When Sasuke woke up, he thought he was in heaven. Despite the fact that whatever he was wrapped in smelled faintly of ramen, it was very soft, and there was a light glow all around him. How would I be in heaven after all I've done? Sasuke opened his eyes and realized he was still in Naruto's bed. He didn't want to move yet, but groggily he picked his head up off of the pillow and saw that Naruto was still asleep on the floor, limbs sprawled everywhere just like Sasuke remembered he slept. Next, his eyes searched the room for a clock and discovered it was shortly after noon. His eyes widened, not remembering a time he had ever come close to sleep this much, but suddenly didn't care. His head flopped back onto the pillow and, while he didn't fall back asleep, he rested and thought.
Dinner at Sakura's last night had been nice. Really nice. It was something he could get used to. He stopped himself. Wow, he was getting soft. But honestly, what reason did he have anymore to be as callous as he had been? Other than his Uchiha pride, he didn't really have a reason not to be soft. Of course, being a ninja, Sasuke knew that a certain amount of harshness was necessary and helpful, but he did think that maybe he could soften up a little around his teammates. He didn't think he really wanted to soften up around anyone else so he wasn't going to push himself to. Thinking back to how he used to be around his mother, his father, and Itachi, Sasuke noticed there were some of his actions and attitudes that reappeared only when he was around Team Seven. Team Seven would never replace his family, but it made Sasuke feel almost happy to think that they would bring back the happy part of him. It made him feel like there was hope for him and his happiness.
He was still full from eating so much at Sakura's. The soup had been good and the rice, delicious. If he had a say in it, they would eat at Sakura's instead of Ichiraku every time they wanted to celebrate something.
A part of Sasuke's resolve to be softer with his teammates went out the window when he was taken from his thoughts by a ninja sandal hitting him on the head. He whipped his head around and glared hard at the blond hair visible behind a bed roll being used as a shield. Looking around for something to throw back and finding nothing better, Sasuke threw his pillow as hard as he could, knocking Naruto – shield and all – back into the wall with a thunk. After muttering an "Ow," Naruto threw his bedroll at him. Sasuke didn't feel like retaliating this time, though, and just shoved it off, slumping back into the sheets.
Naruto sighed and slid down the wall until he sat on the floor. Sasuke could feel eyes on his back. He wondered what Naruto was thinking about.
"Mind if I use your shower?"
"Yeah, sure. It's right through the door," Naruto replied, gesturing to a door next to him. "I'll make us something to eat in the meantime."
"Thanks." Sasuke slid off the bed and walked across the room, wondering how many days he would stay here. He had nowhere else to go, so it would either be here or Sakura's.
Stepping into the shower, Sasuke relished the feeling of the hot water covering his body. As he thought that he couldn't remember the last time he had taken a real shower in a friendly place, he noticed he was making a lot of connections that began with I can't remember the last time that I . . . He knew everything he had done the last few years had been necessary, maybe not everything – almost killing his best friends certainly wasn't – but there were some perks to being among civilization again.
Last night he had stayed up a little in bed, despite how tired he had been, thinking about how different things were now than they were when he had left this village. How different he was now than when he had left this village. Everything he knew about his family and revenge was practically reversed now. If someone had described his current state to the Sasuke four years ago, or even a few months ago, there was no way he would've believed things would end up like this. What if he had known the truth from the start? What if he always knew that Itachi loved him? What if he never had to leave Konoha to seek revenge? This wasn't the first time he asked himself these questions, but he knew this was the path he walked. He had taken the long way, but given the same information he had at the time, Sasuke knew he probably would've gone in search of Orochimaru again. There was no more point in wanting to change his past actions, as much as he wanted to change his family's past. Just like then he believed all he could do to set things right was to kill his brother – his heart still dropped into his stomach every time he thought about it – now he believed all he could do to set things right was to focus on his future.
Done with his shower, as Sasuke pulled his shirt back over his head, he smirked lightly at the state of the bathroom he was standing in. Two out of three of the light bulbs were burned out and there were toothpaste smears on the counter. He accepted that their personalities were different, but he would have to work on Naruto's neatness.
He wasn't surprised to walk out of the bathroom and smell ramen. Actually, it had been so long since he had eaten ramen for breakfast with Naruto and it felt so right that he didn't mind.
"You need to keep your bathroom in better order," Sasuke commented lightly as he sat himself on the floor across the table from Naruto, a cup of steaming instant ramen in front of him.
"Hee hee," Naruto laughed as he shrugged. "It's just you. I always make sure it looks nice before Sakura-chan comes here. You aren't going to hit me for it."
"Aa."
They paused before saying "Itadakimasu" in unison and then silently ate their breakfast.
As expected, his friend was the first one to break the silence. "What do you feel like doing today? I know we don't have a lot of options, but . . . there's gotta be something we can do."
What would he like to do today? This was the start of a new phase in his life if he was asking himself that question. It had always been train every day; get closer to avenging his family every day. He never did "what he felt like doing". Again, it was something he couldn't remember the last time he had done. Truly, he was enjoying just being with his teammates lately, even if they weren't doing anything in particular. A lot of their bonds were healing this way, thread by thread, from just spending time together, even though some of the more sensitive issues were like nasty cuts that had been gingerly stitched over, the skin underneath not healing yet. Sasuke wondered when it would be alright to start healing those, too, or if they would just heal on their own. He figured it would take some work on their parts.
That still didn't give him an answer for what he wanted to do today.
Naruto spoke up. "Yeah, I can't think of anything to do either. Tsunade baa-chan needs to hurry and get you cleared already!"
Sasuke saw a deck of cards lying on the floor and leaned over to pick them up. He held them out to Naruto, raising an eyebrow in question.
Their game of Go Fish, which included more than a few muttered insults thrown in for old time's sake, ended when there was a knock on Naruto's door.
"Good afternoon, Naruto, Sasuke-kun."
"Hey, Sakura-chan! Heh, I'm glad you're here. I can't keep playing Go Fish for a week straight. Sasuke and I are getting really bored," he finished with a glance to Sasuke.
Sasuke noticed Sakura was carrying plastic bags. "What's with the bags?"
"Well, last night Naruto mentioned he didn't really have food, and seeing as he can't really leave with you here, I went shopping." Slipping off her shoes, she proceeded to walk around Naruto's kitchen, stowing items where they belonged without any hesitation. Again, Sasuke was reminded of how much his bonds had been stunted by his defection. Sakura turned to them. "Did you guys have lunch yet?"
"Um, we just ate breakfast, Sakura-chan."
Sakura looked shocked and as if she was on the verge of reprimanding them, when her face softened, probably realizing it was good for them, or at least him, to sleep in for once. She sat herself down cross-legged at the table with one more bag at her side.
"I also figured you would be bored, so I brought some stuff. I really don't know what you feel like doing but I have some puzzles and a few other games we could play," she began pulling boxes out of the bag as she named them. "I know it's not much, but . . ."
It was Naruto who cut her off. "You. Me. Him. Whoever can finish a 1000 piece puzzle first wins." He glanced at his two teammates, eyes flickering between them in excitement.
Sasuke didn't really like the idea, but they had nothing but time to kill, so he glanced over at Sakura who shrugged. Sasuke reached out his hand for a box with a scenic picture on the top and faced away from his teammates, dumping the contents of the box on the ground to his side.
"Hey, no fair! Just because we're doing this for you doesn't mean you get a head start!" Naruto grabbed a box and shoved some of the things on his apartment floor aside to make room as Sakura began filtering through the pieces of her own box next to him.
It wasn't that Sasuke was feeling competitive, but he did think it would be nice to win. He hadn't done a puzzle since he was probably six and didn't really have any strategy to go about completing one efficiently. Well, now was as good a time as ever to develop one. This was probably the longest time the trio had ever been silent, each one focused on lining up sides of cardboard, not even wasting focus on muttering in frustration.
Sasuke finished his first.
The next three days continued in a similar fashion, Naruto waking up to someone else in his room – a sight that made him incredibly warm inside, but an opportunity he rarely wasted as almost each morning began with a pillow fight of sorts – him and Sasuke having breakfast together, Sakura joining them for lunch or shortly after, the three of them occupying themselves in some way or another, then walking over to Sakura's where she would cook them dinner and they would sit around her table talking for hours, and finally him walking home with Sasuke in the dark before falling asleep.
Naruto would sulk from time to time whenever he remembered he was the only person who hadn't won a puzzle race yet. Sakura had won the next two days in a row, but on the third day she decided they would bake. He could tell Sasuke wasn't very happy about that, seeing as he still didn't like sweets, but Sakura just apologized and they had actually all had a good time. Sakura seemed just as full of a glowing happiness as he was when they were with Sasuke. He could tell in the way she looked at him, in the way her voice would sound when she was talking to him but looking at something else. He could tell in the little ways she set his plate in front of him or wished him a goodnight that she was still as in love with Sasuke as when she confessed her feeling to him, Naruto, in the snow.
He knew it would always be like this. He accepted it in a way, and, after all they had been through, he loved her far more than he ever had, but the romantic twist to it all was diminishing. In fact, it was almost gone and he was okay with that. He knew Sakura was just as precious to him as Sasuke was, but if they weren't meant to be, then he wasn't going to cry about it. If there was someone else he was supposed to love then he would fall in love with them in time. He was confident everything would work out in the end just like it was supposed to. It had so far, hadn't it?
On the fifth day since Sasuke's return, while the two of them were having breakfast, a messenger hawk arrived at the window. Putting his chopsticks down, Naruto walked over to the window, opened it, and untied the scrap of paper from the hawk's leg. He read it to himself as his friend stayed silent.
"It's from the Hokage. She wants to see us at one. She says she's talked to the elders and is ready to talk to us about what they have decided so far." As Sasuke held out his hand, non-verbally asking to read it for himself, Naruto handed it over before sitting back at the table. He didn't resume eating, though. It wasn't that he was nervous; he was sure Sasuke would be cleared of any, or at least the worst, charges against him. But there was still some unconscious uneasiness inside him, churning in his gut and making him lose the majority of his appetite. He didn't think he would be able to handle it if anything happened to Sasuke. Not after all he and Sakura had done to get him back. He knew Tsunade and the council had come to some sort of consensus, but if Naruto didn't like it, there was no way he would let it go without a fight.
He watched Sasuke's face for any change in expression as he laid the note on the table between the two of them. There was none. "What are you thinking?"
Sasuke paused a few minutes, staring at his ramen, before meeting his eyes and answering. "I don't really know. I get the feeling that this is just a formality and that I should be fine." He paused. Naruto nodded. "To be sure, though, we'll just have to wait." He then continued eating his breakfast, which made Naruto feel a little more comfortable with finishing his. If Sasuke could eat when his life was the one possibly about to be ruined, Naruto could keep the food down, too.
They finished their breakfast in silence, both thinking about the meeting they would be having in less than four hours. Not ten minutes later, a knock at the door was heard.
It was Sakura. She was earlier than usual and did not say her customary "Good morning, Naruto, Sasuke-kun." She looked anxious and walked in without looking at Naruto who stood holding the door open. She just sat down at the table and fidgeted, looking at Sasuke, then to him, then stared at Sasuke for a little longer, then looked back to him, and then her eyes found the note on the table.
"I got one, too," was all she said to explain her actions. Naruto saw his teammates' eyes meet before Sakura looked over to him again. He returned to his seat at the table, not knowing what to do. For once he did not know how to make the situation lighter. The last four days, they knew that this was what they were waiting for, some sort of decision about the return of a nuke-nin, but actually having the note, actually knowing the seconds were counting down to a set time, had them all suddenly thinking more pessimistically, more seriously, about the issue at hand.
He didn't know exactly how long they sat around the table not speaking, Sasuke staring blankly at the wall in front of him, Sakura staring at her hands in her lap, and him with his arms crossed on the table, chin resting on them, eyes staring off to the side.
Sasuke was the first to move. He stood, and cleared the table of the note and their trash from breakfast. Naruto and Sakura's eyes following him, he picked up the deck of cards off the floor, and began dealing twenty-one cards, seven to each person. After placing the excess cards in the middle of the table he looked through the seven in his hand, putting aside two pairs of two. Naruto and Sakura still hadn't moved.
"Got any Queens?"
Naruto took his eyes off his friend to look at Sakura, who returned his gaze. He had to admire Sasuke in a way for trying to keep things normal by playing a children's card game. He picked up his cards with a soft smile and, searching through them, noticed he had no pairs or Queens.
"Go fish."
Sakura, it seemed, had one pair, but no Queens.
"Go fish for me, too."
Sasuke picked a card from the deck before laying it on the table next to him and placing one of the cards in his hand on top of it. Naruto couldn't believe that after one move Sasuke only had two out of seven cards left. Before making his turn, Naruto thought that if Sasuke's luck kept up today, maybe everything would work out.
Playing so many rounds of Go Fish made her feel numb. It had become extremely boring after the fourteenth round or so, but Sasuke kept gathering up the cards, reshuffling the deck, and then dealing twenty-one cards out. Sakura or Naruto didn't complain though. She knew the three of them had some kind of outrageous understanding that if they stopped playing they would begin to doubt again. So they passed the hours painfully slowly, matching numbers and aces like each pair made would be one step closer to keeping Sasuke from harm.
Sakura had been doing laundry that morning when the messenger hawk arrived. She knew what it was for as soon as she saw the animal there, but read the note over once, and then again. She knew everything would be fine. Honestly, there wasn't much they could do to a hero. Besides leaving, he hadn't really even done anything to hurt Konoha during his time away. But still, she needed to see him, to reassure herself in a way she couldn't explain fully. So she left half a basket of clean clothes on the floor, the other half already folded on the table, and walked out of her apartment. She met Ino and Chouji on her way, who were walking to the hospital to pick up Shikamaru, who was due to be discharged at ten. She explained that she would love to talk, and that they would later, but she was in a hurry to see Naruto. She didn't mention why and she didn't mention that Sasuke was back. Maybe they already knew, but Sakura didn't want to talk about it now.
Sakura knew Sasuke would look fine when she walked in, but she wondered what he was thinking, how he was feeling. She knew how she felt, which meant she had a decent idea of how Naruto felt, but with Sasuke no one really ever knew. And more than anyone, he was the one who had a right to feel nervous, if not scared. But this was Sasuke, the Sasuke who had seen it all. What was there left to be scared of? He had given up as much for his ambition of revenge as she and Naruto had for their ambition of bringing him back. He had already lost everything, so before he started reforming the bonds with her and Naruto, all he had left was his life. But now that he had bonds again, two at the very least, did that make his life more valuable than when it had been the only thing he had left, or less valuable?
Ever so slowly, twelve o'clock rolled around and she forced her teammates to eat something, forcing herself as well. None of them were hungry and they all knew it, but she told them that not eating would help nothing. They ate in silence before heading out Naruto's apartment door and walking to the Hokage Tower. Sakura mused that, when this was all over, they would reflect upon how much they were overreacting, that they would smile in light of their relief. But the smallest of chances that things would not go perfectly alright was such an exaggerated threat to all that they had worked for together that it was dominating their minds. Sasuke was something she would not allow to be taken from their team. Not again.
If the time she spent at Naruto's apartment playing Go Fish seemed to last a week, the walk to the tower was a mere five minutes in comparison. They didn't walk side by side. Naruto led in front and she took up the rear, Sasuke walking between them as if they were his bodyguards, daring anyone to just touch him, just try to take him away from them.
They were early so they had to wait outside the door, but instead of sitting they chose to stand. How could they be comfortable at a time like this? Soon enough, one o'clock rolled around and Shizune let them in.
They stood side by side this time, but Sasuke was still in the middle.
Tsunade spoke. "Good afternoon, Sakrua, Naruto, Sasuke. Thank you for coming today. I will begin on the subject I called you here to discuss when the fourth member of your team arrives."
Sakura looked questioningly at her shishou. Could she mean Kakashi? If that was the case, they would probably have to wait another three agonizing hours or so. However, they only waited for just over two minutes before a subtle "Yo" broke the silence.
His three former students nodded at him as he walked in, glad to see him well and out of the hospital, but not feeling quite well enough to find their voices.
"Alright. Sasuke, I am speaking to you, but I figured your old team would appreciate being here. So, as long as you don't mind, I will explain the situation to the four of you." The Hokage waited for his response.
"It's fine." Sakura noticed Sasuke's voice lacked its usual smoothness.
"Uchiha Sasuke, the last time we spoke I explained to you both the typical consequences of abandoning your village and how your situation is not typical. I discussed these matters with the elders, who, as I'm sure you can imagine, were not very pleased when I tried to lighten your sentence. I see no reason in making you serve prison time, let alone be executed, after your help in the war and your change in attitude upon your willing return. The elders, however, point out what harm you are capable of and what anger and distrust you display a pattern of. While they agreed your execution is out of the question, they do not want you to be let off without some sort of punishment that will put you in your place."
Sakura sensed a collective sigh of relief being released when Sasuke's life was announced to no longer be in danger, but they continued to pay attention, hanging onto every word.
"Sasuke, from the little I have interacted with you, I don't have a very strong liking to your character. Still, you mean a great deal to those who mean a lot to me and I know how important it is to them that you are cleared of as much as possible today. And although I don't particularly trust you, I trust them and they trust you, so I feel relatively safe in arguing for your life.
"After further arguing with the elders, we came to agree that any community service we would have you do has been mostly covered by your effort in defeating Madara. We know, however, that you value your freedom and seclusion. Putting you under house arrest would further your seclusion and use shinobi whose time we cannot waste to have you guarded. To conclude, you, Uchiha Sasuke, must work off 200 hours of community service through either missions or volunteer work. You must also be in the constant presence of a shinobi I deem capable for one month. From my understanding, you would be most comfortable with your old team, so I will go further to say that you must be with Sakura, Naruto, or Kakashi at all times effective immediately.
"You may be curious as to why I explained you could work off community service through missions when you should technically be stripped of your position as a ninja. However, you are far too valuable to this village to throw away and I believe we would all go insane trying to keep you here in the village with nothing else to do. Solo missions are out of the question until you have been deemed trustworthy and any missions you are assigned within one month from now will have Sakura, Naruto, or Kakashi on your team. Do you have any questions?"
No one said anything for a few moments, taking it all in. It was just about all they could have wished for. Finally, Sasuke shook his head.
"Do the three of you have any questions?" Kakashi shook his head first, followed by Sakura, and then Naruto.
"Well then, I will leave it up to the four of you to decide who stays with Sasuke when and if you do have any questions about the arrangement later, please stop by and ask."
They turned to leave before Tsunade spoke out again, stopping them from walking away.
"Ah, yes. I meant to mention one more thing. Naruto, I want you to report to my office at nine every morning. There is still a lot of chaos going around from the end of the war and any sane person with hopes of one day becoming Hokage needs to understand, not simply how to be strong, but also how a village is run."
Sakura's eyes went wide, as did Naruto's. She felt as if she could burst with pride for her teammate, knowing the Hokage herself was acknowledging his dream and even taking him under her wing to help him.
"Do you really mean it, baa-chan?! Thank you so much! You can count on me," Naruto responded with a genuine, eager smile.
"I'm just doing what's best for the village. You four are dismissed. Thank you for your time and I trust you will enjoy the rest of your day." Tsunade smiled warmly.
Once they were out of the room, they all stopped and looked at Sasuke, waiting for him to say something, anything. Tired of waiting, Naruto pulled him into a hug, laughing.
"Today couldn't have gone better! Hey, I know how to celebrate! Time for some Ichira-"
"Sakura's cooking tastes better," Sasuke stated as Naruto's arms fell from around him.
Between the events that had just unfolded and Sasuke's comment, Sakura couldn't have been happier and her face showed it. "Thanks, Sasuke-kun. I'd love to host the celebration dinner!" Turning to their old sensei, she asked, "Would you be able to come, too, Kakashi-sensei?"
He smiled, though the action was mostly hidden behind his mask. "I'm still tired, so I can't stay too late, but I would love to join you."
"Ah, it's settled then!"
As they began the walk back to Sakura's, the most eventful occurrences being the stares Sasuke got from the villagers and wandering shinobi, her mind strayed to the scene around her. Sasuke was alright. He would stay with them. This would be a fairly easy sentence to get through and since he had to get through it with them as his constant companions, they could continue working on strengthening their bonds. As the afternoon sun beat on their backs, just a single cloud in the sky, Sakura hoped that, now with vengeance gone from Sasuke's agenda, the old Team Seven could become closer than ever. She loved her boys and now they had another chance to make everything perfect.
a/n: The mission should make its appearance next chapter! Thank you so much for the support so far and, as always, reviews are extremely motivating and lovely!