Chapter 10

Sasuke's POV

Sasuke didn't realize how much a simple haircut changed his whole appearance. To be fair, he did use a genjutsu over his left eye, but it felt like almost no one recognized him. It had started when he had walked into the Hokage office where Naruto was working through a stack of requests.

"Hello sir, how can I help you?" Naruto asked barely looking up from his paperwork.

"Its me dobe."

The blond's head shot up. "What the?! Damn, you look so different."

"Nothings changed except my hair." He said rolling his eyes.

A few minutes later, Kakashi strolled in yawning. "Have you been helped sir?" he asked sitting down at his desk.

This has to be a joke right?! "Kakashi. It's me."

Kakashi leaned forward dramatically and squinted at him. "Oh look, you're a pretty boy again." He said after a second.

Sasuke glared.

"How are those requests coming along Naruto?" Kakashi asked pulling out his book.

"There's so many! I don't understand why people are so picky!" he replied massaging his temples.

"Well get them done before noon. We have more work to finish."

"Well it'd be nice if you helped out for once." Naruto grumbled under his breath.

Kakashi sighed. "I would, but I'm about to have a meeting to discuss the annual festival."

"What festival?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi looked up. "After the war ended, the five nations wanted to celebrate their unity and peace by having a festival. Every year the festival is held in a different nation, and this year it's Konoha's turn to host." He explained.

"It's so great! We get to see all of our friends from everywhere, and there's cool booths and games and amazing food. Oooh, and at the end of the night, there's a huge firework show." Naruto said excitedly.

Sasuke did feel a twinge of sadness about missing out all these years, but he wasn't going to let it bother him. Those missed years were a transforming part of his life that needed to happen.

He started helping Naruto sort through requests for a bit when Shikamaru walked in.

"The conference room is ready." He said handing a folder to Kakashi. He then walked over and placed more requests on Naruto's desk. "These requests are priority and need to be done first."

He finally turned and looked at Sasuke and blinked. "Eh, Sasuke?"

Sasuke smacked down his paper on the table. "Guys. How can you not recognize me? I'm literally the only person with a missing arm."

Naruto snickered.

"Ah, gomen gomen. I thought you were a new intern or something." Shikamaru said scratching the back of his head.

This is ridiculous.

"When you finish helping Naruto, can you deliver these to Sakura? She asked me for some reports about the rescue mission." Shikamaru said handing another folder to him. "You usually see her the most, so I figured I could give them to you."

"Aa." He assumed the reports were probably regarding Shoto and Mai's case.

Shikamaru and Kakashi left for their meeting while he and Naruto tediously made their way through the requests. He left the tower a little after noon and started making his way toward the hospital.

As he was passing through the streets, he noticed he was gaining the attention of more people, especially women. He could hear giggles and whispers from behind him; it felt strangely familiar but foreign at the same time. It had been a long time since he had girls fawning over him.

You get one damn haircut and everyone freaks out.

Sasuke didn't know if uncomfortable was the right word for this situation. He was used to being a recluse and staying in the shadows. Usually when he was recognized, it was people glaring and whispering threats behind his back; but if they actually knew that it was him, he knew the same reactions would return. He just ignored it and kept walking.

When he reached the hospital, he headed straight to Sakura's office. He could now basically get there blindfolded if he wanted. He knocked once and entered to find her at her desk. He noticed immediately that she hadn't slept enough by the dark rings painted under her eyes.

"Hey, what's up?" she asked not looking up from her work.

He walked over and set Shikamaru's report on her desk. "Shikamaru told me to deliver these to you."

She straightaway flipped through them and started scanning its contents. "I'm trying to determine what poison that Shoto and Mai were exposed to. It's strange, from the lab work I've done, the effects of the poison only occur days after exposure. It's essentially useless for battle."

"Maybe the original plan was to use the poison to weaken the other village's shinobi." He guessed.

"Regardless, I can't figure out the exact antidote." She said rubbing her head.

He put his hand on her shoulder. "You need to make sure you're getting enough rest."

She looked up at him and gave a small smile. "I will. I'm just going to go through this report and then I'll go get some lunch."

He nodded satisfied. Maybe I should buy her some lunch.

"I'll leave you to it then." He said poking her forehead. He didn't want to bother her with her research.

Her smile widened. "Aa. I'll see you later."

He packed up his things and was about to open the door when someone opened it from the outside.

Kenji. He was standing in his white lab coat and holding a paper bag.

"Hey Sak—Oh hey, I think I met you that one day." He said looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke felt a heavy pit form in his stomach. "Aa." He said sourly.

Kenji stepped in and looked at Sakura. She was now looking at the two of them with mild interest.

"I bought us some lunch and I was going to talk to you about Mai's pulmonary function test." He said setting the bag down.

"Oh, you didn't have to do that. I was going to come to the children's hospital later and look at the results." She said.

"It's no big deal; plus I thought we could take our lunch break together." He said already taking out the containers of food. He paused and looked back at Sasuke. "Oh, did you need to talk to Sak about something?"

Sasuke's jaw was clenched tightly. "No. I was on my way out." He said stepping out of her office.

"Great. It was good to see you again." Kenji said shutting the door with a smile.

There was an acidic taste in the back of his throat. He knew that Kenji's smile was completely fake. He was obviously trying to get close to Sakura.

Sasuke turned and walked away from the office trying to hold his composure. He didn't know what to think. He couldn't deny that he was jealous and very overprotective of her, but he didn't know how to act. He felt like Sakura deserved someone so much better than him; he had broken her heart and let her down one too many times. Now that he was back in Konoha, it seemed like she was finally over him. He couldn't possibly screw with her feelings again.

But on the other hand, he couldn't see her with anyone but himself. He hated the thought of her with another man; it just wasn't right. He knew at the very least they were always going to be close friends, but… that wasn't enough for him.

He clenched his fist. Sakura completed him and he knew that.

I love her. I need to just suck it up and tell her how I feel.

He took a deep breath and washed away all thoughts of Kenji; that idiot didn't matter. He was determined to show her that he loved her more than anyone else.

Sasuke dramatically doubled over in pain and fell to floor as Mai stabbed him in the stomach with a fake sword. She giggled and jumped on top of his back making him release an audible "oof."

For the past two hours, he had been playing with the two children and teaching them some easy sword tricks. They, of course, were absolutely thrilled by this. Shoto was out of bed before Sasuke could even set his stuff down. Mai was a little timid at first, but he found that she was secretly as eager as Shoto.

He also started to learn more about the two children; He found out they were best friends and neighbors, and that they always played together every afternoon. Shoto was two years older than Mai and wanted to protect her all the time. As the war was occurring in their country, the little boy had made a secret hideout for the two of them. He told Sasuke how he had stowed away food and blankets for the two of them just in case something happened.

During the fourth day of the war, he and Mai got separated from their mothers, and they ran to the hideout. He vividly told Sasuke how he could feel the ground shaking from the bombs going off. Sasuke felt sympathy for them having to experience combat at such a young age. Shoto then told him how their hideout filled with smoke and they were knocked unconscious. When they woke up again, a medic was healing them in a tent.

Sasuke was glad that they were found and made it out alive. It was Shikamaru who had rescued them from their collapsed hideout. He looked at the two children now; they weren't back to normal, but they looked better than the last time he saw them.

Shoto put his fake sword up to Sasuke's neck. "Surrender or die!"

"Surrender or die!" Mai echoed from on top of his back.

"Alright, alright. I surrender." He said with a defeated sigh.

The two children cheered with joy and he smiled. This is how they should remember their childhood; not wars and fighting.

The next moment, the door slid open and Sakura walked in with two trays of food. She took one look at Sasuke on the ground with a sword to his neck and started laughing.

"They really got you there." She said setting the trays down.

"They're actually stronger than they look." He said getting up. Mai clung onto his back and he hoisted her onto his shoulders.

"Hey no fair! I wanna climb up too!" Shoto shouted grabbing onto his leg.

Sakura gave him smile and chuckled.

"You wanna help me out here?" he asked.

"Nah, it looks like you can handle it." She said turning to leave.

He scowled at her.

"I'm just kidding." She said grinning. She placed her hands on her hips and looked back and forth at Shoto and Mai. "Alright, you guys have to take a break and eat your dinner."

They both frowned in disappointment and gave a small "aww."

"You guys heard the scary lady." He said carefully setting down Mai.

Sakura instantly smacked him in the stomach and this time he really did double over. I keep forgeting how strong she is sometimes. He straightened up to see her arms crossed and pouting.

He looked at the children. "But she's right. Remember what I said last time; you need to eat so you can have enough energy."

They immediately got into bed and started eating. He attempted to read her face as she gave them a quick check up in between bites, but it was hard to tell what she was thinking.

After they finished eating, the two children started to get tired. He watched Sakura sit and tell them a story as they drifted to sleep.

Before she could finish, they quietly slipped out of the room and headed straight back to her office.

"Was Shikamaru's report helpful?" he asked.

"Some parts. I mainly wanted a description of the poisonous gas that knock them out. But he said his description was skewed because the gas was mixed with smoke coming from the paper bombs." She said collapsing on the couch.

He went and took a seat next to her. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I'm not sure. I've determined that one of the ingredients of the poison is this weird bark, but it doesn't really narrow down my options. I've been going through so many books trying to find something, but there's so much to go through." She said pointing to the stack of books in front of them. "I've gone through three books today, and everything is starting to get jumbled in my head." She said massaging her temples.

"I'll start reading too. If I find anything relevant, I'll point it out to you." He suggested.

"I don't know. It's a lot to read through." She said hesitantly.

"That's not a big deal. Plus, with my sharingan, I'll be able to skim through pages faster." He said grabbing a book from the stack.

"Okay…but if you get tired, don't feel like you have to keep reading." She said.

"Don't worry." He reassured. He activated his sharingan and started reading.

Sakura copied him and pulled another book from the stack. He was glad to be some help to her. With his nonexistent knowledge of medical ninjutsu, there usually wasn't much he could ever do to help her. He knew she was also particularly worried about this case. Every so often he would sneak a peek at her and she would always be staring intently at the page.

Without giving it a second thought, he put his arm around her shoulders. Shit. He froze realizing what he just did. She didn't look up from her book or say anything, but instead leaned in resting her head against him.

His heart thundered against his chest, and he quickly focused in on the page and started reading again. After a while, he was able to relax and everything felt normal again.

Actually, it was better than normal. It wasn't much, but he felt like he had gotten somewhere. It was silly, but just her leaning against him made him happy.

The next time he looked down, he realized she had fallen asleep. He was so busy reading, he hadn't noticed that her breathing had gotten deeper and she had slowly lowered her book. He wanted to move her book, but he didn't dare move his arm from around her. Instead, he pulled her closer to him and went back to reading.