A.N/: Sorry guys, this took sooo long...The last few weeks have been...intense. It didn't help that I had a temporary format problem to upload documents on here...Anyways, thank you so much for reading this story to the end and enjoy the last chapter of Fly Away!


FLY AWAY - Chapter 43

Guuren

The whole population of Konoha knew by now that its Hokage and one of its former most valuable jounins had a very strange habit of challenging each other in the most ridiculous ways. As of today, civilians would have a new tale to tell after they had seen said pair racing through the streets, one hopping on one foot as though contaminated by saint Vitus' dance, the other maneuvering his wheelchair like a rally pilot, leaving thick clouds of dust in his trail. This day officially marked Might Guy's 150th victory, and therefore had to be celebrated with the quality sake left by Kakashi's predecessor in one of the hidden cabinets in the Hokage's office.

However, the sharp ended sword instantly put at the silver haired man's neck when he opened the door could hardly fit in the festivities.

"Where is she." The attacker had a peculiar pair of somber crimson irises that Kakashi recognized immediately.

"Sasuke" he would have sighed once his initial shock was overcome but kept his voice in a stern baritone in front of his former –menacing, seething, oozing out murderous intent- student. "Nice seeing you again too. Always so friendly and pleasant as I see."

"Don't make me repeat myself."

Stone-faced under his mask, Kakashi set his palm on the flat of his pupil's blade, applying enough pressure to make him understand that the show was too much, not nearly intimidating in his eyes. The Sixth Hokage bypassed the katana as Sasuke lowered it at last, though he made no move to sheath it back into its holster. Reaching his desk with a perplex Guy at his heels, Kakashi finally sat and could take a good look at his former pupil. In ten months, Sasuke's raven hair had grown even longer, bangs cast aside to cover his left eye completely. The old, threadbare poncho which had become a trademark outfit of his was no more, replaced now by a more classic, hooded black cloak which appeared slightly damp, barely just drying off –a tell-tale sign of Sasuke's recent arrival, as rain clouds had been spotted about an hour ago near Konoha. Apart from those details, the sweat on the young man's forehead as well as the ire and restless tension present in his eyes hit Kakashi with familiar –unpleasant- memories.

The silver haired man placed his elbows on his desk, clasping his hands to lean his chin on them "Sakura is probably working at the hospital at this time. I'm actually surprised that you would choose to pay me a visit first instead of heading straight to your sweethea-"

"What about him?"

Sasuke's stone hard expression remained unchanged as he uttered these three callous words. A silver eyebrow raised up, though Kakashi's tone could have as well suggested that they were conversing about the weather.

"Be a bit clearer," he prodded, clinical "Is it Naruto you're looking for? Now that he is a marr-"

"Tell me where you keep Orochimaru" Sasuke cut in harshly.

"Ha" it was Guy who had huffed at his rival's side. He cut into the conversation using a fatherly tone, like he would address the members of his old team of genins "It might not be a good idea to give you this information, especially when you still have to make the most of your youth!"

"I would have said you just wanted to know so you could make that man suffer the most painful of deaths without even caring for the village's interests or what he had to offer, but that's another way to put it, thanks Guy" Kakashi completed his friend's innuendo, receiving a sparkly 'good guy pose' in return. His eyes had narrowed more now; it was the second time Sasuke interrupted one of his cynical speeches and he was determined not to suffer a third occurrence. Wereas teeth white, sharp and bared, the young Uchiha's appearance seemed that of a starved, wild wolf, snarling almost, with the rain clinging to his dark cloak like a second skin. His sword trembled as his knuckles turned white around it, gripping fiercely –but its wielder took note of this the next instant and rashly moved his arm to shake it off. Obviously aggravated to a whole different level than his old sensei, Sasuke was clearly unable to conceal his edginess above all –quite a sight for Kakashi who could not recall such an event ever since he had deserted the village as a boy.

"Do I have to remind you what you normally risk for coming in here and threatening me with a weapon?" The Sixth Hokage asked placidly "…And presumably knocking out the Anbu agents who are guarding this place as well" he added as an afterthought. In this situation, it seemed he was put in a middle school headmaster's shoes to scold a disobedient student; but Sasuke had gone past what meaning the word 'disobedient' could convey long ago only to come back in line after the war, so what was this sudden regression for? Kakashi couldn't place why he –the collected one out of his three pupils- would act so carelessly, though surely enough, the glints of burning red in the last Uchiha's eyes showed clearly as daylight that he wasn't about to back down. Yet.

"Why did you allow Orochimaru in the village?" Sasuke spoke in a hurry.

"I'm the Hokage. I have the right to do that, you know. But I'm happy that you're concerned about my motives at least. It shows that you're not just acting on-"

"Just ANSWER ME!"

Sasuke had stepped up in front of the desk, his glare fixed onto the silver haired man's not so bored gaze –his eyes had widened in that instant, shocked by the unexpected outburst. The raven haired shinobi was trying to burn the Hokage alive by sheer will, but Kakashi noted this as well: why was Sasuke not threatening him with the mangekyou sharingan instead, if his intent was truly to immolate him on the spot?

Kakashi wouldn't reply by a plain 'no' however, because he considered himself smarter than that; and so he waited for the ten seconds it took Sasuke to growl in ire and whirl around towards the door. Careless indeed: how would Uchiha Sasuke in his correct mind barge into the Hokage's office to interrogate the man without a plan or so much as leverage to make him speak? He was in no position to threaten Kakashi. But the young man stopped about two steps away from the desk.

"Don't you realize how absurd this is!? He could destroy Konoha right now, whenever he wants to! A few chains won't stop him!"

Kakashi had a hard time remembering a time when his former pupil had last been so vehement, but ever so collected he answered "Chakra-controlling bands can help. You wouldn't imagine how fast the scientists here managed to perfect their technologies."

"That wouldn't work on him and you know it."

"Then tell me why in the week it took you to get here Orochimaru didn't attempt anything? It would have been smarter of him, don't you think?" Snide eyes turned sour as the older man looked with unhidden annoyance at the Uchiha. "I'm beginning to wonder, Sasuke: what's wrong? Are you scared… or maybe you're hiding another of your slip-ups? Just tell me so we can clean up the mess for you again, if you want."

Kakashi didn't miss the tightening of the younger shinobi's jaw.

"I just can't stay idle when the Hokage puts the whole village in danger!" Sasuke bellowed "I swore to protect it! You swore to protect it, so let me see Orochimaru and end this! It won't matter much to the villagers if I'm the executioner."

Unfazed by his pupil's tone, Kakashi maintained his voice composedly low "Is it the village or your personal interest you are trying to protect? Careful child, I think I'm starting to put the pieces together…"

The village. 'Care' would not be the word to describe Sasuke's feelings about it. He was bound to his treacherous hometown by duty: his affiliation to it as Leaf shinobi, his repentance after the war and mostly his brother Itachi's legacy kept Sasuke's roots there, although the former hatred he had nurtured for a rotten shinobi system led by the Leaf council whose trial had not yet issued a final verdict was hard to completely extinguish. In fact, knowing the nature of an Uchiha's heart, it was hard to believe he would ever completely forgive the village and what it had done to him and his kindred. However, if only one thing had the power to change the underlying torture of Sasuke's presence on these formerly hostile grounds, it was those he loved. Naruto and Sakura could keep him here without a thought about hard feelings. His home and even his hopes rested in them. But all Orochimaru ever wanted was to observe, to create ripples on the surface of a calm pound to bring about chaos. He had already tried to take Sakura away once; as for Naruto, he simply had to lay hands on his wife to have him at his mercy. So even if measures had been taken, even if he had to threaten the Hokage himself and fight a hundred anbu, the slightest chance to have his precious people hurt was clearly not a possibility to Sasuke, this Kakashi could read into his burning eyes like in an open book.

Sasuke's grip on his sword suddenly relaxed; he would have let out a sigh as he sheathed the blade back into its hostler but remained silent as stone, bangs shielding his gaze. Once he looked up, his expression bared the emptiness of transparent glass, unreadable but cold and sharp to anyone who might want to touch it. The shouts of before were nothing like the blizzard wind blowing in his next emotionless sentences.

"I want to protect her. In order to do so, I need to talk to him. Then you'll choose if I was right or not to want to kill him."

~O~

Foolishly, the little smitten girl still present in her had expected pure, unadulterated love to carry her feet to where he was the day of his return. Sakura would have ran into his arms for all she cared about a possible –probable- audience, lock her arms behind his neck and her slightly tear-filled gaze into his staggered, but happy one; and happy she would have been, waiting no longer to plant a feverish kiss to his lips. But no, the moron just had to blow all of her fantasies away and make her go all the way to a top secret prison facility hidden under the Hokage monument on the first day of his return. Worse yet, she hadn't been alone when Kakashi had flippantly informed her of her fiancé's recent arrival. "You missed him by five minutes" He had said, watching her unceremoniously drop all her painfully organized paperwork to the floor. Thoughts of reporting the new advance on the Children Healthcare wards all around the country just flew out the window with those six words, only Suigetsu's thoughtless snickering, Karin's loud and physical reprimand to the chuckling swordsman and the sight of Juugo helping Kakashi's bespectacled secretary pick up the stacks of paper suddenly reminded her why Sasuke had suddenly decided to return without so much as a letter in forewarning.

So without bothering to ask, Sakura bolted out of the Hokage's office with her three companions following in tow, deep, true annoyance guiding her footsteps.

"Dang it! Would you slow down a little!" Suigetsu complained as the three former Taka members had to jog to catch up to Sakura in the stairs down the Hokage tower. "We don't really wanna follow you like puppies in the first place so-"

"Shut up, Suigetsu!" Karin cut in, now meeting Sakura's strides beside her.

"What!? It's true! You know as well as I do that we're toast if we're seen without our 'guard' in this stupid village!" The swordsman shot back, clicking his tongue as he fell into place behind the girls. He cast his gaze to the ground on his right huffily "Damn, I almost miss living in that old hag's house back in the middle of nowhere…"

"They treated you well there…" Juugo let out without really caring if he was heard or not.

"Ha! You're kidding!?"

Two slaps that landed into water later, the three's bickering came to an end –Sakura hadn't cared for it very much anyways, but still. At the entrance of the camouflaged tunnel that led to the prison, she sensed –not found- two guards in the vicinity. When they descended from the trees they were hiding in, Sakura deciphered a peculiar glint in their eyes, something that showed, along with the sweat running down one's temple, that they both had yet to recover from a recent event which from her best guess, could only involve an extremely pissed legendary shinobi. Showing them Kakashi's previously given recommendation, she descended into the depths of the tunnel with her companions. The silence now caging them oppressed Sakura's thought-filled head: what would she say to Sasuke when she saw him? What would she do? How would he react after all this time? Escorted by a new guard, they meandered for an unknown amount of time in earthy tunnels. This prison had been constructed after the war to hold the most dangerous criminals captured in the Fire Country. It was therefore constructed like a maze of mole tunnels and burrows to disorient even the most skilled of trackers, for only with a map did the anbu guard manage to guide the party of four deeper under the boisterous town on the surface.

"I can sense Sasuke's chakra" Karin said sternly, turning to Sakura. "He's just up ahead."

"Hm" Sakura nodded. For once it seemed that the strength needed to form words had left her. It was true after all, she had to focus her energy on her next acti-

There was a clacking sound in the air and she raised her gaze; fifteen feet away she found a thunderstruck Uchiha whirling around, his long midnight cloak waving behind him with the sound of a raven's black wings preparing to take off. What she saw in his mismatched purple and red eyes instead of the apathetic gaze of said bird though, was genuine horror.

"Get out of here now!" Sasuke shouted –his first words to her in ten months.

A maniacal laughter echoed against the walls then, ragged, breathy, venomous, smug almost, like she never wanted to hear again. Sasuke cast a wary glance at his former interlocutor before his wide eyes returned to Sakura's. Seeing him like this, she couldn't help regretting her choice to come here. Now Sasuke would break a fuse, threaten the snake sannin with a lightning blade and destroy all the trust he had managed to gain back from the village authorities… As it turned out, she ended up as useful as a twelve year old good for nothing and whiny kunoichi.

"My, Sasuke-kun!" the throaty, invisible voice surged again, stifling its chuckles for a moment only "To think I would see that gorgeous expression of pure terror on your face again! It makes me nostalgic…I almost want to kill her right now, to see how you would look then. How about it, Suigetsu, Juugo?"

The two men behind Sakura started, so much that the swordsman spilled the juice he had tensely been holding before his lips. A shiver like a running centipede ran down her spine but she knew better than to worry; having somehow won Suigetsu's 'comradeship' and offered psychological assistance to Juugo, helping him with his mental disorders and introducing him to Naruto who could help him learn how to control senjutsu chakra, she was certain that neither of them would want to harm her. If anything, Sasuke's dark aura dissuaded them best.

"No" the deep sound vibrated against the tunnel. "No you won't." Sasuke repeated.

That sick laughter sprung again from the snake's throat, making Sakura wince. She only noticed when he was by her side, gaze fixed straight ahead, that Sasuke had made his way to her, the stunned anbu guard and the members of Taka. Without a word he grabbed the pink haired girl by the elbow and led them all out of the prison, the sound of madness soon disappearing in the darkness behind them.

~O~

Sakura had forgotten how to deal with awkward silences, so when they reached her apartment and Sasuke drifted towards her couch with the swiftness of a ghost, she found nothing to tell him at all.

They had been in luck to find Naruto at his home to drop off Juugo and Suigetsu, though the blond had not wasted any second to jump at his best friend's throat the moment he appeared at his door with Sakura and the former members of Taka. Treasures of diplomacy had been employed to dissuade him from killing Sasuke on the spot for missing his very own best pal's wedding, but it had been Juugo who came in to save the day by having another one of his fits which the others had had to take care of before things got out of hand. In the end, Naruto had let them off with nervously twitching eyebrows, saying "Don't think this conversation is over, young man" like a father would scold his disobedient son (being the first married man of his generation gave him the illusion of possessing some kind of maturity). Sasuke, of course, had left unperturbed.

Karin accompanied the couple back to Sakura's apartment, chatting with her as though the brooding Uchiha wasn't practically oozing dark vibes a short way ahead of them. Once they arrived, she paused by the corridor at the end of the living room leading to Sakura's bedroom.

"I'll gather my things so I can move to that blond's place by tonight." Though she spoke those words almost in reproach, Sakura took them as the kind offering of an opportunity to converse with Sasuke at last. Nodding to the red-head, she watched her disappear behind the bedroom door before turning back to the Uchiha on her couch, now perfectly alone but not so at ease with her conflicting emotions just yet.

Her first idea was to go make tea; then she remembered how he always preferred coffee without sugar but was probably still stressed from earlier events. He didn't need caffeine to add more pressure onto his shoulders or her worries about why he had gone directly to their worst enemy upon his return and why he still wouldn't speak a word… In fact, if she could alleviate his burden a bit, it would be all she could ask for; so Sakura set to work by sitting down on the couch and, when she found the courage, scooting closer to him. To test the waters after such a long time apart, she placed a hand on his knee.

"I-I…I'm sorry I made you worry earlier. I realize now how stupid it was of me to follow you down there in that prison…" Her voice was low, hopefully soothing, definitely honest. "It's silly but…" she let out a little laugh and squeezed the fabric above his knee a little. "I just wanted to see you so bad…"

'Now, now, you're getting cheesy, girl' commented Inner-Sakura. The outer one responded with a pink blush while Sasuke was still in deep observation of his knees, dark hair partly hiding his blank expression. Indeed, it felt so good to have him right there next to her again that even his silence could content her; which it did, once she subconsciously moved to lean against his shoulder. So simple: she had missed this.

Words broke past his lips as his hand moved to join hers on his leg and he told her all about the past months, what she had missed, what he couldn't write in his letters, what she had had to guess.

He had trained under Mifune in the Iron Country for a time, which had not only enabled him to enhance his swordsmanship, but also proved extremely enriching as the samurai lord had lived long and fought numerous battles he could tell Sasuke about, whereas his previous master Orochimaru had never found the time or will to do so. He had learned of the ways of honor during a fight, how a sword did not only serve to kill…principles he had forgotten before. Nearly three month after his run in with the samurais, he had left with what he believed a new found maturity which he had not been able to acquire with Sakura at his side. While her presence had soothed him in numerous occasions such as on their second visit in Suiden, he had not been alone to deal with hostility unlike in the Iron. There, he had fought much harder on his own thanks to the confidence she had provided him. He had departed the samurai fortress as a companion in arms, not a criminal or a shinobi from a different world.

She guessed, although he would not bear to add any detail, that this incessant fighting to prove his good-will to Uchiha-hostile people had caused him to ask for remedies in every letter he had sent her and hence probably injured him more importantly than in other circumstances. For this reason, she insisted he took his shirt off so she could inspect him right here, right now. Naturally, he declined at first but had to concede once she tackled him on the couch and started pulling the bottom of his black shirt up using her teeth while she pinned his only wrist up next to his head –after all, Karin was just in the other room.

They sat up again and Sakura brushed her thumb against a pink spot under Sasuke's ribs, large, like a blade had been twisted there. "You got new ones, huh…" she sighed before her palms started glowing green.

"Hn…" He didn't expect her to look proud before the glaring evidence of more than one of his near-death experiences. He wouldn't have thought her likely to cry either, and she didn't. As her green palm skimmed over his skin to ease, if not erase the marks there, her expression was that of a clinical doctor…Since when did she not blush at the sight of him bare-chest? He shook his head.

"Please, don't move" she instructed when he shifted a bit to find a more comfortable position with her leaning over his lap on the couch.

The silence that preceded his next words startled her all the more. "I discovered a new power."

Without a word, Sakura looked up with genuine curiosity at his blank expression. Sasuke brought a hand up to the longer bangs on the left side of his face. He parted them to uncover his closed eye under Sakura's childlike, attentive gaze. When he opened it, the medic couldn't help her surprise as her gaze was met by bare circles in his rinnegan.

"Why are there no tomoes?" She asked gingerly.

"I had saved up my energy but I used most of it to intimidate Orochimaru. I still haven't figured the exact time lapse it takes to load it fully again."

"Load what?"

"My dimension-crossing jutsu."

The flabbergasted look on Sakura's face prodded him to explain further. He had been in a bind again. Facing off with a kind of Doton master he had only seen once –sand-masters like Gaara- on the road back from a village at the north of Suna, Sasuke had been cornered: injured, deprived of his sword, without the means to escape in the desert and fighting in the heat of the afternoon, he had had nowhere to hide. The instant a spear was about to strike him between the eyes, he had found himself in a lunar landscape, bathed in ethereal moonlight. The reminder of Kaguya's instantly summoned dimensions was too strong for him not draw the most obvious and accurate conclusion that he had just traveled further than ever before. He had managed to make it back to their world after two days of helpless wandering, wounding up north in Sound because of lacking experience with this new ability. Thankfully for him, this land had been administrated by the Five Shinobi Nations ever since the war and he had had no trouble making his way back to the Fire from there after receiving Sakura's last letter.

"Orochimaru asked me about it earlier" Sasuke continued his tale "He said he learned about this doujutsu during his time in the Akatsuki and researched it further. What he told me…It only encouraged me to pursue my own research."

Sakura's gaze had never left his "Can I ask you what kind of research?"

Sasuke tilted his head aside "I can't do it just yet. Don't worry about it."

"Hmm hmm…" the kunoichi lowered her head a little to hide her pout. Sitting back down on her knees next to him, she left silence to accompany her thoughts. Clearly, Sasuke had opened up to her a great deal; it was even more flattering to know she was the first aware of his new discoveries, or at least, the beginning of his discoveries. A reminder –if ever she needed any- for why she wore this pink diamond on her finger.

"Sakura…"

In spite of herself, a shiver ran up her spine at the sound of her name rolling off his tongue like that. She was supposed to be twenty-one years old and a mature, engaged woman but damn, did this ring well in her ears.

So she turned to him, outwardly composed, and Inner-Sakura wanting nothing more than to smirk seductively back at him. 'Hush!' she told herself before a dark blush could bloom on her cheeks at the thought of what such act could imply. But Sasuke had this dazzling expression on his face, the relaxed one, not quite smiling yet nor quite empty of emotion either. It was in his eyes, now obsidian, the lightest mirth dancing in their depth behind slight melancholy. Sakura feared they would double the effect of his deep voice on her if he dared speak while keeping eye-contact. For the worst (or the best?) he did.

"Before…Some years ago I mean…" was he speaking slowly from embarrassment or just trying to trick her? Neither seemed like him to Sakura. "…You'd have already asked me for a kiss by now."

On second thought, this straightforwardness screamed 'SASUKE' right at her face, but then again it didn't alter the effect of his words on Sakura in the slightest: a blushing, stuttering mess before him she answered awkwardly "H-haha! Y-yeah, true but…It's no longer like…I mean! I'm still…with you! But err…and I'm 'mature' now 'cause…you…"

"Sakura" How could he say her name like that every time! How could he peer into her soul so easily just from one look? She was supposed to become his wife soon, be there by his side as the perfect Uchiha lady! From what she had heard about his late mother Mikoto, she still had a lot of work to do on the 'collected' part of the job and there he was, reducing her to a flushed puddle of goo! How dare h-

"Kiss me."

Sakura had to blink more than twice before he captured her senses by cupping her chin with his hand. This instant, her hesitation and her silly pretensions flew out the window 'On seco- third thought, that sounds like a great idea.'

~O~

Kizashi and Mebuki's faces when they had learned about their daughter's departure and wedding had been a sight to see. Especially with the added detail of the event not taking place in Konoha but in Suna, hundreds of kilometers away from home, and in a few days at most. Kizashi was on the verge of tears; Mebuki stared at Sasuke as though he were a robber. By all criteria, one day's forewarning wasn't nearly suitable before the young couple's departure. But regardless –or at least for good measure- the Haruno couple along with the newly-wed Uzumakis assembled at the large gates of Konoha on that day nearing the end of April.

Naruto was still in the midst of scolding Sasuke for not fulfilling his best-friend duties at his wedding and promising that he, on the other hand, would not disappoint in making his two teammates' wedding in Suna as noisy as possible –a paradoxical maneuver which could only be called sweet revenge. Sakura too had had to explain the situation to Ino but the blonde had been in a huff the last time she saw her. Sasuke had insisted that they left Konoha for at least as long as Orochimaru's trial and imprisonment in the village lasted and the medic could only accept his offer in order to keep her promise, the one she had made him shortly before they got engaged. She hoped her oldest friend would forgive her with time.

"You'll see, teme, the whole country, no, the whole five shinobi nations will be talking about you guys' wedding, I'll make sure of that!" Naruto winked evilly at his stoic 'best friend' who looked on the verge of choking him on the spot. Hinata, who stood spectator to the scene beside her husband, surely would not have been too surprised if that happened.

"Hum hum" the woman clearing her throat next to the two young men managed to gain their attention on a second try, the Uchiha suddenly looking a bit tenser to Sakura's trained eyes as he recognized Mebuki Haruno with her husband standing behind her.

"We'd like a word with you, please" said Kizashi, hoping to possess the imposingness of a serious, Uchiha-like, cold tone but unescapably sounding shy in front of the young man who stood more than a foot taller than him. Sasuke, as per usual, merely nodded, prompting the more courageous Mebuki to carry on.

"You see, Sasuke, we only heard about your proposing to Sakura after you were gone…" She cast a knowing glance at her daughter behind them to which she responded by a sheepish grin, implying they had already discussed this matter. Her gaze returned to the raven haired shinobi "…Kizashi and I aren't really the 'traditional' kind of in laws, but we would actually appreciate it if you could talk to us as well, not just Sakura."

Said medic panicked at these words. In three hasty steps she was at the center of debates, ready to actively take part in the conversation "Mom, you can't ask him that so casually! Sasuke-kun is…"

"Sakura, all I mean to say is that if we're going to become family, it would be best to start communicating more, right?" Interrupted Mebuki.

Her words rang in the young Uchiha's mind, so much that he wanted to repeat them, to give them a real, tangible feel. They stayed stuck in his throat, only exiting his mouth as a silent movement of lips. Sakura noticed.

"True…" she exhaled for him who seemed so breathless right then, a radiant smile growing on her face. Her viridian gaze was solely focused on him as she said her next words "We'll be a family."

"Hehe!" Naruto chuckled beside them. Watching his best friends interact, he had felt the need to tuck Hinata to his side with one arm, both smiling like idiots in love; an expression Sakura feared mirrored hers and Sasuke's at the moment.

Reminding Naruto one last time that he would owe them ramen at Ichiraku upon their return, Sasuke and Sakura took off on the road. The kunoichi tired her arm out by waving in wide, rhythmic movements until she could no longer see her friends and family. Then, when her hand was free, she clasped it with Sasuke's.

~O~

Dear Naruto,

As promised, I'll send you letters as often as possible to keep you informed on the latest news. Sasuke-kun and I are doing fine on what you could call 'our honey-moon', though I won't give you the details! I wanted to thank you again for the wedding in Suna. I can't say I wasn't surprised to see you organize everything so well. Has Hinata changed you that much or did she simply do it all for you beforehand? Just kidding! It was awesome anyway, how you even made Gaara laugh! I never thought I'd see the day!

And Oh My God I can't believe you're going to be a dad! It's so great for you and Hinata, I just can't find the words to describe it! I can see you fret like a helpless idiot from all the way across the country but trust me, you're going to be just fine. You both will be amazing parents, I'm sure of it. Oh, and of course, Sasuke-kun and I congratulate you! See? I'm so excited that I can't write things in order haha! By the way, do you have any idea when the baby will be born? It'd be cool if the whole Konoha 11 had children who could be in the same class at the Academy in a few years!

Besides that, I'm glad to hear everything's going well in Konoha. Please, tell Ino I don't hold anything against her. In different circumstances, she would have made a perfect maid of honor. I'm just glad she isn't mad anymore. Pigs can be pretty nasty, you know (but don't tell her I said that)! Also, to answer my parents' question which you asked me in your last letter, Sasuke-kun and I won't return before Orochimaru is out of the village or at least no longer a potential threat. Unless there is a really big emergency of course, but I don't think that's going to happen. Sasuke-kun would rather conceal the fact that I was in danger because of Orochimaru for obvious reasons, but I feel they have the right to know. Just try to be smooth while telling them. Actually, you might want to bring Hinata with you. I trust you, of course.

I just remembered: we met with Karui's team the other day while they were on a mission. Maybe Chouji told you about it by now? She wanted to fight Sasuke-kun directly this time but he declined. You can imagine how infuriated she was that he would not take up her challenge! Positive thing though: we managed to talk her out of it after a while. It might not be much, but it's a first step. Maybe after this truce we'll be able to get along one day.

Otherwise, I've had the occasion to check on the new hospital wards we opened all over the country, you remember? Except in one or two places, I was pleasantly surprise to see everything working perfectly. You know, with this kind of project, you can always expect a rough start before it gets better, but no, there was really nothing to say! I'm so glad the medics are handling the job so well and the children who were traumatized after the war are able to get better. I'm not ashamed to say I'm really proud of myself, and Sasuke-kun is too.

Thank you again for keeping us updated on what's going on in Konoha, and being there for us and…oh God, I'm getting cheesy aren't I? Nevermind, thank you so much Naruto. I know a lot of things are bound to change in our lives (hopefully for the better), that we're growing up and becoming adults, but some things never change, like you, or the bound between the old Team 7 (say hi to Kakashi for us). But right now at this point in my life, I really feel like I could fly!

Take care,

Sakura & Sasuke