When Naruto walked into the hospital room to see his old friend and his first crush sleeping like two very tired babies, he nearly burst out laughing. Sasuke had curled up into a fetal position and Sakura was still slumped over in the chair. Instead of laughing, he sat down quietly on the windowsill and waited for them to wake up. Sakura wouldn't believe he was waiting so patiently, but he did.

His pink-haired friend was the first to wake up.

"Naruto?" she said, yawning and turning slightly red of embarrassment. "What are you doing here?"

Naruto crossed his arms and smiled. "Kakashi-sensei wants us to meet him at the bridge the day after tomorrow. Something about wanting to see how well we can work together after all this time."

Sakura nodded, then looked at Sasuke. "He did say we would be on a team together."

"Team Seven is gonna tear the bad guys apart!" Naruto shouted. He jumped up but was stopped by a pillow hurdling at him at an unreasonable speed. "Oh, Sasuke-teme, you're awake."

"I can't believe you're still that loud," Sasuke muttered, glaring at him. "And don't wake me up ever again."

"But what if it's an emergency?" Naruto said almost as if he was testing Sasuke's patience.

Sasuke continued to glare at him. "You dobe, if it was an emergency, we'd be the ones waking you up."

"Oh, you're right," Naruto admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

Sakura smiled at them, realizing how nostalgic this scene was.

"Well, I for one, am excited that we're all going to be together," she said, standing up.

"Sakura-chan, can't you tell that I'm excited too?" Naruto said, prancing over to her.

"The whole world can tell," Sakura told him. "They can hear you with the way you're shouting everything instead of saying it."

Sasuke watched the two bickering, wondering why he missed all of Naruto's yelling and Sakura's constant subtle insults. The two argued for a few minutes and Sasuke would have fallen asleep if he hadn't been watching Sakura.

He knew as he watched her that she had gotten stronger. She had, of course, knocked him out, but that was a coincidence. If the curse seal hadn't deactivated as it had, he would have been able to beat her.

It would have been a slow victory with her astounding strength, he admitted to himself.

He continued observing her until Naruto finally stopped arguing with her and turned his attention back on him.

"Oy, Sasuke-teme!" he said. "How do you feel about shacking up with Sakura-chan?"

Sakura reddened and hit Naruto on his head. Sasuke just glared.

"It's not like that, baka," he hissed. "And could you leave? I need sleep."

Sakura kept herself busy to keep her mind off Sasuke coming to live with her for a few weeks. But no matter how many patients she examined, she couldn't stop thinking about him.

She wondered why she wasn't angry with him. He had been cold to her from the start. He had called her weak; he had unintentionally made her fall in love with him by being his moody, emotional retarded self. He had finally become her friend.

And then he abandoned her.

Now, though, he was back. She didn't know if it was by choice yet, but he was close to Konoha when they found him. Maybe he had wanted to come back, and he had accomplished the first part of his goal.

Sakura gasped and nearly dropped to her knees.

She knew what he was going to do, and she hated it.

She was sure he wanted someone to help him complete his goals with. She was sure that she wanted to be that person. But she was also sure that he wanted someone who didn't know what he had gone through, and she was sure he wanted to start over, without her.

It nearly killed her right then when she thought of Sasuke with another woman.

I can't let him know it would destroy me, she thought. I have to be strong, for the sake of all three of us.

It was awkward, she would admit later, when Sasuke first arrived at her house, with two guards flanking his either side, holding his hands behind him. Sasuke had a bored expression on his usually emotionless face as the guards escorted him into her apartment.

Sasuke would later admit that he could have killed the guards easily if he wanted to.

The Sakura then wanted to die from embarrassment as the then Sasuke sunk slowly onto her black futon and stared at the wall, waiting for the guards to release their chakra strings. When they did, he looked at her with a stunningly intensified expression in his once dull black eyes.

She stared back at him from a second without embarrassment or shyness. Then she broke the contact and mentally screamed at him.

"The bathroom is the first door on the right in the hallway, and the kitchen is through that door," she said, pointing in the direction of each room. She paused before adding, "And if you need anything during the night, my bedroom is across from the bathroom."

"I know," was all Sasuke said.

Sakura glanced back at him, confused. He stared at her and realization dawned.

"Oh," she said nervously. "You saw when you came the other night."

She was answered by one tilt of his incredibly attractive head.

"Hn."

She took that as a yes. Sakura looked down at the floor and tried to stop herself from yelling at him.

Say something, god damn it!

"I'll be in my room if you need me," she said quietly.

Sasuke said nothing and she walked to her room, grateful for once to get away from him.

He watched her walked away with a defeated expression on her face and had no idea of what to do. He ran a hand through his hair and gritted his teeth. No one had prepared him for this.

To ask someone he apparently still cared about for a favor.

He had no idea what to do, and it frustrated him. He supposed he could ask Naruto how to approach her, but the baka probably wouldn't be able to keep it a secret. He would have all of Konoha lined up, ready to see and hear Sasuke ask an embarrassing question.

"Sakura, would you be willing to bear my children?"

"Will you be my baby-making machine?"

"Tch. I need Naruto."

"So, teme," Naruto said when he arrived at Sakura's door, "what do you want?"

"I need to ask you something," Sasuke admitted.

Naruto's eyes widened. "What kind of something?"

Sasuke looked back at Sakura's closed door. No sound was coming from her room, and he sighed. "It's private. So be quiet."

He moved so Naruto could walk in. Naruto waited patiently on the couch while Sasuke paced back and forth, trying to figure out how to say this.

"What's Sakura like now?" he asked, trying to buy some time.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, is she happy? Is she…is she…"

"Dating anyone?" Naruto supplied.

Sasuke stopped pacing and looked at Naruto, who was smiling slightly.

"Isn't that what you want to know? Don't you want to know if she's taken?"

Sasuke could feel blood rush to his face. Naruto would've laughed if he hadn't been instructed to be quiet. Instead, he watched Sasuke struggle with this information with an amused look on his face. Sasuke started pacing again.

Tch. I didn't even think of that. Does Sakura have someone? What will I do if she does? Kakashi said she still loved me, but maybe she did move on. Maybe he was just playing those idiotic mind games again.

He stopped pacing again and watched Naruto watch him.

"Well?" Sasuke pressed. "Does she?"

Naruto smiled brightly.

"Nope!"

Sasuke glared at him. "Don't do things like that."

Naruto's smile slipped off his face. He stood up and walked over to Sasuke.

"'Don't do things like that'?" he snarled. "That's an odd statement coming from you, you traitor. Do you know what we went through while you were gone? We went through hell! Sakura, especially! Did you know she tried to go after you? Did you know she almost let herself get killed? Did you?!"

Sasuke looked down at the floor. Quietly, he asked, "When did this happen?"

"After you tried to kill me," Naruto stated venomously.

Sasuke was silent and Naruto scowled at him.

"If you want help with your selfish problems, go to someone else," he hissed. He turned on his heels and slammed the door behind him.

The door to Sakura's room opened. Sasuke's emotionless face greeted her when she entered the small living room.

"Was that Naruto?"

Sasuke nodded.

"What did he want?"

"Nothing."

Sakura frowned. "Then why was he here?"

"I had to ask him something."

Sakura looked at the door. "What made him storm off like that?"

"Tch."

She knew by that sound that he didn't want to answer, so she sighed and went to the door.

"If you're going to be like that, then I'm going after him," she stated. "Don't leave. I'll be back."

When she left, Sasuke could only think one thing.

Damn it.

"Sakura, do you know what you could have let happen?"

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama. I won't do it ever again." Sakura bowed and expressed her apologies to the Hokage. "I wasn't thinking."

"No, you weren't. You disobeyed my orders. I'm afraid you'll have to receive some sort of probation."

Sakura closed her eyes and nodded. "Yes, Tsunade-sama."

"Shizune, what's the minor sentence for this?"

"Three months probation," Shizune said, not looking up from the scroll. "Sorry."

"I'm prepared to take the full sentence," Sakura said. "I deserve it."

Tsunade looked at her student and sighed. "Sakura, you only left him alone for a half hour."

"But he's an S-class criminal," Sakura pointed out. "I should have made sure he was in my sight the whole time."

"The boy didn't even leave the room."

"But he could have."

"Although he didn't."

"He could have!"

"Sakura, I get the feeling that you want to be on probation for…what is it, Shizune? Six months?" the Hokage deliberated. "Is that what you're thinking, too, Shizune?"

Shizune looked up at Sakura and nodded. "What's wrong?"

Sakura looked down at her feet. "Nothing's wrong."

Tsunade tilted her head and studied her. "If you need something, Sakura, just ask us."

Sakura looked back up at Tsunade, knowing exactly what she meant.

"Hai, Tsunade-shishou."

"You are dismissed."

A/N: Well, I'm back! (I was in Charleston, for those who want to know.) Despite it being vacation, I only had time to write on the way there and on the way back. (My dad is a go, go, GO person. He made me wake up at six in the morning. On vacation!) And since my laptop battery sucks, I could only write a little bit. Stupid battery.

Anyway, thanks for the reviews!

The next chapter—the last chapter—is almost done, so it will be up in a few days. Maybe two or three? It's going to be long, I think.

Hope you enjoyed.