2.

- S -

Sakura hadn't seen Sasuke since their original interaction. She had left Izuhara, her current apprentice, to be Sasuke's medic. In very plain and specific terms, Sakura had clarified that she was only accessible to Sasuke for emergency reasons. She had gone to somewhat extensive measures to avoid him including dodging Naruto who would have forcibly dragged her to hang out with Sasuke.

But, with his being discharged, the options to delay and avoid were gone.

Sasuke and Naruto were side by side looking at the pink haired kunoichi while she started the training. The pinkette shifted her weight from foot to foot with gently movements as she anxiously thought about the day – and likely months – ahead of her. While she no longer wore her heart on her sleeve, she knew Sasuke could read her easily and that meant he could see how uncomfortable she was.

"Good morning."

"Hn."

"I want to start you both off on balance work. You'll need to stand on the tree stumps and I'll guide you through some exercises that will make you re-work your ability to compensate the change in weight distribution." She gestured towards the stumps left behind by the trees she'd downed.

The men both came to stand atop the stumps, and she stood in front of them. "I want you to try to replicate what I do. Don't underestimate how hard you're going to have to work to adjust your body." Standing with her feet shoulder width apart, she bent to touch her toes.

Bending quickly, Sasuke clearly had underestimated the degree to which his balance was impacted. That did not bode well for the stretch because Sakura watched him fall flat on his back after rolling out of the fall. He slammed his fist into the earth and she caught herself clasping her hands tightly in front of her. Naruto was on the ground beside him, but blonde hadn't caught himself and lay sprawled face down in the dirt.

Sasuke quickly returned to the stump and repeated the motion, albeit slower, and eased down to use his only hand to touch his toes. The pace of the exercise and the many that followed were clearly frustrating the Uchiha, but Sakura drew strength from Naruto's excitement to be near two of his favorite people.

Naruto had grown more perceptive through time and seemed to pick up on how tense she was because he began to fill the silence by asking, "Ne, Sakura-chan, how's the hospital?"

Smiling broadly, she more than willing to fill the space between them. "My center has been going well, I've had to delegate more than I like but everyone has done an amazing job of following my vision. Post-war injuries are pretty well managed and I'm beyond proud of the new batch of apprentices – especially Izuhara."

"He's easily intimidated," Sasuke remarked.

Sakura jutted out her lower lip at him and moved her hands to her hips. "He's learning, I needed a lot of help with my confidence when I started training. In a lot of ways, he reminds me of me."

Mention of her growth was new territory between them and she internally chided herself. Sasuke barely wanted to exist in the same space as her, he clearly wouldn't care to hear about her growth or training.

"Be nice, Teme. Not everyone has a stick so far up their ass they don't have the brain space for emotions." Naruto laughed, Sasuke scowled, and Sakura swung a fist at the blonde. Hope bloomed in Sakura's chest at the sight - the team still resembled their genin version in some ways.

- S -

"I'd rather he put a kunai in my throat than keep up this silent thing he has going on. I can't tell what kind of bitter thoughts are rolling around in his head, but I imagine death is better than finding out," Sakura said with a heaving sigh to close her complaint.

"Sakura, you know he's angry at being back to a genin level. His anger isn't because of you." The medic couldn't help but to disagree with her sensei after having overheard Sasuke's comments about her ranking as a nurse, but there was no point in dragging Kakashi into such petty problems.

They two shinobi were standing in her kitchen with Sakura cooking while Kakashi made tea for them both. "I don't get it. He was so, so…vulnerable to me when I brought him back to our dimension and when I found him and Naruto." Turning to press her back into the countertop, Sakura continued to describe her confusion. "It's like someone hit a switch. The Sasuke I saw on the battlefield was a grown man with the ability to admit he has attachments to people. The Sasuke I'm seeing now is a brat with a handicap."

Kakashi chuckled and she shot him a glare for finding humor in her suffering. He raised placating hands at her expression. "We never knew if he was going to return let alone how it would go if he returned, apparently this is the path he's chosen. Whether it's the best one, that's yet to be decided."

Humming in agreement, the pinkette turned back to the chicken she was prepping on her favorite iron skillet.

Kakashi's opinions, despite pissing her off sometimes, were always unbiased and helped her put aside her personal investments in situations. Whether it be Naruto, Tsunade, or now Sasuke, he could see past the strings of the past to make clear headed decisions in the present. As she'd grown older and gained recognition for her skills by everyone, including the silver haired man, they had grown closer. While he was far from a consistent person, he was the only one who hadn't left her for an extended period. No avenger journey. No training with a perverted Sannin.

Konoha was where he returned after long missions and he called it home, something the other half of Team 7 couldn't claim. Training with him was always enjoyable because she could usually manage to surprise him with some skill he didn't know she possessed – the one benefit that came from him not being around for most of her growth as a ninja.

"Are you going to visit him?"

Pulling the now whistling tea kettle from the stove, the jonin shrugged. "I don't see him being any more receptive to me." Sakura deflated slightly and realized she'd held a misplaced hope that Kakashi would be the one to draw out the old Sasuke if she and Naruto couldn't.

"Maybe it'll get better as he begins training. I told him about the arms, but I think he doesn't believe I could actually do a successful transplant."

"You are known for breaking bones and cracking skulls, I may see his point of view there," the older man jibed. Whirling around faster than he'd anticipated, she thrust a wooden spoon into his ribs.

"I've healed you plenty of times. I can just as easily redo all of that damage – and worse." She punctuated each sentence with extra pressure in the spoon's pressure against his torso.

Lifting his eyebrows in a mocking expression, he replied, "You're all but breaking my ribs right now, what kind of medic are you?" His humor managed to draw a smile from the pinkette and she stuck her tongue out at him before she returned to cooking.

"Be useful and set the table," she ordered over her shoulder and he did such with minimal complaint.

Sakura at least could find solace in knowing she had two of her men, Sasuke be damned.

"She's going to faint," Sakura stated blandly as she worked on a patient coming in from a construction injury. The student she referred to, Mae, did exactly that moments later with her doe eyes fixed on the hammer protruding from the man's skull. Sakura took pride in being patient with all her students, but there was a certain point when being a medic just didn't make sense if one couldn't look at blood for more than 60 seconds without fainting.

Fainting was bad for one's health. The patient would get subpar care if their provider was passing out. The provider's limp body would be in the way of treatment. There were too many issues to assert being a medic was a wise career choice.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura tried to calm herself. Her anger wasn't truly meant for Mae, the girl was just an easy blame with how difficult she made every shift she worked. Sakura was angrier at the clock for reading half past 9 when she was supposed to have met the boys at 8. It was only their second day and she was almost two hours late.

It wasn't necessarily her fault. The staff had failed to account for her change in availability and they were understaffed meaning she'd left from dinner with Kakashi to pull the all night shift. Said shift was just wrapping up when the construction worker had been wheeled through the door and she'd been sucked into healing him.

By the time she had finished with the patient, ensured Mae was okay, and stepped out of the OR, it was just shy of 10. Her surgery scrubs were bloody, her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, and dark bags had made themselves at home below her eyes. It seemed life had a sense of humor because immediately after taking inventory of her appearance, she noticed her two trainees were seated in the chairs directly across from her.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted as he leapt up and ran to greet her. He stopped short of hugging her when he noticed her attire. "Ewww, go get someone else's…whatever off you before we train! Hurry!"

As expected, Sasuke was silent but graced her with a nasty glare. Timeliness had always been important to the Uchiha male and she was sure this annoyance would be present the entire rest of the day.

"Alright, alright. Let me toss these scrubs and I'll meet you at the grounds!" She did her best to hide her exhaustion and show the excitement she felt hidden below her fatigue, but a yawn at the end of her sentence undermined her.

The two men departed and Sakura made her way to the locker room in order to change for the full day she had ahead of her. Ino happened to be in the room getting ready to start her shift when Sakura walked in heaving a deep sigh.

"Hey Forehead, would you be quiet? This is a hospital in case you didn't know," the blonde teased.

"Huh, I wonder how they let a Pig in here and didn't send it directly to the vet's office," Sakura shot back as she pulled off the bloody clothes and went to her locker for a fresh set of training attire.

Rolling her eyes, Ino flicked hair over her shoulder. "I saw the two dumbasses waiting outside your OR, are you training them after an all-night shift? Didn't you train them yesterday?" Ino could be a pain in the ass, but at her core she was a very good friend and knew Sakura's habit of overworking herself.

Tugging on her boots to complete her clean outfit, Sakura tossed a closing comment over her shoulder before scurrying out to avoid a fight. "Worry lines will make you even uglier, Pig."

It took only minutes for Sakura to get to the training grounds by rooftop and she found the men bickering over who would win in a fight both right now and once they had arms. "Neither of you will be fighting anything or anyone any time soon," Sakura clarified to cut the argument short.

"Not if we get behind on training because everyone isn't here on time," Sasuke snipped and she forced a smile on her face.

"I got caught up with a man being admitted to the ER – I didn't realize how long it had been and – "

"Sakura-chan, you're supposed to not be working full time while you train us," Naruto whined. Despite the childish drawl to his voice, it was clear he was expressing concern. Sasuke, however, stayed impassive. The current version of Sasuke almost felt like talking to a parent. Constant chiding and a stern attitude. Great.

Gracing Naruto with a genuine smile for his concern, Sakura straightened and stretched her limbs. "I talked to Shizuno, it's been adjusted! Let's begin!"

There was no need to tell Naruto that she'd just moved her shifts, not given them up. Working with her boys didn't mean the rest of the village, especially the hospital, went on hold. She didn't want to neglect either duty so she would, very carefully, do both.

Once the sun began to set and training was called for the day, she sent the two men off with reminders that Sai would be joining them soon and would help with their training. Naruto whined and Sasuke was silent, nothing new there.

Reaching her house for the first time since dinner the night before, Sakura all but ran upstairs for a shower. The heat of the water washing away a night at the hospital and a day training felt blissful. She stayed under the spray of water long beyond necessity and her fingers had begun to prune when she finally reached for a towel.

With one towel around her body and another absently pressing water out of her wet locks, the pinkette descended back down to her kitchen. As nice as sleep sounded, she needed to eat something first. Pulling open the fridge doors, she caught sight of something that chipped at her good mood. A ripe red tomato was the object of her intense stare for pulling her thoughts back to her dark haired teammate.

Any frustration she felt towards him was overshadowed by her frustration with herself. Frustration for having expectations. For building some version of what it would be like when he came home. Years of being so certain of her feelings, of where she stood within Team 7 and who she was to him, had suddenly all hit an intersecting point.

Deciding to snack on fruit, Sakura pulled peaches and pineapple from the fridge to make a pathetic version of a fruit salad. Tying up her hair in the second towel, she lost herself in thought as she cut up the food. Sasuke had ignited her heart on the battle field when he'd touched her after returning to the dimension, and she was certainly happy to have him back, but something was off. Something with him wasn't right. All she could explain it with was that he wasn't what she expected – whatever those expectations were as she'd never consciously known she had any.

She only made it a few bites into her 'dinner' before she fell asleep on the couch with her TV playing some sort of baking show.