Chapter 1

Emerald leaves swayed on the branches of the tree that stood outside the hospital window, their rustling inaudible through the glass stained with the previous day's rain. Rather, the steady hum of the air conditioning that filtered into the room and Naruto's buoyant humming filled the quiet space. Tsunade and Kakashi stood by the blonde's bedside and observed the former's hands as she ran her chakra up and down Naruto's right shoulder. They murmured to each other softly, likely discussing Hokage business to help the silver-haired man prepare to take the new seat.

Sakura rested the side of her face on the palm of her left hand as she tried to catch glimpses of the swollen flower buds. She leaned on the plastic bench's metal armrest that cooled her skin. On her lap, she mindlessly tapped her friend's medal chart with her free hand's fingers to keep count of the little white things. Seven, she counted. Seven flower buds.

"Sakura."

She blinked at the sound of her name and turned her head towards her shishou. "Yes?" she asked, berating herself silently for being in a daze.

"Write it down in his chart. Discharge. Next week." The older woman lowered her hands from her teammate's shoulder, the remainder of his arm already rewrapped with fresh bandages. "Until then, walk only on one crutch around this unit. And I mean walk," she repeated sternly to the blond who audibly gulped at the woman's critical tone.

"Right," Sakura said, scrambling for her pen. She scribbled the instructions in as neatly and quickly as she could, knowing her shishou was an impatient woman.

Tsunade put her hands on her hips and turned to Kakashi. "Next unit," she sighed, exasperated, before turning once more to her student. "Be sure to secure that file back at the nurse's station before you leave. Make copies of that discharge planning form, too."

"Right," Sakura said again as she stood up in salutations to her teachers. She gave a small bow to the both of them as Tsunade began to march out of the room with Kakashi strolling with his usual, casual gait behind her. The silver-haired man paused for a moment and turned back to her with a twinkle in his eye, causing Tsunade to turn back curiously, as well. He examined the young woman's civilian clothing: a soft red shirt and deep blue skirt and black, knee-length shinobi sandals. Crisp, he thought. The crown of her head was absent of the usual village forehead protector and replaced with a thin red headband. Her fringe framed her yin seal with effortless intention. Since he entered the room, he could smell the delicate scent of rosemary and mint emanating from the pink-haired student. Clean, he thought.

"Heading there after?" he asked knowingly, a grin forming under his navy mask.

Sakura felt a small smile form on her face as she shrugged sheepishly, shuffling a bit between her feet. "Yes," she admitted. "You're busy today and Naruto physically can't. He needs to know the way back to his new place." She hugged Naruto's chart to her chest and felt her smile grow wider when Tsunade smirked, though warmth radiated from her teacher's nod of approval. Sakura bowed yet again as the two Kage walked out of the room and shut the door behind them.

Naruto groaned in disappointment seconds after the two exited. "I shouldn't have pushed myself the other day." He leaned back into the incline of the hospital bed and sighed dramatically. "I was so sure I could go with you to pick him up."

"You shouldn't have bragged about healing so fast, Naruto," Sakura said as she clasped the file together with a black binder clip. "Bragging makes you do reckless things." She fastened her pen to the file's edge and waited for Naruto's retort. When she was met with silence, she glanced up to see a grin on his whisker-framed face. "What?"

"You look nice today, Sakura-chan."

She felt her face grow a few degrees warmer. "So?"

The blond shrugged playfully. "Just wanted to point it out."

Sakura sighed exaggeratedly and shook her head as she began her leave, her legs making long strides to avoid further conversation about her appearance. "I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto," she said, raising her hand to grasp the door handle.

Before her fingers touched the metal knob, Naruto called out, "Also wanted to voice what Sasuke won't say but will be thinking!"

Sakura felt her face grow hot enough to boil water. She opened the door quickly and stuttered, "W-whatever, Naruto."

"You are to report once a week, in person, to your assigned officer at the station."

"Yes."

"Violations of any of written terms will result in house arrest. This includes altercations with civilians, shinobi, the like, physical or verbal."

"Yes."

"Weaponry found in your possession, including summoning scrolls and sharpening tools, will be automatically considered a threat of public safety and will be dealt with necessary degrees of force."

"Yes."

"Excessive use of genjutsu via doujutsu will also be deemed a threat of public safety."

"Yes."

Ibiki Moreno slid a small stack of papers across his desk towards the Uchiha and tossed a pen on top. "Here's the document with the specific limits of activity you are required to follow. One of the officers went over it with you yesterday, I'm sure. I just told you the biggest things to watch out for. Sign the bottom and a copy will be sent to your new residence within the week."

As Sasuke grabbed the pen with his hand, he peered at the scarred man, confusion subtly hidden in the crease that formed in his raised eyebrows. "My new residence?"

Ibiki nodded brusquely and tapped impatiently on the stack of documents with his large pointer finger. "Sign. Your address was added to your demographics page earlier this morning."

Sasuke lifted the first leaf and stared at the foreign numbers and street name. I have a new place of residence? Shrugging it off, he signed his name and decided he'd need to make plans to search for his new, hopefully livable, home. When he placed the pen back down on the document and pushed it towards Ibiki, his right hand went instinctively to rub his left shoulder to soothe the ache that resonated into his muscles there. His mismatched eyes glanced at the black clock in the corner of the room and saw that it read noon. In this windowless prison, it might as well have been midnight, as his concept of time was often slurred together.

Ibiki pressed a small, black button on his desk that rung the officer outside. "You will be escorted out of the premises now."

Sasuke carefully stood and turned to leave.

"Be careful out there, Uchiha."

Sasuke didn't bother to glance at the man to understand his warning. "Ah," he said in acknowledgement. He walked out of the door that opened to reveal a stern-faced officer who did not bother to hide his contempt at the raven-haired Uchiha. The emotional wounds from the war were still fresh and bleeding despite its end. He did not expect neutral treatment to befall him.

"Your escort will be waiting in the lobby," the officer said gruffly.

Escort? Sasuke thought but refrained from verbally asking the man more. He was largely disliked by the prison and interrogation staff and did not want to ruffle feathers any further by simply talking.

They walked down the gray-walled hallway passed cells that were sealed with metal doors. Each door was locked by two separate padlocks and an additional paper seal just below the singular metal-barred windows that allowed inmates to be observed. Said inmates saw the Uchiha walking down the hallway with the officer and began to rise from their beds to throw seething looks that ranged from amusement to disgust. As Sasuke passed one window, an inmate spat on the ground where he walked. He heard the whisper of the word, "Traitor," under a raspy voice.

Upon reaching the end of the hall, the officer stepped ahead of Sasuke to open the padlocked door into the annex where another officer stood to guard the entrance to the lobby. "Raise your arms," the guard said in preparation to frisk him one last time. Sasuke raised his only arm and the guard cleared his throat in embarrassment. "Er, arm, I guess…," he muttered. The two officers patted him down before turning to unlock the last door that led to the lobby.

The lobby of the prison was lit by the midday sun shining through the windows and forced Sasuke to squint at the sudden adjustment from fluorescent to natural bright light. He then closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose in an attempt to help his pupils adjust to the sudden change. He felt his escorting officer sharply nudge him forward by pressing the heel of his hand on his back, forcing him to make a few steps forward. It was difficult to not look back in irritation at the officer, as he reminded himself that any amount might be interpreted as instigation. Sasuke slowly opened his eyes to view his black-sandaled feet and breathe a soothing breath as he took steps to pass by the glass-protected front desk.

"You're free to go," the officer said firmly. "Remember to report to your officer by the end of next week."

Sasuke looked up at the man and gave a small nod. The officer then huffed in disgust as he slammed the door to the annex once more, no doubt to talk to the guard about how much of a drag it was to have to escort him to the lobby. The Uchiha closed his eyes once more and sighed tiredly, now wondering how in the world he was to find this mysterious place of residence in a village that has changed so much.

"Sasuke-kun."

The familiar voice caused him to quickly turn his head in the direction of the young woman he had not seen in months. He felt his eyebrows raise in surprise at the sight of her cautious gaze that examined his physical state. He found himself looking down at his own appearance to see that he was dressed in an oversized navy shirt with a stretched collar. On the back, a small Uchiha crest was sewn between his shoulder blades. He suspected this was found to be a shirt from his family's compound years ago. Sasuke also donned pocket-less, dark grey pants that cut off just at his ankles. He knew, though, that the pink-haired girl's attention might be focused on his left shoulder with the sleeve of the shirt limply falling at his side without an arm to house. Suddenly, Sasuke felt a bit self-conscious. "Sakura."

Emerald eyes brightened at his recognition of her as she stepped forward with hands behind her back. He wondered if it was to withhold her excitement at seeing him. "How are you feeling?" she asked carefully.

He blinked slowly and decided there was no point in trying to console her with banal, insincere statements of reassurance. "Tired," he said, allowing his voice to express the exhaustion. When Sakura bit her lip with concern, he added, "And confused."

"Confused?" she echoed.

"Ibiki said that I have a new place of residence," he explained as he thought back to the unfamiliar numbers and street name he saw on the documents he'd signed. "I assumed I was to go back to my old apartment."

"Oh," Sakura said, her eyes shifting to her feet. Sasuke intently watched as she lifted her right hand to push some of her hair behind her ear. "Our village was attacked last year by Pain and…your old apartment was destroyed." She then looked up at his mismatched eyes and gave him a small reassuring smile. "I'm here to escort you to your new home."

"I see."

They stood there for a moment, silence filling the space between them save for the scratching of pen on paper the front desk officer made. Sasuke looked his old teammate up and down one more time, noting the delicate, and familiar, scent of rosemary and mint that wafted into his nose and the way her smile made her eyes seem brighter. She looks nice today, he thought, carefully keeping the thought to himself.

Sakura cleared her throat and nodded her head in the direction of the door. "You can follow me," she said, turning her back towards him to the exit. Sasuke followed closely behind. When she pushed open the doors, a gentle spring breeze blew into his face and he found himself breathing in more rosemary and mint. She held the door open for him to walk through and he obliged. His first few steps into the spring sunshine felt refreshing, and he found himself closing his eyes to relish the light warming his skin.

Sakura walked next to his right, carefully leaving about an arm's length of distance between them. She watched his face relax, his dark eyebrows lifting as his slender eyes closed. He tilted his face slightly towards the cloudless sky above them, exposing his neck and collar to the warmth. His strong jaw released its taut position and allowed his thin lips to ever so slightly part to release a gentle sigh. His relief was obvious, and it caused Sakura to smile.

Sasuke opened his eyes to peek at the pink-haired girl, expecting her to turn bright red and swiftly avert her stare. However, they held their gaze for a moment that caused something in his belly to stir.

"Ready?" she asked, her smile unwavering.

He lowered his head and nodded, allowing his fringe to fall upon his forehead once more and tickle his skin in the breeze. This is different, he thought.

The two of them walked side-by-side in comfortable quiet as they trekked down the path towards the sure-to-be-bustling village streets. Good different. Sasuke periodically glanced down at the pink-haired girl next to him. If Sakura noticed, she didn't make it apparent to him. Rather, she looked ahead and cheerily greeted civilians who said hello. Sasuke could not help but notice, however, that the same civilians would shoot him reproachful looks upon recognizing his figure. If there was anything Sakura noticed, it was this.

At what felt like the tenth civilian to glare at Sasuke's figure, Sakura turned and looked up to face him without slowing their pace. "How are you doing, Sasuke-kun?" she asked.

The Uchiha shrugged, honestly not knowing how to reply to her question of concern. It did not necessarily bother him that villagers disliked him. He was surprised to find himself more troubled by how their shared presence might affect her reputation among them. He didn't think it would be appropriate to voice this, however, and looked away from her gaze to focus on their walk once more.

The streets grew more crowded the deeper they walked into the village hub. Street vendors lined the path, bustling as they asked passersby to try their products. Smells of steamed rice and marinated meat filled the air around them as they were carried by the billowing breeze. While these scents could cause anyone's stomach to cramp with the desire to be satiated, Sasuke's formed a knot when he saw a group of women all turn their attentions toward the pair walking towards them. The same routine expressions occurred: pleasure at seeing the medic and repulsion at seeing the Uchiha.

One of the women walked forward ahead of her group as if to shield them from the incoming couple. She stood with her feet slightly apart as if to make herself appear larger, one hand propped on her hip and the other gripping her shopping basket. "Sakura-san," she said, raising her chin and looking at the pink-haired girl, turning her body slightly to make her greeting more obviously directed at her. "It's good to see you out and about. You are so respected here, you know. You need not associate yourself with such…," she paused and feigned deep thought with a low hum before saying, "degenerates." The group of women nodded behind her, some folding their arms. A small crowd of villagers slowed their pace to look at the tension building in the middle of the path, confusion on most of their faces.

The village woman looked pointedly at Sakura with an expectation of agreement, perhaps an exasperated sigh to escape from the medic's mouth in admission that this escort was mandatory and unwanted. However, the woman raised her eyebrows in surprise as Sakura bowed her head and closed her eyes, a slow breath exiting her lips in a soothing way as opposed to in agreement. More villagers slowed around them and turned their attentions to what appeared to be Sakura maintaining her composure. Sasuke glanced at Sakura, too, curiously.

"Everyone here, listen," she said, her pitch low in warning yet loud enough for those surrounding them to attend to her words. "The war is over, and Sasuke-kun," she emphasized the honorific of endearment, "is a fellow villager. If you have words to exchange about how he is not welcome or does not belong, I encourage you to think twice about how he contributed to your rescue." She looked around and made eye contact with each person who stopped short. Her emerald eyes burned something furiously that Sasuke could not pinpoint. He felt his mouth slightly open in surprise, amusement, and…relief.

"And if you still have something to say," she went on, her fists clenching, "run it by me, first. Understood?"

Murmurs went through the crowd as people shuffled to scoot by the tension and avoid her venomous green glare. The village woman who confronted them seemed to shrink a bit and hunched her shoulders slightly in withdrawal to her group behind her. "Of course," she muttered before turning her back towards them and being ushered by the others toward the nearest shop door. The crowd dissipated to what seemed like normalcy returning the streets, allowing the pair to move forward once more.

Sakura huffed sharply and reached her left hand back to grab Sasuke's wrist firmly. "Let's go," she urged quietly as she led the way and gently tugged him along behind her. He allowed her to guide him. Really, he had no complaints. He was still more stunned at the words she managed to announce to the villagers around them in addition to how genuine her expressions made him feel…safer.

They walked quickly like this for a few minutes, their pace clear with purpose. When they turned a corner into what appeared to be streets of a large apartment complex, she released his wrist and sighed. She tensed her shoulders up to her ears and dropped them tiredly. "Sasuke-kun—"

"Thank you."

Sakura turned back to see Sasuke scratching the back of his head. She couldn't help but feel awed at the sight. His gaze seemed to be searching the ground in what seemed like embarrassment to look into her eyes. His dark brows furrowed slightly as his mouth formed a tight line. Sakura said nothing and continued to stare at his expression as she realized she had not seen him so vulnerable, so sheepish, since they were young. Black and purple eyes found the courage to meet her stare as if gently pleading her to say something in reply.

A smile formed on the girl's face as she held her hands behind her back to reflect her openness. "Of course, Sasuke-kun," she assured him. "I meant every word back there."

Sasuke dropped his hand to his side, feeling the tension in his shoulders relax. He nodded silently and walked by her side to a building in the center of the complex. They paused at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the four-story building. Sakura reached into her skirt pocket to reveal a small brass key in the palm of her hand. "You're unit 505," she said, offering the key towards him. "There's some small furnishings and clothing in there that we were able to retrieve from your compound, but no food." He took the key from her hand with his fingers, carefully brushing his fingertips against her smooth palm. "Shops close a bit earlier than before, most of them at sundown. Restaurants are open until midnight, however, if you want to have a late dinner."

"Ah."

A moment of quiet passed between them. Sakura turned away slightly to make her leave. "Well, then, I'll—"

"Do you—"

The two of them froze awkwardly and waited for the other to finish their sentence. Sakura gave a small smile and nodded at the Uchiha to allow him to continue. "Do you want to eat with me later?" he asked quietly.

Sakura raised her eyebrows in surprise, a small "o" forming on her lips. "Um, sure," she said as her cheeks dusted pink. "I can make us dinner if you want," she offered, figuring that the stroll through the village was enough public interaction he wanted for the day. When Sasuke gave a small nod in agreement, she grinned. "I live at the Kawa apartment complex, unit 505, like yours. It's right next to the hospital."

Sasuke nodded once more, thankfully knowing the location of her work.

"Seven?" she asked.

"Ah."

"See you then."

He watched as she walked away, the usual bounce in her step that he remembered from their childhood still present in her gait. Hands behind her back, her head swaying from side to side, he already knew that she was humming a tune to herself. "See you," he said softly, though already out of her earshot, before making his way up the concrete steps to his new home.