Brighter Than Sunshine
Chapter 2 – Weird Reunion (Expectations)
First time in the morning Sasuke was back in the Hokage tower. To have returned didn't mean he would change his habits and just stay put. But of course, as habits are hard to change, Kakashi's didn't either, so it wasn't a surprise that he hadn't arrived. Sasuke decided then to wait in a nearby rooftop of a building. Breathing in the essence of his home, he sighed. He felt strange to be back, he knew it could be like that after years of being away and all the things that happened, especially when his path was stranged, it was kind of incredible he was there at all. After all he vowed to destroy that place once, and now his vows were the complete opposite, he reflected in how it would take some time to get used to live there again, not be in constant movement and have kind of a normal life which he didn't have for the longest time, but he was willing to try for the people closest to his heart.
Apparently thinking about those people called to them because a loud blonde appeared in the corner of his eye.
"So Shikamaru was right! You really are here teme!" came Naruto's excited voice. "He told me he saw you around the Hokage tower" Sasuke looked up to him from where he was sitting with his blank stare and didn't reply.
"Ah! So talkative as always I see, some things never change dattebayo" said the blonde with his trademark foxy grin. Sasuke couldn't help but close his eyes and smirk. Indeed, some things never change.
"It is good to see you Sasuke, did you come to see Kakashi-sensei?"
"Aa. I arrived last night and gave him a scroll I found that needs to be deciphered. He said he would give it to Shikamaru"
"You arrived last night, and I just found out?! Damn you could at least give me the heads up!" Naruto crossed his arms and pouted.
"Stop being a baby" replied Sasuke with a dry tone, Naruto sighed.
"Well, the important thing is that you are here. Look Kakashi-sensei is just getting here, let's go" Naruto pointed to the window of the Hokage's office that showed their sensei sitting on his desk. Naruto and Sasuke jumped to the office and landed outside the window. Naruto knocked on it and Kakashi turned, when he saw them, he got up to let them in.
"Ah, so you knew Sasuke was coming back Naruto" said the rokudaime moving to let his students in.
"No, Shikamaru told me he saw him, and I went to find him" Naruto said with an offended tone, Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"I see. I was beginning to worry Sasuke might have changed a little and be more attentive to others, I am relieved it isn't the case" Kakashi mocked.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the sarcastic remark. He was starting to doubt his decision of coming back. The door opened then and Shikamaru entered.
"So I was right then, it was Sasuke who I saw" he said with his hands in his pockets. He walked to stand beside Naruto, he then nodded in Sasuke's direction as a greeting, Sasuke did the same.
"Well, I am glad all of you are here. Sasuke got this scroll on his travels and we need to decipher it, so Shikamaru, I need your assistance" Kakashi took the scroll from his desk's drawer and gave it to Shikamaru.
"What is it about?" asked Naruto.
"I found it while I was travelling near a temple on the outskirts of the Land of Fire. It was written in an ancient language but I managed to translate it with my Sharingan, still, it is coded so I don't know exactly what it says but I know it has something to do with Kaguya" this made Naruto turn to watch Sasuke with a worried and serious expression.
"It has a lot of word games or something of the kind" Shikamaru said while reading the extensive scroll. "I would like to request help for this. I am good at strategy, but word games and codes are more the specialty of someone else, with her help this could be done in half the time" Kakashi nodded.
"Well the thing is she has been really busy as you know, she always is and I wouldn't want to put more work to her load, her priority is the hospital" Kakashi said while reclining himself on the back of his chair and crossed his arms. Sasuke's interest in the conversation increased. For some reason he got a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"Sakura-chan can surely decipher it with no doubt dattebayo! She is the brightest person apart from Shikamaru" Naruto said happily.
"I know that. Let's see just how much she can do with her hectic schedule. Besides, she would probably want to say hi to Sasuke" with that Kakashi chewed on his thumb and instantly from a puff of smoke came a little dog.
"Pakkun, please go seek Sakura, ask her if she has a moment to come"
"Oh yeah! Pinky boss alright!" the dog's tail waggled and he immediately went out the window.
"Boss?" asked Naruto surprised.
"Yeah, Sakura made a contract with my ninken so they are loyal to her too" said Kakashi in a nonchalant tone.
"What!? Why!? Why her!?" Naruto replied scandalized.
"Because she is the one to care for them, feed them, take them to the vet, play with them, etc" Shikamaru replied in an annoyed tone.
"This Hokage life is busy" replied Kakashi still nonchalant.
"And still she is the head of the hospital and finds the time to do it" said Shikamaru matter of factly.
"Yeah yeah, they love her, so if I am ever missing, they will be in good hands" At that moment the sound of feet landing outside could be heard just outside the window. Kakashi got up and opened it.
"Why can't my students get in through the door like normal people?" said Kakashi with a tired tone.
"You are just too lazy to get off your chair sensei" the feminine voice of Sakura replied from outside. She then got through the window to get inside the office. She was wearing hospital scrubs and a white coat, her hair was in a ponytail, it was longer and reached her shoulder blades. She had Pakkun in her arms and was smiling.
"Hey Sakura-chan! How is it going? Look who is here dattebayo!" Naruto said excitedly with his arms in the back of his head and a huge grin.
Green eyes met black and there was a little silence. Sasuke didn't remember her eyes being that light green, or the freckles above her little nose. Her lips resembled an "o" and the weird feeling in his stomach returned.
"Sasuke-kun" Sakura said in a low voice almost a whisper.
"Sakura" he said still looking at her in the eyes. They remained like that a few seconds.
Then the sound of a click and the light of a flash took them out of their spell. Sakura looked in Kakashi's way who was taking an instant photograph out of a camera, she immediately narrowed her eyes and smiled playfully.
"What are you supposed to be doing?" she asked
"It is always good to have blackmail material in case I need it" Kakashi put the picture in his drawer and closed it, Sakura sighed "I've been waiting for that reaction for a long time now"
"You are the Hokage, you don't need to, no wait, you CAN'T blackmail people" she said with an exasperated face, Kakashi just shrugged.
"Anyway, now that you know that Sasuke is back we would like to ask for your help as long as it doesn't interfere with your work"
Sasuke observed the pink haired girl, she was listening intently to Kakashi's explanation. Their reunion was nothing near what he would have expected, but then, what exactly did he expect? It seemed that his arrival was nothing out of the blue for her. Yes, she was surprised to see him, but maybe he thought he would receive more animosity from her? Even Naruto had shown more excitement for his return. After all he was back as part of their team again, not as an enemy as it had been their previous encounters. He chastised himself for his way of thinking, it was ridiculous. He saw her talking to Kakashi and felt a sting inside though. He narrowed his eyes.
"Ok give me some minutes to read it" said the girl.
"Pakkun, what are you still doing in her arms?" Kakashi asked the dog with flat eyes. The dog made an annoyed face. "You are getting spoiled" said Kakashi in a disapproval tone. The dog scoffed and disappeared in the puff of smoke. Sakura then advanced to where Shikamaru was and he gave her the scroll.
"It has a lot of word games; you are better at it" he said
"Oh my! Do I hear praise in Shikamaru's voice?" came her teasing reply. He rolled his eyes and muttered how much of a drag she was.
"It's quite long" she said while unrolling it.
"Yeah so I want you to be honest and tell me if you have too much on your plate right now. If you do, we'll find another solution" Kakashi said with little worry in his voice. Sakura kept on reading the scroll ignoring him. Some minutes later she rolled the scroll closed and gave it back to Shikamaru.
"Ok got it" she said.
"What!? You just read all that and memorized it already?" Naruto's surprise matched Sasuke's but he didn't show it as the blonde.
"Sure. When you must read as many medical scrolls, documents and books as me to fast read and memorization is necessary" she said shrugging. "And Shikamaru can do it too, so it is not that special" again Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "So I will decipher it on my breaks but I think that I can have an answer by tomorrow"
"Sakura, please don't overwork yourself. Remember don't half ass two things, whole ass one thing" replied Kakashi with his brows furrowed.
"Sensei, I am a woman. I can multitask remember? So please trust me for the first time" she said with a devilish tone.
"Ouch" Kakashi put a hand on his chest where his heart was. Sakura giggled and started walking to the window.
"Ok I gotta go now. I have surgery in some hours" she turned around before getting out and looked at Sasuke.
"I am so glad you are back Sasuke-kun. Please don't hesitate to tell me if I can help you with anything" she said with a smile, her eyes shining happy. His heart skipped a beat and nodded to her. Still he felt like something was off.
"Naruto say hi to Hinata for me please" she said to their friend.
"You should come and say hi yourself occasionally instead dattebayo. It has been a long time and I don't get to see you as much since you run the hospital" the jinchuriki complained.
"Hehe I'll try. Bye then" with that she got outside and jumped off the roof.
"Shikamaru, do me a favor and go fetch a list of available apartments for Sasuke from Shizune please" Kakashi asked while intertwining his fingers and putting his hands on his belly.
"Yes Hokage-sama" Shikamaru disappeared behind the door.
"I should have known Sakura would be too stubborn and take the assignment even if she was busy, I shouldn't have called her" Kakashi said with a tired voice feeling guilty.
"You know how she is" Naruto said with a chuckle and a drop of sweat falling from his temple. Sasuke raised a curious eyebrow.
"Sakura-chan is a workaholic. She has crazy shifts at the hospital and is always busy. I don't think I have seen her take vacations in a long time" Naruto replied when he noticed Sasuke's questioning expression. Sasuke's brows furrowed at his friend's comment.
"I'll take a look at her schedule and force her to take some time off" replied Kakashi.
"As if you could" said Naruto. Kakashi sighed.
They spent the rest of the day talking about Sasuke's journey and the peaceful times they were living in currently. When they were finished Naruto accompanied Sasuke to the inn he was staying at. They were walking in silence, and Naruto saw the barely noticeable troubled look Sasuke had.
"What is going through that head of yours teme?" he asked.
"It's nothing" replied Sasuke with a dry tone.
"C'mon! You can't fool me. Something's bothering you" Sasuke remained silent for some more minutes.
"Sakura's changed" he said suddenly.
"Huh? How so?" Naruto asked with real curiosity.
"She's… quieter"
"Sakura-chan quiet? Nah is as bat-shit crazy as always, she was nice to you to offer her help" Naruto said nonchalantly scratching his nose.
"She was only being polite" Sasuke's reply sounded a little harsh. Naruto stopped walking, Sasuke did the same some steps ahead and turned to look at the blonde.
"Were you expecting something different from her? Like she would go and crash in your arms?" Naruto teased him with a grin. Sasuke frowned but didn't answer.
"Sakura-chan is the same as always, maybe you are not used to her anymore, but I can tell you she isn't the 12 year old girl you knew, heck not even the girl she was when you went on your journey. She has a lot of responsibilities and is essential to the village. She's matured and grown a lot. Now if what you are worried about is that she doesn't care about you anymore I can assure you she still does a great deal; we´ve been waiting for your return very much, I know this, you shouldn't be worried about it dattebayo!" Naruto said with a big smile.
Like always Naruto seemed like a mind reader when it came to Sasuke. He said everything Sasuke needed to hear but he still had his doubts. He started thinking about the genjutsu he put her through during the war and felt dread beginning to form inside him, was she mad at him? Did she finally blamed him and realized she didn't want to be near him? Naruto noticed his mind starting to work and talked.
"I am sure that as soon as you start spending time with her again you will stop overthinking and see she's still the same"
Sasuke started walking ahead again. Maybe he was in fact overthinking.
A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you liked this; it is a little longer but not quite. I don´t exactly know if all chapters are going to have this length but I can tell you my plan is that this isn´t a long fic. Having said that though, there are certain topics I would like to cover in it, I need Sasuke to realize some things, so I hope I am not putting my foot in my mouth and end up writing a long ass fic.
I don´t know if it´s possible for Kakashi's ninken to have a summoning contract with another person. I know he raised them since they were puppies, but the idea here is that they have someone else in case he no longer is around. I love to think Sakura and Kakashi´s relationship is one of a lot of camaraderie and that is why Kakashi trusts Sakura with his beloved ninken, but also, this camaraderie is one Sasuke is not used to, so I am gonna play with it in the next chapter.
I hope that I didn't portrayed Sakura as not a believable character, with all the exaggerated intelligence and stuff. I wanted to bring it down a notch by also noting that Shikamaru is also a genius (because he is) but again, I need Sasuke to be stunned by the Sakura she is now, even though he knew as a genin she was intelligent, now that she is an adult and has excelled in her skills, he was also used to being the prominent one with Naruto, and I want him to see her greatness, that will also lead to him falling harder (because if you noticed he already has some unresolved feelings going on).
I love to write in Sasuke's POV and it is very necessary for this story because as I told you, it revolves around him acknowledging Sakura´s growth, and the fact that she is no longer the blushing clingy girl, so if this makes him seen out of character I apologize. I think the OOCness I will be writing will be mostly inner thoughts of him that won't affect his stoic demeanor, because we all know Sasuke is cold, but we've never seen what he really thinks in that head of his.
Anyway, I hope you can leave a review, constructive criticism is welcomed as well.
Thank you for reading!