Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

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Two Heads Are Better Than One (Until You Have None)

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Chapter 2

( Never before has Kakashi found reporting to Tsunade-sama so difficult. But difficulty of a mission has never been something Kakashi has allowed to get in the way before; it would be useless to start the habit now.

So here he is in the Hokage office early enough to see the rays of the sun just peaking over the Hokage Mountain. Early enough to know that by the time he gets back Sasuke will have started breakfast. At some point during his time with Orochimaru, Sasuke had learnt to cook. At some point during his time with Orochimaru, Sasuke had learnt to do a lot of things.

Like smile, Kakashi thinks as he rises to stand to attention in front of a sleepy Tsunade-sama.

Tsunade-sama nods her head as she sits down at her desk and Kakashi relaxes, allowing his shoulders to drop to that too-familiar slouch that characterizes most of his teen and young adult life.

"Report," she says around a yawn.

Kakashi nods, "Very little has changed since last week. Sasuke has yet to reach out to anyone other than myself and seems to only just tolerate Naruto's presence. He has refused to increase his training regimen or activate his Sharingan despite encouragement and multiple chances."

Kakashi has been equal parts proud and mystified when Sasuke had failed again and again to rise to the challenges Kakashi had been goading him with through casual use of the Sharingan and pointed comments encouraging the use of the more advanced techniques Sasuke must have learnt from his time in Sound. Yet Sasuke stuck to the same variety of body conditioning, katas (though most of them were fairly advanced). Only when pushed does he attempt a little of the new style of taijutsu that combined the Uchiha's preferred fast strikes and counter and Orochimaru's graceful defenses that had made the Snake Sannin such a terrifying opponent. It implies he has learnt something from Orochimaru but does not provide the information Tsunade-sama is looking for. Like whatever he had done to Inoichi-san during T&I despite the seals that should have rendered ninjutsu impossible in the small cell.

"He's…" Kakashi pauses wondering if this is something he wants to share. But…this is a mission (But it's also Sasuke and that always makes things more complicated. Always.) So he continues, "Coping relatively well. He is still Sasuke. But when around myself or Naruto, he can smile or even laugh."

Tsunade nods, "What are his loyalties to the village?"

Kakashi is simply reporting, but if he could be bolder (or more like if he wanted to) he'd say Sasuke has fallen in love with Konoha. 'Golden,' he'd said, Kakshi recalls, 'Beautiful.' And Kakashi agrees. For all the pettiness Konoha is prone to and for all the dark secrets it stored within its shadows, Konoha is beautiful, full of potential for something better. And this, Kakashi is certain, is what Sasuke sees and it makes him proud. It gives him hope that this time Sasuke will maybe stay. "He is adjusting," is what Kakashi reports because some things aren't meant to be shared. And Kakashi knows that a man who disobeys his mission is trash, but a man who hurts his teammates is far worse (And things have always been more complicated than obey or disobey when it comes to Sasuke.)

Tsunade sighs, "I trust your judgment on this, Jounin Hatake."

No, Kakashi thinks, you don't. Because she has ANBU trailing Sasuke even when Kakashi is present. But that's okay because you're right not to. Sasuke is Sasuke and no matter how much he's changed (and at times it's like looking at another person) the team (family) always comes first.

"Dismissed.")

...

Sometime between arriving at Konoha's red stone gates and falling into the habit of referring to Kakashi's two bedroom flat as home, Sasuke realizes with startling clarity that he feels lonely. Not the sort of soul crushing loneliness that characterizes the majority of Uchiha's memories, but the sort of loneliness that sneaks up on you. The sort of loneliness that settles in the corners of your life after one to many days without friends or family. The sort of loneliness that doesn't seem like a big deal until it is and you find yourself longing for home, for your mother and her warm presence and for your father and his steady strength.

But they're dead in this world so Sasuke is simply alone.

Stepping out, Sasuke fights for a destination as he starts his aimless wandering. When he'd been with sound, Orochimaru had been a steady supplier of order and orders. Working from dawn to dusk at any and every task had become routine. And Uchiha had been a constant as much as the boy could be when he wasn't being sent out on missions doing god knows what (and he still remembers the night Uchiha came home with a child's blood on his hands and they hadn't slept properly for a week because of the guilt and the nightmares) and not for the first time, Sasuke wonders where Uchiha is, what he is doing. He hopes Uchiha is safe. He hopes Uchiha will not do anything stupid.

It doesn't help that his mission has come to a bitter stalemate. He knows there are answers in Konoha. This was the Uchiha clan's home. This was where the massacre had taken place. But where to start looking? He'd been to the Uchiha compound, had skipped right over the fence and settled below a blooming cherry blossom tree. There had been slash marks in a variety of sizes and heights along the steady trunk. Some relatively fresher than others. He'd wondered which were Uchiha's and which were older. How long had this tree weathered time? How many young Uchiha ninja had practiced their kunai throws along its bark?

In that moment, as the steady silence of the compound took on an ominous feeling, he had been struck with the utter desolation and unfairness of it all. This is a home, isn't it? This is the home of the once great clan. It should be Sasuke's family walking the steps along the outer wall, chatting and laughing, not ghosts. In the distance, dinner should be finishing. His younger cousins causing a ruckus in the gardens as their older siblings struggled for some semblance of control. Like large family gatherings during the Fourth of July and Winter Break, life should be oozing from every nook and cranny. Laughter and shouts of joy. Teasing and harmless bickering in equal measure.

But instead there is silence.

He hadn't been able to stand it. He'd run, unable to look back, straight back to Kakashi where he'd burrowed into the man's couch and fought back tears until the sensei had returned and he was in control.

Now he is still working up the courage to return. He considers asking Kakashi to accompany him, but Sasuke honestly doesn't want to worry the man any further. And he doesn't trust Naruto with it just yet. He knows Uchiha's thoughts: friendship and hatred all bundled up into the enigma that is their relationship. Fighting against each other as often as they had fought alongside each other. Screamed more than talked. Glared more than laughed. Sasuke had to wonder how they had started to consider each other best friends, wondered if they would ever have the chance to feel more.

And like usual, Sasuke sighs, he finds his thoughts returning to Benjamin. Inevitably, it always leads back to Benjamin.

Sasuke pauses in front of a small toy store that reads "Toys4Nin." In the display case is a variety of scrolls and oddly sharp toys painted in a variety of reds and oranges. It takes him a moment to realize a few of them were blunted versions of kunai. How cute, Sasuke smiles, remembering the play doctor set his mother had gotten him to encourage him to pursue the medical field. He wonders at what age ninjas are trained here. In Sound it had been young. Far too young and he'd said as much to Orochimaru's face. Starting at five and dying by thirteen and fourteen on missions meant for grown men and women. It was wasteful and ignorant to assume a teen could ever be a proper soldier. The human mind just doesn't develop fast enough.

Uchiha had been awfully skilled, but Sasuke had always been a genius in his own right. And not to mention how…driven Uchiha was. Sasuke wonders if in Konoha they started around thirteen, when they hit puberty. Still young, but thirteen…That seems like the right time to start conditioning the body at least and then they probably learn all those advanced jutsu Orochimaru had taught them when they hit sixteen and older. No reason to give a child such a powerful weapon before they had the maturity to wield it.

Moving along, he decides to head towards the river. Maybe he'll follow it out towards the forest contained within Konoha's gates. So preoccupied with his own rambling thoughts, he almost walks straight into Sakura, who is happily chatting with a long-haired blonde.

"Ah…" Sasuke stutters, stepping to the side, and smiles, "Sorry about that, Sakura."

Sakura nods briskly before turning back to her friend and Sasuke feels his smile waver. Does she really dislike him that much?

The blonde steps in, "No problem, Sasuke-kun!" She says cheerfully. "So, hey? Do you remember me?!"

"Ino!" Sakura scolds her friend. But Ino just waves her off.

"Oh… no," Sasuke shrugs, "Sorry about that."

Ino frowns but quickly smiles again. Turning to Sakura, she bumps her on the arm and grins, "I gotta head to work, Sakura. Catch you later, yeah?"

"Eh…" Sakura stutters, "EH! Ino!" she calls out as her friend made a speedy retreat, leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone.

Shifting awkwardly, Sasuke stuffs his hands into the pockets of the rolled-up baggy sweats he'd borrowed from Kakashi-sensei. "So…how are you, Sakura?"

Sakura takes a moment to look at him and when she does her face is a bright red. "I…I'm good, Sasuke-kun. Y-you?"

Sasuke shrugs, "I'm all right. It's weird."

Sakura's blush dies down and she smiles softly, "I'm glad you're home, Sasuke-kun." In the bright afternoon sun, Sasuke decides she looks exceptionally beautiful.

After a moment of silence, he says, "Um…" He shifts from his right foot to his left and tries to meet her eyes, "Would you like to get lunch with me?"

Her blush comes back full force and she nods slowly.

"Sweet!" Sasuke grins, holding out a hand as if to grab her before thinking better, letting it drop quickly in an attempt to keep things from getting awkward again. "Cause I have no idea what's good so you're picking."

When she doesn't say anything, he nudges her softly with his shoulder and starts walking, "Though mind you, I'm broke. So don't think I'm paying, kay? Kakashi-sensei is a total cheapskate."

Sakura laughs and takes a few quick steps to fall into place next to him, "I do know a few places," she admits, a little shyly and Sasuke smiles at her again, but this time it feels a little more genuine.

"Lead the way."

...

(Having lunch with Sasuke, Sakura quickly realizes, is disturbingly similar to having lunch with Ino. Both have an annoying habit of patiently waiting for her to talk, no matter how long the silence lasts.

Sakura, like all of team seven, is used to silences from Sasuke. It had, at one point, been part of his charm. Now, she likes to think she's grown. She likes to think she's changed.

Really…they all have.

Before, Sasuke would eat in a stony silence. An aura of long-suffering annoyance radiating off of him every time Naruto opened his mouth to speak. And she, so enamored with the beautiful and mysterious Uchiha Sasuke, would worry herself sick over what he thought of her looks and how she ate and how she sat. And was he looking? Or was that horrible Naruto stealing away his attention (as if, her future self would reflect with shame, he was a prize to be won) with his large mouth and larger amounts of chakra.

It had burned: her pettiness. That for all that she was smarter and prettier, it was Naruto Sasuke's eyes were drawn too.

Looking back, Sakura is ashamed to admit she'd been an idiot. An even greater idiot than Naruto, the great dead-last. It hadn't taken long under Tsunade-shishou's tutelage for her to realize that Sasuke hadn't been mysterious at all. He'd been broken. Traumatized. Hurting. Ostracized by both popularity and jealousy in equal amounts. And she had only added to it. When she'd realized, she'd despaired. The village, she had thought, had failed Sasuke. Failed when it had failed to give him counseling. Failed when it had left him to live within the ghosts of the Uchiha compound. Failed when it had allowed the villagers and shinobi alike to romanticize him instead of seeing him for the child he was. And in doing so, the village had doomed her team from the beginning.

There were few things worse, in the eyes of Team Seven, than hurting a teammate.

Even Naruto had been able to see everything Sakura had willingly allowed herself to be blind to.

Sasuke-kun wasn't arrogant. He shielded himself from pain. He wasn't cold. He was hurting. He wasn't mysterious or cool. He was a boy. A boy who had needed someone to take his hand and tell him, truthfully, that it was okay to mourn.

Looking at the Uchiha Sasuke sitting in front of her—calmly perusing the menu while he waited with patience Sakura only thought Ino possessed—that she is certain someone in Sound had done what every member of the Hidden Leaf had failed to do. And that thought made her equal parts happy and guilty. So very guilty.

Finally picking up her menu, she smiles, "The duck noodle soup is good."

Sasuke hums, "Is that what you're getting?"

Sakura thinks for a moment and shrugs, "I think I'll get a sandwich."

Their conversation pauses and Sakura scrambles to think of a topic, any topic. She feels the annoyingly-familiar heat rise to her cheeks and she kicks herself. She is over this! Sasuke-kun is just a boy. A very, very pretty boy. And she sighs.

But…but she really would like Sasuke-kun to maybe finally be her friend.

"Thank you," she finally says, "For inviting me out."

Sasuke sets his menu down and finally looks at her. He is smiling, but it does not reach his eyes. It is the first time she has noticed and she notices his eyes are so impossibly sad. Mourning, she thinks, takes time.

"Thank you for accepting."

As if I'd ever say no. she thinks. Then she remembers that he doesn't know that. "So how is it? Adjusting to Konoha again?"

Sasuke shrugs and flags down a waiter. After they order, he answers, "It's strange having people recognize me but I've never seen them before."

"What do you remember?" she blurts out before she remembers she's supposed to be polite. Polite but distant for once, because Sasuke-kun has never liked it when she butted in. Idiot!

Sasuke thinks for a moment before answering, "I know things more than remember. I know Kakshi-sensei is my teacher. That Naruto-san is important to me. I know that…my brother killed my family and," he says this with confidence, "I know Konoha has been the only place I have ever called home. But…" Sasuke looks up at her and Sakura is struck with a certainty that there is something Sasuke-kun is not telling her. "I don't really remember anything but my name and my time with Or- in Sound."

Sakura nods, letting him know she accepts his answer. But…she promises herself that she is not going to let Sasuke be alone. Not again. (And maybe one day he'll trust her enough to tell her the truth.)

...

Sasuke feels bad about lying to Sakura. And as they leave the restaurant after a fairly enjoyable lunch, he finds he has a hard time meeting her eye.

She is a good person, a bit shy and easy to fluster. She'd obviously been trying to be courteous of his situation. It had taken an embarrassingly long time during lunch for Sasuke to realize Sakura did not hate him but seemed to harbor a crush. But she hadn't acted on it though, and clearly she has a history with Uchiha. It isn't his place to pry.

After all, what can he say? Hey! Sorry I'm actually another version of Sasuke from another dimension or era or something like that and I'm super gay for another version of Naruto.

Yeah, Sasuke thinks bitterly, that'll go swimmingly. It was had been hard enough to think of a somewhat plausible lie. And even then he'd only said it because the usual ANBU (which according to Uchiha's explanation of Itachi's time with the group is a bit like a black ops version of a ninja) guards had stayed several steps further back than usual but still close enough to intervene if necessary.

(He knows it must say something strange about him that he feels safer with a variety of masked men following him around. But it reminds him of Sound and Orochimaru's own strange brand of caring. He hopes the snake man is okay…and not too angry.)

"Hey, Sakura," Sasuke says, "What do you do for fun?"

She doesn't say anything for a minute and he looks up at her. She looks deep in thought, chewing her lip lightly and a crinkle between her eyebrows. He wonders if there is a Sakura in his world like there is a Benjamin in this world. He wants to meet that version of Sakura. He wonders how different she will be.

"I suppose I like to train," she admits, "And I enjoy the library. Reading has always been a past time of mine." She shrugs, "I'm a bit boring like that."

At the mention of a library, Sasuke cannot help but feel incredibly and uncomfortably stupid. A library! Of course there would be a public library here. There hadn't been in Sound, most of the population had been unable to read and the majority of the book stored away in Orochimaru's private library. But Konoha is different than Sound. "Do you want to go?"

"Hm?"

"To the library," Sasuke clarifies. "Or...could you take me to it? I admit I forget where it is and I've been meaning to catch up on some...stuff." Like the history, politics, culture and everything Uchiha Sasuke is expected to know about Konoha. After all, Sasuke mused, memory loss can only account for so much.

"Of course, Sasuke-kun," Sakura is practically glowing and Sasuke wonders if it is because she enjoys the library so much or because she enjoys his company so much. Maybe it is a little of both. "I've been enjoying this biography on Tako Inzumni, the first advisor of the Naidaime. It's amazing how complicated politics is." She grins and adds, "I'm apprenticed under the Godaime and I've found learning about politics makes everything a whole lot easier when you're dealing with councilman and clan heads."

Sasuke hums, listening intently as Sakura continues to tell him about a series of meetings she'd attended, all of them centered on the building of a southern road from one of Konoha's proxy towns to the capital. "Every clan member," she scowls, "Is so prone to holding onto grudges. I think the Hyuuga will die out before forgiving the Nara over some land dispute that happened some fifty years ago."

"I didn't know you were so involved in the government," Sasuke says, "It's impressive."

"Ah well..." She blushes hard enough that her cheeks are as pink as her hair, but she manages to meet his eye unlike before. And she is smiling "It's really interesting."

The library, relative to everything else in the area, is an older building. It looks older. The walls are weather worn and the sidewalk around the building is cracking. But the landscaping is well maintained. And when he enters, the smell of old books reminds him of home.

"My mother…" Sasuke starts and then stops, suddenly struck with the reminder of how different things are here. Uchiha Mikoto hadn't been a librarian. She had been a shinobi and a damn good one, well known for her expertise in information gathering missions. She had been ANBU until she'd had Itachi and married the clan head's son. But… but in his world where there are no missions and ninja and wars that hit so close to home, his mother is a librarian. She has been a librarian since Sasuke started going to school. Some of his earliest memories are sitting by her feet in a crowd of children as she read out loud.

Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest, Sasuke remembers, And the boy did. And the tree was happy.

Sasuke remembers thinking it was such a sad story. Now that he's grown up, he finds he might understand it a little bit better.

Sakura doesn't push him, but she waits to see if he'll finish his sentence. And when he doesn't, she smiles at him and Sasuke pretends not to see the pity in her eyes. Uchiha hated pity. Sasuke finds he might hate it too.

"So do I need an ID or anything?" Sasuke asks, trying to change the subject as they wait behind an elderly man to check in at the front desk.

Sakura shakes her head, "I have one. I'll get you a visitor pass and you can sign up for one when you've been reinstated."

The library itself is larger than Sasuke expects. The stacks are huge, intimidating in their height. And the few sky lights and gas lamps provide just enough lighting to read the titles along the spine. And yet the silence, that is only broken by the flipping of pages and the occasional sniffle, does not feel oppressive.

Instead, Sasuke thinks as he allows Sakura to pull him deeper into the stacks, it is like being transported to another world. The hustle and bustle of Konoha's busy streets feels far more distant than the four walls should allow. The dark wood tables lit by the yellow gas lamps act like a grounding island amongst the rows and rows of knowledge that defines Konoha.

"What do you want to read?" Sakura asks.

"Do you know a good overview of Konoha history?" Sasuke asks, flipping through one of the books left on the table. Sealing for Beginners, the title read and the picture looks rather similar to the lines on his arms. Maybe he would keep it.

Sakura thinks for a moment, "Well…there are the academy textbooks, but I find them to be a bit… biased." She hums, "I know a series, but they're pretty dense…"

"Dense is alright," Sasuke says, shrugging off his coat and sweater. He's still reading the book and he's proud to say he only flinches a little when Sakura suddenly grabs his arm and pulls him closer to the gas lamp.

"Where did you get these?" She hisses, running her fingers over the black lines and kanji.

Sasuke shrugs her off, "When I went to T&I," Sasuke answers truthfully. No point in lying when he doesn't have to.

Sakura makes a soft, wounded noise and Sasuke tries to smile reassuringly at her, "It's okay," he insists, "I expected it wasn't going to be this easy. But I wanted to come back."

After a moment of just staring at Sasuke's arm, Sakura steps back at last, but the troubled look doesn't leave her face and she says, "It's not right."

"It's okay," Sasuke repeats. When she doesn't say anything, he adds, "You were going to show me a series of books?"

"Yeah…" Sakura says, quieter than before. "It's… It's over here."

As Sasuke follows Sakura back into the stacks, he rubs lightly at the seals on his wrists and tries to push his worry away. What does she mean 'it's not right'?

...

Coming home, Sasuke is only half surprised to see Naruto and Kakashi sitting at the dining table talking about something (him, usually). Taking off his shoes at the entrance—who knew ninja slippers would be so comfortable—he walks towards the kitchen and asks, "Have you eaten?"

"Take out," Kakashi says, making a lazy motion towards the fridge. He smells faintly of sweat and wet dog and Sasuke tells him as such. "Yeah well…Gai."

In his time living here, Sasuke has only met Maito Gai twice and even then he's aware of how much "Gai" can act as a catch-all sentence. "Do any interesting challenges this time?" he asks as he pulls out the take out—ramen—out of the fridge and pour it into a pot to heat up.

"Dog grooming," Kakashi sighs, getting up and pulling a beer out of the fridge. Sasuke holds out his hand and Kakashi gets a beer for him too. Perks of being a ninja here, apparently, if you graduated from the academy, you could drink. It only reaffirms Sasuke's belief that graduation must happen sometime around now since both Sakura and Naruto had graduated. Fifteen is a bit young, but Sasuke has learnt in Euro History that eighteen had only very recently been seen as adulthood where before sixteen was an acceptable age. Fifteen doesn't seem that off.

Naruto is being oddly quiet, Sasuke decides. But that's okay. Sometimes Naruto just gets oddly quiet around Sasuke. Sasuke wonders if it's because he's trying to avoid an argument.

"What did you do today?" Kakashi asks.

Sasuke pours his ramen into a bowl and sets the pot and ladle in the sink to wash later. "I met Sakura today," he says as he takes a seat at the table. "We had lunch and went to the library."

Naruto makes a face that Sasuke can't decipher, but Kakashi remains as neutral as ever. "Read anything good."

Sasuke nods, "A series on history. Brought some home. Apparently Sakura knows the librarian and got permission for me." The ramen is hot and salty and incredibly satisfying in a way that cup of noodles has just never cut it. "This is good."

Kakashi hums in agreement and turns back to Naruto, picking up their conversation where it left off. It seems Sasuke had been wrong. They weren't talking about him. It doesn't take much for Sasuke to zone out, content on eating his ramen and not thinking for once. The knowledge he read on the founding of Konoha is only making him more confused.

The village founded in an attempt to end the feud between the Senju and Uchiha, Sasuke thinks, and yet…there has never been an Uchiha Hokage.

Something about that just doesn't sit right with him.

What is he missing?

...

(After Sasuke goes to his room and presumably to bed, Kakashi asks Naruto as calmly as he can, "What the hell was that?"

Naruto fidgets and looks away. "It's…" He shrugs.

Kakashi sighs and gets up, taking the dishes to the sink and starts the water letting them soak. Sasuke would wash them in the morning (And how things have changed that that is something he can depend on, Sasuke being there in the morning let alone Sasuke being there to wash dishes). "When's the last time you've seen Sakura?"

"Yesterday," Naruto says.

So not jealousy then. "When Sasuke arrived, he didn't remember Sakura," Kakashi lets slip, glancing over his shoulder to watch Naruto's face, "I'm surprised he went out with her."

"Does he…" Naruto pauses and then says, "Does he not remember Team Seven?"

"No," Kakashi says, keeping his tone even. Eye's still trained on Naruto even as he starts washing the pot. "He thought you were his only teammate."

Naruto tries to hide the fact he's smiling and Oh, Kakashi thinks, Not jealous of Sasuke then, but of… Oh!

"Will you be staying, Naruto?" Kakashi finally asks and Naruto shakes his head.

"No… I should get back before Iruka-sensei comes looking for me," Naruto says and grabs his coat. "See you later, sensei."

And Kakashi admits he had not expected that.)

A/N: Wooo! So I am continuing this. I'd like to thank my Beta cyan96 who helped me get this chapter out so fast. I'd also like to thank everyone who commented, ya'll really encouraged me to continue writing this and that's pretty much the reason why this chapter exists.

So please tell me what you think. Did you like this chapter? Do you like the direction this story is going? I'm really curious to see your thoughts!