Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-san

Rekindling the relationship

Chapter 2
A leopard can change its spots

Sakura opened her eyes to see the morning sun shining brightly through her curtains. Looking at her clock it read 9 a.m.

'These shifts at the hospital are really wrecking my sleep. It's my day off for Christ's sake and this headache doesn't freaking help!' Sakura inwardly groaned as she sat up, swinging her legs over the side of her bed to rest on the floor. Wiping the sleep from her eyes she stood up and stretched before making her way over to the bathroom.

Sakura laid out some towels and turned the shower on. Stepping in to the bath, the warm water quickly soothed her aches from last night's sleep deprivation. She poured some Strawberry scented shampoo in her hand before lathering it deeply within her hair and rinsing it off. The same was done with the conditioner but before she could use her shower gel a knock was heard at the door.

'Aah jeez.' Sakura sighed and yelled "Just a minute!" before quickly stepping out and wrapping a towel around herself. Making her way into the bedroom the knocks became louder and more frequent.

'I swear if Naruto's back from his mission and thinks he can come knocking at half 9 in the morning I'm gonna knock him into next week!' she thought wrapping the towel back round her and making her way over to the door. Unlocking it she swung the door open while standing slightly behind it to hide most of her body.

"Naruto! Will you qu-" She shouted before cutting it short as she realised it was Sasuke. He looked up and his eyes widened a fraction as he noticed she was clad in just a towel before averting his eyes away.

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?" Sakura asked with a questioning look. Still trying to avoid looking at her he replied.

"The Hokage has a mission for us; she needs us to be at the tower now"

"Oh ok, erm, come in, I just need 5 minutes" She said, walking off and leaving the door open. As he stepped through the door he caught a glimpse of her turning into her bedroom with just the towel covering her and sighed. Shaking his head he turned around and surveyed her apartment.

She wasn't exactly rich, but working as many hospital shifts as she could whilst doing missions as well had made her well off. Not seeing the need for a house, she had bought an apartment, which was fairly large, the walls were a cream and chocolate brown colour that matched the cream carpet, she had a set of 2 brown 3-seater sofas that were surrounding a rather large television, and to make the room look more 'homey' there were various plants and pictures of Sakura's family and friends situated throughout the four walls.

He sat down and waited while she was getting ready, putting her citizen clothes on and drying her unruly and wet hair. A few minutes passed by before she stepped out of the bedroom. She noticed him sitting on her sofa and when their eyes met she gave a smile before making her way over to the door and opening it. She held the door open and nodding to the outside world.

"Let's go then" She suggested before both Nins walked outside and took to the rooftops, moving towards the Hokage tower.

Sakura knocked the door. Hearing clearance to enter, she opened it and she and Sasuke moved towards the Hokage's desk. A man, who had been conversing with Tsunade, peered over to them. As they stood awaiting their instruction Tsunade looked up and began.

"Sakura, Sasuke. I have a mission for you both. This is our client, Shima Satoru. He's a servant of a Wave Country Feudal Lord." She nodded towards Satoru. "Recently the Feudal Lord hired two high class Jounin to guard a servant in the transportation of a rare and precious vase to his mansion; however the vase was stolen in an ambush"

"The vase is of high importance to the Feudal Lord" The client added "He paid a great deal of money to possess such an item and would like to hire you to retrieve it."

'A retrieval mission, you've got to be kidding me…' Sasuke inwardly sighed. "Where are the two Jounin?" he voiced. Satoru glanced over to Sasuke before looking down.

"They were, unfortunately, killed during the ambush" Satoru muttered. Tsunade spoke again.

"Seeing as two Jounin of a high status were killed during this attack, this assignment has been regarded as an A-class mission, which is why we'll be sending the both of you. Here is your mission scroll; Sasuke, you are this mission's Captain; you leave tomorrow at 9 at the main gate with Satoru. Dismissed." As the leave was confirmed, both Jounin left the room and made their way outside.

Sakura turned to Sasuke who was currently reading the scroll.

"So, any details I need to know about?" She questioned, Sasuke turned his attention to her.

"We already have a suspect, so there's no need to go undercover. Dress in your Jounin uniform and we'll meet by the gate at 8:30, just to overlook some details before we head off." Sasuke stated turning back to the scroll, earning a nod from Sakura.

"Ok that's fine" she confirmed. Her stomach had begun to rumble quietly, she needed something to eat, "Erm, do you want to get some breakfast? I'm starving" She asked silently doubting he'd say yes. He looked up at her again.

"You didn't eat anything this morning?" He asked raising an eyebrow at her.

"Well, no… I was gonna eat after I had a shower but then you showed up…" She trailed off. Sasuke checked the time, it was 10 a.m.

"Ah, ok lets go" He said before beginning to walk down the street to the small diner at the corner, Sakura caught him up.

"What's this? Normally I'd have to beg you to do something with me..." Sakura explained. He acknowledged her, raising his eyebrow again.

"Well if you don't want me to…" He began, only to be cut off shortly by Sakura

"No no! I do! I do." She laughed while snagging arm and leading him to the diner "I just rarely see you agree to anything without trying to get out of It, I like this new you" she added smiling. His mouth twitched at the side hinting that he was about to smile to, it was quickly replaced with the unemotional face he usually wore before walking along with her.

After the breakfast had taken place, the two friends had parted ways. After a shop around the town, she had bumped into Ino and had a chat with her, (Most of which was gossip), before finally going home.

8 pm rolled by and she had finished her dinner when there was a knock at the door. Putting her plate in the sink, she made her way over to the door and opened it, resulting in a pair of arms flying towards her.

"Sakura-Chaaan!" Naruto hollered before encasing her in a giant hug, one that Sakura was having trouble breathing in.

"Na-Naruto, C-cant ...Breathe!" Sakura gasped trying to push him off. Sasuke, watching the spectacle just sighed inwardly.

"Naruto, let go… you're suffocating her" He murmured, making the blonde realise her attempts to push him off, consequently releasing her.

"Ah, heh heh. Um... Sorry about that Sakura Chan" he said guiltily, getting himself ready for a bout of punches from said person. Sakura looked up after getting a substantial amount of oxygen, anger slightly present in her eyes. She moved towards him as he tried to back up, expecting the inevitable, when she threw her arms around him.

"Naruto! You're back! It's been ages" she proclaimed smiling at him

"Err... Yeah! Kaka-sensei was assigned a side mission that took longer than expected" He explained.

"Dobe, you really should stop calling him that… He's not your teacher anymore" Sasuke stated earning a glare from the blonde.

"I'll call him whatever I want…! Anyway! Sakura, we're going out for a drink seeing as it's been ages since I saw any of you. Come with us?" Naruto suggested, hope apparent in his voice and his expression. Sakura looked over to Sasuke then back to Naruto.

"Me and Sasuke have a mission tomorrow" she expressed, sending a questioning look to the Sharingan user as if to say 'what are you doing?' Sasuke merely shrugged it off.

"That's what I said, but he kept pestering me so I had to in the end" he announced. Sakura eyed him suspiciously.

"Soft-hearted Sasuke strikes again..." She murmured loud enough for him to hear, earning her a scowl from him.

"Everyone's coming along, including Ino! So you won't be the only girl." He reassured her.

"I don't care about being the only girl Baka!" She declared, thumping him lightly in the arm. She sighed "Where are we going?" she asked.

"Hotaru's" Naruto revealed.

"Give me 15 minutes." She said before running into her room.

15 minutes later she re-emerged from her room dressed in a black halter top that had turquoise sequins running along the V-neck and down the middle to the hem of the top, along with a dark blue denim skirt complete with leggings and high heeled boots. Her make-up was a light green tint above her eyes and pale pink lip gloss that complemented her skin tone.

Naruto stared in awe as Sasuke, secretly, stole glances at her with a slight smirk on his face.

"Sakura Chan! You look gorgeous!" Naruto proclaimed smiling wide eyed, Sasuke inwardly agreeing. Sakura returned the smile.

"Thank you, now come on lets go" she proposed holding the door open for them to walk through followed quickly by her.

Hotaru's was busy. Very busy. But that was to be expected on a Friday night. After all, it was the start of the weekend, and any Nin that was lucky enough to have it off would surely be seen inside the club. Who wouldn't be? The admission was free, the music was good, and the prices of the drinks were great. 3 perfect examples.

As the three teammates made there way in after meeting up with Sai, they spotted the gang over in the far corner and made their way over.

Everyone was here. The whole of rookie 9, although, they weren't exactly rookies anymore. Trust Naruto to come up with this kind of number for a gathering. Ino glanced over to the oncoming trio and noticed Sakura.

"Forehead!!" She yelled, pushing her way through the crowd and pointing at her. "When did this happen?" Slightly swaying as the former drinks caught up on her.

"What're you talking about?" Sakura laughed with an incredulous look.

"You look hot! Where the hell did you learn to dress that good!" Ino said in an almost whining voice. Sakura just shook her head. Grabbing Ino's shoulders she turned her around and directed her back to the table. As the music blared on, Naruto had coaxed Kiba into a drinking competition, surviving 3 rounds before taking another 5 minute break the betting had begun once again.

"A tenner on Kiba Forehead, he's obviously better when it comes to holding his drink" Ino announced turning towards Sakura with a devilish grin on her face. Feeling a sense of loyalty towards her teammate, she shot back

"Hell no Ino-Pig! Naruto's got his mind set on winning! Kiba doesn't stand a chance! 15 on Naruto!" She declared. Ino's grin intensified.

"Ha-ha, you're on" shaking hands with her.

After 4 more rounds, the competition was drawing to a close when each contestant looked equally pale and neither barely able to sit up. They downed yet another series of 3 shots each before attempting to stare each other down during the 5 minute recess between each round. Time passed by and with each minute Kiba became paler and paler until finally he stood up and staggered over to the men's toilets.

Cheering erupted from the table as people collected their cash earning groans from the people tossing it away.

"Did jyoou see thatt Sakura-Chyaan? Huh? I did awesomeee" Naruto expressed as he raised another shot of vodka to his lips. Sakura caught hold of it, took the glass from his hand and downed the shot herself.

"Yeah Naruto, you did wickedd. I made 30 eassyyy ones off you but maybe you should keep off the vodka now... you look like you're gonna throw up any sssecond" She laughed swaying slightly.

"Pssh! Me? Throw up?! That's crazy …tall...k.." Naruto trailed off as he finally passed out. Sakura poked him.

"Oi! You seriously gone?" She grilled poking him another 2-3 times before Sai came back with the drinks.

"Oh, Naruto-Kun passed out?" He inquired looking down at the slumbering form.

"Yeahh, he needs to go home to be honest" Sakura said, starting to stand up.

"Its ok Sakura San, Ill take him" He reassured.

"You sure? He can be a pain when he's drunk" She warned him

"I don't think he's in a state to become much trouble" Sai replied with a slight smile. "Ill get him home don't worry about it" Picking him up and supporting his weight on his side. Shikamaru stood up to.

"Ill help you out, I should be off anyways, I have to be up early and if I don't go to bed my mother will become troublesome tomorrow" He sighed, taking Naruto's other arm and half the support before both beganmoving him outside.

Sakura checked the time. It was 11:45 pm. "Suppose I shouldd get going too to be honests, there's not gonna be any chyance I'll be getting upp at half 7 tomorrow if I don't go now" She stood up quickly and grabbed her purse when a bout of dizziness mixed with alcohol hit her and she fell backwards. Before she hit her head off her chair, arms had caught her and were now pulling her up. Looking around (and nearly falling over again) she saw Sasuke holding on to her shoulders to keep her from falling over again.

"I'll walk you home; you don't look in any state to even stand" He declared, grabbing a hold of her arm, supporting her weight, and making their way outside the club.

"Ha! See you've definitely changed!!" She giggled pointing at him. "A year ago you would have left me here to pass out" she smiled. Sasuke was nonplussed.

"Sakura, you're exaggerating, I'd never leave you to pass out" he answered, as they continued down the street towards her house. After a while she spoke again.

"You did when we were 12…" Her voice a lot lower and slightly saddened. Sasuke stopped in his tracks and turned his head to face her. Her eyes were distant as she looked towards the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with him. If it were possible, the Uchiha heir felt a pull on his heart and an emotion he never really became accustomed to. Guilt.

"That was a long time ago Sakura. Things have changed" He uttered before beginning to move again. Another silence ensued until they were finally at her apartment and he was unlocking her door.

"I know they have and I'm so grateful for it" She looked up into his eyes and for once, his dark onyx eyes met her shining jades. "I'm so glad you're back, I know I don't voice it as much but I really am." She smiled albeit sadness was present in it.

Her eyes were growing heavy; Sasuke opened the door and escorted her inside. She kicked off her boots and stumbled forwards into his grasp.

"Maybe we should get you to bed" he suggested looking down at her. She murmured slightly.

"Hmmm.. may..be" Nearly falling asleep in his arms. Picking her up, he opened the door to her bedroom, pulled back the covers, placed her on the bed and tucked her in. Looking down at her he readjusted a strand of hair that was currently resting on her face.

"Things have changed Sakura," he whispered as he bent down and kissed her forehead. "you'll figure that out soon enough…" Standing up, he then performed a transportation jutsu and all that was left after he disappeared were a flurry of leaves, falling softly to the ground.

Things you'll need to know!

I'm not exactly happy with the ending, it was better in my head but I can't seem to put it down in words T_T!

So.. erm. A mission begins next time. woo ¬_¬
Let's just hope it's actually decent the way I write it down heh.
Chapters seem to be gettin longer hummm.
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The time skip between chapter 1 to this is about 2 weeks. That kinda sums up the reason why Naruto's been gone for "Ages" ;3

REVIEW! Plez ;D

Mishe-Chan~