Yes, I know I'm re-posting chapter 12 but this is the edited version from my beta J-nxed. She was out of the country when I wrote this chapter so it's just now getting put up. Well...maybe I've been super busy with work and apparently had an out of body experience cause yeah...I've had this for over a week. That's totally my bad! Sorry J-nxed, please don't shoot me! And many thanks for cleaning this up so well for me!

Anyway, enjoy the chapter and 13 should be coming up soon!

Sakura was slow to come out of her peaceful, dreamless sleep.

She kept her eyes closed even though her mind came into consciousness, and buried her head deeper into the plush pillow she rested upon. It didn't register that the scent of the linen was different from her own; all she concerned herself with was the silence of the room. No frantic nurses were calling her name, no constant beeping of the monitors rang in her ears... Nothing but the sound of her own breathing could be heard.

As she rolled over in the bed, her muscles protested the movement and she winced at the sudden, slight pain.

She'd definitely pushed herself too far last night.

Working a full day's shift, then returning-due to a late night call, when she should have been resting-to use the last remnants of her chakra had pushed her system to the max. Actually, the constant strain she'd put her body through for the past week had led to the exhausting situation she'd found herself in.

Sakura had been close to collapsing before she'd found that bench last night. If she hadn't...

Wait.

How did she get home?

She clearly remembered sitting on the bench to rest for a moment, but she had no recollection of walking the remaining distance to her house.

As the fogginess of sleep faded from her mind, she noticed the bed she lay in felt different than the recently purchased one she was using at home. There was no trace of the scent of lilies that sat on her bedside table either.

Thankfully, she felt all her clothes still on her body besides the absences of her shoes.

She began inching her hand slowly down her side within the covers of the sheets around her.

"If you're looking for your kunai, I removed them before I placed you in bed."

At the first sound of his voice, Sakura sat straight up in bed.

The sudden motion was too much for her exhausted body, and it caused her vision to blur and a wave of nausea to overtake her momentarily. Taking deep breaths and keeping her eyes shut helped it pass.

When she opened her eyes, she found Itachi sitting up against the wall watching her every move.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't startle me like that again, Itachi-san."

The barest hints of a smile appeared on his face. "Haven't I already spoken to you about letting your guard down?"

She ignored the comment as she swung her legs around so she could sit on the side of the bed. As discreetly as she could, she tugged the end of her tight shorts back down from where they'd crawled up the expanse of her thighs during the night. "I assume I'm in your apartment?"

"Correct." His eyes flicked towards the fascinating sight of her adjusting her shorts.

"And how exactly did I get here?" Eyebrows raised in suspicion, Sakura regarded him with slight apprehension.

"I carried you here." Itachi shifted his gaze back towards her face; the smile changing into a smirk. "Honestly, I thought you to be more intelligent than that."

There was a teasing glint in his tone that gave her pause. She just couldn't get used to an Uchiha-namely Itachi-that enjoyed to banter with someone. "Funny." she deadpanned, fighting the rising blush. "You know what I meant."

"Aa. The bench you stopped at last night is visible from the living room window. I waited a few minutes to see if you would awaken before I retrieved you. Or would you rather I left you to sleep upright on a bench all night?"

Her cheeks flushed. "Of course not. I appreciate your help and I'm sorry. I was just so exhausted last night. I guess I never even woke up when you were moving me."

"Do not apologize. I've seen you nearly every night this week going back towards the hospital, in addition to your daily routine there. It is only natural that you would have become this exhausted after exerting yourself so much continuously."

Her head tilted slightly as she looked at him in confusion. "How did you know I've been called back to the hospital at night?"

Before he could answer, the door to the bedroom flew open to reveal Sasuke. "Itachi, who are you spea-" he stopped mid-sentence as his gaze landed on Sakura sitting on Itachi's bed. Almost immediately, his eyes narrowed in contempt as he stared at her. His words rushed through clenched teeth. "What are you doing in my brother's bedroom?"

A scathing remark was on the tip of her tongue, but she bit it back before she could speak her mind.

The conversation she had with Ino a few days before played through her mind, and she remembered her promise to herself. Sasuke seemed to be making the effort to get along with the villagers, and she needed to make the effort to get along with him as well.

With more effort than she thought necessary, Sakura willed away the anger building in response to the cool gaze he held on her. Though she couldn't bring a smile to her face, she managed to keep a light tone to her voice as she answered him.

"I apologize for the intrusion. Apparently, Itachi-san found me asleep on a bench near your apartment and was kind enough to bring me here."

He absorbed her words and turned questioning eyes towards his brother.

"Sakura-san was exhausted and needed the rest." Itachi said from his perch beside the wall. "It's not as if I'm using the bed."

Sakura coughed in a poor attempt to disguise the laughter that escaped her from the identical looks and raised eyebrows the brothers shot each other. Sasuke turned and left the room, but she smiled at the amused look Itachi sent her. Her smile gave way to a look of surprise and slight horror when she noticed the clock sitting on the bedside table.

"Oh no! Please tell me it's not 8AM already!" she exclaimed as she grabbed the traitorous time piece. "I'm so late for my shift at the hospital!" she rushed from the bed and began haphazardly grabbing her possessions from where Itachi laid them the night before.

"Sakura-san." Itachi called, nonplussed by her behavior.

"Sorry, Itachi-san, but I gotta hurry, I'm already severely late as it is." she spoke without turning to face him as she clipped her weapons pouch to her side.

As she rushed past him, headed for the door, he caught her around her wrist and forced her to stop. She opened her mouth to protest his actions, but his hand came to rest over her mouth. Her face instantly regained its rosy hue as he loomed over her.

"Now, if you'll allow me to speak?" His hand remained in place so she could only nod in response to him. "Good. As I was trying to say, I already sent the Hokage a message telling her you were here last night in case she needed to contact you for any reason. Tsunade-sama also said to allow you to sleep in this morning, and that your shift wouldn't start until 10AM today."

He slowly removed his hand from her mouth; he continued to smirk at her as she stammered her apology with reddened cheeks. Running a hand through her messy hair, she finally looked into his dark eyes and the corner of her lips turned upwards. "Thank you for all your help, Itachi-san."

"Of course, Sakura-san. Would you like a cup of tea before you go?" he asked as he opened his bedroom door.

"I wouldn't want to impose upon you any further." she quickly replied.

Truthfully, the thought of staying in the apartment any longer than necessary didn't sit well with her. She kept her cool when speaking with Sasuke earlier, but knowing him, he would inevitably piss her off once again.

Sakura wasn't sure she could control her infamous temper a second time.

"I insist." Itachi said as he led her to their small living room. "Besides, I long for the company. I'm afraid my ototo isn't the best conversationalist."

She couldn't stop the laughter that fell from her lips. She knew that statement to be entirely true. Sasuke was never one for idle conversation, even back in their genin days.

The sound of her giggling stopped abruptly, but she did manage to keep a lingering smile on her face, as she saw Sasuke sitting at the kitchen table. He was drinking his own morning tea. Itachi grabbed the still hot kettle and used the remaining water to make a fragrant jasmine tea for Sakura.

Once handed the delectable liquid, she sipped on the beverage and followed after Itachi as he guided her to the window. "Look below." He instructed as he pulled the curtain back for her.

Their apartment sat on the second story of the building with the window facing the road. From this vantage point, Itachi had a nice view of the village as well as the Hokage monument etched into the mountain. The bench he found her on was merely a block away, easily spotted from her position.

The scenery was very familiar on the road below. She easily recognized the weapons shop, clothing store and grocer she passed everyday on her trek to the hospital. It was no wonder Itachi knew she had been summoned to the hospital every night; he would have been able to see her each time she walked down the usual path.

"I take it you spend a great deal of time at this window?" she asked with gleaming eyes.

"Yes. It is dangerous for me to leave the apartment unless summoned by Hokage-sama, but I do like to see the progress the village is making."

She nodded in silent understanding of the plight he was in. "Everything seems to be coming along well. From what I understand, all the civilian homes have been rebuilt, so the only things left are a few bridges, stores and the hospital, of course. That's going to take a bit longer since Tsunade-sama has ordered the hospital to be expanded."

Itachi moved to sit on the couch while they spoke and she followed, taking the chair opposite him. "It is a good decision though. I imagine with her level of expertise the village gets many more requests for help with medical matters than it did before."

"We do. Sometimes, if the patient is stable enough, they will travel here so we can treat them. There are times we've dispatched some medics to other facilities and we still get requests for poison and DNA analysis."

"You are obviously a skilled medic, but is there an area you specialize in?" his attention solely on her, Itachi leveled her with an intrigued gaze.

Entering the topic of her prowess, Sakura immediately relaxed; she was within her element discussing her medical knowledge. "Well, shishou made sure I learned every area of medicine, but I am quite skilled in dealing with poisons and surgical procedures."

Sasuke sat quietly at the table as he watched his brother easily converse with his ex-teammate. He was immediately angry when he discovered her in his brother's bedroom, but the explanation Itachi gave brushed that aside. While his irritation was still present, he couldn't work up the anger he normally held around the sharp-tongued woman.

He'd never been one to sit around and chat; no matter who the other person was. While he and Itachi had spoken several times now, to the point that the awkwardness was almost gone, he still couldn't force himself to converse with him about mundane matters.

Where he failed in that area, Sakura was giving him the companionship he seemed to need at the moment.

He wasn't blind. He understood the position his brother was in; even though he didn't seem to feel any animosity towards anyone over being forced to stay in the same room day after day – for nearly two weeks now. He was sure Itachi felt the need to talk with someone over the progress taking place in Konoha.

Ten years away from the village had done nothing to reduce the protective nature his brother had for his home. Sasuke may not entirely like it, but he did respect his brother's wishes in that matter.

If speaking with his former teammate could relax his mind, even a little, then Sasuke would just have to put up with her presence.

At least, she wasn't as annoying as she used to be.

As the discussion in the room adjacent to him furthered – they were onto talking about matters concerning the hospital – Sasuke realized he knew little to nothing about the changes within his former teammate.

He had recognized the medic pouch she wore when he first saw her, so he correctly assumed she'd become a medic-nin. Judging from the things he'd seen her do in healing, not only her own injuries but his as well, she had to be an accomplished one.

He noted her confidence when she spoke of healing, and if the knowledge of her being called back to the hospital numerous times over the past couple of weeks was true... it was safe to guess that she was in a high position within the facility. Sasuke recalled the way the other med-nins had addressed her when she showed up on the battlefield.

That only helped support his forming hypothesis.

However, he'd yet to see her fight, so he couldn't judge her strength entirely.

He assumed, like with most all med-nins, she was able to use chakra scalpels in battle, but had she done any other training in the time he'd spent away from the village?

Fighting alongside Naruto against Madara, he was able to see the growth of the jinchuriki. Though he would never admit it out loud, he was slightly impressed with the strength Naruto showed. He'd gained control of the kyuubi and developed a new technique.

Sasuke still wanted to fight him.

While he had no current plans to kill his former friend, he wanted to judge his strength against his own. Sasuke had trained constantly for nearly four years to get to the level he was at. If Naruto was to be believed, he had done the same.

The blonde still owed the Uchiha a fight, and he would have it. Eventually.

Other matters still needed his attention, and he couldn't be bothered with fighting the dobe just yet. Itachi was on borrowed time and any day he could be laid back to rest once more.

Even if they weren't talking openly as Itachi and Sakura were doing, he didn't want to waste time pursing other things when he could spend that time with his brother.

He watched as the pair rose from the furniture, and Sakura made her way to the door.

"As you mentioned before Sakura-san, the homes have been built, so Sasuke is finished with that sector of the city as well. I believe he's going to be re-assigned to the hospital as of today."

Her bright green eyes whipped to the younger Uchiha, but they didn't hold the malice he was used to seeing. Instead, she simply bore a curious look.

"Really? Well, if that's the case, I suppose I'll see you later today... Sasuke."

Naruto sat at the counter awaiting his normal order of ramen. He ignored the concerned looks the owner was throwing him as he had no energy or want to explain his downcast mood.

Missions had been put off for a while except to a few members of ANBU's Black-ops division since the restoration of the village took a higher priority. Since he was stuck in the village while everything was being repaired, Naruto had taken to joining Sasuke every day as he went about the work the Hokage had given him.

Though Sasuke still wasn't much on talking to him, he at least seemed to accept his presence now. The glares he was getting everyday for the first few times he joined him were gone. Now, the Uchiha just gave him a silent nod as a greeting and began his work – understanding that Naruto would be joining him in his endeavors.

Today began the first day they were working on the hospital. Naruto initially thought this would be a great opportunity to work with Sakura in getting Sasuke to open up.

He was way off base on that idea.

While Sakura was polite every time she had to speak with Sasuke, he could tell that she was going out of her to avoid him. Sasuke, as well, seemed to have no inclination to speak with his former teammate.

Naruto glanced over to where Sasuke sat beside him; his friend had his head propped on his interwoven fingers as he awaited the lunch he ordered.

Naruto fought the urge to sigh.

He knew this wasn't going to be easy, but two weeks of everyone avoiding Sasuke was depressing his spirits considerably. The only people inclined to speak to him were some of the construction workers they'd gotten to know in the last fortnight. Sasuke was always polite to them and showed he was listening when they spoke to him. If only the rest of the shinobi would give him the same chance as the construction crew, he was sure they would all be able to get along together.

He less than enthusiastically dug into the pork ramen the cook placed in front of him. Many ideas had come to him while he'd been desperately thinking of some way to fix this horrible problem surrounding his friends.

Unfortunately, every thing he could think of didn't seem like the right thing to do to help Sasuke integrate back into the group. It didn't help that the last Uchiha wasn't exactly the most approachable guy around – not that it was anything new.

"G-good afternoon, Naruto-kun."

The jinchuriki turned his head to the voice calling behind him. Hinata stood near him with a soft blush on her cheeks.

Naruto was suddenly very glad for Sasuke's presence.

He fought with himself to keep the color from spreading over his own whiskered cheeks. Talking to Hinata apart from any group made him recall the words she'd spoken as she bravely stood between him and Pain.

Thinking about her declaration made him both very happy and confused at the same time.

Never in his seventeen years had he heard the words 'I love you' spoken to him.

Not even the parental figures he had have in his life – Iruka-sensei and Ero-sennin – had gifted him with those words. Hearing Hinata say that made some previously unknown dark corner of his heart fill with a joyful light.

Someone cared.

There was someone in his life that cared enough about his existence to risk their own to save him. There was someone who actually loved him and wanted him around them always.

He had replayed that sentence in his head countless times as he journeyed to the moving island to train with Bee.

At night, when he settled his body down to rest and his mind began bringing up all the dangers he was about to face, he would think about her smiling face as she told him she loved him.

It took a while for the sentence to fully take root within his heart. Coming from a place in his life when people openly hated him for reasons that were yet unknown to him, it was difficult to wrap his head around the idea that there was someone who didn't think he was trash.

By the time he met his mother within the confines of his soul and she spoke the words to him again, he was able to happily accept her words as instant truth. Though that in itself caused another realization.

Hinata didn't hold the same type of love for him that his mother did.

As silly as it sounded now, he originally didn't make the distinction behind the meaning of her feelings. It was just enough that he knew someone cared about him.

Everything was too hectic after he successfully subdued the kyuubi to think on such matters; however, as he laid in that bed in the Allied Forces base, after the war had been won, he began thinking about many things. It was then that the startling truth came to him almost out of nowhere.

Hinata was in love with him.

That idea was even more difficult to accept.

She knew what he was, they all did now, so knowing that, how could she hold such romantic feelings for him? It just didn't seem possible.

The long standing crush on Sakura that he'd held had been forcibly pushed aside. Hearing her beg him to bring Sasuke back four years ago, watching the tears pour down her face as she fought against herself to end his life, having her lie right to his face about having feelings for him...

He knew, no matter what she tried to say, that Sakura was in love with Sasuke and there wasn't anything he could do to change that. It hurt for a long while – knowing he would never play that part in her life. He accepted it, though. He'd rather have her as a friend than not have her with him at all. She cared about him deeply as well, just not in the way he'd always hoped.

Now... now out of seemingly nowhere, he had the knowledge that Hinata wanted to be with him.

Naruto just didn't know what to do with that.

She was, without a doubt, one of his precious people. He'd risked his life for her before and would do so again without a second's hesitation. She was a kind person; she was someone who always tried to cheer him up and encourage him no matter what he did.

He cared about her and didn't want to hurt her in any way.

That's the main reason he hadn't discussed her confession with her.

If she wanted a response of some sort right then he would have to tell her he didn't feel the same way. He wasn't in love with her.

Hell, he didn't feel he'd spent enough time around her to really know her enough to make any sort of decision about that.

Hopefully, he would get a reprieve and be able to avoid that subject for a while. If she continued to be as shy as she normally was, he was pretty confident he would get the time.

"Hey Hinata. What are you up to?"

"Just running some errands for the household." She turned shy eyes onto his companion and with a small nod of her head addressed him. "Good afternoon, Sasuke-san."

The Uchiha simply held her gaze for a moment before tipping his head slightly to her in greeting.

She took a step closer to the pair – checking around quickly and making sure their was no one else in hearing range of their conversation. "I hope you have been faring well since being back in the village. Please send my regards to Itachi-san as well."

Sasuke only nodded once more before returning his attention back to his meal. Naruto sent a warm smile in her direction, meaning to now speak with her more, until another presence came up behind Hinata that had his back stiffening with worry.

"Hinata-sama." Neji said as he came up beside the heiress.

"Oh, g-good afternoon, Neji-niisan."

Neji slid his gaze over Naruto quickly before landing on the back of the Uchiha. Naruto saw Neji's lips thin out and the deep breath he took before speaking again. "Sasuke," said man merely titled his head slightly to show he'd heard the call. "Perhaps my words may have been too harsh when we initially met." Sasuke didn't turn to face him, but Naruto was glad to see his Sharingan wasn't activated.

"The civilians and most of the shinobi of the village are unaware of the things that have happened with you over the past year so, naturally, there are many theories about why you have returned to Konoha. I would like to see some of them prove to be true."

Sasuke didn't respond to Neji's speech, simply paused in his eating to take in the quiet words the branch family member had spoken.

"Hinata-sama, I'll accompany you on your errands. Naruto." he said with a nod in the whiskered man's direction before turning around and exiting the stand. Hinata only had time to bow quickly to the pair before hurrying to catch up to her cousin.

Naruto sat dumbfounded in his chair. Neji's words ran over his stumped brain once more before a slow smile settled on his face. Sasuke had yet to say anything, but that didn't matter.

His hope had begun to blossom once more.

The overbearing tower of papers that had littered her desk for the past month were finally reduced to a small pile in her inbox. Tsunade felt the headache beginning to pound in her right temple, and instinctively reached for the stash of sake she kept in the top right drawer of her desk. When the cold ceramic didn't touch her fingers, she withdrew her hand quickly with a muttered curse.

Shizune had removed all the alcohol within her quarters immediately upon returning to Konoha.

She sighed heavily and ran a glowing hand over her forehead; though sake was her preferred choice, she needed something right then to reduce the painful thumping in her head.

The work left behind following the war was enough to drive her crazy alone, but she had far worse matters that had demanded her attention for these few weeks.

Locking the council in the far reaches of the dungeon, writing up the horrible truth of their crimes for a classified document to ensure their imprisonment for the rest of their lives and hand-picking the new council to provide her assistance in deciding matters of Konoha's political issues had her ready to hand the title of Hokage to Naruto and wish him the best of luck.

She stood from the desk to stretch her cramped form, and looked out the large windows behind her over the nearly restored village. The sights of newly made buildings covering the ground instead of green canvas tents made her smile.

Her people could finally return to their previously known way of life. The tragedy Pain caused her village was slowly erased with each new structure they placed.

She wished Jiraiya could have seen the village pull together like it did.

A somber look filled her eyes once again at the thought of her fallen comrade.

Orochimaru had turned into a being of pure evil and needed to be stopped, but that didn't change the fact that she was now the last living member of Team Sarutobi.

The smooth skin covering her body belied the age she felt settle into her bones.

Where did everything go wrong?

How bad could things have possibly gotten for her mentor, the Third Hokage, one of the most fair men she'd ever known, to allow such a heinous act as the Uchiha Massacre to occur?

The events from that night had spiraled out of control and here she was, a decade later, trying to fix the mess left behind.

She needed to get out of the office for a while. Looking at the same depressing information over and over was beginning to get to her.

She briefly thought about going to the local restaurant and ordering up a bottle of their best sake, but she knew Shizune would hunt her down quickly and being lecturing her about her duties.

Tsunade plopped back into her chair with a heavy sigh. The movement caused some of the papers on her desk to ruffle in the passing breeze and one report in particular was exposed as the papers atop it were scattered about.

She narrowed her eyes at the offensive article she'd made her apprentice write.

Three times now she'd read the two page report word for word, and all three times she'd felt herself fluctuate between blinding anger and tears.

Sakura was a perfectionist in everything she did; that included any and all paperwork she was required to do. That was normally a good quality of hers, but Tsunade couldn't help but to wish that just this once, she'd skimmed over some of the events that took place.

Reading about the young student she'd come to care so deeply for being kidnapped, beaten, poisoned and whipped was enough to ensure her a few nights of restless sleep.

She was so proud of her though.

To endure what she did, to refuse to give in to her captors demands no matter the blinding pain she endured, showed her incredible strength and loyalty to the village.

Sakura had changed so much from that overly emotional girl who had begged her to teach her medical ninjutsu. Tsunade could see the traces of determination in her eyes back then; emerald eyes that still wept with tears often, but continued to hold that never-give-up spirit. Merely four years teaching her and Tsunade could proudly say Sakura was nearly Shizune's equal in skill and knowledge.

Even the wounds Sakura received herself had almost completely been healed by the time she was able to examine her. It wasn't good practice to heal the body completely with chakra as it could cause the patient to loose time off their life span with such quick regeneration, but she knew Sakura had no choice at the time. Knowing now the condition she'd been in when she was forced to heal herself, Tsunade was suitably impressed with her skills.

Maybe she should go spend some quality time with her student. She'd barely seen her since their return to the village.

Official matters had kept her very busy, Shizune as well; nevertheless, Sakura had assumed control of the day-to-day operations of the hospital in their absence. Schedules were made, shifts were covered as best as they could with the overload of patients they'd had and treatment plans were well taken care of. Tsunade had no worries over the state of the hospital as long as she could entrust it to Sakura.

When Itachi sent her the message last week that he'd found her asleep on a bench during the early hours of the morning, Tsunade called for her time cards from the hospital.

She was astounded at the amount of time her student had spent there over the past few weeks. Not only was she working long hours during the day, but she had been called in many times during the night to assist with an emergency.

Every day, Sakura was at the hospital by 7AM to begin seeing patients. Most of the time, she didn't leave until 8PM or 9PM.

She was impressed by the dedication Sakura showed to her profession, but Tsunade knew from experience that Sakura didn't have yet – if you didn't take care of your own body, you couldn't take care of someone else. She'd been able to teach her this lesson in battle, but it seemed she needed to be reminded that rule applied for many things.

She stood from her desk and headed out of her office. A message could be sent to Naruto, but she preferred to go find Sakura herself.

Maybe a refresher 'lesson' would amuse her for a while.

A/N:

Sorry! I know it's a little later than usual but please don't send out the hitmen just yet!

Hope you enjoy the chapter and leave me a little something in return. (*cough* review *cough*)

Ummm...is anyone else a little tired of the filler episodes yet?