A/N: First I want to say thanks to everyone who followed and favorited this story. I started off this chapter doing really good but towards the end got a little stuck. The song below helped me through that and I think it goes well with Sakura's feeling right now.

Special Thanks & Comments:Minniemousemom- Your reviews always make me smile :3. I'm really glad you like the story and thank you for being a loyal Burrell- Your reviews always get me thinking on how I can make my story better. I like that ;). I chose Genma as Sakura's crush because I felt Sasuke can control himself better around people he knows than around strangers. In short, his jealousy is better contained when his reputation is on the line, haha. Just think of it as a plot hole. Pinkkurry- Thank you for my first long-ish review. I was very happy to see that you noticed Sasuke's emotional change. Most people see him as this cold, calculating a**hole without feelings but they overlook his past and the way I see it, he is all of those things but he is still that broken child from the past hiding behind a mask of indifference. Kctheartist- I'm glad you are enjoying the story and hope to see more reviews from you. :)

Chapter 7

"If there's a prize for rotten judgement, I guess I've already won that. No man is worth the aggrivation, that's ancient history; been there, done that." - Hercules Movie

akura Haruno

Sakura awoke with a start.

She bolted straight up in bed and looked around, having felt as if she was being watched.

"Wait, wasn't I at the office?" She questioned herself groggily.

The pink-haired girl looked outside and saw it was dark out. She looked back at her bedside table and the clock read three forty-six in the morning.

She thought back to what happened and realized she had fallen asleep while signing paper work.

But how did I get home? She wondered.

"Sasuke." She mused aloud. It must have been him. The thought made her smile. That was nice of him. She'll have to remember to thank him.

Viridian eyes looked down at herself and she realized she was still in her day wear. She got up and headed into the shower to wash up.

For some reason Sakura felt wide awake. Those few hours of sleep had given her the boost of energy she had needed so badly yesterday. She decided it would be a good idea to get some training in before going to work later that day.

She got dressed and headed for the training grounds with a bottle of water in hand.

As Sakura neared the grounds she felt a familiar chakra signiture towards the middle of the field. There were no fluctuations in the chakra so she figured he must be at rest.

As she neared the clearing she could make out a dark figure with spiky hair sitting in a crossed leg position on the middle pole of the three that stood in the large area. He seemed to be meditating. She wondered if he had already sensed her presence as she approached him because he did not move a muscle.

Sasuke Uchiha

At first, Sasuke thought he was dreaming. He felt her chakra approaching and didn't move because he wanted to think his imagination was playing tricks on him. He wanted to believe that the same green-eyed girl who appeared to him in his dreams on this very field was just a figment of his imagination. Her being here made the dream seem real. It lit a fire in him he hadn't known was there. And it was like gasoline was added to that fire when he heard her speak.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?" She asked as she neared him.

She was just a few feet away now. He calmed his traitorous hormonal body before replying. Letting the silence hang between them.

"Hn. You should still be sleeping. By the way you passed out on your desk I could tell you haven't slept right in a while." He said once he felt he could trust himself to speak.

"Arigatou, Sasuke, for taking me home. But, you don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself." She said softly. He was surprised by the fierceness in those words considering how softly she had spoken them. She meant what she said.

"Hn, what are you doing here?" He asked. His words losing the edge they usually carried with them. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to be cold towards her anymore.

"I feel refreshed now and figured I could get some training done before dawn." She said matter-of-factly.

"Would you like to join me?" She asked after he didn't respond.

Sasuke thought about it for a moment. Did Sakura really think she could keep up with him? Should he go easy on her?

"Hn." He said as he got off the pole.

"Great. I always hated training alone." She said.

"I just want to work on some taijustu for now. No nin- or gen-justu." She added.

Sasuke nodded his head and followed her to the center of the clearing. His eyes couldn't help but wander down her back. She walked with confidence. Her slim waist accentuated as her hips swayed with every step she took. His eyes traveled farther down her back and he noticed for the first time Sakura had a nice ass. Perky and round. Not huge but she definitely had something there.

He shook the thoughts off as Sakura came to a stop in front of him and turned.

"Ready?" she asked. He could see the excitement in her eyes. There was something else there as well. As if she had a secret she was about to show him.

He gave her a simple nod before they both jumped back from their positions landing a few yards away from each other. He noticed how quickly she had moved but didn't think much of it.

He watched her watch him. She was waiting. Her stance was battle-ready. He decided to test her by making the first move. He hadn't expected her to see him as he used his lightning fast relexes to appear behind her; but Sakura seemed to be able to surprise him now, where before she was predictable. Just as he appeared behind her, her leg swung out for a high kick to his head which he barely dodged by ducking into a low crouch. he went to use it as an advantage and grab the leg that was still on the ground but she jumped into a back-hand spring before he had the chance.

He could see the pride in her face when she landed a few feet away from him.

Okay, I see how this is gonna go, Sasuke thought. He was starting to get excited as well. He hadn't thought Sakura was going to be much of a challenge but was now seeing how wrong he was. This might actually be fun. The thought brought a smirk to his face as he lunged toward the girl.

She seemed to see it coming as she was ready in less than the blink of an eye and cought his fist in her small hand. She quickly made to return the punch with one of her own but they were a match for match. Kicks, punches, and elbows were thrown around and blocking with amazing accuracy and precision.

An hour later they were both sweaty and panting on the ground sitting across from each other. Sakura took a swig from her water bottle and offered it to Sasuke.

He took the offered water. The wetness of it refreshing his dry throat and heaving lungs. He looked at her as she wiped the sweat from her brow and wondered how she had gotten so fast.

"I had Lee train with me to get my speed up." She said answering his unspoken question.

"Arigatou, Sasuke, that was fun." She spoke after a moment as she started getting up to go.

He simply nodded his head and laid back on the grass as she walked away.

That was fun. He thought to himself with a smile he knew she would not see since her back was turned. Sasuke hadn't had that much fun since his last training session with Naruto where they destroyed half the field and Tsunade had made the spend the entire day fixing it.

Sasuke looked up at the sky and sighed with content. He hadn't thought it would be so easy to get back into his life in the village. He still felt like an outsider sometimes. Mostly when he was alone in his apartment. Naruto had a way of making him feel at home though. He always treated him as if he had never left. Sasuke thought about their times together as genin. When he had left. How alone he had felt in Orochimaru's hideout. It was a dark time for him.

The raven-haired man thought about the time after his brother died. Sasuke still wasn't sure what had come over him. He had found out about his brother's tru life and it had left him so confused. He was angry too. Very angry. He was angry with his brother. Angry at the village elders. The anger and confusion clouded his mind. Everyone was an enemy. Including his former teammates. At the time, Sasuke would have killed him without a second's thought. Now, he was *so* glad he hadn't crossed that line. He had enough trouble still trying to get over the fact that he had attacked them. It made him feel vile when he thought of it.

In the shinobi world, those who abandon a mission are considered trash; but those who abandon their comrads, are worse than trash. His old sensei's words rang through his head.

He sighed again this time a little heavier. Sasuke wondered what his sensei thought that of him. He hadn't really had much chance to talk with him since his return.

The Uchiha stood up and made his way home. He needed a shower before going to the hospital for his duties.

When Sasuke arrived at his place it was still early. He decided to atke a little longer in the shower than he normally did. Letting the hot water run down his body as he let it soothe his tired body. He hadn't been sleeping right so that combined with the training session with Sakura had worn him out more than he would have anticipated. With the world at peace his body had become lazy. Where before he could have gone over a week without proper sleep and still be able to fight, now he couldn't go two days without sleep without his body complaining to him.

When Sasuke got out the shower he felt much better. The water had washed away his soreness as well as the dark thoughts that had plagued his mind earlier.

He padded to his kitchen with just a towel wrapped around his waist and grabbed a fresh tomato off of the basket on the island in his kitchen. Sasuke felt a presence near and looked to the window to see an anbu perched on the sill. The anbu's mask covering his features. He walked over the window and opened it.

"The Hokage-sama requests your presence." The anbu said.

Sasuke nodded his head and watched as the anbu disappeared in a puff of smoke. He turned to walk to his room as he munched on his tomato.

Sasuke's curiosity was getting the better of him. He roof-hopped to the Hokage Tower instead of walking like he usually did. He couldn't figure out why the Hokage wanted to see him. He started worrying that he might have done something wrong and was going to be punished but figured that couldn't be the case since he had been following all orders given to him. He reached the tower and jumped down from the building he was on to enter through the main doors.

Sasuke reached the Hokage's door and knocked as he usually did before entering.

"Come in." He heard and turned the knob and entered.

Sasuke was still gripping the door knob when he came to a stand-still in the midst of stepping into the office. He blinked a few times to make sure what he was seeing was just his imagination. He groaned inwardly as he confirmed that this was in fact still real.

"SASUKE-KUN!" Sasuke groaned as a red-haired woman with glasses bolted to him and latched herself to his arm.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, where have you been? I've missed you so much!" Her voice was shrill and annoying. Sasuke realized that this woman was even more annoying than Ino was when they were younger.

He placed a very noticible scowl on his face before telling her to get the fuck off of him.

Sasuke turned his attention to the blonde woman behind her desk who was watching him with curious eyes.

"You summoned me?" He asked now ignoring a scorn Karin. At least she had released her hold on his arm, but she was still standing a little too close for his comfort.

"Yes, this woman was taken into Konoha custody after the war. She was badly injured so she was treated and then had her restrained. I had the Yamanaka clan do an evaluation on her and she was deemed harmless, but since she is an outsider she was being held in a cell. She would not stop asking about you so I decided to arrange for a meeting see what this was about. Although, judging from the show just now I can already tell." Tsunade said as she gave a pointed stare to the red-head.

Sasuke was disturbed. He had not even thought about this woman since his return to Konoha. He knew Juugo had gone with Suigetsu to help him on his search for the swords of the mist. They had said their good-byes and all. Sasuke had not even given thought to the woman that had been on his team. He figured she had probably died somewhere because of how weak she is.

"This woman was a former teammate of yours, was she not Uchiha?" Tsunade asked.

"Hn. Yes was. She is no longer any of my concern." Sasuke said coldly. He did not want to be here. He did not care for this woman in the least.

He heard Karin whimper on his side and refused to look at her. Sasuke did feel bad about what he had done to her. However, the fact that she still clung to him after he almost killed her made him disgusted. She was weak and childish.

"Hmm, okay, Uchiha. I understand, however, I do not know what to do with her. She cannot stay in a cell because she is not a criminal so she is just taking up space. She has already established that she has nowhere else to go and would like to remain here in the village." Tsunade pointed out.

"Why don't you give her an apartment and a job to work for it?" Sasuke gritted put. He was getting annoyed and it showed in his voice.

"Well, the job thing I can arrange, but, our living spaces are limited right now since the village has not been completely rebuilt." Tsunade said.

"Well then have somebody take her in. I'm sure there's somebody in this village who'd be willing to take her." By this point Sasuke's irritation had turned to anger.

He knew where this was going and did not like it one bit. Sure enough, when the Hokage spoke, she proved his theory.

"Well yes, but I don't want to put her in one of my civilian's homes. They wouldn't feel safe with a strange kunoichi living among them." Sasuke scoffed at her use of the word kunoichi. He didn't think Karin deserved that title.

Tsunade fixed him a glare and he quieted and waited for her to finish speaking.

"As I was saying, I have just decided that she will be staying with you until the building on the east side of the village are completed. You are the only person she knows here so it is the best choice." Tsunade continued.

"No." Sasuke said. He was seething by now and couldn't hold it in.

"Uchiha I am not asking permission. The buildings should be done in two months. By then Karin will have earned enough to pay for a room at least and she will be out of your hair. You do not have to talk to her or anything like that. I am just telling you to provide a bed for her to sleep in." Tsunade said matter-of-factly. Not knowing that Karin would most likely think that meant for Sasuke to provide his bed for her to sleep on.

He fixed the Hokage a death glare before storming out of the Hokage's office. He immediately felt the annoying woman's chakra trailing behind him.

Sasuke kept a brisk pace as he walked back home. He made sure to keep a few steps ahead of the red head the entire time. He reached his apartment and stepped aside to let the red head inside; his manners immediately taking over.

Sasuke showed the woman where her room was and the bathroom attahed to it. He showed her the kitchen and told her she could have anything from it. Once the tour was over they ended up in the living room where Sasuke promptly turned to face Karin.

"Look, Karin, Gomenasai...about what I did back when I was fighting Danzo." Sasuke saw the way the girl's eyes lit up and raised his hand to stop her from getting too excited about his apology.

"Don't think that because I am apologizing that I dislike you any less. You are still annoying, but I acknowledge that what I did was wrong and that is why I'm saying gomen." Sasuke continued.

Karin nodded her head with a dejected look and turned to go to her room.

Sasuke wanted to spend as little time away from this woman so he turned and left. He was going to be late to the hospital if he didn't leave soon anyway. At that, the image of pink hair came to mind. He wondered how Sakura would react if she knew he had a woman staying in his house. He then chastised himself. Sakura had yet to show Sasuke anything more than just genuine friendship since his return so why should she care. She didn't seem like the jealous type anyway.

Sakura Haruno

As soon as the Uchiha stepped through her office door she could tell he was in a bad mood. She was confused. He seemed fine that morning when they were training. Sakura had even felt like he was happy. Had something happened after she left?

He barged into her office with a scowl that darkened his handsome features. His eyes looked clouded as he walked over to her lounged and plopped down on it unceremoniously.

"Something bothering you?" She asked plainly.

"Hn." He replied without looking at her. He was picking at a spot on the lounge.

"Okay." She said. "But if you want to talk I'll listen." She finished.

Sakura wasn't going to pressure him. He had been very open with her lately so she let him have his space.

The office was silent for most of the day. At lunch, Sasuke went out and got her some dumplings. He still seemed to be in a bad modd so she just thanked him and ate her food quietly. The hospital was quiet today, so she wasn't called into any surgeries. The pink-haired woman spent most of the day signing and filing paperwork. Sasuke had left the office spotless the day before so he spent the time on the lounge. Sakura wondered if she should tell him he could go since he was obviously upset and there was nothing for him to do.

"Sasuke, there's not much for you to do today. You can go if you want." She said.

For the first time in the entire day Sasuke looked up at her. He looked her straight in the eyes and Sakura held back a gasp. The look in his eyes was so intense. She felt like he could see right into her soul.

The silence stretched between them as Sakura's question went unanswered. Sakura noticed that the anger in his eyes seemed to dissipate as the seconds ticked by. Yet, she still couldn't figure out the meaning behind his gaze.

After what seemed like an eternity the Uchiha finally spoke up.

"If I leave you'll probably skip dinner." He said simply.

She smiled. His concern for her was sweet, if a little off-putting. She couldn't figure out where it had come from. He had never really shown any conern for her before unless they were on a mission. She had always figured it was just to make sure they got their missions done. She didn't dwell on it however. She figured it he must see it as his way of making up for before. He really had changed since his return.

"Okay." She replied quietly. He had gone back to leaning his head back on the lounge. Sakura noticed him close his eyes and couldn't help herself from staring at him for a moment. Time had been good to Sasuke. He had grown tall. More so than most of the guys his age. His shoulders were broad and his arms muscular. She could see through his shirt the outline of his pecks. Sakura imagined running a finger down his muscled chest. What are you thinking Sakura?! She had realized the dark turn her thoughts were taking and quickly pulled her gaze away from the Uchiha and went back to her paper work.

After a long day of just papers and more papers, it was finally time for Sakura to get going. The Sun had set and the stars were shining bright in the sky when the two shinobi walked out of the Hospital.

Sakura started making her way home when his voice stopped her.

"Sakura?" She could hear the hesitation in his voice and wondered what was the matter.

The woman turned and her viridian eyes met with his depthless onyx ones. They seemed to be a dark pool that went on forever.

"Arigatou." He mumbled.

He had spoken so low Sakura thought she had misheard her. Once she decided it had really been what he said she was confused. This reminded so her so much of the day he had left. Sakura was suddenly hit with the pain of that night and she had to fight the tears welling in her eyes. She wanted to ask why. Why he was thanking her. Why had he thanked her then? She never did find out. But she didn't trust her voice. If she spoke, her mask would crack. The lump in her throat threatened to turn into a sob. Sakura turned around quickly and lowered her head. Before he could say anything else she walked away.

Get a grip, Sakura! You can't let yourself go through this again!

Sakura couldn't figure out why she was feeling so emotional all of a sudden. She didn't want to be like this in front of Sasuke. The Uchiha had broken her once before. Sakura couldn't afford to show him that weakness again. She refused to. But he seemed different now. He was more talkative, more caring, more normal. Atleast as normal as Sasuke Uchiha could ever be.

Sasuke Uchiha

Dark eyes watched as his teammate practically sprinted away from him. He was confused at first. He had only been thanking her for not prying about why he was in such a sour mood. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. The last time Sasuke had said that to Sakura, she had woken up on a bench. The guilt settled in and he wondered if he should go after her. Then thought better of it. He was probably the last person she wanted to see right now.

A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Next will be up soon. There will be a time skip coming up soon. ;)

There will also be some tension between Sakura and Karin as you have probably guessed.

Please review! I will love you forever if you review !

All reviews are welcome!