10

Disclaimer: You bad bad people you think I own Naruto shame on you!

Sasuke

Sasuke sighed in relief as whoever it was that came to his room left without saying anything. He was tired of the stupid nurses and fan-girls that came in just to harass him with their petting and prodding. You would think that the nurses would at least have better things to do. He had almost killed the last one who thought she could sneak up on him.

Even though the Hokage let me come back and use this room till I find an apartment I don't think she would take me killing one of her nurses well.

He smirked at the thought.

No she wouldn't handle that well at all.

Hearing a slumping sound glanced at the slot of the door that was supposed to allow doctors look in on their patients without disturbing them. It was then that he saw it.

Pink hair … no one in this world has hair like that except ….

Just at that moment, the door opened and in walked the person who he had dreaded seeing the most, head down reading the sheet that all the nurses seemed to come in reading. He waited for the outburst of emotion that never came.

"Sakura"

She looked up at the sound of her name, fixing her eyes on him and silence filled the room. He used the opportunity to thoroughly inspect the woman she had become. He took in the now waist length hair in the single braid that swayed slightly in the wind, the long legs that were clearly defined with muscles, the slim waist, flat stomach and the slightly upturned breasts. Despite the changes in her physical appearance the thing that intrigued him the most was her eyes. Gone was the innocence that seemed to spill out of them before, gone to be replaced with something cold hard and definitely not innocent.

I guess even she had to grow up someday.

"Good day Uchiha-san"

That got his attention.

That was unexpectedly formal.

He didn't know how to respond to that so he gave his usual stock response.

"Hn"

She seemed to pause a bit regarding him with almost suspicion. He turned to face the window again not wanting to encourage any breakdowns from the emotional girl.

"I am going to give you a check up Uchiha."

"Don't worry one of the other nurses did that already."

There was a slight pause and then she laughed, a sound that seemed to tickle the air.

"What's so funny?" he glared at the woman who was now almost doubled over laughing.

"Oh Sasuke … you haven't changed at all …"

Then as if noticing that she had slipped up and called him by his name she stopped laughing abruptly. Sighing she went on.

"I'm not a nurse, even though I'm not surprised that you think so. After all you never did have a very high opinion of me."

She said the last part almost with a smile.

"I'm not a nurse; I'm a doctor, actually to be more accurate I'm a medic-nin. And considering that this floor is specially assigned to me, I have a responsibility to get to know the medical status of each patient on it. Not to mention the fact that I am supremely curious as to what injury warrants you a special emergency private room."

He looked at her with surprise. She was right; he never had expected much from her.

Who would have thought that crybaby Sakura would have what it takes to be a medic-nin, and one in charge of an emergency floor.

He had been in the Konoha hospital enough times and long enough to know that only the best were left in charge of emergency floors.

I'm impressed.

He watched her step closer.

"Take off your shirt."

"What?"

"I need to do some routine checks."

Suddenly dread filled him he had remembered how intimate some of the other doctors "routine" check ups had been.

"No need, there's nothing wrong with me."

"Look Uchiha, this is my floor. I'm in charge here, whether you like it or not. So take off your shirt before I take it off for you."

"Is that a threat?"

"Yes … it is"

There was something in the cold purposefulness of her voice that told him that she would make do on her threat. An image of them wrestling off his shirt unnerved him enough to make him accept defeat.

"Fine"

He slipped off the shirt and sat straight. She walked up to him and placed a palm on his chest. His head snapped up to her face.

"What are you doing?"

"Don't worry, this wont hurt. Some of my patients even seem to enjoy it."

And just at that moment he felt foreign chakra flow through him. It started first with just the part of his chest that was in direct contact with her hand and then began to spread warmth all over his body. His skin tingled in a pleasant way. And then the chakra seemed to focus into a solid mass and roam along his skin. It roamed along his chest and his body stiffened. He looked up to Sakura's face, her eyes closed. She was breathing heavily through her mouth, her lips slightly parted.

I wonder what kissing her would be like.

The thought popped into his head without warning.

What the hell. When did I start …

Just then the chakra swept passed his groin and he felt his body tighten.

Oh God does she know how arousing this is.

He stole another glance at her. Her brow was furrowed and her head was tilted to the side, as if she had seen something she didn't like or was concentrating very hard. His eyes followed the curve of her chin to the smooth line of her neck, strayed past her shoulders and then finally rested on the rise and fall in her chest that the labored breathing caused.

Suddenly he felt a cold envelop him and he looked down to find her hand gone, taking the warming chakra with it.

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with you."

"Hn … any idiot could have told you that" he muttered under his breath, irritated at the thoughts that had been running through his mind.

"Like you tried to do?" she replied almost sweetly in a way that aggravated him even more.

"Shut up."

"Well since I've finished your check up and you obviously have lost whatever good manners you may have had, I'm going to have a long discussion with the Hokage about what was so important that I needed to be summoned from vacation." She stepped away from him turned and walked out of the room without a single look back.

Sasuke watched her as she walked out of the room, each step making the long braid of her ponytail bounce against her bottom creating even more images in his head. He groaned to himself.

What the fuck is wrong with me? How long has it been since I've gotten some action? Obviously way too long, think of something else.

He thought of the comment she had made before leaving. Apparently he wasn't important enough for her to come back for.

"Hn not like I care." He told the empty room.

Yeah I really don't care.

Sakura

Stalking out of the room she headed straight for the Hokage's office, raging silently to herself. Where the hell does he get off being rude to me? He should be begging for forgiveness.

And just whose forgiveness should he be begging? Inner Sakura asked quietly. She was always less aggressive when Sakura was angry.

Who! Who I'll tell you who! First on the list is Naruto, then the Hokage and then Kakash-senseii, then everyone who was on that stupid retrieval mission for him and then Iruka-sensei and …and …and then every single person in this village. He could apologize every day for what he did and it still wouldn't be enough.

Enough for what?

Enough to make it up to all the people he left behind.

I thought you didn't care anymore.

I don't.

So why is he bothering you so much?

He is NOT bothering me!

Then why are you mad.

I have every right to be mad. I'm not the one who deserted the village for its number one enemy, I'm not the one who traded everything for power, and I'm not the one who almost killed my best friend. I'm not the one who left. He should at least try to be civilized if he cant be humble.

Oh come on … wouldn't it have been weird if he had been civilized, when have you ever known the great and powerful UCHIHA SASUKE to be polite, especially after being threatened.

Yeah I was surprised he backed down so easily.

The two parts of Sakura paused, Inner Sakura spoke up first.

How are we going to act around him?

I don't know.

Do you want to be friends with him again?

NO!

Do you want to be enemies?

She shook her head. No.

So what do we do?

I don't know, I'll deal with him when I get around to it. Who knows we might be able to avoid him, it's not like we are still team mates and if we're very lucky maybe he'll start avoiding us in turn.

Yeah lets do that.

Okay so OPERATION: IGNORE SASUKE goes into effect right now.

And with that thought she sped off to talk to her sensei.

Tsunade

She had been sitting in her office waiting for her apprentice to come in.

Why did this have to happen now of all times? Why couldn't the Uchiha idiot just stayed away at least until her relationship with the Kazekage had cemented itself enough to be tested? Why did he have to have that precious bloodline? If not for the stupid sharingan I would not have had to take the little traitor back.

She remembered the day he had just casually walked into her office.

Flashback

"Give me one good reason not to execute you right now Uchiha."

"I have eliminated one of Konoha's enemies and have valuable information concerning another."

"I could just extract that information from you forcibly and execute you then."

"The sharingan is no use to you if I'm dead."

She was not usually this cold but she had never liked bloodline families, they were too proud of something that they hadn't worked hard to get. The Uchiha's were the worst of them. As a whole their over exaggerated sense of their own importance irked her and she liked this one even less for the things he had done to a certain pink haired kunoichi and another blonde haired shinobi. So in her mind her next statement was well deserved.

"Kakashi is living proof that we don't need you alive. I wonder who would sign up to receive a sharingan eye."

That seemed to stop the man in his tracks. He looked at her disbelievingly and nothing in her glare told him that she would not make do on her threat. He rolled the knowledge that she would torture him in his mind. He looked around him at the office that he had once known and out the window to village he had always thought of as home and decided that for this one time he could let the truth about how he felt about this place be known. She of all people knew what it was like to need to leave.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, you are right. There is no reason for you to condone my selfishness in wanting to come back to the only place that I ever called home. I will not trouble you again. Tell my former teammates that I am sorry, but it had to be done.

She sighed soflty to herself. She was not cruel enough to ignore such honesty. And she knew enough of men like him to know that the admission of the need for a home and the need to come back was a huge one. She watched the almost defeated slump of his shoulders. And cursed herself mentally for being such a bleeding heart.

"You can tell them yourself. I'll assign an emergency room for you until you can find someone stupid or desperate enough to rent you an apartment. But be warned if you so much as set a baby toe outside of the gates or communicating with anything outside the gates or any other of the million things that would make me doubt your integrity, I will come after you myself."

"Yes ma'am"

"Now go sit somewhere where I don't have to look at you. I am not going to waste resources putting a guard on you, any one who you would have a hard time losing has better things to do. So behave yourself."

End of flashback.

She sighed, the memory irked her. Diverting her attention to the matter at hand she looked at the small framed picture that she had of Sakura.

How am I going to break the news to her?

A brief knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

"Come in."

An in walked the woman she had been dreading seeing.

"Ah Sakura, sit down there is something I need to tell you"

"I know."

"You do?"

"Yes, apparently there was a surprise waiting in one of my emergency rooms."

"So you saw him."

"Yes"

There was a pause neither woman knowing what to say. She noted the hard lines that were etched in her apprentices face.

She's angry.

"I'm sorry you found out that way."

"You could have put it in your message."

"I did not know if the Kazekage would have access to it before you did."

At the mention of the Kazekage, Sakura's eyes widened.

"Damn, I'm going to have to tell him."

"Yeah … and soon too, you can use my phone."

"He's not going to take it well."

"All the more reason to use my phone, you will have privacy."

"Thank you"

"It's my pleasure."

She smiled at the young woman.

"Don't worry everything is going to be fine, now get out of here and go call your boyfriend."

She watched Sakura leave the room and once the door was closed behind her she let the smile on her face be replaced by the worry she truly felt, a single thought in her mind.

This can only end badly.

AN: Wow that was the longest chapter I've written so far. Please keep reviewing, I love hearing from you. Criticism and Questions are very welcome.

10