Sakura and Ino were back at the market, two weeks later.

Yet again, Tsunade was making her take a mandatory day off, even though this time Sakura hadn't blatantly refused. She had tidied her apartment and waited for Ino and now here they were.

The market was busy, and Sakura hadn't been on a mission since her last... encounter with Sasuke. She wondered what was going on outside the village she could possibly need protection from. The big bad wolf? She was a medical ninja who had trained under Tsunade Senju, not much could harm her.

Sakura and Ino started off the day by buying some fruit-flavored teas in transportable cups.

Then they officially started shopping. Sakura didn't find as many things as she did last time, but there was some interesting stuff.

She and Ino quite enjoyed looking at the tea sets that had been brought in from Tea Country. They were so dainty and ornate, it really made Sakura want to be more girly.

She was plenty girly in her younger days, but the way of the ninja had hardened her. She no longer cared so much about vanity or cleanliness, at least not in the field. And with the variance and surprise nature of missions, she did not ever want to even chance being at a disadvantage because of something she had done for beauty.

She had been stolen of her naïveté, she knew that life was fleeting and death was eternal. She understood that, and she understood that she could not afford to take chances.

But now, as she hadn't been out of the village in about two months, let alone on a mission, she realized that maybe she could afford to spend more time on her appearance.

The two girls had already been through all the stalls that they could splurge on things in, and now they were drawing near the end of their day out. Sakura's wallet was twenty-three dollars lighter and her wardrobe had a new wind-breaker to help fill it.

Ino was standing next to her in line, they were waiting to pay for some groceries.

The usual eggs and bread, milk...

Ino was looking around at everything happening around her.

She currently had her back to Sakura, who was still facing the cashier with about two customers to go.

Ino poked Sakura, who only slightly tilted her head.

"Ne, ne. Sakura, is that Sasuke?"

Sakura turned to look, before slowly turning back. She nodded. This was surreal; she had imagined there would be bells and whistles and bombs going off.

It was indeed Uchiha Sasuke, walking calmly through the village. Those who had noticed him were shocked. Silent gestures were being exchanged between the villagers.

Should he even be back at this time? It had only been a little while since that last mission, one month and three weeks, two days and five hours to be exact. Yes, that was almost two months. Time had flown by in her routine days.

He had done it. Orochimaru and Kabuto were dead.

How had Sasuke managed that? Had he been hurt in the process?

Did she care about Sasuke's well-being? Well, inevitably yes. But she couldn't tell if it was because of her long forgotten feelings for Sasuke or because she was a medic, or because she was just crazy.

What would happen now?

Would Sasuke be welcomed back into the village with open arms? Sakura contemplated how the villagers would react. Surely her comrades would understand the sacrifices that a ninja sometimes has to make. Of course, he wouldn't get off scot-free. There would be hell to pay from certain people and he would have to regain everyone's trust.

Sakura had made peace with herself over it (for now), so she couldn't help but believe that everyone else would too.

She had seen him now, and it made her second-guess herself, but then she reassured herself that things would be okay in the end.

The feeling was surreal for a moment before Sakura snapped out of her reverie.

"Ino, he's back." Sakura said.

"Do you think he knows?" Ino asked referring to Naruto.

Sakura shook her head. "That's impossible."

"We should finish shopping, you know what'll happen next."

"Uh, yeah." Sakura said distractedly.

"Sak?" Ino pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Hmmm?" Sakura turned to her attentively.

"Go get him. I'll pay for these and drop them off at your house later." Ino said, gesturing to the groceries in Sakura's arms. Ino knew what this meant to her best friend.

"Are you sure you can carry all of that?"

"Are you kidding me? Of course I can. I'm not the strongest kunoichi in the village for nothing." Ino winked, her voice was teasing.

"Thanks." Sakura smiled. She jumped into the open street, leaving the food behind with Ino.

Curious villagers in the street called out to her:

"Sakura-chan! Was that Uchiha Sasuke?"

"What's he doing in the village?"

She ignored them for a while, but the people still kept asking.

"Are you going to catch him?"

"Where do we go?"

"Is the Akatsuki attacking us?"

Concerned villagers hurled questions at her fleeting form. She had no time for this; she needed to find Naruto, pronto.

She had to get a handle on the situation though; she couldn't just leave the villagers hanging.

"Stay calm everybody, the situation is under control. Go about as you normally would." Sakura advised them.

"But-!" They protested, questioning her sanity.

But Sakura had sprinted away in search of Naruto already, and the villagers had no choice but to take her word for it.

The news spread through Konoha like a wild fire, and contrary to Sakura's advisory, many people ran for their homes.

The citizens locked their doors and shut their windows, brought their pets and families inside. They nervously awaited news from the Hokage, or possibly an Earth-shattering fight. Despite Sakura's warnings of course, if they weren't going to heed what she said, then why did they ask so fervently.

Many mothers cried for their children who were ninjas.

Several stupidly courageous citizens waited in the streets to see the fight, or if the Akatsuki were coming, which they were disappointed to find not happening.

Konoha was significantly shocked at this news.

Calmly strolling through the streets of the village was the most dangerous man in the entirety of the fire nation.

The return of Uchiha Sasuke.

The length of my chapters really concerns me. This one is around one thousand though.

Some news concerning updating, I am sick. I had AP exams last week, I have standardized testing this week, and then I will have one week of review in school, and then another week of final exams. Then I have about four soccer tournaments to coach/ play in. Updates will be coming a little more slowly until I get off of school and find more time to write out these chapters.

Please leave a review, I need your words!