Sasuke

It has been twenty-four hours since the Fourth Shinobi War officially ended.

Or that is what the clock on the wall tells him when he wakes up. He doesn't need to look outside the window to know that he's in Konoha, but he feels too defeated to express his displeasure.

Naruto is dozing off on a chair at the foot of his bed. Not for the first time, Sasuke feels a stab of envy when he sees how quickly his so-called best friend has recovered. He knows that all his wounds have been healed, and he can guess who performed the surgery, but his body still feels like lead.

He sits up, the rhythmic beeping of the monitor being the only sound in the room. His window is open, and he can feel the breeze through it. The air smells so familiar that something inside him aches.

Turning to look around, he notices a second, unoccupied, chair beside his bed. He stares at it for quite a while, emotions mixed. His eyes are then drawn to the bedside table and he notices a tall glass bottle holding fresh daffodils. Once again, he can guess who is behind their presence in his rather pale room. Male shinobi are not trained in the language of flowers, but Sasuke remembers enough from what his mother taught him all those years ago.

Daffodils, virtually synonymous with spring, symbolise rebirth and new beginnings.

It has been two weeks since the Fourth Shinobi War officially ended.

Naruto has been visiting him in the hospital every single day, and he is here now, waiting as Sasuke gets discharged. An unfamiliar medic performs the check-up and scribbles something on a clipboard. She signs his papers and hands them to him with a perky smile on her face. Naruto's grin is blinding.

They walk out of the hospital together and Sasuke is surprised to see that Konoha has changed. The shops lining the street are no longer familiar, and he feels like a stranger in his own hometown. Naruto notices his expression.

"The entire village was destroyed when Pein attacked," he explains, clasping his hands behind his head. "We had to rebuild from scratch."

Sasuke digests this information and wonders why he didn't guess it before. Three long years have passed since his defection and time has not stood still. He hopes the Uchiha compound is intact.

Naruto leads him to the Hokage's office and Sasuke stands uncomfortably in front of Tsunade. This woman is unfamiliar to him and memories of the Kage Summit flood his mind. The expression in her sharp, hazel eyes is unfriendly and Sasuke can feel her overwhelming strength dominate the room. He distractedly notices Naruto slip out and shut the door behind him.

Tsunade surveys him for what feels like hours.

"I take it you're back to stay." She says.

"I have nowhere else to go." He replies. She props an elbow on her desk and rests her cheek on her palm.

"I don't like you, but your teammates fought for your case. Probation for a year. Take it or stand trial."

"I'll take it." Sasuke mutters and Tsunade smiles grimly. She dismisses him rather rudely and he finds himself standing outside the Hokage Tower. Naruto runs up to him.

"Sorry, I went to see Sakura," he offers. "How did it go?"

Sasuke tells him and Naruto seems satisfied. Indeed, for an international criminal of Sasuke's level, probation for a year is incredibly light punishment. He thinks it's related to the role he played in defeating Madara. He's too distracted in his own thoughts, but he vaguely hears Naruto ask him out to ramen.

"I wanted to ask Sakura to join us, but she seems busy." He says, a frown on his face. Sasuke mentally takes note of this. He hasn't seen his pink-haired ex-teammate since the battlefield. Sometimes, while he was at the hospital, he would see a quick flash of pink, but it'd be gone before he had time to react.

It doesn't take a genius to realise that Sakura has been avoiding him but Sasuke knows he owes her space after what they've been through.

He's prepared to wait for her to approach him whenever she feels that she's ready.

It has been six months since the Fourth Shinobi War officially ended.

Sasuke falls into a routine. He gets up at dawn to train, heads home for lunch, then meets up with Naruto to train some more.

He's bored beyond belief, stuck within the confines of the village that holds so many traumatic memories. He's returned to the Uchiha Compound, still surprisingly undamaged, and the large house he grew up in is stark and empty. Sasuke can feel the ghosts of his deceased family haunting him day and night, as he sleeps just two doors away from the spot his parents were murdered in. At night, his dreams are riddled with nightmares that have him waking up in cold sweat. In desperation, he begins to tire himself out on purpose.

Naruto forces him to have ramen together with Sakura every time he's back in the village. The first time they eat together is awkward. Naruto babbles loudly between them and eats enough ramen to feed an entire village. Sakura says very little and picks at her food. Her hair is growing longer each month and it's almost at the length it was when they were newly-appointed genin. She looks heartbreakingly like the little girl that used to latch herself onto him and Sasuke is reminded of all the times he's wronged her. He listens in silence as Naruto and Sakura converse, amazed at how well they get along with each other. A side of him envies them and the bond that they share, but he knows he only has himself to blame for not being a part of it.

It takes a few tries, but Team 7 learns to get along like they once used to. Sakura invites his replacement and Sasuke desperately wants to show his frustration, but he's trained rigorously in the art of keeping himself together. He watches Sai make fun of Sakura and Sakura hit him in retaliation and wonders why he feels more alone now than he does in the confines of his empty house.

The first time he sees Sakura outside Ichiraku's is at the hospital. He's invited for a final check-up and he demands that Sakura be the medic that inspects him. He's fed up with the giggling girls and he just wants someone that he can trust to be competent. He's mildly surprised when the door opens and Sakura walks in, and realises he was doubtful that his demands would be answered. Her expression is that of schooled calm, and Sasuke instantly knows that she's aware that she's been specially requested. The thought makes the back of his neck go warm and he hopes she doesn't notice.

The check-up itself lasts only a short amount of time and Sakura tells him he's healed fully. The guarded expression in her eyes is unfamiliar and he wonders when she stopped wearing her heart on her sleeve. He wants to apologise but he doesn't know what he can say that could improve their current situation. Every time he looks at her, he is taken back to a day where his hand was around her neck, her eyes wide with fear and shock.

So, he offers her a small smile and is surprised when she returns it with a bright one of her own.

It has been one year since the Fourth Shinobi War officially ended.

Sasuke stands with Sakura and Naruto in Tsunade's office as she announces the end of his probation. He feels as though a weight has been lifted off his shoulders as the Hokage informs him that he's ready to take on missions again. This also means that Team 7 is reinstated, something that Naruto cannot stop smiling about.

Tsunade surveys the three of them from behind her desk.

"You're both still genin," she says, a wide grin spreading across her face. Sasuke's feels his smirk vanishing and Naruto's mouth drops open. Sakura raises a hand to her mouth as if to hide her smile. "While you two are technically at jounin level, I cannot dish out high ranking missions to ninja that are legally still genin."

"What?!" Naruto screeches, and Sasuke wonders, not for the first time, how the idiot can be so loud. "You can't assign us genin missions!" Tsunade laughs, and Sasuke scowls at the fact that she's taking pleasure in their pain.

"I'll try not to. Kakashi says that if you two study all the material he gives you, it's possible that you can go straight to becoming jounin in a couple years."

Naruto gapes, but Sasuke knows that she must have pulled some strings to allow them to completely forgo the Chuunin exams. Doing them would be a waste of time, since he and Naruto are well past Chuunin level and would probably end up hurting some unsuspecting kids. Tsunade is now watching Sakura as she pulls out an envelope.

"Sakura," she starts. "I have a recommendation here from Kakashi, and he asks that I promote you to jounin."

Sasuke turns to look at the girl standing next to him. Tsunade is smiling, and Naruto is yelling but Sakura appears as if she hears none of it. Sasuke feels a stab of pride inside him for his teammate and knows that the promotion is well deserved.

Amidst all the chaos that ensues, he makes sure to congratulate her quietly, but he's not sure if she hears him.

It has been two years since the Fourth Shinobi War officially ended.

Sasuke is back again in the Hokage's office, but the face behind the desk is not that of the ill-tempered blonde woman. Kakashi sits in what used to be Tsunade's seat, his face hidden behind the familiar mask.

Kakashi informs him and Naruto that they've been promoted amidst Naruto's gleeful cheers. Sasuke knows his old teacher is smiling with pride and he can't help but chuckle at Naruto and Sakura's happy faces. In typical Team 7 fashion, they decide to celebrate with bowls of ramen.

Sakura sits between him and Naruto this time and offers to pay. Sasuke can barely hear Naruto's mind-numbing chatter over the feeling of her elbow brushing his every now and then. She smells like coconut shampoo and Sasuke feels a kind of peace he hasn't felt since he was seven years old.

It has been four years since the Fourth Shinobi War officially ended.

Sasuke celebrates with Naruto over their ANBU promotion and although he was unable to beat his brother's record, he feels as though he can finally stand on equal footing with him. Kakashi showers them both with numerous missions, and he's more than happy to take them all. He has yet to escape the nightmares that haunt him and he realises that his dreams are lighter the farther he is away from the village.

He hardly sees Naruto, being assigned to different squads, and he barely even sees Sakura. He does, however, has to put up with Sai as a teammate. Sasuke decides he just doesn't like the man, for reasons that are so petty he cannot voice them out loud. Despite all of this, Sasuke doesn't deny Sai's talent in the field and finds that they work well together.

Weeks turn to months and he works tirelessly. He now dreams of small hands and big, green eyes and the emotions that come with this are so unfamiliar that he attempts to compartmentalise as best as he can. The Sakura that visits him in his dreams is far more beautiful than he remembers her to be and he convinces himself that he's merely glorifying her presence due to her prolonged absence in his life. The rest of his friends find significant others to settle down with and Sasuke wonders if there will ever come a day where he'll find a woman that is not his teammate. Sakura is off-limits, considering how much he's hurt her in the past and he's convinced that she no longer feels the same way. They've built up a fragile bond over the past few years and settled into what is a close friendship and Sasuke knows there is no way he's going to risk that.

An opportunity presents itself when Naruto holds a guy's night at a local bar one evening, and invites every male shinobi that he can get a hold of. It's loud, and rowdy and not at all Sasuke's cup of tea but a few bottles of sake later, he's inebriated enough to enjoy the atmosphere. A new kind of nightmare, in the form of a pink-haired girl, has taken over his life and he's desperate to forget all about it. When he sees an attractive kunoichi walk up to him, he doesn't push her away. She's beautiful, with long dark hair, chocolate brown eyes, and tanned skin. She sits herself down next to him and starts talking, but Sasuke doesn't hear a word she says.

He sees a flash of pink in the corner of his eyes and turns around to see Sakura walk in the direction of her home, clearly after finishing a long shift at the hospital. Her hair is messy and she's holding a stack of papers under her arm and looks far from put-together. Despite all of this, she appears far more inviting than the busty brunette currently latched onto his arm.

Something clicks in Sasuke's head, as if a blurry picture suddenly sliding into focus. Without a second thought, he gets up, pays for his drinks and heads home for the night.

It has been eight years since the Fourth Shinobi War officially ended.

Sasuke rushes back to the village, his ANBU squad in tow. He can feel the cool autumn breeze hit his face, making his eyes water, but he doesn't care. The mission was a success, but at a cost. One of his teammates was badly injured, blood pouring from him in rivers. They were rushing back to the village to get him the medical help that he needed.

When they arrive at the hospital, Tsunade ushers him in and barks at his teammates to leave. Being the team leader, he feels responsible and follows her into Emergency.

"Get Sakura," she says to a fellow medic, rolling up her sleeves. "She went out somewhere for dinner, so page her, and tell her to come back," The medic nods and rushes off. Tsunade turns to him, an unreadable expression on her face. "Go home Uchiha," she says tiredly. "You did well bringing him back as quickly as possible. Leave it to us now."

Sasuke doesn't complain and leaves her, but instead of going home as told, he makes his way to Sakura's office, knowing she will drop by there before heading to the surgery. The door is unlocked so he lets himself in and props himself up on her desk and closes his eyes in exhaustion. He doesn't bother turning the lights on

He feels Sakura's chakra signature before he hears her and realises she's not alone. Getting up slowly, he notices she's with Kiba, who walks her halfway down the hallway before kissing her lightly on the cheek and scampering off. Sasuke watches this unfold, a bubble of anger seeping into him. He watches as Sakura enters her office and walks up to her. In the dark, she doesn't notice him and runs straight into his chest. He grabs her shoulder to steady her, trying to keep his face smooth.

"What were you doing with Kiba?" he can't help but ask, trying to keep the edge out of his voice. She raises her eyebrows at him and he knows how he must sound.

"What're you doing here?' she asks, pulling on her lab coat and grabbing a clipboard.

"One of my squad is injured." He says as they walk down to Emergency. "Tsunade said she's call you in so I waited inside your office."

"What happened?" she asks and he offers her an overview of the mission. He watches as she takes in this information.

She forces him to wait outside Emergency and his thoughts wander back to Kiba. It is no surprise that she's seeing someone, and Sasuke has expected this to happen. After the initial frustration has worn off, he's almost happy for her. He cannot offer her the happiness she deserves, so he's glad someone else can.

When she tells him about Kiba after the surgery, he guards his expression and tells her he's a good man.

It has been ten years since the Fourth Shinobi War ended.

Naruto appears at his door in the middle of night and knocks loudly. Sasuke rips the door open to put him in his place when he takes in the blonde's appearance. Naruto's orange jacket is unzipped, his hair is streaked with sweat and his eyes are void of their usual twinkle.

Sasuke's eyesight, even without the Sharingan, has always been better than average, and he spots the blood on his best friend's shirt right away.

"It's Sakura," Naruto says, but that is enough to make Sasuke's knees feel weak. He doesn't know how he makes it to the hospital, but before he knows it, they're in the waiting room.

Naruto slides into the chair beside him, quiet for once in his life. He rests his head against the wall behind him, relaxing into his seat and closing his eyes.

Sasuke cannot find it in himself to relax and he sits rigidly, fingers clutching his loose pants in a death grip. He doesn't want to ask Naruto for the details, but the question is out of his mouth before he can control it.

Naruto doesn't answer for some time and Sasuke is positive that his friend is about to burst into tears right there.

"I picked her as the lead medic for my mission," he admits, guilt laced in his voice. "I thought that out of all qualified medics, she'd be the one I'm most comfortable with working. For the most part, the assassination went well. On our way back, we got ambushed by one of the subordinates of the drug lord we were ordered to take down," His head drops into his hands and his voice comes out thick and muffled. "I was so stupid. We should've double-checked to make sure everyone was taken care of."

Sasuke wants to get angry and scream at Naruto but he's older now, and knows better. He observes the state the blonde boy is in and sighs.

"She'll be fine," he says, and is surprised to hear his voice come out so calm. He's trying to convince himself as much as Naruto. "These things happen. Tsunade will fix her up."

Still, it takes two whole days for Sakura to come out of her coma. When Tsunade opens the door to let them in, Naruto rushes in first and Sasuke lets him.

He walks into the room to see Naruto already pulling Sakura into a hug, apologising repeatedly, all tears and sobs. Sakura pats his head and smiles at him and tells him it's okay

She looks up at him then and takes him in. Sasuke knows how he must look, for he's been living in the hospital's waiting room for the past two days. She offers him one of her smiles and he feels the back of his neck heating up.

Naruto leaves first, off to see Hinata Hyuuga, no doubt. Sasuke walks over to Sakura's bed and takes a seat beside her bed.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asks. Sakura nods at him and he automatically moves to put a hand on her shoulder. He can feel Sakura hesitating and he's just wondering if he's made her uncomfortable when she leans in and wraps her arms around his torso, burying her face in the fabric of his shirt. Sasuke's first coherent thought is that he must smell bad, not having had the opportunity to go home and change. He pulls her closer to him and rests his chin on her forehead. They remain that way for a while and Sasuke, being an amateur in the field of social interactions, wonders when it would be appropriate to let go.

He doesn't know what changes after that moment, but he feels the need to keep Sakura within reach. He spends more time with her, and realises he enjoys her company far more than he already knew he would.

One day, during lunch, Naruto asks him something Sasuke had hoped he'd never would.

"Do you love her?" It's a simple question and Naruto throws it at him so casually, while twirling his noodles between his chopsticks, that Sasuke is caught off-guard.

"I'm not sure what you mean," he says in reply and Naruto scoffs and looks up at him.

"You've been horribly obvious about it for the last two years," he raises his eyebrows at Sasuke, a sly grin spreading across his face. "Or has it been four years?"

Sasuke scowls and shoves a wad of pork into his mouth.

"That's none of your business," he mutters.

"It so is! Tell me, are you the reason Kiba never asked Sakura out on a second date?"

Sasuke freezes for a split second, but Naruto is quick enough to catch the reaction. He breaks off into peals of laughter and by the time he's done, there's tears in his eyes.

"I knew it! Kiba looked genuinely scared when I asked him. What exactly did you say to him?"

Sasuke smirked, and doesn't answer, feeling that it's best if he keeps that one a secret.

"Just make a move Sasuke," says Naruto, wiping his eyes with his sleeve, cheeks still tainted red from all the laughing. "It's about time."

It has been twelve years since the Fourth Shinobi War officially ended.

Naruto is named the Seventh Hokage and it's a very popular vote indeed. The entire village celebrates the occasion and Naruto ends up bursting into tears at his own acceptance speech.

Sasuke cannot help but smile as he watches his best friend reach the dream that no one thought he would. Sakura stands beside him, desperately trying to hide the fact that she's crying in public.

They walk back after the ceremony in silence. Sasuke stops in his tracks and Sakura looks up at him, eyebrows raised.

"Would you like to go out for dinner?" he asks, and wonders why is palms are suddenly so clammy. Prior to his ceremony, Naruto had told him, not in very many words, that Sakura was blissfully unaware of the status of their relationship. This had irritated Sasuke to no end, especially since Naruto found this fact extremely amusing.

"Bastard can't even ask a girl out," he'd said, much to Sasuke's chagrin.

He looks at Sakura now, and clenches his fists.

"Now?" she asks wonderingly. Sasuke bites the inside of his cheek when he realises it's noon. "I think it's lunchtime Sasuke."

"Later," he mumbles. "Whenever you're free."

"Okay?" she says. "Do you want to ask Naruto and Kakashi? I haven't seen Kakashi in a while."

She continues to babble and Sasuke can feel his patience running thin.

"I meant just the two of us."

She shuts up and stares at him and he feels the nervousness creep into him. It's a miracle how someone this small can make him feel so on edge.

"Are you asking me out?" she asks and Sasuke can't stop himself from rolling his eyes. Naruto had been right. He had taken Sakura out on countless meals, trained with her, spent time with her and the idiot still hadn't a clue.

"This isn't the first time I've done it." He says, sounding affronted and watches as Sakura digests this information. Sasuke suddenly feels the urge to repeatedly hit his head against a wall.

"How long have you been asking me out on dates?" she asks slowly.

"For the past two years," he says, trying not to sound as embarrassed as he feels. He watches as she struggles to find words.

"Are you saying we've been dating for the past two years and I haven't been aware?"

Yes, Sasuke thinks.

"If that's what you want to call it," he says, trying to appear nonchalant. She's walking over to him and before he knows it, she smacks him on the arm. He winces and wonders, not for the first time, if she forgets how strong she really is.

"Be more obvious when you ask a girl out!" she's saying. "We haven't even kissed and it's been two years!" She continues to babble but Sasuke is tired and he wonders again how someone so annoying could take up residence in his heart. In a reflex, he dips his head down and kisses her lightly on the lips. When he pulls away, he decides that it's not such a bad feeling after all. He realises he's grinning.

"So, dinner?" he asks. He walks past her and when he realises she's not following him he stops and turns to look at her.

Sakura is smiling at him now, a large and blinding smile, that makes all his worries melt away. She jogs up to him and links her arm with his and he decides that this is not such a bad feeling either.

Maybe he should buy her some daffodils tomorrow. To celebrate all the new beginnings

Author's Note: I wasn't going to post this, and this story was meant to be a one-shot. But I was tempted to do a Sasuke version. I realise he came out to be more cheesy than I intended but I always assume Sasuke to be somewhat sentimental in his head. He just never voices it. Yeah. Let's just go with that.

Who knows, maybe one day I'll feel the need to do a third chapter.