A/n: Welp, here we are. The moment A LOT of you were waiting for! Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I was stunned by the amount of favorites and follows! I'm trying to respond to each review, because I'd like to keep a connection between writer and reader. The plotline has been planned out, so expect some sort of plot development around chapter 5, if not sooner.

One question that I got from a friend who is reading the story is why it's Rated M.

For those of who you browse the rated M filter, I know what you want. I know what it is you're looking for. All I have to say is, I will deliver in full glory. But be patient, young smut seekers. All in due time.

As a side note, I'm looking for a beta reader to make this journey with me. Please message me if you're interested!

As always, Naruto does not belong to me.

Chapter 2 – Apology

Truly, it was on impulse that he had left for the hospital. Initially it was to get away from the awkwardness he had unintentionally casted between Naruto and himself, but now that he was there, sitting in a tree and gazing at the front doors, the last Uchiha was cursing his decision.

Maybe he should have joined the couple for dinner, even then he could have just found a bench in the park and-

He cursed again.

It all came back to her, didn't it?

He couldn't avoid her forever, and since he was already here…

Pull yourself together, Uchiha, he mentally scolded. For Kami's sake, he had the rinnegan- a doujutsu that only Gods could possess. He had defeated his disturbed Grandfather, an insanely powerful man, and managed to stay alive while doing it all. His accomplishments were the likes of which could not even be thought of, nor accomplished in a child's wildest dreams. He was regarded as a war hero; his tale is one that would be told for generations to come.

But here he was.

Sitting in a tree.

Afraid of a woman with pink hair.

In his defense, she was no ordinary woman. Sasuke felt his rinnegan eye twitch, remembering the monstrous- no, demonic strength that Sakura had displayed when taking on Madara. She had obliterated the ground with a single punch, and cracked more than her fair share of bones, probably going as far as obliterating his skull. She had willingly stabbed herself to give Naruto and himself a distraction, and had not flinched for a second. She stared death in its nasty face and spat back.

Sasuke remembered looking on in amazement at the growth that both his teammates had accomplished- Naruto's prowess on the battlefield was a testament to his unnatural abilities, but Sakura had a different kind of strength of her own (besides the literal). Sasuke's chest swelled with pride as he remembered her dedicated healing and her unrivaled intelligence. She was possibly the most valued gem of Team 7.

Well, at least in his opinion.

Naruto was an idiot by nature, but leader by trade. He would undoubtedly lead the village after his former sensei, which was expected as he was probably the most respected and highly regarded shinobi since the first Hokage.

Sakura, however… She could do anything. She had no leadership position to such a magnitude that would hold her down in one place. She could go off into the world, end world hunger, hell, she could end wars with her strength and unwavering determination. While Sasuke and Naruto had always been fighting, Sakura was undoubtedly a peace-maker, a woman who knew no boundary when seeking her goals.

Once again, Sasuke was reminded of his inner dork, who casted an image of the woman with a halo over her rose head. Swooning, his inner dork gushed over Sakura's perfectness in all things good. He quickly shooed away the blushing, stuttering bafoon in his head who was trying to convince him of the utter beauty that was his beloved Sakura, who looked precious and extremely kissable when she blushed and confessed her love for him.

Sasuke sighed. He did not need these thoughts right now (though he certainly didn't mind them all too much).

He turned away from his thoughts as a soft sigh made its way to his ears. The automatic doors to the hospital were open, and out came a familiar head of pink hair.

His heart stopped.

She looked worn. Tired. Her back was slouched and she gripped an armful of paperwork to her chest as she dragged her feet down the empty road. Sasuke had to give her credit- she looked as if she could fall asleep at any moment.

His arms twitched, ready to go and help her at a moment's notice, but decided against something that would be so out of character for him.

His inner dork cried, something about not caring about being out of character when their precious waifu was so clearly distraught and exhausted.

Shaking his head, Sasuke moved to jump down, but refrained from doing so when Sakura halted in place. From his position she could see her brows furrow before she turned her head slightly, and looked directly at him.

To say he was surprised was an understatement. He did not remember Sakura having such excellent chakra detection. Though it shouldn't be a problem for her theoretically, as her chakra control that was unmatched by anyone allowed her to be well-versed in many and all things having to do with the bodily energy. Sasuke naturally suppressed his chakra to a smothering degree, something that he learned from his days with the snake sannin.

"Sasuke-kun…" he heard her whisper.

His heart jumped inside his chest as he fought down rising heat, but his ears still tinted red.

He landed expertly on the ground across from Sakura, his mind reeling. He began to open his mouth to speak, but no words came forth. He couldn't think of anything to stay. For years he has planned out this exact scenario, where he would finally return home and encounter someone who rested at the center of his world. He was a genius, and all good geniuses planned ahead. The words that he wanted to speak had been carefully planned out for the best effect, but now that he was actually here, standing in front of Sakura, his breathe seemed to have abandoned him while his mind remained blank.

The great Uchiha could not think of a single word to say to the girl he loved since the academy.

"S-sakura," he stuttered out, temporarily losing his cool.

Get it together, you idiot! You defeated a God, you can sure as hell do this, he reaffirmed in his mind. Yet somehow he doubted himself. Luckily enough for him, Sakura didn't seem to take notice.

"You're home," she stated simply. Sasuke noted the way that she looked at him, how she observed his change of clothing and his difference in appearance. The shinobi did the same to her- her scrubs, a brighter shade of green that was more reminiscent of mint toothpaste than the jade of her eyes, were hidden behind a white doctor's coat, a small gold plate proudly engraved with her name adorned the left breast pocket. From his place across from her he could smell the scents that came with working at hospital, which clung to her like a possessive child of its mother.

He closed his eyes and nodded at her statement.

"Ah."

"And you're staying?" she asked. He opened his eyes to look into her own, bright green eyes. So filled with life, hope, and love. She was stunning, he had to admit, despite the obvious signs her hard work had on her face. He noticed the dark bags under her eyes, the disheveled look of her usual perfect hair. Despite the imperfections, she still was absolutely wonderful.

Realizing he was taking too long to answer her question, he nodded slowly. A smile of happiness slowly showed itself on her face, and he felt that same heat from before rise again. That smile gifted to him some form of happiness, that he was the one to make her smile at that very moment, and no one else. No matter what, he promised himself, he would not let her cry again. He had already caused so many tears on her part, that he wished from this point on to only cause her to smile just as she was now.

"No matter what? You're staying for good?" Her voice went up an octave as her smile increased, her happiness filtering into her eyes as well. He stopped himself from frantically nodded. He did notice her facial muscles stiffen slightly, but he put that observation to the side and blamed it on exhaustion.

At that moment, his mind exploded with clarity. The memories of long nights thinking about this very moment came back to him as if he had just had those same thoughts moments before. Sasuke remembered the exact words he wanted to say to the woman, and felt excitement start make its course through the smallest of his veins. The corners of his lips tilted up slightly, and he opened his mouth to say the very words he longed to speak-

"SHANNARO! YOU FUCKING JERK!" and before he could even react, his body slammed into the ground and all he could see was a flurry of pink, now sitting on top of his chest. Another fist slammed into his face and his sharingan activated on instinct. He watched as she drew back her fists, one after another, and drove them into his person.

"You stupid, arrogant, asshole! How dare you come back to the village and just come and find me after all you've done! You've got some FUCKING nerve, Uchiha, and if you think for one second I'm just gonna welcome you back without a fight, YOU'RE EVEN STUPIDER THAN I THOUGHT!" she screamed. Her fists tore into his face, each punch hurting to the seven hells.

He loved every second of it.

As she continued to scream insults, her words began to blur as he just stared into her face, so close to his. He savored each fist on his skin, reveling in the touch of her smooth hands on his face as she slapped him a couple times.

He was in complete heaven, a state of euphoria that seemed so foreign to it. He welcomed her punches with open arms.

Call him a masochist, but getting punched in the face by Sakura was probably the best thing that has happened to him in his life.

"Saku-" He was interrupted by a slap to the mouth, before she pulled him up by the front of his poncho, her face inches away from his own.

"What?! What could you possibly have to say to me? You cold-hearted, stupid-" Kami-sama she was so beautiful when she was angry. He watched as she spewed out more insults, staring without fear into the tomoe's of his sharingan. With it he mentally stored this whole scenario into the large library of his mind. He never wanted to forget this.

Her face was flushed with anger, her left eye twitched sporadically, and the purple diamond on her forehead flashed in the dimming light of the sun. Her skin glowed despite its unusual paleness, highlighting the colors of her eyes.

Realizing the furious kunoichi had gone silent waiting for his reply, he coughed weekly and managed to give a small smirk.

"Tadaima…" He whispered.

Her eyes widened, and he was overcome with gratitude for his clan's bloodline, as he witness the clear emotion flash through her verdant eyes.

Kami-sama, she was just so incredible. He hadn't been this close to her face since-

The current image was replaced briefly with one of the same pink-head choking, desperate for air.

"Sasuke-kun…" she didn't speak, but her delicate lips formed his name, and he decided that he loved the motion more than anything. Her voice brought him out of the darkness of his mind in an instant, as it usually tended to do since they were genin, and an instant feeling of euphoria filled him to hear her speak his name once again. Before he could say anything more, her arms were around his neck, her head buried in his shoulder. Inwardly, his inner dork screamed with intense pleasure. Sasuke, however, simply sighed and put his arm around her.

"Okaeri, jerk," he finally heard. He let himself release a loose chuckle from deep in his chest.

Sakura pulled back to look him in the face and grimaced, hesitating for a second before putting one of her hands on his cheek. She let her healing chakra lessen the swelling of the giant welts forming on his perfect face, but could do nothing about the redness that had formed from her harsh beating.

Suddenly bashful, she tried to pull away, face red with how close she was to the Uchiha, but his arm held fast against her waste, keeping her in place.

The two must have looked very suggestive in that pose, in public on the ground. But at that moment, Sasuke could care less who saw them and what they thought. No one else ever mattered.

Sakura bit her lip, which inner dork thought was one of the cutest things he'd every seen, and opened her mouth to speak, but Sasuke shook his head and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his doujutsu was gone and replaced with its normal black color. She kept her mouth closed, looking at him expectedly. His mouth went dry.

"Sakura," the deep baritone of his voice drifted through the silence. Before he could continue, she interrupted him.

"Sasuke-kun, I wanted to apologize," she started, looking away. He raised his eyebrow.

"Don't," he stated, before sighing and catching her eye. "I… deserved that." She looked at him, shocked, before she cleared her throat and squirmed a bit, obviously uncomfortable with the fact that she was still straddling his stomach. Inner dork grumbled as he let go of her waste and helped her stand up, taking a step back for her to breathe. Mentally he checked over his person and noted that everything- kusanagi and back pouch- was still in place despite the assault.

Sakura bent down to pick up her papers that had scattered in every which way direction when she had pommeled him. He went to bent down and help her, but she was done before he could even start. He heard her huff as she shuffled the now disorganized papers before looking expectantly back at him.

Her stance was so unashamedly Sakura that he thought he may as well be looking at his old genin teammate again. Though she had grown as a kunoichi, her mannerisms were the same. She still had held a hand over her heart, as if guarding it on instinct, as she looked away from his all-seeing eyes. Obviously, beating those she was mad at over the head was a habit she did not lose, but he was a bit surprised to find him at the end of her violent tendencies rather than the dobe.

Sasuke took a deep breathe in, and let it go slowly. This was it, the moment he would formally apologize to his love and start back on the path of redemption. He knew it would be long and difficult, not that he even for a second thought it would be easy, but it was the first step to putting the past behind him and making way for a better future.

It seemed, however, that fate was, as usual, cruel to him. For the umpteenth time that day he was interrupted before he could even begin to speak, as someone shouted from a few meters away. Yet again, a tick formed in his covered, ringed eye.

"Sakur~a!" The woman shouted. Sasuke resisted the urge to grumble as a frown marred his features.

God fucking damn it.

A/N: Wooh! Another chapter done and edited. I like how this one came out a lot more than the last.

Translations:

Tadaima – I'm home

Okaeri - welcome home

I think that's all of the Japanese I used in this chapter. I'm going to keep it to a minimum as much as I can, but, for those who don't know too much about Japanese, certain words hold certain meaning that can't be expressed in English in just simple words. For example, when someone says "Tadaima," they're usually coming home to their family. It seems simple, and yes I could have used English, but to me it holds a lot more meaning.

Anyway, again I'm going to try and get this to a normal update schedule, but finals are coming up and I want to get out the chapters that I have written before then so yall don't have to wait and get disappointed.

If you missed it in the first author's note, I have a plot down, but said plot won't start to really come into play until chapter 5. Until then, enjoy unashamed fluff on Sasuke's part. Btw, yes, inner dork is basically going to be Inner Sakura. He'll be explained more in chapters to come.

Reviews are appreciated! Thanks so much!

-Raseri

To come: Chapter 3 - Silence