Several hours after they left Wind Country and the Sand Village behind, Sakura peeled off her bandage to let her new tattoo get some air "You know, the Aburame's are gonna flip right" Hidan smiled when Sakura grimaced "Possibly but as much as I love them, I'm hoping that they'll let me get my own apartment, I feel as if I'm old enough to live on my own" Sakura explained glaring at her hair now that it was long again she had to fight with it to do anything "Just cut it again" Hidan dodged her punch with a laugh.
"That's not fucking funny Hidan and you know it" Sakura hissed remembering the last time he suggested she cut her hair "I know but looking back you got to admit it was kinda of childish" Hidan teased when she threw a glare at him before crossing her arms and sulking for the next hour "Come on Sakura, your not still angry over that are you" Hidan gave her a look of concern when she still didn't say anything only to see why apparently she had drifted off to sleep while riding Midori, so he just let her be for now.
A few hours later Sakura woke up with a start as Midori came to a screeching halt "What" she blinked blearily looking around only to find the reason they had stopped was in the form of Naruto and Jiraiya apparently they had been waiting for awhile and jumped when they noticed someone was approaching "Sakura-chan, boy am I glad to see you" Naruto all but ran towards her only stopping when Midori let out a warning growl at the knuckleheaded teen "Don't worry Naruto, Midori won't hurt you" Sakura reassured before walking forward to pull him into a quick hug.
"Midori this is Naruto" Sakura introduced the two while Jiraiya cautiously stepped forward staring at the massive wolf in awe "Wait a second isn't that the wolf we saw back in the grass village" Naruto exclaimed a moment later and Sakura nodded her head "She's the last snow wolf on this earth" Jiraiya frowned at the statement surely she couldn't be the last of her kind but seeing as this particular wolf was wasting away back in a shop when they had last seen it couldn't be far from the truth "Hello Naruto" Midori spoke softly waving her tail rapidly.
Naruto let out a screech that could wake the dead and jumped behind Jiraiya, Sakura laughing the moment he had done so "It's ok Naruto, Midori has the gift of speech" Sakura tried to explain "She's like Tomo only she isn't a summons, she's my life partner now" she found the right words and Naruto peeked around Jiraiya to stare at her before slowly walking forward again and patting Midori on the head in apology "I'm sorry Midori-chan" Naruto scratched her ear gently causing the wolf to let out a sigh of content she loved getting pampered like this sometimes.
Seeing this Sakura pulled out a brush and a small bag of treats before handing them over to Naruto who seemed to enjoy bestowing attention onto the wolf, he immediately began running the brush through Midori's hair removing any tangles every once in awhile giving her a treat 30 minutes later Naruto handed the empty bag and brush back over to Sakura gave Midori one last pat on the head and smiled at Sakura sheepishly "Sorry it's just she's so soft" he admitted flushing at the girly statement "Knucklehead" Sakura announced fondly pulling him for another hug while patting Midori.
Once the greetings and introductions were finished the once again enlarged group continued on their way towards the Leaf Village a few hours away they decided to make camp for the night all of them were restless so when the morning came they didn't bother cooking breakfast they could stop at Ichiraku ramen and quickly continued on their way to the village when they reached the gates it was large crowd that met them and Sakura let out a happy sigh 'There's nothing like home sweet home' she thought fondly as Shino, with their father in tow approached her quickly.
"Welcome home Sakura" they greeted obviously both males were a little upset that Sakura had piercings and tattoos but they weren't going to complain they were just glad that the girl was back it was hard getting used to not having her around "I'm glad that I'm home to there's something I want to talk to you about later" Sakura bit her lip nervously it would be hard for her to ask for even more independence but she never really belonged with the Aburames in the first place seeing his daughters expression Shibi nodded allowing the next person their time.
For the next several minutes Sakura is greeted by several people all of her friends that she had made of course the dooking of Sasuke met her ears just before the large ferret jumped at her from Yoshino's arms but there was one person who she hadn't talked to yet allowing her eyes to scan the crowd of people that had gathered Sakura spied the familiar chunin vest of Shikamaru and handed Sasuke back over to Yoshino and instantly jumped forward and latched onto the now 16 year old male "Shika-kun" she murmured happily giving him an extremely tight hug.
Turning around in Sakura's arms at the murmur of the nickname because nobody else would call him that "Sakura" Shikamaru wrapped his arms around his girlfriends waist because she was back he could now call her that smirking at the thought it was clear Sakura was just happy to be with him again as she laid her head on his shoulder with a content sigh getting a round of laughs from everyone around "Welcome home" Shikamaru whispered in her ear this caused her to look up and before she could respond he swooped down and gave her a passionate kiss.