Chapter Two- Status and Objective

Sakura and I arrived at the Hokage's office twenty minutes later. Lady Tsunade stared us down as we entered, and for a moment I almost feared she was about to tell me I was being executed or something for my treachery.

"Sakura, Sasuke, welcome." She greeted as we entered.

"Good morning, Lady Tsunade." Sakura bowed her head.

"Well, let's get right to business." Tsunade announced as she twined her fingers and rested her elbows on the table.

Sakura looked at me from the corner of her eye. I kept my eyes forward and waited for Tsunade to continue.

"Sasuke Uchiha, you have no idea how much I had to fight to lower what the elders had in store for you. Sometimes they can be so unreasonable." Tsunade spoke the last statement more to herself than to me.

"So what do you plan to do to me?" I asked.

"After long consideration and debating, we decided…that you shall remain a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village." Tsunade proclaimed. A small smile reached her lips.

Sakura let out a barely audible sigh of relief, a feeling of stress I had ever since I entered the village lightened slightly.

"Of course, you're not let off that easily." Tsunade interjected our thoughts. "We have decided that your punishment will be a two year probation with several courses of interrogation to get all the information we can from you."

"So I can't just spill everything in one interrogation seminar and be done with it?" I questioned.

"No, there is much that we can learn from you, and we don't want anything to slip by. If we were to only interrogate you once, there are countless key points that may slip through our thoughts. We want to be undoubtedly sure that we've gotten anything and everything that we may need to aid us in the future or add to our records." Tsunade explained. "You can understand that, right?"

"Hn," I grunted, "whatever."

"Now for you, Sakura," Tsunade declared as she turned her face towards the pink haired kunoichi. "I'm assigning you a mission."

"I figured as much." Sakura sighed. "So what is it this time?"

"It's nothing too complex," Tsunade clarified, "it's a B-ranked mission that will take you to the Land of Corals. There you'll be playing a double role as a spy and an assassinator. We need you to gather information in that town about a rash outbreak of disappearances. Since there's obviously someone behind it, we'd like you to take that person out."

"I understand, Lady Tsunade." Sakura bowed her head again.

"Though there's one catch." Tsunade added.

Sakura gave her a quizzical look, and Tsunade directed her attention at me.

"Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha, this mission goes to you both." Tsunade declared.

"Huh?" Sakura blurted out. "I thought you said he was on probation."

"Yes, but I also said that he was still a Leaf shinobi." Tsunade clarified. "Besides, he'll have you around to keep an eye on him. Sasuke, you should be warned, if something happens to Sakura or you try and make a break for it, you won't be accepted back into this village. Do you both understand?"

Sakura bowed at the waist, "Yes, Lady Tsunade."

I huffed, "Yeah, this shouldn't be a big deal."

"Good, you'll leave tomorrow morning. You're both dismissed."

We both turned for the door.

"Oh, wait, Sasuke." Tsunade called.

I turned to face her, "Hn?"

"Have you found a place to stay yet?" Tsunade asked. "I understand that Naruto isn't here at the moment, and you'll need to sleep somewhere tonight."

"Oh, why didn't you say anything, Sasuke?" Sakura suddenly questioned. I gave her a puzzled look. "I've been taking up all your time and you haven't even found a place to sleep for the night. You don't plan to sleep on a bench, do you?"

At the last statement, Sakura suddenly averted her gaze from me. I frowned slightly. She was still hurt inside no matter how she acted towards me.

"Well I haven't really bothered to think on it." I shrugged. "I wouldn't mind sleeping outside if I have to."

"No!" Sakura yelled out. She shrunk back for a moment as she realized she had raised her voice too high. "I-I mean…you could stay at my place for the night. Once we get back from the mission, you can stay with Naruto afterwards if you want to, or if you rent a home."

"Hn," I grunted, "you don't have to."

"Then where else will you stay?"

I was silent for a moment. "Okay."

Sakura smiled lightly at me and then went for the door. I looked back at Lady Tsunade for a moment, I could just hear her murmur something about being gullible and falling for such an act. I smirked and walked out the door after Sakura.

'"'"'"'"

The rest of that night was moderately uneventful. We ate dinner, packed together the supplies we'd need for tomorrow's mission, and slightly reacquainted ourselves about the past few years.

I had to admit that it was actually nice to have Sakura around. She wasn't fangirling over me anymore, and she had really grown over the years. There was a small part in me that slightly missed her old ways, and a large part of me that wondered if she even loves me anymore like she said she did all those years ago. I didn't plan to bring up the subject. I didn't want to risk damaging the level of friendship we had regained in this time.

'"'"'"'"

We both walked out of the village bright and early the next morning. Sakura held the map that would lead us to the Land of Corals, and I trailed behind her. We took the trail at a leisurely rate for about four hours before we sat down for lunch by a stream.

Lunch was going by slowly and pretty silently. I had finished my lunch and I watched the stream flow by my side. Sakura had walked off a couple minutes ago saying stuff about checking something on the map and seeing something up ahead. She still hadn't returned and I started to get slightly anxious about what was taking her.

I stood up finally. I was going to head out and find Sakura myself. However, I hadn't expected to turn around and find her right in front of me. Caught off guard, I accidentally toppled back to the ground, but not without pulling her with me in my attempt to stay upright.

My head hit the ground hard, and Sakura's elbow accidentally struck me in the chest, it painfully knocked the wind out of me. I momentarily gasped for breath with Sakura still positioned on top of me.

"Oh, Sasuke, I'm sorry!" Sakura apologized by my ear. "Are you alright?"

I reached out and grasped her elbow; I pulled it off my chest so I could breathe correctly again. The sudden removal of the block between us caused Sakura to fall forward a little more and abruptly stop less than an inch from my face.

"I'm fine," I breathed.

Sakura's cheeks blushed crimson. Her eyes flickered to my hand which still held her elbow firmly. I realized this and released her. I let her roll off me, an embarrassed look plastered on her face.

"What?" I questioned. "It was just an accident."

The color on Sakura's face faded, she nodded and stood up. I followed her motion and walked over to my bag. I slung it over my shoulder and glanced back at her.

"You ready to go?" I asked.

"Y-yeah," Sakura stammered coyly as she walked over to her bag and picked it up.

Sakura glanced over at me warily. I sighed as if I had already brushed aside the incident. In my mind, however, my thoughts continually strayed back to the feel of her body on mine, the close proximity of our faces, and the feel of her breath on my neck.

"Sasuke," Sakura's voice called.

I snapped my eyes forward, pulled out of my reverie. "Hn," I responded.

"Are you coming?" Sakura asked. She stood a few meters away on the trail.

"Yeah," I called back.

Sakura turned and continued to walk down the trail. I picked up my pace to catch up with her, and then walked by her side.

'"'"'"'"

We arrived in a small town just as the sun began to go down. We stopped by an inn for the night. Sakura blushed a shade that rivaled her hair when the attendant at the inn asked if we were a couple and if we wanted one bed or two.

We stayed in our hotel room the whole time. We ate dinner in our room so we could discuss what we'd do when we reached the Land of Corals in two days.

I began to feel very comfortable around Sakura since I spent all this time with her. Our new bond seemed to be much stronger than our old one. Sakura was good company when it came to talking, and beneath her fragile looking form, there was a monster strength, intelligence, and ability. I came to hold her with a level of respect because of that.

'"'"'"'"

The next morning I received Sakura as a wakeup call. She nudged me on the shoulder and gave commands for me to get up and get ready to leave. I, not being a morning person, tried my best to crawl under the covers for even five more minutes of rest. However, Sakura wasn't one to give up as easily as the people in Orochimaru's lair who used to wake me up, and I was reluctantly pulled from bed.

"I don't know whether to think you've gotten stronger after five years or just lazier." Sakura huffed in exasperation as we left the small village later that day.

"I wasn't a morning person when I was thirteen; I'm not a morning person when I'm eighteen." I grumbled in response. "I don't think that'll ever change."

"Well at least start trying to get used to it." Sakura growled. "I don't want to have to deal with your attitude during this mission if we have to get up early and you're in a pissy mood because you didn't get your precious Uchiha beauty sleep."

"Damn you're being annoying." I seethed through my teeth. "Are you on your time of the month or something? You're attitude is worse than my morning one."

Slap!

I stumbled back a step at Sakura's vicious slap across my cheek.

"Don't—ever—ask—a—girl—that." Sakura enunciated acidly. Her cheeks reddened deeper than my slapped one with anger. "Obviously Orochimaru never bothered to teach you some manners around women!"

"Hn," I grunted, "you say that like there were any women there worth my time in the first place."

"For all I know." Sakura snarled. "There could have been some girl there that you had a little rendezvous with once or twice. How do I know what the girls there are like?"

Sakura's whole being flashed "danger" at me. She was getting extremely angry. The next thing I say could induce the sudden need in her to break my neck. I drew in a large breath before saying anything in response.

"Look, can we just drop this, Sakura?" I sighed. "It won't do us any good on this mission if we're fighting."

"Hmph, so is that an apology?" Sakura asked crossly.

"What do I have to apologize for?"

"For being a jerk, that's what!"

"You started it with your complaints about my non-morning attitude."

"You're the one who started getting angry at my suggestions to calm your morning temper."

I ran my fingers through my hair and let a low growl escape my throat. "Look, we both had a few things to do with this argument, alright? Now can we just move on and get this mission done?"

Sakura glared at me, "Fine, then let's do this right."

I looked at her with a puzzled expression.

Sakura sighed and quickly muttered, "I apologize for my behavior."

I smirked for a moment. "I apologize for mine. Though this did help me learn something."

Sakura shot me a confused look.

I chuckled lightly, "I learned that if I ever marry you, I better not buy anything that could cause some serious damage if we have a fight in our home."

Sakura blushed a pretty shade of pink and quickly turned away. "Let's go." She called without turning her head.

I watched her walk ahead for a moment, a small smile of unknown triumph plastered to my face. I then picked up my pace and we continued on our way.

Wee! Nonsense chapters! I had planned to end this with they arrive in the Land of Corals, but this last verbal fight scene just kept going and going as I typed! Sorry this is so late at night for some of you people! (Of course, where I am the sun just went down a little while ago.) The next chapter is where some of that kind of romancy fluff begins. Well, at least with one of the ideas I have in store for the next chapter. *Grins evily*. Fwa ha ha, you'll all just have to wait! Bye!