A/N: Wrote this for the Neo SasuNaru Exchange on livejournal. I'm so glad I participated! :D Not a sad story. Quite the opposite. Please enjoy!

Okaeri
by vernajast

welcome home

The pungent scent assaulting his nostrils is a mixture of alcohol and bleach, unique enough to immediately identify his location: a hospital. Where, he can't know, but he's sure it can only mean that he's been taken prisoner or hostage. Wherever he is, he needs to get out immediately. But when his eyes open, he quickly shuts them against the stabbing pain of light penetrating them for the first time in...days? Weeks? He opens them again, slowly, allowing them to adjust before taking in the room—a sterile, generic hospital room containing a bed and a cheap plastic chair against the wall. He's alone. The white sheets that cover his legs are neatly imprinted with the symbol of the Fire Country and Konoha.

Sasuke curses his luck, karma, the village, and every person in it.

He doesn't remember much of what brought him to this moment. The whole thing is a blur, with bits and pieces coming into focus before sliding off into the aether. If he tries to force the memories into some coherent substance, the fringe of his vision begins to close in and he loses consciousness. Again.

He knows for certain that he had arrived on the scene of a cataclysmic battle. Kakashi, his failed mentor, lay in a heap to the side, tended by other members of Konoha elite, all looking worse for the wear. Sakura stood out amongst the others, moving from body to body, attempting to do her job.

But what had drawn him there was the battle that still raged despite having been reduced to only two combatants.

Naruto stood his ground against the false Madara who had set Sasuke on this path to begin with. The idiot blond repeatedly gained ground only to be pressed back twice as far. For every blow he landed, he missed several more, and Madara was obviously just toying with him. From his cliff-top vantage point, Sasuke had watched them exchange indecipherable words. He'd observed their ninjutsu clashing and crumbling the valley around them. And then Naruto...

...had just...

...stopped.

Sasuke had tracked Madara's movements as the man walked toward Naruto, who was no longer moving or reacting. The tell-tale sheen of genjutsu glimmered across the entire scene, suddenly obvious to his sharingan.

If someone were to ask him later, Sasuke wouldn't know what to say. He might mumble something about how his body had just moved on its own. He might say it was nothing, that the idiot had always been weak to genjutsu, that he had vowed to kill Naruto himself and refused to lose his chance to a false god of his forsaken family.

The truth of the matter is that, for one chilling moment, Sasuke had been twelve years old all over again, and the idiot's body had been full of prickly senbon. Sasuke had been ready to kill—no, destroy the person responsible.

He remembers dispelling the genjutsu, a simple feat for Itachi's eyes (he silently thanks his brother again for... everything). He remembers the almost comical look of shock that flashed across Madara's unmasked face and the weight of his body sliding from the end of Sasuke's sword. The backlash of the dispelling jutsu had slammed into his chest like a physical blow, knocking the breath from his lungs, splintering his ribs, and then...

Nothing. He can't remember anything more.

And while he's thankful—on some deep, neglected level of his psyche—for the expert care he's sure he received at the hands of his former home, he isn't ready to face some kind of joyous reunion complete with Sakura in tears and Naruto's too-loud cheers filling up the tiny hospital room. Just the thought of it has him trying to get his legs moving, already ripping wiring and intravenous needles from his arms and kicking away the sheet.

He doesn't belong here. Perhaps something has changed: perhaps he felt some kind of nostalgia and that's why he stepped in to help Naruto at the risk of his own life. But this isn't some kind of return to the past standard of normalcy. He needs to get out of here. This whole thing is just completely...inconvenient. And if he sees Naruto, if he's forced to listen to his declarations of friendship and optimism, there's a fifty percent chance he's going to kill the idiot for real this time (he dismisses the implication of the other fifty percent and how the actions that put him in this situation to begin with really skew the percentages, just a bit).

The futility of this thought process is only slowing his escape, so Sasuke takes a deep breath and kicks his legs over the side of the bed. His bare feet hit the floor, and it's cold, but bearable. He's wearing a ridiculously loose hospital gown that clearly marks him as a patient, so he tries to make his way across the small room to the built-in closet. He only makes it a few steps, however, before he doubles over and drops to his knees in the middle of the floor. His hands are shaking, fingertips white-knuckled as he digs into the floor and tries to stand, but he can't seem to gain any traction and drops to his knees once more. He's sweating suddenly and profusely despite the relative chill of the room, and his eyes can't focus on anything for more than the span of a breath. His stomach is gurgling and rolling, and his throat is tightly constricted, forcing him to swallow thickly and concentrate on moving air in and out of his lungs. He's dizzy and tired andoverwhelmed and...and...

Are those tears? There are tears sliding down his cheeks in steady rivulets and he can't understand why. It doesn't make any sense. Why? Why is he here? Why did he get involved? Why does he care? Why hasn't he left yet? Why...why... why!?

"Sasuke! Why are you out of bed!?"

Sakura arrives just in time to pull his hair back as he empties the content of his stomach onto the floor. Considering he's been sustained on a steady stream of IV fluids, the mess is minimal, but he feels like shit and there's no denying that he's in bad shape. He can't leave; he can't even stand on his own.

He allows her to move him back to the bed and replace the needles and sensors on his arms, but only because he has no strength with which to put up a fight.

She brushes the hair from his forehead and presses a cool cloth against his skin. "You need to stay in bed. You have a fever." Her tone is professional and detached. In any other situation, he might have thought she had a good bedside manner, but it's Sakura and it's forced. Her attempt at normalcy is completely transparent. Sasuke decides to be thankful she hasn't taken the opposite approach of making childish proclamations and begging him to stay in Konoha. In truth, he just wants to sink into unconsciousness once more and allow the whole ordeal to fade like one of his many nightmares.

However, just as he allows his eyes to close, she breaks the silence. "You're an idiot, you know. A stupid, wonderful idiot."

The last part is said so quietly it takes Sasuke a moment to process the words. Who does she think she's talking to? He's a genius, the heir to a great bloodline of geniuses, a grand, broken legacy of—

"And you're lucky to be alive." She continues dabbing at the sweat on his brow.

Sasuke opens his eyes and looks at her, really looks at the way war has aged her, and the question he wants to ask must be visible in his expression despite his inability to find his voice because she answers it anyway.

"You died. Your body...you were dead." She isn't exaggerating. She is clearly stating the facts. "And Naruto brought you back to life."

Sasuke's brow rises on instinct at that, and Sakura smiles and tucks a lock of hair behind his ear.

"Don't look so surprised. He's changed a lot since...you left." She's reluctant to mention his betrayal, he can tell, and for that he is grateful. Instead, she turns the conversation toward Sasuke and his plainly undead state.

"Don't tell him I said so," Sakura leans a little closer and lowers her voice, as if sharing some great secret (or more precisely, a juicy piece of gossip), "But when he saw you lying there, he just lost it. He couldn't accept it."

Sasuke can imagine the scene: Naruto grasping his lifeless body, screaming at him to awaken, to rise and let him kick his ass all the way back to the village, followed by tears and pleading, and several other stages of grief. Even in death, Sasuke would have been subjected to Naruto's emotional outbursts.

"So he made a deal—" She purses her lips and frowns, most likely unconscious of the action. "—with the Kyuubi."

WHAT? Sasuke's mouth moves, but nothing comes out. Why can't Naruto just let him die? What is his problem? Is that dumbass really so obsessed with bringing him back to Konoha that he would pull him back through the veil of death and force him to live again? Why...why would he go so...far...for—

Sasuke's teeth click loudly as he clamps his mouth shut against the wave of nausea building in his gut. He tries to even his breathing, but it feels as if he's swimming against a tide, drowning, and it's only when Sakura's cooling chakra glides over his forehead that the feeling recedes and he's able to breathe again.

"What...did he do...to me..." He finally manages to grind the words out against the tightness of his throat, though the cost is steep and he's exhausted from the effort.

Sakura sighs softly and mindlessly adjusts his sheets. She seems unsure, though whether it's because she doesn't know the answer or doesn't want to share it, he can't ascertain. And asking again is out of the question; he just doesn't have it in him. So he waits as she moves this or that item around the room, scoots the chair a little closer to the bed, and checks the various tubes and wires attached to him one more time.

Sasuke allows his eyes to fall shut, sure that she's decided not to speak. As he listens idly to the small movements she continues to make, he wonders to himself who this young woman is. Who has Sakura become in the intervening years since his defection to Sound? The quiet strength she exudes is only a hint to the source of her current maturity. No matter what else he might learn while he is in Konoha, this transformation will surely be the most absolute. Though the way she speaks about Naruto is nearly reverent, and he hates to admit that he's becoming curious about his former teammate (best friend) and these newfound abilities. He had only gotten a taste of the Kyuubi's chakra on previous occasions and it reeked of strength and anger and an ageless, incurable need for vengeance. It had piqued Sasuke's interest, naturally, but too many things had happened. There had never been enough time to learn as much as he had wished about the beast and its power.

"I told you...he made a deal. I don't know the details—he refuses to explain—but we transferred a piece of the Kyuubi's chakra from Naruto's body to your own." He can hear her sigh again, as if the weight of the memory is dragging her down. "It hurt. All of us, but Naruto most of all, and he didn't care."

Her hands are on his shoulders, as if she's barely holding herself back from shaking him, and Sasuke opens his eyes, finally making eye contact. She's afraid, but more than that, he thinks that she might even be furious. With him, as if he had any say in Naruto's reckless decision. "He didn't mind ripping out a piece of his soul and just... giving it to you...even though it could have killed him, too! Don't you understand?"

Sasuke lets his head fall to the side, unable to answer and unsure what he would say if he could. (un)Fortunately, he's saved from replying by the arrival of the person in question.

Naruto can be heard approaching from down the hall, greeting everyone loudly and cheerfully, and Sasuke is sure that despite what he's been led to believe, his blond rival hasn't changed one bit. He might have held onto this belief if he hadn't seen Naruto's expression when he entered the room fall from a broad grin to a sober frown of concern as soon as he realized Sasuke's eyes were open and he was awake.

"Nobody told me." The underlying hint of real anger directed at Sakura is as surprising as the tiredness of Naruto's features and the way he's standing perfectly still, rather than bouncing from foot to foot or climbing onto the bed to examine Sasuke for himself.

Indeed, Naruto isn't looking Sasuke in the eye or addressing him directly, and that might be the most disturbing change he's witnessed so far. For Sakura to be distant and professional is an improvement; for Naruto to act like he isn't even in the room is so desperately wrong that Sasuke can feel the bile struggling to rise in his throat again. How dare he do this to him and then pretend nothing has happened!

Sasuke tries to rise from the bed, not sure if he's intent on hitting the idiot or just storming out of the room, but Sakura presses a hand to his chest and he's weak enough to comply. The commotion draws Naruto's eyes, however, and for a long moment of held breaths and shared memory, the pair remain that way, simply taking in the changes time and struggle have wrought on each of their well-remembered faces.

It's Sasuke who looks away first, and he tries to save his dignity by telling himself that it's only because he's seriously infirmed.

"So, you're awake then?" Naruto asks the obvious question, and Sasuke looks up in time to catch the sheepish smile that curves his lips.

He raises a brow at the idiotic newcomer, unable to voice one of the many cutting remarks playing over in his head.

At the familiar expression, Naruto visibly relaxes and the smile turns genuine. He runs his fingers through his unruly hair and crosses his arms over his puffed-up chest. "I saved you. Go ahead, say 'thank you,' bastard." He's so pleased with himself that Sasuke wishes he could reply just so he could knock him down a few notches and remind him that he's just a stupid, grinning dead-last who can't even defend himself properly against genjutsu, so why the hell did he think he could go head-to-head against Sasuke's own ancestor (impostor).

In lieu of speech, Sasuke settles for a loud, deliberate sigh that he hopes communicates his disapproval of the situation. He can't help the subtle drop of his stomach (disappointment) when Naruto actually takes the hint and deflates a bit.

"So, uh, how're you feeling?" Naruto scratches at his cheek nervously and steps closer to the foot of the bed.

"He's tired. And nauseated." Sakura's tone has returned to professional and detached. "I found him on the floor; he's still too weak to stand."

She turns and gives Naruto the look, the one only Sakura is capable of. "Shishou expected it to take at least another week for him to recover, even if he woke up, so be patient. If you want to help, you can bring him something to eat. Oh, and clean that mess up."

Naruto's nose instantly wrinkles at the mess Sasuke left on the floor. "Ew! Really? But Sakura-chaaaan! That's gross!"

"And whose fault is it that he's in this condition to begin with?" She winces at her own words, probably regretting bringing it up, considering.

"Yeah, yeah...I know..." The defeat in his voice is just as uncharacteristic as the anger; it's disconcerting.

Sasuke struggles to push himself up once more, and this time, Sakura allows it. He takes a deep breath and forces his croaking voice to work: "Dumbass. S-stop feeling sorry for yourself." When he falls back onto the pillow, it's not without the slightest pleased smirk tilting the corner of his mouth.

The astonished look on Naruto's face is well worth it, but the effort is too much, and Sasuke can feel the room closing in on him. He loses consciousness once more to the sound of Naruto's voice chattering on about training and chakra control and teaching him "a thing or two for once." The fleeting thought that he'd be escaping before Naruto got a chance to teach him anything fades as he falls into a deep, impenetrable sleep.

Some days later...

As Sasuke quickly learns, his body isn't going to aid in any escape plans. Waiting out the recurring bouts of nausea, he nearly makes it to the hospital doors on his fourth attempt, but he starts to panic when his legs falter and the room pitches on its axis.

The fifth try results in his lying sprawled unconscious on the hospital lawn in the perfectly ironic posture of a murder victim. A streak of vomit accents the crime scene.

The sixth, seventh, and eighth attempts to escape leave him progressively more injured than before, but he's baffled when the wounds seem to heal overnight.

The tenth and final push to rid himself of Konoha is foiled by none other than the one who put him in this situation to begin with. Naruto awaits him outside the gates of the village. He's nervously shifting from foot to foot, but when he spies Sasuke—who has only made it so far by force of will—Naruto seems to straighten up and find his determination. "Oi, teme! Shouldn't you be in bed?"

Sasuke ignores him, but his tenuous grasp on stability is already slipping. Why is it that every time he sees that idiot's face...he just...gets so... angry...

"Baa-chan thinks you can't control it," Naruto replies, as if he can hear Sasuke's thoughts.

"What are you talking about?" the Uchiha forces out between gritted teeth. He can't let Naruto distract him when he's finally escaping the suffocating walls of the village he hates (that killed his family).

"The Kyuubi's chakra. I used it to bring you back, but you're still getting used to it." He sticks out his thumb, then uses it to point dramatically at his own chest. "Gotta practice if you wanna be as strong as me!" he proclaims and Sasuke can hear Naruto's grin without looking. He's walking alongside him, taking half steps to slow his pace, and the Uchiha is sure he's going to punch Naruto in the face. He can practically feel his anger taking solid form as a weight in his gut. But then... "Jeez, I guess you're really not as tough as—Shit! SASUKE!"

Naruto's yells are the last thing he hears before the all too familiar darkness closes in. Dammit.

A few weeks later...

"What the hell?" Naruto grunts as he dodges Sasuke's kick and rolls away. "I washandling it, and then YOU had to show up and—" It's been the same every day since the jerk was released from the hospital.

"Save you?" Sasuke flops onto the ground, eyes closed and breathing hard. After several weeks of training, he's no closer to truly controlling the chakra transplanted into his body than the day he woke up. The only thing they've learned is that Sasuke is even grumpier than before, and he's a lot more sensitive, too. "I arrived just in time."

"Just in time to get yourself killed!" Naruto does a few stretches not far from where Sasuke's lying, keeping one eye on the bastard in case he tries to bolt. There have already been several times over the course of their training that he's suspected Sasuke might be considering another escape attempt.

"You brought me back." Sasuke mutters it quietly under his breath.

Naruto still hears it, and he rolls his eyes, not sure why Sasuke keeps bringing it up. Why can't he just let it go, move on, start learning to use his awesome new chakra, which Naruto heroically managed to convince Kurama to share with him?

Sasuke picks at the grass and twists it between his fingers. "This isn't working. You don't know what you're doing."

"Hey, I'm a great teacher! You're just being impatient!" Not that Naruto has been training Sasuke as hard as he should. He hasn't been holding back—not exactly—but he just...well, he has a real reason, a justified fear of giving Sasuke too much control over the new chakra his body houses.

After all, Sasuke doesn't have the best track record when it comes to power.

After a few drawn out minutes without a reply, Naruto shrugs and turns away from the jerk who's become his constant shadow. He allows a rasengan to form in the palm of his hand, then lobs it across the training field. It collides with a stand of trees in the distance and knocks several to the ground.

He lets the splintering crash of the trees fill the silence between them.

He really hates not knowing what to say to Sasuke, and these quiet, tense moments are happening more and more often.

All he wants is to train Sasuke so the bastard won't throw up or freak out every time he gets emotional about something. Not that the ice princess would ever admit to getting emotional over anything. Everyone else thinks that Sasuke's fine, that he's recovering—they've even given him a pardon for beating that masked asshole and ending the war. But Naruto knows Sasuke better than anyone else in the village, and there's definitely something going on. He's sure of it.

It would help a lot if Sasuke was just honest with him and didn't try to keep everything bottled up inside. But if he tries telling Sasuke that, he'll find himself on the receiving end of another Kyuubi-chakra fueled temper tantrum, and then he'll have to carry Sasuke back to the hospital, and...well, there's gotta be another way.

Naruto drops to the ground beside Sasuke and reclines back on his elbows, watching him out of the corner of his eye. The jerk's just staring up at the sky, like he's unaware of the inner turmoil he's causing Naruto. And maybe he is; Sasuke's never been very good at judging his effect on other people. All Naruto wanted was to have his best friend back in the village, to have everything return to normal, and to make good on his promise to Sakura that he would bring that bastard back even if he had to break every bone in his body to do it. But this isn't normal. Sasuke died to save him and that changes everything he's ever known or thought about the guy he would have sworn didn't give one shit about anyone other than himself. Now he has to consider that, maybe, Sasuke...cares...or something.

But that's hard to believe, given their history. And every conversation collapses into an argument that Naruto's too nervous to go all out in because he doesn't want to scare Sasuke away.

Or worse, he could make Sasuke angry enough to set off the Kyuubi's chakra. As humorous as the sight of Sasuke cloaked with one chakra tail and ears could be, it still sucked when he actually landed a blow and managed to injure Naruto badly enough to end practice for the day.

"I hate this..." Naruto jumps to his feet, and Sasuke barely reacts. He just tilts his head back a little, that annoying fucking brow raised in question. Why is he always doing that? It's like he wants to piss Naruto off. "Practice is over for the day. I'm hungry." Before Sasuke has a chance to voice his inevitable protest over being deprived of training, Naruto takes off toward the village. He doesn't even look back, doesn't want to, in case the sight of Sasuke sitting there in the training field alone makes him feel guilty or something. God, that guy is so annoying!

In truth, he's more than a little frustrated with himself. Treating Sasuke like a fragile, breakable doll isn't helping their relationship one bit, but he just can't go back to the way things were before. That didn't work, it drove him away, and Naruto just can't risk it.

When he comes to a stop, it isn't in front of Ichiraku as he'd planned, but a plain apartment door. It takes him a moment of scratching his head and looking around to figure out where he is, and just as he raises his hand to knock, Iruka-sensei opens the door, his face split wide by a welcoming grin. "Why are you standing around outside? Come in!"

His former sensei grabs Naruto by the elbow and drags him inside. The walls just inside the door are lined with shelves that contain photos of his students, knick-knacks, and awards. Naruto reaches out to touch them, but his hand is smacked away. "Didn't I teach you better than that? Remove your shoes, then come inside and help me with the tea." Despite his tone, Iruka is still smiling, and Naruto silently thanks his feet for carrying him to his sensei's home instead. He always feels better when Iruka-sensei is around. Ever since...Jiraiya...their bond has grown stronger. Iruka was the first person to believe in him, but he has also been a friend, a brother, a mentor, and sometimes, even a therapist.

Naruto kicks his shoes off and leaves them in a messy pile beside the door before hurrying into the kitchen to help. Not only is Iruka making tea, but there are pork buns and onigiri stacked alongside the stove, which he offers to Naruto. "I was making my lunch for the week," he explains before taking the hot water off the stove top and pouring it into the teapot. Naruto munches a pork bun while watching Iruka add the tea, wondering why exactly his sensei had thought he could help with such a simple task.

Gathering everything onto a tray, Iruka nods toward the living room, encouraging Naruto to follow. They both kneel at the small table and Iruka arranges the teapot and cups. As they wait for the tea to steep, Naruto picks bits of dough off his pork bun, presses his fingers into the sides, and nervously decimates the small baked good with his fidgeting. All the while, Iruka continues to smile. It's getting a little creepy because Naruto is sure that Iruka is being oddly cheerful and he hasn't properly scolded him even once since he arrived except to remind him about his shoes. Nothing about how dirty he is, how he could have at least changed before stopping by, how he hasn't been to see him since the war ended—that's a big one. He definitely expects something, but instead, Iruka just sits there with his hands folded on the table. "So, uh, you're in a good mood..." he mumbles before shoving a piece of his mangled pork bun into his mouth.

"And you're awfully quiet," Iruka counters, his smile finally falling, just a little, as he pours the tea for them both, "What's on your mind?"

"I..what? Nothing! Why does something have to be on my mind for me to stop by and say hello to my favorite sensei?" Naruto does his best to offer a broad smile, but he fails miserably and he knows it. "Okay, okay...it's, uh, it's Sasuke."

"Well, of course it is." Iruka shakes his head a little, as if he's been expecting this all along. "I hear that you're training him for something. How's that going?"

Their training is top secret, but it doesn't mean that no one's noticed two powerful chakras battling it out on the training fields. Of course there are rumors; Naruto should have expected it. "So, the thing is, I'm not sure it's working."

"Working?" Iruka tilts his head innocently to the side, as if not comprehending. "Is there a problem? Is Sasuke okay?" He takes a sip of his tea, and as many times as Naruto's been through this by now, he knows that Iruka is waiting for him to accidentally admit whatever is bothering him, himself.

"Yeah, he's fine. Great." The lack of energy in his voice betrays him, so he tries a different tactic: honesty. "I mean, he's Sasuke, he's always fine, right? Until...until you don't expect it ,and then he just...walks away...you know...?"

"Is that what you're afraid of? You were the one who fought for his pardon, remember?" Iruka lowers his tea cup and swirls the contents around, his eyes on the tea leaves spinning in the bottom of the cup. "What's changed?"

"He's different. I mean, no, he's still Sasuke. He says he's not learning fast enough, and I guess..." Naruto looks up, pleadingly, at Iruka, hoping the older man can offer some kind of clarity into his own thoughts. Finding only Iruka's patient gaze, Naruto continues, reluctantly, to finish his own sentence. "I guess I'm just worried that he'll do something stupid and run away. Again. Everyone knows he's a scaredy-cat." Naruto picks up his own tea cup and take a deep swig. Almost immediately, he slams the cup down on the table, his cheeks red, his eyes wide and watering.

"The tea's still hot, you know." Iruka's smiling again, but there's a sadness in his eyes that Naruto would notice if he wasn't trying to extinguish the pain of his burnt tongue.

"No...sh-shit! Ah!" Damn Iruka-sensei for just laughing at him. It's not funny!

Iruka finally takes mercy on him and retrieves a glass of cold water from the kitchen. "I think the answer to your problem is pretty simple," he offers while Naruto gulps it down. "You just have to give Sasuke a reason to stay in the village."

"A reason to stay?" Naruto makes a face at that, and while he's still very confused, he knows in his gut that his sensei is probably right. He just has to figure out what it means. "A reason...to stay..." What could possibly keep Sasuke in the village, and why couldn't he have known before Sasuke ever left? It would have saved everyone a lot of trouble (regret).

"Now, then, I have tests to grade and you have some things to think about." Iruka stands and offers his hand to Naruto. When he hauls him up off the floor, he pulls Naruto into a hug. "You'll find the answer. It's not as hard as you think."

Releasing him, he nudges Naruto toward the door. Naruto slips his shoes onto his feet, his brows furrowed in concentration.

"I'm sure you'll think of something. Just give it time; it'll come to you," Iruka offers hopefully.

Still not sure, he steps out into the night with a new perspective on the issue and a lot to think about. "See ya, sensei!" he yells back over his shoulder as he takes to the rooftops. "And thanks a lot!"

All he needs to do is find a reason for Sasuke to stay in the village, then he can train him for real, and Sasuke will finally get better. Why does Iruka-sensei have to make it sound so easy when it's probably impossible. There's nothing Sasuke cares about more than power and revenge. Naruto knows this because Sasuke's told him so about a million times over the years. So how is he supposed to find something important enough to keep Sasuke from leaving after he finishes teaching him to control an even bigger amount of chakra than he had before?

Feeling pretty hopeless, Naruto decides to do what he always does to cheer himself up: he lands gracefully in front of Ichiraku Ramen and settles himself down on one of the stools. "Old man, I'm starving!"

Emerging from the back room, Teuchi-san comes out frowning and swinging his ramen ladle. "Hey, respect your elders! Just because you're my number one customer, it doesn't get you special treatment!" Despite his declaration, minutes later he sets a hot, fresh bowl of pork ramen on the bar in front of Naruto.

Since the battle that destroyed much of the village, Naruto has been declared a hero, and one of the perks is that he gets to eat ramen anytime he wants and the first bowl is always free. "Itadakimasu!" He digs in immediately, already feeling a bit of relief from his troubles. Ah, it's good to be me.

"Oh, Naruto, you're here?"

Naruto spins on his stool to find Sakura peeking underneath one of the awnings. "Sakura-chan! Have dinner with me!" When she looks like she might walk away, he adds, "It could be our first date!"

Blushing softly and shaking her head, Sakura ducks under the awning and sits down on the stool beside him. They both know it's not really a date at all; any chance of that happening disappeared the day she tried to trick him into giving up on Sasuke by confessing her "love." There's no chance of taking it back, starting over, but it's okay. Years ago in the academy, he would have never believed that after Sasuke, he would truly be able to say that Sakura was one of his best friends.

"I'll have a bowl of miso ramen, thank you!" Sakura orders politely and then excuses herself to wash up before eating.

So many things have changed since the academy that it makes Naruto's head spin if he tries to think about it too hard, so usually, he just focuses on the present and keeps moving forward. However, in this case, moving forward requires a little more work.

Sasuke needs a reason to stay in the village. Hm...maybe Sakura can— "AH!" A finger had suddenly poked him in the cheek, and when he looks around in search of the offending hand, he finds that Sakura has returned and she's sitting beside him.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" She offers an encouraging smile before breaking her chopsticks. "Itadakimasu!"

"Eh...well...see, I talked to Iruka-sensei earlier and—"

"About Sasuke? What's wrong? Is everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah, mostly." Naruto pauses, a few precious noodles dangling on the ends of his chopsticks. This is more important than ramen; he can't believe he's thinking it, but it's true. He puts his chopsticks down and turns on the stool so he's sitting face to face with his teammate. "He's just frustrated and, well, I kinda think he might want to leave again. Iruka-sensei said that Sasuke just needs a reason to stay in the village."

"Oh, you mean, like a girlfriend or something?" Sakura pushes a few noodles around in the bottom of her bowl, thinking it over.

"A girlfriend? Maybe..." Naruto's fidgeting with the zipper of his jacket. The conversation seems to be giving him indigestion.

Sakura takes a small bite, chewing thoughtfully before putting her chopsticks down on the counter. "That's a great idea, except you know Sasuke isn't very good at letting people get close to him." She sighs softly and pushes the bowl away, apparently just as uneasy about the topic as he is.

"Sakura-chan, you really do care about him, don't you?"

"Well, of course I do. I mean...hehe..." She blushes again and tucks a stray hair behind her ear. "I care for you both, of course, and..."

Suddenly Naruto's eyes go wide and he jumps up off the stool, pointing an accusing finger in Sakura's face. "Wait, WAIT! You could be Sasuke's girlfriend!"

"Now, just a minute, I already said—"

"No, it's perfect! You'll be Sasuke's girlfriend, and then he'll have to stay here forever!" It's such a simple plan, Naruto wonders why he didn't come up with it sooner. "He's staying in the apartments by the Hokage's tower. We should go there, right now! C'mon!" He grabs her wrist without even waiting for an answer and starts dragging her toward Sasuke's new apartment.

He doesn't even think about how Sakura can stop him if she really wants to.

Or how Sasuke isn't going to like this plan at all.

He doesn't even heed Teuchi-san's threats to put Sakura's ramen on Naruto's tab.

His one-track mind has decided for them all that Sakura is going to be Sasuke's new girlfriend and nothing—nothing—is going to stop him from making Sasuke happy (and loyal to the village).

Perhaps it's this realization that keeps Sakura from protesting when he shoves her in front of Sasuke's door, knocks, then runs away with a whisper-shout of "You can do it, Sakura-chaaaaan!"

Half an hour later...

Sakura sits on the corner of Sasuke's bed and toys with the seam of her skirt. He's sitting on a chair nearby. The chakra he exudes is more frightening than she remembers, and maybe a bit intoxicating, but that could be her childish emotions resurfacing. After all, she hasn't thought of Sasuke in a romantic way in so long that the feeling is somewhat foreign. After he left, she'd given up on romance to focus on getting stronger, strong enough to protect Naruto and the rest of the people she cared about, strong enough to gain Sasuke's respect. Respect and romance are two different things, however, and she knows that regardless of Naruto's good intentions, she and Sasuke will never actually be together. It's too late for that.

The thought that she'll die an old maid, just like Tsunade-shishou, crosses her mind, and she frowns down at her knees. "So that's it."

Sasuke shifts slightly and the chair creaks, but he doesn't seem to care one way or the other about what she's told him. "I see."

"Do you really?" She's angry at him on Naruto's behalf. "He's worried about you. Doesn't that matter to you?"

"How is that my problem?" He looks away and pushes his fingers back through his hair, a nervous gesture she recognizes. So, he's not as unaffected as he would like her to think. With a faint shrug, he rises from the chair to stand a bit nearer to the single window in the apartment. It's already night, and she can see his reflection in the glass. "Sakura, I gave up trying to escape weeks ago; I won't be leaving the village without permission. What else does he want from me?"

"Maybe he wants you to be happy. Haven't you thought about that?" She's looking at his reflection in the eye, and she thinks, perhaps, it's the best metaphor for their relationship. Even while tending his wounds, touching his body, she's never been able to reach him. Sasuke has always been miles ahead of her, and in all the time she's known him, only Naruto has ever stood a chance of catching up to him. Now that she sees him like this, she realizes that Sasuke—the one she used to chase after—he was never anything more than a fantasy. She was so busy chasing him that she never truly took the time to see him. "Is there really anything wrong with being happy? If you had someone, anyone, that you could rely on...Sasuke..."

She doesn't miss it when the eyes of the reflection look away. Taking a risk, she crosses the small room to stand beside him. To see what he sees. "You keep us all at a distance. Don't you get lonely?"

Surprisingly, he doesn't move away. "I can't date you. It's absurd," he mumbles and she nods once in agreement. "But I won't leave either."

And then he murmurs something else. She can't quite make it out at first, but then the pieces all fall into place and her cheeks suddenly burn bright red. "Oh...o-oh my...I see, well...uh, hehe, this explains a lot..."

"Shut up." Sasuke's finally looking her in the eye. In fact, he's glaring, and it's so much like his twelve-year-old expression that Sakura bursts into a fit of the giggles. He only glares harder. "Thanks."

"I-I'm sorry, it's just...so...ahh...ah...okay, I'm okay now..." She tries to get her laughter under control before he kicks her out in embarrassment. "I'm just...I'm happy. I'm glad."

"Hn." He slides his hands into his pockets, obviously desperate to display his normal level of apathy. "You can leave now."

"Fine, fine, you don't have to be so sour." Sakura wants to hug him, but she's sure he hasn't changed that much, so she settles for a smile and a slight nod in his direction. "Thank you. For trusting me."

"Whatever." But she can see that his shoulders are more relaxed and he seems at ease for the first time since his arrival in the village. No matter what Sasuke might say, Sakura hasn't forgotten how to translate his intentions.

"Good night, Sasuke."

Not waiting for a reply, she lets herself out and starts heading toward home. She decides to take the long way, through a street that passes near the old training fields and the academy. Perhaps she's feeling nostalgic. A tear slides down her cheek, and for the first time, she allows herself to grieve the fact that Sasuke is truly never going to be hers.

Not only has she outgrown him, but it seems, he's found someone else. And it makes so much sense that her chest aches for the both of them.

Now all she can hope is that he doesn't screw it up.

The next afternoon...

When Sasuke arrives at the training field the next day, Naruto catches him off-guard with a left hook to the chin and a quick sweep of his leg that drops Sasuke to the ground. He's on him in a second, straddling his hips and doling out punches one after another.

"YOU. ARE. SUCH. AN. ASS. HOLE."

"What the—!" Sasuke manages to turn his head to side and wriggle his arms out from beneath Naruto's knees. He reaches for the blond's hands, trying to capture them before he can hit him again, but only manages to clasp air between his groping fingers. "What the hell is your problem?!"

"My problem? My problem?" Naruto grasps the front of Sasuke's shirt, yanking him up off the ground to yell in his face. "My problem is YOU! How could you reject Sakura-chan after everything we've—she's been through?!"

"She's not my type," Sasuke deadpans and receives a punch in the face for his efforts that knocks his head back against the grass. As he tries to blink the stars away from his eyes, the first drops of what he immediately mistakes for rain land on his cheek. Naruto's still grasping Sasuke's shirt and shaking him and screaming something that he can't understand over the ringing in his ears. It's something so important that his best friend has broken into tears that would represent weakness in anyone else, but only betray how strongly he feels about...whatever it is that's got him so upset. "What? I don't..."

"Sasuke! You need Sakura-chan!" Naruto shakes Sasuke again and pulls him up close, forcing him to look into his eyes, as if he has any choice; he's having too much trouble focusing on staying conscious to struggle against Naruto's grip now. "Don't you get it?" The blond's voice is low and dangerous between them, and he punctuates the most important words with sharp tugs on Sasuke's shirt. "She can make you happy. And then you won't leave. You'll have a reason to stay in thevillage, and then you'll never want to leave me again."

Sasuke's eyes widen at that, truly taken aback by the mix of honesty and rage in Naruto's eyes. "You really are dense..." he whispers between them, "I...already have a reason."

"Wh-what? Really?" The genuine confusion that passes over Naruto's features seems to negate his anger as he tries to keep up. His fingers loosen in the front of Sasuke's shirt, but neither makes a move to disengage from their position. "You have a girlfriend!?"

"Tch." Sasuke just rolls his eyes; he's forgotten how infuriating communicating with subtleties could be around Naruto, and it's trying his already limited patience. The Kyuubi's chakra flexes just underneath the surface of his skin, but he takes a deep breath and swallows it back down (the way Naruto taught him to). Turning his face away, he presses his cheek into the soft, cool grass of the training field. "You just don't get it..."

Naruto sighs roughly, clearly as frustrated as Sasuke. "How the hell can I get it if you won't tell me!? You're so damn—"

He'll never get to finish that sentence. Sasuke fists the front of his shirt and hauls him down, effectively cutting off any protest on Naruto's behalf with the crush of his own lips. It's abrupt, like the first time, and yet, nothing can compare to the truth it communicates where words seem to have failed them.

(I won't leave.)

(I can't lose you again.)

Their bodies slide together, sprawled on the grass of the field in which their friendship was forged. It's a parody of their previous fights. Neither has much experience with this sort of thing—the kissing, the closeness, the intent to touch without harming—so they fumble and gasp and frantically move against one another.

And then a moan breaks between them, and whether it was Sasuke or Naruto, neither can be sure. Whomever is to blame, it shatters the moment and with it the suspension of reality. Naruto sits up slowly, eyes wide, something too closely resembling fear filtering into his expression. His hands don't shake as he releases Sasuke's shirt and rises to his feet.

"I...ah...eh...hm...I h-have to...go...somewhere...I-I think I hear Sai calling me...eh...hehehe..." His nervous laughter is brittle against the backdrop of the clear blue sky and the melodies of songbirds in the forest surrounding the training field. But Sasuke holds his tongue and allows Naruto his less than graceful exit. The blond dashes off into the trees when he reaches the field's perimeter.

"What the hell..." Sasuke murmurs softly, and his hand slowly rises to touch his tingling lips. His heart might be racing in his chest, but the rest of his body is thankfully numb and the Kyuubi's chakra rests tranquilly entwined with his own. How it came to this, he can't say. He simply continues staring up at the blue-blue sky that has always reminded him of his rival-cum-friend and the soft vapor clouds that trail across it.

The next morning, Sasuke shows up for practice a few hours late. He's actually wondering why he bothered to show up at all. Knowing Naruto, he won't make an appearance for at least a few days, choosing the easier path of avoidance. The idiot's pride would rival an Uchiha's, and what with the way he'd run away the day before, Sasuke is sure that Naruto's pride must be somewhat bruised.

He's quite taken aback when he lands in the middle of the training field only to be greeted by a loud, oh-so-familiar declaration: "YOU'RE LATE!"

Naruto is sitting on the ground grinning up at Sasuke. His legs are folded into the half lotus position, copied by four clones sitting behind him.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke demands, taking an involuntary step toward Naruto. He's completely off-kilter given the awkward situation of the day before and Naruto's unexpected appearance. Who knew that the blond would actually dare to show his face again?

The air around them is pulsing with an unusually potent chakra that makes the hairs on Sasuke's arms prickle and stand on end. He's learned enough from Orochimaru to recognize senjutsu when he sees it, and he shivers as the nature chakra slides against his own.

"What am I doing? Waiting for you!" The presumed real Naruto stands and spreads his arms to draw attention to the seated clones. "You better be ready, cause we're ready for you, and we're gonna train like we've never trained before! I can finally go all out!"

The corner of Sasuke's lips turns up, just a bit, into a smug smirk. He levels a look at Naruto that clearly states without exception that the blond, no matter what new tricks he may have learned while Sasuke was away, will never truly be a match for him.

Naturally, Naruto meets Sasuke's look with a challenging glint in his eye.

Sasuke doesn't miss the pure sense of relief overshadowing the training field, and as he settles into a proper offensive stance, he knows he feels it, himself. Relief, something he's mistaken for nostalgia and sentiment, for familiarity, for far too long.

As the air crackles with chakra and their true training begins, Sasuke finds himself stepping forward with new determination—I'm home.

(the end/beginning)