Title: Home Again

Word Count: 1857

Pairing: NaruSakuSasuSai

Set: Real World, San Francisco. AU.

Summary: It's been a while since they've seen each other. Sasuke'd been off with Kakashi, learning how to live again after his catostraphe with his brother. Naruto'd been with Jiriaya, learning…er, well, she wasn't all too sure she wanted to know. Sai'd been learning from a famous artist, and Sakura'd been with Tsunade, finishing up her medical degree. But now…they were all together again.

Author's Notes: My muse works in strange ways. I sit down, trying to write, Fireworks, which is the sequel for Reconnecting Course 101: Detention, and I type Home Again. Ah well. At least its NaruSakuSasuSai. As for why the introduction is in such a professional manner...I have no idea why I did that. I wanted to set it apart from Reconnecting and my other fics, I suppose. Plus I really like this one, so I guess it needed a more professional air. Ah well.

Disclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with Naruto.

Warning: Rated for language, Kakashi and Jiriaya, and the ending...

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Home Again

Sakura liked endings, and beginnings. They were fresh, exciting. Captivating.

She hated middles, though. They were messy, gross, and complicated.

The same went for their relationship-Naruto and Sai were the middle, Sasuke was the beginning, and she was the ending.

Er…in a fairy-tale life, that is.

But each one of them had their own story, their own piece, to put in the puzzle of their group.

It was fascinating, really.

Well, to her.

Naruto…he'd wouldn't get it. "Eh, Sakura-chan? I don't get it…what do you mean, 'the puzzle of our group'??"

Then Sasuke would say, "Dobe."

And Naruto would start to say, "TEME! YOU THINK YOU'RE SO COOL!' but would get cut off by Sai, who would say something like, 'Emo bastard, dickless, keep it down, I'm trying to finish a painting."

Cue heavy, everyone-all-together-now sigh.

Sigh.

Emerald eyes wide ad shining brightly, the pink-haired female stared out of the plane window at the scenery below her.

"I'm home…" She whispered, smiling.

She'd gone to New York to finish up her medical degree, but now she was returning to San Francisco.

Although, home was actually really Japan, they'd just all moved to San Francisco for college, wanting to leave Japan.

Naruto still slipped up, sometimes, speaking Japanese words.

Speaking of Naruto, She could just hear him now…

"Eh? Sakura-chan? Is that…SAKURA-CHAN!!"

Cue death glompage and 'I'm-going-to-squeeze-you-until-you-can-barely-breath' hugs.

And then Sasuke would stride over and pluck Naruto off of her…

'Dobe. Can't you see she's having trouble breathing?"

And then there would be Sai, fake smile stretched across his face.

"Hey ugly."

And then, miraculously, SOMEHOW, Sai would end up sliding down a wall.

Sakura was never really sure how that happened.

"Sakura," A hand shook her shoulder, and she turned to see Shizune. 'We're almost there…put away your laptop?"

'Oh, right. Thanks Shizune," Sakura said, ending her chat with her New York friend Temari no Sabaku (also from Japan) and turning off her laptop, storing it away.

'Sakura," Tsunade, her mentor, said, turning around, "When we get back, I just want you to know…Sasuke and Sai aren't home yet. It's just Naruto and Jiriaya."

Sakura's heart sunk. She really wanted a full ("WELCOME HOME, SAKURA-CHAN! "Dobe." "SHUT UP, TEME! UGH! YOU MAKE ME SO SICK!" "Emo bastard, dickless, keep it down. I'm painting." "AT THE AIRPORT?? WHAT THE HELL, SAI??" "Hnn. Welcome back, Sakura.") greeting.

That meant ALL of her boys.

They were hers-ever since high school, they'd been hers. Best friends. A tight circle. Sakura, and Sai, and Sasuke, and Naruto. And while they might have other friends ("Guys, I want you to meet Gaara." "Hnn." "Hnn." "Hi, Gaara! I'm Sakura!" "…Hello.") ("Everyone, this is Hinata. Hinata, meet Sasuke, Naruto, and Sai." "H-h-hi." 'HI, HINATA-CHAN! …WHAT'S WRONG WITH HER??" "Dobe. You made her faint." "SHUT UP, TEME! DID NOT!" "Hinata…are you OK? Hinata?" "…She's pretty. Can I paint her?" "SAI HOW COULD YOU THINK OF PAINTING AT A TIME LIKE THIS??) they were always the best of friends.

Until Sasuke slipped, of course.

Sakura'd lost count of how many times she'd slapped Sasuke for it. And yelled at him. And punched him into a wall. And went into a sobfest. And then yelled that she'd NEVER, EVER, EVER SPEAK TO HIM EVER AGAIN!

Naruto had gotten her out of that cycle of course.

Sasuke's brother, Itachi, had suddenly been found, and Sasuke started to go into depression. He'd been beaten and abused by his older brother.

So he became void less again, and went to the wrong person to try and fix it.

Oroichmaru, that college dude you're afraid of when you're in high school.

It made Sakura shiver just even thinking about it-Sasuke had been seventeen, and Oroichmaru, twenty-three.

…Ew. Gross.

"We are now landing in San Francisco. Please keep your seatbelts on until the airplane has completely stopped. Thank you for-"

BAM, THUD, SCREECH! The plane landed on the ground, and Sakura nearly smacked her head on Tsunade's seat in front of her.

"-flying with us today. We hope you chose us again for your next flight."

Tch. Yeah right.

The plane stopped moving and the passengers, voicing their relief ("Wow. That was the WORST flight of my life." "I think I'm going to have bruises everywhere tomorrow.") got up to collect their stuff.

Sakura hauled her bag onto her shoulder, thanking the lords that, SOMEHOW, Tsunade had gotten first class seats. Now her back wouldn't hurt as much as it would in a lower-class seat.

They were the first ones off the plane, too.

"Is Naruto going to be here?" Sakura asked as they walked up that long hallway thing, into the airport, and got on the escalators to the baggage terminal.

"Yes. Jiriaya, too," Tsunade said.

They stepped off the escalators.

Cue blond blob tearing through the crowd, latching onto me, and screaming into my ear, Sakura thought.

"SAKURA-CHAN!!" Naruto yelled, hugging her. 'I MISSED YOU!"

Sakura rubbed her ear. "Yeah, yeah, Naruto, I missed you too, now let go."

Grinning wildly, the blond-haired, blue-eyed, orange-wearing male stepped back. "Eh heh heh. Sorry Sakura-chan."

"It's fine Naruto…where's your perverted mentor?"

"I take offense to that, Sakura-chan," Jiriaya winked at her. "my, my, my, you've grown…"

"Go to hell," Sakura snarled.

Sighing, Tsunade grabbed the collar of Jiriaya's shirt. "Down, boy."

"BAA-CHAN!' Naruto yelped.

"SHUT UP, NARUTO! I'M NOT A GRANDMA!" Tsunade screamed.

Skaura and Shizune looked at each other. They both sighed.

Sigh.

"Naruto, when's Sasuke getting in? When's Sai getting in?"

Naruto blinked. "Oh. Today."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT??' Sakura screamed.

"Yeah! In, like, five minutes! And they are on the same plane and everything…"

Sakura's eyes widened, she threw her bag (Shizune caught it) of to the side, and grabbed Naruto by his shoulders, shaking him. "WHY! DID! YOU! NOT! TELL! ME! THIS! EARLIER!!" Sakura demanded.

"Slipped my mind."

"EVERYTHING SLIPS YOUR MIND, YOU LITTLE PIECE OF-" She cut herself off. "Sorry, Naruto, I'm a little strung from the medical conference I attended earlier today."

"No problem, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned. "Perfectly alr-SASUKE-TEME! SAI-TEME!"

Sakura spun around and saw Sasuke, Sai, and kakashi. Squeaking, she ran, weaving through the crowd. When she finally got to them she latched an arm around both of them and pushed them into a forceful hug. "Sasuke-kun! Sai!"

'Oi! Teme!" Naruto joined the hug. "Sai!"

'Dickless," Sai greeted politely.

"Hnn," Sasuke grunted.

Sakura broke the hug and poked Sasuke's nose, frowning at him. "Don't 'Hnn' me, Uchiha. I know VERY, VERY much that you, as a matter of fact, missed me…"

Sasuke smirked, leaned down (damn him for being so much taller than her) and whispered into her ear, "How so?"

Sakura grabbed his cell phone from his back pocket, flipped it up, and smiled at the wallpaper.

Naruto burst out laughing. "Teme? You put a picture of me and Sakura as your wallpaper while you were gone??"

Sai smiled. "And he looked at it every five minutes."

"Seeeeeeee?" Sakura reprimanded Sasuke. "You DID miss me!"

"Hnn. Fine,' Sasuke wrapped an arm around Sakura's waist and nuzzled his nose into her shoulder, smirking

She squeaked.

"Sakura, I got your luggage for you-UCHIHA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY STUDENT??" Tsunade roared.

Sasuke let go and Sakura stepped back. "Nothing, Tsunade," He replied easily.

"Go-Kakashi, get your nose out of that book,' Tsunade ordered, swiping it from the silver-haired man. "You and Jiriaya. I swear. I don't know how I put up with you."

Jiriaya grinned. "Guess what, Kakashi? I'm working on a new novel."

"REALLY??' Kakashi asked. When Jiriaya nodded, he threw his hands up in the air. "YEAH! PORN!"

"Everyone's staring at u-Sai. What the hell are you doing?" Sakura asked.

"Painting, ugly," came the reply.

She twitched. "Whyyyyyyy?"

'Because I'm bored."

Cue Sai slamming into a wall due to my fists.

When the four of them finally stumbled out into the sunlight, there was a limo waiting for them.

"Sasuke…"

"Hnn?"

"Thank you," Sakura said, squealed, and jumped into the limo. The guys followed her.

"See you later, Tsunade!" Sakura said. "Bye, Shizune, Kakashi! …Jiriaya…"

The door shut, thanks to the driver, and the luggage was put in the trunk.

Sai, in a corner, started painting almost immediately. Naruto sat next to him.

Sasuke sat on the seat facing Naruto's and Sai's. Sakura sat next to Sasuke, leaning on him, kicking her shoes off and stretching her legs out.

Silence reigned for most of the ride, then…

"Sai?'

"Yes ugly?"

Cue eyebrow twitching.

"Does it hurt?"

'What?"

"The bruises from when I punched you."

'Nope. They're fine."

Silence.

"…I think he likes pain," Naruto said.

Sasuke scoffed. 'No, he's just gotten used to Sakura's unrefined punches."

'HEY!" Sakura protested, slamming her fist into Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke caught her wrist, wincing, and looked her in the eyes.

"No punching allowed in the limo."

"Fine," She pouted.

Silence.

Naruto twitched.

Sai painted.

Sasuke…went into dreamland.

And Sakura stared at the ceiling.

"So, Ugly…"

"Yes Sai?"

"Did you pass your test?"

"Yes, Sai."

"Really? I didn't think you would."

'Really now, Sai?"

Cue cracking of knuckles.

"Your temper gets in the way of things and makes you lose focus."

PUNCH!

Cue Sai being punched into the floor of the limo.

"I'm not cleaning up the blood," Naruto and Sakura chorused.

"Hnn."

When they finally got home, Sakura hugged the door. "Home sweet home," She whispered, nuzzling into the door.

Sasuke, Sai, and Naruto rolled their eyes.

While Sai and Naruto were struggling with the luggage, Sasuke picked up Sakura, opened the door, and dumped her on the couch, laying on top of her.

"Saaaaaskayyyyyyyyyyyyeeee," Sakura whined. 'I'm tired. Get off."

"Hmmm, let me think about that…nope," Sasuke said, smirking down at her.

Sakura pouted, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks.

It was a secret between all four of them. Not only were they best friends, but…

'Hey! Sasuke-teme! No far! Don't start without us!" Naruto jumped on the couch as well.

-they were together together.

Sakura whined again. "Naruto, you weigh a ton."

"Yeah yeah yeah," Naruto waved a hand. "Doesn't matter."

Sai leaned over, picked up Naruto, and headed off somewhere. Sasuke smirked, got off Sakura, and picked her up too.

"Ugh! Sasuke! What are you-OH NO! NO! Not right now, guys! Please…nooooo…Naruto that tickles get your hand off my feet-" She protested.

"Sorry Sakura-chan," Naruto apolized, taking his hands away from her feet and pulling her to him

"Na-uh," Sasuke, having deposited her on the bed next to Sai and Naruto, went to go close the door and windows. "We haven't seen you for a year…and Sai by himself is bad."

"Speak for yourself, emo," Sai muttered, grabbing Sasuke's wrist and forcing him into the bed.

"Now…" Sasuke said. 'Are we going to do this properly or what?"

"What do you-" Sakura shrieked. "SAI, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING??"

"Moving you."

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU??" She screamed.

"I missed you," Sai kissed his way up her stomach.

"Sai, save some for the rest of us!" Naruto yelped.

"Hnn."

Suddenly, she didn't mind as much.

All of us, together again…

Home again…

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Author's End Notes

Cue crappy, cheesy ending?

Erm, yeah.

CHECK.

Anyways, I hope you liked it. There was a lot of OOC in it.

Deal with it.

I love reviews, and feedback, so please gimmie some reviews!

Sasuke, Sakura, Sai, and Naruto would love it!

Reviews mean I make new oneshots with them together...!!

SO REVIEW!

And constructive critisim is OK...

but no fLaMeS.

Ja ne,

LadyNightmarexSasuke