A/N : THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO READ ^___^ SPECIAL THANK YOU'S TO: Black Kunai, Shkh4ever, HappinessIsSomething, Otakugal, NekoDoodle, Crescent-Vampiress, pink-strawberries, ICantRemberSodAll, the blanket, .Angel, Jacqulin, MiMiSora4EVR23, Heartbroken Confession, Livvy22, Shubhs, PC Princess Jad3, alayneni, MyinnerNINJA, Jupiter Pickels, SasuSaku Forever and Ever, shirayuki223, Cerma-chan, sharingan dream, Youko-Kuramas-Kitsune, Redenzione, siX-feet. , les-liaisons-dangereuses, xXKiri-chanXx, CrAzYaNiMeFrEaKgUrL, freak-4-God, Saffrie, lizzpercush, Chantrea Moonbeam, lil' Miss B, copperwind, sonia, Pandastacia, XxXKiyuuXxX, Christina, Ayure, pirateKitten11893, minniemousemom, TigerLilyette, muddyapplz, smos, HinaStar-The007, NekoAngel101, kissysakura, alanacrystal, LittleGreenWolf, Mashed Potato Queen, teqila shots, nickstorm, MelissaMichelle87, BellaPerea, sleepy, s, Mel, , Mai Sode no Shirayuki, winter's darkmoon, Bitch-with-Wit, asukasoad, kagomes heart, Jenazia, fanpire329, Mistyfire's Code is Secure, Berries-R-Blue, Matsuo Emi, Blue-Moon-Nights, burningflower, Ms. cinnamon, Rina Serubeyoru, Momiji Haruka, anxioustoread94, tallgirl20, hi, michico1243, BrokenSoul13, DivineSunSHiNE, queenofdarkness212, Snazzy Elle, PhantomSoul103, EndOfAllSanity, QuicksilverWitch, Shrix, LadyCarlie, Baiorin, Pink Kunai, abc123, leahuk, Broken-Bond, .O, qawashere, SakuFlame, darkreverie13, puggaddong, Mistyjet, Artic Ice, Eunjuice, xoxoklim, Rei Rae-chan, harryXmione12, MyUsedRomance, TheUn-POP-ableBubble, jess, kon_chibi, goonielove, .Imagination, cutecookiechick, x ir0ck, icinnamonx3, UchihaZeido5, kerapal bubbles, KittyKatKrack, Icecream Skittles Addict,

Phew *wipes sweat* Thanks to everybody who reviewed! You guys were all really supportive and friendly so I definitely thought you should be somewhere in here ^_^ If I missed anyone or miss spelled anything (No copy and pasting for this girl!) PM me and I'll fix it. Sorry for any errors in the actual text. I'm planning on going back and editting all the chapters for mistake once this is over :D

HOPE YOU ENJOY IT (...and go easy on me k? I've never written an epilogue before #_# )

Disclaimer: I don't own the Naruto characters! (But I wouldn't mind owning Naruto's body. *wiggles eyebrows*)

The Road To Recovery

~ Epilogue ~

Sakura rested her head in the palm of her hand as she worked silently on her paperwork. It was severely mundane work, but it needed to be done. She shook her head as her thoughts began to wander to places that hurt to visit.

It was already April. The cherry haired woman closed her eyes bitterly and put a hand to her forehead. A familiar tug pulled in her throat as she thought of Sasuke. A mixture of feelings swelled up in her and made her want to cry out. She felt anguish, for it had been so long since she had seen his face or heard his stupid grunts. She laughed when she considered following Neji around, simply to hear the classic "Hn" and feel a little less lonely.

She also felt a deep set worry. He never sent word back, and Sakura, though she almost always knew the answer would be no, had brought it up to her mentor and the Hokage. It started off casual. She'd walk in and subtly ask if Sasuke's team had been in touch recently. Gradually, however, as time passed it became a constant question and then a plea. It had gotten to the point where Sakura would just look at the Hokage for reassurance and would find none. It was terrible, knowing he was out there but not knowing if he was okay.

And then there was that buzzing, anxious excitement in the pit of her stomach. She'd been waiting and something told her that soon, he'd be back. The Uchiha she'd grown to know wasn't normally one to take his time. He had left at the beginning of September, when the leaves were just starting to change their colours and the air had just become crisp. By now it was the 28th of April. Eight months had already passed. He hadn't been there for their Winter festival and he missed Hanami which was a particularily special time for Sakura considering her name sake.

God she wanted him home.

And of course, there was her temper. The undeniable anger swelling in her chest. It was so unfair that the moment he was her's, he was forced away from her for almost a year. Someone up there was fascinated with playing sick jokes on her. Although, besides the constant void in her life, the past few months had been relatively average. Nothing out of the ordinary had taken place and it made Sakura a tad bit nostalgic for the hectic and insane life her trusted list had created for her.

Sakura winced when she realized that she'd gotten lost in her mind again. The paperwork was piling up and she really needed to get it done or else she'd no doubt be trying to catch up far into the night. She finally resigned and willed herself to forget about her horrid love life situation.

She almost missed being technically "single". Because she had forgotten how much it hurt to miss someone. Then she began to wonder if she could really be considered as "taken."

'In reality, we only kissed a couple times before he left and we haven't seen each other since...Is that the same as being single...? When you still spend your nights alone? When you still don't have someone to share everything with...? Do I really...belong to him?'

Sakura groaned and allowed her head to fall onto the desk with a loud thunk. Thinking so much while trying to focus on two different things was quite difficult and she was beginning to give herself a headache.

Officially her most unproductive work day in a while. After trying to force herself to sign a few forms, Sakura gave up and decided to take an early break and walk around the hospital garden. A few minutes of clear air would give her enough time to comtemplate the whole Sasuke-issue so that by the time she was finished, she would be able to concentrate.

Sakura pushed away from her desk and meandered into the hallway, heading for the elevator.

"Sakura!" came a familiar voice from down the hallway. "S-Sakura!" Sakura turned around curiously.

"Shizune-san? What is it...? Is there something wrong?" The pink haired girl stared at her in concern.

"Um-No not exact- Well...it's Lady Tsunade. She found the sake and now she's- well you understand how she gets." Sakura rolled her eyes and nodded. She knew all too well. Often she felt a bit sorry for Shizune, considering she was usually the one to deal with the aftermath. Even now, her tone was dripping with exasperation.

"So I was just wondering if you could take some of my patients. I wouldn't normally ask but I just can't take them today. I just can't do it."

Sakura thought about it for a split second. Though her garden run would be postponed, she could still take her mind off the Uchiha. Focusing on something else like other people in need of help would definitely allow her to drift away from her problems.

"Of course. I really don't mind." She said with a smile

"Thank you! I can't stand it when she does this to me." Shizune said ruefully. "If you want I'll help you out with some paper work, in case this puts you behind. But I've got to run! The folders are at the front desk so just ask the receptionist. Lord knows what she's been doing or getting herself into while I've been here. Thanks again!" She called over her shoulder as she began to quickly shuffle away. The woman was left standing there amused. It really wasn't like Shizune to be so curt, but she could just imagine the trouble the Godaime had gotten into.

Sakura sighed and breifly remembered that she had just agreed to take on a batch of patients and it was better if she didn't leave them waiting. She tucked her hands into the pockets of her lab and made her way to the desk near the front of the floor, near the elevators.

She thanked the receptionist kindly for giving the files to her and checked her watch, realizing that she was due in the first patient's ward in a few minutes. Nodding a final time at the girl at the desk, Sakura walked distractedly towards the first examination room. Sakura paused for a moment, and drew in a sharp breath, her eye widening.

She could have sworn she'd felt a very familiar aura for the smallest of seconds. She reached out her hand and paused before she opened the door. An extremely foreboding feel crept into her heart.

'What if he's actually...?' She thought as she slowly wrapped her fingers around the door handle. Excitement took a hold of her because she was almost postive that she'd felt the dark feeling that accompanied the Uchiha... Her heart was beating in her ears and she tried to hold back a smile. What if he was behind this very door? Finally, after so long, he was back from Amegakure.

'Oh my God.'

Exhaling, she turned the knobs and thrust the door open into the starkly white room.

And there he was...

Her seventy-four year old senile diabetic patient with a flare for groping and an unhealthy obsession with her breasts. He was back again for a check up and Sakura felt her face fall and she twitched, irritated and severely disappointed. A sigh escaped her lips before she could help it. Definitely not the man she was expecting.

She was going insane.

"Mr. Takahashi. Hi." She drawled out with false cheer, a large fake smile plastered to her features.

The woman could have sworn that something achingly familiar had echoed through the hospital. She just wasn't expecting the achingly familiar aura to be this man's. Wishful thinking had erased all common sense. Sakura groaned inspite of herself. How cruel. The man had been her patient before, until she'd demanded that he be transfered due to the inhumain sexual harassement she endured everytime he came by.

Once again, she cursed the person in the sky that continued the barrage of twisted pranks on her.

The cherry blossom woman was forced to suffer through a twenty minute check up of the old timer, pushing aside his flabby and wrinkled skin to examine all the normal body parts. All the while gently prying his hands from her backside and her chest as he copped several feels.

It was like being raped by her grandfather. She gasped in a deep breath the moment his examination was over and burst into the hallway, feeling the creepy crawlies all over her body. She could still feel the ghost of his bony hands clasping her chest.

Gagging she moved onto the next patients, all thoughts of Sasuke's return jammed out of her mind by sheer revulsion. An hour and twenty minutes later, Sakura had already successfully healed a teary girls broken arm and prescribed a young boy an inhaler for his asthma attacks. Her last patient was an injured chuunin with a deep and painful kunai wound in his right shoulder and a large gash on his shin.

By the end of it all, she was drained but satisfied. The medic only had one more patient left to treat. She entered the room and quickly turned around to examine the file behind the door on a cliboard.

"Hello sir, could you please tell me your name and reason for your visit?" She asked politely. The woman was busy at the counter washing her hands. When she received no answer she growled, her temper flaring.

"Okay, not meaning to be rude but I've just had a really long, disappointing day and I'd really appreciate some cooperation. Some effort on your part would make the Chakra drain and the severe groping I've just endured slightly more bearable-" Sakura muttered, more to herself than the patient before wheeling around, impatient.

Sakura's files slipped to the floor and the board they were attached to clattered loudly.

"Oh my God." She gasped. Tears were beginning to appear behind her eyes. She choked back a happy sob and felt her hand fly to her mouth to muffle her cries, tightly closing her eyes.

He was finally home.

"Sasuke." She breathed out. Sasuke, who'd been lying motionless on the bed sprung up immediately at the sight of her and launched towards her small form. Together they managed to land themselves in a highly awkward embrace.

Sakura had moved forwards lighting fast to pounce on him on the bed while the man in front of her had flown up and was about to push her up against the wall and ravish her. Instead they collided in the middle and ended up entangled together in the center of the room.

But they didn't really care. Sakura buried her face into his chest and cried there for a moment, laughing simultaneously. Sasuke tightly held her body to him and basked in the feeling. He could hear her muffled babblings in his chest but he couldn't focus on anything but the reality surrounding him. Home at last.

The last words he heard her choke out were "God I missed you" before he tilted her head up and slammed his lips to hers. He wouldn't say it, but he had missed her too. His hands made their way upwards to her head and he cradled her head and pressed it even closer to his, seeking more contact. Her soft hair twirled around his fingers and their kiss deepened. It had been way, way too long since they'd seen each other. Sakura moaned lightly and coiled her arms around his back and hugged him. She'd been slightly worried how they would be when they were reunited...About whether or not their last meeting would make this day awkward or uncomfortable. But as they broke their kiss and Sakura looked directly into his dark eyes, she shivered and smiled brilliantly as she regained her breath. Nothing had changed. Her feelings were completely the same as the day she'd run after him.

"I'm so happy you're back." She mumbled as he pushed her backwards and joined their lips once again. Sakura felt her back hit the door of the examination room and she smiled as she brought her hand up to his hair and ran her fingers through it. Sasuke pulled his hand away from it's place at her waist and flipped the lock on the door before returning it.

He didn't want anything spoiling this.

Sakura laughed and Sasuke took it as an oppurtunity to bury his head in the crook of her neck and breathe in everything about her. The woman closed her eyes and leaned her head on his and did the same with him. And in that moment, when they just held each other, every single one of Sakura's doubts about their relationship dissolved.

She was most definitely taken. Because whether she liked it or not, she undeniably belonged to this man.

Suddenly Sasuke head jerked upwards as though he had just remembered something. He glared at her and searched her eyes.

"What did you say about a groping...?" He hissed through his teeth. Sakura's face light up and she began to giggle uncontrollably. Sasuke's glare intensified, as did the grip he had on her waist. Sakura just shook her head and pressed her lips to his in a soft and gentle kiss. He was back.

Finally.

***

~Two Years And Sixty Four Days Later~

"Those jerky little fangirls- Argh!" Sakura stormed into the large Uchiha home and tossed her things in a heap on the floor. She slammed the door behind her and the force of it made it bounce back open. Sakura muttered a few curses before returned and jamming it back shut. She stomped into the living room and plopped on the end of the couch, mumbling darkly to herself.

On the other end of the couch sat a dark haired Anbu who was concentrating hard on a scroll in front of him, he didn't even accknowledge the clearly murderous Kunoichi beside him.

Sakura huffed and sprung back off the couch and tromped up the steps loudly, making it difficult for the man to ignore her. He sighed and rolled his eyes. Sakura returned a moment later carrying a notebook and a pen. As she walked around the back of the couch, she smacked the man in the back of the head with the thin pad of paper with mutterings of "It's all your fault, stupid Uchiha."

She reclaimed her previous place at the couch and began writing furiously.

Sasuke sighed and turned to look at her with a dull expression.

"Sakura."

"Sasuke." She grumbled as she continued to write.

"What's wrong." He ordered. He wasn't particularily concerned with his girlfriend's antics. Everyone knew she could get angry easily.

"Nothing." She said distractedly as her pencil moved frantically across the page.

"Sakura."

She heaved a large sigh and threw her project onto the table in front of them. "You're stupid fangirls. God I'm so sick of being harrassed Sasuke!" She threw up her hands in the air to emphasize her point.

He growled and turned back to his scroll. "Che. You don't think I know that?" He said bitterly. It had been years and year that he'd had to put up with the leagues of annoying women flocking after him.

"I could just-" She screwed up her hand into a tight fist and let out a frustrated yell.

"I swear there are only three ways to get rid of them for good." She said as she flopped from her sitting postion into a laying one, with her legs hanging over the side of the furniture.

"And?" He gave her an expectant glance from the corner of his eye. She smirked when she saw his quirked eyebrow. She was probably bothering him, but she was too angry to consider that right now.

"Well..." She said innocently as she held up three fingers. "The first way would be to give them exactly what they want. We could end this and then they would stop pestering me as long as I agreed to never see you again." She said seriously.

Sasuke wasn't impressed with this idea. "Not likely, Sakura." He said.

She furrowed her eyebrows angerly and sat up, turning her torso to look at him dead on. "Not likely? But it's still a possiblity?!" Sasuke lazily turned to meet her gaze. Suddenly, memories of her going out with Kiba and flirting with other guys flashed into his mind. He scowled and grabbed her chin and brought her face to his, giving her a fierce kiss.

"No." He growled as he turned back to his scroll and began to read again.

Sakura could feel a slight smile light her features at the fact that he was so possesive of her. Then she turned back around and settled back into her comfy postion once again. She suddenly remembered her train of thought.

"Well then that leaves only two options." She said matter of factly. "Honestly, the only way they are going to give up is if we get married and make it official, or I make another list and follow it step by step until they don't have the energy to fight for you anymore." Sakura spoke as though she were joking. She had added the marriage bit in there just to make him squirm.

Sasuke smirked as he stared at the scroll that he was pretending to examine. "Only one way to find out." He said without any expression. Sakura looked upwards and studied his face before a bright smile light her features.

"So you approve of the whole list thing! Perfect." Sakura sat back up and tore the abandoned paper that was lying on the table off the pad . She grabbed the paper and began to write again. Sasuke whirled his head around and if he'd been anyone but the Uchiha his eyes would have expanded widely.

Not again.

He lunged towards her and pinned her to the couch and glared at her. Sakura opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing, but he smashed his lips down onto hers once more and pried her lips open with his tongue. Several seconds later, as their mouths reattached themselves again, he grabbed the list from her figners and crumpled it into a tiny sphere. He pulled away and chucked it across the room. Before chastely pecking her lips again and mutteing ruefully against her lips between kisses.

"No...More...Lists...Sakura."

Sakura began to laugh and spared a glance at the picture frame on their wall, containing a worn, crinkled, yet very special piece of paper. She could no longer contain her giggles and she buried her face into his neck, laughed. Sasuke himself allowed a small chuckle to escape his lips. One of very few that he let slip past his stoic exterior.

Together, the couple just lay there contentedly, enjoying the moment when Sakura spoke up.

"But um...Sasuke?" The man looked up from his postion in the crook of her neck and looked at her. The woman giggled nervously and pecked his lips sweetly.

"About the whole...list thing.." He narrowed his eyes and emitted a low growl in the back of his throat.

Sakura pulled him into a loving kiss before mumbling against his lips and laughing at his expression.

"I may or may not have....already...started another."

Oh sweet God. Not. Again.

~The~

"Ne? Sasuke?!"

A grunt

"Y-you said that the list thing was out, so that- that only leaves one...-"

A glimpse from the corner of the eye

"Y-you're not-Does th-this mean that- y-you're...You know?"

A smirk.

"Oh God you are! Oh my-!!"

A kiss.

~End~

A/N: Hahahaha okay well I'm in a good mood. Because this story is officially over!!! ^_^ The epilogue was pretty short amd really different from the rest of the story, I'll admit, but it was kind of supposed to mirror the prologue. Plus there was no list for guidance XD XD

I hope you like it, but after so many months, no offense or anything...but I like it so whether or not you're happy with it, I am :D I'm just glad it's done! :D :D :D WOOT!!!! I FINISHED IT! Now the ending is pretty open cause I'm CONSIDERING a possible sequel. Who knows? *shrugs* Let me know if you'd like to read another story or if you'd rather read a completely new concept!! PLEASE REVIEW! I'd love to hear from you guys!

AAAAAAAND last and least (didn't think it was possible for that to happen till now XD ). I'm going to be taking a break from writing for a while. My sister just had her baby this morning (IT'S A GIRL :D ) and I've got some other stuff happening in my life right now. SO I'm kind of on a mini hiatus I guess. But I'll be back

SO THANK YOU FOR READING :D :D :D *hugs *