"Sakura, wait, I think someone's at the door."

Naruto snickered; they hadn't heard him until now. He heard Sasuke stand up – they must have been in the middle of dinner – but Naruto ran around the corner before Sasuke could get far.

"I'm back!" he shouted as he jumped into Sakura's kitchen. Wow, had he missed them. Seeing Sakura and Sasuke again felt fantastic.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled joyously. "You're back!" She jumped up from her seat and ran over to hug him.

"Aa, it's you," Sasuke commented in a rather mellow tone. Naruto gave him a huge grin; he knew Sasuke was glad he was back.

"Hold on," Sakura skeptically broke the serenity. "How did you get in my apartment, Naruto?"

Naruto winced as her brow furrowed and she put her hands on her hips, looking him up and down thoroughly.

He laughed nervously. "Well, you know, Sakura-chan, it's just a little talent I picked up . . . around." He smiled childishly. "I didn't damage the lock," he reassured. "Everything's in perfect order."

Sakura restrained herself from hitting him. "It was a nice surprise, but I'd prefer you never do it again," she warned him.

Changing the subject, Naruto exclaimed, "Ooh, are you having dinner?" though he had already noticed the food that was sitting on the table.

Sasuke nodded while Sakura huffed and asked if he was hungry.

Naruto laughed nervously again. "No, I'm fine, thank you," he replied as a hand automatically went to scratch the back of his head.

Sakura just let it go, but Sasuke watched his friend a little longer and suddenly noticed confirmation for Naruto's behavior. "Naruto, are you blushing?" Sasuke interrogated as a smirk crept onto his face.

Sakura whipped around and began giggling. "Naruto, why are you blushing? What happened?"

"N—, nothing," Naruto stammered poorly. They didn't need to know. Sakura might understand, but Sasuke would find it dull. On second thought, though, maybe Sasuke had changed. Maybe he would understand – a little bit – too.

"Naruto, we're not letting this go until you tell us," Sakura insisted.

"Maybe not even then," Sasuke quietly added as he took a seat on the couch, getting comfortable.

"Fine," Naruto pouted, crossing his arms across his chest. "I ran into Hinata-chan on the way here."

"Ah, Hinata! It's good to see you!"

"Naruto-kun! Um, it's good to see you, too. How are you?"

"Never better! I just got back in from a mission so I'm really glad to be back home."

"That's great. Did your mission go well?"

"Not too bad. A little rough here and there, but it was successful. What have you been up to?

"And . . . what else happened? That's not enough of a reason for your reaction," Sakura prodded.

"Heh, well, we talked for a little bit . . . and then we grabbed a quick bite to eat," Naruto rushed through the last half of his sentence. "That's all." He stared at the corner where the wall met the floor and kept his eyes there.

"That sounds like a lot of fun, Hinata."

"It has been. But, uh, right now I was just going to have some dinner."

"Oh, that's real nice. Are you meeting Kiba and Shino?"

"No . . . I was just going by myself."

"It's rarely fun eating alone . . . Would you mind if I joined you? I haven't eaten since before noon so I'm starving."

"Are– are you sure, Naruto-kun?"

"Ahem, well, if you don't mind, I mean."

"No, it's okay. Um, where would you like to go?"

Sakura began to snicker, but then cut herself off and smiled widely. "That's great, Naruto. Was it fun?"

"Yea," Naruto replied, feeling calmer about what had happened and letting his teammates in on it. He smiled softly. "It was really nice."

"Don't tell me you ate at Ichiraku?" Sakura questioned.

"We did," Naruto told her matter-of-factly. He knew how Sakura and Sasuke – and most of Konoha for that matter – viewed his need for Ichiraku ramen, but that couldn't balance out his love for it.

Sakura ran a hand through her hair. "You do realize it was a date, right, Naruto?" she told him, raising her voice slightly.

"You don't have to say it out loud, Sakura-chan," Naruto told her quietly. "And besides," he defended himself, "I hadn't had Ichiraku all week. Of course I needed to go. You should be glad; if I hadn't gone tonight, then I would've made you both go with me tomorrow."

"Fine," Sakura waved it off. "Just make sure you ask her where she wants to go next time."

"Wow . . . there will be a next time . . ." Naruto realized, spacing out. He had really enjoyed talking with Hinata. If he admitted it, he realized he had even starting to like her. And as far as he knew, her feelings hadn't changed since before they were teenagers. Just thinking of being able to go to restaurants and other places with Hinata more made him feel a cross between giddy and warmly solemn.

"Oops. Sorry, Sasuke. I didn't mean to make you jealous," Naruto joked, trying to cover up the fact that he had spaced out. Naruto was interested to see how Sasuke was reacting to circumstances, too. He knew Sakura still loved Sasuke, so . . .

"Don't worry. I don't plan on ever being jealous of you."

"Alright, alright," Sakura appeased. "Naruto just got back. Let's not start this so soon. Let's finish dinner, Sasuke-kun."

"Sure," Sasuke agreed and the three of them sat at the table.

"So how did your week go?" Naruto asked nonchalantly. He propped his chin up in his palm and watched the two of them eat.

Sakura looked over at Sasuke before answering, but Sasuke continued eating without giving any indication he had heard the question. "It was nice. Low key. We trained a lot. That's it."

Naruto wondered if it was really as boring as Sakura had made it seem. "How did the week go, Sasuke?" he asked, directly addressing the other party.

Sasuke put his chopsticks down and glanced over at Naruto, clearly inconvenienced at being re-asked a question that already had an answer. "Sakura was right. It was a nice week. We trained a lot and did some other stuff. It was good," he concluded.

He still wondered if it was really that uneventful, but Naruto let the matter slide. At least both of them seemed happy with how things had turned out.

"How did your mission go?" Sakura asked, turning the question onto him.

"It was great! I mean, not as good as if you guys were with me, but it was still pretty good. I was working with this guy, Yazuku Nieya, who could be really boring at times. Generally he didn't talk a lot and kind of just stood there. Sometimes he wasn't bad, though. And then we finally got to the Land of Noodles and I obviously wanted to go to a ramen shop for dinner but he said we had to camp outside the city and I was so angry at him. But the next day we met with the Daimyo, Chikara, and it took him forever to see us but finally he did. And he looks hilarious! He's this huge fat guy with these long eyelashes and the ugliest haircut and I was trying to explain to him what happened on our mission with the portal-thing and I don't know if I said anything wrong but he got really angry at one point but I think I ended up fixing it. I think he understood in the end. So then Nieya and I started our journey back and it was really boring. He seemed mad at me for something and was trying to explain something about diplomatic relations to me but I already knew everything he was saying so it was a little annoying. I was glad to be rid of him when we got back to Konoha. And that's it; that was my mission."

"Could you ramble any faster, Naruto?" Sasuke joked sarcastically.

Naruto stuck out his tongue. "Got a problem with how I speak, Sasuke?"

"Often," he replied mildly, not pausing from eating.

Naruto smiled. It was good to be back. He had really missed this.

It was nice to see Naruto again. The three of them talked long after the food from dinner was gone. They had talked about the past, about Kakashi, about the war, about having a huge get together with the rest of the Konoha eleven, about things down the road, and about little random topics that didn't mean much to anyone but themselves.

Sakura felt the little glow in her heart begin to warm her up.

She hadn't noticed the time pass, but she soon realized that the sun was deep beneath the horizon and the sky was shifting to black.

Not long after, Naruto began growing quieter and his eyelids gradually drooped.

Naruto finally interrupted her and Sasuke's discussion. "Sorry, guys, but I'm getting a little tired. I think I'm done for the day."

"Oh, sorry, Naruto. Of course you should—"

"Wait, Naruto," Sasuke cut her off. "You can't go to bed yet."

Naruto looked puzzled. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

Sasuke looked down and stared at his hands in his lap. Sakura wondered what he had to say. He seemed to be struggling for words.

"There was something I wanted to do tonight," he explained.

Sakura exchanged glances with a suddenly wide awake Naruto. They both waited for Sasuke to continue.

After a minute, Sasuke looked up, looked Naruto in the eye, then looked Sakura in the eye, and finally stared straight ahead.

In a quiet voice he told them, "I was thinking I'd like to try to sleep at my house tonight."

Sasuke had been through an incredible amount of trauma. It had broken him down, but it had also strengthened many parts of him.

But standing there, in front of his old home with his two teammates on his left and on his right, he felt like shaking. Nausea kicked in and a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Naruto asked him for the sixth time since the idea was proposed, firmly placing a hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke choked out something that not even he was sure was a yes or a no.

The quiet, calming, reflective week he was spent with Sakura had given him time and motive to think a lot of things through. The idea of trying to move back into his old home, even very gradually, popped into his mind. He immediately didn't like the idea of it and brushed it away. But the next day, he thought about it again, thoroughly. Each day he spent a little time trying to convince himself that he could maybe try it. He needed to have one of his teammates with him anyway, but he definitely would wait for Naruto's return. More people would surely be welcome if he really was to try to enter that building again.

There were thousands of happy memories he had lived there. He had some negative memories there as well, mostly arguments between his father and Itachi. But that one evening was the most horrifying memory to take place in the walls of that house. If that had been it, Sasuke may have been able to return sooner. But with the knowledge about Itachi's true intentions and feelings on top of everything, the memories and emotions that place would force him to feel were too muddled and powerful.

Yet, if he ever was to enter, let alone live there again, he would have wanted both Naruto and Sakura to be there, too. Naruto understood him in ways no one else could, but that wouldn't be enough. He needed the subconscious, steadying assurance Sakura emitted when she was around him.

It was odd to admit about both of them, but – being honest with himself – that was how it was.

In an almost catatonic-like state, Sasuke walked up to the front door. Tugging it gently, he found it to be unlocked. The three of them made their way to the house's central room. The sun was setting, making the room difficult to visualize clearly, but Sasuke didn't need to. He knew it so well. Seeing it again, Sasuke shivered violently and his shallow breaths came rapidly.

He heard someone on his right step forward and he knew Sakura was about to try to support him; he probably looked about ready to collapse.

Finding his voice before she was able to make contact with him, he told them as firmly as he could manage, "I just need to stand here for a while."

He was asking for space. Time.

Sasuke could hear Naruto and Sakura step to a corner behind him and set down their bedrolls, the only things they had brought with them. They sat silently, and though Sasuke could feel the heat of their worried gazes, he closed his eyes and opened his senses. He could feel the vibes that emanated from the wood and the metal and the dust. The house was no longer supplied with electricity, but that wasn't important. He didn't plan on leaving that one room tonight, but if he went back later, he would have no trouble finding his way around. Despite how long he had been away, it had been his home.

He stood in that spot, feeling and remembering.

Her dream shifted scenes.

During the time he was away, she had only heard about and seen Sasuke with long gaps between. She never imagined he'd be evil, but when he told her to kill Karin, it was a stunningly large gap from what she had known Sasuke to be. The scary thing was that it had matched his air at the time, making the realization and feeling exponentially worse.

Her dream shifted scenes again. Lightning and blood. It continued, going on and on until she suddenly realized she was being shaken awake.

"Sakura! Sakura, wake up!"

Finally coming to, she could tell in the dim moonlight that Sasuke had her by the shoulders, shouting in her face and Naruto kneeled worriedly at her side.

"Sorry," she apologized quickly. "I was just dreaming."

"You were screaming," Sasuke corrected, his voice coming close to cracking.

"Oh," she whispered, feeling ashamed. "I'm sorry I woke you up," she told them after a moment. She had expected them to leave it at that, but Sasuke didn't let her go.

"What was your nightmare about?" he pushed.

Her eyes widened slightly. There was no way she was telling him her nightmare had been about his past self. She would have felt awful. "Nothing," she lied.

"Sakura," Sasuke exhaled sharply, forcibly trying to calm himself. "What was you nightmare about?"

"Nothing," she insisted a little more angrily, defensively. Her groggy mind was racing, trying to figure out why Sasuke would be acting so unusual.

"Sakura!" He gripped her arms tighter, beginning to shake her almost, making her cower from him. There was something wild and desperate in his eyes and the way he was acting stirred up an emotion she hadn't felt around him before: fear. "What did you dream about? Just tell me!" he shouted.

"You! Alright?" she yelled angrily, leaning towards his face in a heat of the moment reaction. "I dreamt about you!"

Sasuke loosened his grip on her arms. "What?" he whispered, immediately stunned.

The momentary outburst of passion left her and she muttered to the side, avoiding looking at him, "I had a nightmare about you, in the past."

Sasuke didn't know what to say, that much was obvious, and Sakura instantly regretted giving in and telling him.

He had woken to Sakura screaming, screams that were mixed in with whimpers and Sasuke knew instantly what was taking place; he was the one who often suffered from unending, hellish nightmares, himself. His heart racing, he sprang from his bedroll just as Naruto was starting to move as well. Something came over him and he shook Sakura awake more desperately than he had intended to.

And then, somehow, the pain etched on her face made him need to find out what had gone wrong. Maybe if they knew, then they could help. As far as he knew, Sakura didn't suffer from nightmares like he did; this should be avoidable.

He, he argued, was past help.

Yet, there was an emotion that built slowly inside as Sakura kept denying that anything significant had occurred in her dream, an emotion he couldn't place. Maybe it was happening because he had allowed himself to delve into his memories and emotions that evening, but he didn't give any thought to it.

His heartbeat was rapid up until that point, and then it stopped for a moment. His mind, instead, raced. Him? Things he had done in the past? Logically, it made sense. It was not unreasonable that what he had done would give her nightmares down the road.

But hearing it, living it with her when it had happened, reached him like it wouldn't have otherwise. Part of it was the realization of the far-reaching repercussions of actions, part of him was still completely justifying the deeds he imagined she dreamed about, and somewhere among the whirr of thoughts he felt guilty, if for nothing else, then at least for that one nightmare.

"Sasuke-kun, listen to me," Sakura pleaded. "I don't blame you. I'm not angry at you." Little she was saying was registering in his mind. He tried to force himself to grasp it, though. "I'm sorry I had the dream! But anything I dreamed about was in the past. Things are better now! I'm okay," she insisted loudly, trying to make him understand.

He sat in front of her, still loosely holding onto her arms, his heart rate returning to a more regular pace and his mind now processing everything since he had been woken up. Presently, he let go of her slowly. "I see." She was fine. Why had he gotten so worked up? It was instinct, but slightly irrational. "Are you sure?" he asked, cautiously, but more reservedly.

She nodded.

He was still heavily bothered by the fact that she had had the nightmare, but there was nothing he could really do. "Hn." He shuffled back towards his bedroll and Naruto seemed to wake from a trance – he had kneeled in wide-eyed silence throughout the entire ordeal.

"Try to get some more sleep, Sakura-chan," he comforted, giving her a warm hug before returning to bed.

"Thanks, Naruto." She then turned to face Sasuke. "Please don't take it the wrong way, Sasuke-kun. If I had control over my dreams, those are not the moments I'd be dreaming of. I'm sorry it happened, but it's all fine."

"I get it, Sakura," he reassured in a closed off tone. "Goodnight."

". . . Goodnight," was the hesitantly whispered reply he received.

Sasuke stayed up long past his teammates, the time ticking away without end or care for who it affected. He mused absent-mindedly, sifting through the infinite list of items on his list of issues to figure out. One thing in particular kept returning to the forefront of his thoughts, however. An emotion, one he was hesitant to name.

a/n: I am really sorry for posting late, but to make up for it, I'll post the final chapter earlier.

Here's the complicated thing. I am working on a oneshot, and I think it would be perfect as the ending to this story. So, instead of posting a final chapter to this story, I will be posting a new story "Everything Falls Into Place" in a day or two. I have it all written, I just need to do some final edits and touch ups. So you can all just find my author page and get access to the final installment of this story.

Everything Falls Into Place is made to stand on its own, but it's just doubling as an conclusion to The Scouting Mission.

I cannot thank you all enough for going through this story with me! Thank you SO MUCH for all your support, critiques, and views. I had a wonderful experience writing this and if any of you are interested to hear more from me, I have quite a few ideas for oneshots that I hope to post.

Also, for anyone's who's interested, this story hit 185 pages on Microsoft Word (way more than I had ever dreamed).

Thank you thank you thank you, and please stick around for the ending. :) Any last chance reviews or favorites or whatevers would be exceedingly appreciated.