"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it."

-George Moore

It wasn't long after that particular mission that Team 7 eventually went their separate ways. They each had different ideas on what direction their own skills should develop towards, and found new teachers to help them accomplish those goals.

Naruto grew to enjoy the presence of Master Jiryiah, finding him slightly strange, but wanting to learn more jutsu after previously accomplishing the Rasengan in three months. Not only that, but secretly, the Sannin Ninja felt that Naruto needed a Sensei that could show him how to control the energy of the Nine-Tailed fox demon. With a sense of excitement, the knuckle-head ninja departed to train under Jiryiah for two and a half years—but not before all of Rookie Nine and Team Gai throwing him a small 'going-away' party, Hinata nearly fainting when he hugged her goodbye.

Sasuke, now knowing the truth, grew colder than ever before, sometimes barely hiding such feelings whenever he was in the presence of the council members. Thankfully, that was not often, and Sakura was usually able to calm him down, though it took a long while. At first, the boy would just glare at anyone that tried talking to him; this became especially true once Naruto left, and Sakura immediately felt useless. However, Sakura eventually got through to him, even if he barely helped at times. But one night, he visited Sakura, and only asked to borrow her phone. Sakura, being the brains of the team, instantly knew what was going to happen. She said nothing as Sasuke used to phone to call Riko so he could speak to Itachi. It was a long conversation; when it was over, Sakura couldn't help but showing what she was feeling. "You're leaving." He nodded once; for some reason, he couldn't look at her. "I can't be here—he's here. I'm going to train with Itachi for a little while." Sakura quickly hugged him—to his surprise—before he left her apartment. The next morning, he was gone from the village, and Sakura was alone.

It took Sakura three days to decide that she wasn't going to spend the next few years doing nothing. She had barged into Tsunade's office one early morning—albeit, uninvited—and demanded that the woman teach her medical nin-jutsu. Tsunade had glared at her, saying she only took students that were respectful, which Sakura proved that she was not. Glaring back, Sakura said that she had perfect chakra control, an outstanding memory, and the will to learn, proving that she would be an excellent student. When asked for her reasons for such a demand, Sakura hesitated, and then said: "My teammates are off training for the next couple of years. I don't want to be left behind anymore—I want to be their equals." And while there was plenty of truth in that statement, it was not her main reason. In actuality, it was the fear of the dead that Sakura wanted to play a part in preventing people from dying. She had long ago reasoned that if she could save lives, she might see less spirits—and hopefully none that she knew before their death.

Throughout those years that seemed to drag on forever, Sakura received no contact from her two teammates, except for one time, about six months through that period. A letter was received from Itachi Uchiha, addressed to Tsunade, in the explanation of the Uchiha Massacre, and that it was to be kept a secret. When Sakura was privately questioned about this, she could come up with not logical idea as to why Itachi would reveal the truth after saying before that no one else should know—though she suspected it had something to do with Sasuke telling him to do so.

It was a long two and a half years, and Sakura was glad that they were almost over . . .


When Sakura woke up one morning to the sun glaring into her eyes through her windows, she had the unexplainable urge to just not get up. But then she remembered that if she was late, Tsunade would make training hell, and then give her extra hours at the hospital—and not pay her.

Sometimes Sakura questioned her sanity for training under such a woman.

Rolling out of bed, she noticed the piece of paper taped to the outside of her window. Retrieving it, Sakura read it through; just another note from Lee about her being a "youthful flower, and how she should spread her seed of youth to him through a youthful date."

There were so many things wrong with that statement that Sakura couldn't even begin to explain it to herself.

Ten minutes later Sakura was sitting at her kitchen table with toast and fruit juice, her hair still wet from the quick shower. She had training first this morning, so she wore her black biker-shorts—which were over seven inches above her knees—with loose gray short-shorts over that, just in case some of the creepers happened to be sneaking a peek again. However, she did wear a couple of thin camisoles—white and red—because they were easy to move in, and made her feel sexy. Which she liked every now and then; especially when on mornings like this, the many male Chuunin that were just a year or two older than her would be training nearby. She sometime went on dates; the attention was nice, compared to how boys used to tease her in her younger days.

Due to the fact that Sakura's new place was closer to the center of the village, it didn't take her long to walk to the Hokage Tower. Her new apartment was a bit larger than the previous one. Over the years Sakura had acquired several more medical supplies, scrolls, books, and other small things that quickly made her decide to move into a larger space. Luckily, with her missions and hospital hours, she was able to pay for the new place; she refused to touch any of them money from her parents or from selling the house. Now, she walked through the large red doors, taking the stairs that would lead her to Tsunade's office. Opening the door once there, she rolled her eyes at seeing her teacher asleep on the desk.

"Lady Tsunade, I have bad news," Sakura said solemnly.

"Minphhtler . . ."

"All alcoholic beverages are no longer being produced."

"WHAT?!"

Sakura burst out in hysterical laughing at the look of sheer horror on Tsunade's face. When the older woman realized it was a lie, she sank back into her chair, too relieved to really get angry at her student. However, she did manage a decent scowl. "Sakura, that was highly inappropriate," she scolded.

"Yeah. But it was funny, wasn't it?" The pink-haired teen easily dodged the scroll thrown at her, still giggling. "Anyway, I'm here for training. When are we leaving?"

Tsunade sighed, rubbing at her forehead. "We won't be training this morning. An important shinobi is coming into the village today and I have to speak with him," she said with disdain. Sakura frowned at her tone, asking what the issue was with that. Tsunade became disgruntled. "Technically, he's not supposed to be here. If people find out he's come into the village, and that I'm meeting with him, there's bound to be chaos." Sakura nodded, not pushing the topic more. The fact that Tsunade had revealed that much information to her was risky; but they had complete trust in one another, which was more than what Sakura could say for the Hokage's relationship with the Council members. Sakura almost felt special with how much more information she received than those old blokes.

"So, in other words, I have the day off?" Sakura asked, hope filling her voice. Tsunade smiled.

"Well, I'd say so."

The girl grinned as she quickly left the building, thankful that she had the entire day to herself.


"You're sure this is safe? Someone could see through your Gen-jutsu."

"No one will know it is me. Everything will be perfectly fine, Sasuke."

The pair of brothers walked at an easy pace through the village gates, both giving a nod of greeting towards the guards. The men watching the village gates suspected nothing amiss, though they did give Sasuke's traveling partner a strange look. Itachi's disguises were always perfected due to his excellent chakra control. Plus, no one had ever seen through his gen-jutsu so easily before, so he was sure he would be fine. Sasuke just tended to worry a bit too much, even if he rarely showed it. Itachi's disguise made him appear to be an elderly man with white hair, a scraggily beard, wrinkled skin; he was hunched over, using a cane. His only recognizable trait would be his eyes, even if they now appeared beady. When he had first transformed into his temporary appearance, his brother had to force back a laugh: to go from a powerful man in his early twenties to a frail-looking elder was somehow hysterical. Now the only thing left was to act the part. So when Itachi saw Sasuke giving him a weird look—probably still not used to seeing his brother like he was—he took his cane and swiftly whacked the teen on the head.

"Don't you know not to stare, boy? Show some respect to your elders!" he scolded in the voice that all older people seemed to posses, mumbling about 'stupid young hoodlums these days' and such.

Now Sasuke understood why no one ever caught Itachi when he was under disguise.

Bringing the walking-aid back to the ground and shuffling along, Itachi changed to subject of conversation. "Now, I want you to be made aware of a few things, Sasuke. It's been awhile since you've been here; things have changed—people have changed. And you're probably going to be a little surprised by how certain people have changed. Now, I'm sure Hatake never talked to you three about what to do when you notice these . . . changes," he said. "But when you see a girl, and she looks—"

"There is no way in hell you are giving me the sex talk." Sasuke ducked as the end of the cane was once again aimed for his head.

"Pay attention, boy!" Oh, yes, Itachi was thoroughly enjoying this. "Now, you should be respectful—so don't stare at the products too long, even if you aren't buying anything." Itachi looked around for a moment before spotting someone, getting an idea in his head. "Like over there, that young girl," he said, pointing over to someone examining the items at a street vender.

Sasuke lazily looked over to who "Itachi" was pointing at: and he stared.

Sakura had definitely changed, that was the first thing he noticed. She was no longer the thirteen-year-old girl from his Gennin days. Now, from what he could see from her choice of attire, her body had matured into something that any man could find irresistible: long slender legs, a lean body, full curves. The top she wore revealed a decent amount of cleavage, but covered enough that she didn't appear to be asking for too much attention, and showed her flat stomach. Sakura had grown her hair out again, which now seemed to have a soft, natural curl to it. Her skin was pale, but looked normal and healthy—which Sasuke appreciated, for he was never a fan of super-tanned woman. She started to smile at whoever she was speaking with—

WHACK!

"I told you not to stare, boy!"


"Miss Sakura, may I inform you of something?" the older woman asked her hesitantly. Sakura nodded while looking at the fruits on the stand. "There is a very attractive young man on your right that is staring right at you," she whispered. Sakura looked at her strangely before glancing over to her right.

At first the only thing she could see in the crowd of people was the old man hitting a boy her age over the head with a walking cane. She was about to dismiss them when the boy straightened, and indeed was looking . . . at . . .—

Sakura slowly put down what she was holding, not taking her eyes off of Sasuke. In the back of her mind, her Inner-Sakura was drooling over his new physic—Sakura couldn't help but check him out. Through his shirt she could see that he was more muscular than when he left, and Sakura had to wonder how tall he was—at least a head taller than her. Sasuke had also grown out of his cute, boyish features. Now, with his angular face and body of a man, she could not deny that he was downright sexy—especially with that smirk of his currently adorning his lips. Sakura took a glance into his eyes; they were the same bottomless onyx, but there was something about them that made her wonder. Somehow, they had changed in his time away. When he looked at her, Sakura knew it: they weren't as cold and heartless. True, he still held up his guard, but they were softer, in a way.

Sakura didn't even realize she was moving until she saw him start to move also.

It wasn't the slow-motion, heartfelt and emotionally epic running towards each other, the world blocked out, only them, gazing soulfully into each others' eyes type of moment. Because he was Sasuke, she was Sakura, and that just never happened in reality. Rather, the sounds and shouts around them of the busy and crowded street filled their ears, all blurring together into one garbled noise, no clarity. They walked calmly towards another, as if this was a normal thing and nothing had really changed. They moved around people, keeping their gazes on the other. Memories began to spring up in their minds of everything from before Sasuke had left, from missions to lunches at Ichiraku with Team 7, to the darker times down underground. They clearly remembered the times one had been there to support the other, all of the pain and struggles they'd endured as a team and as individuals.

Once she was close enough, without a word or greeting, Sakura wrapped her arms securely around Sasuke's torso, burying her face into his shoulder. She had nearly expected Sasuke to tense and get awkward and annoyed by it, like before; she was pleasantly surprised when he almost instantly hugged her back, his arms going around her shoulders. Sakura closed her eyes tightly, trying to burn the rare moment into her mind.

"Welcome home, Sasuke," she whispered. She felt him take a breath to respond when she felt something against her stomach—

"You kids these days, too sappy for your own good!"

Sakura pulled away and stared at the small, old man who was currently poking her in the stomach with his walking cane. She was about to ask Sasuke why this old man was with him, but she took a second, closer look. The look he was giving her, like he was hiding secrets that she would never know, that he was okay with just about anything, the look of authority in his eyes—

His eyes!

Sakura nearly fell over. There was no way—

"Sir, I have to ask, do you like weasels?" she asked calmly. Sasuke threw her a sharp and shocked look, then glaring at the "elderly man" before them.

"I thought no one would be able to tell!" he hissed, staring quickly at others on the street. Sakura watched as the disguised Itachi sighed, shaking his head, keeping up with the act.

"Ah, just like your old brother, always seeing underneath everything. Good for you." Now he looked at Sasuke. "I'll be off now, so don't do anything stupid, you little fool." After that, he began to walk off before stopping. He turned slowly and just stood there a moment. Before either teen could ask anything, he quickly jabbed Sasuke in the forehead with the end of the cane, which resulted in a shout from Sasuke, and a cackling laugh from Itachi. To anyone else that may have been watching, it just looked like a crazy old man giving Sasuke a hard time for no reason at all.

Sakura had to give Itachi credit for being so out of character. If she wasn't slightly concerned for the bruise already on his forehead, she would have laughed. She put her hand up onto the spot where Itachi hit him. "Sakura, what are you—"

"Relax, I'm done," she said. Sasuke brought his hand up, feeling for the bruise; there was none. He stared at her for a moment.

"You know medical jutsu." Sakura nodded as she started walking to the training fields, Sasuke keeping pace next to her. She began to tell him everything that had gone on in his absence. She started with the medical training, and the long hours of studying and working at the hospital, going up to a Chunnin rank ("So, you know, I kind of outrank you at the moment." ". . . Shut up."), and then about Tsunade giving her a different kind of training. When Sasuke questioned what that was, she grinned, saying, "You find out soon enough," and looking extremely excited about it. The longer they walked, Sasuke started to notice more and more men eyeing Sakura, several greeting her on the street. He vaguely wondered how many of them she'd dated—surely more than just a couple. As he watched her, he saw her smiling at everyone, but there was something about her eyes that made his chest ache. He finally asked about it once they were alone in a large field.

"What's wrong?" he asked, the question sounding like a statement. Sakura raised a brow, making him continue. "You keep smiling and faking happy, but something's bothering you. I can tell."

Sakura grew quiet for a moment before shaking her head. "Just a bit tired, is all. I'm really glad you're back, Sasuke," she said, smiling softly. He wanted to ask more about what was really bothering her, but decided against it for the moment, nodding back at her as they eased into a comfortable silence.

He was glad to be home.


No, do not ask why I haven't posted anything in 363 days. I will never know myself. I'm going back through stuff I have typed but have not yet posted and making small edits, and I shall slowly get back into the swing of this.

...oh gosh all the manga chapters I have to catch up on...a friend spoiled it for me about a certain death. GAH.

Happy Holidays.

-fdty