Sakura woke the next morning feeling more relaxed than she had in years. She stretched in her bed reaching up above her head as far as she could while stretching her legs and toes as far down as she could. It felt wonderful. She took a deep breath and relaxed back into the softness of her covers for a moment enjoying the peace she felt and then got out of bed and dressed.
She was brushing her hair when there was a small knock at her window. She had felt them drawing near as she had dressed. With one last swipe of her brush, she set it down and grabbed her headband. Itachi and Shisui waited for her to tie her hair back with her headband and jump out her window.
Neji met them by the steps as they approached the hospital. "Sasuke is awake and asking for the three of you. Kakashi is already with him."
Sakura ran up the steps with Shisui and Itachi. Kakashi was sitting by his bed when they entered.
"Sasuke." Sakura dropped down in the other chair by his bed and took his hand, "I'm so glad you're awake. I'm so sorry Sasuke."
"What are you sorry for, it was my own dumb ass that put myself in such a dangerous position. I should have known better." He squeezed her hand in reassurance.
"I hit my head pretty good I guess. They said I had two different terrible concussions, that I had water damage to my lungs and that the only reason I am still alive is that you saved me. Thank you, Sakura. It seems like you're always looking out for me." He smiled at her.
"Man, you scare the crap out of us kid, we were really worried you weren't going to wake back up." Shisui said from the right side of the bed where he was standing.
Kakashi had given his chair to Itachi when they had entered moving back to the wall to give them some space. He had his usual book out and was immersed deeply in the world of Icha Icha.
"Sasuke, are you sure you're okay?" Itachi asked his little brother earnestly.
"Yes, sorry I worried you. I am okay, a little dizzy and nauseous but I will be okay, maybe just a little more rest and 'll be back to normal."
"Hn." Was all Itachi said but it was enough. Sakura could tell he was holding back, the relief evident in the small upturn of his mouth as he looked at his little brother.
"So, tell me," Sasuke said sitting up a little straighter in the bed." What happened, Kakashi didn't tell me much, only that they are dead and we came back home."
"Well, yeah, they are dead and we brought you home to recover, you were out for over a week Sasuke." Sakura told him.
"Is there any news on the Akatsuki? Do they know it is the Leaf that is responsible for killing four of their members?" Sasuke asked.
"I don't know if they know it was us or not this time. The two Akatsuki who died, Deidara and Sasori. I'm sure they have their spies but if they were there at the time they didn't try to help them." Sakura said.
"I'm sure they know, if they didn't have a spy there or not. Word about this kind of thing will travel fast. Merchants talk." Shisui smiled at Sakura.
Sakura remembered how her parents had known before she had even changed out of her clothes when she had gotten home. Merchants do indeed talk. That means, yes, they knew that Deidara and Sasori were dead and that it was Leaf nin who had done it.
"They will go after the One Tail again." Itachi said.
"Should we not go back to Suna then, to help make sure that doesn't happen." Sasuke said looking from his brother to his cousin, to his friend.
"I think they might try to hit the Leaf next, Naruto is expected back any day now and they have a reason more than ever now to attack us." Shisui said.
"I agree." Sakura said and Itachi nodded.
"The Hokage knows Sasuke is awake, he will be putting a plan together I'm sure." Kakashi told them.
Sakura had almost forgotten he was still in the room.
"You're right, we will just have to wait." Sakura said.
"In the meantime, I need to find my own place. You get better Sasuke and when you get out I will make you dinner in my new apartment." She smiled at him and his face lit up.
"Yeah?" Sasuke said and grinned.
"Yeah." She smiled at him.
"That would be great Sakura." He smiled at her as she pushed her chair back to stand up.
"If you don't mind Sakura, I would like to stay here with my brother." Itachi said to her as she made her way to the door.
"Of course Itachi, I understand, Shisui, did you want to come with me?" She asked him.
"Sure flower, I'd love to pick an apartment out with you, one bedroom right?" He winked at her.
Sasuke frowned at his cousin and Itachi hid a smile from him.
"Har har Shisui." Sakura laughed as she opened the door. "See you soon Sasuke, bye guys." She waved to Itachi and Kakashi and walked out the door followed by Shisui who also waved.
By mid afternoon Shisui and Sakura had found her a nice little affordable one bedroom apartment. It wasn't big and it wasn't special, but it was affordable which Sakura liked and it was safe which Shisui liked. It was also a little way out of the main hub of Konoha more toward the Uchiha district which they both liked.
Shisui and Sakura sat in a small dumpling stand celebrating her newest accomplishment with a plate of dumplings and a cup of tea.
"Congratulations flower." Shisui grinned at her. "Want me to come over and help you break in your new bed?" He winked at her.
"It is going to be my old bed just in a new room Shisui." She was used to his silly pointless flirting by now.
"Fine, want me to come by and break in your new room tonight then?" He winked at her again.
"Relentless." She poked him playfully in the arm.
"Only with you blossom." He said playfully.
"I will stop by the hospital later to visit Sasuke and tell him my news but I want to go home and tell my parent's first and start packing." She said popping the last dumpling into her mouth.
"Sure thing flower. I'm going to head over there now to check on him. I'm glad Itachi came around sooner than later." He patted her on the head, paid their bill and left.
Sakura made her way home slowly thinking over the best way to tell her parents she was moving out, had a lease, and that it would be immediately. This wasn't going to go over well. She sighed, no use dragging it out. She opened the front door to her parent's house and said "Tadima." For the last time.
Her parents had taken it even worse than she had anticipated. They refused to let her take any of her furniture with her saying that it didn't belong to her. She took out her storage scrolls and put her clothes, toiletries and books in it, sealed it and put it in her bag. All of her ninja gear she had purchased, they had refused to contribute to a profession they hadn't approved of. She stood looking at her room, the room she had dreamed of becoming the shinobi she was now in, when she had been just a tiny little girl, turned and walked out on her childhood forever.
Sakura had stopped by the market on her way to her new apartment and picked up some small items such as vegetables, rice, chicken and noodles. It was odd shopping for herself. She had purchased food for the team on missions, gone to markets before of course but there was something different about buying it for your own refrigerator, for your own home. She smiled as she paid for her things and walked to her new home.
Another change hit her when she unlocked the door to her apartment and walked inside shutting the door. She had said, "Tadima." out of habit but there was no one there to greet her. She laughed a little at her foolishness.
After she had taken the few possessions she had out of her storage scroll she looked around her home. Her mission bedding was in her bedroom on the floor, her toothbrush and things were in her bathroom, her clothes were hung in her closet and the newly purchased food was in the kitchen. She laughed. She had no couch, no tables, no chairs, no TV, nothing to decorate with. She smiled though, because it was hers, all hers. She spun on her heels in the middle of her new living room and giggled to herself.
She allowed herself another small smile before leaving her new apartment to see Sasuke.
Kakashi was there when she arrived, as were Sasuke's parents.
"Oh Sakura dear! So good to see you, glad you're back and well. Thank you for taking such good care of Sasuke. Itachi tells us that if it wasn't for you, he would have died." Mikoto hugged her tightly to her and kissed her head.
"I wish I could have done more, I'm sorry he slept for so long and that I didn't visit." She felt guilty, she hadn't even had the guts to tell them what had happened herself. Itachi had been so upset with her that she didn't think she could bear it if they too had been upset with her.
"Nonsense." Fugaku said from beside his wife. "We know you did everything you could."
Sakura nodded trying to hold back any tell tale tears.
"I hear you moved out of your parents house Sakura." Kakashi announced.
"You already found a place?" Sasuke asked .
"Yes, this afternoon, a few hours ago, Shisui helped me find it, it's small but affordable and it's mine." She said proudly.
"Always good to have your own place, that way when you come home from a mission covered in blood you have less explaining to do." Kakashi smiled at her.
"Yes, my mom never did get used to that." She laughed a little.
"Congratulations Sakura, 17 years old is certainly a normal age for shinobi to get out on their own." Fugaku said kindly.
"Is there anything you need dear?" Mikoto asked her. "We will get you something to celebrate your new place, a picture for the wall maybe?"
"Oh no, please, thank you but that is too kind, there is no need." Sakura blushed.
"I want to come over as soon as I get out of here, you said you would make me dinner remember?" Sasuke said pointedly in front of his parents.
"You did?" Mikoto's eyes were sharp.
"As friends." Sakura corrected any misunderstandings.
Sasuke frowned,"Still, you said you would."
"I will, once you get out, but you need to rest now. I just wanted to tell you my news and see how you were." She told him.
Mikoto hummed a bit, "We will go now and let you two be alone. Congratulations on your new place Sakura, I hope to be able to see it once you get settled in." She winked at her and tugged on her husband's arm.
"Good night Sakura, Sasuke." He patted his son on the shoulder and smiled at the pink haired girl. He and his wife left them alone...with Kakashi who was still leaning against the wall with his book out.
"I'll be going too, glad you are feeling better Sasuke, you should be out by tomorrow right?" Kakashi slipped his book back into his pouch.
"That's what they told me." Sasuke grumbled. "I don't see why I can't leave right now, I feel fine."
"Ah well, listen to your doctor Sasuke, they know best after all." Kakashi eye crinkled at him.
"Says the man who escapes out of his hospital room dripping blood and leaving a trail all the way back to the door of his apartment…." Sasuke says darkly.
"Well, that's me not you. I'm special." Kakashi smiled and disappears in a puff of smoke.
Sakura shakes her head but is smiling. With The room now empty but for her and Sasuke she pulls the chair by his bed out and sits down. She tells him about her new apartment which doesn't take long.
He laughs at her, "Only you would move out to get away from your parents with nothing but your ninja gear and books."
"I had to leave, they were smothering me, they don't understand." She said in her defense.
"They are civilians Sakura, of course they don't understand our life style, the missions, what we do, the blood." He says to her.
Sakura raises her head, she can feel Itachi and Shisui coming.
"Itachi told me what happened after I fell and didn't get back up. I'm sorry he gave you a hard time Sakura."
"It is okay, I understand why he felt that way, why he acted like that. We are good now though, he told you that too right?" She asked.
He nodded," yeah, he told me."
Itachi and Shisui opened the door and walked in, Shisui with his signature grin and Itachi looking as placid as ever.
"Hey there flower, how is the new place? All moved in? Do you need any help?" he asked.
"Nope, didn't have a lot to move I'm all settled in, you two are welcome anytime, just come over whenever you want." She smiled.
"Well, not whenever they want, right Sakura? It isn't proper for them to come say, in the middle of the night or something." Sasuke mumbled.
"They know what I meant silly." She tapped him on the head playfully.
"Just make sure you don't say that to Naruto when he gets back to the village, he already came by your window day and night when you lived with your parents, don't be surprised if he asks to move in with you now that you have your own place." Sasuke laughed.
"True, I'll have seals in place though, I'm not worried." She smiled. "I'll be going now though, I'm tired. See you tomorrow Sasuke, if you get out before dinner time, send me a message." She waved and left his room.
"Dinner tomorrow?" Itachi asked his brother.
"Sakura said she would make me dinner at her place when I got out of the hospital." Sasuke said smugly.
"I think you're reading too much into it Sasuke." Shisui warned the younger male.
"You're just jealous, I see they way you look at her, both of you." Sasuke looked from his cousin to his brother.
"I'm not going to deny that she is beautiful and incredibly talented, not to mention dangerous and that's really hot but, she is also a good friend and I respect her, I think I speak for both of us." Shisui said looking at Itachi who nodded.
"She is still young though, I don't think she really looks at us that way yet, romantically. She has other things on her mind than romance. You remember what she told us, who she is right?" Shisui asked him.
"How could I forget, it was startling." Sasuke said.
"Which is why Shisui is telling you not to read into it too much, she sees us as friends and family, not romantically. I think Shisui is right, she has things she wants and needs to do before she can even think of romance, for the people she left behind, the ones who died." Itachi said.
"The ones whose names aren't on the memorial stone, the ones she hopes never to see there." Shisui added.
Sasuke felt a little guilty and a little selfish. "I didn't think of it like that."
"That's because you're a little twerp." Shisui grinned and ruffled his hair. Sasuke tried to smooth his spiky hair down and glared at his cousin.
Sakura unlocked the door to her apartment and said ,"Tadima." again out of habit and then frowned. She had forgotten there wasn't anyone to greet her again. Shrugging she went to her bedroom and set her bag on the floor next to her bedding. Looking around her empty room she sighed and made her way to the kitchen where she started making dinner for herself.
Halfway through cutting the carrots for her fried rice she felt a cold across the back of her neck.
She turned quickly, "Madara." She smiled.
"You look happy to see me love, I see you have a new place." He looked around.
"Kinda bare isn't it?" He gestured to the empty living room and sparse dishes in the kitchen cabinet.
"My parents were less than pleased about my moving out and didn't allow me to take anything but my ninja gear with me." She shrugged and turned back to cutting her carrots up.
"I'm not surprised, they are civilians after all. They would always complain about the silliest things." He mused as he stood beside her watching her cut up carrots.
"What did they complain about in your time?" She was curious, and it was nice to have someone to talk to.
"They didn't like the nin running across the roofs of their homes and businesses, complained it was too loud." He smiled at her drop jaw expression.
"But, but, we don't make any noise! We are ninja!" She huffed.
"Exactly, silliness." He grinned.
She laughed and slid the cut carrots into the pot of cooked rice and stirred it. She added sesame oil to the pot and some thin sliced green onions and two eggs then set the fire to medium, stirred, then put the top on the pot and turned back to face Madara who had moved to look around her home.
He was inspecting the sliding glass door. "This isn't made very well, you need to get this fixed, anyone could just slide this open." He raised his hand to touch the lock but his hand went right through it. He frowned.
"If I had a physical body I could fix this for you." He grumbled.
"If you had a physical body, I wouldn't let you in here with me." She smiled at him.
"You don't trust me?" He grinned at her, his teeth were somewhat pointed, he looked more like the maniacal Madara she remembered from her own time.
"Honestly, I don't know. You are right, what you said before, you're not the same Madara from the one I first met on the battlefield of the 4th shinobi war. You are more, kind and sweet." She said carefully.
"Sweet?" He raised an eyebrow to her.
"I might not be a bloodthirsty warmonger set on world domination anymore but I am not sweet." He shook his head as if in disgust.
"Yes you are." She teased and laughed at his facial expressions.
"I am one of the most powerful shinobi in history woman, I might not possess the physical prowess I once did but I assure you, once I get my physical body back I will show you I am anything but sweet." His eyes flashed red.
"I wasn't trying to insult you, I'm sorry." She waved her hand dismissing his ire."I only meant, well, if I'm honest, it is nice to talk with you sometimes."
He watched her, his arms across his chest slowly relaxing to his sides, as a tinge of red crept up into her cheeks. She was blushing at him. He looked away and out the window again.
"You need furniture." He stated the obvious, changing the subject.
"Uh yes, but it will have to wait. I paid for 6 months rent in advance and just had enough left over for groceries for a few weeks." She was a little embarrassed and hoped Sasuke wouldn't laugh at her when he came over for dinner tomorrow.
"Your rice is burning love." He said bringing her out of her head.
Had he been staring at her while she stood there thinking? She wondered as she headed back to the kitchen to stir the rice. It had been burning...she spooned some into her bowl and took it outside to eat on her balcony that overlooked the forest. Tapping her chopsticks to even them out on her leg she started eating while Madara sat down on the floor of the balcony beside her.
"What are you doing here?" she asked him but added after a steely look from him, "I'm not complaining, you just, you never used to stay and talk with me for any length of time, it seems like, lately you have been more, talkative, I like it." She said shyly.
"You are easy to talk to." He said shortly.
Feeling like he may have been unnecessarily gruff with her he added," you are the only one who can see me remember? I find it scares most people to hear a voice talking to them that they can't see who or where it is coming from."
She giggled into her hand,"What did you do?" Her eyes were filled with misschief and he couldn't help but grin back.
"When I first came back with you, it was, well, it was a bit of a shock. It took me a while to figure out what had happened and my connection to you. It took some time for me to even voice my words, you had to get stronger for me to get stronger." He smiled," I walked up to a woman in the market demanding to know what year it was, clearly it wasn't the same Konoha as the one I had left moments ago. She screamed and dropped the cake she had been holding and ran off calling the name of who I can only assume was her husband." He rolled his eyes and smiled faintly.
"It wasn't funny at the time but, well, it was the second time. I did it on purpose." He laughed then.
She was dumbfounded. She had never heard or read about Madara Uchiha having a sense of humor before. They had left that out of the history books. She couldn't hold it in anymore, the look on his face, he had played a practical joke on a stranger in the market. She burst out laughing almost spilling her friend rice on her lap.
"It wasn't that funny, well maybe a little." He ducked his head sheepishly but couldn't stop grinning.
"You are adorable!" She laughed and put her hand on his arm. He looked down at his arm where her hand was.
"Sakura." He said quietly.
"What is it?" She asked wiping tears out of her eyes from laughing so hard.
"Your hand." He said.
She looked down. Her hand hadn't passed through his arm, she was...touching him.
She gasped and pulled her hand back. Their eyes met and she smiled nervously.
"Is that, uh, supposed to happen?" She asked him.
"I'm not sure, can I try something?" He asked her a look of hope and longing in his eyes.
"What?" she asked not taking her eyes off of his.
"I want to try to touch you, to see if I can." He asked her.
She nodded her head. He raised his hand haltingly to her face. His fingers flexed into his palm then extended out again hesitantly. He ran the tips of his fingers along the side of her cheek briefly, then pulled his hand back.
"Did you." he started.
"Yes." she said quickly.
"You felt it, you felt my fingers?" He breathed in.
"Yes." She said eyes wide.
He let out the breath he had been holding.
"Could you, feel it, my face?" She asked.
"Yes." He said.
"Madara, what does this mean?" She asked him.
"It means, I have a second chance, it means everything is going to be okay." he was astonished. "I have to go." and he disappeared, leaving her alone on her balcony with her rice.
Sasuke leaned forward coughing. His chest hurt. Where had this pain come from? He lay back down when the coughing had stopped and put his hand to his chest. The pain had stopped but it had felt like it had been right over his heart. What the heck was that? He wondered as he closed his eyes. He opened his eyes after a few deep breaths and continued eating his dinner brushing it off.