Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (pout)
(A/N) I read over the story and fixed all the errors I missed when I posted it the first time. Enjoy!!
Chapter 1: Reactions
Sakura looked up at the tall gates. Wow, she thought. I'm really back.
She stepped through the gates and felt a since of welcome at her return to the village. It seemed like a lifetime since Sakura left to go on her first long-term mission. A mission that was said to take our to five to seven years due to the fact that they didn't know who the enemy was and when they would attack. Even so, Sakura completed it in four years.
Sakura was in a rush to get back because she knew that all her reports she sent to the Hokage over the past two and a half months never reached her. And knowing Tsunade-sama she's probably worrying about her favorite pink-haired apprentice and found comfort and reassurance in her sake bottle.
She spent no time waltzing around the village, admiring how much it has not changed over the past four years. Instead she sped through towards the Hokage's office. Sakura was excited to see her sensei after so long, though mildly afraid that she would get the full wrath of the ill-tempered kunoichi. This was something that she expected and was prepared for, planning to just nod her head and keep apologizing over again like a broken record . . .Now if she decided to get physical . . .Well, Sakura was trying not to think about that. Its not like she couldn't take her on, its just Sakura has enough respect not to punch the Hokage. (Though she would have her exceptions when Naruto became Hokage.)
When Sakura got there, she couldn't help but feel nervous. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in before walking through the front doors.
Oh God, she thought, walking through the empty corridors towards the Hokage's office.
Please give Tsunade-sama the slightest bit of mercy towards me and not decide to beat me black and . . .
"Ow!"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I couldn't see through all the papers. I didn't mean to bump into you."
A dark haired woman was bent over picking up all the papers she had dropped, not even bothering to look at the person she collided with.
"Ah, thank you." She said kindly when Sakura gave her the rest of the papers from the floor. Then she finally looked up.
"Sakura!" Shizune said happily but then frowned. "Sakura, what happened? Why haven't you contacted us for the past two and a half months? Tsunade-sama has been worried sick about you, along with half the village. Some people even think your dead!"
"I'm not dead Shizune and I have been sending each and every one of my reports, but I just found out that they weren't getting here only a few days ago."
Shizune looked at her sympathetically, "Mmm. Well good luck Sakura. You'll need it when you see her. You have no idea what you've put her through."
"Thanks for your reassuring words Shizune." She said sarcastically. "Right, well. It was nice seeing you again. Take care."
"Yeah, It was good seeing you too again Sakura." She said before turning to leave.
"Bye."
Well, she made me feel a whole lot . . . worse.
You should have smacked the bitch in the face and told her to shut the hell up! Cha!
Sakura rolled her eyes and kept walking until she was right outside the Hokage's office and knocked.
"Come in." A harsh voice answered.
Oh no. Her words are slurred. She's drunk!
Girl, run now while everyone still thinks your dead damnit!
Sakura took a deep breath, opened the door and shut it behind her.
"What do you want?" Tsunade hiccupped, not even looking up to see who entered the room.
"Tsunade-sensei? It's me, Sakura."
Tsunade looked up wide-eyed at the sound of Sakura's voice. There was a flick of a smile before the woman's face became distorted with anger. She stood up and punched the top of her desk splitting t in half. This made Sakura step back a few feet.
"What the hell happened to you? No reports for almost three months, not even an ounce of communication to let us know you're safe. To let us know that your even alive!"
"Tsunade-sensei, please calm down and let me explain. Please." Sakura pleaded.
"You have five minutes. Go." She said thickly.
"First of all I must tell you that I have completed my mission successfully. And secondly I have been sending you weekly reports but I only found out a few days ago that they haven't been getting to you for almost three months now. Tsunade-sensei, I didn't mean to worry you or anyone else and I would be happy to rewrite those reports over the past two and a half months to inform you on the conclusion of my mission."
She took Sakura's words into careful consideration.
"I want all ten weekly reports on my desk by Monday."
"Hai." Sakura answered, trying not to smile as big as she wanted to.
Tsunade sat down at her broken desk. "Hmm. I should get this fixed." She said to herself before turning to Sakura who had felt it to be safe to sit now too.
"Well how long has it been? Four years?" Tsunade asked while propping her feet on what was left of her desk.
"Four years, five months, and five-teen days to be exact. But who's counting?" Sakura answered, looking down at her lap trying to hide her reddening cheeks. There was a long pause after that which gave Tsunade the chance to properly examine the kunoichi sitting in front her. Then Sakura heard her sigh.
"Its amazing how people can change so drastically in a few years. My God Sakura, you left here a board straight, curvless little girl. And now . . . Now you're too damn beautiful for your own good. You filled out nicely Haruno!"
Who the hell is she calling a board straight, curvless little girl, bitch?
"Um. Thank you. I guess. But I don't think I've changed that much. I just grew my hair back out, and yeah, I do have a much more . . . matured body, but It's not that big of a deal."
Actually, Sakura knew just how much her body has changed since she left. At the beginning of her mission, men barley even looked at her thinking she was "too young." Now, she couldn't walk down the street without guys drooling over her. Sakura smiled at this thought. She was being modest.
"Hm, I think I would give just about anything to see your friend's reactions when they see you. Especially Naruto. Poor kid would probably pass out."
"You wanna make a bet on that sensei?" Sakura answered slyly with a grin.
"Twenty bucks says that when he sees you, he'll pass out with excitement. What about you?"
"I say he's just gonna stare for a few moments, look me up and down like a pervert, then say 'Sakura, your back' way too loudly."
"Ha, very detailed Haruno. Deal."
They shook hands, both with mischievous grins on their face.
"And if he doesn't do one thing you said, then I win, got that?"
"Got it."
"Good. Now go. I have a lot of paper work to do and I need to get someone to get me a new desk."
Sakura stood up and waved, "Good-buy Tsunade-sensei, it was nice seeing you again."
"Don't forget our bet . . . Oh and Sakura," Sakura turned around to face her. "I'm glad you came back safely."
Sakura gave her sensei a warming smile that told her she was glad to be back too.
When Sakura left, she decided to go back to her neglected apartment before she went to go search for her yellow-haired friend.
As she entered her home, she noticed that nothing had changed. Everything was exactly as she left it, except for the inches of dust and spider webs. She sighed deeply then threw her traveling bags and weapons on the side of her bed before falling down into her fluffy red and black comforter. She just laid there for awhile before deciding she should cleaned up before going out. Plus, she had to look her best if she wanted to get the reaction she wanted out of Naruto.
Sakura took a long, hot shower, brushed her hair and let it air-dry, (this giving it a wavy, volumized look that made her look older.), then slipped into her red, sleeveless v-cut tank-top that had the Haruno emblem on the back, small black shorts and her usual black boots that came up to her knees. Looking in a full-length mirror before she left, she decided not to put any make-up on. Less was certainly more for her.
When Sakura left a wave of excitement seemed to wash over her at the thought of finally seeing her friends again. Naruto, Lee, Pig, Kakashi-sensei, TenTen, Shikamaru, Hinata, and yes, even Sasuke. She wondered if any of them has changed as much as herself. This was a question that had been burning her mind all day. Her curiosity was killing her.
Too deep in her own thoughts, Sakura's hadn't noticed she had already gotten to the crossroad. Now . . .where to find Naruto?
"Hm. He could only be at two places. Ichiraku or the training grounds? Which one first?"
Stupid question, she thought. She was heading for Ichiraku.
Sakura's heart was pounding against her chest. He was right there, right in front of her. Of course he was too busy stuffing his face to notice she was just across the street watching him. And of course, who's with him? None other than the last remaining Uchiha himself, watching his friend in disgust. He must have felt someone watching them because he turned around to look.
When Sasuke caught sight of Sakura, the usually stoic Uchiha went wide-eyes, not saying a word, (and Sakura took notice that he probably wasn't breathing either, for his face turned blue after a while.) Sakura gave him a small smile and waved.
Wow, I really wasn't expecting to get such a reaction out of the emotionless wonder! she thought while she walked towards the stand.
Naruto took a chance to look up from his ramen bowl at Sasuke and was confused by his friends' facial expression.
"What the hell's the matter with you?" He bellowed loudly. Then he caught on that Sasuke was staring at something . . .or someone.
He turned around quickly with a frown on his face to see what could have driven his rather reaction-less friend to such a state. Naruto turned around to find himself face to face with a beautiful pink-haired, emerald-eyed woman walking towards them. This sight took his breath away. He didn't even really notice she had wrapped her small, toned arms around his neck in a tight embrace.
"Oh Naruto, I've missed you sooo much!" squeezing him tighter as she said 'so'. She released him once she thought he needed a breath.
Naruto was now staring at her with wide, glistening eyes, unconsciously looked her up and down without even realizing it, Sakura noticed it but decided to let it slide . . .this time. She smiled at him.
"Sakura, you . . .your back! When did you . . . ?" But then passed out before he could finish his question.
Damnit, now neither one of us are going to win. Man is this guy predictable. Sakura thought while stepping over Naruto's unconscious body to give Sasuke a hug.
"To finish dobe's question, when did you get back?" He said monotonously.
"About four hours ago. I just got back from visiting Tsunade-sama, decided to wash up a little then come here to see who I could find."
"You do know Sakura that some people thought you were dead. Almost everyday someone has come up to ask me if I have heard anything from you. I haven't gotten any letters from you for the past couple of months. It's been quite annoying really" he mumbled tediously.
"Ugh. Well I'm sorry if other people's concern for me got on your nerves Sasuke. They'll all stop bothering you now because I'm back," she said flatly, sitting on the stool Naruto previously occupied.
"It wasn't the people's concern for you that annoyed me Sakura, I would be lying if I said I wasn't concerned for you myself. But it was Naruto. He's been annoying the hell out everybody." He looked down at his friend on the floor, shook his head, then looked back at Sakura.
"He hasn't changed much since you left. Yeah, he's gotten taller, deeper voice, and is now probably more perverted than both Jiraya and Kakashi combined. But he's still the annoying knucklehead dobe you left behind."
Sakura smiled, "I wouldn't want him any other way." she looked down at Naruto for a moment thinking about what Sasuke said.
"So. Jiraya and Kakashi combined? He's gotten that bad?" she asked with a smirk.
"Hn. Unfortunately."
"Wow. I think I just had the best dream of my life!" Naruto mumbled with his eyes closed. "Mmm. Sakura. She filled out over the four years. Hehe. If she looked that good with clothes on, I wonder what she would look like . . . .Ahhhh!"
Sakura, now ten shades of red and shaking with anger, had pinned the now very awake Naruto against the wall by his throat a good foot above the floor.
"Do you really want to finish that sentence Naruto?" her voice was shaking with anger.
Naruto, kicking and trying to pry away the very irate kunoichi's hand from her throat went wide-eyed and shook his head vigorously.
"I thought so. Now, since its my first day back, I'm gonna give you a break and let it slide. This time. But next time." squeezing even harder. "I won't hold back. Got it?" she said, letting him fall back to the floor.
Wow. Not only has she gotten drop dead gorgeous, she's gotten faster and stronger too. She's much more irritable than I remember her to be though. Maybe it's just that time of the month. Naruto thought as he caught his breath and watched her walk away.
"I'm going to Ino's shop if you need me. And hey, I'm going to the bar tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing you guys there."
Sakura waved, not even looking back and walked out.
Hell yeah! Did you see Sasuke's face when he saw you? Poor guy couldn't even breathe.
You'll learn more about Sakura's mission in later chapters.
(A/N) Ok, even though the fic is complete it doesn't mean I don't like getting those random little reviews…. They make me happy. You don't have to review for only the last chap!!
Next chapter: Reveled Addictions
Please read and review!! But don't be too harsh, this is my first fanfic.