Comeback

by kokkilamb01

She was the weakling. She was the burden. Or so they thought. They haven't actually realised how strong she really was. And she was making a comeback to prove it.

5. Chapter 5

-Not mine. Rub it in, will ya?-

Comeback

Chapter 5: I'm Not Eating That!

KibaSaku: 3

GaaSaku: 3

NejiSaku: 1

SaiSaku: 1

ShikaSaku: 0

KankuSaku: 0

SasuSaku: 0

NaruSaku: 0

KakaSaku: 0

YamaSaku: 0

Yo~! My wonderful readers, those are the results according to the (amazing and beautifully written) reviews I've gotten. Woot~! ^3^ Hence, this chapter will have hints of KibaSaku and GaaSaku! Since, you guys voted and it was a tie! You know, your votes will affect who Sakura ends up with.

Enjoy ~(^_^)/

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There is one thing more exasperating than a wife who can cook and won't, and that's a wife who can't cook and will.

~Robert Frost

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Sasuke thought that once he accomplished his goal he would be joining his brother. He never once fathomed that he could survive the arduous battle. He had wanted to die as a hero avenging his clan. He would finally be able to prove his strength and superiority to his brother. And yet, after that long awaited battle, the Dobe had managed to find him and bring him back to Konoha. The place he never thought he could ever return to.

He would have thought that he would return and gain respect for defeating the almighty Uchiha Itachi. Sasuke would restore honour to the Uchiha Clan. And maybe, just maybe, rebuild it. Of course, it had to be with someone worthy of him and the Uchiha title. The Uchiha name would then rise and the people of Konoha would once again respect it.

And yet, here he was reduced to carrying groceries.

Oh, how the Uchiha name had fallen.

Sasuke repositioned the heavy bag of groceries to get a better view of where he was walking. He could see the Dobe to his right struggling to carry another large brown paper bag filled to the brim with food. He would have walked away and ignored Sakura's request but she pulled out the 'sensei' card and called it an unofficial mission. Not wanting to kill his chances of ever graduating from the rank of Genin he reluctantly agreed to help her with her shopping.

And he regretted it. Shopping with Sakura was a much more painful process than training non-stop under the rain. Sasuke seriously hoped he didn't have to do this again.

Naruto frowned as he attempted to balance the full bag in his arms. He could barely see where he was going. He had excitedly agreed to help her, hoping that he could spend some time with Sakura. Naruto would talk to Sakura and once again become friends with her. Then after that, he would ask her to join him for some Ramen. They would fall hopelessly in love and get married.

He chuckled at his brilliance.

It was a foolproof plan! Oh, he bet the Teme was jealous of his genius.

But, the dog specialist had to come along, automatically causing his plan to become useless (so much for it being foolproof). He pouted like a child when Sakura had completely ignored him and chatted happily with Kiba. Now, in front of him he could see the Inuzuka and his Sakura walking side by side.

After all these years, Naruto still loved Sakura.

Uzumaki Naruto, the knucklehead ninja, had a huge crush on his team mate, the pinkette, Haruno Sakura. Back when they were still Team 7, Sakura could care less about him and would chase after the Teme with hearts in her eyes. She showered the cold Uchiha with her love and care while she showered Naruto with punches and kicks. The blonde was extremely jealous. Even though Sakura would not hesitate to punch him over the littlest matters, she still showed her concern towards the Kyubi container.

She had healed him when he was injured. She had reprimanded him when he kept eating Ramen instead of a healthy diet. She had thrown him over Konoha –with love, of course- when he had been caught peeking at the girls in the hot springs. Naruto knew that despite all the pain Sakura causes to him, she was the one who cared and knew him the most.

Sakura could read him like an open book (everyone can, Naruto). She trusted him with her life and would save his butt whenever he was in trouble. That's why, when she found out that they were leaving her behind, she had been disappointed in him the most.

But, he didn't care even if she hated him.

All he wanted was for her to be happy.

As if on cue, Sakura turned around to flash him a grin. Naruto flushed but still gave his crush his famous thousand watt smile.

"It's Sakura-sama!"

"Wow! She looks pretty today."

"Did she change her hairstyle?"

"Too bad I'm married."

"Do you think she would agree to go out with me?"

Sasuke frowned and Naruto was about to open his mouth when he was interrupted by a feral growl from the dog specialist. Kiba bared his canine teeth at the group of fan boys. They took the hint and ran as fast as their legs could carry.

"You have fans?" Sasuke's scowl deepened.

Sakura's cheeks flushed red, "I have no idea why. Please don't ask."

"Hn."

Kiba turned to look at Sasuke, "Of course Sakura has fans! She's kind, strong, beautiful and a capable kunoichi. You were a fool to leave her behind."

Sakura had turned a deeper shade of red from Kiba's compliments and when a minute had passed, so did Kiba. Kiba could feel the heat rise to his cheeks after he realised what he had just said. He had openly complimented Sakura in front of her and her team mates. It almost felt as if he had revealed his darkest secrets to the entire village. Kiba and Sakura were not really close when they were Genin. But, when Aburame Shino and Hyuga Hinata had gotten together, he had felt a little left out. During one of his mindless walks around Konoha, he had bumped into the pink haired kunoichi and had asked her to spar with him. He had thought that she wouldn't be much of a challenge. The next thing he knew he was knocked unconscious with just one chakra enhanced punch. They had been close ever since.

Naruto gave him a suspicious glare and Kiba swore he saw Sasuke's Sharingan flash a second ago. He cleared his throat and tried to change the subject, "So, Sakura. What are you doing with so much food?"

Sakura perked up, her apple green eyes shined with excitement. She completely forgot about the incident a moment ago, "I'm going to cook lunch for everyone in Team 7 and since you helped with the groceries, you're welcomed to join!"

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. Cook? Naruto could vaguely remember the last time she had cooked for them. It was during the time Sasuke was still with Orochimaru and Yamato-taichou and Sai had joined the Team. He was sick for a week. Sai, Yamato-taichou and Kakashi-sensei were not so lucky. Let's just say there was a lot of puking involved. Naruto started to turn a bright shade of green as he remembered the food that was cooked by Sakura. Sure, Sakura was a medic and she knew a great deal about what type of nutrients the body needs. She cares so much about how healthy the food should be she forgets about the taste. All he wanted was a steaming bowl of Ramen. Was that too much to ask for?

Sasuke started to feel faint. But, he refused to keel over because Uchiha Sasuke never fainted from something as trivial as Sakura's "food". He could barely control his shudder when he recalled the first time he had tasted her homemade food. It was during one of his birthdays when Sakura was still part of his fan club. She had come over shyly to the Uchiha residence and gave him an obento. Sasuke had debated whether to just throw it away but he –stupidly- chose to eat the obeno since it was too troublesome to leave the residence and get stampeded by a horde of rabid fan girls. When he popped a rice ball in his mouth, he had thought that he was going to die. He had learnt to avoid Sakura's food since then.

Kiba stared at Sasuke and Naruto quizzically. Both of their faces were turning into different shades of green and purple. What was so bad about homemade food done by the beautiful Haruno Sakura?

Oh, Kiba. You have no idea.

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"Gaara! Gaara! Slow down," Temari shouted as she struggled to keep up with her youngest brother. She was panting heavily as she leapt from branch to branch. Kankuro was far behind the both of them, fatigue getting the better of him.

The red head Kazekage grunted as he unwillingly slowed down his pace and stopped completely at the forest floors. He landed gracefully on his feet, his sand cushioning his landing further. Temari soon joined him and half a second later, Kankuro arrived. Kankuro placed his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

"You know, Gaara," Temari said in between breaths, "What's the rush?"

Kankuro smirked knowingly, "He's excited to finally see his girlfriend."

The tips of the Kazekage's ears started to turn red, "Sakura is not my girlfriend."

Kankuro rolled his eyes and was about to tease his younger brother again when he was smacked. "Ow!" He rubbed to back of his abused skull and glared at his older sister. Temari promptly started to reprimand him.

Gaara blinked, used to his siblings quarrelling and informed them that they would take a short break here before continuing their journey to Konohagakure. The Sand Siblings were on a short mission to Konoha to send an important scroll to the Hokage. Of course, this menial task could easily be completed by a Chunin but when he heard it was supposed to be sent to Konoha, the Kazekage had immediately started to pack.

Throughout the whole trip, his siblings had started to tease him about his relationship with the pink-haired medic. He had ignored them and denied everything.

Even though he knew some of it was true.

Gaara had met Haruno Sakura when she was sent to Sunagakure for a six month long mission to improve the medical system there. The Kazekage had known Sakura as one of the Uchiha's fan girls and didn't bother to give her any attention. But, when he had been kidnapped by Akatsuki, he had heard that weak little Haruno Sakura had managed to defeat Akasuna no Sasori in battle. He knew that it was with the help of Chiyo-baasama, but how much could a 73 year old woman do? Besides that, she had also saved his brother by finding an antidote for Sasori's poison. Sakura had managed to surpass Tsunade. She was also widely known for her medical ninjutsu, her super human strength and her exotic beauty.

It was safe to say that Haruno Sakura had managed to catch the Kazekage's attention.

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Naruto smacked his head on Sakura's dining table with a loud thud. Sai and Yamato-taichou had arrived a few minutes ago. As usual, Kakashi was late. Would it kill that man to come on time at least once?

"Ne, Teme, can't you think it of a way to get us out of this situation?" Naruto whispered careful not to let Sakura overhear him.

"What are the chances we could survive Sakura's cooking?" As soon as those words left Sasuke's lips. The mood in the entire room darkened. Yamato tried his very best not to remember. Sai stopped his sketching and recalled his nightmare stay at the hospital. There was puke everywhere. Even in places where puke should not be.

"The chances of surviving Hag's cooking are low," Sai softly spoke.

The four men leaned closer towards each other. Yamato was the first to speak, "This is a very delicate situation. One wrong move and Sakura would go ballistic."

Sasuke nodded, "We should proceed with caution."

"Traitor is right. But, we need a good escape plan," Sai ignored the glare from the Uchiha.

"What are you guys doing?"

Naruto jumped out of his skin, "Kiba! Don't scare us like that."

"Is something wrong?" Kiba questioned looking at the four men in the dining area.

"I take it that you have not tasted Sakura's cooking?" Yamato-taichou said.

Kiba scratched his head, "No. But, I don't mind trying."

Naruto placed his hand on Kiba's shoulder, "It was nice knowing ya pal."

Huh? Why did he sound like he was going to die?

Kiba was still confused when Sakura appeared from the kitchen. She placed a plate of onigiri on the table, "Lunch will be ready soon. Help yourselves to some onigiri first." The pinkette grinned before returning back to the kitchen.

The four men stared at the onigiri as if it was their mortal enemy. Kiba also stared it. The onigiri looked presentable enough with its triangle shape and single piece of nori wrapped at its base. He of all people should know not to judge a book by its cover. Kiba picked one up and shoved it in Naruto's face. The blonde shrieked and fell back on his chair, "Get that thing away from me!"

Sakura's head appeared from the kitchen after hearing a girlish scream, "What's going on?"

The Kyubi container quickly stood up and waved his hand dismissively, "Nothing's wrong, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura nodded, satisfied with his answer and returned to the kitchen.

Everything almost felt like it happened in slow motion as Kiba bit off more than half of the onigiri. The dog specialist stopped chewing and his expression suddenly turned blank. The other four men in the team stared at Kiba with amused expressions as his face started to turn a myriad of colours. Kiba calmly returned the other half of the onigiri to its plate and walked towards the window.

He threw up whatever was in his mouth.

"What the hell was that?" He hissed wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Akamaru sniffed the onigiri on the table and immediately regretted doing so.

"That," Sasuke deadpanned, "Is Sakura's cooking."

"Sakura-chan can do a lot of great things. But, there is one thing she can't do," Naruto poked the onigiri with his finger, half-expecting it to fight back.

"Ugly can't cook," Sai stared at the triangle onigiri apprehensively.

Kiba immediately understood why Sakura's team mates were behaving strangely when she announced that she would be cooking lunch. He pointed at the offending plate, "What do we do with that?"

Sasuke started to do hand signs, "Katon-"

He stopped abruptly when Sakura's front doors opened, "Yo!"

Sakura appeared from the kitchen another plate of who-knows-what in her hands. "Kakashi-sensei, you're late!"

The silver-haired man laughed nervously, his visible eye staring at the plate of "food" that was now placed on the dining table, "Sorry. I got lost-"

"LIAR!" Naruto shouted his finger pointing accusingly at Kakashi.

"-on the path of life?" Sakura continued.

All the men in the room stared dumbly at the kunoichi. She smiled sweetly before returning back to the kitchen.

Kakashi noticed that Sakura hadn't screamed at him for being tardy.

He also noticed that Sakura looked quite pretty smiling.

Wait. Did she just call his student pretty?

Well, technically, Sakura was no longer his student.

Right?

While Kakashi was having a debate in his head, Sai spoke quietly, "If we don't make a move soon, all of us would be forced to swallow whatever she has prepared."

The men swallowed as Sakura appeared again with another bowl of what seemed like green slime. Kiba pointed at the bowl, "Ne, Sakura, what is that?"

Sakura grinned carefully placing the bowl in the middle of the table, "This is my vegetable soup! There are over a hundred vegetables in this bowl."

Kiba was close to keeling over.

With his visible eye, Kakashi made eye contact with Yamato sending a quiet message. Yamato nodded slightly before catching Sai's eyes. Sai blinked before tilting his chin to signal the Uchiha. Said Uchiha looked down then looked to the left in the direction of the kitchen. Naruto being the moron was oblivious to it all.

Mission: 'Escape Sakura's Food No Matter What' had commenced.

"Hag," Sai called out catching the kunoichi's attention, "I have found a reason for your behaviour yesterday."

When Sakura had looked at the artist with a confused look and the Uchiha had sneaked into the kitchen, Sai continued, "According to my research the reason you initiated physical contact with me was because you had a desire to touch me to relieve some of your sexual frustration. It is understandable as your looks would make it difficult for you to find a suitable male to engage in wild s-"

Sakura grabbed Sai's collar and pushed him to a nearby wall, daring him to continue. Her viridian eyes were narrowed dangerously and her face was very close to his. He could practically feel her breath on his face. He smiled his trademark empty smile. Which only caused her to get much angrier (he was not sure why).

She growled in a low threatening tone, "Time for lesson number two. Sai, you're going to learn another emotion called 'Agony'."

Sai knew he was threading on thin ice but the Uchiha hasn't left the kitchen yet. What was taking him so long? "Oh? How would you do that?"

"I was thinking of throwing you out the window again. Unfortunately, my apartment isn't as high as the Hokage's office. So, this will just have to do," She lifted her hand and was about to cause him serious hurt when she was rudely interrupted by Naruto.

"Sakura-chan! Your kitchen is on fire!"

Sakura immediately dropped the pale artist, her anger dissipating. She rushed towards her kitchen and tried to put out the fire. The food she had painstakingly prepared was completely burnt and she was sure it was inedible. The grey smoke filled her kitchen, looks like they had to eat lunch somewhere else.

Kakashi walked over to Sai and patted his back.

Mission: Success.

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Now, Gaara was a very patient man. Well, Gaara thought he was a very patient man. It looks like he thought wrong.

He tapped his foot impatiently waiting for the Hokage to finish reading through the scroll. It was just one scroll.

From her desk, Tsunade looked up at the young Kazekage. She smirked and proceeded to sip her sake, "You could've sent someone else to do this."

The red-head immediately stopped his tapping and looked at the blonde Hokage, "I could have, but I chose not to."

Temari and Kankuro turned to look at Gaara. They both knew he was walking into a trap. Tsunade found this very amusing and continued, "Oh? And why is that?"

Gaara still held his stoic expression as his mind started to panic. "If we are done here, I will take my leave." He promptly turned around to leave the Hokage's office.

Tsunade snickered, "Sakura loves flowers."

Gaara could feel the heat rush up to his face. He ignored the Godaime Hokage's comment and tried to walk out of the office with whatever was left of his dignity.

Strangely, he found himself in one of Konoha's flower shops.

He wondered why.

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"I'm pretty sure there was something wrong with that fire. I could sense traces of chakra in the surrounding air," Sakura tapped her chin with her index finger. Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, Yamato, Kiba and Sakura were all sitting around at one of the empty training grounds. After they had their fill eating Ramen at Ichiraku's –to Sakura's dismay and Naruto's glee-, they agreed to spend their time at the training ground to wait for the smoke in Sakura's house to clear.

Kakashi started to sweat behind his mask. If Sakura found out their plan, there would be hell to pay. "W-What are you talking about, Sakura?"

Yamato swallowed, "It was an accident. You can cook for us next time." Yamato ignored the subtle glares and glowers he got from his team mates. Secretly, he hoped there wasn't a next time.

Kiba was pretty sure Sakura would find out. So, he had an idea on how to distract the kunoichi. "I had a great time today, Sakura. But, I gotta go. See you around!" He leaned in a placed a quick peck on Sakura's cheek. He took pleasure in watching her face turn a bright shade of red as he climbed onto Akamaru's back. He grinned from ear to ear and ran off before any of her team mates could attack him.

"GET BACK HERE YOU MANGY MUTT!" Naruto shouted, shaking his fist in the air.

"Shut up, dobe," Sasuke muttered.

"Did you see what he did to Sakura-chan?"

"..I did," Sasuke mumbled the rest of his sentence under his breath. Something along the lines of torture and murder.

"That mutt had no right to do that!" Naruto was now flailing his arms wildly, "Sakura can find a better man than Kiba!"

"What? You mean, you?"

Naruto blushed.

Sasuke smirked, "Sorry to burst your bubble but Sakura isn't that desperate."

Naruto gritted his teeth, "Why you!"

Both started to charge towards each other. Sakura frowned and jumped in. She caught Naruto's fist and threw him towards Sai and Yamato causing them to fall back from the impact. With her other free hand, she punched the ground to throw Sasuke off balance. Sasuke jumped back with ease dodging the stray pieces of earth. "Sorry, Sasuke. I won't allow you to engage in battle."

Sasuke scowled before she continued, "But, since I'm your babysitter and you're itching for a fight, I could make an exception."

She smirked and made hand signs, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu."

Sasuke's eyes widened a fraction of an inch as he leapt to dodge the fireball coming his way. As he was in the air he felt Sakura's presence suddenly appear behind him. As she was about to land another deadly punch, he used the Body Replacement technique to escape her attack. Sasuke landed gracefully on the ground, "I don't want to hurt you, Sakura."

As soon as she heard those words, Sakura saw red. She felt more enraged when Sasuke fell into a defensive stance and didn't even bother to activate his Sharingan. Sakura scowled, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Multiple copies of her appeared and charged towards the Uchiha, their hands enhanced by her chakra. Sasuke easily dodged each and every one of them. Their attacks were useless as they made little craters on the earth instead of landing a hit on him. Without his Sharingan, Sasuke didn't notice that the real Sakura was behind him.

"Suiton: Mizurappa."

Water gushed out of Sakura's mouth catching Sasuke off guard and causing him to fall back and land in one of the craters. Sakura smirked victoriously. Since the ground had softened due to the water technique, she lifted her chakra enhanced hand and punched the ground. It caused the muddy earth to give way and half of Sasuke's body was swallowed by the earth.

Oh no, Sakura wasn't done yet.

Sasuke struggled to remove his body from the mud. He watched with wide eyes as Sakura started to charge towards him. It was too late to try and use a replacement technique and he could only use his arms to shield his face. But the attack never came.

In front of him, now stood a brown puppet. Its abdomen was large and round and it had six arms. The puppet leapt and returned to its owner: a man clad in a black suit with purple paint on his face. "Woah. That was close, Uchiha. You could have been crushed."

Sasuke grunted and continued to try and remove himself from the muddy ground. The puppet under his control shook violently. Sasuke figured that he had captured Sakura in it.

As if on cue, the puppet master released his hold on the puppet and the pinkette fell into his awaiting arms. He held her bridal-style. "Saku-chan!" He shouted and placed a quick peck on her forehead. Poor Sakura turned a brighter shade of red than before.

"That's the second time today! Get your hands of my Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted in anger.

All the men in the area (Kakashi, Sasuke, Sai, Yamato, Kankuro and Gaara) chorused, "She's not yours."

Temari sighed, "Then, who does she belong to?"

Sakura removed herself from Kankuro's grasps, "I don't belong to anyone!" She lifted her dainty ankle and hit the ground with her heel. This caused the ground to shake and everyone to land on their butts. Miraculously, it seemed to have missed Temari completely.

Sakura squealed and ran towards Temari and engulfed her in a hug. "Saku-chan!"

Her team mates stared at each other confused. (Sasuke still waist deep in mud.)

Saku-chan?

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Sorry guys. Chapter was getting too long. OTL So, more GaaSaku in the next chappie! But, please continue to vote for your favourite couple if you wish for it to appear.

Yes, Shin will reappear in the next chapter! xD

I'm sorry if the KibaSaku wasn't up to standards. I tried. OTL

See what happens if you guys review? I update really fast. xD

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