I am soooo sorry for updating so late! I had been so busy and to be honest I still am. That's why this chapter is so super short. But get on with reading. More babbling at the end:)

She landed in the middle of her living room and immediately noticed another presence. Kira bristled and growled deep in her throat. Slowly Sakura slipped her hand in her weapons pouch and felt for the cold steel of one of her kunais. Out of the peripheral she saw movement and threw the kunai. She heard the clunk as metal got stuck in her wall and then she was eye to eye with the spinning sharingan.

"Sasuke?" she whispered breathless. His eyes widened for a second. Then they turned black again and he reached one hand slowly out to her.

So many emotions were swarming her and she felt tears pool in her eyes. She felt guilty and sad for leaving him and so so happy for finally being back. She didn't dare to move until she felt his cold fingers brush away her tears softly.

"Happy Birthday, Sa-ku-ra" he murmured and actually smiled; the softest smile she had ever seen. She stumbled forward and fell against his chest. His strong arms surrounded her and she buried her face in his neck.

"I missed you so much! A-and I was so scared that you might hate me for leaving you. But I really needed to do this on my own and-"

"Sakura, it's alright. I understand."

She laughed softly and nodded her head. He just tightened his hold around her and she sighed softly.

"So… this is the one you were so worried about, Sakura-sama?"

Kiras voice startled her so much, that she jumped out of Sasukes arms and turned red. Sasuke seemed totally unaffected and slid his calm eyes towards the mischievous looking lynx.

"A new summons."

"Ah."

She met the golden eyes of her lynx and somehow couldn't shake the feeling of being judged.

"You can go now Kira" she murmured softly and watched her lynx disappear in a cloud of smoke. Then she turned around to Sasuke only to find him scrutinizing her with narrowed eyes.

"What?" she asked and crossed her arms, ready to defend herself.

"You are an ANBU." His onyx eyes met her green ones and she just stared back. She didn't feel like answering as it was quite obvious that she was ANBU now what with her clothes and the tattoo on her left arm. So they just stared at each other in hopes that the other would break.

His eyes seemed to become just mere slits the longer she stayed silent.

"Just spit it out Sasuke, so I can go to bed and catch some sleep before I can go and see Naruto to make my report!" She snapped and saw him flinch slightly.

He wasn't used to this bossy Sakura who was so sure of herself.

"I can't believe that you left us to go and hunt down more people. Wasn't the war enough for you already?" He spat out and as soon as his words had left his mouth he knew he had gone too far. Just like back then, before she had left. He braced himself for her anger he was sure to get but she just closed her eyes.

"Leave" she murmured. His eyes widened. There was no screaming, no tears and no angry words. Just a cold order.

If he were a different man he would try to apologize and make amends. But the sad truth was that he was not a different man. He would not apologize for his words, because he had meant them. Yes, they had been harsh and rather hurtful as he knew how much the war had hurt her. But he couldn't understand her. Couldn't understand why she had wanted to kill more people after all this pain they had been through. And apparently she wouldn't explain herself.

He left in a cloud of smoke and finally she felt like she could breath again. His words had hurt her deeply. How he could think that that was what she had been doing all the time, she couldn't understand. And it made her sad that he did think so poorly of her. Being ANBU didn't mean that you were automatically a killer. It meant you had to deal with more complex missions that weren't that easy to decide what was wrong and right. She had to get a result, sure, but there were so many ways to get to the result.

She trotted to her bedroom and loosened her garments on the way. Somehow all the happiness she had felt when seeing him here in her quarters had evaporated. She had really missed him, after all she did still love him...right? He was the man of her dreams...right?

Surprisingly enough a picture of Kakashi appeared in her mind with his silver hair and his happy eye crinkle. She groaned and slapped her forehead. Why did she think of her ex-sensei? It didn't make sense at all!

She let her shirt slide down to the ground and stared at her chest in the pale moonlight. She had small but round breasts. But that wasn't what she was looking at. Between her breasts and the half of her left breast was the skin totally scarred. Her skin wasn't red anymore but it looked severely burned. It was the scar from when Sasuke had hit her with his chidori and had pierced her heart. She put her cold hand on the burned skin. The scarred part was warmer than the rest of her skin, as if some of the heat of his chidori still resided in there. And sometimes she could feel her heart hurt and getting hot all over. Tsunade had told her that she might have to live with the repercussions. But it was a small price to pay. She had saved Naruto and ultimately had ripped Sasuke out of his darkness. She would have gladly died for those two idiots.

The scar wasn't something ugly for her. No, it was something beautiful. It was something so very meaningful cause it showed her that she could save the people she loved. That she had already succeeded in saving them once so she could do it again. It was a symbol of ultimate love. For her it was the most beautiful part on her body.

Again I am so sorry that this chapter is so short. But it felt right to leave it at this point. And it's better than getting none, right?^^

Thank you to ! I am really glad that you like my fanfic and that my writing seems calming to you. I hope you will stay with me till it's finished:)

Thank you to SakuraxKakashi! I am sooo glad you liked the way I brought Sakura back. I wasn't quite sure if it was good this way or if I should have written more about her time away.^^

And thank you to . I think I got the gist of what you wanted to tell me, though I am not speaking that language. But it made me happy to get your review.

Because of you I updated today. I don't know when the next chapter will come since I have a test next week and my sleep rhythm is totally gone. So it may take a while. BUT, as promised, you will get the sneak peak for the Gaara/Sakura fanfic that is to come. But I have to warn you it will be a really dark fic which will be hinted at in the sneak peak, so enjoy;)

Over the years she had slowly learned that showing emotions was a sign of weakness and the colder she was, the stronger she got. Of course nobody except her parents really knew how cold and ruthless their daughter truly was, because she was supposed to make the people of Konoha believe that she was a happy emotional girl. She had instructions and was to follow them. So it didn't bother her that much that she hadn't any friends. She was friendly with them but that was it. It was of no use to her to befriend the others if she just ended up betraying them. But deep down she promised herself that if she ever gained people precious to her she would do anything, really anything to protect them.

And then she had graduated the academy and become Genin. Her parents didn't come, after all they had to pretend they were happy civilians and didn't care about her Shinobi life. To be honest she was glad that they hadn't come. She hated her parents but she feared them just as much.

And then she had met her new Genin-Team. The last Uchiha who seemed to have a serious trauma and the bubbly blonde which radiated such warmth with his bright grins.

The first time she nearly slipped up was when they had to talk about their dreams. Sasuke talked about killing someone and restoring his clan and she felt sorrow well up in her for the pain that was so obvious in his voice. His Chakra had flared up dangerously while he talked about killing a certain someone and she had flinched. Kakashi-senseis eye had slid to hers and a knowing glint had flashed through it. Then he went on to watch Naruto who proclaimed to become Hokage and getting everyone to accept him. And then Kakashi-senseis eye had slid to hers once again and she knew it was her turn.

She glanced at her new team and opened her mouth.

I want to be free. I want to finally be free of my duty and of this fear. I want to live a life without fear of being killed by own parents and find people I love and want to protect. And I want to be loved and protected. But most of all I want to be free.

But then she had seen the threatening glint of metal in the trees behind her new Sensei without anyone of her team noticing. So she had forced herself to smile wobbly and babble stupid shit about wanting to be with the Uchiha and love. As soon as she felt that her father had disappeared she stopped babbling such nonsense and clenched her fists angrily while she dropped her head and stared emotionless at her white knuckles.