Chapter One: Aftermath

I had gotten used to him being gone.

But that didn't make it any easier.

I knew my friends had begun to see right through me, but I continued to smile anyway. It wasn't until the crisis of Hanabi Hyugga's disappearance that I began to wonder if he was ever coming back. While our team was strong, we could have used his help, and I feared if he would always be absent like this—just like when Pain attacked the village. Would Sasuke ever really be there again? Or was he just a ghost to us now?

When our team had returned to the village with Hinata and Hanabi, I had secretly hoped he would be there, but the emotion was conflicted. We were on our last breaths, and a part of me was as resentful as I was hopeful. It might not have been like this if he had been there. Even in the darkness, I could tell the village had sustained quite a bit of damage while we were away, but nothing like before. I had expected much worse, and my hope for Sasuke's presence returned. So much had happened, and I was just ready for it to be over.

I couldn't help but notice the way Naruto seemed to pull Hinata closer to him than he had to as he carried her. I had been able to stabilize her, but her leg was still broken due to my dangerously low chakra reserves. I myself had sustained a dangerous injury which I had only partially healed. There was still slight internal bleeding, but nothing that would kill me without proper treatment.

As we got deeper into the village, the people had begun to notice our return despite the late hour. They were coming out of their homes and shops, some crying, others cheering and yelling Naruto's name. Naruto himself still hadn't recovered from his battle with Toneri. It wasn't long before other shinobi noticed our presence.

Shikamaru barked orders out, calling for the Hokage and a team of medics to get his injured comrades to the hospital. I felt relief at the burden lifting from my shoulders. Everything was going to be okay.

Then, as the commotion unfolded around us, I noticed Naruto's chakra begin to dive. His determined scowl ebbed away, and I watched in horror as he began to fall. My eyes flew open as I tried to intercept his fall… he must have been funneling chakra into Hinata this whole time. I must not have healed her as well as I thought. How could I have missed it?

The alarm at Naruto's sudden fall was silenced by a collective gasp as Naruto's fall was halted by Sasuke Uchiha gripping the back of his uniform. Naruto's eyes fluttered back open, and his grip remained on the sleeping girl in his arms. He smiled faintly as he recognized his friend behind him.

"Thanks for that, Sasuke," he said.

"Hn."

Medical ninjas rushed to Naruto, taking Hinata from his arms and getting her to the hospital. Soon, Naruto was being taken too, and I felt such relief that they were okay. Sai was watching me with an unsure expression and I wondered what his problem was. Everything was fine now.

I glanced back to Sasuke, amazed at how much he had changed in just a few years. I knew my chakra was fading fast since I wasn't so focused on making sure everyone got back, but I didn't realize quite how fast until Sasuke vanished. I felt a moment of panic before I realized I was about to collapse, and felt him there behind me, holding me up. I turned my head and looked up at him, and found him looking down at me in quite a familiar way.

"Welcome home, Sasuke," I said, my eyes fluttering shut.

I heard him gasp and then a familiar angry tone from Tsunade-sama.

"Uchiha! Get her in here now!"

I faintly remembered Sasuke lifting me, but everything that came after was just black.

# # #

I leaned against the wall, my arms crossed and my eyes closed. This whole thing had been far too troublesome. You'd think after the war that this kind of thing wouldn't happen for at least another decade. But no, two years—that's all it took for the village to nearly get destroyed again.

I sighed and opened one eye just enough to get a glimpse of Sasuke. He appeared to be asleep, probably not much unlike myself, leaning against the opposite wall of the hospital. He looked like a homeless wandering shinobi who couldn't seem to figure out what exactly he should be doing now. Still, he had come back when the village needed him, and just like during the war, without him, we would all be goners. I suppose that said more than anything about him, but still, he got on my nerves.

If nothing else, it was obvious in the way he hadn't moved from outside Naruto and Sakura's rooms that he still cared about his old teammates. But he was making everyone around him nervous. Not five minutes ago a nurse had dropped a tray of syringes and antibiotics just because he had opened his eyes when she approached. I couldn't really blame her—he did look a little frightening with that Rinnegan in one eye. Still, he said nothing and just closed his eyes again as she scrambled to clean up the mess. No doubt he was used to that kind of reaction.

"Shikamaru!"

I groaned. Here came even more trouble than Sasuke.

"What's the status? Is Naruto Uzumaki going to make a full recovery?"

I turned my head and surveyed the headache that was Temari of the Sand.

"It's Naruto, of course he is going to be fine," I said.

She nodded once. "The Kazekage is meeting with the Hokage now. We came as quickly as we could, but in the end…"

She glanced at Sasuke uncertainly, but continued anyway. "In the end, there wasn't much we could do. It was Sasuke who kept the village from being completely destroyed. If he hadn't been here…"

I glanced at him again, wondering what exactly was going through his head now. "Yeah…"

"Uchiha!"

I cringed at the sound of Tsunade-sama's voice as she stalked down the corridor, her firm gaze focused on Sasuke. He opened his eyes in a narrowed, irritated way as she approached him, watching her with a sideways glare.

"We're putting your arm on now," she said.

Sasuke closed his eyes again. "No."

"No?" she shouted. "What do you mean, "no"?"

"Not until they wake up," he said as if it were obvious.

"That could be days," she said angrily. "I don't have time for this. We do it now, or you can figure it out yourself."

Just then, a certain shinobi's chakra flared to life, and all of us jerked with shock. Sasuke's eyes widened, but he didn't move. None of us did. It was so sudden it was alarming. Her chakra had come back so quickly it was unsettling.

"Is she really already…" Tsunade said, looking towards Sakura's open door.

The next moment, Sakura stood in the door of her hospital room, a familiar smile on her face. "Really, Tsunade-sama," she said. "Did you think Naruto would heal faster than me?"

She gaped at her. "That's remarkable, Sakura."

"Sasuke," she said, her features just as gentle as when she was a girl. "I'll stay with Naruto. Go with Tsunade-sama and let her fix your arm."

I watched in stupefied awe as Sasuke's expression relaxed and he nodded at her before he turned to Tsunade-sama. She raised her eyebrow at him as if annoyed and amused that he was actually listening to Sakura, and muttered, "Come on then," and headed back down the corridor from where she came.

Sasuke went along with her, and I turned back to Sakura and followed her into Naruto's room. Hinata watched us from her silent post in the corner, but she said nothing. Sakura nodded to her and approached Naruto's bedside. We were all still in our beat up clothes from our journey, but other than that, all of us were at full health now besides Naruto.

"How did you heal so fast, Sakura?" I asked.

She looked at Naruto for a moment, her face sad and worried before putting her hand over his forehead emanating a green glow of healing chakra. "It's a skill I had been trying to perfect for some time. Honing my chakra so that my unconscious mind could accelerate my healing process. An unconscious medical ninja is useless, and a rapid recovery is required to ensure the survival of the team."

Naruto's eyes fluttered open as Sakura's healing jutsu faded. He opened his eyes, staring up at Sakura.

"How's Hinata?" he asked immediately.

I glanced over at her. She had been sitting quietly in Naruto's room the entire time he was out. Tsunade had easily been able to patch her up, but Naruto and Sakura's injuries had been inflicted with Toneri's dangerous jutsu, making them more difficult to heal.

She stood up, tears brimming her eyes as she approached Naruto.

"Naruto," she said. "I'm so glad you are okay."

Naruto's face relaxed at the sight of her. "Hinata…"

I couldn't help but smile when Hinata started sobbing and threw her arms around him. I nodded at Temari and left the room, and Sakura followed, shutting the door behind her.

"Sheesh," I said, scratching my head. "That's a little heart-wrenching."

When I looked at Sakura, I saw a tear sliding down her cheek, but she wiped it away quickly.

"I'm going to see the Hokage," she said matter of factly. "He'll need a full report of what happened after we got separated, Shikamaru."

"Yeah…" I said, watching her uncertainly. "What about Sasuke?"

She paused, not looking at me. She knew what I meant. I watched as she bit her lip and her face tightened. "I don't know if he will stay. Just try to keep the others away from him. Not everyone will be glad to see him no matter what he has done. Let Naruto handle it."

I nodded and watched her walk away.

Temari snorted. "She's in love with him still, isn't she?"

I sighed, noticing the tension in her shoulders as she turned out of sight. "Yeah."

Please let me know what you think! I will be posting rapid updates until finished over the next week probably. This story will be as canon as I can make it-an envisioning of how Sasuke and Sakura came to be together. Please enjoy!

Find me on Tumblr at alaynaravenwood