And here is the revised chapter 2! I hope you guys like it

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Chapter 2

To say the ride home was a little awkward would be a massive understatement. The entire way Sakura could only chance sideways glances to take in his profile. Sasuke's eyes were glued to the road, his hands gripping the steering wheel making the tendons and muscles of his forearms more pronounced. His eyes looked more tired than she could remember them being and other than that he was the same as he was when she left. It unnerved her that not once did he look at her the entire way back to the mansion they shared with everyone.

Sasuke tried his damnedest to not look at the woman next to him in fear that he'd find her gone again. When he lost her the first time, it was like his world had lost all its color and warmth. He had never realized how much of an effect Sakura had over him and how much he relied on her until she was no longer there. At first, he was in panic mode, thinking that something bad had happened to her. He had made sure that everyone was out of bed and on the streets looking for her.

No one was able to find any trace of the woman they were looking for.

If he weren't already blaming himself for not watching over her, Sasuke might have killed Gaara when he had come busting into the mansion and landed a punch square in Sasuke's jaw, knocking the young gang leader to the ground. No one had ever seen the red head display that much emotion before, but seeing as how Sakura was his cousin from his mother's side it was to be expected. To say that the siblings from Suna, the next town over, were angry was a major understatement. Gaara was glaring coldly at everyone, demanding what they had done to find her. Temari tried to get ahold of the situation by asking Shikamaru questions about the days before Sakura disappeared. Kankuro had disappeared to Sakura's room to see if he could find anything that would lead them to her.

In the years that followed, there were leads and rumors about a woman with pink hair, but none of them ended up being about Sakura. They followed lead after lead only to end up with nothing but heavy hearts. Sasuke was beginning to think that Sakura was dead, cause that was the only possible explanation as to why they hadn't found her already. Then a few weeks ago, Kiba had come to him saying that an informant of his spotted a woman with pink hair working at a hospital several towns away. By this time every one had lost hope at finding the pinkette again, but Sasuke decided that he would go check this last sighting out. If it wasn't her, then Sakura was going to be presumed dead. His gang just couldn't go though the endless, crushing disappointment anymore.

You could say that this excursion was Sasuke's last Hail Mary.

He had followed the instructions to the hospital. It was a fairly small structure made of old bricks and aged wood, it was small enough for someone who wanted to keep a low profile.

It was then that he saw her.

Sakura was walking out of the building with some middle aged woman looking exhausted. Her hair was longer, still shiny like he remembered, but in a different way, like she was trying too hard. It was her eyes that captured his attention the most. The last time he saw her those green eyes held so much light that it almost hurt him to look directly at them, but now they were dull and lifeless as they darted around like a cornered animal.

It took Sasuke a moment before it truly sunk in that the woman across the street was his Sakura, but once it did it took everything in him to not throw her over his shoulder caveman style and go home. It was quite possibly the hardest thing he had ever done, but Sasuke managed to follow her back to what he assumed was her apartment without being detected. Which was a feat in and of itself considering that he was almost positive Sakura had caught him a few times. These last two years had changed more about her than just her appearance it seemed. The Sakura he knew was not as cautious as the one he just saw moments ago and he was certain that he saw a hard glint in those emerald eyes of hers that hadn't been there before. A look that held cold suspicion of the world and people around her.

He never wanted his one piece of untainted joy to ever have that look on her face.

It was one of the main reasons he never let her do any more than medical fix ups for their little family, why he did not let her out to do the field work he sent the others on.

Sasuke chanced a glance at the woman next to him and loosened his grip on the steering wheel.

Sakura was anxious, of that much he was certain. It was strange that after so much time apart, she was still an open book to him. Sasuke took one of her fidgeting hands into one of his own and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

He could see her visibly relax as they pulled up to the place they called home. It wasn't as grand as some of the Uchiha estates were but it was big enough that you knew there was a lot of money behind it.

Sasuke put the car in park and removed the key from the ignition as they sat there in silence.

"Naruto is the only one who's home at the moment. Everyone else is attending to business elsewhere."

A breath of relief escaped the woman beside him as they made their way out of the car and up the steps.

"I'm kind of glad about that. I don't think I can handle everyone at once right now and I know that Naruto is going to be a handful all on his own." She said with a fond smile.

Sasuke smirked.

"He isn't the only one. You also left behind a very pissed of blond woman. I think she will be worse than the idiot."

Sakura flinched a bit at his words.

"She was that mad huh?"

Sasuke gave her is best 'are you stupid' look.

"Sakura, her best friend just up and leaves without telling her. Of course she was pissed. Ino's been giving me hell for the past two years because she didn't think I was trying hard enough to find you." He let out a growl of frustration as he opened the door and led the way into the mansion.

Almost immediately, a blond head could be seen from the top of the stairs, followed by a pair of blue eyes.

"Hey Bastard. I wasn't expecting you back so soon. Did you find anything out about-" Naruto stopped halfway down the stairs as he finally caught sight of the pink head of hair behind Sasuke. He stood there for a minute as his eyes widened.

"Sakura…" He jumped down the last few steps and crushed his lost friend into his chest. She was back, she was here, and she was okay.

Sakura was caught off guard as the breath was squeezed from her lungs, but none of that mattered to her at that moment as she returned Naruto's hug. She could feel where his tears were hitting her shirt and felt tear well up in her own eyes. She had only thought of them getting hurt if she had stayed, but Sakura had never considered how her choice to leave had made them feel.

"Please don't ever leave us again, Sakura." Naruto pleaded into her shoulder. She threw a look at Sasuke only to find him waiting for her to answer their friend's plea.

"Okay." Was the only answer she could come up with, but it seemed to appease the blond man. Sasuke on the other hand was not so easily pacified and was staring into Sakura's eyes so intently that she could feel them searing into her soul. Their connection was broken as Naruto pulled away to get a good look at Sakura, his usual devil-may-care smile in place.

"Is it just me or have you gotten thinner?"

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"I think it's just you, Naruto."

He frowned.

"Are you sure? Cause your boo-"

His sentence was interrupted by two fists nailing him in the face and sending him into the stairs. Naruto looked up in confusion at his assailants.

Sakura was cracking her knuckles, rage coming off her in waves.

One Sasuke's eyes was twitching as he glared down at his best friend.

"What were you about to say Naruto?"

Sensing his eminent death, said man wisely retracted his earlier statement which got Sakura off his back, but Sasuke was a different story.

The man held on to grudges like Choji held on to a bag of chips.

Sakura sighed as she watched Sasuke try to kill Naruto as he tried to apologize. They never change, but the again if they did they wouldn't be the same Naruto and Sasuke that she loved.

"As much as this reunion gives me the warm and fuzzies, I'm exhausted guys. A lot happened today and I just want to go to bed."

Both men stopped fighting to agree with her.

"Sure thing Sakura. We can catch up tomorrow and everyone should be her tomorrow night I think." Naruto said with a sunny grin.

"It really is good to have you home."

Sakura nodded as she took Sasuke's hand to be led to their bedroom on the fourth floor. The short trip up the stairs was made in silence until they had reached the door and Sakura entered her and Sasuke's bedroom in daze. It was the same as when she left it 2 years ago. Her perfumes and lotions still adorned the dresser in the corner and her clothes were hung color coordinated in the closet. It was as if Sasuke was waiting for her to walk back through the door any day and take back her place by his side.

Sakura was glad to be back home with her family, but she couldn't help but wonder what trouble her decision would cause for them. She wasn't an idiot. Sakura knew that there would be repercussions for this. Madara and Orochimaru weren't the type of people to go back on their words. So she made a decision right then and there that no matter what happened to her, her family would be safe and for that to happen the threat needed to be eliminated.

Sakura was going to end Madara and Orochimaru.

She remembered the agony on Sasuke's face when he learned the truth about his brother Itachi and how Madara killed him. How Tenten cried all night long after her boyfriend, Neji, almost died in a shoot out with the Snakes while trying to save Hinata and Naruto. The anger on Naruto's face when he found out that his parents died because of Madara's thirst for power. Shikamaru almost went off the deep end when his mentor, Asuma, was killed by the Akatsuki. Ino and Choji were the only ones who kept him sane during that time.

Those men were responsible for hurting everyone in her family and she was sick of it.

Before she had left, all Sakura did for the gang was provide their medical care so they stayed under the police's radar. Sasuke never allowed her to do anything else, he claimed that it was too dangerous for her to be there. Needless to say, her fighting and shooting skills were sad if that. So the first thing Sakura did when she left was sign up for combat classes and learned to shoot different kinds of guns.

No one knew that but her though and that how Sakura was going to keep it.

She rummaged through the drawers and pulled out one of her favorite little nightgowns. When she was done dressing Sasuke walked in with the grace of a panther. He moved to stand behind her and nuzzled her neck affectionately. Of everything there was to miss, Sasuke and the moments they shared together were at the top of the list. She turned around and looped her arms around his neck.

"I'm so glad that you're back, Sakura." he whispered into her hair, his hands moving to her waist.

Sakura giggled and moved closer to him.

"I'm glad to be home too, Sasuke."

They moved to the bed and laid in each others arms, enjoying the feel of the other after so long apart. Sakura finally looked into the love of her life's eyes only to find all the love and relief he was feeling at her being home again, but there was also fear and worry there.

Sakura raised her hand to his face to stroke his bangs out of his eyes.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" she asked.

The dark haired man closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.

"You have no idea how worried I was about you...How scared I was that I'd never see you again."

Sakura closed her eyes as the guilt washed over her, almost drowning her. Sasuke may appear cold and emotionless to everyone else, but Sakura knows that it's only because he doesn't want to get hurt again. He let his guard down with Sakura and then she disappeared. Even though she had a very good reason for leaving, the self loathing for leaving him and making him suffer like that was still there, ready to rear its ugly head at any moment.

"I'm sorry Sasuke. I'm so, so sorry." She said as tears fell from the corners of her eyes.

Sasuke brought his thumb up and wiped them away.

"I know you are, but what matters is that you are home and where you belong."

Sakura smiled at their old banter and Sasuke waited patiently for her to ask her side of the conversation.

She looked up into his onyx eyes.

"And where do I belong?"

Sasuke rolled so that he was on top of her and kissed her slowly.

"With me." He whispered as he kissed down her neck.

Sakura moaned and reached her hand up and tuned off the light, leaving the two in total darkness.

The late morning sun shined through the open window and directly into Sakura's eyes as she looked around the room. She knew that Sasuke had already left and just laid there, the images of the night before making a blush spread across her cheeks. No matter how many they had been together she still blushed like a virgin every time. Sasuke always said that it was cute, but to Sakura it was embarrassing. Deciding that she had lain there long enough, Sakura got up and looked for something to wear for the day. She settled on a mint green tank top and a pair of stylishly ripped jeans with a pair of black strappy sandals. Sakura stepped up to the mirror above her dresser and studied her hair and face. She pulled her long pink hair up into a high pony tail, leaving her bangs down to frame her heart shaped face. Sakura then finished her outfit off with some lip gloss and diamond heart necklace Sasuke had gotten her for their anniversary 2 years before.

Sakura left the room and walked down the stairs of the third floor of the mansion they all lived in. Sasuke's parents had owned tons of casinos all over the country and when they died, Sasuke inherited them all. Which why he and Naruto started gang in high school. Sasuke loaned out money and made bets, illegally of course. When they didn't want to pay up, someone was sent to either eliminate them or make them pay up by any means necessary. If the target was high profile enough, Sasuke and Naruto would pay them a visit in person. They were hard and vicious men with no remorse when it came to their job. If there was one thing that the Demons didn't participate in, it was drugs and human trafficking.

That was the Akatsuki and Snake's territory, respectively.

Sakura made her way to the kitchen and found a note on the sink addressed to her.

Sakura,

The dobe and I thought that it'd be best for you to take some time to rest before returning to work at the casino.

Be back soon.

Love,

Sasuke

Sakura smiled. It would seem that Sasuke was still a man of few words.

Everyone in the family held a part time position at one of the Uchiha's many Casinos that they used as a cover for their more illegal activities. Before she had left, Sakura had been in charge of running the Southwestern Casino. It felt good to be at the top, but at the end of the day all decisions are made by Sasuke and Naruto. The rest of them were just the ones who carried out the plans. Not that any of them hated it, cause they were all family and they agreed with the decisions made anyway.

Sakura grabbed her purse, deciding to use her day of rest to go to a coffee shop on town. She went to the door but saw that Sasuke had positioned guards at every single door of the house. They told her in a very short manner that Lord Sasuke gave them orders that she was not to leave the house. Sakura huffed in annoyance as she turned on her heel and went upstairs to her and Sasuke's bedroom.

Was he so paranoid that he had to do this to her? A small voice in her head reminded her that she had left Sasuke like this last time and so of course he'd be paranoid.

Sakura shook her head and walked over to the window. She saw a tree just outside it and if she stretched, it'd be easy to climb down. Sasuke hadn't placed any guards by that window because why would he? The Sakura he knew would never do anything so reckless, but she wasn't the same woman she was back then.

She threw her bag out the window and then jumped to the tree.

So far so good, she thought.

Sakura dropped to the ground and looked back up at the mansion. She would not stand being held like a prisoner in her own house and the sooner Sasuke realized that the better.

Consider this his wake up call.

Sakura walked in the direction of town with a smile.

Besides, what's the worst that can happen?

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