Finding Yourself - Chapter 10 - First Glance

Karin fumed as she followed Sasuke through the village. 'What was so great about this girl Sakura anyways? Last time she saw her, she was nothing more than an ugly girl with a big forehead and fake stringy pink hair. Sasuke hardly even acknowledged her presence either. So why was Sasuke-kun going to a welcome back dinner for her? It didn't make sense. Unless he was doing it because that was the polite thing to do. Yes, that was it. She calmed down after that thought. Of course her Sasuke-kun wouldn't want to go see his wimpy former teammate; he wouldn't want to see any other woman but me if he wasn't so honorable. But that is one of the things I love about him.'

'They had been back for over a year now, and Sasuke-kun still hadn't asked her to marry him yet. She knew he was going to, otherwise why would he give her a house to stay in the Uchiha district with him? Sure, he allowed Jugo to stay as well, and they weren't living in the same house, but that was because Sasuke-kun was a respectful gentleman, and didn't want the villagers to gossip about the future Mrs. Uchiha. She always got a warm and loving feeling when she thought of how protective he was of her reputation like that. It was just soooo romantic.'

'His kind and generous nature is also what forced him to pretend to be friends with that loud mouth blond baboon Naruto. The only reason he didn't kill him was because he didn't want to get into anymore trouble with Konoha. Those old biddies on the council should be licking his feet in gratitude for him coming back to this ungrateful village, not force him to go through petty punishments. They should be the ones punished for their stupidity. And the so called Hokage? Ha! What a joke. She was nothing more than a pathetic drunk who probably couldn't fight her way out of a paper bag, much less some of the opponents that Sasuke-kun had defeated. It was a crime that someone so pathetic was the leader of this hell hole. Yes, they should all definitely be grateful to Sasuke-kun for gifting them with his presence and offering them his power and allegiance.'

Karin snapped out of her trance when Sasuke opened up the flap to walk into the disgusting ramen stand. Why anyone would choose to eat here was beyond her. She glanced around at the crowd, noting that everyone in here was a Jounin. She recognized most of them as what the ignorant villagers called the legendary rookie 9. Their old senseis were around too. Apparently they weren't too great if they hung out with old people like them. Although the one with silver hair was kinda cute, but she would never give her Sasuke-kun up for him.

Karin followed Sasuke as he walked over towards Naruto, glaring at anyone that looked their way. Just because they were jealous of her and Sasuke's relationship didn't mean they had to stare in envy at her. She noticed it started to get quieter as they got closer to the annoying blond, but she couldn't figure out why. Probably in awe at what a beautiful couple they made. When Naruto turned to greet Sasuke, Karin gasped. This was the Sakura? The ugly whiney weak bitch that tried to make Sasuke come back and claimed she loved him?

Karin hmphed. She looked like a cheap whore now in her opinion.

'The little bitch probably ran away in shame after Sasuke rejected her to stay with me' she thought with an evil smirk on her face.

'Probably spent her time in a whore house, but was so ugly even they didn't want her. She was probably weaker than the last time they met. It would be a breeze to embarrass her in front of her friends, and make sure she understood that Sasuke-kun belonged to me at the same time.'

-XX-

Sakura froze as she heard his voice greet Naruto. She slowly turned on her stool, and then she saw him. She slowly blinked, hoping this was a dream. He couldn't be here! He just couldn't. He was supposed to be a traitor that never came back. What happened to the avenger who wanted nothing more than power, and couldn't find it in "this pathetic village?" Her heart started to speed up, but she was able to keep her breathing normal. She realized that he couldn't see her from the angle he was at, but she could see him. The felt a tingle go down her spine as she took in his appearance.

He had grown over a foot since the last time she saw him, probably a few inches taller than Naruto. She might, might being the key word, be able to see over his shoulder with her heels on. He had filled out over the years, his chest was broader, his entire body toned from obviously hard training. He had a slight tan now, so I guess that ruled out that he was really a dead person warmed over. Damn. So she guessed garlic wouldn't run him off, but she bet a stake to the heart would work.

Sasuke had on a similar outfit from the last time she saw him. He still had the white shirt that had the Uchiha symbol on the back she bet. Although she noticed with disappointment that right now he had a black undershirt on as well. It's not like she wanted to see his chest she told herself. He had on baggy black shorts and a black rope belt holding them up, with the Uchiha symbol stitched on the bottom left hand corner of his shorts.

'How many times does he have to put his clan symbol on his clothes? I mean, everyone knows he is Sasuke Uchiha' she thought with a small smile and rolling her eyes, guess some things never change. He still had his katana strapped on the back, and she wondered if she would be able to fight against him to see who was better at blades now.

He was so different from the boy she fell in love with at the age of twelve, but yet so familiar. He still had that ice-cube demeanor, and that "I-am-a-Uchiha-bow-down-to-me" smirk. His hair was a little longer than last time, but still spiked up in the back. She almost laughed remembering all the times Naruto said it looked like a chicken's ass. Speaking of Naruto, she remembered what he said before he left that morning. That idiot, this was the surprise he was talking about. She was going to pound him tomorrow at the training grounds.

With a small sigh she turned her attention back to the situation at hand. She wasn't sure about her feelings for the Uchiha now. He was one of the main reasons she left in the first place. Always calling her weak and useless, having to waste his precious time to come rescue her, because he didn't want his team to lose, not because he cared about her.

But she couldn't find it within herself to hate him. Without leaving, her life wouldn't be what it is now. She wouldn't have Feng and Charna with her. She wouldn't have matured and grown under Tsunade or Akasde. She wouldn't be the woman she was today. She almost felt thankful to him, as ironic as that was. His quest for power sent her on one of her own.

A movement behind him caught her eyes. She had to suppress a growl as she saw that tramp Karin. What in the hell was she doing here? How could Tsunade allow her into the village?! Kami help the team she was put on if she was allowed to become a Konoha ninja. She still looked like a thoroughly used hooker, with her skanky white shirt and black shorts, which was shorter than her own, which was saying something. She still had on her hooker boots as well. Her red hair was long and somewhat combed on one side, but the other side looked like it got in a fight with hair eating cat and got its ass whipped. She still had on those thick nerdy glasses, although from her hair she obviously still couldn't see with them. Sakura had to breathe through her nose to keep from getting sick at the horrifying image of her and Sasuke together.

Great….now she had to scrub her mind for the next few hours to get that image out of her head. She ignored the annoying feeling going through her that she refused to acknowledge was anything similar to jealousy. If that was what turned Sasuke on, maybe he really enjoyed his time with Orochimaru for more than one type of training. You never know.

She noticed the third member of the group then. If she remembered correctly his name was Jugo. He looked like the kindest one out of the group. Sakura felt sympathy for him; she knew he was the one that the curse seal came from. She wondered if Tsunade had figured out how to cure him. If not, she would get on that later this week. Sasuke probably still had it if Jugo wasn't cured.

She finally turned back towards Sasuke, who was now bickering with Naruto. Yep, some things would never change. She guessed it was time to make her presence known.

"Long time no see, huh Sasuke?"

-XX-

Sasuke froze as he heard her voice. It went over him like a slow burning fire, burning his entire body from the inside out. He shifted a little to his left so that he could see her from behind Naruto. He couldn't believe that he hadn't recognized her chakra signature. When he caught sight of her, it felt like a punch to the gut. He was extremely grateful for his baggy shorts right now, otherwise his reaction would become very public knowledge.

She looked like a goddess now. He allowed his eyes to quickly scan her, and he could honestly say she left him speechless. He had to fight to keep his nose from bleeding. She had grown into her forehead. Her hair trailed down in pigtails to right above her curvy ass. Legs that went on forever that almost made him break out in a sweat. She had definitely filled out in all the right places that was for sure. Her eyes were what had changed the most though. A deeper emerald shade, they no longer shined with innocent, but with inner peace and knowledge of the world. She held herself with confidence now, assured of her own power.

He wondered if she still loved him. He noticed that she dropped the 'kun' from his name. "Yes it has. How have you been Sakura?" he asked, noticing the tiny widening of her eyes as he said her name. He briefly wondered why she looked surprised, then realized that that was the first time he had ever had a polite response to her question. He felt kind of ashamed at his attitude towards her all these years after that realization hit him.

"I'm doing great actually. I'm surprised you're back though. You've obviously been here for a while since I can't sense any ANBU guards here." she replied with a small smirk twisting her lips. Sasuke wanted to do nothing except kiss that smirk of her's off. That would shock everyone in here, especially her.

He flinched as he felt Karin's hand wrap around his arm, her nails slightly digging into his arm, leaving little red crescent marks. He never should have let her follow him. He had told Jugo where he was going, and invited him along, but apparently he made the mistake of letting it slip around the clingy bitch. No matter what he did she wouldn't leave him alone, she was worse than any other fan girl he had ever had to deal with. He just thought that Sakura was annoying when they were kids. God he would pay all of the Uchiha fortune to have Sakura as his fan girl instead of Karin.

"My Sasuke-kun doesn't need ANBU guards to follow him. He's proven his loyalty to Konoha. Not like they would be effective in keeping him here anyways if he wanted to leave. He could defeat all of them in a minute flat." Karin said, and Sasuke had to force himself not to cover his ears at the horrible squawking sound that was her voice.

"I'm sure he could. However before you interrupt me I was simply making an observation, not implying anything about his skills. You should show more discipline than always trying to start a fight about Sasuke. I'm sure he doesn't need his whore to defend him. If he had to rely on someone as weak as you for protection, I can only say I hoped he has already made peace with the world" Sakura smoothly answered, making Karin look like the violent obsessive stalker that she is. Needless to say, this pissed Karin off. Sasuke was just surprised that Sakura would say something like that. It definitely wasn't something he was expecting to come from her, and her maturity was interesting to see.

"You BITCH! How dare you call me a whore and weak! You're the one who looked like she just stepped out of a whore house. And I bet that Tsunade didn't even assign you ANBU guards, but Genin because you're so weak. You're just jealous of Sasuke's and my relationship. You should have just stayed wherever you came from!" Karin yelled red in the faced and huffing for air.

"Don't you two. I don't know what kind of diseases you may catch by being around her, much less eating her." Sakura said, looking behind Karin. Looking down, Sasuke saw two panthers about to attack Karin. One had their mouth open about to take a chunk out of her left leg. Another was behind her crouched down, muscles tensed ready to spring at her. When Karin saw them she screamed and jumped onto the other side of him.

"Sasuke-kun save me! That bitch is trying to attack me with those flea-bitten cats. Kill them Sasuke-kun!" She ordered while crying her eyes out and clutching onto his shirt.

Sasuke carefully peeled off her hands and bent down next to the two cats. They eyed each other warily and he could feel Sakura tense up. "What are their names?" he asked, not taking his eyes off them. Sakura got up off the stool and crouched down next to the two panthers. "This one is Feng," she said touching the one who was crouched down," and this one is Charna" pointing towards the one who was trying to take Karin's leg off earlier. Both cats went to Sakura and started rubbing up against her, a soft purring noise coming from both of them. Sasuke was suprised they belonged to Sakura. As a kid, he never saw her pay much attention to Pakun or any other animal. Watching her stroke them was putting fantasies in his head about what else she could stroke, but he refrained himself. He would have to get to know this new Sakura, as she had obviously changed from the kid he used to know by more than just looks. He would need to start this slowly.

"Karin, shut up."

"But, but … Sasuke-kun, they tried to kill me! You have to defend me. She can't get away with this." Karin said, starting to get angry.

"Actually I saved you. You should be more aware of your surroundings. But I saved Feng and Charna more, no telling what all has touched your body, and I don't want to have to heal them from ingesting you. STD's and stuff like that are such a bitch to cure you know?" Sakura said with an innocent smile.

Karin screamed and jumped towards Sakura, trying to claw her eyes out. When she was about an inch away, Sakura seemingly just disappeared. Karin fell flat on her face and skidded a few painful feet. She came up spitting dirt, trying to find her glasses. When she pulled them back on, she looked for Sakura.

"What's a matter Sakura? Scared? You should be. I'll make you eat your words." Karin boasted, getting up and trying to dust herself off.

Sakura appeared behind her, a chopstick pressed against Karin's throat. "How do you expect to make me "eat my words" if you can't even touch me? You're not even worth my time so I suggest you quit while you can still move." Sakura whispered, before removing her makeshift weapon and turning around, heading back towards her seat.

Karin, being the bright person she is, pulled out a kunai and spun around, trying to surprise attack Sakura. Sakura simply put one finger up, and stopped the attack by shattering the kunai Karin was holding.

"Look bitch, I'm warning you. Leave me alone. I don't feel like playing with you right now." Sakura stated, annoyed. She didn't even register Karin as a true threat except to her good mood.

Sasuke could never remember seeing her act like this, and it was just a bit sexy, although he would never admit it. She used to always try to back down from a fight, now it looked like she just simply couldn't be bothered. He could see Naruto out of the corner of his eye shaking his head and looking pitying at Karin.

Karin looked in shock at the broken pieces of her kunai that was crumbled in her hand, and looked up at Sakura. She charged at Sakura again, raising a fist readying to punch her. Sakura easily deflected it, and then flicked Karin on the shoulder, sending her crashing into the nearby wall. She landed in an undignified heap, coughing and spitting out blood.

"Is that a..all you've got, what a wea…weakling. No wonder everyone abandoned you." Karin sputtered after a minute or two, trying to pick herself up off the floor. Sasuke saw the fire in Sakura eyes finally flare, and decided he should intervene before she killed Karin. Not because he cared about Karin, but he didn't think it would be a good thing for Sakura to kill someone on her first day back.

When Sakura was about to lunge, Sasuke appeared behind her, wrapping both arms around her to cage her to him. She struggled for a second, but calmed down since she didn't want to hurt anyone but Karin. Sasuke held on to her for a minute more, not so much to make sure she didn't attack but to enjoy the feel of her. She fit into his body like she was made for him, and he had to fight to keep his arms still so that he didn't start groping her in front of everyone. He felt her breathing speed up a little as she realized who held her back. He could smell her, cherry blossoms and vanilla. Her hair felt like silk where it rubbed against his skin. He prayed that she was angry enough that she didn't recognize how turned on he was right now, since she was pressed up against it. It would be really hard to miss if she wasn't so focused on something else. When that thought went through his head he quickly released her and backed up.

He noticed the small blush on her cheeks, and couldn't help but smirk at it. So apparently she still felt something for him. Now he just had to figure out how much she felt. Sasuke realized his mistake in letting her go as she immediately appeared before Karin, who was still struggling to stand up, and flicked her on the forehead. Karin crashed through the wall out into the street, and didn't move. Sakura performed a few hand signs and the wall was fixed, no one could tell that just a few seconds ago there was a giant Karin-sized hole in it. Sakura dusted her hands off and walked over to Naruto.

"Well guys, I don't know about you but I've had all the fun I can stand for the night. I think I'm going to call it a night. I'll see you all tomorrow." Sakura said as she gave Naruto and Ino a hug, then gave a small wave to everyone else, as she disappeared behind the curtain as she walked out, her two panthers trailing behind her.

Sasuke glanced over at Naruto, who simply nodded at him and turned around to keep Ino distracted. Sasuke told Jugo bye, then followed Sakura.