Hey this is my first story. so please send all the reviews you want. I'll need the criticism. The couple of characters that i used in this story are kind of out of character so bare with it. Thanks in advanced. I do not own Naruto.

Sakura walked along the dirt path leading to her new apartment which she bought only days before. The sun was blazing down on her along with the rest of the village. As she was walking, she began to pass by the Uchiha compound and she stopped and stood there for a few moments gazing at Sasuke's house. She began to remember the day he came back.

FB

The weather was slightly chilly as it had been raining all after noon. Sakura and Ino had been on their way to the store when Naruto and Shikamaru had appeared through the gates with a ruffed up looking Uchiha following closely behind them. Both girls stood there gapping at the fact that the long term betrayer of the village was finally returning home where he belonged, which would have to mean that both Orochimaru and Itachi had been killed. Ino had rushed over to greet the boys and the returning prodigy while Sakura took one look at Sasuke and turned on her heel and walked away toward the grocery in which she had been intending to go. Everyone watched her retreating form including a slightly hurt Uchiha.

END FB

Sakura continued to stare as she realized that she had yet to talk to Sasuke since he had returned to the village. She let out a sigh and continued on her way not noticing a certain someone watching her with a sad face.

SASUKE'S POV

'Why won't she talk to me? Is she over me? Or is she just mad? Hn maybe I should talk to Naruto.' He thought to himself sadly.

Sasuke reached Naruto's door in less than 5 minutes and began pounding his fist on the wooden door frame.

"Alright I'm coming!" he could hear Naruto shouting from the inside.

"Oi! Teme! Watcha want?" He asked with a goofy grin while stepping aside to let the slightly annoyed Uchiha inside.

"Hn. I wanted to talk to you about Sakura." He said while plopping down on the sofa.

"Sure. What did you need to talk about?"

"Is she by chance mad at me or something? I mean she hasn't talked to me since I got back and I'm a little confused."

"Aww, does teme finally realize that he loves Sakura-chan?"

"Naruto! Just answer the question!" he said while hitting poor Naruto in the head.

"Ok, ok. I'm not sure but you know you did leave her lying on a bench while you went off to some gay child molester."

"Yeah I know. But I figured she would at least talk to me. I mean she talked to me on all those missions you all had to come and get me. Besides, she did say she would love me forever." He whispered that last part more to himself but Naruto still heard it.

"Were you counting on that when you came back? That she would still be in love with you? I mean I'm sure she still is but she could be in shock from seeing you. Or maybe she doesn't believe that you are gonna stay."

"I don't know, I don't know what I was expecting. But I do know that she isn't weak anymore. I know that she doesn't need me to protect her anymore."

"Doesn't mean that she doesn't want you to. Maybe you should be the one to talk to her."

SAKURA'S POV

'Why do I keep thinking about him? Why am I always wasting my time worrying about him and what he's doing?' 'Because you love him!' 'Grr, not you again.' 'What do you mean not me again? I'm you ya moron! l.o.l.' 'Still, leave me alone please. I'm trying to collect my thoughts. My very silent thoughts.' 'Fine but you'll miss me.'

Sakura stood and walked into her kitchen to make herself dinner when suddenly a loud knocking at the front door interrupted her thoughts.

'Who is it now?' She thought to herself as she answered the door.

She pulled it open to reveal.. SASUKE!

"Um, can I help you?" She said completely clueless as to why he was there.

"Yeah. I wanted to know if you had a second or two so we could talk." He said slightly annoyed.

"Sure." She said stepping aside to let him enter.

Sasuke entered her one bedroom apartment and took a seat on the sofa as Sakura went into the kitchen.

"Would you care for some tea Sasuke?"

"Yes, thank you. Tea would be nice."

"Ok." "So what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

Sasuke got up from his seat on the sofa and walked into the kitchen, sitting down at the table while Sakura prepared the tea.

"I wanted to ask you why you haven't spoken with me since my arrival."

Sakura stared at the pot of tea heating on the stove as she thought about her answer.

'That's a good question. Why haven't I spoken with him?' 'Because idiot, you're scared that he will still see you as a weakling and turn you down like always.' 'But I don't love him anymore, do I?' 'Of course we do, we just aren't sure he will accept us. Now pay attention, your tea is about to boil over.'

Sakura snapped back to reality as the tea kettle began to whistle. She grabbed her pink mitt and poured tea for the two of them and then set them on the table before she took a seat next to Sasuke. She turned and looked at him hard.

"I honestly don't know why I haven't spoken with you. I guess I just figured that you still hated me and didn't really want me around to annoy you."

"Sakura," He paused for a moment thinking of how to word himself, "I never really got annoyed by you. I mean I did sometimes but not all the time. Does that make sense?" He asked her slightly confused with himself.

"Um, not really."

"Look, Sakura, when I left I didn't really have a choice." She slightly flinched at his words not wanting to remember that night. "I had to get stronger; I had to push everyone away so that I could concentrate on my training." Sakura cut in.

"Oh so we would have gotten in your precious little way?" She asked getting pissed off.

"Well yeah but not like that. Sakura look, I cared for all of you, I still do, but if I had stayed I would have been always worrying about your alls protection regardless on if you could take care of yourselves." He added when she went to speak.

"Naruto is my best friend; he's like a brother to me. You are my precious person. I would have worried about you the most. I couldn't start a life with you because Itachi was still alive and I was scared that he would have tried to take you away in order to get to me. I didn't want anything bad to happen to you."

When he had finished talking, he was staring at her face while her eyes were directed at their hands that had somehow linked with one another in his explanation.

A tiny blush was spreading its way across her face while she thought about the fact that he said he wanted a life with her. She looked up at him staring deeply into his eyes trying to search for any hint that he was lying to her. But she could find no traces of it. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him burying her face into his chest as his arms slowly went around her waist.

"So does this mean that you want to be with me?" She mumbled against him.

He laughed lightly at this. "Yes it does. But I want to put our past behind us. I want to start all over; from the begging."

She gazed up at him with her big emerald eyes and smiled whole heartedly at him.

"Yeah, start all over."

With that they shared a loving kiss, awaiting the future that life would throw at them. But it didn't matter because to them they were starting all over, and this was only the begging.