Chapter Two

I waited patiently outside the Lady Tsunade's office, repeating in my head what I was going to say. Ask her if she knew about Sasuke, what if he came back, you know. That sort of thing. I was prepared for whatever she could throw at me.

Finally, someone inside said, "Come in," and I obliged. Opening the door and entering humbly, I stood before Tsunade.

"Good morning Lady Tsunade," I said as a greeting, smiling at her. She smiled slightly back, and I was relieved at the way I was taken.

"Good morning Sakura," she replied. I bowed slightly and took a deep breath, preparing myself.

"As our Hokage, I'm sure you are aware of a certain Sasuke Uchiha who, fifteen years ago, almost destroyed our village," I paused and she nodded. "I'm curious to know what would happen to him if, somehow, he was recovered, or he returned to the village." She nodded continually, thinking.

"Sasuke Uchiha. I've heard many stories about him, some even from you. I know you are aware that, after he almost burned this village to the ground, the Sound and Sand villages attacked us in one of darkest hours in the history of the Leaf. In that battle, countless people, including your mother, and our former Hokage, the Third, were killed. If this Uchiha came back, do you think the people of the Leaf would take him lightly?" she asked. I shook my head, slightly disappointed. "But," she began, and I looked up. "He was just a child then, correct? How old was he, ten?"

"Twelve," I corrected meekly. She waved me off.

"Doesn't matter. Do you believe people change, Sakura?" she asked me, leaning in. I nodded vigorously.

"Yes, yes, I do!" I said hurriedly. She slumped back.

"I don't. But I do believe people mature. And this Sasuke, if he were to come back, would have had fifteen years outside of our village. Plenty of time to mull over what he did, plenty of time to feel regret. Understand?" she said, raising an eyebrow at me.

"I don't think I'm quite following…" I said, frowning slightly. She sighed and stared at me.

"Your old friend destroyed families," she said, leaning leisurely back in her chair. "Many people are dead because of him, many children were left parentless. People are not going to like him being back. But. If we announced him publicly and he showed to people that he had grown up, that he wasn't the kid that did those terrible things, then maybe, just maybe, the people could begin to forgive him." I smiled and thanked her, turning to leave. "But Sakura," she said, just before I left.

"Yes?"

"It would probably just be easier to keep him in hiding for the time being. But I'd like to meet him, if you can manage that."

"Yes Lady Tsunade."

I left, slightly troubled that she knew. Had I said anything that revealed it? No. Nothing. Yet she knew.

Hmm.

Today was a Saturday, and as I walked through the village to our place, where I knew Naruto and Sasuke would be waiting, many students and parents greeted me. I stopped here and there for a conversation, knowing that it would piss Sasuke off if I were late, and that actually made it worth it.

Hmm. I have changed.

Anyways, I got back to my apartment in a good half-hour, unlocking the door and stepping into the small front room, where Sasuke and Naruto sat at opposite sides of the room, glaring at each other. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms.

"What happened?" I asked. Naruto stood up and stood next to me.

"He hasn't changed, Sakura, when you left it was like he was suddenly twelve again, and I didn't do anything, but it was like he exploded -"

"Come on Naruto don't be such a baby! Do you just like pretending you're an idiot, or have you not changed either?"

"Do you want me to hurt you?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"Alright, okay, that's it!"

"Stop!" I shouted. They both quieted and glared at each other. "You two are both acting like children. It's uncanny to see that you both bring out the worst in each other." They looked like they were about to explode and I laughed. "My god, for a second there I felt like a team again!"

"Is that a good thing?" growled Naruto. I laughed again.

"Grow up you guys. There's so much we have to handle in this current situation, we don't need you two having sudden and violent flashbacks. Now listen," I said, and the boys did so grudgingly. "Um, apparently Lady Tsunade knows, for one," I began. Naruto rolled his eyes and Sasuke frowned.

"Who's Lady Tsunade?" he asked.

"Oh, you don't know do you? Well, after you, the Leaf was attacked, and in the battle against the Sand and Sound, the Third was killed. Lady Tsunade's our fifth Hokage." Sasuke looked stunned. Naruto laughed.

"Bet you're proud now, right Sasuke?" asked Naruto, grinning. Sasuke shoved him.

"Shut up."

"Alright!" I said, interrupting them. "Anyways, she said that the easiest course of action might just be to keep it all secret. If that proved too difficult, though, she said we could always have a sort of public announcement that you were back, but then you'd have to actually do stuff, like show people you're not pure evil."

"Well that would be lying though," murmured Naruto. Sasuke and I shot him identical glares of death and I looked Sasuke in the eye.

"What do you think?" I asked him seriously. He thought for a moment then sighed.

"The fact remains that either one of those plans would be harder and easier in some ways. It might be a little hard to keep this a secret, but on the other hand, we don't know how people will react if they still see me as a mad killer," he said grimly. I smiled and Naruto let out a chuckle. "What?" he asked, annoyed.

"Well I've never seen you as a mad killer, if that makes you feel any better," murmured Naruto. I laughed and Sasuke shook his head.

"Thanks," he said sarcastically.

"Sasuke I think that for the time being your presence here should be kept secret. Maybe after a while you could be revealed, but I have to say, you've been back a day, and although it seems you're the same, fifteen years is a long time," I said, shrugging.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the boys said simultaneously. I smiled.

"Ah, nevermind," I said, standing up. "I'm going out, okay? Naruto, you know what to do with him – right?" He nodded and smiled.

"Of course," he said. I smiled.

"See you two later then," I said, holding open the door for them. They left and I quickly changed into my workout clothes (sweat pants and a short top that went to about my belly button).

I ran for a while, thinking about everything. Sasuke had come back. And suddenly it's not such a big thing, we're like three friends again. After circling the village a few times, I slowed down, breathing hard, and stopped to stretch a while. A few minutes there and I realized where I was. It was where we had the bell training with Kakashi so many years before. I smiled, wondering how on earth I could remember it.

I slowly jogged back to the house, where I found the guys hanging out in the front room. I was passing through into the bedroom when Sasuke said something.

"What is that?" he asked incredulously. I twisted around to see what he was pointing at, then smiled.

"Oh, that. It's my tattoo," I told him, shrugging.

"You got a tattoo?" he asked, staring at it. I laughed and nodded.

"Yeah. You like it?" I asked, showing it to him affectionately. "I got it about ten years ago. My eighteenth birthday. You remember that, don't you Naruto?" I asked, amused. He nodded, smiling.

"That was the first time I proposed, right?" he asked. I nodded and laughed at Sasuke's face.

"Well it was the morning after when you asked me, if I remember correctly," I told him, smiling. Sasuke looked between Naruto and me.

"You asked her to…" he stammered. I nodded, laughing.

"…To marry him, yes, he did," I finished his sentence. He looked absolutely stunned. Naruto laughed and went to stand next to me, putting his arm around me.

"And, being the smart one, she refused," said Naruto, grinning. Smiling, I nodded.

"We were only eighteen," I said. He nodded and shrugged. Sasuke continued to stare at us, dumbfounded.

"That's so weird. Completely weird," murmured Sasuke. I laughed.

"What can I say? We grew up!" I announced, pulling away from Naruto and shrugging. Sasuke shook his head. "Naruto has one too," I said, grinning and grabbing for the hem of Naruto's shirt, which I pulled up to reveal a tattooed eye with thorns circling around it. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and Naruto pulled down his shirt, grinning but slightly red.

"Yeah, yeah, it was stupid, and now I'm stuck with it for the rest of my life," muttered Naruto. I laughed.

"Come on, you were the one who convinced me," I chided. He nodded, still smiling.

I laughed, shaking my head and sparking the memory. Sasuke coughed softly and Naruto and I were brought back to present moment. "Sorry," I apologized, smiling. "There's so much you don't know."

"I've caught him up a little bit," offered Naruto. I turned to Sasuke and he shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yeah, up to about ten seconds after I left," murmured Sasuke. I laughed.

"Of course. That's just so like you, Naruto," I said, rolling my eyes at Naruto. He laughed and shrugged. "Gimme a sec, guys," I said, darting into the master bathroom. I smiled to myself and took a quick shower, then changed into my regular clothes after I dried off. Facing a mirror, I grimaced and began to try to wrangle my hair. After what felt like countless minutes, I finally sighed, relented, and put it up in a side ponytail.

Gawd. I liked my hair better when I was twelve.

I smiled and walked back out to the front room. When I entered, there was a little shuffling of papers and the boys looked to me, absolutely silent. "What's up?" I asked, sitting down with them. They shrugged simultaneously.

"Not much," said Naruto. I eyed them suspiciously.

"You were doing something. I know you were doing something. What were you doing?" I asked, seeing the same face I saw on the faces of the kids who know they've broken the rules, but would refuse it, even under torture.

And yeah, those are the kids who become the legendary ninjas everyone hears about.

"Nothing!"

I looked to Sasuke.

"Nothing."

I sighed, relenting. "Alright, apparently it's something you don't want me to know, so I'm not going to ask anymore. Happy?" The boys nodded. I paused. "So…what's our plan?" I asked.

Sasuke looked at Naruto. Naruto looked at me. I looked at the both of them. "Well?"

"The hell do you mean by plan?" I rolled my eyes.

"I mean, how are we going to work this? To what lengths are we willing to go to hide Sasuke?" I asked. The boys paused, then shrugged. "Come on, do I have to come up with everything?" They nodded. I narrowed my eyes. "I should just leave you alone, let you figure out your own problems…"

"God no Sakura, we'd be dead before the days was over."

I laughed.

"You guys! At least try to be serious here, okay?"

They nodded. "Alright. So. Sasuke." He met my gaze. "Personally, I am of the opinion that you could fit into a crowd in you tried…no seriously, you look a lot different from back then…and no one's going to remember exactly what you look like…alright, Kakashi might…but he doesn't count…I mean, seriously, he's old…and we need to fix that hair…god, I would have hoped that cockatoo style might have been replaced with something more recent…apparently I was mis-"

"Sakura," Naruto interrupted me, looking amused. I flushed and smiled.

"Sorry, I zoned out a little bit right there. Anyways, what I was trying to say is that you don't have to, like, hide inside, but you shouldn't go out broadcasting you're back."

Sasuke nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah. That makes sense, I guess." He raised and hand up to his head gingerly. "And what's so wrong with my hair?"

Naruto and I laughed.

"Things have changed, Sasuke," said Naruto. "I mean, for example – remember Kiba Inuzuka?"

Sasuke thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Yeah, well, ten years ago he decided he was a pacifist and quit being a ninja."

Sasuke's jaw dropped. "No way!"

I laughed. "I know! So now he's a stay-at-home-dad."

Sasuke did a double take.

"What?"

"He got married to Hinata Hyuuga six years ago," explained Naruto. "They have two girls."

Sasuke continued to gape. I laughed and shrugged.

"Like Naruto said, things have changed around here. I mean, here, what about Shino Aburame, remember him? Nobody ever expected anything that amazing from him, right? Yeah, well, he's the prime choice for the next Hokage."

Sasuke glanced at Naruto.

Naruto smiled ruefully and leaned back in his chair. "I'm guessing you remember my extensive oaths to become Hokage?"

Sasuke nodded tentatively.

"Obviously, those didn't work out."

Sasuke continued to stare at Naruto, as if waiting for him to say something more. Naruto sighed.

"Look, Sasuke, I like my life right now. I like where I am, I like who I'm with, and I like what I'm doing. I'm not about to blow it by going and doing something stupid."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Wow Naruto."

"What?"

"After all the speeches, all the promises, and all the insults deflected with that ambition, you've just gone and quit?"

Naruto suddenly stood up, white in the face. The chair he had been sitting on was knocked over. Sasuke slowed rose, so they were eye to eye.

I was overcome with a strange urge to laugh. They were eye to eye. Naruto had been, like, a foot shorter than Sasuke when we were kids. Apparently, Sasuke noticed this, because a look of surprise flitted over his face, then he returned to his usual cool composure.

"You're one to talk, Sasuke," said Naruto quietly. "Instead of just taking back a promise, though, you murdered people."

Sasuke cocked his head to one side. I stood up carefully.

"Yeah. Yeah, Naruto. That's the difference between you and me," replied Sasuke coldly. "You just let people stomp all over you, don't you?"

Naruto's hand twitched towards a kunai at his belt. Alarmed, I stepped between them. "You guys, come on, stop, this is stupid, you're just-"

"Stay out of this Sakura!" said Naruto loudly, narrowing his eyes at Sasuke. "I wouldn't want you getting hurt."

I looked at Naruto, then Sasuke, then Naruto, then Sasuke again. After a tense moment, I rolled my eyes and held out my arms so my hands were touching their chests.

"Stop it, you two. Can you just wipe the slate clean?" I asked them accusingly. At the silence, I sighed and said to Naruto, "Could you go out real quick? I need to talk to Sasuke." He raised an eyebrow and I mirrored his expression.

He turned on his heels and stepped outside the house. I watched him leave, then turned back to Sasuke. He met my eyes lazily.

I fell onto the chair and burst into tears.

"Woah," he said. "Woah, woah, Sakura…"

He sat next to me awkwardly. After I sobbed convincingly for half a minute, I wiped my eyes with the back of my sleeve. "I'm sorry, Sasuke, I am, it's just… I wouldn't expect you to understand, but things have changed a lot since you were here. It's not the same between Naruto and I, and then you came and Sasuke," I looked at him pleadingly. "You're ruining it."

He looked bewildered.

"What? What am I ruining?"

I took a deep breath, annoyed, but I didn't let on.

"Have you not noticed? Sasuke, please! He's just changed so much, and he's so amazing, so different from them, and now that you're here he's, he's…" I trailed off, leaving the rest of my sentence to his imagination.

Sasuke frowned at the table. Then, glancing around, he leaned in a little closer and asked under his breath, "Is all this stuff you've been talking about true? Or have you just been making it up to teach me a lesson?"

I smiled sadly at him.

"Nothing stays the same in fifteen years, Sasuke Uchiha."

I stood, turning to get Naruto, when Sasuke stopped me.

"Wait…Sakura…" I turned around. "Last night, I know I told the both of you a lot…but I didn't tell you all of it."

I raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, I couldn't…not with Naruto right there. But to you…" He looked at my curiously. "I have noticed that you've changed. Naruto still infuriates me, as ever, but you…" He shook his head.

"What are you saying, Sasuke?"

"I'm saying," he said slowly. "That there are some things that Naruto can never know. Not because he wouldn't understand but…because of the way he'd look at me."

I looked at his face, and suddenly this memory surfaced. Looking into the twenty-seven-year-old Sasuke's face, I couldn't help seeing the twelve-year-old that I had had a crush on.

My heart softened immediately.

"Oh god," I whispered. In an instant, I was in front of him, real tears forming in my eyes. "God, Sasuke, why did you have to say that?" I murmured, pushing a lock of hair out of his face. He shivered slightly. I took no notice. "Now, listen to me," I said, taking him by the shoulders. "I understand that you have to keep some things to yourself. Everybody does…" I looked into his eyes. "But remember that if you ever need anything, I will be here. Okay?" I asked. He hesitated, then nodded.

I threw my arms around him and squeezed him tight. He didn't do anything for a moment, then awkwardly put his arms around me as well.

"Sakura," he whispered while his lips were close to my ear. "I missed you."

I said nothing.

In that half a moment, the front door banged open and someone charged in.

Unfortunately, Sasuke and I didn't break apart quite fast enough.

"Dear Lord," said a voice. I retreated from Sasuke like I'd been stung. In her miniskirt and skanky top, my best friend Ino Yamanako stood there, gaping at us. "Holy crapcakes," she said, stunned. Naruto rushed in after her.

Ino looked between Naruto and me again and again. Then she stalked up to me and whispered, "Does Naruto know about this guy?"

I frowned. "What are you talking about?"

She jerked her head Naruto's way. "Does he know you're sleeping with-"

"Ino!" I said scathingly. "I am not sleeping with S- I mean, no, you have the wrong idea." She looked at me blankly for a moment, then looked at Sasuke and smiled sexily.

"Hey baby," she said. "What's your name?"

I sighed, grabbing Ino's ear. "What – the – hell?" I hissed, dragging her out of the room.

"Ow! Ow, Sakura, you're hurting me," she said, pouting. I rolled my eyes, dragging her outside.

"I know, that's the point!" I said, letting her go. "What do you think you're doing, just barging in like that?"

"So you admit you were planning to sleep together?"

"No! Ino, I was never planning on doing anything with Sasuke!"

I clapped both hands over my mouth as Ino stopped staring dreamily into the house and looked at me, serious. "What did you say?" she asked sharply.

"N-nothing, it's just nothing, I messed up - "

"You are not telling me that that sex god in there is Sasuke Uchiha!"

I nodded, giving up. "Yes, that's Sasuke Uchiha, but you cannot tell anyone. If you do, I will throttle you in your sleep," I added, just in case. She stared at me.

"Holy crapcakes," she repeated. "D'you mind if I take him home for a night or two?

"Ino," I said, appalled. "What about Shikamaru?"

"I already told you, we're not officially together – I mean, sure, we'll stay together for the kid, but we're seeing other people, remember?" she said absentmindedly. I snorted.

"Yeah, right, and the fact that he's been the one doing all the work for you while you're off flirting doesn't bother you at all?"

She thought for a moment. "No, not really."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, Ino. But I have to get your word – don't tell anyone, okay? Not even whoever you're sleeping with now."

She waved her hand nonchalantly and peered back in the house, resting one hand on her swollen belly.

"D'you think he remembers me? I mean, I'm surprised I can remember him – I was such a friggin' bitch back then, wasn't I? Remember what I used to call you? What was it – Billboard Brow! God, that's hilarious! Good thing you've grown into your forehead, eh, Sakura?"

I stared at her, slightly amused, as she continued to ramble on about 'back then.'

"Okay, Ino, you have to go home. I have some things to deal with." She nodded vaguely, then turned to me sharply.

"Oh, by the way, Tenten's gotten back from her mission. Something's up, I can tell. That woman doesn't even know what a poker face is, I swear."

I laughed. "I'll talk to her. And now I'm going back inside, though, and you're going home to remind Shikamaru just how much you love him, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay I'm going…See you"

"See you," I said, slipping back into the house. Sasuke and Naruto were on opposite sides of the room, staring at anything but each other.

"Sakura," said Naruto when she entered the room. "Could I talk to you?" I nodded and he pulled me into the next room. "So," he said. "What did you do?"

"Well, I think we can safely say that I was pretty damn impressive."

"Did you cry?"

"Twice."

He grinned.

"That's my girl."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, it's not as good as my other stories. It's old, of course it's not going to be! Anyways, I really do love Naruto in this. He's great.

Don't forget to review! That's the only way to get better!