The group bowed goodbye to the monks at the Main house and headed to the harbor. The Mizukage walked peacefully, smiling while gazing at the vast beauty of the island.

"Aaaah, this place is so beautiful," the woman spoke, a great smile on her face. She walked slowly, her hands resting on her large belly. "But I spent too much time here. I am so happy to be heading back home."

Sakura walked next to the pregnant woman, closely monitoring her every move. Two days had passed since the attempted assault on Mei. The pink-haired girl exhaled, happy that this was all over. This mission had its fun moments, but was a pain in the ass as well.

With the corner of her green eyes she gazed at Sasuke, who walked on the other side of the Mizukage. His face was calm and his dark eyes stared at the ship that could be seen in the distance. There was no doubt that he couldn't wait to get back to his natural self.

Sakura smiled. She liked him like that for the opportunity to tease him immensely. But she preferred him in his normal form as well. The girl felt heat rise into her face. Recalling the image of Sasuke, leaning over her with his lips bloody and dressed in that tight dressing-gown was not professional.

Instead, the medical nin spun to check up on Naruto and Hinata. The Hyuuga girl appeared peaceful as well. She was perfectly used to all the shenanigans that her boyfriend constantly pulled, but ending this odd adventure was definitely making her feel better. As for the Uzumaki himself, he was the same, as always. Offering Sakura a wide smile, he walked confidently ahead.

The Haruno rolled her eyes. No matter of his gender or form, Naruto would always be Naruto. But couldn't she say the same for Sasuke as well? He had been uncomfortable and grumpy throughout the whole mission, but come to think of it, he was usually like that.

"Mei!"

A tall man ran off the ship they had just reached. The eye-patch he usually wore over his right eye was lifted to reveal an activated Byakugan. Ao ran to his wife, but stopped before her, a concerned expression on his face. Her belly had gotten bigger. The man raised his arms, hesitantly reaching to the Mizukage, only for her to crash into his embrace and squeeze him.

"Ao, I missed you," the woman spoke, her voice muffled in his shirt.

"I missed you too," he replied, stroking her hair. His gaze ran through the Konohan group. When his eyed met the ones of Hinata though, his expression became even more worried. He reached in and covered his white eye, offering an apologetic look to the Hyuuga girl, who smiled in return.

Sakura bowed at the man and opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted. A young man jumped from the desk of the ship right onto the ground, landing right in front of her. A ginormous sword was attached to his back and its handle stuck high behind his shoulder. The boy ran his hand through his white hair, tinted with a light blue color on the edges and gave the pink-haired girl a wide, sharky smile. "Oi!"

Sakura raised her eyebrow. "Suigetsu, did not expect to see you here."

He responded with a smirk. His violet eyes then moved to the pregnant woman and he bowed lightly to greet her. "Mizukage-sama, the ship is ready to take you back."

"Great. Come on girls," Mei urged, throwing a glance at Satsuki, who tried her best to conceal her bitter expression.

They quickly climbed on deck. The Uchiha looked around, just now recalling exactly how much he hated ships. Especially after his experience on their way to the island. His onyx eyes fixed on the entrance to the cabins below deck but he couldn't quite get there. For Suigetsu stood before him, towering over his female petite figure.

The Hozuki leaned in, staring at the black-haired girl in suspicion. "Do I know you?" he finally asked.

Sasuke leaned back, his eyes wide. "No," he denied, making sure his voice sounded as womanly as possible. He failed.

"You sure? You seem familiar."

Sakura had frozen a few feet away, ready to take action. The mission may have ended, but blowing their cover would be dreadful. Even Hinata was concentrated on the conversation between the two previous members of team Taka. Only Naruto seemed calm. He had covered his mouth with his gentle hands and was silently giggling.

"I really think I have met you before," Suigetsu continued his interrogation. "What was your name again?"

"Tche, as if a girl like me would ever waste time on someone like you," Sasuke exclaimed, tossing his head to the side to adjust the long bangs that covered most of his eyes. With a bold stance, he walked ahead, passing past the rest of the Konohan group, most of who were currently gaping.

Suigetsu stared after the black-haired girl with a pained expression on his face. What a rude, awfully familiar kunoichi she was.

The Uchiha couldn't wait for the rest of the group, his cover and mostly his honor were too endangered. He intended on locking himself in the room up until they reached the Land of Fire. But luck was not on his side. Running down the stairs he crashed into some passerby, knocking her on the ground.

The girl flew back, landing on her butt. Cursing under her nose, she fixed the glasses on her face, only to stare at the person before her in shock. Because she had felt Sasuke's chakra. For the first time since the War she felt the Uchiha so close. His chakra was, as usual, radiant, strong and dark.

But this was not Sasuke. It was… a girl?

Sasuke needed just a moment to gather himself. He straightened up, fixing the short green skirt on his slim, female body.

"Karin," he noted, walking past her.

She tried to speak, but found she was out of words. In a second, two more girls came down the small set of stairs. The pink-haired kunoichi nodded in greeting, the Hyuuga did the same. Both hurried to disappear behind the corner.

"Wait for meee," someone else called and walked down. It turned out to be a blond, blue-eyed female.

Karin stared, clearly recognizing the chakra in front of her. The Kyuubi's energy was hard to be concealed. "What the…"

"Oh, hi cousin!" Naruto greeted and stopped before the red-haired girl, giving her a quick hug. "Sorry, but I have to run off. See you later, ok?" The blond walked past her as well, but stopped at the corner and turned back. "Oh, and that's kind of a secret mission, so shhhh," he explained, pressing his pointer finger to his lips.

Karin parted her lips, staring after Naruto without remembering quite how to function. In the end she decided that, whatever was happening, she did not want to know. She walked on deck to check if the Mizukage needed anything. Karin had become a good part of Kirigakure after the war.

But the woman appeared perfectly fine. And for real this time. After her health had decreased, Karin had offered her regular bites of her healing chakra, but this just hadn't done the job. However, Mei appeared in a perfect condition right now. Finally.

"Oi, Karin!"

With a sigh, the girl turned to stare at the ever so annoying Suigetsu. "What?"

"Have you seen that black-haired Konohan girl? I am totally sure I know her from somewhere, but just can't seem to remember…"

The girl rolled her crimson eyes. "Believe me, you want nothing to do with this bitch," she noted and wandered off.

It was dark when they neared the Village, Hidden in the Leaf. After hours of silent running, Sakura stopped, waiting for the rest to join her in the large clearing between the forests.

"Alright," she started, fixing her eyes on Naruto, then on Sasuke. "Here are your stuff, go and change back to normal, we'll be in Konoha shortly."

The girl threw a bag on the ground before her and watched as Naruto dug out his black shirt and orange pants. Sasuke was quite astonished to find that his clothes had been in Sakura all along. He found his black pants and the shirt, bearing his clan's insignia, and headed into the forest.

A moment later Naruto appeared before them, fully dressed and looking as normal as he could. His whiskered cheeks shifted as he offered Hinata his biggest smile. He walked to her and kissed her lightly, almost laughing at how red her face had become.

"Aaah, this definitely feels better," he exclaimed, stretching.

Sasuke appeared from the woods, walking slowly to the rest of the group. His face was deadly. And it took the Uzumaki only one gaze to understand how much trouble he was in.

Without saying a word, a Chidori appeared in the Uchiha's hand as he charged at the blond. Naruto let out a high pitched scream and ran ahead, trying his best to dodge the attacks aimed mainly at his face.

"Satsuki-chaaaaaan, nooo!" he called, both laughing and screaming in panic.

"I will murder you, goddamn bastard!"

A crashing sound announced that a tree had been broken in half and soon the two girls saw it falling in the distance. Hinata had her Byakugan active, but her face was calm.

"Should we stop them?" she asked nonetheless.

"Nah, let them fight, if this will make them feel like men again."

The Hyuuga giggled and walked ahead together with Sakura. Konoha was not more than an hour away.

"Great job, everyone. I am extremely satisfied with what you have achieved." Tsunade stared at the group before her. Naruto bared a black eye and a bloody nose, while Sasuke's lip was cut and swollen. The Uchiha had quite a few scratch-marks on his neck. The Hokage could guess what had happened, but decided not to concentrate on the details. "You are free to go and rest for tonight. Sakura, come visit me tomorrow to provide me with more details."

"Yes."

They all left the Hokage office. Naruto yawned and rubbed the back of his neck, staring at the starry sky. "Come on, Hinata-chan, I'll walk you home." He took his girlfriend's hand and dragged her after him. "Good night, Sakura-chan. Screw you, teme."

Sasuke decided not to dignify this with a response. Instead he stared at Sakura, who had a strange look on her face.

His gaze suddenly made her uncomfortable, so she looked away. "I sure am glad that this is over."

The Uchiha gave her an odd look and rolled his eyes. "You don't say."

"It's late."

"Hn," he agreed and walked past her, headed to the Main Street of the town. The girl followed, her house was in that direction anyway.

But the Uchiha mansion wasn't. So she soon figured out that Sasuke was walking her back. She really wasn't in the mood to argue or question him, so she simply followed him. There was not a single person in the streets, it was near 2 AM. They walked in silence. A few minutes later they reached Sakura's place.

"Thanks for walking me back," she noted. She looked at his indifferent face, finding that his swollen lower lip bothered her too much. "You should let me fix that," she joked.

It was like Sasuke was just noticing the cut on his lip. He touched the wound, then bit it, as if still unsure whether it was really there. "Don't bother," he finally noted.

"Seriously, someone will get the wrong impression," she teased, extending her hand to touch his lip with her green-glowing fingers.

However, before she could even touch him, Sasuke caught her wrist. He did not push her hand aside though. He just held her in place.

Sakura blinked. She stared at the boy, unsure with how to proceed. His face was emotionless, as ever. Was he mad at her? He had every right to be. The girl tried taking a step back, but he did not let go of her hand.

"Look-"

"I don't care if someone gets a wrong impression," he interrupted her, lowering her hand but still keeping his hold on it.

"I figured," she answered, rolling her eyes. Sasuke had never been one to care of what people thought about him. Which often caused him most of his problems. "And still…"

And still she could not finish her sentence. The boy pulled her by the hand and she stumbled ahead, too surprised by this to react on time. Sasuke reached in and took her chin with his free hand, adjusting her face so she could see him. He then leaned in and kissed her.

The kiss lasted for only a couple of seconds. When he finally let her go, she found herself panting. She took a step back and stared at his blank face with her wide, emerald eyes.

"That's better," he spoke, his voice low. Almost a whisper.

"W-what?" she tried to speak.

"Last time I did that you were dying," he explained. "So that's better."

They exchanged gazes for a few long moments. Finally Sakura managed to move again and raised her hand, touching her lips.

"I-"

"Good night, Sakura."

The girl watched as Sasuke turned around, walking ahead until she lost him from sight in the darkness.

She barely managed to unlock her front door and hurried to sit down upon entering her room.

The touch of his lips still lingered on hers. She let her back hit the mattress and she lay in her bed, blankly staring at the ceiling of her room.

This mission had been a complete and utter madness. And yet, it was fun. She had managed to spend some time with her three favorite people in the world. And as much as she couldn't believe it, she had managed to see a very different side of Sasuke. A side she enjoyed.

She giggled, tossing her clothes on the floor and getting under the covers of her bed. She needed sleep. Too many things had happened in too little time.

And that kiss…

She closed her eyes and soon drifted into sleep, smiling in her dream. A few meters away, seated on the edge of a building was a boy, sitting in the darkness, silently observing the girl through her window.

The Uchiha finally stood up and deactivated his Sharingan. He jumped from roof to roof, headed to his house.

This whole thing had been a disaster. But it was over now. He gained a bit more speed and jumped on top of a streetlamp, satisfied of how his body felt. Entering his house, he went straight to his bathroom, turning on the shower and let the water cover every inch of him. He was so glad that some parts of his body were missing. And that some other parts were back.

Shaking his head, he decided to never recall the feeling of being in a woman's body ever again. It was a mystery for him how Sakura could function in that tiny body of hers.

He rubbed his temples, feeling odd that he had unintentionally seen her almost naked just a few minutes ago. Not that he minded, or that he didn't enjoy what he saw… But he was not Naruto, peeping at girls like that.

Though in the case with Sakura…

He shook his head and went out of his shower. Drying himself he crashed on his bed, unsure what had gotten into him. Was it strange that he had enjoyed saving Sakura's life that much? She had done the same for him so many times before. And still, that CPR had felt interesting.

He took a deep breath and exhaled, feeling like a complete, Naruto-levelled creep. He covered his face with his pillow and tried to gather himself. He was Sasuke Uchiha. He was cold and heartless and-

Damn her lips.

This was it. He couldn't deny it. As much as he had tried to refuse even thinking about this the past few years, Sakura was different. She was no longer that girl that blindly followed him and craved his attention. If anything, she couldn't care less about him. But she had not torn his head off his body with her fist attack when he kissed her.

Maybe she had been too astonished of his behavior...

In any case, he needed to sleep. This mission had taken the best of him. It had broken his composure, it had messed with his mind and it was crazy that now that he thought about it, it did not bother him so much.

Fuck it, he really couldn't care less about anything anymore. He was 19 and he had a clan to rebuild.

And he would gladly include Sakura in these plans.

The End

Note:

I really hope you liked this story, I had so much fun writing it. It helped me a lot going through some rough moments.

Thank you all for your constant support.

I will now be able to concentrate on the sequel to MEO, Unbreakable Bonds.

Thank you again for your reviews, help and support. The Naruto fandom is amazing.