Disclaimer : I do not own any characters or the story of Naruto.

A/N : Thank you to the reviewers for all the lovely feedback. It encouraged me to write and so here is the next chapter. I do read all the reviews and appreciate both praise and criticism I receive. Please read and review if you enjoy. Thanks!

Chapter 2

8 and a half months till she says yes

Sasuke was making his way through the village that morning towards the Hokage tower, his mind focused on the task he had set for himself. He wasn't looking forward to have to deal with his former sensei today. Honestly, any day without having to interact with the masked man, was a good day in his book. He hopped easily from roof to roof of the various buildings, pumping chakra to the bottom of his feet, the red tower enlarging in his view as he got closer to his destination. That's when he noticed the figure in an unsavory orange on top of the tower, standing with a hand on the hip, looking straight in his direction. He internally sighed and slowed his pace down to land just beside the familiar figure of his friend, waiting for the other guy to speak which came shortly after.

"I heard you've decided to stay", Naruto said in his gravely voice with a grin, his blue eyes shining bright in the morning light. "Hn", Sasuke simply confirmed. At the affirmation, the blond's grin turned into a full blown smile as he quickly leaped into him, resting his only functional arm around Sasuke's shoulder giving him a half hug. Well, as much of a hug one could give someone who has no intention of returning it or cooperating. Not that it did anything to dampen Naruto's enthusiasm as he exclaimed, "Finally you are coming around, teme! It's good to have you back dattebayo!" Sasuke felt the slight itch of irritation creep up on him as he was wildly shook by the grip at the back of his neck as his friend made no attempts to taper down his excitement. However, he allowed the gesture to continue for a while since he knew this was Naruto's way of expressing affection. This was his brother, after all. Even though it took him some time to accept it, Naruto did occupy a special place in his heart.

Once done, Naruto took a step back from him, his hand still resting on the other's shoulder as he looked into the mismatched eyes of his best friend with a genuine smile. "I mean it, Sasuke. I'll support you in whatever you decide to do. And don't worry, if you stray too far away again, I'll bring you back. That's a promise." Sasuke felt the warmth of the words in his chest as he saw the determination and sincerity in his blue eyes and he couldn't help the small half-smile curving his lips. Naruto understood him so much better than he ever gave him credit for, his selfless understanding is the reason why he was still alive. Even though he would never admit it out loud to anyone, especially his friend, but he was grateful to have someone so close to him.

"Oh! I have something for you", Naruto spoke up with a cheery smile as he took out a forehead protector from his pocket to show it to the person in front of him. Sasuke immediately recognised it as his own with the symbol of Konoha's leaf scratched out. He could only stare at it blankly, his smile slipping away, as all the memories it was associated with flashed in his mind, along with every tumultuous emotion he had gone through during his rogue ninja days. This time though, it was much easier to go through, as some good memories slipped into the chaos as well. The harshness of those memories mellowing out as he recalled some amusing moments he had shared with Team Taka. Despite that, it was not enough to bring any joy as he kept his face blank, which made his decision for him.

"Keep it", he said evenly, as he looked up into the blue eyes once again. He watched as those eyes widened slightly, staring back into his own for a few moments, seemingly reading his thoughts right out of his mind before his face relaxed into a look of understanding with an easy smile. "I'll keep it safe", Naruto said in a low and uncharacteristically serious tone, before reverting back into his old self as he exclaimed, "You're really back, you bastard!" A smirk made its way to his face at the endearment from his overly enthusiastic friend. The toothy grin he received from him was both blinding and brilliant at the same time.

"Hey! Wanna go sparring later? No holding back! It'll be just like old times, dattebayo!", spoke up Naruto suddenly and loudly enough such that Sasuke could feel a slight itch in his inner ears from the unruly vibrations. 'Just like old times', he agreed internally as he replied back with, "Like those when you'd fall flat on your face every time?" in his usual monotone as his smirk widened. He couldn't help the teasing specially when he was given such a wide opening. As dense as Naruto was, it was no surprise to him when the blond immediately replied back with a loud "Yeah!", fist pumping the air in his unrestrained eagerness. Then, when the words finally started to process in his head, he took a few moments to think them through with a frown between his brows, his hand now scratching the back of his head. Finally, as soon as the implied insult sunk in, out came the outrage in another loud exclaim, "Bastard! You'll be the one flat on your face, dattebayo!" with a finger pointed at his dark-haired friend. Both friends stood like that for a few seconds before twin small matching smiles curved both of their lips as their minds filled with nostalgic memories from their genin days.

Naruto straightened himself out, looking at his best friend in front of him. The morning sun shone brightly above in between them as they seemed to communicate with their gaze, no words needed between the two. The bond between them seemed almost physical, tangible. The silence was broken by Naruto as he said, "Ja ne, Sasuke" with a nod. Sasuke nodded back as he replied, "Mata ne, Naruto" and watched the blond hop off the tower, disappearing from his line of sight with the small smile still on his lips. He knew he could trust his friend to keep his promise, he could trust the guy with his own life any time.

Falling out of his nostalgic reverie, Sasuke remembered what his purpose was for coming there in the first place. With a heavy sigh for what was about to come, he made his way into the tower. He ignored all the stares he received from various employees, shinobi and civilians alike, working in the offices as he walked up to the Hokage's office. He opened the door and simply walked in to stand in front of the Hokage's desk, face devoid of any emotion. He watched as both occupants of the room snapped their heads immediately in his direction and their eyes widen in surprise. Even though the masked face relaxed back in a couple of seconds after recognising him, the dark haired woman kept staring at him with wide eyes as if frozen in place. At the sixth Hokage clearing his throat loudly, she snapped out of her trance with a light blush on her face and quickly made her way of the office without a second look at the new arrival, quietly muttering her apologies.

The Hokage intertwined his fingers of both hands together and rested his chin on top of them with his elbows braced on top of his desk as he greeted his former pupil, "Ah, Sasuke-kun. Its always good to see my kawaii students out and about in the village. You've been cooped up at the apartment for too long." Sasuke felt his left brow start to twitch slightly at the adjective his former sensei chose to address him with. Pushing aside his annoyance, he chose to focus on the goal he had in his mind as he spoke up, "I need you to pay me, Kakashi." Hearing those words, he watched the man's brows narrow slightly for a couple of seconds before a sly grin graced his face that not even his mask could hide. Watching that expression, Sasuke braced himself for another barrage of irritation to assault him.

"Now now, Sasuke-kun. I know you think your presence is the gift of the Gods, and I am not saying it isn't..", he started in a deceptively cheerful tone as Sasuke could already feel a scowl coming on. "…but in this case, you are the one who should be paying me. It's called rent, in case you didn't know. But, of course, I could never charge rent from my lovely student, you are always welcome to stay as long as you want", he finished with a grin wide enough to be seen through the mask. As the scowl settled in full force on his face, Sasuke replied through gritted teeth, "You know that's not what I meant, Kakashi." He glared at the man who was clearly trying to feign innocence as he asked, "Then whatever did you mean, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke's hand fisted at his side as he tried to clamp down the waves of irritation that was fogging his mind, gritting his teeth he tried to compose himself once again. Taking a deep breath quietly, once he felt calm again, he started to explain, "I want.." and quickly stopped, suddenly feeling nervous as the words he was about to say rang in his head, his breath leaving him in a sigh. Knowing well that this had to be done, he closed his eyes, turning his head to the side, chin slightly upturned as he let the words out, "I want… to be back on the roster", and felt all pride in his being drain away with that request.

He opened his eyes and turned to face his sensei after he heard a long "Ah…" from the Sixth, acknowledging his request. He watched the man close his eye, a sigh escaping his mask covered lips, before looking back at him with his now serious eye as he replied, "I am glad to know that you want to be a part of the Shinobi of Konoha again, Sasuke. Unfortunately, it's not possible to make that happen." Sasuke let those words sink in with a slight frown marring his brows, as he stared at the man sitting at the desk. Suddenly, he noticed the calculating gleam he was very familiar with in the man's only visible eye as he started explaining again, "You see, Sasuke-kun, you have been pardoned for being a missing nin in the past but you are still a Genin according to Konoha ranks. Whereas the rest of the rookies have mostly graduated to Jonin rank by now so they are given missions according to their ranks and do not need to necessarily be sent to their missions with their former teams. But your rank still being Genin, requires me to assign you to a Genin team first." Sasuke felt the slight twitch in his brow start back up again as his lips curved downwards, but he forced himself to patiently hear the man out. After the brief pause to catch his student's reaction to his words, Kakashi continued, "Now, I think you understand why I cannot do that. Not only will your strength completely outmatch the genins in the team, but also your charming personality will only make things worse. I cannot risk compromising missions because of that. On the other hand, I cannot give you solo missions that would match your skill levels since you never completed the Chunin exams. But, you shouldn't feel too bad about your rank, Sasuke-kun. Even though, Sakura is now a Jonin, all shinobi who fought in the war were awarded a higher rank, Naruto is still a genin too. Well, maybe he is a chunin? But then he also…"

Sasuke felt his patience wearing dangerously thin as he blocked out the Hokage droning on and on about mundane things that didn't have any bearing on the discussion they were having. Finally, having had enough and beyond annoyed, he spat out impatiently, "Get on with it, Kakashi." He glared at the man who quickly shut his mouth and raised a hand to the back of his head with a sheepish smile on his masked face as he said, "Ah, my apologies, I got a bit carried away it seems" and gave out a quick chuckle. Just as quickly, he snapped his attention back on his student, all signs of mirth gone from his demeanor as he addressed the issue at hand once again, "As I said, I cannot put you back on the roster, Sasuke. But…", he paused, his eyes analysing the young powerful shinobi in front of him, for a few moments. Sasuke waited silently, with all the patience in his being, in anticipation for what was to come, his face blank as usual.

Once satisfied with his assessment, the Sixth Hokage continued, "But I could hire you for certain.. special missions as the Hokage on behalf of Konoha. You would essentially be a hired sword for Konoha but I hope you won't see it that way. Moreover, it would pay you much better than any ranked missions anyway." Sasuke took a moment to think through the implications of what the Hokage was suggesting before he gave him a nod of his agreement. It seemed like, once again, life had given him limited options to choose from. But since he had already made his decision to stay in Konoha, this is how things have to be. 'At least for now', he added in his mind.

Now that he had been able to successfully achieve the first of his objectives of coming to see the Hokage that day, he quickly moved on to the other subject he needed to discuss. "I want my arm back too", he spoke up a few moments later, making it clear that this time he was in no mood for more games. However, his tone seemed to go completely unnoticed by the Sixth, as another amused grin impressed on the cloth of his mask as he replied in a tease, "I am sorry, Sasuke-kun, but I cannot possibly sanction a forbidden time-travel jutsu, even if it is to bring back my precious student's missing limb." Sasuke felt the thin ropes of his tolerance about to snap any minute as he glared darkly at the man, trying to reign in his chakra from flaring wildly that was sure to draw in ANBU from every corner of the space.

Kakashi finally seemed to get the point as he cleared his throat once again and straightened his expression before stating, "I'll inform you once Lady Tsunade has finished preparing the replacement arm." At last, having his objectives complete, Sasuke gave a short nod and quickly left the tower. He hopped on top of a nearby building and sighed in relief at having managed to go through the whole encounter without any major issues. Although, the thought of being a hired nin for Konoha brought a taste of bitterness in the back of his throat, he was willing to see it through for a while. He needed the money for his plans to work out. However he trusted Kakashi to a certain extent, enough that he didn't think he would assign him missions that would go against his own principles that he refused to break even while training under Orochimaru.

As he was making his way back to Kakashi's apartment, a cascade of midnight blue hair caught his attention from the corner of his eyes and he slowed down his pace to stand on the roof he had landed on to find the person those tresses belonged to. His eyes quickly found her, as they always seem to do, in the crowds of the market. He stared at her looking so beautiful just standing there in the middle of the busy street with a young girl beside her. She was in her civilian clothes, a light t-shirt under a lilac cardigan with a long flowing white skirt that reached down to right above her ankles. She looked so simple yet so elegant, her choice of clothing had never been one to stand out in a crowd, much like his own, but even the bland colors didn't seem to take away from the aura she carried around with her, mesmerizing others just like himself. He didn't fail to notice the young girl, who looked exactly what you would expect a Hyuuga to look like, was not immune to her either as she looked up at the other girl with doe-like eyes hungry for attention.

He watched as she bought a banana shaped treat for the young girl, handing it to her which the child promptly dropped on the ground after taking one bite out of it. He stared at the contrasting pair as the older of the two smiled gently looking at the angry pouting face of the younger before bending down, touching her cheek and giving words of reassurance that he couldn't hear. The words seemed to cheer the child up as she looked up at the other with eyes filled with wonder and admiration. The young girl suddenly clasped her hand in her own and pulled her, running down the street towards some other venue she spotted down the street.

He kept watching the direction in which the pair had disappeared to long after they were already gone out of his sight. The dull aching in his chest from having witnessed the interaction and affection between the two, didn't seem to dissipate as he had hoped. The two of them reminded him of his own childhood, of the sweet memories he had of his brother. She reminded him of Itachi, he realised. The idea of it seemed bizarre to him, the two of them were nothing alike, yet so similar in their spirit. He briefly wondered if the two would have liked each other, or perhaps even be friends, but he quickly dismissed the thought. Nothing good could possible come from thinking about it. The emotions the two managed to evoke in him didn't need to collide in him lest they spill over, while he was out in public. Taking in another deep breath, he started back again on his way, wondering how long it would take for the tightness in his chest to ease up.

A/N : I did receive some questions however I cannot answer them right now, since I haven't decided all the details about this story yet. For now, I can say that I will write it in whatever way I think would make for an fun read for all the readers. Although, I am glad some readers find the way I am writing Sasuke interesting. The next few chapters will go a bit back and forth in time, but I will try my best to keep it clear as well as interesting. That's all. See you next time!