Yay! sorry it took so long to update, but yeah...school can't be helped. but i have a new story! ya'll read and tell me what you think! i'll update on that one soon if i can as well. enoy this next chappie!

"Did she heal herself and leave you here?" Tsunade asked the restless Uchiha that still lay in the hospital bed. It had been about an hour since Sakura left him there, and about five minutes since the fifth had walked in with an annoying smirk on her face. She knew what Sakura would do. Sakura was like her own daughter, and she knew the girl better than anyone. Well, other than Naruto and Kakashi…and maybe Sasuke. But that was unlikely.

"Yeah." Sasuke grunted to the blonde lady in reply. Stupid girl. Just HAD to leave me here. I should've known that was what she would've done. I was on her team! But…she has changed. A lot. In many ways. She's stronger (obviously), more independent (duh), she's even colder than she used to be. And she HAS matured (Hell Yeah!). A lot. Sasuke thought. He felt his face start to heat up, but suppressed it as soon as it came.

"I knew she would do that, and I would think that you would suspect her to do the same. You were on her old team, and now on her new team. She is the captain, so you must follow the orders of either her, or the co-captain." Tsunade said as a-matter-of-factly. Then it just hit him.

"I'm on her squad? I didn't think I would! We both fainted after that spar. And she fainted first, and then I did. I didn't think she would let me on her squad though, not after that. But I will admit this fact: she has definitely grown stronger." He said to the hokage, disbelief etched all over his masculine features.

Tsunade smirked. "Yes, you are now on her squad. She will hand over your mask tomorrow, the mask being a prize-like object. It proves that she thinks you're worthy. Oh, and one more thing," Tsunade said, about to walk out of the room. "That wasn't her full power. It wasn't even a fourth of it. She was already tired from the training I had given her the day before. She had also trained on her own a bit. So that took even more out of her. I'm still surprised she did so well. You did well, too. I was watching from my tower. Get well soon, maybe she'll heal you tomorrow. She has to work tomorrow." Tsunade stated before taking her leave.

Sasuke was stunned. Not even a fourth of her true power? Then what was her true power? Oh lord, he was in for it. He was curious as well, now. What was her true power? He wanted to know. Maybe Sakura was more of a kunoichi than he thought. Maybe she was more than a kunoichi than anyone. He wanted to find out. He knew what he would have to do. He would have to spy on her training with Tsunade. He would go to all extents to see her true power.

Sakura tied her hair up almost as soon as she landed outside of the hospital. But first, she had to duck out of view from the Hokage, who was heading her way. She ducked behind the wall, and watched her mentor walk into the building. That…was close. She thought, while tying her hair up into a high ponytail. Although, Tsunade had probably known she was there anyways. She was the Hokage.

Sakura came out from her hiding place, and secured her mask. She began walking back into town, for her apartment was on the other side. People stared at her, some in awe, and some in fear. It wasn't everyday that an ANBU would be walking in the middle of the busy street in the middle of the afternoon. People knew ANBU were strong, which gave many reasons to like them, and fear them. Sakura ignored all this, and continued on her way.

Why did he have to pry into my memories like that? I didn't want him to know exactly HOW my parents died. I didn't even want him to see that. So why did he do it? Sakura was confused. Why did the Uchiha pry into her thoughts and memories, and watch the scene of her parent's death. She knew it was Orochimaru, and now she wanted revenge. Just as Sasuke had wanted revenge on his brother. She wondered if he had killed his brother.

How had he gotten away? How had he even gotten into the village? He must have gone straight to the Hokage tower, so no one would know that he had come back. But the news would spread quickly with her loudmouth teammate, Naruto. Oh yeah, it wouldn't stay a secret for long. But still, she wanted to know more.

It was odd how he just suddenly showed up out of nowhere. He didn't have any wounds on him when she first saw him, but during their spar, she gave him a good one on his chest. Tsunade was sure to make her heal it tomorrow at work. Damn. She didn't want to touch him again. But, she would let him on her squad. She was almost positive that Tsunade knew she would let him on her squad. She had his mask back at her apartment, ready on her bedside table. It was the raven mask; a symbol of someone who had stealth, and could move without being caught. Sasuke had that. The mask was perfect for him. That mask had been sitting there for so long. She had just recently given up the sloth mask to Shika. That used to be sitting there with the raven. Along with the fox mask. Oh lord. She was thinking too much.

Just then, she slammed straight into someone. She looked up, ready to shout at whomever it was. But she stopped when she saw a familiar masked man. "Kakashi-sensei?" She asked. Her former sensei smiled, although it was concealed behind that damned mask.

"I'm not your sensei anymore Sakura, so I really don't understand why you still call me that." He said, a bit of teasing in his voice. She smiled up at him. He was at least a head taller than her. Although, if she could remember right, Sasuke was even taller than that! Wait…why was she thinking of how tall Sasuke was? Wow, she is so weird.

Sakura blushed a bit, and scratched the back of her head with her right hand, while resting her left hand on her hip. Luckily, he couldn't see her blush or her smile with her cat mask on. That was on advantage of the dumb mask. Sakura lowered her arms by her side, and then repositioned them on her hips.

"What are you doing here sensei?" Sakura said, ignoring the fact that they really were no longer in the sensei-student friendship. They were friends, but Kakashi respects her now, as an equal. She's just as powerful as him, and can even match up to him in a spar. He was one of her favorite sparring partners.

"Just strolling along, actually going to Kurenai's house." He said. Sakura swore that there was a blush under that mask. She grinned.

"Are you blushing Kakashi?" She accused him, pointing at his covered face. She knew of the romance going on between the two jounin, and almost laughed at the memory from when she first found out.

It was a while back, but she still remembered. She was walking in the cherry blossom grove, one of her favorite places. And she had heard a laugh, coming from behind a tree.

Kakashi tickled the startled woman, making her back up into the tree. When her back hit the bark, she shoved his hands away. But, he caught them, and held her hands in his. He smiled down at her, his smile showing through his eyes. She smiled right back. She could read his every movement, and knew what was going to happen next. She prepared herself for it.

Kakashi leaned down, and pulled his mask down enough so his lips and nose were visible. Kurenai was the only one who had ever seen him without his mask on, and would be the only one to see him without his mask on.

He laid his lips on hers in a brief, chaste kiss, tasting her crimson red lips. They tasted like cherries to him. He cherished the flavor for a few more seconds before pulling away, much to Kurenai's disappointment. She looked back up at him and saw love in his eyes. He drew his mask back up, and wrapped his arms around her protectively. She leaned into her lover's arms, smiling all the while.

Sakura backed away, having seen the entire thing. She was behind Kakashi, and didn't see his face, but saw what he did. She was, needless to say, proud of her sensei. He had been trying to make the move for SO long! She giggled a bit, and left.

Sakura looked at her sensei through the eye holes in her mask, and then turned to leave, waving goodbye. She giggled at him, knowing he knew she was there the entire time. He wasn't a jounin for nothing. He would have taken it further with Kurenai if she hadn't been there. But to protect her poor virgin eyes, he stopped.

Sakura continued on her way, and soon came to her apartment door. She entered her apartment, and yawned, in serious need of sleep. She had to work tomorrow. Shit.

Sakura woke up to her alarm clock blaring in her ear. She groaned and reached a hand out from her warm covers to turn it off. She slammed her hand on the top of it, and lazily looked at the blurry red symbols on the front of the clock. After a minute of staring at it, she could roughly make out 5:30am on the front of her alarm clock.

Why am I getting up at 5am? Oh yeah…work. Great. Just great. Sakura hauled herself out of bed, and walked towards her bathroom. She stripped of her nightgown, and climbed into the warm water of her shower running. She let the water pound on her body, slowly waking her up. She washed her hair, and shaved her legs. She turned the water off, and climbed out. She threw on some plain black jeans and a pink tank.

She decided to do something different with her hair for a change, and left it curly. She had only worn it curly to the hospital once, and she received many compliments on it. She decided to put it in the half up-half down style to keep it out of her face while working. She slipped on her white medic cloak that came to her knees, and tied the band around her waist, securing the mandatory piece of clothing that all medics wore.

As Sakura walked into the sliding front doors of the hospital that morning to sign in, she noticed something. There were many more girls around than usual, and all the girl medics had seemed to dress up a little bit more. And here she had been lazy. She secretly wondered what the special occasion was, and hoped that she wasn't dressed down too much.

The pink haired medic walked over and signed in, saying a small, tired hello to the clerk at the front desk. Before she went upstairs to see Tsunade, she thought she saw the girl give her an envious glare. She recalled that the woman had not given her the normal friendly hello, and instead got one almost as stoic and unemotional as…

Oh lord. Sasuke Uchiha. She had almost forgotten about him. She just prayed that Tsunade wouldn't assign her the job of healing the wound she gave him. But she knew the woman better than anyone, and she was the only one allowed to be friendly with her. The hospital girls were envious of her for that reason.

Then it hit her, all the girls were there for that very reason. Sasuke. Crap…she didn't want to have to deal with this today! And she just had to wear her hair curly today. Whenever she wore it curly, the guys would swoon, and the girls would glare. She really didn't want to have to deal with this now. Great. She just knew Tsunade was going to make her heal the guy. She was the one who injured him after all. Oh Lord. Oh Lord…help her.

"Sakura, we are very busy today, and I need you to heal the Uchiha boy. Word has gotten out that he's back, and that he's here. I need your help to restrain them from trying to sneak into his hospital room. He has been moved into a single, here is the room number. Go!" Tsunade said, scribbling the room number down and shoving her student down the hallway. Great. She was right. Tsunade scurried down the hallway, stopping to catch another fan girl heading towards the Uchiha's room. How did they know his room was down there anyways? Some thing will never be known.

Sakura sighed, and brushed a lock of pink hair behind her ear. She began to walk towards her doom…err…I mean uuh…the Uchiha's room. She made a few turns, some of the other medics assigned on the hallway giving her either envois glares, or sympathetic looks. She sighed once more before opening the hospital room 713.

The number on the door startled her for a moment. They almost had meaning to them. She came from team 7 as a genin into the chunnin world. It had been one year since her parents had been murdered by the snake man, and 3 years since Sasuke had left. And now he was back. Yeah, the number on the door to Sasuke Uchiha's room had meaning. Dear God, she must be going crazy.

When she looked to the bed in the decent sized room, her emerald orbs met the onyx ones of Sasuke Uchiha. She stopped, clutching the clipboard she held in her right arm, and held the doorknob with her left hand. She gazed at his shocked eyes. Why was he shocked though? Oh yeah, I decided to wear my hair curly today. He's never seen my hair curly. Crap. And I have to heal him. She thought avidly. She sighed through her nose and shut the door behind her, unknowingly in the face of a prying medic girl. Oh well. She had too much plastic surgery on her nose anyways.

"You have naturally curly hair?" those were the first words out of the Uchiha's mouth to her. She raised an eyebrow at him as she set the clipboard on the bedside table. She smiled a fake smile at him, which she was sure he noticed, and nodded her head in a 'yes' motion.

"Yes Sasuke, I do have naturally curly hair. Now shut up, and be quiet so I can heal you." She said grimly. Then she realized she had forgotten where the wound was. "Where is the wound again?" She asked in the same grim manner.

He smirked. "I thought you told me to shut up? It's on my upper leg. And it hurts. A lot. Since when have you grown so strong? I would like to know." He said; curiosity plain in his voice.

She almost laughed. She walked towards his lower body, trying to avoid any manly parts as much as possible. "Which leg? And I grew strong since my parents died. I trained under the wing of Tsunade, and became the best in the village. I never noticed the change in me though until not too long ago, when I became an ANBU. Oh, and what you saw at the spar, was not even a fourth of my true power." she said, very proud of that fact.

"I know. Tsunade told me. The left leg." He said in that sexy stoic voice she hated so much. Then again, she knew Tsunade would have told him. She moved to the left leg, and grabbed a pair of scissors from her medic cloak. She was about to cut his pants, but a hand on her wrist stopped her. "What?"

She asked the Uchiha. He glared at her. "What are you doing? Trying to rape me or something?" he asked, exasperated. Sakura didn't even blush. She gently pulled her hand out of his grasp, and held the scissors aloft in the air, ready in the cutting position.

"I have to cut the pants open in order to get to the wound and heal it. Are you going to let me? Or are you going to suffer from even more pain when I stab you repeatedly until you die?" She asked in an almost joking tone. But it wasn't. She was serious. That was the bad part about it; Sasuke couldn't back out of it.

He sighed and closed his eyes, thinking of the pain he could endure because of this woman. "Fine. Just don't rape me or anything." He said teasingly. She still didn't blush. She just went to work, cutting his trousers open all the way to his thigh. Now she may not be blushing, but the Uchiha was a completely different story.

Sasuke blushed redder than his favorite snack, a tomato. Luckily, Sakura was too engrossed in her work to notice. Lucky him. He watched as she cut his pants open, revealing his dark blue boxers. She simply lifted them up, and set the scissors down. She reached over with her hand, and positioned it over the gaping wound. Her hand glowed green with her healing chakra, and she laid her hand on the wound, but Sasuke only felt her cool, feminine hand on his burning skin. Stupid hormones.

Sakura paid attention to nothing else other than the wound she was healing. She didn't pay attention to how close the wound was positioned to anything, nor did she pay attention to the person she was healing. All she thought about was the sooner she got this done, the sooner she could get out of here.

Sasuke watched as his skin closed up right before his very own eyes. He knew Sakura had excelled in medical studies, but never suspected her to be this good. She paid attention only to the wound, and not the patient she was treating. He liked that about her, she was focused.

She was done in a matter of minutes. Both of them stared down at the flawless skin, Sasuke staring in awe, and Sakura staring in triumph. She had done her job, and now she wanted out. She walked to get her clip board, and heard a BANG! against the door. She paid no heed to it though, and continued with writing down the patient report. Then she heard another loud noise, this time against the window. She was curious, and walked to open it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" She heard, coming from the suddenly slammed open door. She turned to see a stressed Tsunade, blocking the doorway. If you looked behind her, there were many screaming girls, all holding signs with declarations of love on them, and wishes to be impregnated. All for the Uchiha, who was now sitting up, and getting ready to get out of his bed. Sakura was, needless to say, bewildered. Utterly bewildered.

That shock changed from astonishment to anger in seconds. When the fan girls sensed her deadly aura, they scampered away like a stampede. Tsunade smirked at her student, she knew where that trick had come from. "Thank you Sakura. They are becoming unbearable, and you are the only one who they will not attack and claw open to get to that young man behind you. I need your help." Sundae said, out of breath.

Sakura turned around at the reference of 'young man behind you', and was in for a surprise when the Uchiha was mere centimeters away from her face. He smirked, and she blushed. This time, it was clearly visible. He stepped back a bit, seemingly satisfied.

"Sakura, I need you to escort Sasuke home. Better yet, take him to your house. He can live there for the time being. Like I have said, you are the only one whom cannot be harmed…" The rest of Tsunade's words were drowned out by a strange swirling sound in her ear.

Sasuke was going to live with her?

i enjoyed writing this chapter. review if you want, but please do review on the next one. it's going to be SO friggin hilarious and fluffy it's not even funny! review!