RED

Chapter 2: Unwanted Reunion


Sakura stared out her office window, looking at the leaves falling off the tree one by one. Red, orange, and yellow. It was the beginning of November and the weather has gotten rather chilly. Usually, she'd sit on her couch with a cup of tea and a nice book on her days off from work, but they had a number of emergency surgeries today and she was called in last minute.

Most of the time, she didn't mind spending extra hours at the hospital, but today was different. The reason why she was called in was because Tsuande was away at the meeting with the council to discuss about Sasuke's punishment. She didn't even know how she knew about this fact. A part of her thought maybe Naruto had mentioned it during the week, or maybe Shizune might have told her while they were eating lunch; but she knew she couldn't deny the real reason of how she purposely eavesdropped on the nurses gossiping about the much anticipated meeting.

He had only been back for a week, and even though she hadn't seen him at all, it felt like his mere presence in Konoha alone drained all her energy. He was released from the hospital the day after he got back – not like she paid attention, but apparently he insisted and threatened to release a Katon on one of the nurses.

She had taken detours around the village to avoid seeing him, and made sure to only leave the house when necessary. She even woke up extra early to visit the supermarket, knowing that he was never a morning person, so she could do her grocery shopping.

So yes, she was tired, and if she heard another thing about the Uchiha, she was going to snap.

Knock knock.

"Come in."

"Haruno-san…um, your teammates just got admitted into the hospital, they seem to have, um…" the nurse that came into the room shifted uncomfortably and Sakura wondered what kind of trouble they had gotten into now, and by they, she really meant Naruto.

Sakura let her head fall back on her chair and sighed for the umpteenth time this evening. "It's okay, I'll take it from here."

She is never getting a break at this rate.


"So, what are you going to do?"

Naruto heard a soft thud as Sasuke let his head fall back against the wall. "Sasuke?"

"I don't know, Naruto."

"Are you going to tell her?"

How could he? How could he tell her something like this? Sasuke continued to stare into space, hoping that an answer would pop out at him, or maybe if he prayed a little, he wouldn't have to suffer with the outcome of his punishment.

"Sasuke…stop ignoring my question."

"You ignored mine."

"Well, you found out for yourself, didn't you? She's alive. You happy?"

Yes. That's what he really wanted to say. But in honesty, he was more relieved than happy. He didn't mean for her to get hurt – at least not in the way in which he saw how Madara was slowly torturing her in front of him. This was why he didn't bring her along with him when she asked him back then. He knew she would get in the way. Always in the way. With her ridiculous bubblegum pink hair, and her overly expressive eyes, she always managed to get under his skin.

It didn't matter whether it was back in their genin days or when they had their little reunions in between the years, Sakura was too annoying for her own good.

But all those feelings didn't matter right now. He wanted to see her. Even if it was only a glimpse, he wanted to see with his own eyes, that she was still breathing. Seeing Madara nearly thrusting a kunai in her heart made his blood run cold. He only then realized that it was him – the boy whom she loved and trusted, was the one who mirrored Madara's movements at their encounter under the Samurai Bridge.

But that was not the time to feel guilty. He knew Madara was using her as bait, and so he did the one thing that would probably make her hate him. He didn't care at that moment, she could spend all her life hating him, as long as she was doing it alive.

"Kill her."

He saw Sakura's half-closed eyes flicker open for a brief moment before falling shut completely.

"WHAT THE HELL, SASUKE! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"Shut up, Naruto. She's your teammate, not mine."

"Tch. Sasuke. Still so coldhearted. You really wouldn't care if I killed her right here, right in front of you?"

"Go ahead. I'm here for you, not for her, you bastard."

Madara's right hand clenched Sakura's hair tighter and with one swift motion, he threw her across the field. "Sasuke, watch your words. How could you do this to Itachi, after he sacrificed his life for you? How can you ally with Konoha, the very place that destroyed your family. Our family?"

"Shut up! You lied. You used Itachi for your own goals, you had him take full blame for the massacre! I'm going to kill you!"

Madara laughed. "You think you can kill me, Sasuke. But after today, I will be the last standing Uchiha."

"Not if I can help it." Naruto was suddenly behind him, hand raised with a Rasengen.

Madara's eyes narrowed. "Ah, spoken like the true of son of the Yellow Flash." He turned slightly, avoiding the attack, but not without catching the bright blue chakra of Sasuke's Chidori from the corner of his right eye.

Killing Madara, was the single best decision he made in life. But at the expenses of what? He would never forgive himself for listening to that bastard. Madara fed him lie after lie, causing him to kill the one man who loved him most, and nearly killing the girl who had made a crack in his heart.

Now, she would never forgive him. Twelve year old Sakura would have been by his side throughout the night at the hospital, she would have latched herself onto him once he was released. But no, eighteen year old Sakura didn't visit him, nor did she even try to find him afterwards.

Sasuke closed his eyes again, and was about to slide back into bed before the door to their room swung open.

"Naruto! Why is it always you – " Sakura's eyes widened. It didn't register until now when the nurse had said teammates earlier. She assumed by teammates, she had meant Sai…and not...

"Sasuke."


Tsunade poured herself another cup of sake and tossed it back. I'm seriously not getting paid enough for this.

The meeting with the council regarding the punishment of Uchiha Sasuke finished four hours ago, yet this headache was still killing her. She had never been close to the Uchiha, so naturally, she didn't give a crap about whatever punishment he got. However, Sakura and Naruto did. And that fact alone made her want to pass on the duties of Hokage to Naruto immediately.

The council, namely Koharu and Homura, had come to a conclusion and didn't even bother listening to her arguments. So the consequences were set.

Sakura has yet to burst into her office demanding a retrial, so Tsunade assumed that either the news haven't gotten to her yet, or she no longer cared. Tsunade was praying that it was the former, so that she would have enough time to fix this.

Naruto had been present during the meeting, and she could tell that he was very close to tackling the elders. She promised him that she would find a solution but so far, after four hours of sake and sitting in her office, her mind was still blank.

One Naruto screaming at her was enough, she didn't want a Sakura breaking things in her office.

This was going to be a long night, and she needed more sake.

"Shizune!"


"Annnnnd, done. Now, make sure you get plenty of rest and don't attempt another Rasenshuriken again without engaging in sage mode!"

Naruto gave her a sheepish smile. "I won't, I won't"

"Seriously, what were you thinking?!"

"We were just sparring, Sakura." Sakura's hands stiffened. Sasuke was talking to her. It had been six years since she heard that smooth, velvety voice. She told herself all the other times they've encountered each other didn't really count; that Sasuke wasn't her Sasuke. Not like he was hers now…but he was back, and that had to account for something. Right?

She briefly glanced over at him. Seeing him and hearing his voice reminded her of his numerous attempts at killing her. She couldn't even look at him in the eye for long without tears forming. "Whatever."

Sasuke's fingers dug into the bed. There were a lot of things Sasuke didn't do. And displaying emotions, was one of them. He wasn't really sure why most Uchiha's acted this way, but every since he was little, he witnessed many guys from his clan pull on an emotionless mask. He thought it was the appropriate thing to do. And so when he was still in the academy, he would reject all offers of cakes and sweets from girls.

The number of fangirls he had wasn't a surprise to him. He had learned to ignore them a long time ago, but when Iruka had placed Sakura on his genin team, he felt like breaking the desk in front of him. Having the dobe on his team was bad enough, but he now had to endure every single mission with a raging fangirl who had an obnoxious mop of pink hair.

Little did he know, the very same girl had grown up to become the Godaime's apprentice. Her hair was still the brightest shade of pink, but somehow, he had grown to like it. During the time he stayed with Orochimaru, he often wished he could see her bright hair in contrast to the darkness of his hideout.

Her eyes were still a shade of pale emerald green. And they should have clashed with her hair colour…only it didn't. It made her look like a pale version of Christmas. She radiated warmth and reeked of life.

Therefore, when the first thing she did after coming into the room was to rush to Naruto, he wanted to yell at her. He wanted to ask her what the hell she was doing over there, when she should be by his side. Since when did Naruto become her favourite? Since when did she start giving Naruto the same caring look he had received when he was younger?

His controlling Uchiha ways didn't let him maintain this emotionless mask any longer. He had to say something to break her concentration.

He just couldn't believe that she brushed him off with a "whatever". He wanted to tell her, right here and now, about his punishment, then maybe she'll come running to his side again. But he was incapable of forming the words, he couldn't bring himself to be so selfish in wanting her attention only when it was on someone else.

He was a selfish monster. He had pushed her away all these years, but now seeing that she has moved on made him angry when he had no right to be.

When she finally finished healing Naruto, she walked over to him slowly, eyes still not meeting his. He saw her raise her hand with a pale green glow, but at that point, he didn't want to care. She was only healing him because it was her duty as a medic to do so, and not because she wanted to.

He did the last thing he wanted to do, and it'll probably break her even further, but he had to. He slapped her hands away. "I don't need you."

Sakura was hurt; he could tell by the way of her eyes welling up, and the slight tremble of her lips. He half expected her to heal him anyway and tell him that it was okay.

But she didn't, and with one last deep breath, she turned and walked back out of the room.

Sasuke watched her go and was surprised Naruto didn't intervene and scream at him for being an idiot. When he looked over at the blond, he saw Naruto looking straight ahead with an empty expression. He knew that expression, it was the same one he wore when Sakura was tending to Naruto instead of him.

He may have been gone for six years, but one fact didn't change.

Naruto was still in love with Haruno Sakura.


A/N: Uhh..I'm iffy about this chapter, but horray for the fast update! School will probably start eating me away next week though..

A big thanks to all the readers - and yes, even the silent ones: you guys rock. If you guys find errors, just PM me so I can make the changes.

And no, you shall not know about Sasuke's punishment till the next chapter. Har har har.