Vanishing like that hadn't…been the plan. Most things over the past five years hadn't been according to plan, really. It seemed like every time she was almost successful something would come up and interfere or set everything pinwheeling off out of control. She'd almost given up on the idea that she could ever give up being Mebuki Nohara and get home again. She almost couldn't believe she'd actually made it back without something going wrong and dragging her back undercover right when she got to the gates of Konoha.
She felt a little like she was walking through one of the many dreams she'd had over the years, she was a little afraid of making sudden moves or speaking too loudly and waking herself up out of it. Five years…felt like so much longer away from home and all the people that she loved.
Five years and now she was the one standing in front of Sasuke's house, hoping to pretend the last few years could be discarded as a bad dream that had finally ended with the opening door.
Of course it would be Sasuke that she'd go to first.
She wanted to answer his question—as much as she could, considering the nature of her mission—but seeing him real and solid standing there, having him see her and being able to speak to him for once…
She couldn't think of what to say.
She watched him helplessly for a few moments, until he finally pulled her into the hug. The movement was enough, if not to snap her out of the dream-like sense, to build momentum, and her own arms came up to seize around him fingers digging into his shirt.
She'd made it home.
She muffled a sob in his shirt, and shook her head.
She was finally home.