Returning Home

KibaSin

Summary: His redemption period at an end, Sasuke finally returns home alongside the young priestess he met along the way. [Sasuke x Kagome]

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Inuyasha or Naruto. All character depicted belong to their respective owners.

Genre: General / Drama / Angst

Rating: T

"Sasuke."

His pale complexion awash with color beneath the waning light of day, the Uchiha dropped his head and sighed. The movement made his mismatched eyes appear shadowed and forlorn, as he watched her take his hand and give him a reassuring squeeze.

"Are you okay?"

His mouth twisting upward at the corner, he replied, "I'm fine. It's just that… I never really thought I'd ever come back here again after…"

"After everything that happened?"

"Yeah."

Turning her attention toward the enormous walls surrounding the village, the dark haired young woman frowned a little when they began to tower above them. The entrance gate did not seem that far away anymore, and she gave him another squeeze with the knowledge. "It's okay, you know, if you don't want to yet," she said softly. "I'm sure that everyone would understand if you wanted to try again some other time."

Shaking his head at the suggestion, Sasuke sighed. As lovely as it sounded to simply turn and walk the other way, he also knew that it would only result in a headache later on if he put the visit off any longer. "If Naruto ever found out that I got this close and then chickened out," he rolled his eyes, "he would never shut up about it."

She giggled, admitting, "I probably wouldn't either, if I were on his side of things."

Glaring at her lightly from the corner of his eye, the Uchiha shook his head.

"Sorry," she smiled sheepishly, "but you know it's true."

Sasuke chose to ignore that simple statement with little more than a soft snort. Flickering his eyes back toward the edge of the treeline and the road just beyond it, he tugged on her hand until she fell into step beside him. "Come on. If we don't arrive soon, one of them will probably get the brilliant idea to come looking for us instead."

She could not help but giggle again, as she allowed him to pull her along.

"Sassssssuke!"

The unexpected, boisterous yell echoed across the distance almost the moment they turned onto the road leading toward the village entrance. The Uchiha in question released another quiet sigh, causing her to smile at the sight of an overly enthusiastic blonde man standing beneath the archway and waving excitedly in their direction. "Is that…?"

"Yeah, that's the dobe," Sasuke replied.

"I'm pretty sure his name is Naruto." Pulling her hand away from his own, she bumped him with her elbow to hopefully get her point across. "You shouldn't be so mean to your best friend all the time, Sasuke."

"Tch." The faintest hint of a smirk appeared on his lip, before he nodded toward the other two. It did not surprise him in the slightest to see them accompanying the idiot. The entirety of the former Team Seven was just as obnoxious to shake off, even if they were not nearly as loud as Naruto about it. "I'm sure it's obvious who they are, too."

"The girl is… Sakura?" she asked after a moment, contemplating the other girl's pink hair and smiling when he nodded in encouragement. "And that other man must be Kakashi. He was your sensei, but now he's your… um, Ho… kage?"

"That's right," Sasuke replied. "He's the village leader currently."

"So, he's the one you're always exchanging messages with?"

The Uchiha nodded.

"They seem nice." Ignoring the quiet snort that she got in response, she added, "I bet they're not nearly as annoying as you always say they are, too."

"Trust me," he told her, knowing that she must have politely waved back from the way Naruto paused in confusion and leaned into Kakashi to no doubt ask 'who the heck that was?' "You'll change your mind once you realize how little peace and quiet there is with those three around. Not to mention the other teammates they picked up along the way." Tipping his head slightly to one side, he hummed, "I'm actually surprised the idiot didn't drag half the village out here to celebrate the occasion or whatever."

"You're just overly dramatic sometimes, that's all."

"Sure, I'm the overly dramatic one."

"You are!" she laughed at him. "I should know!"

"Mmm." Sasuke turned his head just enough to smirk outright at her, as he replied, "I suppose you would know, since you certainly are the overly dramatic type sometimes."

"Hey!" Puffing out her cheeks in indignation, she grumbled, "I am not, you jerk."

Shrugging his shoulders in response to the mild insult, the dark haired Uchiha paused in the middle of the path and caught her wrist. The faintest hint of a chuckle escaped him then, as he watched her obvious pout melt into a look of confusion. Her dark, raven colored hair highlighted just how blue her eyes really were, and he felt the corner of his mouth soften into a smile as he sank into those ocean depths. "You'll never have to pull me out of an old well I nearly drowned in," he told her, "so I know for a fact you'll probably get along with them far better than I ever did."

She rolled her eyes at him, saying, "You're never going to let me live that down, are you? Because I'll have you know that it wasn't my fault I was in that well, Sasuke."

"If you say so."

A faint snort escaped through her nose, as she said, "If you're going to be that way about it, then I'll just leave you here and go meet them myself!" Waving her hand between them dismissively with the statement, she turned her reddening face away from him and began to march toward the entrance gate without missing a beat.

Quiet laughter followed in her wake, before Sasuke easily matched her pace.

Half-heartedly glaring at him from the corner of her eye, she grumbled under her breath and huffed when his lip tilted up in amusement. "You're such a jerk. You know that, right?" she finally relented after a moment. "Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you."

"Ah, but that's just it, isn't it?" His smirk fully forming, the dark haired shinobi slid his mismatched eyes to meet her ocean depths. The back of his hand brushed against hers, and he chuckled when she quickly pulled away to cross her arms instead. "That's why you—"

"Hey, Sasuke-teme! Listen to me when I'm talking to you, you bast—!" Naruto's startled yelp pulled the Uchiha's attention away at last, though he only sighed at the sight of his best friend nursing the bump on his head. "Ah, come on, Sakura-chan, I was just trying to—!"

"Nar-u-to!" Her brow twitching, Sakura ignored the blonde's attempt to defend himself and raised her fist again in order to silence him. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call Sasuke-kun that? If you keep it up, he might never come home again! Is that what you want?"

"But he is! He's completely ignoring us to make googly eyes at… at… whoever the hell that is!"

"Sasuke-kun wasn't making—!"

Ignoring Sakura's gasped response, Sasuke returned his attention to the dark haired woman beside him when she giggled at Naruto's continued antics. It did not surprise him in the slightest that the idiot had managed to return her smile in an instant, and he wasted little time before offering her his hand when she turned that expression upon him. Her face softened with affection at the simple gesture, but it was the way her eyelids lowered and she looked up at him from beneath her lashes that nearly took his breath away once she placed her hand in his own.

His name was a whisper upon her lips, as he lifted her hand and placed a lingering kiss on her knuckles.

"Ehhhhh?" Naruto's high pitched noise cut through the resulting silence, before he practically shouted, "See? What did I tell you? Sasuke-teme totally was—!"

Kakashi's hand settled on top of the blonde's head, putting an end to his sudden tirade, as he cleared his throat and cast a knowing look in Sakura's direction. "Maybe we should let Sasuke introduce his lady friend before we jump to conclusions, Naruto," he said, never taking his eyes from the shell shocked form of their pink haired teammate. "No doubt he has quite a few tales to tell us about his journey away from the village."

"This is Kagome," Sasuke told them, nodding in Kakashi's direction to signal that he understood. "I pulled her out of an old well in the Land of Tea not long after I left the village. She was half-drowned and confused about where she was." His attention quickly returned to her, and he nearly smiled when she rolled her eyes fondly at him. No doubt she would have told that bit differently, though she allowed him to continue without comment. "She recovered much more quickly than I had anticipated while trying to take her to safety, and afterward she was determined to repay me for my efforts."

"...Sasuke… kun…?"

Sighing through his nose, the dark haired Uchiha met Sakura's tearful gaze without remorse.

"She's…?"

"She's my wife," he replied bluntly.

Naruto's mouth fell open. "She's your WHAT?!" He sputtered as he rounded on the silver haired man standing behind him. "Kakashi-sensei, did you know about this?" The sight of the Hokage only sighing lightly had him gaping like a fish, as he quickly accused him by shouting, "You did, didn't you, and you didn't bother to tell either of us?" Flailing his arm out to the side, he wildly tried to gesture behind him. "How could you let Sasuke go and get himself married outside the village and not tell us, huh?"

"I…" Sakura seemed to choke on the words. "...I see…"

Quickly turning on his heel back in the other direction, Naruto frowned. "Sakura-chan…?"

"...I…" A line of moisture cascaded over her cheek, as Sakura tried to smile. Shaking her head, she wiped at her eye and lowered her head. "...congratulations, Sasuke-kun… I…"

Kagome's face fell slightly in the wake of the other woman's devastation, though she held her head high as she squeezed Sasuke's hand once more in reassurance. "Thank you, Sakura-san," she said softly, not bothering to mention when the pink haired woman flinched and looked up at her in surprise, "for always believing in Sasuke. I'll forever be grateful to you and Naruto-san."

Sakura's mouth opened and closed several times, as her eyes flickered between the dark haired Uchiha and his new wife.

"Without the two of you," her blue eyes shifted to gaze up at him lovingly, "he'd be lost and alone."

"And you probably would have drowned in that well," Sasuke scoffed back at her. "So really, you'd be the one lost and alone."

"Heh." Kagome's expression flattened, as she pulled her hand away from his grasp and placed it on her hip. Leaning into him, she craned her neck back in order to glare up into his amused gaze and huffed, "As if! That's just what you'd like to think. Somebody else could have just as easily pulled me out of that well, and then where would that leave you, hm? Lost and alone, that's what!"

"Ah," Sasuke nodded, "so you would have married anyone unfortunate enough to pull you out of that well then."

Flushing with the statement, the dark haired young woman growled, "And no doubt they'd be less of a jerk than you, too, Uchiha Sasuke!"

"No doubt," he snorted.

Frowning slightly still, Naruto gently placed his hand onto his female teammate's shoulder and softly asked, "Sakura-chan? Are you… okay?" The way she was silently gaping in disbelief at the sight of Sasuke playfully bantering with… anyone, really, was rather unnerving. Especially knowing that she had been waiting for…

Sakura only shook her head, another tear cresting over her cheek.

Sasuke's mismatched eyes flickered toward them, though he seemed otherwise unaffected by the uncomfortable atmosphere that he had knowingly caused. Looming over his tiny wife, however, he seemed to hesitate when he said, "How about I show you how much of a jerk I can be… at…?" while trying to no doubt retreat from the situation.

Kagome's features softened into an encouraging smile. "Let's go home, Sasuke," she finished for him. Stepping in close to his side, she reached for his hand and playfully bumped him with her shoulder. A faint giggle escaped her then, before her face flattened and her voice lowered in an attempt to mimic him. "You still need to show me your 'pitiful excuse for an apartment,' anyway, remember?"

"Heh." Though he agreed with a soft hum, Sasuke shook his head at her. The warm, comforting squeeze of her fingers eased the tension in his shoulders. "That attempt was even more pathetic than the last one."

"It was pretty spot on that time if you ask me."

"Nah." Pulling her easily into his side, the dark haired Uchiha bent his head just enough to press his temple against her own. His mismatched colored eyes slid shut, while he chuckled close to her ear. "It was pretty bad." Ignoring the sharp inhale nearby that resulted from his lips caressing the dark crown of her head when he pulled away, he began to herd his little wife toward the village gate and beyond. "We should probably find you something to eat before it gets too late, too. It's been several hours since we last stopped and ate."

"I am a little hungry," Kagome agreed. Her blue eyes briefly slid toward the others. The sight of Naruto attempting to comfort his pink haired teammate made her frown slightly, before she met the dark colored stare of the Hokage. She lowered her head out of respect, the smile quickly returning at the upturned edge of the older shinobi's mask. "Oh, and we can invite everyone over once we get the chance to go out for groceries. It'll give you a chance to catch up with everyone about everything that's happened while you were away."

Sasuke only grunted, clearly not thrilled by the suggestion.

"And you'll need to report in… or was it debrief? I don't think this really counts, does it?"

Sighing, Sasuke muttered, "Yeah, later," while ushering her away from them.

The pair having caught his attention, Naruto stared after them for a moment. His brow lowered in obvious concern, he quickly returned his focus to his distressed friend. Sakura had huddled into herself as they walked away. One hand over her mouth while the other clutched desperately at the edge of her shirt, it was clear to even him that she was attempting to hold in all the pain and heartache she had been dealt. "...Sakura-chan…" Tucking her head underneath his chin, he easily wrapped her in his embrace and shook his head when it brought forth the first heart wrenching sob.

"...he… he said…" Sakura hiccuped quietly, burying herself deeper into Naruto's hold.

Naruto bit the inside of his cheek and shut his eyes. Only Sakura's slight shift to touch her fingers to her forehead caused him to loosen his hold, and he nearly sighed knowing that she had taken that gesture to heart. That it had clearly meant more to her than it had to his best friend. "I'm here, Sakura-chan." His heart twisted for the girl he had once loved himself, as he tucked her back into the safety of his arms and held her tight. "It'll be okay. I'm right here."

"Sasuke-kun…"

Fin

Note: This... wasn't supposed to be this long, but the banter wouldn't stop. lol

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