For the better part of the rest of the day Naruto made sure to stay clear of the hotel and Sasuke. It wasn't that he wasn't worried about Sasuke or that he didn't care, but he was nearly certain that Sasuke wouldn't be lacking someone to take care of him. Sakura, he guessed, had gone back to check in on Sasuke as soon as she could and then she would be able to better assess whether he would need someone anymore. Besides, right now Naruto had better things he could be doing, or at least had bigger things on his mind right now.

Naruto sat in a tree on the edge of town and watched the people roam through the quiet park. Here things seemed peaceful, a contrast to the hustling streets in the shops. Usually Naruto found himself in the middle of the jostle or the one causing it, but today Naruto felt he needed to get away and find sometime to think about things, something people assumed he rarely did, but was becoming more accustomed to.

A group of kids ran chasing a ball near where Naruto was sitting in the tree and Naruto put a hold to his thoughts about this vacation and watched them for a while. The tallest boy who was in control of the ball had a bit of a cocky attitude as the kids gathered around to pick teams for their game. All of the girls stood off to the side giggling about something and looking at the boy, Naruto didn't have to think very hard to guess why they were giggling. Yep, this boy was definitely a miniature Sasuke in the making, or at least minus the revenge and hatred part.

Naruto frowned to himself recalling all that Sasuke said and all the signs he gave that he would eventually leave to fulfill his revenge. Maybe if they had only tried harder, if they had done something before Sasuke had left… Anything! But Naruto only sighed realizing again that what had happened couldn't be changed no matter how many times Naruto thought about it. He had had this conversation with himself more times than he could count over the years, and had even been plague by a few nightmares as well, but nothing ever amounted to anything that brought Sasuke back. Luckily though, this time Naruto could let the conversation go knowing that Sasuke was back with them and no longer absent from their lives.

Finally after a few moments of quiet argument in the group of girls, one girl finally emerged from the rest and walked up to the boy with the ball. After a bit of blushing and giggling to herself the girl finally found her voice and asked if she could be on the boy's team. There weren't even seconds between her asking and his harsh and quick reply of "No." The girl immediately deflated and dropped her head.

Naruto had seen this time and time again when he was younger and Team 7 was still genin. All the times Sasuke had shot down Sakura and the way she looked after, while he didn't care. Naruto clenched his fist a little and resisted the urge to jump down and go knock some sense into the boy. How could he be so cold and just act like the girl didn't matter? Didn't he know what the girl would go through to bring him back, and how much she cared about him?! Didn't he realize all the sleepless nights he would put her through and the pain his absence caused her? Or that after years of rejecting her that he would finally realize that maybe he really did care about that girl, more than he thought and suddenly want her love after years of squashing it!? About all the time he wasted being a cold hearted jerk when he could have spent that time learning to actually live?

Naruto let out the breath he had been holding and released the ball his fist had been in. He was no longer thinking about the silly kids below him, but rather Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto shook his head; that wasn't his problem anymore, whatever happened between them despite the past was up to them and he was staying out of it, or at least as much as possible. But if Sasuke needed a good beating to set his head straight on the matter, Naruto was more than glad to lend his hand.

The little girl apologized to the boy for being so silly and began to shuffle back to the other girls. Naruto watched the boy. At first he seemed to just shrug her off as if she was nothing, but Naruto saw his eyes linger over to her as she began to walk away. Naruto could tell the boy was thinking things over in his head about what to do, how to assess the situation. And finally, looking a little guilty for being so mean, the boy sighed and called over to the girl. She turned, half fearful thinking that he might say something mean or be mad, but he just looked at her and gave a smirk very reminiscent of Sasuke's when they were younger and told her that if she really wanted she could be on his team, he guessed. Of course the little girl immediately perked back up and smiled, nodding happily. The boy just sighed as she ran back to the other girls and shook his head.

Naruto was more content now with how things turned out and how the boy sucked up his ego and actually did something nice. Maybe, though Naruto was stretching it a bit, this meant that Sasuke would actually realize he was wrong and let Sakura join his team. Or really, Naruto thought smirking to himself how easily he was getting these two situations mixed up due to their similarity, accept Sakura into his life this time. Alhough, Naruto was already beginning to see this happen. Unless Sasuke really screwed something up big, it looked as though he and Sakura actually had a chance this time, now that he was over his whole revenge thing.

Enjoying the breeze and the blast to the past, Naruto settled in to watch the ball game, or at least he planned to until another familiar character came tripping into the scene. The boy, clad in a bright and obnoxious rusty orange outfit, quickly jumped up and rubbed his head sheepishly while laughing at his clumsiness before heading over to where the boy stood with the ball. Naruto didn't need to think twice before he realized who this kid represented, and not wanting to see how he actually played into things, Naruto jumped out of the tree and walked the other way. Part of Naruto didn't want to see how the poor kid was ostracized by the group, having already lived it, and he figured maybe if he didn't watch the group, the boy wouldn't suffer the same fate.

After not being able to accomplish what he had initially set out to do, Naruto decided he had avoided interrupting Sasuke and Sakura enough and began to walk back towards the hotel. Really, Naruto had gotten away so he would have time to figure out what was going on with this vacation. At first he had whole heartedly believed that is was indeed a vacation. He figured that Tsunade had to at least have some piece of a heart somewhere and was actually treating them to a trip to get Sasuke back into the group. But now, after the strange events that had occurred since arriving at this village, he was having second thoughts. Tsunade wasn't sending them out on a vacation, but this wasn't a mission either. She had some reason for getting them away from the village and Naruto had a feeling he knew what it was.

Naruto was a little angry that he was kept in the dark about this whole thing, whatever it was, while everyone else seemed to know about it. Even Sasuke. Of course this wasn't very surprising, since Naruto figured their reason for leaving also had something to do with Sasuke or information he had. It would be too coincidental that the week Sasuke comes back, Team 7 suddenly needs to disappear for a while. Something was up, and now Naruto was determined to figure out exactly what it was when he got back to Kakashi Sensei.

As Naruto passed the front desk and then the gift shop, his stomach growled. Naruto frowned a little since he had just eaten lunch, but after looking at the large clock on the wall in the lobby, he discovered that lunch had been over four hours ago. Had he really been at the park that long? He hadn't meant to, but at least now it was dinnertime and he could get some more food.

Ooo

Sasuke squinted his eyes tighter shut as a ray of sun fell through his room and landed on his face. At first he tried batting away the pesky beams of light as sleep still partially consumed him, before he became lucid enough to realize that he couldn't push away light. Sighing, which quickly turned into a yawn, Sasuke tried to roll over to avoid the disturbance. However, he quickly realized that something was preventing him from doing so. Trying to fight sleep, but not quite ready to wake up yet, Sasuke tried to mentally check his body over to find the source of the problem. He could move his right arm and his legs, but there was something laying on his chest and partially immobilizing his left arm. Too groggy to remember exactly where he was, Sasuke hoped that he was not in some prison somewhere or pinned underneath something. Not that he was in pain or anything, in fact, he was actually quite comfortable and whatever was on top of him was quite warm and smelled good, like cherry blossoms…

Finally something clicked and Sasuke realized where he was and that the thing on top of him wasn't actually a thing but rather a sleeping girl with pink hair and an intoxicating aroma. Sasuke opened one eye and looked down at Sakura. Her head was laying on Sasuke's chest and she was in the crook of his arm sound asleep. Her left arm lay across him and her hand lingered gently near Sasuke's collar bone, barely brushing his skin. Sasuke smiled remembering now how she got there and how pretty and peaceful she looked sleeping. Her breath came slowly but steadily as her chest rose and fell. Sakura had obviously not been bothered by the sun since she was facing Sasuke and showed no signs of waking up anytime soon. This of course didn't bother Sasuke, as he was just as content to stay as they were and keep her in his arms that much longer.

Sasuke had slept soundly, with no dreams to speak of, which was a relief for him after the last one he had. He also felt better, his strength had returned to him and he couldn't find any of the previous signs of having a cold. Sasuke wondered whether it had been Sakura's medicine that had made him better, or just Sakura herself. Whatever it was, he was quite sure it had something to do with her nonetheless.

Content where he was, and still able to sleep, Sasuke shut his eyes again and leaned his head against the top of Sakura's, letting the smell of her hair lull him to sleep again. He probably would have been able to fall asleep again in the peacefulness of everything, had Sasuke not heard the door to his room slide open.

A/N: Sorry again, updates are coming farther apart and it is becoming more difficult for me to find time to do anything anymore let alone write. But just know that no longer how long it takes me to write the rest of this story, it will be finished and I won't just leave it hanging, because I hate it when I am reading a story I like and then someone just stops writing it. It sucks. Anyways, a little bit shorter but it was either short or I don't know when the next update would be. Sorry again and thanks for your patience!!!

Brittney