Yo pplz!

Be proud!I updated within one week! Yay!(Well, around that)-dances around-I have started to catch up on my internet life nowz...not that any of youshould care but anywaiz...hehe. XP i've started writing the first chappie of the Neji and Tenten story i've been planning to write for a while now. I'll upload that soon...well..give me about two weeks...XD anywaiz...

WOWzers! O.O 222 reviews!
w00t! its like one of those kiriban thingys...all twos! haha...
(i am easily amused as it may seem) LOL XD
Thank you so much pplz! Love yous All! -hands out choc cookies to reviewers-

Anywaiz, enough of my non-sense! Here's chapter Ten! Its longer than the last chappie so enjoy!

Happy Reading pplz! Please review if you can! Arigatou in advance! n.n


"Text" Normal dialogue

"Text" Dialogue on the phone (other line)

'Text' thought/ what the character is thinking

'Text' Inner Sakura

(Text) Authors Notes (A/N)


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters from the anime/manga. Kishimoto-sensei does XD
Recap:

With that final thought, he made his decision to make his confession tomorrow. Sasuke got up from the bench and decided to head towards the Hokage's office. He figured, since he's back, shouldn't he report his return? And hopefully be able to claim his apartment back while he's at it. He needed a place to stay after all right? So, he gathered up chakra into the soles of his feet and in a blink of an eye, leapt into the trees and began heading towards the Hokage's Office building.


Forgotten Love- Chapter Ten
Reminiscing & Preparations

Sasuke landed softly on the concrete pavement in front of a tall building. He entered through the slide open doors silently and headed towards the administration desk.

"Hokage's Office" he muttered quickly to the receptionist.

The lady looked up from her work, peering over her spectacles as she studied the raven-haired boy's face before lowering her glasses and picked up a large schedule book.

"Do you have an appointment?" The lady had a voice of high authority like as she asked Sasuke whilst she was finding the page for today.

"No. Just tell me where the office is." He demanded with a hint of annoyance in his tone, but showed no traces of it in his expressionless face.

"Well, I'm sorry sir. If you do not have an appointment the Hokage may not be able to see you." The receptionist retorted back.

"Tell her that it's an old friend." Sasuke tried to reason with the lady.

The receptionist picked up the receiver of the phone and pressed a button. She waited for a while as it rang before someone picked up on the other line.

"Good Afternoon Hokage-sama, sorry to disturb you but there is a man here who wished to see you and said that he was an old friend." Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets and remained stationary on the spot as the receptionist inquired the Hokage.

"Uhuh…yes…okay- what's your name?" She asked suddenly as one hand covered the bottom of the receiver.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Okay- Uchiha Sasuke Hokage-sama" There was a sudden pause on the other line.

"Hokage-sama? Hokage-sama? … … Oh okay then." The receptionist placed down the receiver.

"The Hokage will see you now. Top floor on your left."

"Aa." Sasuke replied and began to make his way up the building according to the directions he was given.


He reached a large tarnished oak door with a golden plate that was engraved with the words "Hokage's Office". Being polite, he decided to knock first and wait for a reply before entering.

"Come in." A voice replied from the other side, which he followed and entered. Sasuke closed the door behind him and the soft click of the lock made the Gondaime look up from her work. Her eyes widened in slight disbelief at the sight of the man before her.

"Please, take a seat." The Gondaime said as she motioned towards the welcoming seat in front of her wooden desk.

Sasuke took a glance at the seat and accepted her offer. Once he was seated, Tsunade stood up from her seat and began to pace around the room as she spoke.

"Uchiha Sasuke," she began as she picked up a folder from her desk, "You have been missing from this village for over five years." She paused to let the words she had just said to linger in the atmosphere for a while. "After the report of your departure was made, a search party was sent to retrieve you but the mission failed and from that day on you have been declared a missing nin." After these words she turned around to look at the Uchiha only to find that his face had not changed or moved a muscle to give any sign of recognition of her words since he had entered her office. Tsunade sighed at this.

'He does not care…' She thought.

"Uchiha Sasuke, after all these years of abandoning your village, what is your reason for your return?" She asked the question that had been on her mind since the receptionist had told her his name.

Sasuke closed his eyes and smirked at her question. He had been expecting this.

"I missed this place, and the people of this village even," he opened his eyes and looked straight into hers, his expression somewhat saddened, his eyes showing the sorrow of his words, "I missed my home." He completed his response.

Tsunade stared at the boy in utter amazement. She would've never expected those words to come out from the Uchiha Prodigy's mouth. Maybe he is a changed man after all. Even though his response seemed like a lie, Tsunade decided to take and believe his words but she knew that there was something more than just missing his home that had brought him back here on his own will.

"Alright. I'll accept that as a formal response and here's what I'll do. You'll be placed on prohibition for a year and if I hear any reports about you causing trouble within this village, you shall be on a trial for execution immediately. Is that understood?"

Sasuke nodded and replied with a simple "Hn."

"Okay," Tsunade began as she returned to her desk and pulled out a few papers from a drawer, "All I need is your signature here, and your initials here." She placed the papers in front of Sasuke and handed him a pen whilst the other hand pointed to the line marked with an 'X'.

Sasuke scanned over the papers before signing it with a 'U.Sasuke' (ウチハ サスケ) then pulled out a stamp from his pocket and stamping it next to his signature. It left a red Uchiwa fan print, the symbol of the Uchiha Clan. Tsunade sweat-dropped at this. It was like he was prepared for his paper signings or something.

"Welcome back Uchiha Sasuke." She concluded as she stood up and offered a hand to Sasuke, who shook it before standing up also.

He turned around and paused suddenly as he remembered something.

"Hokage-sama, since I'm back, will I be able to get my apartment back?" He asked.

"Ah yes. That was all done in these papers you've just signed. Everything that had once belonged to the Uchiha clan is now rightfully yours, including your apartment."

"Aa." He replied and left the office.


Once he had stepped out of the building, eh noticed that the sun was setting and knew that it was getting late. Without further ado, he headed in the direction towards his apartment. It was not very far away but it did take some time to get there by foot. By the time he reached his apartment, stars have begun to illuminate the sky and the streets of Konoha was being like up by lanterns. As he stood before the front door of his apartment, he then remembered that he did not have his keys, so he had to go enter through the window he had left unlocked after leaving through that same window five years ago.

Once he jumped in, a big cloud of dust rose from the floor that he had landed on. He coughed through the dust-filled air and was disgusted at how filthy the place had gotten over the years. It was pitch-black inside and he could not see a thing, so he decided to activate his advance bloodline and wandered through the room to find a light switch.

Click.

He flicked the light switch and luckily enough, the room lit up. He was slightly surprised that the light globe and electricity still worked. His de-activated his sharingan as the source of light flickered a bit before illuminating the room in a soft warm glow. He could see much more clearly now. The room was filled with dust that had collected over the years and it looked liked there was a thin grey sheet covering the furniture and the floor. Though he hadn't been in his apartment in years, it looked liked someone had been there sometime after his departure because he never recalled covering his furniture with plastic, maybe because he had never actually expected to be coming back.

Sasuke looked over to the bedside table and saw something he never expected to see again. He lifted up the black frame that was once placed face down on top of the cabinet and brushed off the dust covering the glass panel with his other hand. A smile crept up onto his face upon seeing the old photo. It was the photograph of team seven. It brought back the memories of his days completing D-rank with his team. He also remembered that back then Sakura was an annoying fan girl of his; how she would constantly begging him for a date after missions but would always get answered with a cold 'no' and a glare.

Even though he had been so cold to her, she never did give up hope and this he had found to be quite amusing. Her determination had made him notice her and to this he found it to be quite…attractive. This new emotion then slowly developed into a very foreign feeling he had not experienced since he was seven. His ice-cubed heart began to melt and was beginning to learn to love. Though he still had his goal in life in top priority, to love her back was second on his list. Sometimes he would regret the new emotion she had made him feel because it had made it more difficult for him to leave. Then again if he didn't love her, he wouldn't have came back.

Sasuke placed the photograph on the bedside table with a smirk that had crept up onto his lips whilst he was in thought. Tomorrow, tomorrow shall be the day she would find out about how he felt all these years. He looked around his room once again.

'This place sure needs cleaning up…' And with that thought he began tearing off the plastic covers on the furniture and cleaning up his apartment.


Beep! Beep! Beep!

Sakura woke up to the ringing of her alarm clock. She groaned a bit before sitting up on her bed and rubbing her eyes in attempt to ease the heaviness in them. She blinked a few times before she noticed that her room was quite dark.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Her alarm continued to ring and that drew her attention to the red lights on the object. 8.00am the lights flashed. She switched her alarm off then wondered why it was still so dark at eight o'clock in the morning. Her curiosity led her to look over at her window, where her mental question was answered. Her curtains were pulled together, so she figured that she must've pulled them close that night before. Smiling a bit at her forgetfulness, Sakura pulled them open only to meet a dark grey and cloudy sky. Shocked at how the weather had changed so much compared to the day before, she made an assumption that it would rain later. After fully waking up her senses, she began to prepare for the day to follow.


Sasuke sat on his bed after a sleepless night and glared at the grey sky that greeted him. He had a late night last night whilst cleaning his apartment and by the time he was satisfied with his place's state, he had slumped onto his bed and was expecting to fall instantly into his slumber from exhaustion but that did not happen.

Every time he had tried to drift off to sleep and image of Sakura would enter his mind, reminding him of his task tomorrow and taunting him of his courage to do so. Not only that though, he couldn't hell stressing out a bit about what he was actually going to SAY to the girl. He couldn't just walk up to her and say the ever so simple words, 'I love you (Aishiteru)' just like that, he just couldn't do it. He needed something more. For some odd reason, he believed that words would not be enough.

'Something more… … … … Flowers!'

Flowers! He was sure that she would like flowers for it just naturally matched her type. Deciding upon this he sighed in relief at the thought and went off to prepare himself for his task ahead.

"Flowers… hmm…" He had once recalled that each type of flower had its own special meaning. "If that's the case the I'd be careful what type of flower I should give her…" he thought out loud. He let out a groan out of confusion and frustration. Something he thought that would be so simple turned out to be so complicated.

'Gah! I'll just have to ask for help at the flower shop then.' He made his final thought.

Sasuke was not the type to ask anyone for help but if it's for Sakura, he had decided long ago that he would most likely do anything for that girl. He couldn't help but think how complicated love can be.

Sasuke stood behind the basin and turned the tap on. Gathering the rushing cool liquid into his enclosed palms, he splashed his face, awakening his slightly tired senses.

'Right…' He thought as he stared into the reflection of his half-closed eyes.

'I just need some caffeine into my system, then I'll be just all right…' After washing his face thoroughly he headed into the showers to freshen up.


Sakura stood in front of a mirror, contemplating whether or not she should change. She had chosen to wear something simple, seeing that the weather wasn't going to be too good anyways. She had chosen to wear some faded light blue denim jeans with a stripy sleeveless turtleneck top and a long beige cloak to complete the look. Her long pink hair lay loose out and the front few bits were held back with a nice blue butterfly clip.

'I guess this'll have to do.' She thought then glanced at the clock.

9.59am it read. Her eyes widened slightly from shock.

'OMG! How long did I take to get ready!'

'It's not THAT much of a shock. I mean, you did spend ONE HOUR choosing an outfit.'

'Shut up, I wanted to look good for Gaara.'

'Heh. AND incase you bumped into a certain 'someone'"

'What?'

'Oh nothing!' And with that inner Sakura faked a cough. 'Cough! Sasuke! Cough!'

'Ehh! No! No! No! I-it's not like that!' A hint of pink rose to her cheeks whilst she was making that thought.

'Sure…' Inner Sakura said rather sarcastically. 'Then why are you blushing girl?'

'What! No! No! I'm just--' She was cut off when the doorbell rang. She sighed a bit in relief.

'Saved by the bell!' Then giggled slightly at her immaturity.

Sakura dashed down the stairs and with one last check at the mirror down the hallway she answered the door.


Gaara stood on the porch, leaning against one of the supporting poles of the porch, with his arms folded across his chest whilst gazing up at the dark grey sky above. He heard the door open and so tilted his head slightly to the side to meet his girlfriend.

"Ohayo Gaara-kun!" She greeted cheerfully, to which he replied with a simple, "Ohayo Sakura." and smiled at her. His smile had always made her weak at the knees. It was the smile that was reserved for her eyes only. It was not odd for Gaara to smile nowadays, well more than he did five years ago. After the day he had met Sakura and confessed his love for her, he had spent a great amount of time with her that slowly his heart begun to heal from his past's wounds and he was able to smile more freely like his childhood days, before the incident.

Sakura smiled back before turning around to lock the door. Gaara stood up from the pole and took a step towards the step off the porch and waited for her. Once he saw that she was done, he held out an arm offering for her, in which she linked with hers and the happy little couple walked out of the gates and down the road. Arm in arm with Sakura's head leaning in slightly on his shoulder.

"Ne Gaara-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"Where are we going?"

"Umm…" Gaara had no idea where they were going to go. They had just been unconsciously walking here and there, appreciating each other's presence.

"I know!" he bursted out suddenly, "let's go to Blossoms!" Sakura froze at his words. Just the mention of the name brought back embarrassing flashbacks from yesterday.

"Sakura?" Gaara looked at her confusingly at her sudden reaction. "Is something of the matter?" He asked in a tone full of concern for her well-being.

Sakura blinked a few times then quickly faked a smile.

"Oh no! It's nothing. Let's go!" Without a second thought she began to lead the way towards the café.

'Let's hope that the staff would not remember me from yesterday.' She wished.

The word 'remember' lingered in her mind for a while and new thoughts erupted from that word, thoughts about a certain raven-haired boy.


TBC...

Again, another boring chappie...things are just fitting into place and yeah...i guess that its just basically information n stuff...sigh...oo yeah!
Sasuke should be about to find out about Gaara i think in the next chappie! if not the next just the one after it!
o.o...now things are gonna get exciting...i can't believe that i'm excited myself! haha...even though i know whats gonna happen...just bear with me my dear fellow readers. o.o and there will be a reason for Gaara's OOCness that shall be explained in the future chappies...and be prepared pplz...gaara will tunr evil! O.O meep! i've said too much...thats all for now.

Oh yeah, no review replies in my chappies anymore! coz i am using the review reply systems thingy...its so handy now that i come to think of it! i can reply on the spot and readers would not have to look back to see what they have written.


Next chapter:
Sasuke goes in search of a flower and goes into the Yamanaka flower shop. Sakura and Gaara makes plans for their anniversary next Tuesday.
boring, boring boring...but...will Sasuke run in on the couple's planning? O.o

Anywaiz,

Until Next Time,

Japplz!

--(Aitashiaku©)--