Late in the afternoon the next day the white haired swordsman finally woke up from his place on the sofa. Turning he saw Youki resting her head on the arm of the sofa, her wounded leg a bit further out.

Must have been sore. He thought as he looked over; deciding that he should get up.

Standing, he stretched and looked out of the window; the view wasn't overly nice, but he wasn't fussy. See anything that was actually outside was nice to him. After all he had been stuck in a tank full of water for some time before all this, and even then he never fully appreciated the views that had been on offer.

However, he needed to get food. The apartment had none… Or at least nothing that would really keep them full.

As he walked down the street towards a shop, he spotted a girl with raven hair… Hinata Hyuuga; she was walking up the way and she looked exhausted. However once she caught sight of him, she waved shyly.

"Suigetsu," She greeted him, and he nodded in reply; "Is Youki all right?"

This is what a friend is. He realised; "Right now she's sleeping,"

"Her leg?"

"It's sore,"

A friend is someone who's concerned about another. Even after all this time of Youki not being in the village…She still worries about her. He thought to himself.

"What about you? No one had…" The Hyuuga Princess blushed, realising that she never checked any of his wounds the day before.

"I'm fine," He told her; surprised by her concern; Maybe Hinata isn't just Youki's friend now… Maybe… "How are the others?"

She looked away from him; "Juugo had to stay behind, he isn't strong enough to move yet,"

"Rest," He told her, wanting to know more; but also knowing that during a war the healers won't know everything that is going on around them.

She nodded and waved goodbye to him as she made her way back home; while he carried on to get some food.

As he entered the small store, he noted that there was hardly a lot left on the shelves.

"A lot of supplies were…" An old man began to tell him.

"Yea, I know," Suigetsu interrupted, picking up some easy to cook ramen, paying and then heading back to the apartment.

***

Youki had woken up to find that she was alone; and in a strange place. Though once her mind her fully woken she remembered where she was. She never really did it when she was with Team Hawk, probably due to her travelling with them all the time, the fact that they were usually outside, and that she was normally weary due to Karin being around.

Standing up, and gingerly putting weight on her wounded leg, she made her way to the bathroom.

Carefully she took off the bandage on her leg, brought out some ointment and began to clean the wound, wincing as she did so. When she heard the door open, she put the ointment down with relief, and carefully moves to see if it was Suigetsu.

"Where have…?"

The white haired swordsman turned to look at her; carefully looking at the stitched wound and how she was limping.

"Sore?" He asked her.

"It's… Stiff," She smiled, and he grinned; "Aside from that the ointment has made it a bit sore,"

They became silent for a moment, before Suigetsu commented;

"We're free,"

She smiled as she fixed the bandage back into place; "Yea, we are," She moved towards him; "So now what?"

They both knew it would take a while for the Leaf Village to get back on its feet again, and then the Mist Village also needed a new leader.

He had the two swords that he had been after, even if he wanted to get the other's he would have to wait until everything calmed down first, all the villages would be on high alert, just in case something were to happen.

"Stay here," He told her, and she just stared at him.

"But…" Youki began, stunned.

"I only wanted these two swords," He said and grinned; "Karin was wrong,"

Once again silence fell upon them, this time wondering who survived and who hadn't, or wouldn't.

"Once the Hokage isn't too focused we can go see her, right?" He asked her.

"Once she's helped as much as she can. She's a very good healer, from what I heard," Youki informed him, unable to fully believe that he wanted to stay in the Leaf Village.

Hadn't he already said that the ninja's of this village were 'soft'? The Seer smiled, she certainly hadn't seen that one coming.

***

A year had not yet passed and Konoha was almost finished rebuilding.

Sakura had healed up rather well, her left leg had been injured and caused her to limp for a good few months, but now no one could tell that she had problems at all with her injured leg. He wound on her stomach had healed well too, although she would always have a large scar from her right bottom ribs to her left hip bone.

Sai also was back to full health, he too had a big scar on his back, but it healed up and he had to be forced to take it easy for a few months to let the wound fully heal; luckily a distraction was Ino trying to help him improve socialising with other people. He hadn't gotten any better at it, but everyone could see that he was genuinely trying.

Youki had a scar on her thigh, and a few minor scars all over; though Suigetsu had to make sure that she didn't overdo anything or move around too much for the first month that the thigh would was healing.

Juugo didn't fair that well, although he had a chest wound, because of all the other small wounds it was hard to treat him. They learned that he had been cut by a few poisoned blades as well; which didn't help with the healing process. In fact it hindered it; although Juugo lasted almost two months; his body gave up the fight.

Naruto was one of the worst injured, losing his left ear, part of his right hand and having a good load of minor wounds as well. His stay in hospital was extended, due to his ear kept on getting infected, since he could never manage to clean it himself; and he also needed to heal mentally as well. Everything he had seen, and heard would have taken there toll on his mind; although no one was sure what Madara could have said to the three young nin; none of them have repeated it.

Sasuke, having gained the eyes of Madara; had deep scars all over as well; he had also collapsed when the medics got to him due to the loss of blood he lost with his arm wound. However, unlike the others; Sasuke disappeared after Juugo's death.

Rumours were abound over what happened to the last Uchiha. Some say that he has become the leader of the Mist Village. Other's say that he became insane after Madara's eyes were implanted.

To a lot of people Sasuke was trouble. They blamed him for the destruction of the village; although when they say that in the open, there was always someone else who would stand up for him; of course whether the Uchiha would care what anyone says about him remains to be seen.

Lady Tsunade however, cared what happed to the Uchiha. Even if he didn't want to come back to his village, she wanted to know that he was all right and that he would be safe in another village; she just wanted the rumours to end.

The grey eyed Seer stood near the woodland area, waiting on her partner to return so that they could begin their mission as Leaf Ninja's.

How funny. I'm back home… She thought to herself, spotting the white haired swordsman, who grinned at her; and they left the village.

"You know, it's almost like it used to be," Youki commented.

"Almost… You're going to start bitchin' about me stopping?" Suigetsu teased.

She just laughed; "I don't think I can do Karin justice,"

They looked at each other; remembering the two comrades who had fallen in battle. They were both surprised that Juugo died after fighting for so long; although Hinata, who had been with the blonde ever since he was injured, appeared to have taken it worse than they did. She watched him slip away from her; even as she tried to fight back.

"How is Hinata?" Suigetsu asked as they walked.

"She's fine, I think. Worried about another family gathering though,"

"How big is her family?"

"Um… Pretty big. They are a powerful clan anyway, and with her being heir…"

Suigetsu just shook his head; "Let's just focus on Sasuke,"

"Well, our leads have said that he was spotted around the Mist Village and the Rain Village," She informed him.

"Well, let's go to the closest one first," He told her as they began to make their way towards the Mist, but this time there was no sense of urgency; they needed to let the village know what was Sasuke up to.

They needed to make sure the past was behind them, and that there wasn't going to be another war like that again. They needed to know that the Uchiha was ok.

Regardless, the two who were on the mission were in no rush, there were no threats coming there way. They were just going to take their time over it.

"Why did you pack so much sweet food?" Youki asked, and the white haired swordsman laughed.

"After being in a water tank, I got a sweet tooth…" He paused, then grinned; "I don't think I told you how Sasuke met me…."

The two began to walk, Youki listened to how the former Mist nin was recruited into Sasuke's first team, Snake, and that the Uchiha was willing to let Suigetsu go out to find his Senpai's sword; and along the way learned a few new things about him.

***

And that is it, Shades of Grey is complete. I would like to thank everyone for reading this story; to the people who reviewed and those who haven't, also those who have added this story to there faves; thanks very much for reading.