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Life Restored

Chapter 6

Six standard months later...

Her heart was thundering in her chest as she ran down the corridors of the hospital. Tears blurred her vision, her hair was a mess as it slipped from the loose ponytail she'd briefly tied it in. She pulled it free, and it cascaded down her shoulders as she ran.

The refuge of her office was just a couple of steps away. She just had to make it there...

The kunoichi nearly lost her balance as she threw herself against the stairwell door, the bar pumping inwards as she threw her petite frame into it. She was taking the stairs two at a time, and she didn't stop until she'd reached her office.

She couldn't stay put for very long.

Yanking her lab coat free from her shoulders, she stuffed the thing into her locker, before she shoved the window open. Footsteps chasing after her outside only added additional motivation to get her ass moving, and she took off into the pouring rain without a second thought.

Naruto burst through the door to Sakura's office a split second later. Papers had blown from her desk to the floor, and her window was wide open. Rain was splattering all over the windowsill and drenching the floor.

"She's not here."

Naruto spun on his heel to find his best friend leaning against the wall a few feet away. The brooding Uchiha met his gaze with a hard expression. "I wouldn't expect her to be."

Naruto's fist slammed into the concrete wall as he cursed.

Sasuke walked calmly by him, momentarily reaching out to grip Naruto's shoulder in an uncharacteristic manner. "You should be with them right now, dobe. I will find her."

Cerulean eyes wrought with a mixture of grief and anger flashed to the window for a moment, before turning back to look at the Uchiha. He gave his brother's shoulder a squeeze before he stepped back. "Take care of her, Teme. And don't you dare fuck it up."

Sasuke smirked.

Turning away from his best friend, Naruto retreated from Sakura's office.

The rain was freezing. It soaked through her thin scrubs she was wearing and drenched her to the bone. Her hair was now sticking to her face and her tears mixed with the freezing raindrops as they pelted her cheeks.

She dropped to the ground, her ninja sandals splashing in a muddy puddle. She didn't even have the care to let loose a curse. It seemed as if her entire life had suddenly turned upside down this morning.

Her furious emerald eyes dropped to the cheerful yellow daffodils she'd left for him only a few hours ago.

With a harsh yell, Sakura sent them flying with a vicious kick.

...Only to lose her balance and fall flat on her ass a second later.

Then she cursed.

And cried. And pounded the soggy earth with her trembling fists. Angry tears and hurt poured from her heart as she sobbed, incredulity and righteous fury driving her.

Never once did the question of why cross her mind. That would be discussed later, she knew. But never did she ever think to imagine that the amount of guilt she had carried for TWO FUCKING YEARS now would be thrown back in her face like it was nothing!

The feeling was gone from her fingers when she finally ran out of energy. The icy rain had chilled her temper and drained her anger away, leaving her feeling frozen to her core and empty.

How long had she been out here?

Her eyes drifted to the forgotten flowers now strewn over the base of the shinobi memorial. On her hands and knees, she crawled over to them, carefully gathering them up in her hands. The petals had gotten dirty with mud, and she gently brushed it away. Tears blurred her vision again as she stared down at the still cheerful flowers.

The sound of an umbrella opening above her startled her from her thoughts. She felt his presence then as he knelt beside her and covered her with a warm jacket that was twice her size. Her head lowered as she felt more tears burn at the corners of her eyes. Grief turned quickly to shock as she felt a warm finger curl around her chin to gently lift her gaze to meet his.

She said nothing as she lost herself in his obsidian eyes. "I need to get you back." He murmured after a long moment.

His words sounded foreign in her ears.

She looked at him as if he'd just told her that down was up; which after the events of this morning, she would have definitely believed to be true. Her eyes blurred with tears momentarily, and she forgot how to breathe seconds before she pulled him down to crush her lips with his.

Sasuke responded immediately.

He was lifting her up off of the ground and into his arms a second later, barely keeping hold of the umbrella which sheltered her from the frigid rain. Sakura's arms tightened around his shoulders and her fingers wound their way into his dark raven hair. She barely contained a little squeak as he dipped her back, deepening the kiss.

He knew she was scared, he could feel her trembling. But he also felt the raw emotion she poured into her actions as her fingers tightened in his hair. There was no room for fear though, he wouldn't allow it. He gently cupped her jaw, brushing away the tears that had fallen before he cradled her against his chest.

Breaking away, Sakura's breathing was ragged. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked up into Sasuke's eyes, feeling her heart skipping erratically. He lifted a hand to lightly stroke her cheek, and his gaze did not waver. Something passed between them then, an unspoken promise that not only rattled her, but shook her to her very core.

Hope.

It took the work of a second. She could not have resisted him even if she'd wanted to. He pulled her in and took her mouth more fervently this time. Sakura tightened her arms around him, releasing all of her fears and inhibitions. This was the man she had loved since childhood. This was the love she had never been able to forget, even after all this time had passed.

Tears blurred her eyes again, but she paid them no mind as she broke away, his name leaving her swollen lips like a soft prayer.

Sasuke found himself smirking against his will. She had said his name. HIS name.

His fingers threaded through her hair before he gently angled her head up. Her eyes were full of so much emotion, he could not help but feel his heart swell in his chest. Her walls were gone, her defenses down, and he knew that the girl he was seeing right now was the same one who had haunted his dreams every single night since before he'd returned to Konoha.

This was Sakura.

His cherry blossom...and his redemption.

The events from this morning were still fresh in his mind, and he knew her reaction to them was nothing short of raw. He discovered then that he could not stand to see her upset. Or any sort of manner other than the ones that would make her smile. He had sworn to himself, and to Naruto that he would do everything within his power to protect that precious smile of hers. Safeguard it until it was ready to re-appear again.

She was hiding her eyes from him again as she bowed her head. He must have understood her thoughts, because he had wrapped an arm around her slender waist and was pulling her tightly against him. She didn't even think about her actions as her response was automatic. Slipping her arm around him to steady her balance, her eyes closed as rush of fatigue washed over her mind.

"What...What does all of this mean, Uchiha-san?" She whispered softly, her eyes opening to stare blankly down at the soggy ground on which they walked.

Sasuke steeled his expression, but kept the irritation from his voice as he answered. "I'm not sure. I'm positive Hokage-sama will give us further details later."

She nodded her head numbly.

Sasuke stole a glance down at her as they walked together. She was shivering, even with the warmth of his coat around her. Which told him she had been out in the frigid weather too long. The manner in which she addressed him still irked him to this day, and he swore he would never get used to hearing him address him by his surname alone.

His thoughts drifted to a conversation they had shared shortly after his evaluation, and while her reasoning made sense in a weird fucking way, it didn't mean he liked it any more than he had back at the beginning of the summer.

Six months earlier...

Sasuke had followed his orders.

Naruto was undergoing "Hokage training" as he'd liked to call it. Tsunade had been busy training her successor, and was far too preoccupied to pay any sort of attention to the now returned Uchiha.

Reporting back to the Hokage that he'd not only successfully cleaned all of the chalkboards in the Ninja Academy, but had also replaced all of the bedpans of the patients in the hospital shouldn't have been anything less than demeaning. The last Uchiha still walked with his head held high because he knew somewhere that his brother was watching over him, taking the proper steps necessary to rebuild the Uchiha honor.

Tsunade was shouting at someone as he reached her office. Steeling himself, he rapt his knuckles sharply on the door.

"Enter!" Tsunade shouted from within.

He opened the door, expecting to find the dobe face down on the floor in a heap from getting browbeaten by the Hokage...instead, only to see Sakura leaning up against the back wall. Tears were burning her eyes as she glared at her sensei, and she paid him no mind as he silently entered, placing his report on the Hokage's desk. "I'll be back later to discuss my assignments." He murmured quietly, before he turned to make a hasty exit.

"She's dismissed," Tsunade said, crossing her arms over her chest, her gaze never leaving her apprentice. Sakura looked as if she'd gotten kicked in the gut. A few seconds more and she swiftly left the office.

...He found her later, after his briefing.

She was perched atop the roof of the hospital, her eyes watching the sun set. The vibrant orange rays splayed across her face, silhouetting her against the horizon.

He found himself a seat close to her, propping a leg up over the ledge of the building and looking out at the darkening streets.

"How did you figure it out?" He asked after a long moment.

She startled a bit, her eyes watering a little from staring at the setting sun. "Figure what out?" She murmured, her voice a little hoarse.

"My involvement."

Much to his surprise, she smiled. "You're not as difficult to figure out as you'd like to think, Uchiha-san."

He frowned.

"It took me a couple of months, but I began noticing a pattern. You never killed a shinobi of Konoha. That actually worked in your favor during your evaluation."

Her gaze hardened again, and he knew instantly what the argument in the Hokage's office had been about. "You're being punished for helping me in the evaluation, aren't you?"

Her eyes widened and she finally looked at him then.

"You're not so difficult to read either." He smirked at her, feeling a sense of masculine pride when he saw color rise in her cheeks.

"I'm suspended from missions for a couple of months, yes. Strictly desk work. I wasn't trained by Tsunade just so I could push paper around for Kami sakes! I'm one of the best medics this village has, and to push me aside like I'm expendable like that? I can't stand for it!"

They both were silent for a long moment. Sasuke not knowing what to say, and Sakura...well...having said enough.

"Well...it was nice seeing you, Sas-Uchiha-san." She corrected herself quickly as she rose to her feet. "I suppose you'll be hard at work doing those D-ranked missions for awhile. Don't be too over zealous, wouldn't want you to strain yourself." She chuckled before she turned to go.

Sasuke's hand flashed out to grab her wrist.

As she looked back at him in surprise, he answered her unspoken question. "Why are you calling me that?"

She frowned. "Calling you what? Your name?"

His hand tightened on her just a fraction and his eyes narrowed. "You know exactly what I mean, Sakura."

His words sent a little shiver down her spine. She really shouldn't have liked the way he'd put an emphasis on her name like that. The way he was looking at her now very nearly made her crack. Almost.

Clearing her throat quietly she straightened her shoulders and looked him square in the eye. "Because it is your name, and we are no longer close friends, we are acquaintances. We've been apart for so many years and...a lot has happened. You're a stranger to me now."

He released her.

He may not have let on, keeping his face as blank as a canvas, but her words had cut him deeply. Had he really hurt her badly enough to drive her to such a distance?

"I'm sorry, Uchiha-san."

Sakura leapt off of the rooftop and descended down into the darkened streets below.

Coming back to the present, Sasuke's arm tightened around her.

Sakura paid no attention to the direction they were going, at least until they ended on her doorstep. Sasuke reached above the eave, his fingers swiftly finding her spare key and unlocking her door. She didn't even say a word. Together they stepped into her tiny apartment and out of the frigid air. She shivered as she kicked off her soaked ninja sandals before she was graced with a rather uncomfortable sneeze.

"Damn it!" She shrugged herself out of Sasuke's coat before carefully handing it back to him. "Thank you, Uchiha-san. You're welcome to stay and have a cup of tea and warm up for a little while. It's the least I can do to thank you for everything." She kept her eyes averted, her heart too fragile at the moment to be exposed to anything more.

Excusing herself quietly, she went immediately for her room, closing the door behind her before moving straight to the bathroom to crank the hot water on.

Sasuke distracted himself with making a cup of tea as he heard the water turn on. A nice hot shower would help her, he knew. He stared at the porcelain mug in his hands, and remembered back to the day just before his evaluation...the last time he had stepped foot in this apartment.

The rim of the mug was chipped, and the color was worn from too many years of use. But it was so perfectly Sakura. Pretty on the outside, a few little quirks and weathered after so many years in the field...but so full of warmth.

The smallest hint of a rare smile reached his lips as he thought of her. Always so vibrant and determined.

The water shut off suddenly, and he looked up. She hadn't been in there for very long. He'd never known her to spend too much time taking care of herself. Always conscious of others, the Sakura he knew was a workaholic and as stubborn as her sensei. He couldn't believe he'd had to practically knock her out to get her to rest when she'd been sick earlier this year.

He felt himself smirking.

The bathroom door opened and he could hear her shuffling around in her room a moment later.

She emerged from her room a moment later, hair tousled and wet, but looking much better. The color was back in her cheeks as she sat herself on one of the stools at the counter. Dressed in her favorite fleece pajamas, she raked her fingers through her hair before letting a heavy sigh escape her.

Sasuke carefully slid the mug over to her, his eyes never straying from her face.

The action drew her viridian eyes up. She had already opened her mouth to protest when Sasuke merely shook his head and gestured to the second mug behind them on the stove. Her eyes dropped to the mug, and she felt herself smiling a little.

"Guess I should know better by now than to challenge an Uchiha." She murmured softly before she shut herself up by taking a sip of her tea.

Sasuke's answering smirk told her everything she needed to know.

He retrieved his own mug and joined her in the silence of green jasmine tea. The rain had picked up and was now pounding the rooftops. Sakura gently set her mug down to look out the living room window at the streets.

"This storm was unexpected..." She whispered quietly. She cupped her mug again in both hands to relish in the warmth seeping through the porcelain.

"Still cold?" His deep voice seemed to startle her, and he had to wonder how long she had been alone. She probably wasn't used to having people in her home, apart from maybe Naruto. Still, he studied her face as she lost herself to her thoughts. The little red tinge on her cheeks looked good on her, and he couldn't contain his smirk as he thought about the kiss they had shared earlier.

His inquiry seemed to bring her out of her head for a moment, before she nodded slowly. Rising from her stool, she went over to the couch and retrieved one of the oversized throw blankets she kept there.

"I swear I'm not anemic," She was mumbling as she threw the blanket over herself. A strand of her bangs fell into her eyes as she looked up at him. He had to resist the urge to brush it away for her. "I think I must just be thin-blooded. Tsunade-sama suspects it's because I spend too much time inside nowadays with all the hours I put in at the hospital. I've grown far too accustomed to artificial atmospheres." She laughed hollowly.

His eyes never left her face. A myriad of emotions were displayed in her emerald orbs as she spoke, and he knew from previous experience that when she was upset or worried, she had a tendency to babble. Work was really the only thing she could think of discussing, as that was where she spent the majority of her time. Come to think of it, he could literally count on one hand the number of times that he had seen her since her interruption at his evaluation six months earlier. The memory of it brought a smile to his face, but he was quick about hiding it.

Just then, there was a knock on her door. He recognized the chakra signature immediately, and deftly moved forward to answer it before she could.

"I got it, Uchiha-san." Sakura said with a forced smile, and gently patted his hand.

His eyes narrowed on her ever so slightly, but he stepped away from the door to allow her to open it.

Naruto burst into the apartment, drenched head to toe a split second later. "Hiya Sakura-chan!" He greeted cheerfully. "Are you...?" He broke off when he saw Sasuke standing directly behind her. Naruto's face broke out into a wide, smug grin. "You sure look comfortable, Teme." He mused, winking at his best friend.

Sakura clunked him on the head.

"He's here because he helped me home, dorkass." Sakura muttered under her breath. Her cheeks flamed and she kept her eyes averted from the Uchiha.

Naruto grinned like he'd just won the village lottery.

"Well, despite the weather sucking like one of Kiba's bad jokes, Ino sent me over with this for you, Sakura-chan!" He reached inside his coat and handed Sakura an equally brightly decorated piece of paper. "Seems she's throwing herself a baby shower."

Sakura's eyes grew massively wide as she stared at the details happily etched into the invitation. It took the work of a split second for her to slam her fist down onto the coffee table, startling both shinobi as she leapt to her feet.

"THAT STUPID FREAKIN IMPATIENT PIG!" She raced into the kitchen, depositing her mug into the sink as she shouted, "I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO THIS FOR HER! I AM GONNA KILL HER!" Sakura disappeared into her room in a flash.

"I thought she was your patient?!" Naruto hollered over his shoulder. "Isn't that? I dunno, illegal?!"

Sakura poked her head and shoulders around her doorway to shoot Naruto a very dark glare.

"SAME. FUCKING. THING." And then she was gone again, her door slamming shut behind her.

Naruto's eyes were wide as saucers as he turned a careful, wary glance to Sasuke. The Uchiha was just as perplexed, but his eyes were on Sakura's bedroom door, and the smallest of smirks had graced his refined features.

"S-Sakura-chan gets angry when people do things she wants to do for them." He smiled sheepishly.

"Hn." Sasuke leaned back against Sakura's couch, content for the moment to just relax and listen to his female teammate fuss about the triviality of her friend's baby shower.

Sakura reappeared from her room, dressed warmly from head to toe and moved swiftly for the door. Apparently in the time it had taken to change, she had calmed down enough to present them both with a bright smile. She dropped a kiss on Naruto's head and paused for a moment as her eyes finally fell on the last Uchiha. Her heart skipped a couple of beats in her chest as she saw him, the perfect picture of peace and relaxation.

As if he could feel the weight of her stare, his eyes opened and locked on hers, all but rooting her to where she stood. "I-I guess I'll see you guys later?" She said quickly, forcing herself to tear her eyes away as she felt her cheeks redden. "The party is tonight at seven and, well, you guys are invited. I'm sure Shikamaru is going to be thankful you're there."

Naruto grinned. "Hell yeah we're going! I'm not gonna pass up a chance to beat Teme at sake bombs!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Whatever, dobe."

Sakura felt herself grinning for no real reason other than seeing the two of them bicker lightly. Grabbing her coat, she threw it over her shoulders and retrieved her umbrella. "Lock up for me when you guys leave, okay?" She chirped over her shoulder as she made her fast exit.

The door shut soundly behind her.

Naruto arched a blonde eyebrow at Sasuke before he chuckled. "You bastard. You fucking kissed her, didn't you?"

Sasuke's answering smirk was all the response he needed to give.

And you can't hide from me forever, Sakura.

A/N:

HEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYY GUYS! I thought today was a perfect day to be updating, cuz IT'S NARUTO'S BIRTHDAY! :D :D

Okay, so don't kill me. I know it's been six months, but a lot's been happening! I'm so happy and excited to be working on this story again, you have no idea how much I've missed it! OH MY GOODNESS SO MUCH SASUxSAKU GOODNESS IN THIS CHAPTER! It was a LONG time coming though wouldn't you say? XD Many thanks to all of you who have been reading and reviewing! I really appreciate your feedback. Like, seriously, it helps me to know that you guys are happy and that you like what I'm putting down. :)

Also wanna give a shout-out to my new beta, YuYuChan777! Without her this mess would be full of grammatical error...and run-on sentences, and repeated phrases and horrific paragraphical errors. (New word, hush ya mouths.) XD

KEEEEEEEEEEP READING! Next up in chapter 7...I got a surprise for you guys! ;)

Keep dem reviews up! And if yous guys are Red Sox fans, lemme hear you YELL! GO SOX! WE'RE IN THE ALDS BABY! WOOHOOO!