Sorry, it took longer than I expected; life distracted me and I lost inspiration; I made so many changes but I ended up not liking them and I had to change them again. Anyways, it's done, I hope you enjoy! :D

'He's coming home today' that was Naruko's first thought as she awoke from her sleep.

Sunlight was coming through her blinds and it was shining on her face. She stretch herself before getting out of bed and she let some air in by opening her window. She was excited, it had been three long years since Sasuke had left the Village and she had started her 'training' with Kakashi in order to take the hat from him.

'The bastard didn't even send a letter or anything to remember him by' she lamented herself. She knew her Teme wasn't the most caring person in the world 'but he could have at least tried'. She swore she would pulverize him the next time they had a spar.

Naruko left the Uchiha District, she was walking towards the Hokage's office. That had been her routine for the last three years; getting up, acknowledge one more day had gone by, having breakfast, promise herself she would whack her bastard once he came back and walk to the Hokage's office for a new day of 'training'.

Sure, her kunoichi training hadn't stopped: she had even become Team Seven's newest sensei. She had taught her favorite student, Konohamaru, and his friends Udon and Moegi for two years before they had become Chunin. She had taken a lot of guarding missions and even more political missions across Villages.

Since she was to become Hokage, she had to maintain the political allegiances that were made to fight through the Fourth Shinobi War. In Naruko's words, she had the opportunity to visit her friends and call it 'work'. Gaara had tried to convince her to stay with him in Suna; mainly because he didn't like the Uchiha being with his best friend. He's not good enough for you, the Kazekage had told her, I can't fathom your other friends shipping you together.

Gaara was the only one, among her foreign friends, that though the couple should split. He was also a member of a select group of people that knew of her relationship with the last Uchiha. It's too obvious, I can't understand why your friends haven't noticed yet, the redhead had laughed at her friends after hearing Naruko's predicament. She had told her foreign friends that Konoha couldn't even conceive the thought of them being together. Her friends cornered her almost daily to talk about her obvious feelings for the black haired boy; but they couldn't realize their obvious relationship.

Hinata did more of the staring rather than the talking, but Naruko was impressed and slightly offended because her best friend hadn't noticed that her 'ship' had already sailed a long time ago. Of course, Naruko wasn't the most observant person, but even she knew that what was going on with Sasuke was more than a rivalship. Sure, said rivals hadn't formalized it per se, but they both knew the other was it for them; no one else could rival their feelings for each other.

"Good morning Kakashi-sensei" the blonde said while opening the doors to Kakashi's office. Naruko didn't take too long to notice the other figure speaking to her sensei and ran towards it. "Teme!" she yelled as she hit him hard on his arm "you should've gone home first you bastard"

"Ma, ma, I'm still the Hokage Naruko-chan" Kakashi mocked her "we were about to finish, you didn't have to yell so loudly"

"Hn"

"Don't start with me Teme" she threatened him "not even a letter, not even one of your eagles!" she complained "you and I are going to have a serious conversation later today" she cracked her knuckles in a threatening matter. Sasuke would never admit it out loud be he gulped and trembled in fear. He knew what was coming for him.

"You can take the day off Naruko, we'll resume your training tomorrow" Kakashi said "I'll be expecting your report by the end of the day Sasuke" their sensei took out his special Icha Icha edition signed by Jiraiya himself and start reading it after dismissing them with his hand.

"Naru-chan!" both lovebirds stopped in their tracks after hearing Hinata calling the blonde. "Welcome back Sasuke-kun" Hinata greeted the black haired male.

"Hina-chan, can't we talk later?" the blonde asked "there's something Sasuke and I must resolve first"

"Sure" her friend replied "but you have to come to Ichiraku's right after you finish talking, okay?" she said "we'll see you there, don't take too long!"

Hinata went straight to the ramen shop and, even though Naruko couldn't refuse a bowl of her precious ramen on any other given day, she had to make her peace with her Teme. They both decided the quickest option to go home was to jump across the Village's ceilings in order to get to the Uchiha District without any further interruptions. Once they reached their destination, Naruko placed a seal to limit the entrance to anybody that wasn't them. She had been surviving through three years without seeing the bastard, she had to have her fill.

"Okay, now..." Naruko closed the door and looked at Sasuke "Teme..."

Naruko jumped into his arms and he carried her in his arms while she hugged him. The short space between them was closed by embracing each other the only way lovers knew how to. He smiled once they caught their breaths.

"That being said… could you try to explain yourself bastard?" she said "Why would you cut me off like that?" she asked "I even had to resort to sending Gamakichi after you just so I could make sure you were still alive!"

"Then you know why I had to disappear"

"Still Teme, you had the time to report back to Kakashi-sensei at least once every six months" she reminded him "or at least you could've asked him to send me as support, we could've get rid of the menace together"

"I sent that message once the menace was taken care of"

"Are you sure there aren't any Akatsukis left Sasuke?"

"I'll take care of them too if they so happen to be" he replied "but, I'm pretty sure they're completely obliterated by now"

"Fine, I forgive you" she said and got nervous all of a sudden "Does this mean that you're going to stay?"

"Hn"

"I need a proper answer Teme, ple" Sasuke cut her off with a kiss.

"Is that enough of an answer to you Dobe?" he smirked at her once he saw her blushing.

"Teme..."

At the end, they didn't bother to catch up with Hinata and the others. They had to get reacquainted with each other first. Besides, it was their fault for not noticing the obvious.

"Naruko!" Ino called her blonde friend once she saw the couple walking by. "We waited for you for like two hours, what happened?"

"Gomen, gomen" the blonde apologized "we got caught talking about our adventures and by the time we realized what we were doing, it had already been too late to go back" she said "we thought you'd already be gone"

"Mou" Ino complained "It'll have to be postponed for another day"

"Sure"

The blonde said goodbye and went to catch up with Sasuke. He had not waited for her and decided to keep walking once both blondes started talking. She took his hand and interlaced their fingers as they kept walking and talking between them. The gesture was not noticed by the taller blonde, who went back to her shop as if nothing had happened.

"Teme, why did you leave me behind?" Naruko complained.

"Hn" he clicked his teeth in annoyance "you were talking with me, it's your fault for going to talk with her"

"Are you jealous now Teme?" she mocked him.

"Hn" he let go of her hand and walked faster to leave her behind, once again.

"Wait for me Teme!"

"Ah, Naruko, Sasuke-kun" Sakura greeted them outside the hospital. She was about to go look for them but she was happy she didn't have to bother after all. She missed their interlaced hands.

"Sakura-chan!" the blonde greeted her, Sasuke didn't bother to do it. 'Again with this? They want to keep her attention from me' he thought.

"I was about to go look for you guys, Tsunade-sama was getting impatient"

"Baa-chan is being her usual self as always" the blond chuckled "Eh? Where did that Teme go?" Sasuke had, once again, left his companion after losing her attention and was now walking through the hospital's entrance. "We'll catch up later Sakura-chan, Baa-chan is going to scold me if she sees him walking in first"

"Those two..." Sakura sighed with frustration once she saw their figures entering the hospital "Sasuke, could you be any more obvious?" she laughed at herself "How much longer do I have to wait before you get together?"

"Brats" Tsunade greeted the couple once they entered her office.

"Baa-chan"

"Gaki!" the older blonde complained "How many times do I have to repeat myself? Don't call me that!"

"Just tell us why you wanted to see us Baa-chan"

"You annoying brat" she complained again "I found a way to reconstruct your missing hands" she announced "do you want to have them back?"

"Sure" the blond was excited.

"No" Sasuke was being his stoic self.

"Eh? Why not Teme?" the blonde asked.

Sasuke sighed before he replied to his partner. "Because it reminds me of all the things I did wrong" he said looking at his missing hand "If I were to have it back, I would forget all the pain I caused, I can't do that"

"But..."

"I won't back down Naruko"

Tsunade didn't intervene, 'It would have been a pain in the ass to make his cells adapt to Hashirama-oji-san's'.

"There are some final touches I need to take care of but I think we'll be set for the surgery next week" the older blonde said.

Naruko nodded her head in agreement.

"Are you sure there's no way I can change your mind Teme?" she asked once they were back home.

"No, just leave the matter alone"

"But..."

"Let me bear with this, please"

It wasn't the first time Sasuke had asked her for a favor, but it was the first time she had heard him being as sad while doing it. She nodded in defeat and hugged him.

"Okay, I won't insist" she said "but I want you to remember that the surgery will be available if you change your mind"

"Thanks Dobe"

"This way!"

Sakura's voice was louder than the other ones in the restaurant and the blonde had no trouble finding the source of it. She walked towards her teammate and her other generation mates before taking one of the last seats available in the table. It had been hard to convince Sasuke to come with her but she had managed after some blackmailing. She sat next to Shikamaru and Sasuke sat next to her.

"We already placed an order, it won't take too long" Choji explained; they were eating at his family's restaurant after all.

"Are you ready to have me in the office tomorrow Shikamaru?" Naruko asked.

"What a problematic girl" he complained "I thought I had more time to get used to the idea of you being the next Hokage"

"I'm not that bad, am I?"

"Let me put it like this, I'd rather work with the Rokudaime than you" he replied "I don't want to be your babysitter and go look for you after you get bored"

"Mou, Shikamaru, it can't be that bad" Ino tried to defend her but it was a futile attempt "Naruko has had three years to become more mature, can't you have a little more faith in her?"

"You wouldn't be saying that if you'd lived what I've lived these past three years" Shikamaru complained again.

"The announcement is tomorrow, aren't you excited Naru-chan?" Hinata asked.

"It's gonna be one of the best days of my life Hina-chan" the blonde smiled at her best friend "Having you all next to me when it happens makes me even more happy" that last bit she said while staring at her Teme.

"Hn" Sasuke deviated his stare and folded his arms "I've already apologized"

"And I've already forgiven you Teme" she stuck out her tongue in a childish matter.

"You've accommodated to the house well, right?" Shikamaru asked.

"Of course, that Teme has almost no clothes so I got to keep a lot of space in the closet" Naruko said "I should donate my dresses though; I've only used them once to meet with other representatives and I don't see myself using them again"

"I've told you you could be needing them later on Dobe" Sasuke told her "you'll have to visit and host at some other time, it's better if you already have the clothes to do it"

"You can always cast a Genjutsu over my regular clothes and call it a day Teme"

"Yeah, I forgot I'd have to accompany you to these meetings" the black haired male complained.

"You'd forgotten it already?" she asked "Teme, you have to be my companion, who else is going to do it? Shikamaru?"

"Hn" Sasuke folded his arms again and threw a killing glare towards Shikamaru.

During all the exchange among rivals, the others were getting more confused by the second, they couldn't understand what was going on. 'Is this some sort of prank?' they all thought. Ino, being a sucker for gossip and the most curious among the lot, decided she would have to ask.

"How come you're living together guys?" Ino asked "Are you sleeping in the same room?"

"Of course we are Ino-chan, why are you asking?" Naruko replied.

"Naruko, I'm sure Kakashi told you to keep an eye on Sasuke-kun but surely he didn't mean you had to have him sleeping next to you too" Sakura said "I'm sure he's not deserting again"

"Oh, I know he won't Sakura-chan" the blonde smiled at her friend. "But he still has to sleep somewhat comfortable while he finishes refurbishing his parents' house"

"Naru-chan, don't you think it's a bit strange you're sleeping in the same bed?" Hinata asked.

"Why do you say so Hina-chan?"

"Well, because that's what couples do Naru-chan" Hinata said trying not to blush. They were having this conversation as if Sasuke weren't in the same table as them!

"But we are a couple" Naruko reasoned.

"You're a couple of rivals Naru-chan, it's not the same concept" Hinata said.

"How troublesome" Shikamaru couldn't keep quiet anymore, the blonde was laughing at her friends and was losing a bet "Don't you get it?"

"What?"

"Pay up Shikamaru" the blonde laughed at her black haired friend.

"Huh?"

"Why aren't you connecting the dots?" Shikamaru was losing it.

"They've been oblivious for years, do you really want to have this conversation again?" the blonde asked.

Shikamaru handed her the money and sighed at his friends' stupidness.

"They are a couple!" he yelled at them "They've been a couple ever since Sasuke deserted!" he told them "get it?"

A long silence was in place, their friends were trying to process the new piece of information.

"Eh? Naru-chan!" Hinata looked at her laughing friend "How couldn't I tell?"

"You guys think I'm too stupid to notice the obvious" she said; she wasn't complaining, she had made her peace a long time ago. "I may not notice some things, but did you really think I would let him leave just like that?"

"Dobe..."

"Nothing of that Teme" Naruko cut him off.

"Well, at least I don't have to pay everything by myself" Shikamaru said "you guys are going to have to give her the bet's money"

"Why?" Sakura asked.

"Because, even though I was not officially in the bet, I did tell you they were a couple before the 'end of the world'" Shikamaru explained "you didn't want to hear it and you didn't even consider it"

"Pay up!" the blonde laughed at her friends again "Serves you right, never bet against an Uzumaki guys"

Well that's it. I might have rushed the ending and I think Shikamaru was a little OCC, but that's what fanfiction is all about. I'm sorry for taking too long. I hope you don't hate me for this. Take care, these are hard times.