"So assuming we get out of here alive, plans for the future?" Sakura asked again. When he finally answered she was sure she had misheard him. He reluctantly cracked a smile at her expression and repeated himself.

"I suppose I should get to restoring my clan."

Theory of Time

Chapter Three: Home

Sakura frowned slightly.

"With who, that slut you brought with you?" She demanded. She was not jealous, she just thought he could do better was all. Sasuke briefly considered confirming this to see her reaction, but found the idea too terrifying to agree with.

"No." He answered slowly, and was it just his imagination or did her scowl lift just a bit?

"Who, then?" She asked, voice still disapproving. "Just a random prostitute, or does it matter to you?"

"Is that really what you think of me?" He growled. He may have betrayed their village, come a hair's width away from killing his best friend and broken her heart, but Sasuke did have some sense of honor. Sakura looked a bit embarrassed by his tone, but shrugged and looked away.

"That's not how I'd do it." He insisted icily.

"Well then I guess perhaps you shouldn't come back to Konoha after all, I doubt any girl there would accept the proposal of a traitor to the village. Besides," she continued irritably, "you don't know the first thing about love."

"Love has nothing to do with it." He replied. She snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Typical. No, love has absolutely nothing to do with marriage; I pity your wife. If you even find one." She added. Sasuke frowned.

"Stop that." He snapped. Sakura raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Stop making me sound like that." He had no idea why it bothered him, but he hated the way she was talking about it. Was that really how she thought of him now?

"Maybe you'll have better luck somewhere else." Sakura muttered with a shrug, displeased with the direction the conversation had taken. Sasuke wasn't going to come, he was going off somewhere to get married and have little Uchihas. Wonderful.

"I could find a wife in Konoha." He retorted.

"Oh yeah, who?" She asked, rising to the challenge. Perhaps there was some stock to be had in reverse psychology. "Not even Ino-pig wants you now."

"I don't want to marry Ino, she's annoying."

Sakura was caught between smugness over a battle long since abandoned and annoyance at the slight on her friend. She decided to just move on from it.

"Who, then?"

"I could marry you." Sasuke said offhandedly. Sakura spluttered indignantly as butterflies rose in her stomach.

"No you could not." She fumed. Sasuke frowned.

"Yes I could."

"I'm afraid marriage requires consent from both parties, these days. So no, you can't." She replied, glaring at him. Sasuke returned her expression in kind, resent and confusion clear on his face.

"Why not?" He asked, as if entertaining the idea for her sake. Overconfident prick.

"Because I know you." She responded simply. He looked unconvinced of this, and she continued. "You'd have better luck with someone who thinks you're a traitor, I know you're not. And I know that even if we got married, you wouldn't love me. You just want an heir. All you need for a wife is a body."

"You don't know me." He hissed, seething. What did she know? She didn't understand anything, not a goddamn thing! Who was she to speak of what he wanted?

"You obviously don't know me either, if you think that I'd agree to that." She sniffed in response.

"You don't know me." He repeated, edging towards her. Sakura shifted back instinctively, about to question his sudden movement when she caught a determind glint in his eyes that sent that weird flipping sensation through her stomach.

"Don't you da-" She was abruptly cut off by Sasuke's chapped lips pressing against hers forcefully. It didn't mean anything, she told her stomach feebly, and really there was no reason for her heart to beat quite that sporadically. He was just trying to prove a point and– hell. She must have been an idiot to wrap her arms around him, pulling him closer. And maybe she was kissing him back; her actions were beyond her control by this point.

But the way he wound an arm around the small of her back while his other hand ran through her hair, it certainly didn't seem like there was any motivation behind it but passion– and maybe love.

Maybe love.

"Almost there." Karin said confidently. After several discarded ideas (mostly Naruto's) and a couple more crazed attacks (all Suigetsu's), they had finally reached a solution and were, by her calculations, only a few meters away from the break.

"It's hollow over there." Kakashi said, sharingan exploring the expanse of collapsed stone and searching for stable points in the wreckage. Karin nodded to confirm this before wincing as Suigetsu smashed an overly large fist into it.

"Easy." She hissed through her teeth. The offender merely smirked infuriatingly, swiping aside the rubble and casting light on the two missing ninjas. Who were currently making-out like there was no tomorrow and either didn't notice the intrusion, or didn't care enough to stop.

Silence fell over the rescue team; some in shock, others indifference, and more than one in unadulterated horror.

"W-what is she, GET OFF OF SASUKE!!" Karin screeched, moving to enforce this order. Naruto numbly grabbed one of her arms and Jugo took the other. Jeeze, Sakura had always had a crush on Sasuke, but he hadn't expected to see THAT. He hadn't thought that Sasuke would hurt her, not really, but he hadn't thought that Sasuke would be quite that… friendly.

"Actually, I believe that Sasuke-kun is on top of Sakura." Sai corrected, smiling innocently.

"Not helping, Sai." Kakashi said, sighing. It was an odd turn of events, but perhaps one he should have seen coming. At least now Sasuke would be returning with them.

"Uh, Sakura?" Naruto asked, leaving Jugo to take care of Karin. Sakura pulled away and looked up at him, blushing heavily at their audience as if she was just realizing that her legs were twined around Sasuke's torso, one hand resting on his chest and the other tangled in his hair.

"Hi Naruto." She said meekly, trying to untangle her limbs, but quickly discovering that Sasuke didn't seem to want to budge. "Sasuke." She whispered in his ear. He grumbled and shifted off of her.

"I, um," She hastily readjusted her top, ran her fingers through her hair and hoped to every god she knew of that there wasn't a hicky on her neck before concluding lamely "got Sasuke back."

The indicated ninja smirked at her uncomfortable demeanor, running his hand up her back. He couldn't argue with that.

After several hours, some laughter, some crying, a lot of yelling and more legal jargon than anyone cared to hear, Sasuke found himself in a windowless room two doors away from the Hokage's office. Behind a locked door, with guards stationed at every possible escape route. He sighed heavily, wishing Sakura were there if only so that he could say 'I told you so'. Well, he supposed he was getting off light, as technically his head should have been on a pike right now. Which might have been preferable, considering he would have been able to escape without Sakura getting after him if the alternative was death. Being locked in a room hardly constituted putting their escape plan into action, but it was plenty annoying. A lamp flickered silently by the wall, and Sasuke heaved a sigh before laying down his cot, glad that they had finally taken off the hand-cuffs. It wasn't much, and it would certainly take a while to reintegrate into the village that had once been his home, but maybe it was worth it after all.

His ears perked up instantly as someone approached his room, and he tensed out of habit when someone on the other side jingled keys. The door opened to reveal a pink haired kunoichi, who smiled as she locked the door behind herself and dropped the keys back in her purse. She had found it quite amusing that they made her lock it as a formality, when Sasuke could clearly just take the keys from her if he really wanted to. But rules were rules, and she wouldn't have been in there at all if they didn't know that Sasuke had no wish to do such a thing.

"I'm here to guard the dangerous Sasuke Uchiha." She informed him gravely, before sliding into his lap and wondering just how many rules that broke. Sasuke flinched at the sudden contact, but his expression lightened a bit in spite of the conditions.

"What if he overpowers you and escapes?" He questioned.

"Oh I'm not too worried about that." She replied, waving her hand flippantly to illustrate the point.

"I heard he's a ruthless murderer, and a traitor to the village." He continued.

"Yes, but I have a secret weapon."

"Oh really?" Sasuke asked curiously. "What?" Sakura grinned.

"If said ninja escapes, then said ninja will not be restoring the Uchiha clan anytime soon." She replied smugly. Sasuke's face fell. Well, that wouldn't do.

"Well then let's say he stays." He ventured. "What then?"

"Hypothetically," Sakura began "he might have a kind, beautiful girlfriend, who might one day supply help to achieve that goal." She blushed a bit as she glanced up at him. "Hypothetically."

She looked away and they drifted into silence, enjoying being together again with no time constraints. They would still be awkward around each other for a while, and having people accept Sasuke would take longer, but it could happen. And most importantly, they had time to make it happen.

"Sasuke," Sakura ventured, shifting away from him.

"Hm?" Sasuke murmured, fighting down the reaction to pull her back. A little restraint would be vital to future interactions with Sakura, unless he wanted to be on the receiving end of a restraining order. Not that she seemed to mind, he was the one who usually shied away from physical contact. Sasuke wondered vaguely how long the role reversal would last. He was pulled out of his musings by Sakura wringing her hands nervously.

"What?" He asked, giving her his full attention this time. She placed her hands on her lap resolutely and took a deep breath.

"I love you."

Sasuke absorbed this information nonchalantly. Sakura loved him. It sent a foreign prickle of excitement through him when she said it; he'd been offered that love on the night he left, and he had never truly suspected that he'd be offered it again. It was more than he deserved and he knew it. But he wanted it. For some unknown reason, she had seen fit to give him another chance, another chance to break her heart. He saw her eyes flick to him and then away just as nervously, waiting for his response. Suddenly it seemed very clear exactly what he wanted to say.

"Love you too." He replied, hesitating only a moment before leaning in to sweep her hair away from one shoulder and brush his almost-smiling lips against her neck.

It didn't seem like much time at all before Tsunade was ushering her out, making a show of doing so disapprovingly (though Sasuke thought she'd probably known that Sakura had snuck in long before), saying that it was 1am and visiting hours were far past over. But as other parts of the day faded with time, Sakura would always remember the moment Sasuke said, simply, as if it were obvious, that he loved her. Because in that instant, time had stopped, and no matter what rate it passed at later, that moment was engrained into her mind forever.

Fin

AN: The cheese... I'm sorry. Also sorry if I made Karin more annoying than she really is, I know she's perfectly capable when she isn't around Sasuke, I just didn't really get a chance to show that side of her in this. I wrestled with this chapter quite a while, trying to beat back the OOC, but as I said to a reviewer: Snarky Sasuke is easy to write, Lover-Boy Sasuke considerably less so. I hope that you managed to enjoy the story anyway.

Thanks for reading and to everyone who reviewed, convincing me that this isn't quite as crappy as I'd thought.