Sasuke had sensed them before he had heard them. Not that he could have heard them at this distance, anyway. But, after losing his sight completely a few years ago, he could only rely on his hearing and his sensory skills to detect motionless intruders. Racing towards the unfamiliar chakra signal, Sasuke darted passed several bystanders. He had memorized every chakra signal in the village, the Civilians included, and while the other ninja may have missed this one odd one, he didn't. He couldn't. The soggy dirt tugged at his sandals, the gentle drizzle caused his clothes to stick to him a little tighter, but still Sasuke trudged on. He continued to run towards the odd chakra until he ran into a wall. Or rather, a motionless Hokage.

"Move," Sasuke grumbled, attempting to push passed his Kage. The leader of the village remained where he was, blocking the entrance that would allow him to get closer to whoever this intruder was.

"How long has it been since Naruto left, Sasuke?" Kakashi suddenly asked. This did not deter the man, however, and he continued trying to move passed Kakashi, but to no avail.

"Eleven years, Hokage-sama." Sasuke finally grunted. Kakashi moved just enough to allow Sasuke through the doors, and just before he raced up the stairs, he heard the old man mutter about how it had been fourteen years since Sakura had left. Why was that significant, Sasuke asked himself. Shaking it from his mind, he focused solely on the intruder who was not supposed to be in Konoha. How had they gotten in? What was their mission? Why were they hanging out in an Apartment complex?

After a few minutes, and three dozen more questions, Sasuke stood in front of the door the intruder was just beyond. The door creaked open before he could slam through it.

"Sasuke-kun," A gentle feminine voice halted him. The intruder said no more, not because she was done talking, but because she was no longer the intruder he had deemed her to be at first.

"Sakura?" His voice nearly left him. The air in his lungs threatened to become one with the wind outside, and his legs suddenly could not old him. His hands instinctively reached out for the door frame, but instead sturdy, and oddly masculine, arms steadied him. Her muscles moved beneath him; When had she become so muscular? Was she not the same age as him? How did she have more muscles than himself?

"You never wrote." A voice sounded behind him. Sasuke began to curse himself; Had that been an actual intruder, he would have been screwed.

"Aha, sorry Kakashi-sama," Sakura shifted her weight noticeably, and he dipped momentarily in her hold. She righted him, getting him to the point where he could stand on his own. She didn't take her hands off of him, however. "I guess it kind of slipped my mind. Sorry."

He wanted to see her. He wished he wasn't blind, he wanted to see her. After a few heartbeats, he mumbled, mainly to himself, "You never said goodbye, Sakura."

Sasuke felt her gaze shift to him. Was she scrutinizing him? Judging him? "Oh, didn't I? No, I suppose I didn't. I think I only said goodbye to Kakashi-sama." His brows furrowed. He knew she hadn't said goodbye to him, but she hadn't even said it to Naruto? As if sensing her thoughts, she sighed, "Naruto has left, too, huh?"

"Yes," Both Kakashi and Sasuke said in unison. He turned his head to glare in the direction of the aged Hokage, before returning his gaze to where he assumed Sakura's was. "Three years after you,"

"I heard his entire team died." Her tone turned bleak and weary. He couldn't understand why, she had never really been close to the deceased trio. Before either could answer, he heard her kick the door open a little wider, "Would you two like to come in? I wasn't expecting visitors, but I haven't exactly been here long enough for it to be messy."

"Kakashi-sama, you've aged well. Sasuke-kun, you look like hell."

"That's what happens when you grow into your forties!" Sasuke retorted. It had been a long time, he thought, since she had ever said anything so rude to him. Had she ever said anything rude to him? She then made a remark about him being forty four, now, to which he replied, "So are you!"

Kakashi's deep chuckle sounded in the room. It sounded a little croaky, but it was Kakashi's laughter nonetheless. After a few minutes, the two engaged in conversation, leaving Sasuke to his thoughts.

What did she look like? Did she look young, aged, or as tired as she had when she left? What was she wearing? Had she been eating well? Was she a twig? Was she fat?

"Little Kimiko-chan is doing well, now. She's training to become a Chuunin in Rain Country." Kimiko-chan? Little? Did Sakura have a child? How much had he missed?

"That's good to hear!" Kakashi responded, quickly adding, "You haven't told us of little Kimiko-chan, though. You skipped over that detail."

As much as he wanted to pay attention to what was being said, and who this little Kimiko-chan was, he couldn't. Questions swirled around in his head, now circling around a question he never thought he'd have to ask himself.

Had Sakura moved on? She had always been his number one admirer. She had always been his. He supposed he had never really thought about her moving on, as much as he had told her to in the past.

"Kakashi-sama, what does Sakura look like, now? What is she wearing? Describe her for me." Sasuke suddenly ordered. He knew he had interrupted their conversation, but he had to get away from those thoughts.

Kakashi remained silent for a few moments, but then began, "Well, she looks as young and vibrant as she did when she was in her twenties." This caused Kakashi to ask if she had been using Tsunade's youth jutsu before continuing, which prompted a giggle from the aging female. "Her hair is still short, but not as raggedly cut as it had been before. It's cropped to her shoulders, and curls inwards, but only slightly." Sasuke nodded. "Her hair is still pink, but a lighter color, now. I don't know how to describe it. Like the end of a cherry blossom, but not as white as that, if that helps. Her seal is still there, her eyes are still green."

Kakashi continued to go on about her facial features, before moving on to her physical stature. She had been eating well, but she had also been training. She's thin for her age, but her arms are muscular. When Sasuke has a good idea of what she looks like in his head, he interrupts again, "What is Sakura wearing?"

Kakashi asks her to stand, and there's a light screeching sound when her chair scrapes against the wooden flooring. "Her shirt isn't low cut, revealing only to her collar bone. The sleeves go to her elbows, and the entire thing looks to be a sort of cottony-velvet material. I don't know, it looks soft. Her shirt is a light green color, like the grass in the spring, but not that intense. Her skirt, which goes to her knees and is more of a tight kind, as opposed to flow-y, is a dark color. Almost black, but you can tell it's kind of blue, too." Sasuke wanted to sarcastically thank Kakashi for his descriptive skills, but he held his tongue. "Her shoes are the closed sandals females often wear when they're not going to go on a mission. Flats, I think they're called. They're black. I don't think she's wearing socks."

All the while, Sakura did not speak. Kakashi asked her to turn around, and she did as he asked wordlessly.

"The shirt actually dips lower in the back. It folds over itself a couple times. I don't know how to describe it." Sasuke then asked for a description of her skin. He heard her shuffle around, most likely turning to face the two of them. "She's tan, but not too tan. She's strayed far from Suna, I can tell you that." She giggles softly, and he wonders if there is a smile on her lips. Sasuke cuts Kakashi off in the middle of his sentence to ask if she is. "Yes, Sakura is smiling. It's a light smile, but a happy one. It's not forced, nor is it fake. Her lips are a rosy color. The corners of her mouth are dipped skywards."

"Hn." Sasuke figured he had as good enough of a mental picture as he would get. She was beautiful. "Sakura, do you use Tsunade's youth jutsu?" He asked.

She began to speak again, her voice light and definitely more feminine than when they were younger. He could detect traces of happiness in her voice, and he was glad. She had sounded so solemn when they had last spoken, and it didn't suit her. If he could not see her happy, he would enjoy hearing it.

Kakashi and Sakura had remained in that apartment room, talking the day away, but Sasuke had left. Somehow he had attracted the attention of one Hinata Hyuuga, and she now walked silently beside him.

Hoping to scare her away from him so that he could be alone with his thoughts, he asked, "When do you think Naruto will come back?" He knew she was looking at him quizzically, and he reminded himself that she had no idea that he and Kakashi were no longer the only remaining members of Team Seven in Konoha.

"I'd like to think soon." She was no longer shy, and hadn't been for a long time. Her confidence suited her, Sasuke thought. "We'll be turning fifty in six years, and if he's not back by then, I'll drag him from wherever he's hiding, Sakura, too."

He scoffed gently, "You don't have to do that with Sakura. She's already here." He hadn't noticed Ino was behind them until he heard her shriek, Hinata's voice lighter than hers,

"What? Where?" Before he could get a word out, the two females were gone. How Ino had so much energy, despite their age eating away at them, he would never know. He stopped wondering, however. While mentioning Naruto hadn't gotten either of them to go away, they were still gone now.

And he was left to his thoughts, again.

Two years trickled by with him noticing every single day. The first year was tedious and annoying. Someone would come back from a mission, exclaim, scream, or just make a big fuss, and the next day it would be the same. But, then again, she had been gone for fourteen years.

The second year was better, but only slightly. Instead of screaming and yelling, hugs and different signs of affection, there had been questions. The most popular question was, "When is Naruto coming back?" With the second and third being, "Are you well enough to become the head of the hospital?" and "Why are you joining ANBU at this age?" And it was the third question that bothered him most.

Typically the head of the hospital would have the duty of taking care of Sasuke when he needed it, but Sakura could not take that job. She was never in Konoha, it was as though she had never come back. He wanted to catch up with her, hear her adventures, ones that he could never go on again.

Now, nearing their third year with Sakura again in the village, a fourth question had begun to pop up, "When will Kakashi-sama pass the title of Hokage to someone else?"

Sasuke was almost forty seven, which would make Kakashi sixty one, or at least almost sixty one. There was no doubt about it, now. Kakashi-sama was an old, old man, and while he wasn't the oldest Hokage thus far, he only has one eye that is of use to him, whereas the oldest had two. Had Naruto come back earlier, he would still be a good candidate, but even Sasuke would admit that someone nearing the age of fifty isn't suitable for the position of Hokage.

Most of the youth didn't even know who he was. How could a Hokage rule over people who didn't know him? People who he didn't know? Tales passed on from one generation to the next can't be enough to justify a stranger being promoted to a superior.

Like always, Sasuke was lost in crashing waves of his own thoughts.

A shrill scream echoed throughout the entire village, and Sasuke knew exactly who it had belonged to.

Hinata.

While she was no longer shy, she still didn't scream. She wasn't extremely loud in general. The noise that had emitted from her mouth would have caused Sasuke to perk up anyway, but he knew she was stationed at the gates, across Konohagakure. Whatever had caused her to scream must have been big.

Sasuke raced towards where the night gatekeepers watch was stationed. Kotetsu and Izumo had passed, so Shino and Hinata had taken up their jobs. Where was Shino? Sasuke couldn't detect the bug-users chakra anywhere. He could only sense Hinata's and one rather intense, fiery chakra.

He almost tumbled into a dozen other ninja that raced beyond him towards the sound. His hair whipped around in his face, and wouldn't stop, even after he had brushed it away. "Stop!" He ordered the younger Shinobi as they ran passed him. "It's not an intruder!"

Sure enough, when he had finally arrived at the scene, his knew that his words were correct.

"Who's that?" One Shinobi whispered. "I think that's Naruto-?" Another responded. Sasuke pushed passed all of them, ignoring the questioning protests and egotistical threats.

Hinata had gone silent, but the 'Intruder' had not. "Sasuke!" So Naruto had spotted him. The old man was as vibrantly annoying as ever, quickly repeating, "Sasuke! Hey! Over here! You're going the wrong way!" Sasuke shut him out of his mind, walking towards where he knew the shadows would be.

He knew this because he could sense Kakashi's chakra, and the fact that no one had noticed their Hokage yet was proof enough that he was hidden in the shadows.

Naruto seemed to understand. Probably because when Sasuke had gotten close enough, Kakashi had spoken up, "Naruto."

Immediately, the two were seized by an over enthusiastic Kyuubi container. "Let me go, dobe!" Sasuke got out, his lungs feeling like they were being crushed and stabbed by his rib cage. Even now, the trio of Team Seven having reached fifty, Naruto was strong. How had everyone in Team Seven, Kakashi included, stayed strong when he had not?

"Don't forget about me." The voice was almost inaudible compared to Naruto's loud laughter.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke would have grabbed his ears to cover them, had his arms not been trapped by Naruto's embrace.

He felt Sakura worm in between them, and she was likely immediately regretting it. Sasuke didn't care, however. And Naruto likely didn't either, and Kakashi would have spoken up if he had. Most likely everyone in the embrace, and some outside of it, too, were having the same thoughts.

Team Seven was reunited once more, and this time, the only goodbye would be when each reached their limit.