I. A Few Problems to Start Things Off

The room was still dark when Kakashi opened an eye. He glanced at the digital clock on his nightstand next to his bed, and the red numbers announced the time to be 4:12 AM. Something had woken him and now that something was in his house, silently waiting. It was an ambush of the worst kind: business. He groaned, mourning the loss of sleep, and threw a woeful arm over his eyes.

"Really? You couldn't wait?"

There was no answer, so Kakashi guessed not and pulled his mask over his face and sat up in bed, swinging around to place his bare feet on the cold, wooden floors; yesterday had been the first day of spring, but winter never relinquished its grip so easily.

"I know you've been gone for a while, Sasuke, but breaking into the Hokage's sleeping quarters is still illegal," Kakashi said while rubbing the crust from his eyes.

"Don't worry, your guards don't know I'm here. You should consider new security detail, by the way, or not have them take up space on your roof like that." The voice came from the shadows across the room, and Kakashi wondered why his old student couldn't just knock on his front door like everyone else. Then again, Sasauke had always been one for the theatrics. He and Naruto were a lot alike in that way, although he knew the Uchiha would die a thousand fiery deaths before admitting to such a thing.

"It's protocol." Kakashi felt his joints pop and creak as he stood. Age was not being kind to his body. "Ever consider joining the ANBU?"

"I have better things to do with my time."

"You're right. Being on ANBU sucks. Don't do it."

Kakashi was making his way towards the general direction of light switch, when something fell loudly against the ground. It sounded heavy— sort of like a body.

"Sasuke?" He asked.

No answer. Kakashi made for the lights a little faster and hit the switch, squinting against the brightness. Through his cracked lids he spied his old student crumpled on the floor.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi was beside him in an instant. A sheen of cold sweat drenched the young man's face, and Kakashi thought he looked pale, much paler than usual—chalk white, almost, which was never a good sign, but what really grabbed his attention was the large tear across the front of Sasuke's traveling poncho. A rust of dried blood surrounded the gash, and upon pulling the material over his head, Kakashi confronted a hastily bandaged wound beneath an unbuttoned shirt, the gauze already soaked through with blood.

"What happened?"

Sasuke held out a scroll. "It couldn't wait," he said dryly.

Two masked ANBU guards had appeared in the room.

"Hokage-sama."

Kakashi took the scroll, and Sasuke's arm dropped to the floor as his eyes slid whole scene looked like a badly directed death-sequence of some b-rate movie, but Sasuke was still very much alive, though Kakashi wasn't sure if that would last.

"Get Haruno Sakura here now, she should be working this shift at the hospital, today. Tell her its an emergency. And call Naruto over, too. Tell them both that it's Uchiha Sasuke," Kakashi ordered.

They nodded once before vanishing.

Balling up Sasuke's traveling cloak into a makeshift pillow, Kakashi lowered his head down upon it. He pulled away part of the gauze and grimaced when he got a peek of what lay underneath; it looked deep, and even he, with his rudimental first-aid training, knew that it was badly infected. Sasuke's chest rose and fell rapidly, and the wound continued to weep fresh blood with each shallow breath Kakashi couldn't believe that there were still people left in this world that could do this sort of damage to the Uchiha. He looked at the scroll in his hands, wondering what was so dire that Sasuke couldn't stop by the hospital first. He unrolled the scroll.

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When Sasuke opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the ceiling. A machine beeped steadily in the background, and he smelled antiseptic and latex. He blinked once and raised his arm, noting all the wires and tubes running out of it. His arm flopped back down against the scratchy blanket.

'Hospital,' he thought.

His head lolled to one side; it felt heavy. Through the bars of the hospital bed, he caught sight of Naruto and Kakashi in conversation. Naruto was turned away from him, but even doped up on a massive amount of painkillers, Sasuke could recognize the back of that stupid head anywhere. Kakashi glanced over at him. A breathing mask covered his face and, finding it bothersome, he reached up to pull it off when a someone gently took his hand away.

Something cool pressed against his forehead—a hand—and Sasuke felt his whole body slacken against the mattress beneath him. He looked up to see Sakura staring down at him with a soft smile. Strands of hair had fallen out of her little ponytail, falling messily around her face. Sasuke thought she looked tired. Naruto's and Kakashi's faces appeared behind her. Naruto laughed and said something, but Sasuke didn't catch it. Probably something dumb.

He closed his eyes and the crushing weight of drugs and exhaustion dragged him down into unconsciousness once more.

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Ino had been raving about Iccho all month to Sakura. It was the hot, new restaurant for Konoha's younger shinobi, and Sakura had to admit, the place was pretty slick. The entire establishment was paneled in dark wood, and the red lanterns strung across the ceiling were the only source of light. Apparently, the owner was one of those young, renegade chefs who had eschewed tradition for innovation. Sakura didn't know what exactly it meant to be a "renegade chef" and how food could be innovative, but that's what Ino had said, and that's what she told Kiba when he suggested the place for dinner.

"Well, I guess that settles it! Iccho it is!" He had replied. "Actually, I heard the same thing. Don't know what any of it means either, but I'm game to find out!"

As they sat waiting for their food, Sakura's gaze wandered. She watched a table full of young, red-faced men laughing over some beers, a collection of already empty glasses taking up half their table. It was only nine.

"You're pretty quiet today."

Her attention returned to Kiba. She smiled for him. "Sorry, long day at the hospital."

He propped his face against one hand and swished the ceramic teacup with the other, watching as his drink eddied into a miniature whirlpool.

"Anything interestin' happen?"

"No, not really." Sakura immediately regretted not mentioning Sasuke. "How was your day? Did you end up finding a girlfriend for Akamaru?"

Sakura saw Kiba's nose twitch, the way it did whenever he sensed something was amiss, but he stretched a smile across his face anyways. "Naw, that guy's even pickier than me!" He eyed Sakura slyly. "Though, I gotta say, I do have a good eye for pretty things."

"Ew, gross, you sound like such a creep."

Kiba waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Stop fighting it, Sakura, it'll make falling for me all the more painful in the end."

This time Sakura gave him a genuine laugh, and Kiba grinned back with his wolfish smile. Their food arrived, and as Sakura recounted the rest of her day, Kiba sat back watching her with his arm draped over the booth, the small smile on his face at odds with the sad look in his eyes.

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When Sasuke finally woke, his mouth felt like sandpaper. He could already tell he'd be stiff for the next few days judging by the way his who body screamed in opposition as he struggled to sit up in bed. Just as he was contemplating on ripping out the IV and going home for a glass of water, the door to his room swung opened and an old nurse stepped in. Funny how hospital staff always seemed know when you were planning to escape.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun, you're awake. Please leave your IV in; you are not to be discharged until Sakura-san says so," she said when she caught Sasuke with the IV between his teeth.

Sasuke's arm fell against his lap.

"Now, now, don't look so put out," she said. She went to the machines and began checking his vitals. "You still need to get some rest before you go cavorting about town."

"How long was I out for?"

"Three days. That wound of yours was quite nasty," she continued with her back to him. "Sakura-san spent hours in the surgery room; you were quite lucky. Apparently, it was some new-fangled poison, I hear even your heart stopped for a few—"

The old nurse paused and frowned. She peered closer at the machines. "That's strange, now why would it say it's not getting a clear—" She turned around and sighed when she saw the IV tube hanging freely from its drip. The bed was empty and Sasuke's clothes were gone from the chair, the white curtains billowing as the cold breeze drifted in from the open window.

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Kakashi had been in the office all day been reading and signing documents. What was the point of getting his left eye restored only to have it ruined by all this fine print? What a terrible waste. He placed the pen down on the desk and flopped against the back of his chair, flexing out the cramp in his fingers.

He was technically the most powerful shinobi in the village, and now the greatest threats to his life were growing nearsighted and getting carpal tunnel.

There was a knock at the door. He sat up and grabbed the pen.

"Come in," he called out, shuffling through a stack of papers so he appeared appropriately occupied.

The door open and Sasuke came through. Kakashi dropped the pen and papers and reclined back into his chair.

"Sasuke, good, you've finally risen from the dead."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," Kakashi amended. "It was supposed to be a figure of speech, but I guess in your case it's a bit in bad taste. How're you feeling?"

"Like I've slept for three days straight."

"Well, that's because you did."

"I know. Did you see the scroll I gave you?"

Kakashi opened his desk drawer and pulled out the object of their discussion. He placed it atop the mess of paperwork, contemplating it. "I did. Tell me, how sure are that this—" He tapped the scroll with a pointer finger. "—exists?"

"I can't say for certain, but based off what I saw, there's a high probability. I didn't come back just to give you that report; I need to search my clan's archives for more information."

"Am I to assume that wound of yours speaks to how dangerous this thing might be?" Kakashi asked, as he eyed the large tear on the front of Sasuke's poncho.

Sasuke looked down as well. "This—was a careless mistake. There was an old trap in the ruins; the blade had just barely grazed me, but I guess it was poisoned in the end."

"Huh, and I thought your stint with Orochimaru had made you more or less impervious to that sort of stuff."

"Like I said, it was an old trap, I doubt even Orochimaru had the poison in his collection. Besides, I get the feeling I wasn't supposed to last two weeks after getting it into my system," Sasuke replied drily.

"Ah true, Sakura did say that she was impressed by how long you had managed to hold out—something about you being harder to kill than a cockroach."

Sasuke turned to go.

"I'll be leaving in a few weeks again after doing some research."

"Sure, keep me posted; also, Sasuke, next time, get to the hospital first—"

He nodded noncommittally and shut the door behind him.

Kakashi sighed. Now he knew how Sakura felt whenever she gave him an earful about not getting his annual check up. That was karma for you he supposed.

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It was early Saturday morning and most of Konoha was still asleep leaving the streets sparsely populated with pedestrians. Sasuke was taking an old route home, but there were few things familiar about it: the old playground had been replaced by a shiny new convenience store, his favorite bakery gone and in it's place sat a gaudy looking tea house, the few storefronts he had passed were all new and unrecognizable. The roads had been widened as well, and some of them had even been laid down with cobblestones that gave the street a sleek, put-together atmosphere, so different from the sleepy village with dirt-roads that lived in his memories. He supposed a lot of it had to do with the post-Pain reconstruction. Sasuke hadn't been there when Pain had literally crushed Konoha, but he had heard stories about it during his travels and about how Uzumaki Naruto, Hero of the Hidden Leaf and Savior of the World, had stopped him with a godly flick of his index finger. Sasuke doubted Naruto's index finger alone was good for anything aside from picking his nose, but he conceded that the battle must have been pretty horrific if the destruction had been extensive enough to warrant this much change in the village.

He had also been gone for a long time, and he reminded himself that it was foolish to think Konoha immune to the passage of time. Things changed and would always change, with or without a madman laying catastrophic waste to the village.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the piece of paper he'd found in his pocket as soon as he had left the hospital.

Sasuke-kun—

I figured you'd leave before you were supposed to, so here's a note.

Naruto and I are getting dinner tonight at Ichiraku at 9. It's still in the same place. You should show up since I also have some medication for you and it's kinda important that you take it or else your heart might stop again.

Also it would be nice to have a Team 7 dinner again since Naruto's been busy and you've been gone for so long. Rest up and don't over exert yourself or else the raised blood pressure will put too much of a strain on your heart. Did I mention your heart stopped?

Okay, anyways, see you tonight!

- Sakura

p.s. I have your arm.

He paused for a moment and gazed up. It was early March and a few branches were beginning to bud with the promise of spring. His body flickered out of view, and he reappeared atop a nearby electrical pole. A gust of wind swept over the jumble of rooftops below, stirring the dust and causing the power lines to sway.

Two winters ago, he had popped back into the village to help Naruto save the world. If it wasn't a shinobi goddess trying to bring about the apocalypse, then it was the moon crashing into the earth. And now, if he didn't figure out exactly how his ancestors had planned on destroying the village, the world might end up being in danger of ending. Again.

He sighed and looked up at the washed out skies while the sunlight grazed weakly against his skin. In the distance, the Hokage Monuments loomed, Kakashi's face carved into the rock as a new addition to the succession. He turned to gaze beyond the main gates where a forest of skeletal trees, stripped bare of their leaves, spread out towards the horizon until they met the snowcapped mountains to the north. With the warming weather, the trees would soon burst back to life and transform into the dense ocean of green that was the village's namesake; Sasuke wondered if he'd be around long enough to see it happen.

He folded up Sakura's letter and replaced it in his pocket. He breathed deeply.

He was home.

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