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Ch 2: Welcome Home

"What was that Sasuke?" Naruto tried his best to keep himself from getting attention, little good that did.

"What?" the Uchiha raised a brow at his friends' question.

"What do you mean 'what'?" the blonde started. "Why do you have to be so hard on us? We're just trying to help. She's just trying to help. And all you do is treat us like we don't matter."

"Well, you don't." Sasuke answered back, a scowl was growing on his face though he was still calm, even if Naruto was starting to annoy him. He had seen the look on his face; he looked hurt and unable to believe what he had heard.

"You've changed so much, Sasuke. Have you forgotten who you were?" the future Hokage queried softly, looking at him questioningly. "You weren't this way before, sure we had times when we got competitive but that's what made our friendship a good one. Was it all a waste? Did we ever have a friendship, a true one? We've stuck up for you when everyone wanted you dead. Orochimaru has done you no good, changing you from the person you were before you left to join him. I know you have your own dreams to achieve, we all do, but we would have been there to help you. I know you don't want it," Naruto added before Sasuke interrupted, "but friends don't abandon each other."

He reached in his pockets and pulled them out, extending it to Sasuke – who looked at his hand. Naruto grabbed his unbroken hand and put something in it before Sasuke pulled away. "Get yourself some clothes." He walked waving a hand as he did so. "I'll see you around, Sasuke. You should also get that hand healed."

The dark haired boy looked in his hand a realized Naruto had handed him a handful of money, 'I have my own money.' He snorted and at the same time seen a few citizens looking at him, whispering something. 'Hn.' He decided it was best for him not to say anything that would get him in more trouble. ANBU were watching him, he lifted his ankle as he remembered the monitor which was concealed, almost invisible unless looked at very closely. The Hokage never told him anything about it, so he wasn't sure what it could do. Someone had to have had a control for it, most likely Tsunade.

Placing his foot back on the ground he turned on his heals to the nearest clothes store – earning many more stares and whispers as he walked down the street.

----

Just after the other three left the Hokages office, Tsunade turned to Sakura. "I have a patient for you. But before you go, I want to know how you are with Sasuke back in Konoha." The blonde woman crossed her arms, sitting on her desk as she looked at her pink haired apprentice.

"I'm fine, Tsunade. Really."

"Are you?" the Hokage perked an eyebrow at the medic who will – if not has already surpassed her.

Sakura nodded, "He's changed, but perhaps after he's accepted the fact that he's back he will settle down and become his old self again. At least…" she lowered her head in thought, "… I hope."

The head medic sighed, "Sakura…" her amber eyes surveyed her. "He is dangerous. Orochimaru was the same way; he taught him how to be ruthless. When some people change, it seems that they loose a part of themselves the part that makes them human. But… perhaps the old Sasuke will return in time, though you do realize that he may never return at all."

Sakura nodded again, this time slowly, now getting the courage to look up at her sensei. "I know."

"I will tell you a little secret about that monitor though, but only you and you are not allowed to tell anyone what I say. Not even Naruto." Sakura bobbed her head in understanding. "That monitor on Sasuke can only be taken off by a familiar chakra signature. It has been programmed so only two people can take it off. Me being one and the other is you, though you are not allowed to remove it. I trust you and expect nothing out of your character to do such a deed. Am I clear?"

"Very clear. I am glad to know that you trust me so much."

"If there ever is a time for it to be removed, either I will or I will tell you to do it. Only on that condition. If Sasuke found out who were capable of removing it you may only get hurt again and that I can't and will not allow to happen. Tell no one."

"Understood, sensei."

"Now about this patient. He's from a neighboring village and has been quite a handful, but that's usually what's expected from someone as high ranked as him."

"This patient, who exactly is he?" Sakura sounded a little nervous from the detail her sensei gave her.

A smirk graced the blondes face. "He's a young lord who certainly needs a manner check."

"Please don't tell me I have to deal with that." Sakura sighed. "Not another one of those attempts."

"What's the matter, Sakura? I know you can do it. Think outside of the box." Tsunade suggested.

"I liked you better when you were drunk," the young kunoichi mumbled, her teacher walked to the other side of her desk and sat down. Bottles clanked together as she pulled out a bottle of sake. Sakura sighed again. "Is there anything I need to know about this guy?"

"Mmm, no." she took a swig of her sake.

Sakura rose to her feet, "Fine… I'll go see this guy. If he starts anything I can't guarantee that he won't get a black eye."

Tsunade waved her out, gulping down the bottle before the girl even shut the door. When she realized it was empty, she held it upside down. 'Not even a single drop left. I should have sent Sakura to get me another bottle.' She looked at the pile of paperwork on her desk, growling. 'I hate papers.'

The pink haired teenager heard a growl through the door after she closed it. No doubt she was growling at the paperwork she had to do. Well, being Hokage was not always easy. And Naruto wanted to be Hokage. Sakura chuckled at the thought of him hearing all of his responsibilities.

"I'VE GOTTA WHAT?! WHERE'S ALL THE FUN STUFF?!"

She giggled harder to herself as she walked away from the door she had just exited. Sakura knew that that was his dream for so long. Naruto could do it, she had faith in him. He was becoming stronger in so many ways and fairly quickly. She knew he would be one of the greatest if not the greatest throughout Konoha history. He would put his life for the village, that's what all the other Hokages have done at least once. Though, she knew that because of the nine-tailed fox he may not be able to get his dream. People feared him. It wasn't him they really feared though, it was the fox. Many had called him the beast. He's just Naruto. She knew that so why couldn't others? People are just so rude, self-centered, greedy and so many other things. She sighed to dismiss the thought.

She was now in the streets, walking by citizens as they went about daily life. After taking a deep breath she exhaled. Relief filled her lungs as she did until there was suddenly someone in her way. Stopping abruptly she still bumped into a tall figure though able to keep her balance. "I'm so sorry," she apologized and looked up at the figure to see the one and only Sasuke Uchiha standing in front of her scorning at her. His eyes were hard and distant as he looked down at her. "Sasuke, sorry about that. I was in a hurry." She noticed he had a few bags in his hands. "What were you doing?"

"Hn."

Sakura sighed sadly, 'Again with the 'hn'.'

"Shopping," he answered after apparently seeing her forlorn expression. It was then she noticed his was in a different outfit. He wore a black tank top revealing his muscular arms and firm chest under it with a collar that went half way up his neck and white cargo pants. His feet were wearing shinobi sandals that went around the ankle and what looked to be a light blue string was tied around his waist over his black shirt. Two black armguards were fastened to his forearms. His new attire made him look very handsome indeed, though he always was attractive. Luckily no fan girls could be seen, at least yet.

"I can see that," Sakura said after observing him. His old clothes were in a bag in his hand before he walked over to a trash bin and threw them away. "S-Sasuke…?" he stopped and slightly turned his head to look at her at the corner of his eye. "How's your hand?"

"If I let you heal it will you leave me alone?" his tone held annoyance.

The medic nodded slowly. He quickly held out his right hand while he looked ahead. Sakura carefully reached for it as she walked a little closer since she was almost five feet away from him. The sudden contact almost made Sasuke jump. "Sorry," Sakura apologized. She noted that his skin was soft almost like that of a baby's, though it was almost deprived of warmth. There were five broken bones in his hand, three of them being knuckles. Placing his large hand in both of her smaller ones she sent healing chakra to soothe the pain, if he felt any anyway before mending the bone back together. Unknowingly, Sasuke watched, his emotions well hidden. His normal impassive expression.

He, too, noted that her hands were soft, warm even. Sasuke didn't like being close to people, even close enough to where you could be touching. Distance is what he wanted. What he liked. Though a small, distant part wanted to get close, however, that was always pushed away before it could take over. Perhaps it was the part of him that was when he was little, before the massacre of his family. The cold part would always win over that weak part that he wanted, craved attention from others. Warmth from others. He couldn't get close, he had to stay away, push those away who tried to get close. When she touched him he instantly wanted to pull his hand away and run. But he wanted to get away from her as fast as he could, she wouldn't leave him alone if he didn't let her heal his hand. So he waited, even if that small part of him was trying to fight back. To bring him out.

It had been about two minutes when Sakura pulled away and smiled up at him as she released his hand. "Done."

Without a word, or an 'hn' he strode off not even looking back at her. He waited until he was at a distance from her before he flexed his hand that was healed moments ago. It felt good, better than before. Almost as if she renewed the bone with a completely stronger one. The side of him that longed for human contact had died the moment he left Sakura standing there without a single work. He didn't want to loose control of his emotions. He had to keep them at a distance. Everyone. He needed no one, no one at all.

Sakura had watched him rush off without a word and sure enough there was a large Uchiha fan on the back of his shirt; she remembered what she and Tsunade were talking about earlier, about the possibility of Sasuke turning back into the Sasuke she had known as a Genin. 'I guess I'm still annoying. Or I'm worse than when we were Genin.' She gave a small, sad smile before she sighed. 'He's always been isolated, now he's even more than before. I guess there are some things we can't change.' Shaking her head she gradually continued down the road toward the hospital.

As she drug her feet, she heard someone call her name. "Sakura!" she stopped to turn slightly.

"Huh?"

Tenten strode up to her with a bright smile, "Sakura, I heard you just got back. Hinata told me everything. So Sasuke's back?"

Her face fell, "Yeah, he's back."

The weapons mistress noticed her friends' depression. "What is it? What did I say?"

"It's nothing. I'm just on my way to the hospital to see a patient and I can't wait to get to bed."

"Oh," the brunette said, relieved, then her face turned grave before asking. "How're you holding up?"

"About what?"

"About… Sasuke being back?" she asked slowly.

"Fine."

"I just seen you two together. You looked scared in some way and he looked-" she stopped before she said too much to upset her friend.

"… He just needs time to readjust," Sakura told her. "He's been through so much and he's always been isolated from people with his time with, you know who, in you know where."

The girl nodded, "I can understand that." She knew that the snake Sanin was a touchy subject for her as well as the Sound country. "Hey we should get together sometime. It would be great to hang out once we're all off of missions at the same time. Ino's been pestering me about it."

"Sounds good. We'll have to do that." A smile formed on the pink haired kunoichi's face.

"Well, I'll let you get to your patient." Tenten waved her goodbye as Sakura returned it as she continued down the street.

----

"Oh Sakura," one of the nurses said hurriedly. Her big brown eyes were begging her for something and her brown hair swayed behind her reaching the back of her knees. "Thank goodness you're here!" she was running over to her and dragging her to the room.

"Is he really that bad?" Sakura inquired, raising an annoyed eyebrow.

"He won't listen to any of us," a second nurse answered, also following quickly.

"And you think he'll listen to me?" she was now being shoved down the hallway.

"You know how to take care of these kind of patients." The first nurse insisted and the second nodded furiously. She was shorter than most women only about 4'4". Her head was covered with silver curls and nearly covered her pale eyes. She had a distinctive limp to her walk, due to a broken hip that wasn't healed properly over ten years ago. Before they reached the door to the patients' room they could hear his voice.

"What do you mean I'm not allowed to leave?!" he demanded through the door.

"I'm sorry, but you're in no condi-" a medic tried to remain calm. However, her voice shook with anxiety.

Sakura opened the door confidently. Both turned as the apprentice of Tsunade walked in saying, "You can't leave, you're in no condition."

He eyed her up and down, seemingly liking the girl he saw in front of him. "Hey," he gave her a grin, one that she didn't like.

"You can go now," she glanced at the other nurse. "I'll take care of him." The nurse bowed respectfully and mouthed a 'thank you' before leaving. As the door shut Sakura continued, "Are you harassing my nurses?" her tone was a little angered.

"Your nurses?" the man asked. "You look a little young to be running a hospital."

The girl perked an eyebrow at the man. He had a scruffy looking cuteness to him, short brown hair that gave of a light brown highlight and deep set dark eyes with yellow rings in them. His build was average, no muscles, and pale skin. A white nightgown covered him loosely. One thing about him, his eyes never looked away from the pink haired beauty as she neared him and grabbed the clipboard from the foot of his bed. He was about twenty years old if not a few years older.

"You still haven't answered my question," she said, looking over the board to check his health.

"What one?" he knew very well which one.

"Were you harassing my nurses?"

"You're nurses?" he asked again. "You don't look old enough to even work in a hospital. So why are you here?"

"I do work here. I answered your question when I asked first, now answer mine." She was now looking at him and trying her hardest to not sound demanding.

"Mmm… maybe I was," he grinned at her again. A tick mark was now throbbing on her head as he was now driving her patience.

"Were you?" she asked, clearly not liking his behavior.

"You should come closer," he patted the bed beside him, "so we can get to know each other better."

"Answer my question."

"I will, once you get here."

"I am very comfortable right here. Now… answer it." He sighed as he removed the covers and stood up. Sakura noticed that he was quite tall, taller than Sasuke.

He was standing above her, looking down at her and she was not intimidated. "Stop playing hard to get."

"And who said I was?" Sakura glared. "You also are not cleared to leave the hospital any time soon. If you try, I will stop you."

He smirked, "Really?"

Fire burned in her eyes, 'This guys asking for it.' She asked again, this time more demanding. "Were you harassing my nurses?!"

"I wouldn't call it that… more like trying to get some attention." He was now enjoying himself.

Sakura smirked, "I'll give you some attention." Quickly she shoved a chakra filled fist in his stomach, in which he gasped in surprise as he fell over on his knees. Then with the strength Tsunade taught her, she carried him to the bed and placed him on it, and not to gently.

"H-Hey…" he choked out watching her leave after she put the clipboard back at the end of his bed.

"That's for harassing my nurses…" she opened the door as the nurses pulled back. Sakura had walked away. "No one goes in there, only Tsunade or I may go in. Contact one of us if something goes wrong." After she disappeared, the nurses poked their head in the door and looked at the man who was currently bedridden due to a close encounter with one of the two top medics.

"Man… she's good." One nurse whispered to the others, who had nodded in agreement and left with a smile on their faces.

----

After departing from Sakura, Sasuke had made his way to the apartment he had left years ago. He hadn't lived in the Uchiha estate since the massacre so he had a different residence to escape the memories that haunted him, though he knew that in time he would have to return to refurbish it. As he opened the door he was expecting to have layers of dust fill his lungs, yet it was cleaner than it should have been. Everything was just as he had left it, apart from the picture that he had left face down. He scanned the room to find it lying on his bed, face up. The faces of the old Team 7 were staring at him as he set the bags down. 'Who let themselves in?' he reached for the picture and looked at it carefully. Walking back over to the dresser where it was originally he set it face down. 'This means nothing to me. None of them do. I don't need them. Itachi is the only person that concerns me.' The Uchiha scowled to himself.

He walked to the kitchen to look in the refrigerator to see what he needed, no doubt he needed everything, but he wanted to be sure that he didn't have anything that needed to be thrown away. Much to his surprise, at least what he would show, it was completely empty. 'Time for a trip to the market,' he thought shutting the fridge door; he always hated shopping, whether it be for clothes or food.

Roaming the streets again he just walked anywhere he could go, looking for a market that had good bargains – at least what guys considered to be good bargains. Arrays of fruits and vegetables were seen through a window of one market and looked appealing to the eye. While with Orochimaru he had eaten nothing but tasteless goop they even called food. The only time he had eaten anything appetizing was when he was on missions and ate at a restaurant. Their food was way better than anything that snakes men served. Now he could at least enjoy some home cooking. He entered the store with a basket in hand and walked down the isles.

His eyes narrowed in annoyance when he recognized a voice, he had already run into her once today. How many more times would he have to run into her on one day? He was watching from a distance and she didn't even seem to notice him… at least… not yet. He discovered she wasn't alone. "That guy was a complete creep." She said as she was squeezing a tomato to feel that it was just ripe enough and put it in her basket. "He was harassing my fellow nurses."

Ino, Tenten and Hinata were also with her leaning in to hear what she was saying. "So what happened? Did he try anything with you? Did he harass you too?" Ino and Tenten inquired, totally into the conversation. Hinata held her hand to her lips as she waited for her friend to continue.

"He tried alright," the medic said, "and he got some attention." Then a smirk formed on her face, almost a menacing one. "Though it wasn't the kind he wanted."

"What did you do?" Ino shrieked.

"I punched him. So hard that he fell to his knees, that'll teach him to try hitting on me," she led the girls down another isle, "or my nurses."

"Man, Forehead, you sure came a long way. I remember when you and I were rivals for Sasuke…" Ino drifted, she and the other two expected Sakura's expression to sadden at the mention of his name. Instead she kept her attention forward as she grabbed a bottle of pain reliever.

"He's just a friend… at least I call him so." She gave them a reassuring smile.

"Y-You're over hi-him?" Hinata stuttered as the pink haired kunoichi nodded looking at them.

"I am, like you said, Ino," she looked at the said girl, "I came a long way." Sakura held up two different bags of chips. "What kind do you guys like?" she asked her friends whose answers were all different. "I'll get them both then." Before tossing them in the basket as she continued, "I no longer dwell on Sasuke, though I wish he would come to consider me a friend. Like he did Naruto. I've seen how those two acted together. He's changed but I don't hold any grudge against him and neither does Naruto. Not after everything he's been through. We both understand that he's got a goal he won't stop until he achieves it. Whether Naruto and I don't agree to it, we still got his back. He doesn't need to be alone like he thinks he does, but I think I just found out the reason for his loneliness.

"Considering if that is the reason, Naruto and I have talked to Tsunade privately before we were sent to retrieve him. It had taken some time to convince her, but she did argue our case for Sasuke's sake. I am glad he's back, but I don't think he's happy at all, and personally… I can't blame him." By this time they were at the checkout line. "Can I get the tomatoes in a separate bag, please?" the man nodded as everything was scanned and charged. Sakura paid and thanked the man before leaving with her female companions.

"Here, would you guys take this with you? I have to go somewhere real quick. I'll be right there once I finish." She waved before anyone could stop her and ask any questions, a bag in her hands.

Sasuke had heard all of the conversation that had transpired. And for one thing he didn't expect his old teammate who had a crush on him to say all of that… or any of it. Though he couldn't help but get curious to hear what she had to say. He was relieved to know that she had never caught him. She had taken him by surprise but he was never so easy to read. He continued his shopping and left just as quickly as he could get started – though of course he had to avoid Sakura and her associates.

With a few more bags he finally reached his apartment and found a small basket of tomatoes. On them there was a note. He calmly surveyed the area around him; he knew he was being watched by ANBU, but was there a pink haired girl somewhere close by watching and waiting. If she was, she masked her chakra very well, it was undetectable. Carefully he reached for the note and shifted his eyes to look again. Nothing. The note had curvy writing on it.

Sasuke,

I know how much you liked tomatoes before you left and I thought you still like them so I got you the freshest ones at the market, because they get them fresh every Saturday at about 3:30 p.m. just so you know when to get some. It's a welcome home gift and I still hope you like tomatoes.

P.S. Nice try tying to be sneaky at the market…

Sincerely,

Sakura

Sasuke stared at the card for a moment before looking around again. "Hn," he stated as he opened the door and grabbed the basket before he entered the house. Apparently Sasuke wasn't as sneaky as he thought and Sakura had grown since he was gone.

Ok… so how was it? I hope it was alright. Reviews are appreciated and criticism is welcome. Thanks for reading.