Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N This story was revised on August 20-22, 2015. Please reread all chapters if you have not already done so.


Chapter Two

"So... if what you're telling me is true, then we should be anticipating an eminent attack on the village in the near future?"

Sasuke watched the back of the Hokage's head as he stared out his window, observing the village in the quiet hours of the morning. The sky was still dark, letting loose a steady downpour of rain, but the faint light behind them told Sasuke it was already past the earlier parts of the morning. It was strange weather for Konoha, especially this time of year, but Sasuke was not one to care for such matters. Rain was rain, and even though Konoha was starting to look like Amegakure it was nothing to fret over.

"Yes," he replied steadily. "At least, that is what I gathered."

"Is that why you returned, Sasuke?"

He nodded once as Kakashi turned around, staring him down with hard eyes. The news he brought had concerned the Hokage, enough to the point that pleasantries between the former student and teacher were ignored for the urgency of the situation. "It was most concerning that I brought it to your attention. The mystery of their allegiance as well as their numbers could be a concern if not dealt with swiftly. The man I interrogated could not have lied to me, so I am confident in the reliability of this information."

Kakashi hummed in agreement while moving to sit down. His hands folded in front of his masked mouth and his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "I cannot send out as many people as you recommend, Sasuke. Our forces here are spread thin enough as it is, and if what you're saying is true then we will need as many shinobi as we can spare to remain in the village to protect the people."

"How many can you manage to deploy?"

Frowning even deeper, enough to pull his mask and make his eyes almost droop, Kakashi sighed heavily and began rubbing his temples in an attempt to ward off a headache. "Maybe one squad of four. If you accompany them, that will be five-"

"And I will. No matter who you send."

Kakashi looked up to Sasuke and there was a minuscule crinkling by his eyes before he nodded. "Very well. I will choose who will be going to investigate, right after-"

There was a loud banging on the door to the Hokage office and before Kakashi could even answer, it swung open and Sasuke was immediately squeezed from behind by two incredibly strong arms.

It was only a matter of time before-

"You son of a bitch! Why didn't you tell me you were back?!"

"Naruto-"

"Shut it, Kakashi! He's got some explaining to do!"

Kakashi didn't even seem phased by Naruto's blatant disrespect towards him. Though Sasuke was slightly affronted. Not many could speak to any Kage in that manner without being decapitated. But then again, not many people were like Naruto.

Frankly, Sasuke wasn't even surprised that there was no anger in Naruto's voice, only what he could describe as overly-excited annoyance. So with an irritated sigh, Sasuke pushed Naruto off and turned around to glare at him. He hadn't changed much in the past few years, just a few inches taller and his hair a few inches shorter. Vaguely, Sasuke felt a little annoyed that Naruto was just a smidgen taller than him.

When did that happen?

"I just got in."

Naruto gave him a dramatic pout and his shoulders dropped. "And you didn't come to see me first?! What kind of friend are you?"

Without replying, Sasuke rolled his eyes and gave Naruto one pat on the shoulder before turning back to Kakashi. "Are we finished?"

Kakashi nodded at him, and then looked over his shoulder to speak with their uninvited guest. "Naruto, I'll summon you back in a few hours. We can talk then."

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping in the air before grabbing Sasuke's lone wrist and tugging him out of the Hokage's office. As Naruto pulled him out of the building and into the rain, he wouldn't stop blabbering. "Oh man! We have to go see Sakura-chan! She's going to be so excited that you're back!"

Sasuke grumbled under his breath, but went along with Naruto. There wasn't much more he could do since the information he needed to give Kakashi was passed along. Now all he had to do was wait for the team to be assembled and he would be leaving again. And there was no point in rushing his former sensei to pick his new team members. He wondered in the back of his mind if either Naruto or Sakura would be chosen to come along, but he highly doubted it. Kakashi would need his strongest shinobi to protect the village. And Naruto and Sakura were just that. Some ANBU Black Ops would most likely be deployed with him, if Kakashi deemed them necessary.

But, knowing his luck, he'd be paired with someone he didn't even know or someone he hated. Kakashi may have pardoned him, but he was probably still a little mad and would likely issue his payback with subtlety. Probably with a cheeky smile on his face.

"...have you been this whole time? Are you going to be staying for a while? You can live with me until you find your own place!"

Sasuke blinked a few times when he realized Naruto had been talking to him. He'd at least slowed down to a walk and let go of Sasuke, which was a relief. Awkwardly- as if to hide the fact he hadn't paid attention- Sasuke cleared his throat and replied, "I'm not staying long, dobe. I had some information I needed to relay to Kakashi. He's assigned me to a team to deal with the issue and we're leaving as soon as he briefs them."

Naruto groaned exasperatedly and spun on his heel to look Sasuke in the eyes. "But you just got here! Are you even going to go see Sakura-chan or are you going to vanish before she gets the chance to say 'hello?'"

Sasuke just rolled his eyes without answering, instead following his friend to the apartment where he had already spent the night.


Sakura woke to a loud banging, at first thinking it was her own head thudding with lack of sleep. But when her dazed mind began to register Naruto's ecstatic shouts through the wood she managed to pull herself out of bed, wrap her robe over her thin shirt and shorts, and pad over to her door.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan! Wake up! You'll never believe what happened!"

Yawning, she turned the handle and pulled open her door to reveal Naruto and- not surprisingly- Sasuke. She stared at Naruto with minor annoyance for a minute, blinking slowly, before turning to Sasuke and giving him a warm smile. "Do you want some breakfast?"

Sasuke nodded and pushed past their shocked friend, pulling off his poncho and bag, and setting them on the floor next to his sandals. Instead of letting Naruto stand outside in the rain, Sakura grabbed his sleeve and pulled him inside. When she closed the door behind them, Naruto spun on his heel with his finger pointed at her and his mouth open like he was about to shout.

"He already saw me, Naruto," Sakura answered his silent question calmly, a small and reassured smile on her lips.

It was plainly obvious that the fact that Sasuke had already come to Sakura before going to Kakashi was starting to register in Naruto's head, because his face changed from shocked and appalled to confused, then finally dawning realization as he turned on his heels again to face Sasuke, smirk arrogant and tone teasing, "Oh, did you now? I bet if was a wonderful and exciting visit. No wonder you didn't come see me first."

Together, Sasuke and Sakura groaned, "Shut up, Naruto."

Naruto snickered and wrapped his arm around Sasuke's shoulder. "If you want, I could leave you two alone for a while before you leave again."

Ignoring what Naruto was implying, Sakura turned her eyes to Sasuke and her shoulders sagged slightly. "You're leaving again?"

Sasuke nodded and rubbed his temple with the heel of his hand. "Kakashi has tasked me to assist the team he's sending out to take care of the group of rogues of north."

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Naruto straighten up to probably ask Sasuke what he meant but she quickly took a step forward and hugged her arms tighter against her stomach. "When do you leave?"

"After he's assembled a team and briefed them," Sasuke replied, sitting down at the table as he did. "So a couple of hours, tops."

She sighed and silently went to the kitchen, ignoring Sasuke's sad and apologetic stare as she passed. Instead, she began pulling out all of the ingredients she needed to make a simple ozoni and rice. Behind her, Naruto sat next to Sasuke and began talking about what him had been doing since he left. She barely heard Sasuke say something about getting stuck in a village up in the Land of Snow because of a week long blizzard and how he had to somehow assist with chopping wood with only one arm.

Naruto laughed heartily and kept pestering him with questions, continously steering towards when he would be back for good, if he wanted to officially be a Leaf shinobi again. Sasuke's answer was drowned out by the sound of a distant rumble of thunder and the running sink. When they got to the subject of her, Sakura did her best to ignore their hushed tones and remain ignorant of the discussion. But alas, Naruto was never one to be quiet when he needed to be.

"So... you came straight here?"

"Yes, dobe. Why do you care?"

"I was just wondering if you were actually going to man up and do something about how much you care about her."

Sakura almost giggled at the strangled sound that came from Sasuke, but stifled the sound in fear of them discovering her eavesdropping. Though, as soon as she calmed her desire to laugh, a forlorn pit grew in her stomach. Despite what she wished, she doubted Sasuke would ever come back permanently. At least, not for her. He was like wind, never remaining still and never returning to the same place. It was his nature.

"Naruto-"

"Even if you decide to stay after your mission, you need to stay for the right reasons. And if you finally get your head out of your ass and tell her how you feel, then you need to try your best to make her happy. She's spent too much time being sad because of you and I will beat you again if you're the reason she becomes sad."

"I think you're getting ahead of yourself," Sasuke replied evenly, if just a little morosely. "There's things I need to take care of before I come back for good... And that's if I even decide to stay."

"Oh, well," Naruto bemoaned. "Sooner or later, she's going to find someone that makes her happy. And that someone won't be you, because you would have been too late."

Whatever else they said was drowned out by a gust of wind hitting the side of the house and the picking up of the steady flow of rain against her roof. She frowned while she stirred the food and reached for the pot for tea. Did Naruto forget what she had said to him before? A girl's feelings don't change easily. She loved Sasuke... and she would be willing to wait for him if she had to. The question was, did Sasuke want her to wait for him?

"Sakura-chan! When's the food going to be ready?"

When she bent backwards to look towards the table, she saw Naruto looking at her expectantly while Sasuke avoided her gaze. She frowned and almost shook her head in disappointment. Naruto probably knew that she could hear them, meaning he was saying those things on purpose for her specifically. Sasuke would have known, too, then. Surely that's why he wouldn't look her in the eye.

With a sigh, Sakura replied, "Just give it a couple of minutes. I'm making tea."

"Are you making anything good? It smells delicious!"

She smiled at him. "Just soup and rice. Plus tea and any fruit you want."

She noticed Sasuke's eyes flickered to her momentarily, watching her as she spoke with Naruto, and then glance away once she turned her attention to him again. Sakura almost scoffed. Wasn't he being- in his own way- affectionate this morning? Or maybe she was reading into his abnormal gestures the wrong way. Regardless, his apathy was pretty irksome.

"No ramen?" Naruto whined, sinking in his chair and dangling his arms over the back. "C'mon, Sakura, you know I don't really like your cooking."

"You don't like anything that isn't ramen, idiot," Sasuke sneered, earning a giggle from Sakura. He glanced at her again, now holding her gaze boldly. For a moment, they just kept their eyes on each other while Naruto kept complaining about how ramen wasn't all bad and some other nonsense. Sakura wasn't really paying attention anymore. Sasuke's stare was much more interesting than Naruto's eating habits.

For the first time in so long, Sasuke's eyes were warm when they looked at her; piercing and knowing and open to the point where she felt he could read her every thought and desire. Her body felt warm under his gaze, and it seemed as if her heart beat faster and slower at the same time. It wasn't like before when her nerves would get the best of her in his presence. Now she was content, more at ease than she had been in forever.

Sakura was still so very much in love with him. And now it didn't seem like such a bad thing.

The whistling of her tea pot broke the trance and Sakura practically jumped in the air before twirling around to attend to the food. Luckily the rice was just about finished and the soup had already simmered to perfection. With clumsy hands, Sakura began prepping the tea leaves and pouring the water. Unfortunately, her little moment lost in Sasuke's eyes made her jittery and the water kept spilling over the sides of the cups and onto the counter.

A hand came from behind her and steadied hers, and when she looked over her shoulder she saw it had been- no surprise- Sasuke. He gave her a quirk of his lips, then gently took the pot out of her hands and setting it on the counter.

"Finish the food," he ordered softly, his eyes crinkling lightly in the corners. "I'll take care of this."

Sakura's eyebrow arched bemusedly. "With one arm?"

Sasuke shrugged and stepped around her so he could finish pouring the water for her. His hand was much more steady than hers, surely, and he was pretty good at getting the pot tipped over with just one arm. She never could do that without both hands to steady it. But then again, Sasuke had become accustomed to having just one arm to use. This was probably a walk in the park for him.

Soon the food was all put into serving bowls and Sasuske and Sakura carried them along with the cups of tea to the table where Naruto was still sitting. He was eyeing them conspiratorially, his eyebrow waggling whenever his and Sasuke's eyes met. Sakura knew she wasn't meant to see it, but she did and managed to hold back her laughter at Sasuke's eye roll and scoff. And she tried to ignore the excited feeling in her chest when his cheeks pinked slightly.

Together, the three shinobi ate their breakfast in comfortable silence. Naruto would speak occasionally, his words muffled with his partially chewed food. Small talk was all they exchanged and Sakura tried her best to ignore the happy feeling that was warming her chest. Here she was, on a Tuesday morning at the end of summer, eating breakfast with her boys.

Suddenly, Naruto gasped and swallowed his food thickly before slamming his hands on the table and staring down Sasuke with wide eyes. "Sasuke! We missed your birthday!"

Without missing a beat, Sasuke took another polite bite of his rice and replied, "I did that on purpose, dobe."

"But it was your nineteenth! We needed to really celebrate!"

Sakura took a sip of her tea and narrowed her eyes. "Naruto, your birthday is closer than Sasuke's now. We can just celebrate then."

Her eyes darted over to Sasuke and her heart was reaching out to him. Please be here for that. We need you here with us.

Before Sasuke or Naruto could reply, there was a heavy knocking on her door. Sakura sighed and pushed herself away from the table. Her robe flapped open and she quickly wrapped it back up for propriety's sake. She didn't miss how Sasuke's eyes followed her all the way to the door, something unreadable in them as he watched her. But she chose to ignore how it made that warm feeling spread in her chest again.

It was best not to read too much into it.

Once she reached the door and swung it open, she was wholly surprised to see one of the chuunins that worked in the Hokage's building was standing in front of her. As soon as she acknowledged him, he silently handed her a scroll and bowed at the waist. "Lord Rokudaime has summoned you. Please arrive in one hour."

"Alright," she replied, tucking the scroll into her pocket and nodding. "Thank you."

With a few hand signs, the chuunin disappeared in a cloud of smoke. She quickly closed her door and took out the scroll. She unrolled it, read its contents and frowned at first, then smiled with mirth once she reached the end. Sasuke and Naruto both stared at her expectantly and she flashed them a brilliant smile.

"Kakashi wants all of us to be in his office in one hour," she said as she set the scroll down on the table for her boys to read. "I guess he knew that you two would come straight here so he's given me the job to make sure you both show up. I'm going to get cleaned up and we can go. Clean up this mess while I'm in the shower."

As soon as she ordered them to clean, Naruto groaned and Sasuke grumbled under his breath. But they both stood and began collecting the dishes and carrying them to the kitchen. Sasuke's eyes met hers one last time and she offered him another smile before she went around the corner. If she thought right, Kakashi was summoning Team 7 once more for a mission.

And that meant she wouldn't have to part with Sasuke as soon as she thought.


tbc.