Hello!

Is it just me or is any (probably every) Sasusaku fan curious about what the hell happens during the dubbed 'blank period' between Naruto the last, the shindens, and Boruto the movie? Like seriously, when and how do Sasuke and Sakura get married, and conceive Sarada? That cheeky Kishi… I'm sure he knows.

Anyway, I've had this idea swirling around in my little head for a while, so I thought I would finally write them down in story form! Also, is anyone else freaking excited about the new Boruto anime ending and the fact that they are animating gaiden?

I don't plan on this being super long, maybe up to ten chapters in total, but I hope you will read and enjoy it!

Under the Rising Spring

His journey of redemption was far from over, but he knew that she was a part of it. Perhaps he had been away long enough. After all, she had been waiting for him all this time, and he wasn't afraid to be involved anymore.

Chapter I: Homecoming

'You know Sasuke, Sakura still talks about you. We were just talking about how you are still protecting the village even though you aren't here. She made a funny comment about how you were like a one-man police force, and how she remembered when you were younger, you wanted to join the Konoha police force! How did –'

Sasuke looked up at the sky. She really still remembered that? A small smile graced is dark features. Maybe he had been away from the village long enough.

He wasn't afraid to be involved anymore.

He changed course, heading towards Konohagakure.

Long eyelashes fluttered open, revealing bright emerald green iris's beneath them as the bright rays of the sun illuminated a pink haired kunoichi's face, beckoning the sleeping young woman to stir from her slumber. Sakura brought an arm over her face, not quite wanting to wake up yet. She was dreaming about him again.

Sighing and willing herself to wake up and forget the pleasant fantasy world of her slumber, Sakura stretched out her limbs as she beckoned her body to awaken. She swung her feet over the edge of her bed, staring straight at her messy bathroom in front of her, thinking that a shower should help her get moving for the day.

She had a long shift awaiting her at the hospital today. Still feeling exhausted in general, she lazily thought that maybe she was overworking herself a little bit. After all, her and Ino were well into a year of their Children's mental clinic opening, and when she wasn't at the mental clinic, she was taking long shifts at the hospital. She was in high demand after all, being known as one of the best medical nin in the ninja world. Her healing skills were next to none save her master Tsunade's, but even so it was speculated that her skills had even surpassed hers.

It had been almost three years now since Sasuke had left. Sakura was nearing twenty, her birthday always coming in the first of Spring after winter has finally loosened it's grasp. It was fairly warm for a February morning. Sakura had grown maybe two inches in height, but not like Naruto. He had shot up like a weed, now towering over her short form. Her rosette pink hair had been kept short (but shorter than Sasuke had probably last seen it) like it had been for the past few years. It laid more straight and flat, her bangs grown out and softly swept to the left side. Her ninja gear was a red one piece, reminiscent of her genin days, the fabric coming mid thigh with slits up to her hips and a high collar with white trim. It was sleeveless, and she wore a wide black belt wrapped around her torso with it. She also wore short black tights that were also mid thigh length, and pink elbow and knee protectors. She bandaged her right thigh where she had a kunai pouch strapped, and standard ninja sandals with a small heel.

Looking at the time and realizing that her shift started in ten minutes, she quickly grabbed a soldier pill swallowing it down quickly as they never tasted all that great and slipped on her sandals. She told herself (probably in vain) she was going to eat a real meal at some point today, before hastily slipping out her apartment door and locking it behind her.

Konoha hospital was as busy as ever. The moment Sakura stepped foot into the building that had been destroyed and rebuilt after Pein's attack, the smell of alcohol and disinfectant invaded her senses in a strong wave. In a weird way though, the familiar smell relaxed Sakura as this setting was completely in her element. Medic ninja were running about, greeting Sakura as they passed by heading to their duties. She knew Shizune who had been on the graveyard shift would be on the third floor, so she immediately headed up that way. Her own office was on the same floor as well. Her heels clacked loudly on the steps as she went one step at a time up to the next floor.

"Ah! Sakura-chan! You're here!" Shizune excitedly greeted. For having worked a graveyard shift, she was way too energetic Sakura thought. "A three man squad just got back from a mission. No major injuries, so they will just need the standard health assessment." Way to get right down to business. Clearly Shizune was glad to pass on this duty to Sakura immediately.

"Morning Shizune-san. I will go and take a look at them in a moment then." Sakura replied, heading for her office. Sakura's office was nothing special in particular, being fairly small in size. She had small wooden desk that was completely covered in papers, a book shelf over filled with various medical knowledge to the right along the wall, and a small sofa along the wall closest to the entrance that was far to small to sleep on, but she often found herself napping on it anyway. Her favorite thing about her office was the nice big window in the back behind her desk, and her white medical coat hung by the entrance of the door. She gave her office a quick glance over, noticing it was just as messy as she had left it and grabbed her white coat, ready to head down to the second floor to perform the health assessments for the ninja team Shizune had just informed her of. She gave Shizune a quick wave goodbye as she slipped passed her office.

Arriving on the second floor, she headed straight to the receptionist desk to grab the medical records she would need. The receptionist was crescent in shape, and was decorated much the same as the other floor, being white in color and decorated with small plants and news magazines.

"Ah! Haruno-san! Good morning!" A dark haired woman greeted.

"Nanami-san! Good morning!" Sakura chimed back, trying to sound a little more lighthearted than she felt. Nanami had clearly known Sakura was coming and had already gotten medical records together neatly clipped to a clipboard.

"Here are the medical records for the team that just checked in." Nanami said, holding the clipboard out for Sakura to take. Nodding, Sakura softly grabbed the records out of the receptionists hand. Sakura was not particularly acquainted with Nanami, but she could always rely on her to do her job, and enjoyed the light and polite conversations they did have. Nanami was a simple girl, but in some ways, Sakura envied the way she would talk about her boyfriend. He would even show up with flowers sometimes for their special days and occasions.

She turned her heel, giving Nanami a grin before heading towards room two where the three male ninja were housed. Sakura lifted a quizzical brow as she could hear the incessant bickering before she even got to the door, but it also immediately reminded her of a certain dark haired someone and a yellow haired knucklehead that once often did that too. She knocked on the door, signaling she was entering and the room fell silent.

"Wow! We got Haruno-san today!" One of them stated excitedly. upon seeing the pink haired ninja open the door and enter their assessment room. The three of them were young. Each were donning the standard attire for Konoha Ninja, black pants and shirt with a green flak. One of them was clearly a Hyuuga, his hair somewhat reminiscent of the late Neji, coming just past his shoulders. He wore his Ninja headband loosely around his neck. The second one had short dark hair, wearing his ninja forehead protector tied around the bicep of his right am. The third and the one clearly excited by her appearance had his brown hair in a longer ponytail, his forehead protector tied around his forehead much like Naruto always did.

Sakura was a little startled at the enthusiasm about her being their medical assessor. Then again, rumors were fairly common about her. "H-hi! I'm just here to do your health check up! According to the initial report, your mission was successful and you didn't sustain any major injuries." Sakura began, flipping through the records on her clipboard trying to hide her embarassment. These Ninja were not much younger than herself.

"Yeah we nailed the guy! Tadashi over here got careless and got a couple cuts from a kunai though." The ninja with the ponytail stated with a grin, pointing at the Hyuuga. He clearly did not seem pleased.

"Okay, well…" Sakura looked at the paperwork so she could see what the ponytail ninja's name was. "Kobe-san is it? I'll take a look at you first if you just want to take a seat there on the edge of the bed." The ninja immediately did as she asked,almost too enthusiastically. He sat down with an audible 'pat' and a big grin on his face. Sakura would use her chakra to sense anything unusual and do a quick glance over she decided. As she bent down to examine his chakra flow, the previously boisterous Ninja began to stutter.

"S-so Haruno-san, are you seeing anyone?" Sakura's eyes snapped up at the mention of it. The other two ninja who had clearly gotten into a conversation suddenly fell silent upon hearing their teammate actually bring it up.

"Huh?" She said, realizing she had said that without actually meaning to, but the question just caught her off guard. Sakura could hear one of them whisper an obvious 'I told you so' to the other.

"Well I mean, I've heard you're not really seeing anyone so I was hoping you might actually go out to eat with me sometime maybe…" He trailed off with an embarrassed laugh. Sakura was no stranger to being asked out on a date these days, but nevertheless it still was somewhat of a shock every time a male mentioned it. She tried her best do give the young ninja a polite smile, fully intending to turn the poor guy down, the same as she had done for every other time she got asked on a date.

"I'm very flattered, honestly, but I'm actually kind of focusing on other things right now, so right now really isn't a good time." She could see Kobe's face fall immediately in disappointment and perhaps a little embarrassment at getting rejected, making her feel bad and want to try and offer up a little bit better of an explanation, but as she opened her mouth to do so suddenly she felt his chakra. Her eyebrows furrowed in disbelief and her face had a momentary look of shock before she regained her composure. Just as quickly as she had felt it though, it was suddenly gone. Chalking it up to her imagination though, she turned back to Kobe-san, offering up small talk and resuming her work.

"Uh sorry about that..." Sakura trailed off, clearly noticing that the three ninja had seen her momentary facial expression. "I just thought I might have forgotten something but it's not a big deal." She lied.

The gates of Konohagakure hadn't changed one bit since he had left, Sasuke observed as he neared them. It was a sight he had not seen in a very long time, but in some ways, it brought him some familiar comfort, coupled with anxiety. He hadn't seen any of his old comrades in a long time, but even more so, he wasn't really sure how they would react or how the civilians in the village would feel about his return.

As he passed through the gate, he immediately suppressed his chakra as he did not want to alert anyone as to his arrival just yet. Memories of that night he left to pursue vengeance and the day he left to begin his journey of redemption immediately flooded to his mind, especially a certain someone involved in both of them. That pink haired kunoichi was positively annoying in the way she had begun to plague his mind over time while he was on his travels.

He couldn't help but to wonder what she was like now.

Their relationship had been long distant at best, and he didn't communicate much with her except for things he deemed important. When she was kidnapped though, he had rushed to her aid, angry anyone would use her to get to him, but she certainly didn't end up being a damsel in distress. All he managed was to take out a few enemies before making sure she was safe, but he also realized that he wasn't ready to see her yet at that point either.

Knowing that the first thing he was going to have to do was report to the Hokage, he immediately headed towards his office, knowing a very efficient way to get there while avoiding the main hustle and bustle of Konoha. Stealthily he jumped upon the Hokage tower's roof, and slipped quietly in the back door. He trodded quietly to the entrance of the office, to find the Hokage and his former teacher with his nose buried in one of his pervy books. He hadn't looked like he had aged a day Sasuke noted, except for the dark bags under his eyes which he suspected were the result of being Hokage.

"It's been a while, Sasuke." Kakashi greeted, shutting his book with an audible poof of the paper being forced together. He looked up at the last Uchiha in front of him. "I'm surprised you didn't inform me of your intention to return with a hawk, but then again…" he trailed off.

The young man in front of him was most definitely Sasuke, but he like Naruto had grown quite a bit while away on his travels. His hair had grown long as well, Kakashi noted and was tied back with a navy sash. His clothes were dirty and somewhat tattered, an obvious testament to the lifestyle the Uchiha had lived. He donned a tattered beige poncho and wore a black tunic with grey chest plate, grey pants, and his legs were bandaged with his ninja sandals. Surprisingly though, his face seemed lighter.

Sasuke was about to reply to his former teacher, when a certain yellow haired obnoxious knucklehead ninja came barreling through the door. Figures that suppressing his chakra probably wouldn't of gone unnoticed by him for very long. Sasuke couldn't help but to hide a small smirk.

"Sasuke!" He growled "I can't believe you are back and didn't say anything you bastard!" Naruto had a fierce look in his eyes but a grin that was so big n his face it almost looked painful. Naruto had changed too, Sasuke noticed as he had grown tall, maybe being just a few centimeters shy of him, his hair now cut short and his face more mature. He wore a black jacket with his sleeves rolled and orange pants. He also noticed his bandaged right arm, the result of Tsunade's work no doubt. Sasuke couldn't get a word in before Naruto started excitedly blurting out the next thing.

"Wait till I tell Sak-" Sasuke immediately shot the blonde his famous death glare as a challenge to shut the hell up in which he did, muttering a 'never mind I guess you will' under his breath.

"Dobe." Sasuke replied, his face softening. "I'm not here to see you." Naruto's face fell in utter disappointment as his shoulders fell, proceeding to sulk. Sasuke was glad that his best friend had not changed one bit.

Kakashi couldn't help but feel a little reminiscent at watching the two insult each other the moment they came in contact. However, he was rather surprised at the forward remark from the Uchiha that Naruto clearly didn't catch.

"Well fine but you have to go get ramen with me!" Naruto announced, with a sudden change of mood, his right hand in a fist.

"Naruto! You can't just go interrupting everyone else just because your wife is away. You can catch up with Sasuke when he is done with his debriefing." Kakashi suggested, Naruto seemed like he totally ignored Kakashi but clearly got the message.

"And who's fault is that?" Naruto griped in reply, stalking out of the office with a quick wave goodbye.

Sasuke still hadn't actually congratulated the guy on his marriage to Hinata yet, something he did mean to mention at some point.

Kakashi sighed. "In your last message you wrote 'Otsutsuki'." He stated, getting right down to business.

"Yeah. There are still a couple things that concern me regarding the Otsutsuki from the fourth ninja war." Sasuke replied. "I've been beginning to look into it but…"

"I see. I can tell you're concerned, especially with the events of the moon falling to the earth. Nara Shikamaru mentioned the name several times in both is oral an written report as he was the lead ninja on the team we sent to the moon to investigate." Kakashi informed.

"I can't say I am entirely surprised as I did have my suspicions. I had read some texts about the Otsutsuki clan on the moon, and that event almost seemed a preconceived notion." There was a curt seriousness in Sasuke's voice. Kakashi could definitely tell that this bothered his former student. "Can't say I'm surprised that Naruto was involved in all of that either."

"Sakura-chan was involved in that incident to you know." Kakashi stated. "I guess she helped Naruto realize his feelings and encouraged Hinata to pursue hers. It apparently led to them being able to defeat Otsutsuki Toneri who had orchestrated the moon falling to the Earth. "

"Hn. That sounds like something Sakura would do." Kakashi could detect the slight change in tone when Sasuke mentioned the pinkette. His tone almost insinuated that he was proud, despite the stoic and aloof nature the Uchiha portrayed.

"I'm assuming that you aren't really planning on staying here very long, are you Sasuke?"

The Uchiha was quiet for a moment before responding. "I don't know how long I am going to stay, I have some things here that I should take care of so I can continue to move forward. I still don't know that I will ever be able to make this place a permanent home for me again."

"I assume you plan to resume not only your personal journey, but to investigate more things about the Otsutsuki?"

Sasuke nodded, confirming Kakashi's assumption.

"Well, regardless, you will always have a home here Sasuke... although your old place currently has tenants in it... if you give me until the end of the day I should be able to arrange something for you." Kakashi said, running his chin as if he was in deep thought. Well, maybe if the Uchiha was here for what Kakashi assumed he might be here for, Sasuke may not need his own place since a certain pinkette had her own place.

"I don't know that I will really need anything permanent." Sasuke argued. Kakashi gave a quick nod of acknowledgement.

"Well, at least something then. Sasuke, you've really done a lot of things while you've been away. I've heard various stories, and the other Kage have all mentioned you when we have convened. Your actions have not gone unnoticed."

" I don't want acknowledgement for them, but what I have done probably still isn't enough to make up for my mistakes." The Uchiha brooded.

"I hope that you might someday forgive yourself Sasuke. Maybe you should start by honestly answering your feelings and Sakura's."

There was an audible silence as Sasuke was not really sure what to say next, but it seemed Kakashi was ready to dismiss him.

"When I have a place for you to stay arranged, I will let you know. In the meantime, I know Naruto and Sakura are definitely going to want to see you. Sakura has… missed you." Kakashi finally stated, and with that, he opened up his pervy book, clearly ignoring the towers of paperwork that littered his desk for the time being. As Sasuke turned to leave, knowing full well that Naruto probably was going to bother him sooner than later, he watched Shikamaru walk in with another stack of paper, making the silver haired Hokage groan.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru sighed upon both seeing the Uchiha and the fact that Kakashi was slacking off on the paperwork, again. "Yo Sasuke! It's been a while.

"Shikamaru." Sasuke acknowledged, before disappearing. He knew he wouldn't have to be concerned about Shikamaru opening his mouth to anyone about him being home. Based on what he could sense, Sakura was at the hospital, and she would probably be there for a while. Even while travelling abroad, he had heard that she helped run both the hospital here and a children's mental clinic. He would find somewhere to rest and wait until he could approach her he decided.

As he settled upon Kakashi's stone face engraved on the mountain, he noticed that Konoha had indeed expanded quite a bit since the last time he had been here. There was barely any evidence left that the village had seen destruction brought by both Pein and the ravages of the fourth great ninja war.

"Naruto." Sasuke greeted upon hearing his friend land beside him. He had shown up just as Sasuke had expected him to.

"Konoha has grown quite a bit, hasn't it?" Naruto stated, confirming Sasuke's observation. "The peace has brought a lot of new people here."

"Hn."

"I'm surprised you're back! Probably about time too, because guys are doting over Sakura all the time and she is oblivious to it, and works a lot, probably too much and-"

"Shut up Naruto." Sasuke snapped, sounding a little harsher than he probably meant to come off. Normally Naruto would retort to that with something childish, but those were memories from back in the day. It seemed that they had both definitely matured in that sense as Naruto showed only a brief look of irritation on his face before seeming to let it slide.

"She's missed you." Naruto replied, clearly tying to not act bothered by the Uchiha's reaction. There was a short silence between the two.

"Congratulations. I never told you. On your wedding. Though I'm not sure why anyone would marry a half-wit like you." Sasuke finally said, offering both his condolences and an insult in one like the Uchiha would often do. Maybe being mature was just a little overrated. He still enjoyed insulting the idiot.

"At least I had the balls to tell a girl I liked her!" Naruto fired back, clearly riled up and jabbing at the Uchiha something everyone seemed to know, yet seemed ignored.

"That girl has had a thing for you since before you even noticed dobe."

Naruto didn't really know how to reply to that in a way that probably wouldn't make the Uchiha straight up punch him in the face, but if he did say what he wanted to, he would say that Sakura was the same, although Sasuke knew it and hadn't really done anything about it.

"Well, I don't see Sakura that often these days… I don't get it! When I do I always invite her to ramen, even if Hinata is with me but she always says no!" Naruto complained, instead trying to lighten the mood and joke around.

"Naruto, you're still pretty much newly weds." At the mention of that, Naruto's face went red as he chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head again, an odd habit of his. At least he seemed to understand what Sasuke had implied.

"Well true! Hinata is seriously amazing! Come to think of it, most everyone has kinda paired off! Like Sai is with Ino of all people, and Shikamaru has been dating Temari, and-" Naruto suddenly stopped mid sentence his facial expression quickly changing to one of absolute excitement. "Ah Hinata-chan is home! Bye Sasuke! You owe me a sparring match later!" and with that the yellow haired ninja disappeared leaving a slightly bewildered Sasuke who couldn't help but form a small smirk with his mouth. It was odd to see Naruto so dedicated to something else besides his fighting skills and ramen. Maybe he had changed a little.

This is also what he meant by them still being newlyweds.

Turning his attention back to Sakura, she was still clearly at the hospital, and he had no idea how long she was going to be there. For the first time since he had walked through the gates of Konoha , the weight of his anxiety about actually seeing her settled in his gut making him feel sick in a way that he was not all that familiar with, and because of that he hated it. What would be the best way to approach her?

All he could think about was the way she blushed when she offered to go with him again but was sad when he told her not this time, and when he poked her forehead in the same manner his older brother always did to him affectionately and he told her maybe next time, her green eyes lit up in surprise and the red flush to her cheeks immediately returned. That look on her face has been etched into his mind ever since. That was the most direct he could be with his feelings about her at the time.

Well, at a minimum, he was going to have to wait till she was done at the hospital to approach her. By then he should be able to come up with something. He was Uchiha Sasuke after all.

Sakura sighed, happy to be stepping foot outside of Konoha hospital's building. What had started out as a fairly easy day quickly turned into a whirlwind of disaster with a few construction workers from a neighboring small settlement getting injured. One of them had severed his spine in several places and it took several painstaking hours of surgery fixing it just so the man would ever have a chance of walking again.

She was exhausted, and probably in need of a real hot cooked meal, though she had half a mind to just go home, take another soldier pill and pass out for the evening. It wasn't even that late yet but it sure felt like it might as well have been.

Quietly strolling down the main street marketplace, the aromas of freshly cooked food filled her senses making her stomach grumble loudly, almost loud enough to embarrass her. She was lost in her own thoughts until the sound of her name being called snapped her out of it and grabbed her attention.

"Hey forehead!" Ino called out to her. Sakura found her with Sai. They were holding hands. The two of them had grown up a bit in the last few years as well. Ino's hair was ridiculously long, wearing a midriff exposing outfit still in her usual purple color. Her top was cropped and buttoned up along the whole front, and she wore a long purple skirt with a slit and black shorts and netted tights underneath. She also wore purple elbow protectors. Sai's hair was slightly longer, and he also wore a midriff exposing outfit that was simple with a cropped black zipped up jacket, black pants, and he carried his signature beast scroll on his back.

"Ino pig!" Sakura replied, their affectionate name insults used in greeting. She forced a smile onto her face, but she couldn't help but feel a small pang of jealousy over Ino being so happy, and with Sai of all people. It was almost comical in a sense as they were total opposites, but they seemed really happy together once they finally admitted it.

"Hey Ugly." Sai also greeted, acknowledging the pink haired kunoichi.

"Did you just get done at the hospital? We are meeting Shikamaru, Temari, and Choji for food! You have to be hungry why don't you come with?!"

It was sweet the way Ino, and really most everyone offered to invite her to things. Especially with most everyone beginning to pair off, it seemed like they all felt obligated to make an effort to make sure that Sakura wasn't alone all the time when they weren't working, sparring, or out on missions.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think I'm going to have to skip out this time. Crazy day at the hospital and I have to be at the children's clinic tomorrow." Sakura replied, offering up an excuse to just slip off and go home and avoid being social for the night.

"You work too much Sakura! Working like a mad woman isn't going to make Sasuke-kun come home any faster you know!"

Sakura's face immediately flushed. "I-It's not about Sasuke-kun! I mean I'm not anything special to him or anything! I don't know why you would even bring that up!" She denied, waving her hands for added expressions. Sakura couldn't help but feel a little disappointment at her own words though as her heart sunk a little at her denial of her feelings.

"Well, your loss I guess! Make sure you eat something Sakura! I mean it! Men want a curvaceous woman! Otherwise this pig will stuff your face with food!" As if to reinforce Ino's words, Sakura's stomach loudly grumbled again, causing the pinkette some embarrassment.

"I will. Bye Ino, Bye Sai!" Sakura assured her blonde friend, before waving goodbye. Now really all she wanted to do was seriou sly justgo home and pass out for the night, especially since she was now feeling a little more depressed than usual about a certain someone.

Sighing and ignoring her grumbling stomach, she headed straight for her apartment. It wasn't far from here luckily, and she liked that her neighborhood was quiet, but when the marketplace was busy she could still hear the sounds of the hustling and bustling of the place. She'd been moved out from her parents house for about a year now. This time of year she really liked listening to the melodies of the bugs that are active at night.

Turning down her dimly lit street, she walked with her head staring at the ground as she was lost in her thoughts. Where was Sasuke now she wondered? She had been so disappointed yet so glad that when she was kidnapped and managed to escape that he had actually been there as he left evidence of him taking out some of the criminals. Clearly he cared enough to come after her, which made her happy, but he didn't want to see her.

When she looked up thinking that her apartment door was probably in sight by now, she saw a dark figure sitting on her doorstep that immediately made her stop in her tracks. Her first instinct was to go in the defensive, but something about the way the stranger just sat there, all aloof made her instincts of defense simmer down as if her body was telling her something her mind necessarily wasn't.

Clearly the stranger recognized her though as he stood up calmly, part of his face becoming illuminated by the small front door light of her apartment.

Sakura's eyes widened in disbelief. Okay now her mind was just playing cruel tricks on her and she probably needed some serious sleep. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head, thinking that when she opened her eyes again the illusion will have hopefully gone away, but while doing so she didn't hear the stranger quietly walk up to her.

This time when Sakura opened her eyes her mouth fell with disbelief. Either she had officially lost it, or Sasuke was standing right in front of her.

"Sakura, I'm home." The familiar, yet matured voice said.

Suddenly all of the feelings she had done her best to keep to herself and ignore hit her in a merciless rush all at once, the weight of it on her heart almost crippling as she burst into tears. All of the waiting, wondering, and missing the man in front of her all of a sudden became unbearable. At the same time though, it all of a sudden felt like a big weight had been lifted off her shoulders just seeing him actually physically there, standing in front of him.

"Shannaro…" She sobbed, her face buried in her hands. She had promised herself that when she did see him she wasn't going to cry, that she was stronger than that, but clearly she had only been fooling herself as it only took mere seconds for the waterworks to start on their own.

Thank you for reading and I hope you liked the first chapter! I tried really hard to describe and convey the the characters feelings. I wanted them to seem a little more grown up.

Anyway, I hope you will be excited for the next chapter, and I would love your review on this chapter!