A/N: I want to thank everyone for reading my story/reviewing/following/marking it as a favorite. This is my first story ever and I am very glad it is to your liking. Couldn't stop till I got another chapter out. My longest one yet. Out of a total of four.

Also, one person had left the following review for chapter one

anonimous

If I was apart of that group I would either be:

1. laughing my head off and thinking "I'm going to need a video camera."

Or:

2. just as shocked as everyone else but being the first to come out of it and say/ask "Is is just me or did Sasuke Uchiha, one of the broodiest (I know it's not a word but I couldn't think of anything else) just use a pick up line on Naruto?"

I loved your review and as a thank you, I have added your second possible reaction in this chapter, attributing it to Kiba. I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Warning: Foul language, extreme deviation from plot, first time fic.

Sasuke shuffled along to see the Hokage, hands cuffed – for fucking safety. Just to piss off every person involved , he took his own sweet time getting to the Hokage Tower. He paused every now and then, taking in the scenery of yellowed walls covered in moss and filth.

Sasuke could clearly feel the guard's annoyance at having to move at such a slow pace, almost as clear as his fear of Sasuke. The guard was intimidated by him, both due to his reputation and his large built. He knew that dealing with the Sharingan user was way above his pay grade. Sasuke smirked mentally and walked slower.

When they finally reached the Hokage's office, Sasuke was bored beyond belief, which immediately dissipated on seeing Naruto. He smirked and swaggered into the room, saw Naruto's cheeks tint with pink and stood closer to him.

Naruto, for his part, ignored Sasuke as much as he could. When the guard came to get the cuffs off of Susuke, the blonde ordered him to leave them on.

"Kinky", was Sasuke's observation. This was followed by Tsunade grabbing his shirt and pushing him into a chair – as a warning that he should stop with the comments and also because he was too fucking tall. Naruto came and stood next to Tsunade, his cheeks now redder.

The guard left, closing the doors behind him, and silently feeling sorry for the people inside. Tsunade straightened and looked at each person in the room to make sure she had their attention.

There was Neji and Shikamaru , both of whom she had specifically ordered to be there. Then there was Sasuke's old team - Sakura, Naruto (though Naruto would have been there either way seeing as he is the next in line), Kakashi and of course, the spawn himself.

Earlier she had had the meeting with the council and was now going to reveal the decision. No one except her had inkling as to what the decision might be. She had a feeling that the shit was about the hit the fan.

"The council believes him and has decided to allow him back to Konoha."

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!",Naruto shrieked. Yup, she was right. Tsunade tried her damnedest not to cringe at the inhuman volume of Naruto's (understandably) outraged voice. She, of course failed, along with everyone else in the room.

Naruto to his credit, bless his heart, lowered his voice to a more considerate level, "He betrays Konoha, decides to comeback, says he forgot why he did it in the first place and they're ok with that?!". His voice rose towards the end of the question, though thankfully not too much.

"Well, we know why he left Konoha. And he did help in killing Orochimaru, dragging his corpse along as proof", Kakashi earned himself a glare from the blonde being addressed.

Sasuke wanted to interject with an explanation of how helping kill Orochimaru was significantly different from killing him single handedly. He stopped himself, realizing that it would probably end with a flying paper weight to his face.

"It doesn't change the fact that he betrayed Konoha", Naruto turned to Neji with eyes filled with warm gratitude. That and the irritated and suspicious glare the Uchiha threw his way was enough to make Neji's day better. Naruto was a ray of sunshine, and also his dear friend. He considered himself lucky that his fate allowed him to meet such a joyful creature. He would not allow the cursed Uchiha to break Naruto's heart again.

"Exactly. Which is why he will be monitored for a stipulated amount of time", Tsunade was annoyed with all the interruption. She was still the Hokage damn it.

Sakura whispered to Kakashi, "Oh boy, this has Naruto written all over it." Kakashi nodded sagely, "Such a cliché".

Naruto was afraid to ask who would be monitoring Sasuke.

"Neji Hyuga and Shikamaru Nara, both of you are in charge of monitoring Sasuke Uchiha, up and until he is deemed not a threat".

Shikamaru sighed. I knew I should've just stayed home.

A sufficient amount of time had passed for everyone to take stock of their feelings on the matter. Naruto was feeling an inordinate amount of relief, and a small, tiny, amount of disappointment, which he mercilessly stomped down. Sakura was feeling confused about the point of this whole thing. Kakashi feeling bored and Neji and Shikamaru feeling a cold, unnamed emotion spreading through their core. Sasuke was feeling disappointed. He had genuinely thought that it would be Naruto, and had even thought up a lewd remark.

Shikamaru closed his eyes, as if willing this to be a nightmare he can wake up from.

The three boys had deflated visibly, thoroughly put off by the very notion. But they stayed silent, recognizing an order when they heard one.

Ah yes, it was wonderful being the Hokage.

The handcuffs were finally removed from Sasuke's person and all of them, minus Tsunade, exited the Tower. Sasuke stretched. Finally.. Seemed like I've been in there for days. He saw Naruto walking in front of him, and jogged to catch up with him.

"Hey, Can I have your name?" Sasuke drawled with a sexy voice and a gorgeous smile.

"Why? You lost yours?" Naruto asked unimpressed.

Kiba who happened to pass by, saw the exchange. "Is it just me, or did Sasuke Uchiha, the broodiest son of a bitch on the planet, just use a pick up line on Naruto?" Kiba's jaw dropped. He, like the rest of the village, had heard that the Uchiha had come back. But he certainly had not expected this.

The three boys stood together, watching the train wreck.

Meanwhile, Sasuke soldiered on bravely. "It's Naruto right?" Naruto promptly turned around and left. Sasuke continued to watch Naruto's diminishing back. It was such a nice back after all. Finally feeling three pairs of eyes on him, and giving a crap, he turned around. A new member – a boy with sharp canines and red face tattoos, was looking at Sasuke like he had just come across a new species of humans, and a non broody Uchiha probably was one.

Leaving Kiba behind, the three of them continued on their journey deciding to just take their time getting there. No point in rushing to a slow and painful punishment. The trip to the Uchiha compound was mostly silent, save the crunch of their feet on the dry ground. Sasuke took this time to look around, memorizing everything he saw, and at the same time seeing if he could recognize anything. Shikamaru was looking at the sky while walking, impressively not tripping once. Was the Uchiha speaking the truth? It was outrageous enough to be true, but still.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Sasuke was expecting a quiet walk, and didn't catch the question. "Doesn't what bother me?"

"Not having your memories."

"Of course it does", he kicked a hapless pebble out of the way and continued,"But being all emo about it wouldn't be of much help would it?"

Shikamaru's lips twitched. "Truer words have never been spoken"

While Neji could appreciate the fact that the Uchiha had become significantly less of a dick, he couldn't forgive him just yet. He, unlike the former avenger had his memories, and could remember all things he and his friends went through trying to bring him back. And he could remember how broken Naruto was.

The group continued walking, coming to the commercial part of the village which was always more crowded.

The tall Uchiha attracted a lot of attention, especially those of the female variety. A group of young girls huddled together in front of a cafe, looking at Sasuke shyly and giggling to themselves. One brave girl, waved a hand, crying out,"Hey, wanna hang out with us?" Sasuke smirked adding a wink for good measure, "Maybe another day." The group shrieked and fell into a fit of giggles. Neji scowled. He was starting to miss the old dickish Sasuke.

Finally reaching the Uchiha Estate, Sasuke stopped, seeing the decrepit condition it was in. A large mansion took up most of the space, with plenty of gardening area around the mansion, both of which lay in dire states. The mansion was run down beyond repair, resembling a pile of rubble rather than a mansion. The would-be garden looked more like one of Orochimaru's experiments gone wild! It was overgrown and quite probably hiding many unwanted surprises.

"It couldn't have gotten this bad in the time I'd been away. Are you sure I lived here?"

Neji answered, "You didn't take good care of it even when you were here." They heard something rustling beyond the bushes to their right. Neji continued without missing a beat," and after you left, it became the meeting place for delinquents."

"Nice".

They found a smaller building nearer the entrance almost hidden by the growth around it. They cleared the path, and cleaned the place up as much as possible. Sasuke had suggested using his fire jutsu to burn away all the weeds, but faced with unconvinced looks from both of his companions, relented to do it the old fashioned way. The building was impossibly small with one room apart from the hall, which had a part of it separated into a makeshift kitchen. The doors creaked, the air was musty, the walls were yellowed. Sasuke was just glad it had a bathroom with running water.

They looked at each other, thinking 'now what'. Sasuke's stomach answered for him, he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. Or was it before that. "Any place to eat?"

The boys agreed to meet at a restaurant they had seen on the way after having showers in their respective homes, and after Sasuke promised that he wouldn't commit treachery and run away. Again.

He reached the restaurant in twenty five minutes. Most of which, had been spent with the tap open, and Sasuke waiting for the suspiciously brown colored water to clear up. He had very little money with him and hoped that it would be enough to cover today's meal. Walking in, Sasuke immediately saw Neji and Shikamaru waiting for him at a table in a corner.

As he sat down, Shikamaru pushed a small bundle of money towards Sasuke.

"To tide you over till you start doing missions"

"And when is that exactly", while Sasuke was grateful for the money, however little, he doubted that it would be enough for more than two days. And that's stretching it.

"We are supposed to meet with the Hokage tomorrow". The waitress placed Neji and Shikamaru's orders in front of them and a bowl of unappetizing looking grey sludge in front of Sasuke. He looked up to see both of them looking at him expectantly. Wonderful. Giving a polite nod to the waitress, who blushed, he dug in. After eating Kabuto's cooking, this was fucking ambrosia.

The other boys hid their surprise at Sasuke still eating the broth. They had picked the disgusting concoction on purpose. They knew it was a petty way to get back at him, but frankly didn't care, and were now a bit disappointed that it didn't work. Seeing a slightly green and gagging Sasuke would have been entertaining.

A few blissful minutes of silence passed by with each of them immersed in consuming their own lunch.

"I wasn't all that bad before was I? Sasuke asked Neji. He was genuinely curious. With the way everybody's been treating him so far, he was starting to wonder if maybe he had been hated even before he left the village. And if that was the case, then how much of a bastard he must have been.

He was answered with twin snorts from both the boys, "Of course not. You were delightful." Well, that answered his question.

Sakura sighed and looked at Naruto. They were standing at the usual meeting spot. His mind was elsewhere and she couldn't blame him. After what happened yesterday – Sasuke coming back, and that too without his –

"He doesn't remember us". Naruto finished her train of thought. Me. He was about to say me. But Sakura remained silent.

Sakura bit her lip, unsure how to respond to that.

"He's not Sasuke".

Huh. "Naruto, it is him. His chakra signature, DNA, not to mention his Sharingan – " Sakura shook her head. " It's Sasuke."

"Maybe physically at the most." Naruto scowled, " – but come on, you heard him talk right?"

Here she giggled. It was immensely entertaining for everyone, except Naruto and probably Tsunade. Sakura could remember how Sasuke would ignore all the girls' attention, brushing them off without a thought. And now, to see him using pickup lines was – satisfyingly hilarious, and a little disturbing. Sakura sobered up after seeing the glare Naruto aimed at her, though it was a little mellowed down by his pink cheeks.

She cleared her throat, "You're right. Maybe it's actually Orochimaru in Sasuke's body who was hitting on you."

The mix of horror, disgust and outrage on Naruto's face made her break into a fresh bout of laughter.

This was his favorite place in the village. The Hokage Mountain, always tranquil and almost nobody came up here. Sasuke was the only other person he had shared his sanctuary with. He tilted his head back feeling the wind blow his blonde hair around his face. Though his talk with Sakura had eased his mind a bit, he still couldn't get the thought out of his head. He is not Sasuke. Naruto closed his eyes and his mind drifted back to the time before Sasuke left. The way Sasuke would look at time when they were alone. His special smile that was meant just for Naruto. Naruto could feel his lips forming a smile, loosing himself in his memories.

Naruto lifted his head up, bit his lip to calm down and gave out a frustrated sigh. He turned to the intruder angrily, "What?"

Sasuke couldn't move his eyes away from the beautiful sight. He had meant to call out to the blonde, but just couldn't bring himself to do it. Seeing Naruto sitting there so peaceful, head tilted back, hair framing his face, and that beautiful smile on his lips; Sasuke's tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. It refused to get unstuck even after Naruto's angry demand.

Naruto rubbed his face with his right palm. He needed to calm down. Then a thought struck him, "Wait, how did you know I was here?"

Sasuke had, fortunately, by this time got his tongue to co-operate. "Followed your chakra", he blurted out, and mentally slapped his forehead. It was clear that the blonde had been masking his chakra. Crap.

Naruto looked at him suspiciously, but didn't call him on it. "Something you need?", and regretted the question immediately, dreading the impending lewd reply.

Sasuke cleared his throat, "Actually I wanted to give you this". He handed Naruto a small box covered with a soft red cloth.

"It was a hamster. Not a bird", and with that, he turned around and left.

Naruto watched Sasuke till he disappeared, trying to piece together what he had said. When it clicked, his eyes widened. With a slightly trembling hand he removed the cloth. It was a cage. Inside of which was a fluffy little hamster sleeping peacefully. He stroked the soft fur, careful not to disturb its sleep.

He remembered.