Disclaimer: It's only my dream. One of these days I will steal Naruto from Kishi. YES!
Chapter 1: Pseudo-reunion
"Otokage"
"Sasuke Uchiha, the new Otokage of Otogakure!"
Annoyed…
"It got a ring to it…No?"
"Shut-up." The said male ignored his shark-face teammate, Suigetsu and the snickering redhead Karin, to walk ahead, making a wider distance between them.
"Tee Hee Hee. Oh Please." Sarcasms filled her tone. "No matter how much you're praising Sasuke-kun…" She said his name with much admiration and worship. "…He is not going to give the Head Special Anbu Force position to the like of you." Karin covered her mouth, informing him in an all-knowing manner. She slipped right past the irritated male to catch up to her beloved Sasuke, the dark and treacherous, heart-throbbing man. Who, was currently the candidate to hold the new mighty position of Otokage. A spot left vacant by the disappearance-death-of Orochimaru. Returning from terrorizing the Akatsuki to the bottomless end pit after he had done using them, Sasuke seek compromises with the daimyos of the Land of Sound to reconstruct Otogakure in place of him being the Otokage. His motives—unclear.
"Hmp. Then likeliness of you becoming the head medic-nin is totally gone. What exactly do you know in the department of saving lives…Oh. Nothing." He smirked seeing the steams boiling off her fiery head.
She quickly turned to him and stomped her feet on the ground. "Next time you need chakra and turn in to water. Expect me to built a fire pit and steam you to air follicles!" With a huff, she turned around, strutting her hip as she followed Sasuke down the path, deeper in to the forest.
Darken images flashed through his head as Suigetsu remembered the last time he needed her help. Bleh—such foul taste to his mouth. It took days to get rid of it and bottles of mouthwash. Focused his mauve orbs her way; he quickened his pace to push Karin aside. Suigetsu strode along with Sasuke while sipping his water bottle.
"Offt…Hey!" Karin tripped off the sidewalk after the ruthless push. Luckily for her, their quiet teammate, Jugoo was there to catch the fall in time. "Sui…You!!..." Her piercing crying scream was ignored while Sasuke and Suigetsu continued their path.
[…]
It was a bright and clear days. The team of four, once known as Taka, made their way through the thick forest without a break since dawn, all because they leisurely took the time, not hasting to the awaited destination. Their journey was trivial. It was rather a bother to deal with. However, not wanting to lag his coronation any further, Sasuke agreed in to seeking harmony with his former village. Such mockery, right? This was one of the ideas directly from the daimyos—wanting to know how much Sasuke would come to the deal and bear the request. The others ones, mostly ridiculous tasks and missions to prove his loyalty. It was ridicule to his being. But Sasuke, hating the hassles that would emerge from opposing their requests, put up with it.
"Oi. Sasuke. Oi." Suigetsu was being his self. "Oi. Are you listening to me? Oi?" He was ranting again, after talking for a while about a dilemma that appeared to make the future Otokage in a tight spot.
"What…" Sasuke lowly grunted, clearly showed his irritation and his lack of attention to the swordsman. .
"So who are you picking? Well…" Thinking, Suigetsu reworded his question. "Are you going to pick at all?" That question had a better chance of receiving an answer. His ears perked up in readiness.
But before, Sasuke had the chance to answer. Karin jumped in. "Of course not. Did you not see them? A bunch of whores they picked." She caught up and wedged her body in between.
Smirk. "I wasn't talking about you."
"GAh.!!!" Karin wanted to rip his head off and launch it thousands of leagues away or feed it to the wolves.
"So…" He insisted getting an answer from Sasuke. Suigetsu looked over to the male, seeing his vacant face.
"No." Sasuke's voice, strong and collected, gave an immediate answer without a second thought.
"Ha! Told you so!" Karin shouted in his face. Suigetsu flipped his middle finger to tell her to f*ck off which caused Karin to shriek like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Infuriated, they began their usual daily quarrel.
"…" Sasuke continued to walk ahead, not caring if they were going to bite each other head off. A little later, he felt the presence of Juugo lagging behind. It was better than the other two.
"Sasuke…"
"…Hn."
"By not choosing at all, won't that affect their decision in handling total power to you?" Asking the raven, Juugo wondered about the outcome of his act. The past weeks, the daimyos had suggested many demands and most recently, a rather outlandish request from them made him, Suigetsu and Karin—especially Karin—to be extremely curious of how Sasuke going to respond. Like they all say—the only way to tie down a man is his family. Sasuke, no matter in which ever ways he was being viewed as, did not fit the category of a 'family man', let along being tied down by the idea of family. Those old traditional daimyos may think that once they got Sasuke to marry, they would have something to 'threaten' him with, to keep him stabilized and not afanatical, running around with the newly militant power in his hands. Who knew what was going on his head through all those years following the Snake sannin and his recent history of creating wars. Who was to guarantee that he would not cause an up rise and dictate the whole country?
"…" Sasuke was contemplating, keeping the thoughts inside. After a while, he rested with an answer. "I will find a solution." And, that was final from him, no openings for further discussion.
O
O
O
"Naruto. Get down from there." Ino screamed out as the sight of orange jump suit lurking about on the top of the gate.
Sighing out, she, along with the rest of Konoha twelve had been waiting under the blistering sun for too long. Ino was getting impatient. At that point, she could care less of the person that would cross that gate. It didn't matter who they were, how important or good looking. Making a lady waited this long was unforgivable.
Swiftly, Naruto's feet touched the ground. "What's taking them so long?" He knew the strength of the no-longer-lost-nin's agility, there was no way a day journey would take him this long. He expected the see the reformed Uchiha since the early dawn.
Hands crossed over his chest, he turned around to meet rest of group. They, totally different from him, wasn't showing much excitement nor anticipation.
Shikamaru was laying on the tree branch, napping. Neji mediated against the tree trunk. Lee was punching the bark. Shino played with the bugs. Kiba fed Akamaru his lunch. Tenten sharpened her kunai. Chouji was stuffing his face. Ino ranted how they could be doing much better things. Then when his eyes met Hinata, she gave him a wave. He returned it with glee.
As an assignment, they were ordered to congregate with the ambassadors sent from Otogakure, the new future Otokage himself, Sasuke Uchiha. Formerly known as the missing nin, the crazy kid rampaging with revenge. He had returned to give his apology and in addition, created alliance and peace between the two villages.
Naruto were fidgeting the whole day since the night—no the week before when he heard the news of their former teammate turned over a new leaf.
Even though, they were no longer a team, but knowing Sasuke was liberated from the dark dept of evil, Naruto felt joyful. Once again, he jumped back to the highest point of the tower to excavate the perimeter, looking for that familiar spike head.
Good thing came to those who waited. Naruto's fox face widened with a big grin.
Suddenly Akamaru barked loudly.
"He's here." Kiba said as he stood. "They're here." Correcting, there was more than just one. He glanced toward the open entrance. Everyone stood and turned, look forward to the coming group.
Sasuke finally showed up with his team behind. In the deepest part of his mind, there wasn't even a hint of spark that was suppose to be there years ago. He couldn't help but to take a quick glance of the former team again. Sasuke, surely, wasn't the only one who had matured. But. There was something missing in the big picture. A certain hue was nowhere near.
Perhaps lost in battles or missions, it was a common predicament for their lives. Or, perchance in devastation, had given up half way. It wouldn't be a surprise.
"Teme." Naruto growled a grin, with strong stance; he stood before the Onyx man. His eyes surveyed the barely there adult features of his appearance. Sasuke clad in the similar outfit minus the purple butt-bow and the funny dark cloak. He looked no different from their last unwanted meeting.
"Dobe." Expressionless, Sasuke answered.
Without further delay, the team led the 'ambassadors' from the main gate to the Kage building. Besides Naruto who was showing him overwhelming hospitable, the others were indifferent. It appeared to Sasuke that the fan girls he had accumulated when young, grew out of their shells. That was a relief. Since there was village full of them from Otogakure and the leader was right behind him.
They walked along side with his group through the village. Sasuke concluded from his observation, the reason why they had the team 'greeting' or rather 'escorting' them to the Hokage office was because of the villagers. Seeing the fear mixed with hatred as he walked by. Hearing the murmurs, he let it slide since they were only ordinary shallow minds and useless figures, not of any importance. They knew nothing of the truth. Such ignorance would just be a bother to him.
"After your meeting, we're going to spar. I need to give you a good beating." Naruto showed his muscular arms as he ranted to the unresponsive raven.
Juugo quietly blend his massive form as Karin mindlessly followed Sasuke. Suigetsu was keeping his eyes on the certain blond, blue eyes kunoichi.
The Hokage building slowly emerged from afar.
o-o-o
"Hn…" Hands struggled to wrap the shallow wound around his side. Sasuke shouldn't have let his arrogant self controlled his mind. 'Damn that dobe.' Comparable, both of them did quite a toll to each other. He saw the Hyuuga-girl ran to the fox-boy's side to heal up the broken ribs after they concluded a drawn. Since when did she become a medic? Not looking in to it, or caring, for whatever reason, it must be for the blond head since all he did most of the time was inflicting injuries to himself.
Even so, it was quite unexpected to see such scene. Everything that was Konoha definitely had changed—the scenery because of the wars, the people because of the circumstances. Nothing was the same.
So was the memory.
The feelings…
Looking out to the shady night, slightly glowed with the help of the streetlights. He felt composed as his mind eased to the lifeless surrounding. The village was asleep, safe and sound, tucked nicely within the comfort of their home and family. Something he knew nothing of. Sasuke leaned upon the open window ledge of the inn they were staying, selected by the Hokage. Choosing the room on the third floor, he distanced himself from his team, who were resting on the ground floor.
After a long talk with the Hokage in which everything progressed smoothly, Sasuke separated from his team and proceeded to the familiar training ground with the blond spiked-head. He needed to rebuild the 'bonds' that the old-hags back in Otogakure threatened to enforce during the operation. When there, he found it to be the same location but much had a different auras to it. What made it different, he couldn't tell. It was only ground and dirt.
Suggesting to himself that it was late and he should go to bed. Since they would begin their journey back in two days, he had to wake up early next morning to congregate with the officials and cleared off a few loose ends with his family estates and assets as well as having a few words with the village elders in a private meeting. Thinking of them made his mind twisted with repulsion. But it must be contained, he would most definitely not let his impulse blind his mind.
About to push his body off to make his way toward the rigid bed, but he stopped short. Sasuke suddenly caught a distance movement coming toward his way. A mysterious figure lurking around, he hid in the darkness as the shadow passed by. Pink was the color his eyes caught as the body smoothly dashed through the air, seamlessly without a sound. In hand was a very special sealed scroll. He, reflexively, followed her in the shade out of interest, sealing back his chakra.
[…]
A safe distance, he knelt on a study tree branch. Eyes closely followed her movement. Questioned why the girl was climbing through the window and in to Hokage building. Strangely, the lazy drunkard Hokage was still in the office from the look of the bright light illuminating.
Sasuke waited until a secure moment later, after the window closed to teleport his body right next to it. Hiding in the shadow, soundless, his hand brought up to unseal the soundproof protection that naturally placed on the window once it closed.
He listened.
"Well done Sakura. As expect of my pupil." Drunk, Tsunade was clearly high from the excess amount of consumed alcohol. "I thought you wouldn't make it back until another week." Fumbling her hands to unravel the scroll, she read the content with her hazy eyes.
From the lacking details, Sasuke suspected she had just returned from a mission. How long was it? Was it before the news of his visit? No one must have informed her. He believed that to be the only decent explanation. She must had been somewhere far on an extended mission. But, why did no one say a word. To him. Not that it mattered. But it was strange, stranger than usual for even Naruto to not say anything.
Before he further inspected, Sakura's voice broke his train of thought.
"You think too highly of me, shishou." The same cheeky tone, with a hint of maturity, Sakura Haruno, stood before her teacher with confidence. The attitude of conceit never showed from her speech, no matter how many times she was praised.
Releasing the tight ponytail, Sakura took off her combat gloves. A small smile appeared on her lips at her helpless teacher, drunk from her idea of a midnight drink.
"All well is done." The wine bottle dangled loosely in her hand. Tsunade had stored away the scroll. "I guess you can have the next days for rest. Do what ever you like Sakura. Go anywhere you wish."
"That would be splendid." From running for days, she did need to rest up.
Patience, Sasuke was still in the same spot outside the window. Been spending time listening to the boring conversation, nothing of anything significant was discuss. Not even the detail about the mission was exchanged. Sasuke only heard about the overall sequence of how she carried out the mission. The usual things that were taught when they were genin, he remembered.
Until the word, 'seduce' echoed through the wall. His interest peaked once again.
He was intrigued and indeed curious to how much she had advanced to tangle in such mission. But, before more could be revealed.
SLAM.
The window suddenly thrash opened and Sakura's torso peered out. Her eyes quickly scanned the perimeter, searching.
"What's wrong." Tsunade raised her eyebrow at the strange behavior from the girl.
Looking back in side, she answered. "Oh nothing. It was just stuffy." Removing her body from the window, she quietly thought. 'I swear I felt a different chakra source.' Sigh. 'I must be paranoid again. Rest. Yes. Definitely need rest.'
Tsunade took another gulp from the bottle. "You didn't have to break my window." Judging from the force that she gave to open the poor thing.
Scratching her jaw, Sakura thought she over exerted her strength. "Heh heh. Sorry." The two continued to converse leisurely, unknowing the extra guest outside.
All while they laughed and giggled, Sasuke was holding his breath, hanging by the finger on the side ledge. 'How did she?' He was appalled by the discreetness in her steps. Her presence by the window was unexpected.
Swiftly, his feet touched the ground and in no time, returned to the inn.
His mind was afresh by the new discovery. He hated to admit it but for once, Sasuke Uchiha was wrong. Sakura Haruno was something not of the ordinary. She had change more than the others did, further than his prospect.
o-o-o
Click. The metal door closed shut. Not bothering to lock the door since who would even dare to sneak into her house—beside Naruto and on occasion the annoying blond pig, Sakura immediately threw her body onto the couch.
Pealing off the extra uncomfortable garments, she ignored the thought weighting her mind. No matter how hard she tried to doze off, her stupid mind wouldn't. 'Shishou had to ask…' Hand massaged her aching head. Sakura ignored the currently state of her hollow apartment. Not bothering to turn on the light, she pushed her weary body off the cushion to her bedroom.
The new mattress wasn't even break out yet. It still carried the new scent and feel even after four month of purchase. She hardly ever been home, in her new home, enough.
Turning and thrashing, another possible sleepless night. She couldn't pull the conversation from her mind. Groaning in frustration, she continued the sad attempt to sleep.
"Why don't you try to visit your parents again?" Tsunade offered the suggestion to her student, knowing the predicament she was in.
Sakura let out a sarcastic smile. "They refuse to talk to me."
Grimace, it was all her fault. Tsunade knew her action was of impulse. But it was the past and could not be undone. "Don't worry Sakura. In time they will understand."
"Yes." Her voice softened. "In time."
Hi?
New story. New plot. Different genre of SAKUSASU.
I just want to take a dip mixing their character traits a bit. Like? No like?
MORE? I'd love hear your comment. Cookies if you love. XD
Preview Chapter 2
It had been long, not including the past encounters. To meet him again under decent condition, it had been excessively too long ago. Years, it had been. 'Good.' She was sure there was nothing to be exchanged between them
Sasuke stood, impassively looking at the equal indifferent gaze. Emeralds showed no special treatment to him. 'Good.' It was better that way. No string attached.