore, but some things will never change. Take her blabbering as an example.

She just scoffed and rolled her eyes at my lack of conversation. I stayed stoic on the outside, but in my head I was confused. I was confused because the Sakura I knew would have been in tears by now. But this Sakura… she was strong willed and composed. I must say I kind of missed the fragile Sakura, even if only a little. But, there's also something in this new one that interested me, though I've no clue what.

"You better get some sleep," She said as she walked towards the door, twisted the knob and looked over her shoulder at me again, "You'll have quite a few visitors now that you're out of coma."

And with that she walked out, closing the door behind her. I returned my gaze back at the ceiling and continued reminiscing about the things that happened during the fourth great shinobi war.

.

Flashback:

I was getting impatient. So far I've been to four battlefields and there was no sign of the real Naruto. His clones seemed to be scattered all over the war zones to help out wherever and whenever he could. Yet again I felt guilty. My best friend was out there fighting the war that I partially caused.

After several more minutes, I found him. He was with the Hachibi jinchuuriki, Bee. They were fighting the huge statue in which Madara had sealed in the other 7 bijuus. Speaking of Madara, he was standing aside, letting his pawns do his dirty bidding. I scowled at his sight.

Suddenly, out of the blue I noticed Madara about to stab Naruto from behind as he was fighting the hideous giant. Without even thinking about it, I grabbed my katana and rushed towards Naruto and blocked Madara's sword using mine.

I heard a loud gasp, "Sasuke! Y-y-you…W-w-hat are you doing?" I faced Naruto, exasperated that he couldn't even understand what he was seeing.

"What does it look like I'm doing dobe?"

His jaw kept opening and shutting. For once he had nothing to say. I smirked, but it faded as soon as I heard cackle from the man in front of me.

"Well well Sasuke. You decided to betray me?" Madara sneered as he jumped back, away from me.

"You lied to me," I simply said, glaring daggers at him, "You're the reason why my clan planned that coup d'état."

I guess my declaration angered Naruto because he spoke menacingly at Madara, "You planned the whole thing? You sick bastard! Itachi was right!"

This time I was confused so I turned my head slightly to get answers from Naruto, "What do you know about it?"

"Yo! You idiots look out!" The Hachibi jinchuuriki warned us and as if on cue Naruto and I jumped back, deflecting the shurikens Madara threw at us using a kunai.

"This is war! No time for talking!" Madara said as he charged at us, "I will get the kyuubi and Hachibi!"

"Not if I have something to do about it!" I yelled at Madara as our swords clanged together. At once, I activated my sharingan and Naruto threw kunais and shurikens at him.

I explained everything to Naruto and he also told me about his encounters with Itachi as we kept on fighting Madara together. Bee seemed to be handling the giant by himself just fine, but we lent him a hand every once in a while. We were soon covered in bruises and blood, tired and our chakra fading away by the second. Out of breath and panting heavily Naruto spoke up, "Give up Madara. You've lost."

"You brats! You'll die here and now!" Madara said as he started performing several complicated hand signs that I've never seen before.

Everything seemed to be in slow motion then and I could clearly see and understand what was happening.

I immediately activated my chidori, not wanting to find out what jutsu his hand signs would cause. Naruto had the same idea seeing as how he activated rasengan at the same time I activated my jutsu. We were using every last ounce of our chakra when we charged at Madara simultaneously. As we did so, our jutsus combined somehow and struck Madara just before he could finish his hand signs.

BAAANG!

I heard a scream just before the huge explosion. There was a blinding light and I felt the impact of the explosion, causing me to fly back. I hit my head on something when I landed and then blacked out completely. Next thing I knew, I woke up here in the hospital and the first thing I saw was Sakura. She was curled up fast asleep on a chair in between mine and Naruto's hospital beds.

It was just this morning.

When Naruto saw me awake, he whispered to me, "Hey Sasuke! Don't wake her up. She's been here ever since we ended up here."

"What happened?" I managed to croak at him as I sat up in a sitting position.

"After the explosion, I guess we fell into coma. Sakura said it's been almost a week," He said looking up at the ceiling.

"Oh…" I didn't know what to say. Were we in coma for that long? Or is this one of Naruto's lame jokes?

"So… will you be staying now?" I looked up at Naruto when he said this. He was face expressionless but I noticed his eyes. They were so full of hope.

Tearing my gaze away from him, I sighed, "I guess so…"

From the corner of my eyes I saw him perk up. He punched the air using his bandage free hand, "Hurray! Teme is staying dattebayo!"

I just had to cover my ears with my hands. The dobe was still as loud as he could ever be. Sakura stirred from her slumber and her eyes suddenly shot open.

"So much for not waking her up, dobe," said as I shook my head at him

"Crap… I'm dead," as if on cue, Sakura bonked Naruto on the head. HARD.

I winced just as dobe screamed in pain. Sakura sighed when she saw me awake. She wasn't even surprised to see me up and about. Naruto got down from his bed and sat down on the edge of mine. He grinned from ear to ear before saying, "Sakura-chan! Teme is staying! He's coming back home!"

Sakura gasped in surprise and turned to me, "I-is this t-true?"

"Hn" I said simply and before I knew it, Sakura had engulfed me and Naruto into a huge bear hug. I felt tear drops fall onto my shirt as she cried.

"Hey, why are you crying?" Naruto asked concern clear in his voice.

Sakura let us go and wiped her face using the sleeve of her shirt, "I-I'm just … so glad. You've no idea how happy I am!" She laughed as she cried yet again.

"He won't be leaving again anytime soon," Naruto joke as he nudged me.

Sakura wiped away her tears and laughed. I smiled a real smile at the sight of my team, my friends… my family…

This is where I belong.

please please give me ideas and tell me if i need to improve. Thanks so much for reading at least! XD