Disclaimer: After 10 whole chapters, I think everyone gets it.
Now, time for the final chapter! You know, I remember when it was just a oneshot, taking its first steps. It grew up so fast! (starts crying in the background)
Not So Simple After All
Chapter 10
The Konohoa nins took their time on their way back home, the younger Uchiha in tow. He had woken up quite soon, around the time that Sakura's anesthetics had worn off. He trudged on the best that he could. Sasuke had recovered quite quickly. As so, he had to walk the whole way with a squad of ANBU (all of whom were his old comrades) surrounding him the whole time.
He was in a very sour and grumpy mood. Of course, that was probably due to all the precautions Shikamaru was taking. Neji had sealed all Sasuke's chakra outlets. As said before, the whole team was surrounding him, watching his every move. Naruto had tightly tied Sasuke's hands together behind his back using his chakra strings, and then chained his feet together with just enough slack in the rope to walk. Kiba had even promised to break all his fingers if the Uchiha tried anything. What a warm welcome…
Sakura had remained a little behind the group, keeping a steady pace with Ino, who had been injured during the fight. She was trying her best to avoid her ex-teammate's range of vision. She knew he could still sense her chakra, but at least he couldn't see her. He he…there was a pretty big chance of Sasuke remembering their little reunion, which was not something that would ease the tension between the two. So for now, she would just try to remain out of his way.
Hey, so far, it was working.
Nightfall was approaching fast as the sun sank lower and lower in the sky. The group decided to set up camp for the night. God knows they needed rest after the big fight. Speaking of which, ended only after the Sound nins discovered Orochimaru was dead and some Norikazu fellow surrendered.
No one had packed any tents in the twenty minutes they had been allowed to get ready; so all would be sleeping under the stars tonight. Due to his injuries, Lee was resting in the undergrowth. Kiba and Akamaru went off hunting. Hinata and Neji were posted as lookouts. Chouji had soon followed in Kiba's direction after complaining that he was taking too long. Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura were all sitting around a fire; Sakura was busy checking p everyone's wounds.
Now, all of this left Shikamaru and Ino to interrogate the rather uncooperative Sasuke. Safe to say, they weren't making much progress. Uchiha Sasuke was never one for communication, and never would be. He could sit engulfed in the most uncomfortable and depressing silence and not give a damn. Literally. And just as expected, he sat in complete silence as Shikamaru interrogated him the best he could. There really was no getting through to him.
Well, little did Shikamaru know, he had long lost the attention of his troublesome prisoner. Sasuke had been tuning his interrogators out almost since they started. His gaze was, instead, focused on the small group huddled around the fire. His old team—dare he say it—his old family, were right in front of him.
He watched them talk and laugh and poke fun at each other. Their conversation drifted from topic to topic, never faltering. It went from complaining about how tired they were to how excited Tsunade would be when she found out Orochimaru was dead to Sasuke himself.
It was rather strange hearing them talk about him. Sure, they were glad they were finally bringing him home. Naruto couldn't wait for Sasuke to be healed so he could beat the shit out of him. Kakashi pointed out that there was a good chance that the Sasuke (who was eavesdropping on this very conversation) had undergone many changes and would be extremely different then from when he was a genin. Then Naruto got a good laugh when Sakura pointed out that technically, Sasuke still was a genin.
She was also the one who brought the subject around to Sasuke's punishment. At this, the once cheerful atmosphere grew tense. They all had their own fears concerning this tender topic, and it was clearly evident right then. It was Kakashi who broke the silence, "We've done all we can do. The rest is up to Sasuke, the Council, and Tsunade."
Sasuke gritted his teeth. He had come so far; he couldn't die yet. Not before he killed Itachi. There was no way he would go quietly; there was no way he would go. Absolutely positively no…
-------------------------------------------------------------Later That Night------------------------------------------------------------------
Sakura's eyes snapped open. She had been sleeping, however fitfully, when she had felt…this sort of presence. It had been a gut-wrenching feeling that something (or someone) was just above her—watching her.
And now, she was wide awake. Sakura sat upright in her sleeping bag, her breath evening out. She looked around the campsite; nothing caught her eye. Everything was just as it should be.
All her fellow nin were sound asleep. The only other person awake was Kakashi, who was sitting by the fire reading one of his notorious Icha Icha Paradise books, surprise, surprise. It must have been his shift as lookout.
Kakashi immediately noticed her awakening. Flipping the page in his book, he turned his head and said, "Sakura, I think it's a bit too early to start off the day, but if you insist."
Sakura wiggled out of her sleeping bag and into the cold night air. It was still quite dark outside. She pulled on her grey hoodie and sat down by her former sensei. "Aa. I wasn't getting much sleep anyway."
"Anxious?"
"That's the nice way of putting it."
"Say, do you mind watching over camp for a few minutes?" Sakura silently raised an eyebrow in question. "You see," Kakashi continued, "I haven't been able to leave my post for a while, and I could really use a bathroom break. Besides, you weren't getting much sleep anyway."
She shrugged her shoulders in return. "Go ahead."
Kakashi took his time getting up. He started walking—quite leisurely for a man who needed to relieve himself—into the woods. Hopefully, he would choose a spot far, far away.
Sakura turned her attention to the fire before her. The heat stung her eyes and nose, but it warmed the rest of her quite comfortably. She let out a yawn and stretched her arms above her head. So much for being wide awake…
She heard shuffling behind her and turned around. It was Sasuke. By the looks of it, he hadn't gotten a good sleep either. In fact, it looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep at all. He sat down a few feet away from her, not even sparing her a glance.
Sakura inwardly sighed. 'This will be interesting…' It was her first time in years to be alone with Sasuke, even if her teammates were sleeping not far off. There was the whole "sneaking into her room at night at two in the morning" and also the "knocking him out with a dose of anesthetics" thing. Everything had happened so quickly; it felt like a whole year had passed in the last twenty-four hours.
"So," she started off nervously, "What brings you here this time of night?"
Still not looking at her, he answered, "You and Kakashi woke me up." For just waking up, he looked pretty alert. It must be all that ninja training.
"Sorry," she muttered.
The silence pressed in on the two. Sakura felt as if she were being crushed with the pressure, desperately hoping for Kakashi to return quickly and relieve her. Sasuke, on the other hand, seemed completely unaffected. He could sit in the most uncomfortable situations and not even flinch. It was a talent of his he had perfected during his stay in the Sound.
She wiggled her bare toes in the dirt and hugged her knees to her chest. "Sasuke-kun?"
"Hn."
"I have to ask…What were you doing in my room?"
"Hn."
"Sasuke-kun?"
"You don't want to know."
"Tell me."
"…No…"
"Come on…"
"Hn."
"I'm sure I can handle it."
"What part of 'no' do you not understand?"
Sakura let out a sigh of exasperation. There was just no getting to him. She had heard from Ino and Shikamaru that from an hour of intensive interrogations, they had not gained a single answer. Somehow, Sakura had not found this surprising. "So, can you at least tell me why you killed Orochimaru?"
"Can I get a break from all your damned naggings?"
"It can't be that hard to give me an answer."
"Hn."
"…Well?"
"…I don't know…"
"Please tell me you have a reason for killing him."
"Aa."
"Look, Sasuke-kun, I know you hate answering questions and communication in general, but you're going to have to sooner or later. The Council's gonna need your cooperation."
"Hn."
"Aren't you afraid of execution? At all?"
"Hn."
"It's sure to be your demise if you keep this up. Although, they might lighten your punishment since you killed Orochimaru, but they can't if they know that you killed him for no particular reason."
"…I just had to kill him…I couldn't remain with him longer…"
"Why?"
He turned to look, for the first time that night—for the first time in a long time, Sakura straight in the eye. "He gave me an order I could not obey."
Sakura opened her mouth to ask yet another question, but deciding against it, shut it abruptly. True, Sasuke had momentarily opened up to her; but he still had his limits. Maybe she should stop while she was ahead…
She stuffed her hands deep within her jacket's pocket. Huffing in impatience, she cursed Kakashi for leaving her alone with the Uchiha. Surely Kakashi would have realized that Sasuke had woken up. And then he just had to go to the bathroom. What was taking him so long anyway? It was taking him almost ten minutes now.
Strangely, it was Sasuke who broke the nerve-racking silence between them. The words came out in a raspy, distant voice. "I will not die yet. Not while he is still alive."
Sakura momentarily closed her eyes and leaned back. "So you do want to live. Could have fooled me."
Sasuke peered at her from the corner of his eye. She had changed…a bit more than he wanted her too. True, he hated her gushing and fretting over him in their genin days, but her new-found aloofness was just…this wasn't the Sakura he knew, the one who wore her emotions on the edge of her sleeve. This wasn't his Sakura…
The next words Sasuke literally had to force out of his mouth. "What do I have to do?"
Sakura cracked an eye open to look at him. From the dark abyss of her mind, Inner Sakura asked "Is he being serious?" She mentally shook herself back to the moment. "All you really need to do is to cooperate. You know, actually answer your interrogation questions and such."
"That's all?"
"Well, I guess. Since you killed Orochimaru and Kabuto, I know the Council won't execute you. Your cooperation should keep you out of prison—for the most part. There is one more thing you could have done, but it's too late for that."
"What?"
"Technically, we captured you at the Sound Village. Now, if you had come home on your own, it would have showed a willingness to return to Konohoa, instead of us having to report we had you chained up and guarded the whole way. I know that would have lightened you punishment. But like I said, it's too late for that."
"You never gave me a chance."
"Huh?" Sakura wasn't stupid, she knew what he meant. She just couldn't quite grasp the concept just yet.
"To come home on my own."
For a moment, time seemed to stop as all these thoughts raced inside Sakura's head.
Sasuke-kun?
Shhh, Sakura...
Sakura, I'll come back to you. I promise, I will return. You see, I have a mission to finish, but then I can come back, to figure out a few things.
"Oh Sasuke-kun!" She flung herself on him and wrapped her arms around him, consequently knocking the breath out of Sasuke and sending them both toppling over.
"Ah—Sakura," he breathed, gasping for breath. Sasuke was about to revert back to his old ways, to pry her off of him and call her annoying; but she was too much. He slowly returned her hug and felt his own alien smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. Her smile was bright and true and she was gently laughing and her eyes shone with joy and her hair was in disarray and her skin was soft and warm and she was so happy—She was happy.
Now this was his Sakura…
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Behind An Oak Tree-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not even ten feet away stood someone else. The man was smiling. It was a bit hard to tell since he wore a mask over most of his face, but his only visible eye crinkled, giving it away. In one hand he still held his Icha Icha Paradise open (he wouldn't be the same without it), but hadn't turned a single page since he left the campfire. Who could honestly read in the dark anyway?
Most importantly, in the other hand, he held a small black device. Listening to his student's laughter, he shut it off, watching as the tape stopped winding. This one tape would be the key in getting the Uchiha the lightest punishment as possible.
He hesitantly peered around the trunk of a grand oak at the two. He would give them a few more minutes. Then he placed the recorder in one of the pockets on his jounin vest and pulled out his flashlight from another. Now, he could finally get back to his favorite pastime.
As he read, line by line, page by page, his smile did not fade. He would have never guessed this day would turn out so well. Actually, he hadn't been in this good a mood in quite a while.
Things were definitely looking up…
As one of those old smart guys say, all good things must come to an end.
OWARI
I know, I know. It's taken me over two months for this, but believe me, it was necessary. I wanted to make the end as perfect as possible. All in all, this chapter got revamped 4 times. It went from a scene in the hospital to the park to back in the Sound to back in the hospital and finally, on the journey home. Some of you might have wanted a kiss scene, but that's just too OOC for this fic. Besides, Sasuke doesn't know he likes Sakura yet. I also decided to leave a vague ending. This leaves everything open. Who knows? I 'm thought about making a sequel, but I just want to set this story down for now. I have another fic I want to concentrate on anyway. I might pick it up later, it depends on whether or not I get any inspiration.
Ahem, now to thank all my reviewers: Krazzy-chan, tiffanylicis, Natsuhiboshi, Illicit Memory, -Out-of-Inspiration-, Sasuke's Lover, Paprika012345, Andrea 8000, Lord Melkor, Carmen, Bubble Nightmare, dashdashhypenspace-, icygirl2, VioletWriter, Gothic Kunoichi, Uchiha Aelita, kawaii chibi sasuke luver, secretshadows, mtm123, Shikyo Yaiba, metrogurl803, ur toaster, Tsukia-chan x3, daydreamer22057, graviola, Priestess kurumi inu's sister, sasukefaves, emeraldoni, Angel-with-Guns, LittleOneX3, amylovestakuya, puppy444219, Firemoon520, Spread-My-Wingz-And-Soar, lanie-chan, narutofaves, brenu, sorrowsblossom27, CelestialClouds
Your reviews are much appreciated! Oh, and if I mispelled anyone's name or just left you out, I'm sorry.
I wish everyone a Happy Holiday (even though it's technically over)! Now, make me happy and leave a review on the way out!
Ja ne!