The only Japanese will be names and cuss words (unless I can't find them). And they still will have the asterisks (*) and translations in at the bottom. If they're not here, they're in a previous chapter. Unimportant names—like store names that are irrelevant to the story and there for visual's sake—will be in English.

Standard disclaimer applied.

The second reunion of the once-great Team Seven was like the falling of boulders. Silence so loud it echoed befell them; it was a thick blanket, waiting to be kicked off in a fit. Naruto stared, wide-eyed, at the sight of Sasuke and Sakura, standing closer than one would ever expect. His eyes, the color of a sunny and cloudless sky, twitched. He didn't know whether to be happy and excited, shocked and surprised, or angry and perplexed. Here stood half of his surrogate family, and he was standing like a fool.

Was it just him, or were Sakura's eyes brighter? Brighter as in apple-green bright, as in sparkling ginger-ale bright? That had to be a good thing. But they'd gotten brighter while here, in the Sound's secret capital; that couldn't be good. A dimming red blush dusted over her alabaster cheeks like the dirt partials that danced in the air—everywhere and nowhere at the same time. She just gaped at him and the rest of them, just staring as if this were the most shocking thing to happen since finding Sasuke that first time. Being found was a lot less exciting than finding. Her arm was just brushing against Sasuke's and, though her arm was a bolt of lightning at the touch, she stood as still as she could, not wanting to be that first boulder to fall and cause the avalanche. If it broke to a fight, whom would she side with?

She didn't even know the answer.

Sasuke was ridged. He stood as straight as a fencepost, muscles locked in place as he took in the team to infiltrate his perfect hideout. It was foolproof, but not Naruto-proof; he should have known. He'd gotten too cocky. He should have redone the genjutsu the second he got back.

Naruto, of course, was just standing there—just like he was, but Sasuke didn't want to think that—staring. His ridiculous black and orange Halloween-esque uniform was donned, but his trademark grin had slipped off long before he'd seen Sasuke. Similarly, the Nara was gaping at Sakura, tiny irises wide with shock. He was twitching, holding a weapon in his hand, ready to attack or to be attacked—preferably the former. The dog had his head tilted, one eye squinted, and mouth in a tiny O; disbelief covered his expression. Meanwhile, his pet snarled violently. And Kakashi had a lazy smile on his face, as if he wasn't worried in the least bit for himself, his team, or his ex-students.

A snake hissed; the first boulder fell and the silence was broken.

Sakura wrapped her hand around Sasuke's bicep, a reminder that she wasn't up for a fight and that she would hold him down if it came to that; that she could run in between them like she had that time on the hospital roof and that she would stop the fight if it cost her as much as her life. She turned her head so fast that it would have given an untrained person whiplash. "Go," she dismissed the maid, a sense of urgency in her voice. It was barely above a whisper, but they all heard it nonetheless.

"Teme*," Naruto said, his voice loud though he was trying his damned best not to stab his ex-best-friend—though Naruto still thought that somewhere in the coldest cockles of his heart, Sasuke was still his best friend—in the charka-points and drag him home. His expression was under control now, and his eyes were narrowed angrily. "We're taking you home!" He stole a glance at Sakura, who had her hand holding Sasuke's arm, he noticed. Naruto sure as jigoku hoped that meant she was going to restrain him if worst came to worst. "Right, Sakura-chan!" he added with a joy he did not feel.

Sakura opened her mouth to answer, but it floundered up and down, wordless.

Sasuke snorted. "Tch," he grunted, lips twitching to a scowl. He purposely took his arm out of Sakura's grip and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her closer like a master to a slave or an animal tamer to a lion. There was something else to the way he held her though, and it was neither possessive nor prideful. It was scared. He was terrified of Sakura siding against him, now that she was given the choice. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone—ever—not even himself. "Dobe*," he spat at Naruto.

Sakura blushed at the contact, but kept desperately quite, leaving both of her friends to wonder what was going through that smart head of hers. But honestly, she didn't even know. Her thoughts were jumbled and unorganized, cutting each other off as they entered her head. It was like a mental version of Tsunade's desk. She didn't know what to do. There was Sasuke—hopelessly sweet Sasuke, silent in his offers but honest Sasuke, corrupted Sasuke, helpful Sasuke, secretly loving Sasuke—and there was Naruto—idiotic Naruto, playful Naruto, naïve Naruto, happy-go-lucky Naruto. What would happen if Sasuke was betrayed again? He'd just started to trust her. He'd been deceived by his brother, by his village, by his sensei, and by Kami knew what else. She couldn't do that to Sasuke. But she couldn't do that to her village either.

Kakashi couldn't help a smile. How like him. He broke the invisible wall between them and crossed to the other side. Arms crossed, he said a very Kakashi comment. "Is she as good in bed as she is on the battlefield?" He almost laughed.

Sakura turned red from head to toe. She pulled back from Sasuke, jaw on the floor. She sputtered, eye twitching. Her hand smacked her sensei; the sound of it was like a bullwhip slicing through air. "Sensei!" she shouted, the pulled back a fist.

But a monotonous voice snapped her fist back down to her side. "Do you want this to turn into a fight?" Sasuke asked. His words hinted at another meaning; that he didn't want this to turn into a fight. Sakura glanced up at him, back at her perverted ex-sensei. She scowled a glower that reminded them all of the saying if looks could kill and crossed her arms. Sasuke risked a smirk at her. Then he turned to Kakashi, expression unreadable even to someone as familiar with him as Kakashi. "I've a proposition," he deadpanned as he sneaked a hand around Sakura's wrist. His onyx eyes were flat and he stared at the silver-haired copy-nin as if he weren't once the only family he'd known; as if he were only a stranger.

Kakashi blinked at him with his one visible eye. He'd never known Sasuke to be so…calm. Act first; think later—that's what he usually did, that's where he and Naruto were the same.

Naruto was the one to answer. "What kind of propo—pro—p—" Naruto couldn't say the word. He frowned, eyes crossing, at his traitorous tongue and asked instead, "What kind of proposal?"

Akamaru snarled and barked he was shushed by a pat on the head from Kiba. Shikamaru muttered his catchphrase under his breath, pretending to be calm. But who, in his position, would be calm? Honestly.

"The kind that stops you from worrying about my attacking Konoha." Sasuke offered them a smirk—a smirk. It was a sight they hadn't seen in years.

Naruto paused for a second, shocked. Maybe Sakura actually changed his point of view. Although how she got here was a mystery to him—one he intended to find out soon. Soon though, he returned the smirk with a kindhearted grin. "Well I'm all for it. Who's with me?" he asked. The back of his orange jumpsuit was facing his team soon enough; he was resting a hand on Sasuke's shoulder as if nothing had ever happened, smiling at him, trying to be his friend again like the old days, annoying the hell out of him.

Robāto didn't know what to do or what to feel. How long had it been since he'd seen or heard from his daughter? Far too long. Hate his daughter as he might—and he was starting to wonder if he really did hate her—he was her father; she was the fruit of his looms, of course he was worried. Mayhap he shouldn't have taught her as he did; mayhap she was too weak for that. It would have been better for him to have just grounded her or something weak like that. She would have learned.

But when did he every whip her for something she actually did? Sometimes, Robāto hated to admit, he would do it just because she reminded him too much of her mother, with those big green eyes of hers. Starved in this cell and caked in what he hoped was mud, he realized that. What if his father had treated him with as much hate as he had Sakura? Kami knows he wouldn't be the blacksmith he was.

The redheaded inmate stood from his concrete bed. He walked over to the dirty sink. It was caked in as much grime and mud as he was; the spigot was rusted over and smelled of drying blood like most old metals did. The metal was turning yellow where it wasn't rusty. Robāto frowned, glaring at his reflection in the yellowish mirror that the faucet created. Eyes of navy blue—dimmed by the gold of the faucet—glared back up at him; one of them had been beaten into a purplish color. It had been stupid of him to challenge a man twice his size—impossible as that may seem—but Robāto didn't see it as such. Someone insults him, he protects himself, even if he had his hands in manacles and feet in shackles—which he had, at the time.

The water rushed through the spigot and into his waiting palms. The water smelled just as bad as the oxidized faucet. Nevertheless, the pompous man splashed it up over his face, scrubbing away whatever grime he could. It wasn't much; the water was just as filthy.

"Shut that off, Red!" a rather girlish voice ordered. Robāto's cellmate was a pudgy small man, in jail for robbing the Yamanaka flower shop. His blue hair peeked from over the top bunk of the horrid beds. "Can't you see I want some peace and quite?"

Robāto turned the water pressure up higher. "Make me," he growled. There was no way in jigoku that a man half his size who was in jail for something as small as a robbing was going to make Haruno Robāto his mesu. The blue-haired cellmate hopped down, landing on his fat feet. He pulled back that chunky fist that looked like a small turkey and swung.

Robāto ducked, grinning an evil grin, and shouted for the guards. That same one that'd given him the first black eye days back came to his call. He gave a gust of air from his cheeks as he asked, "What, dipshits?" Really, the only reason he took this job was to make the lowest of the low feel like the lowest of the low. Why else? They deserved no better.

"He attacked me," Robāto simply said, sounding like the single haughtiest man in the history of snooty men—including nobles.

The guard rolled his eyes. "Not so tough now, with men, huh, shiri?" he barked. Robāto waited as the brunette fished out keys and unlocked the door. "C'mon."

Naruto squinted his eyes at the snakelike woman before him. "Don't I know you?" he asked, leaning forward in the chair. Kakashi, being the man that he was, had had only Shikamaru come with him into Sasuke's office, fearing that something about Sasuke's offer would offend Naruto in one way or another and risk the chance of him actually going through with it. He'd been forced to stay in the dinning room along with Sakura, who'd stayed of her own free choice and shocked Naruto with the fact that she'd been allowed to do whatever she pleased, two toddlers, a black-haired woman, and that snake-lady that reminded him of Orochimaru.

Sakura backhanded Naruto. The blonde rubbed the back of his head and pouted at her, while Sakura glared at him playfully. "That's my mom, Naruto," Sakura growled at him. "Sometimes I think you make all the blonde jokes completely true."

Naruto's pout turned into a gasp. "Why are you so cruel, Sakura-chan?" he whined.

Sakura stared at him, dumbfounded. "That's what you notice about that sentence, Naruto?" she asked, mouth ajar. Her jade eyes twitched lightly. "My mom is right next to you. My mother—best of the best, missing for four years—is next to you, and all you can say is that I'm mean?" The vein in her forehead was practically ready to pop.

Naruto gave her a wide-mouthed smile, sticking up two fingers in the international peace sign. His eyes all but sparkled in his innocence. "I'm just kidding, Sakura-chan!" he announced. Honestly, he was too overjoyed to be in the Sound's lair without being attacked by all who saw—to be inside Sasuke's secret home by mutual agreement, to not have to fight tooth and nail just to undoubtedly fail at getting him back, to not have a Chidori thrown at his face for simply existing—to be intimidated by Sakura's half-teasing anger. Team Seven's second reunion was like being on Cloud Nine to the blonde. He was ready to throw an arm around Sakura's shoulders and another around Sasuke's and just walk into the sunset like a cheesy chick-flick.

The Uzumaki shot a glance at Sakura's mother. The Orochimaru look-alike smiled nicely at him, a kind sparkle in her malachite eyes. "Hey, Naruto," she greeted him as if she were his own mother, comfortable and knowing. "Remember me?"

Naruto offered another of his overconfident smiles. "The cookie lady!" he instantly remembered. When he wasn't successful in forcing the team into going to Ichiraku, Sakura had forced them to go to her mother's because of her amazing chocolate cookies. Sakura's mother nodded. "Still make those amazing cookies?"

"Ask my son," Hebia offered, pointing to a head of closely-shaven brown hair. It was all the two Konoha ninja could see; Naruto because the boy was facing away, Kiba because his eyes were closed. "Burūsu, come here, baby," she called. The boy turned around and toddled over to his mother. He turned around to face the two visitors, green eyes wide in innocent question. The red streaks on his cheeks seemed even more scarlet now, itty-bitty doglike cuspids more visible in his open-mouthed smile. He gripped the skin of his mother's knee.

Naruto stared. A jabbed elbow at Kiba's ribs made the Inzuka's eyes open and narrow, staring at Naruto. "What the jigoku was that for, you blonde frog?" he shouted sharply. Naruto just pointed at Burūsu, his words jumping around in his throat, not quite coming out. "Uh…" Kiba said, staring just as wide-eyed as Naruto. "Who's that? And why does he look like my dad?"

Hebia's hands swooped down; she had Burūsu on her lap just as quickly as ever. Resting her black-haired head on her son's shoulder, she grabbed the boy's chubby arm and waved over to Kiba. "Kiba, say hello to Inzuka Burūsu," she said. Her green snake eyes peered up at the older boy's expression. His eyes were wide, his mouth ajar. "Te* is his father, too, Kiba."

Kiba's eyes widened even further, if that was physically possible. His mouth twitched. The change in his skin tone was obvious.

"Kiba-nī-kun," Burūsu called shyly. His green eyes were sad; Kiba obviously didn't accept him as Sakura had.

Sasuke's eyes showed no emotion. If they had, the only person who would have known to read it would have been Sakura. His onyx eyes were hooded and his mouth was in a loose line. He looked and sounded as if he were the most relaxed person in the world. He looked over the two in his office as if they were nothing more than a troop sent to spy on Konoha. Normal. Expected. Under control. He toyed with a pen in his hand as he looked over Kakashi.

"You can't be serious!" Kakashi shouted, black eyes wide. The perpetual lazy look in his eye was gone, replaced by disbelief and anger. He would have preferred a fight to this. "You—you—" he stuttered. The words were stuck in his mouth; his Adam's apple bobbed angrily. A growl vibrated through him from the very pit of his stomach. He knotted his hands into his silver hair, tugging on the fistfuls as if he wished he could rip them out. Another growl resounded, pointed up at the brown ceiling. Then the ex-sensei snapped his head down, stabbing his stare at Sasuke. "Sasuke, is there any other way? You can't seriously want me to ask Tsunade to do something like that!"

Sasuke just stared at him, unblinkingly. "Either this, or—"

Kakashi let out an angered, confused shout again. Either what he was propositioning, or an all out war. A war. Not just spying, not just trying and failing to burn down Konoha. A war. "I know," the silver-haired man barked. Sasuke's glare became pointed, but he held his tongue. He knew perfectly well what he was asking for, the problems it would cause. "But think it over! Think of the effects on the village! You can't expect me to do this!"

Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest. The sinews of his arms popped out from under his pale skin. The black of his sleeveless shirt made his skin pop, something he'd caught Sakura ogling at repeatedly, though he doubted she herself noticed. His perfect lips moved with deliberate ease. "The village no longer concerns me," he declared. "My concerns are the Sound, the Sand, and my team. However, I could cut the Sound out of the equation; I could make Konoha my concern. I could disband any and every teams against you. I could protect the Hidden Leaf Village. My only condition is—"

Kakashi pulled at his hair. "I know the imaimashī condition!" he shouted. There wasn't a way in jigoku he could stand to hear Sasuke name his circumstance again. He would have chosen to be beaten bloody and half-dead over this. Eternal protection from the last Uchiha, his team, and his village in return for one person. But he had to have chosen the one person that would have caused problems! One of the two people that would have been a complete and utter stop. It was so predictable of him. Kakashi took a deep breath. "I have to tell the Hokage before I do anything, Sasuke," Kakashi answered. His voice was so calm compared to the shaking, raw anger that characterized it before.

"I realize this," Sasuke answered as if he were talking to a diplomat. His voice was as calm as a rolling ocean. "I know how long it takes for messenger birds to fly from here to Konoha. You can stay here with us for that time, and longer if Tsunade wants. Rather, if she needs time to think it over. A week at longest." He emphasized the word "us," stabbing his condition further into Kakashi's mind.

Kakashi sighed. The surrender was clear. There was no winning this. The hideout was crawling with ninja. There was no way to grab Sakura and her mother—which he of course recognized—and run away with only minimal injuries. And that was implying that they wanted to go with them at all. If they didn't? The causalities were to be undoubtedly larger. "Give me a pen and paper," he said, running his hands through his hair.

Sasuke smirked. Victory was flowing through him like blood. He threw the pen he played with over his desktop. It spun on the surface and landed in Kakashi's waiting hand. "Need a hawk?" he offered. Normal messenger birds were so much slower than his hawk.

Kakashi pressed his lips together. "How fast are they?" He didn't know if he was asking because he wanted to prolong the answer, or be put out of the torturous suspense. The pen ran over paper, making a scribbling sound.

Sasuke smirked proudly. It almost shocked Kakashi how much Sasuke was showing emotion; then he remembered that Sasuke had been spending the last week or so with Sakura, and that Sakura looked much happier now too. "Travel time's half that of a pidgin," he stated. Kakashi nodded, rolling the page up and taking a ribbon from Sasuke. He made a knot that would take years or a pair a scissors to undo and put it on Sasuke's desk. The Uchiha took it with a smirk and a sparkle in his eyes. "I'll send it out." He nodded at the door. "Go catch up with Sakura."

There was no need to say why, no need to remind him that not much could have happened in a week. Although his request said otherwise.

Kakashi left, followed by the silent Shikamaru. Outrage was obvious in the way the shadow ninja stamped his walk. Sasuke set to sending the message.

Sakura shook her leg, tapping it on the stone floor, and scooped up Burūsu, making him burry his face into her pink hair. She stared at Kiba. "He's a good kid, Kiba. Really good," she said, threading her hand through her brother's black hair. The small Inzuka glanced at Kiba.

Hebia chewed on the inside of her lip. "I know the way he came here isn't very pleasing," she said, swallowing. What if Kiba hated Burūsu? What if he didn't so much as give the boy a chance? She didn't know Kiba as well as she did Sakura; there was nothing connecting her to the boy other than her drunken one-night stand with his father. She didn't have a clue what he'd do.

Burūsu struggled in his sister's grip.

One of the silent onlookers spoke up. It was the huge one with the orange hair. The one on file called Jūgo. "He's wonderful to have around," he vouched. His voice was low and gravely, strong and unsure.

Kiba stared at the kid's green eyes. Hebia's green eyes. This was why his mother had left Te.

"Stop being such a prick, Kiba!" Naruto shouted. It took him all he had to not slap the tracker upside the head like Sakura had just minutes ago. "If I had an unknown little brother, Kami knows I'd be all over the midget," he said. "Stop being such a wuss." The blonde stood up, walking over to the boy hidden in Sakura's arms. "Aren't there two kids here? Does Burūsu have a brother?" He peered over the Spanish-looking woman who watched over the other one. He stopped dead. "Has Itachi been reborn?"

"No," a familiar voice droned. Sasuke rested a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "That's my nephew."

Naruto's jaw almost dropped to the floor. "Holy cheese sticks!" he shouted so loud it echoed. "There are babies left and right today, aren't there? Imaimashī, Sasuke, next you're going to tell me that redhead Karin chick's having your baby!"

Sakura let the struggling child in her arms go and crossed her arms as Burūsu walked over to his shocked half-brother. "Over my dead body," Sakura snorted.

"Still?" Naruto asked, pursing his lips. He'd always known Sakura was still head over heels for Sasuke, even during that short time she tried to date him; he just hadn't known she'd be so eager to admit it.

A smirk blessed Sasuke's features. In a rare bout of public affection, he swooped down to lay a kiss on Sakura's forehead. Their second of many, had it been up to him.

Burūsu pulled on Kiba's pants. A pair of thin black pupils with black irises looked down at him. "Don't you like me, Nī-kun?" His voice was innocent and soft. He was only looking for acceptance.

Kiba stared. Red birthmarks. Red birthmarks. Red birthmarks crossing down his cheeks. Down his cheeks, red birthmarks.

"Nī-kun?"

Kiba ran a hand through his brown hair. He sighed as he looked down at the little boy. He'd never been called Nī-kun before. The boy pursed his lips; saltwater filled his jade eyes. "Oh," Kiba sighed again, flying down to pick up Burūsu. "You are just the cutest."

"Feeling better, Karin?"

The redhead in question sniffled and rubbed a hand under her nose. "Yeah," she said. Karin lifted her head from Suigetsu's lap. She'd rested it there long ago, unthinkingly. Now, the proximity of Suigetsu himself was making her blush. When did that happen? "You think we should go check up on them?"

Suigetsu put his hands on Karin's messy hair. He pushed her down lightly back onto his lap. "Nah," he answered, shrugging. "They're fine." With his fingers, he set to work on the knots in her scarlet hair. "Twenty questions?"

Karin closed her red eyes at the feel of Suigetsu's fingers in her hair. "Mhmm," she murmured.

Suigetsu smiled, readying the most embarrassing questions in his mind.

Teme—bastard, which Naruto calls Sasuke, duh

Dobe—loser, which of course Sasuke calls Naruto, d to the uh

Mesu—bitch

Te—manus (another word for fang)

Imaimashī—damn(ed)

What do you think is Sasuke's condition? How's the story coming along?

R&R!