Sakura regained consciousness. Sunrays found their way into her eyes, everything was so bright. Everywhere around her people were waking up, scrambling out of the cocoons that were connecting them to the giant tree. "It's broken! Tsukuyomi is broken! They did it!" a wave of relief filled her heart.

In front of her Naruto and Sasuke stood, supporting each other, looking bleak and battered but so undeniably alive. Friends again. She hugged them and felt as if everything was falling on its correct place.

Later, she learned that they had defeated Madara and thanks to the powers bestowed by the Sage of Six Paths broke the Tsukuyomi. The war was over and they could all go home.

Konoha was spared any major damages, so the life quickly picked up its normal pace. Only significant alteration was that Sasuke was back for good. He was pardoned due to his instrumental role in winning the war. Kakashi-sensei as the new Hokage ordered thorough investigation on the Uchiha Massacre and Sasuke became part of the investigation team together with Shikamaru, Ino and some elder shinobi. It gave Sakura a pervasive sense of justice being done. She was initially a bit concerned that digging in the past would awaken the old demons in Sasuke, but he seemed to be resistant to them.

Naruto and Sasuke would be spending most of there time sparring. It seemed that they wanted to make up all those lost years, and their way of bonding was to punch each other's faces. Sometimes Sakura joined the spars, but more often she just sat on a vantage point on a rock or a tree branch (always in shadow as sunlight was unusually bright those days) and savoured the moments. Sure, she was admiring their moves, but more than that she just wanted to bask in the filling of everything being again as it was supposed to be.

Later they would go to Ichiraku or to the barbecue restaurant if others wanted to join as well. Naruto developed certain tolerance for foods other than ramen so they could even manage to dine in some new place from time to time.

Days were quiet and happy but for Sakura even this calm routine was source of permanent joy. She would never dare to ask for more in life.

One summer afternoon, when the heat of the day was just loosening up, she walked out of the hospital at the end of her shift and to her great surprise spotted familiar figure, propped up against the only tree on the plaza. Her heart fluttered tiny bit faster but she didn't allow herself to quicken her pace. Sasuke lazily straightened himself up at her approach.

"Tsunade wants you to read those." He handed her a pile of papers.

"Thanks. And thank you for coming all the way here to bring it." She knew he could have just left it on her doorstep on his way home.

"Hn." Sasuke shoved hands into his pockets and faced direction of her house. When she didn't react he threw a glimpse over his shoulder. "Are you going?"

On the way home she had hard time keeping her poise. She tried covering her excitement with some pointless chatter. She ended up telling him about an experiment on chakra transfer that she was going to perform the next day. She went into such technical details that she couldn't believe he didn't tell her to drop the topic. Or to shut up.

When she waved him cheerful goodbye and closed the door behind her, she could finally release a happy squeak. Rest of the evening she felt inexplicably, stupidly happy – inexplicably because what did happen in the end? He just walked her home and it wasn't even that much of a detour for him.

Next day she woke up in a great mood, and the day seemed to be complying. The experiment worked at the first attempt, all the controls were fine and the effect was clearly visible. She immediately got couple of ideas for the follow-up tests. Then, in the afternoon, exactly when she was falling asleep over the paperwork due for that day, a sudden thunderstorm rolled over Konoha leaving the air fresh and Sakura's head rejuvenated. She finished her report so fast that it surprised her. She was going to the kitchen for the personnel to bring back her dirty coffee cups when looking through the window of the staircase she thought she was having a deja vue: Sasuke was standing under the tree in exactly the same pose as yesterday. She had enough sense to return the cups to the kitchen, come back upstairs, gather her things and face him with fake surprise. She wasn't so sure if he bought it. But certainly he'd seen her joy was not faked.

On their way home she babbled nervously again, but he really seemed to be listening. And then he swept her from her feet asking how the experiment went. She got so much caught up in explaining her results that they stood in from of her door for at least fifteen minutes until she was finished.

The next day she thought out an excuse to go downstairs and pass the staircase already at 5 p.m. She tried to keep cool head about it, and started already to talk herself into not being disappointed when she couldn't believe her own eyes – he was there again. She didn't wait until 6 p.m. to scram.

It became a routine. Sasuke was coming to pick her up after work. She spent an unhealthy amount of time going up and down the stairs. Apparently he was usually coming somewhere around 4:30 even though he knew her shift was finished at 6 p.m. Or at least should be, because Tsunade quickly caught a whiff of the situation and directly ordered her to reduce her overtime by going home earlier. Sakura put up a weak protest only to maintain a face.

She felt a little bit guilty for playing truant, but on the other hand she was lately so efficient with her tasks, that going out an hour or so earlier wasn't such a big issue. Since the end of the war she lost that unnerving lack of focus in the morning, that used to cost her a lot of time, not to mention giving her a permanent sense of discontentment. Now, she would enter her office and start just where she left the previous day, no procrastination, no struggle to get concentrated. And, she had to admit, the nurses were so competent and motivated that she really should be having any doubts delegating more work to them.

Sasuke would walk her home, but more than often she needed to do some shopping or take care of some other business and he would tag along. He seemed unperturbed by people seeing them together on all possible occasions. She got more confident in talking to him, and Sasuke was in meanwhile so well introduced into medical jutsu, that he could probably perform a surgery himself. And draw nurses' shift schedule from his memory.

On one particularly beautiful evening Sakura gathered her courage and proposed a detour along the river. At the beginning she felt uncomfortable going somewhere with him for pure amusement reasons, but their conversation rolled as usually and Sasuke didn't show any signs of annoyance.

Encouraged by their little tour Sakura started proposing walks from time to time. Weather was always cooperating as the summer was at its most beautiful in Konoha. It never ever rained in the evenings, with all the storms coming and going during the nights. It struck her as odd weather anomaly, but still she was more than happy about it.

One afternoon, she spotted Sasuke at his usual place under the tree at his usual half past four. But that day she couldn't walk with him home. She had an emergency surgery and the patient was just being prepared. She run quickly out, her unaccustomed eyes hurt from the sudden brightness of the plaza.

"Hi…" She started sheepishly, shielding her face from the sunrays.

"Hi. What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, it's just that there is an unexpected operation… It will start the moment they get the patient stable… It will take some time, so please go home. I'm sorry you've come here on vain…"

"How long will it take?"

"Long."

"You don't sound happy about it."

"I'm just tired already… I had a hectic day, skipped the lunch. I hope I'll manage."

"You will. So, how long will it take?"

"Three, four hours. From the moment it starts. So now I need to go to be on a stand-by."

Sasuke smiled. "Do your best, then."

"Thanks… I will."

His encouragement carried her through the surgery. She worked with efficiency and precision and the operation turned out to be a full success. Relieved, she left the patient in the care of nurses, changed into normal clothing and headed home. When she was passing through the hospital gate the fatigue finally hit her. Her chakra level was so low, energy reserves almost nil. She sighted - that would be one unpleasant way home, and stepped on the plaza.

And he was there, sitting under the tree. Sakura's brain started to process the data. It was almost exactly midnight. If he was sitting, it meant he was already here for a long time. Waiting for her.

She approached him and sat next to him without a word. She was exhausted enough for her enthusiasm to quench, though somewhere in the back of her head Inner Sakura was performing a happy dance. "You really shouldn't be waiting for me. It is middle of the night."

Sasuke only shrugged in response. "Tired?" he asked after a while.

"Uhm..." she murmured.

He didn't comment, but handed her some package instead. Her brain was working really slowly and it was quite dark on top of it so it took her good couple of seconds to realize that what she was holding was a bento box. Out of all the inconsistencies she was trying to marry in her mind one question managed to the surface: "Where did you get a bento box at the midnight?"

"Hn. In the sixth open shop, I suppose."

Sakura shook her head. "And why?"

"Because you're hungry? At first I thought you will be done at nine and that we will get something at Ichiraku. Then it was getting later and later and I learned from nurses that the surgery had a delayed start. Hence, your bento. Eat."

She unwrapped it. "We can share."

"I bought one for myself." He pulled another box from behind of the tree.

Their walks became longer, sometimes the ended up returning to the village already at dusk. She cooked for them couple of times and inviting him in was not even remotely awkward. At some point Sakura realized that they have passed the boundary somewhere on the way and they were now behaving like a couple. Like a couple, but except from… Well, now that her confidence was high enough Sakura allowed herself to think about Sasuke in THAT way. Before, that whole sphere was pushed deep back, as she was focused on winning him at all. Now, when it wasn't about winning or loosing but about comfortable being around each other, some thoughts were sprouting inside her.

She didn't know how to handle those feelings. When she was laying in bed, she would think how would it be if he touched her. Touched her hand or back. Put hand on her knee. Held her. Or kissed her. She couldn't really imagine any other things, because she had no experience, but she knew what those other things were and it made her restless and gave her troubles falling asleep.

But she knew she would never take any direct action. Sasuke was not a type for clingy and forward girls, that's what she was assuming at least. He would want to take a lead in such situations. Sakura was actually happy about it; it made him look more manly in her eyes. Or it would have if any situation occurred. But it didn't and she lacked experience to provoke him. And she didn't find attempt on seduction fitting - she didn't share Ino's sentiments about boys – that they need to played as long as they start dancing to girl's wishes. Sakura's deepest heart desire was for Sasuke to become close to her out of his own initiative. He has been played and manipulated enough in his life for her to contribute to it. Plus, manipulation wasn't how Sakura imagined a relationship.

She got already a bit resigned about the progress that was nowhere in sight, when one evening, at her doorstep, Sasuke kissed her. It was quick, it was too dark around for her to really see his face, and he left immediately after. Nevertheless, he kissed her! Sakura spent half of the night leaning out of her window, gazing at the moon in the state of complete elation.

Whole following day she was waiting for a next goodbye. She even felt a bit ashamed, that here she was going for a walk with Sasuke, and all she wanted was for it to finally end. That evening, when it came to the kiss again, she was mentally prepared and even managed to turn it a little bit into "kissing".

She grasped the last cherry out of the paperwrap, shoved it to her mount and sent Sasuke an audacious look. They were walking along their favourite path along the river – where shadows were deep and light filtering through the leaves was painting the surroundings gold-and-green. He shrugged at her grimace, making it known he didn't care and then, when she lost focus to bask in the victory, with a sudden move he grabbed something from the bag hanging on her arm. Sakura stared – he took her keys!

"Hey! Not fair!" She shouted with indignation. Stealing the last food was one thing and stealing someone's keys was another.

He grinned in response.

"Give it back!"

Sasuke was holding her keys in his outstretched arm high above his head. It struck her how much taller than her he became. Sakura jumped ungainly trying to reach the dangling bunch. Of course she could have used some jutsu, pump chakra into her legs, but it didn't feel like time and place for it. Not here, not in this serene setting; not this afternoon that was so bright and warm that air seemed like liquid honey.

Ninjutsu just didn't fit at all, so she simply shoved him, both hands against his chest. He must have not suspected such assault because he lost his balance and landed on the grass. Sakura was on him the moment he touched the ground, trying to reach the keys he still kept in his outstretched hand.

She bent to get them and froze. She realized the position she had just put herself – she was basically straddling him, her thin summer dress almost up her hips. And on top of it, she was leaning the way that the top of the dress wasn't covering absolutely anything. Eyes huge, she glanced down on Sasuke. He seemed unperturbed, confident smirk still on his lips. He was looking into her eyes, and not into her cleavage, but Sakura had no doubt he was seeing it nevertheless.

She tried to lift herself up, propped herself against the only place available – his chest and sat up. To her panic, she realized she only managed to end up straddling his crotch.

Sasuke flicked his wrist and the keys went flying. Judging from the rattle they landed between the stones of the riverbed. How would she ever find them again?!

Apparently, it was a purposeful distraction, because she failed to register beginning of his movement. Then it was too late, because he already grabbed her and tumbled her over. He was on top of her, his elbows on both sides of her face. Sakura wanted to say something but didn't manage. As soon as she opened her mouth to speak, he kissed her. And kissed her hard. Her already opened lips were making it easier.

Sakura's head swirled, the kiss was deeper and more persistent than their previous ones. She wanted to melt into him, get as close to him as possible. She moved her hips to better accommodate his weight and then she felt it – that strange sensation emanating from the place between her legs that appeared in response to the pressure. Sakura concentrated and rolled her hips again – carefully not to make it too obvious. The sensation intensified. She repeated the motion and inadvertently moaned into the kiss.

By now, he surely noticed what was she doing down there. In strike of boldness Sakura decided to ignore her embarrassment for the moment. And, in the end, should she really be embarrassed'? To whom should she be showing her vulnerability if not to him?

Sure he noticed… He answered her movement, met her halfway. But Sakura didn't care anymore at this point because the feeling was building up and proving to be too strong of an incentive.

She was moving against something solid and with every motion her grasp of the shape of that thing was getting better. It was not as precise as she would get by touching it with her hand, but still she was getting a very good idea of the form. And that increasing awareness was making her unbelievably excited. Sasuke picked up a steady pace pointing at her core and the sliding towards her front. At that point Sakura wasn't responding to the kiss anymore, with whole body taunt and arched she wasn't moving anymore either. She just kept steady to provide him with resistance. The sensation was building to the point it was becoming unbearable. And then, when she thought she couldn't stand it anymore, it exploded. She half gasped, half screamed only to realize that the kiss was broken some time ago already. And that her face was now in the crook of Sasuke's neck.

He rolled against her couple of time more, but much gentler this time. Still, a whimpering noise escaped out of her.

When her breathing steadied he kissed her again and got up. Without his weight on her, Sakura felt cold and exposed. And awfully ashamed. Her dress was up her waist, her panties so wet that she'd bet one could see through them and she didn't even want to imagine how must her face be looking like. And then, as if as a proof that her brain had just been rendered totally useless, she started to think that thankfully her dress was green so the grass stains wouldn't be too visible.

In meantime, Sasuke went towards the riverbed and she saw him crouching as if to pick something up. Then, he came up to her again, stretched out his hand towards her and helped her on her feet. Without a comment he handed her the keys back. Sakura was still too shell-shocked to take any independent action.

Sasuke shoot her a taxing look. "We should go back. You have an early shift tomorrow, don't you?"

To that, she wanted to protest, but he grabbed her hand and pulled her direction home. He didn't let go off her hand all the way to the village. Even though it looked more like leading a child than holding hands with a girlfriend, Sakura was realizing that it was heck of a statement from Sasuke's side. Normally she would be jumping from joy, but now, after what had transpired between them mere minutes ago, the importance of holding hands had faded a bit. That what happened between them… was it supposed to be called sex? What was it really?

They reached her doorstep. Sasuke pecked her on the lips, told her to sleep well and hurried away. Sakura sleep-walked into her house and only then she realized that throughout their whole encounter Sasuke hadn't even lay hand on her.

The next day Sakura still didn't shake off the feeling of embarrassment. Even though it was supposed to be another hot day, she chose a T-shirt and a reasonable, knee-long skirt. No way she would be running in front of Sasuke half-naked after what happened the day before. She was already dreading what was he thinking about her.

Her workday was shorter thanks to the early shift so they ended up on their customary walk already mid-afternoon. They went along the river again. Or rather Sasuke went and she followed. Sakura was too weirded out to attempt a conversation, let alone a discussion.

They were walking and walking, reaching the section of the river where it was breaking between large boulders. Finally the silence got too much on Sakura's nerves.

"About yesterday… I'm sorry about it, it probably shouldn't have happened…"

Sasuke threw a puzzled look. "Why? Didn't you like it?"

Sakura fidgeted a bit more. "I did, but…"

"But what?"

"It was somehow… it wasn't fair to you."

Sasuke didn't bother to comment – his face expression did it for him.

"I shouldn't have behaved like that… You didn't get anything out it, while me…"

"Who says I didn't get anything?"

Sakura jerked her head. "What did you get?"

"A sense of achievement, for example."

"Ah." She should have known. For him it is like a contest, something to excel in, a way to boost his ego.

"But not only that." He finished with a smirk.

Sakura looked at him wide-eyed. "Then what else?"

"You don't want to know, believe me." The content smile of knowing better was still on his lips.

"Oh, I'm perfectly able to decide what I want myself. And I want to know!"

Sasuke slanted his eyes in amusement. "But you're not allowed to beat me up afterwards."

Sakura gaped – what was he thinking, she would never… Beating was firmly reserved for Naruto and his antics. "Just spit it out already!" She stomped to get her point better through.

"Why do you think I went home so quickly?" When she couldn't think of an answer, Sasuke provided it himself. "Because I need to get off. And I did. Thinking about you."

Sakura's mouth formed a neat, round "O". So… she turned him on. She was sexually attractive to him. That was groundbreaking… That was putting them on even ground for the first time in their life. She wasn't anymore a supplicant here, but an equal partner.

That knowledge was elating, even more than this orgasm from the day before. It was also empowering. She didn't need to shy away, be constantly afraid of deteriorating that fragile thing between them. She could speak her mind, she could tell what she thought... "But you didn't get to feel me much, did you? You could touch me if you want, you know?" Speak up like that for example. She still couldn't believe she dared to say it. "Wherever you want…"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. With sudden decisiveness in his movements, he pulled her to himself and sat them down on the boulder, Sakura straddling his lap. Sasuke moved his hands from her waist to her buttocks. "Here as well?"

She nodded, distracted by his hand sliding down her behind. She was never really aware of its shape, only now under his touch she was realizing how round it was. It was good, she supposed, as he seemed to be liking it. He squeezed and rocket her on his lap. The now-familiar sensation sparkled inside her again.

Sasuke slid his hand up, maneuvered them under the hem of her T-shirt, when he touched her naked skin, Sakura jerked out of excitement. He traveled up with his fingers, up to the place wound by her chest-bindings. Then he moved along the bandages toward her front.

"Here as well?" He asked before his fingers skimmed over the side of her breasts.

She nodded and gave him an open-mouth kiss.

Sasuke's fingers began working at the bandages. They wiggled and tugged and Sakura was kissing him as hard as she could because anticipation was difficult to stand and his tongue in her mouth was bringing some relief. When he finally grazed against her nipple, she actually made a sound. She never though her breasts were so sensitive. He had a full access by now, and his fingers were groping and squeezing and tugging, making Sakura's mind go increasingly blank. She rocked into him, following a known path. It came quickly and felt even better than the day before.

Sakura stopped kissing him and looked him in the eye. "It… it was there already."

"Hn. I've noticed." Sasuke made a move as to stand up.

"Sasuke, wait up! What about you again? I don't know… Would you… want something?"

Sasuke gave her a long look. Somewhere in the middle of that staring contest she started second-guessing herself. Apparently her boldness had its limits. But before she managed to get truly nervous, Sasuke moved his hands on her thighs, under her skirt. Sakura froze as his fingers travelled towards her middle. Only when he edged her panties to the side so it touched her leg, Sakura realized how slimy-wet it was down there. Sasuke must have realized it as well, cause he looked at her in astonishment and hissed. Sakura could only hope that the surprise would be categorized as a pleasant one in his mind. Either the way, he wasn't getting discouraged, as he was wiggling his fingers around her entrance. They scrambled deeper and Sakura wondered how deep they need to go for them to be without any doubt inside. And then she stopped wondering because they were so definitely inside that it left her gasping for air in a mix of confusion, panic and excitement.

When she was concentrating on that newly found closeness, Sasuke suddenly removed his fingers and jerked his head sideward. He was listening – now she could hear something as well. Running. Someone was running their direction.

Sakura jumped up from Sasuke's lap. From between the trees she could already see glimpses of familiar orange. She rolled her eyes.

"Sakura-chan! Sasuke! There you are! I was looking everywhere for you!"

Sasuke shoved his hands into the pockets and looked away, showing Naruto that he was much more interested in the flow of the river than in blonde's problems. Sakura was too preoccupied by the memory of Sasuke's touches to pay any genuine attention to Naruto. But he didn't mind. As usual, he had enough enthusiasm to just keep going without any feedback.

"So, guys, you'll never believe it! I was eavesdropping under Hokage's office and guess what?!"

A pregnant pause indicated that some interest from interlocutors was in the end required.

"And what?" Asked Sasuke tiredly after couple of second of silence.

"That we are all getting Jonin promotions! All three of us! And me and teme, we don't even have to take Chunin exams. Imagine, we'll really be new Sannin now!"

"That's great, Naruto." Sakura managed to put some cheerfulness into her voice.

"You bet! It's the best! Let's go celebrate it! Let's go to Ichiraku! And you know what? I'm paying this time!"

Sasuke sighted. It was clear that there was no way to lose Naruto now. In meantime the blonde turned and was heading towards the village already.

Sakura caught Sasuke's eyes. "Tomorrow…" She whispered. "Tomorrow, we…"

He nodded and started walking.

"We do it." Said Sakura louder. She saw a slight halt in his step. He heard and acknowledged her words.

Sakura didn't want to move yet. She let it sink in – this situation, this feeling of bliss, this light so bright that if it wasn't filtered though the leaves it would be hurting her eyes. This brightness filling her up…

"Sakura-chaan!"

Her eyes were wide open and all she could see was the light.

"Oi, Sakura-chan, wake up!" With effort she focused back on Naruto standing on the path, grinning at her. White light flickered in her vision. "Wake up!"