At the age of 25 Uchiha Sasuke was exhausted.
The youngest Uchiha returned to Konoha the day he realized he needed the village more now than ever. Sasuke had accomplished one of his goals, but he would never accomplish the other wandering between villages, never making any solid roots. He only had one specific outcome in mind, and he needed to be in Konoha to pursue what he wanted. And what he wanted was Haruno Sakura.
Since the last time Sasuke had seen Sakura, in passing in a small village a few years ago, the young avenger couldn't seem to get the picture of Sakura as his wife out of his head.
Sakura was everything Sasuke needed in his wife, strong, dedicated, loyal and earnest. Not to mention she was kind and good with children. There was no one else in Sasuke's mind that could compete to be the Uchiha matriarch. When this realization dawned on Sasuke, he had no other choice but to return to Konoha. He knew there was no way he could convince Sakura to be a nomad with him, even though twelve years ago she would have gladly accepted.
Sasuke knew it would be difficult to return to the village, and it wasn't an easy adjustment for him. After the interrogation, Naruto's sympathy towards him (including plenty of threats to the council), and an agreement to have his chakra chained and constant ANBU monitoring, Sasuke could walk through the village he intended to make his home again. His family's property had been rebuilt and preserved, and he had begun to reoccupy the space. Now all Sasuke had left to do was seduce Sakura and marry her.
When Sasuke's return had been announced he had expected Sakura to jump from the crowd and pull him into her arms, but Sakura didn't attend the announcement. A few whispered words from Naruto reassured him that Sakura would find him soon.
"Don't worry buddy, I'm sure she's just at the hospital with an emergency. She'll find you when she's done"
It had been two weeks since Sasuke returned, and he hadn't even managed to catch a glimpse of the pink haired woman. When questioned about her whereabouts most gave a generic answer, as if Sakura's life ran on a clock.
"The Hospital."
"At home sleeping, the poor girl works too hard!"
Sasuke has always been an impatient man.
On the fifteenth day after his announcement he couldn't wait any longer. Sasuke demanded Sakura's address from the young Hokage.
"No"
"Why not, dobe?"
"She's probably sleeping… there's no way I'm going to let a teme like you go and bug her… and Kakashi just got back from a mission, if she's not sleeping she's dealing with him"
Sasuke easily recalled the days that Kakashi would return to the village mangled and bruised, Sakura must be his personal medic now.
"Dobe… I just want to talk to her." And marry her, and have children with her.
"Fine. But don't tell her I gave you her address, she'll beat me into oblivion if you do." Naruto quickly scribbled Sakura's address on a small piece of paper and handed it to the avenger. Sasuke nodded his thanks and left the Hokage's chamber.
Sasuke snorted as he observed the shabby apartment building that Sakura was currently living. He could offer her so much more. Deciding it would be best to see if she was sleeping before he knocked on her door, Sasuke jumped up the tree conveniently placed in front of her building, and bedroom window. Thankful she wasn't sleeping in her bed, Sasuke took a quick glance around her room. Something was off. The room was oddly familiar.
Mr. Ukki?
Sasuke turned his head to the side. The cactus sitting on the windowsill was definitely the plant that he, Naruto, and Sakura had given to Kakashi for one of his birthdays. And those sheets, those looked like something he had seen before somewhere else. Why wasn't the room pink? Did he get the wrong apartment?
Sasuke leapt to the telephone poll parallel to her living room window, hoping to find Sakura. And he did find Sakura, but not as he expected to. Standing in the kitchen, with her back to Sasuke, was the beautiful young woman he has been waiting to see.
Sasuke's throat clenched as he took in her appearance and form. She wasn't wearing much. A tight white tank top, a pair of lacy red panties, and a frilly pink apron were all that covered a nearly exposed Sakura. Her legs were shapely and lean and the lacy garment covering her heart-shaped rear accentuated the curves of her hips perfectly. Sasuke could see that Sakura had grown from being the young girl he had seen previously. Now she was a woman, a woman he couldn't wait to have.
She was ecstatically waving a wooden spatula, talking with her hands as she turned and pointed the spatula accusingly at her guest. It was then that Sasuke let his eyes drift to the person Sakura was yelling at. The guest sat casually, leaning back into the couch without a shirt, covered in bandages. The distinct hair colour made it clear who the intruder was.
"Kakashi! You really should be more careful when you're on mission! What if you died? You were so late this time I was close to begging Naruto to let me go find you!"
"I'm sorry, I came across an old frail woman who needed help with her groceries." Kakashi said in his lazy drawl. Sakura rolled her eyes.
Why was Sakura so comfortable showing Kakashi this much of her body? She use to hate her body…
Sakura turned back to the stove, mumbling about how much she hated Kakashi, flipping the grilled sandwich she was preparing. The older man stood from his spot on the bright blue couch and walked up behind Sakura. He slouched and placed his chin gently on her shoulder, gently kissing the exposed flesh as he wrapped his arms around her midsection.
"Let's get married." He said softly into her neck. Letting out a soft snort, Sakura wacked him lightly with the wooden tool in her hand without turning towards him.
"We already are." Kakashi's head rolled backwards as he looked up at the ceiling, letting out another throaty chuckle at his young wife's monotone declaration.
"Oh yes, that's right, we are."
Slowly, all the small things began to make sense to Sasuke. The small apartment…Mr. Ukki… The sheets… The dirty books intermingled with the medical texts on the bookshelf… Sakura's comfort around the man…
They were living together because they were married.
Sakura was already married…
To Kakashi.
Hey guys! Yes.. I updated the story! Sorry I haven't been posting... but I haven't really been happy with the story and I've decided to make some changes. So here it is! Let me know what you think :)