Prologue
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He was being carried. That was his first, confused, impression as he tried to remember who and where he was, and why there was so much damned pain. He was aware of being soaked, and being against an equally soaked, but warm, back. He opened his eyes for a brief glimpse, immediately regretting it as the blur of trees going by made him nauseous, causing him to groan softly.
As he closed them again quickly, a strained, but oddly comforting, voice whispered apologetically “Sorry, Sasuke-kun, am I causing you pain?”
Sasuke…yes, that’s who he is. Uchiha Sasuke…a suddenly urgent thought came to him, and he managed to groan out “Naruto?”
The voice quickly replied “We have him Sasuke-kun, he’ll be okay”
With that, the blissfully painless darkness reached out to claim him again.
The arguing could be heard throughout the entire hospital. Sakura winced as the two angry voices hit a new high, and reflected that it was entirely possible that the arguing could be heard for several blocks. That shouldn’t have come as any surprise though, since serious arguments between Konoha’s number one, most surprising ninja, and its Godaime Hokage were rarely quiet. Sakura winced again as the building shook a little, and sighed as she wished that Naruto would just learn to do as he was told for a change. Yeah…okay, so even she didn’t really believe that one could ever happen. But a girl could hope, right?
She grimaced and turned her attention to the object of the argument…the pale figure lying in the bed she was currently sitting beside. Not that the boy wasn’t normally pale, but this was pale, even for him. She reached over to gentle brush a lock of raven hair out of his face, before shaking her head and standing. The heavily bandaged boy in the bed wasn’t likely to wake before she got back, if she was quick, so she headed out of the room to see if she could quiet things down.
“Tsunade-baba, you can’t not let me see him!” It didn’t seem to bother the blond laying in the bed, who was screaming this at the top of his lungs, that his arguments were making less and less sense. The boy wasn’t as heavily bandaged as the other, and seemed to be pretty well ignoring what little pain was left. Naruto was determined, as he was in every goal he set himself, to have what he wanted.
“You’re not healed yet, you brat! You’re not getting out of bed just to fall over trying to see him!” Tsunade’s eye twitched a little as she screamed back, and she was clearly resisting the urge to punch the troublesome blond kyuubi vessel into next week. Shizume had fled early on into the argument, mumbling some excuse about people to check on.
Just as Naruto opened his mouth to yell a reply, Sakura slipped into the room. The pink-haired girl approached her mentor cautiously, and decided now was as good a time as any to jump in.
“Hokage-sama, if Naruto really wants to see him that much, I can take him myself…”
The girl actually managed to keep a calm expression as the enraged Godaime turned to glare at her student. Then Tsunade sighed and threw up her hands “Fine, whatever! But if anything happens to him, you know who I’m blaming!”
As the seething Hokage left the room, Naruto turned to his teammate and blinked, then said softly “Sakura-chan? Thank you…I…I don’t…”
Sakura sighed and shook her head again as she looked at him in exasperation “Naruto, we haven’t even been back two days, and you’ve already pissed her off. What are we going to do with you?”
The blond hung his head for a moment “Sorry, Sakura-chan. I just…I need to see him. I need to make sure he’s really here with my own eyes. Please?”
Naruto’s voice was uncharacteristically soft, and for a moment Sakura frowned in worry. So much had happened at the confrontation in Sound, and she could understand why Naruto would need to see Sasuke so much. Events hardly went as planned, and though Sasuke had come back willingly, there were definitely unresolved issues between the two boys. As the blond looked up at her though, she couldn’t help the way her expression softened. He had finally done it…he had finally brought Sasuke back to them, even if it had nearly cost both boys their lives.
She shook herself out of that thought, and walked over to the bed. Naruto pulled back the covers quickly, and she hefted him as though he weighed little. He smiled as she carried him down the hall to the other room, and whispered “Thank you, Sakura-chan.”
As she entered the room, Naruto inhaled sharply at the sight of the sheet-white boy on the bed, and hissed “You didn’t tell me it was like this, Sakura-chan…he’ll be okay?” The last part came out more as a plea than a question. He relaxed immediately as Sakura nodded.
“It looks worse than it is, I promise. He’ll be waking any time now.”
He grimaced a little as Sakura settled him in a chair, not really paying much attention as she moved around to the other side of the bed to take the other seat. He reached unconsciously for one of the pale hands as Sakura did the same, and was rewarded by a soft growl from the figure on the bed.
“Dobe, I don’t need my hand held, thank you,” came the acidic remark.
Naruto’s blue eyes widened a little, and he started to laugh shakily “Sasuke-teme, I knew you wouldn’t give up on me!” Tears filled the blond’s eyes, and he turned his head quickly so his long time friend and rival couldn’t see them.
Sasuke groaned softly and turned his head to look at Sakura, his dark eyes actually filled with amusement as he said mockingly “Did you fill the dobe’s head with mush while I was gone? I don’t remember the idiot crying so easily before”
She laughed softly as Naruto’s head snapped up, and the boy quickly wiped away his tears, glaring at the pale boy as he growled back thickly “Teme. I’m not crying! You think I would cry for you?”
The dark boy turned his head to look at the blond, his expression softening for a moment before becoming serious. He looked over the bandages the boy was wearing, then sighed and reached up with a shaky hand to touch the whisker-marked cheek. As bright eyes and dark eyes met, he started to speak softly “Listen, Naruto, I’m…I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t jump in sooner, I’m sorry I left, and…I’m sorry about…about what I did. To you…”
Naruto let out another shaky laugh and swatted Sasuke’s hand away, then said loudly “I can beat it out of you later, teme, so don’t go soft on me!” He shook his head at the raven-haired boy’s smirk, and looked up as Sakura cleared her throat.
“Sorry, Sasuke-kun, but I really should take Naruto back now. Tsunade-sama gave in, but I don’t think a prolonged visit would be a good idea. You’ll tire each other out” the pink-haired shinobi stood and walked back around the bed, picking up a squirming Naruto.
“Aw, Sakuura-chaaan! I’m fine, and Sasuke-teme’s fine and I don’t want to go back yet!”
Of course, that earned Naruto a very scary looking glare from Sakura, which shut him up immediately. It occurred to him that Sakura was becoming entirely too much like her mentor for comfort. He shot another glare at his smirking rival, who said in return “Time enough for you to try when we’re both better, dobe”
Then the door closed behind them.
Sasuke sighed and closed his dark eyes as the pair left. He had been confused for a moment when he had awoken, but the confusion passed quickly at the feeling of the two familiar presences. His teammates. His most precious people…his family. It had been hard in the Sound village. It had been lonely. He hadn’t realized how much he was going to regret leaving them, but he was an Uchiha. His pride would not allow him to show even a hint of feeling to the twisted nins of the Sound.
Three long years. Three terrible years, burdened with the guilt of what he had nearly done to someone so dear to him. Three years of submersing himself in his training, building a barrier between himself and his feelings. Three years of becoming the cold killer that so many of Konoha suspected that he always was. And they couldn’t have been more wrong.
When he was first assigned to Team 7, he had been alone, with nothing but the cold burning of his need for vengeance to keep him going. He had looked upon his teammates with scorn, and at times with disgust. But there was something…endearing about them. Something that grew on him. As he learned to seal away his feelings, he had found himself having to examine and come to terms with them first, and that had more than a little started by the depths of emotion to which the pair had driven them, the irritating blond especially. They were his best friends, the two in the world who knew him as no others did, or even could. They really were…three in one. But he had torn that apart, and he couldn’t help but wonder if they felt the same.
In the end though, he stayed with Sound…not to spite them, or to disrespect the Leaf, or even really for his original reasons. Power was important now, yes…but his vengeance had suddenly become secondary to a new goal, one he barely admitted to himself. When he finally did confront his brother, it wouldn’t be for anything as cold as vengeance, though that was still a small part of it. No, when he confronted Itachi with his new strength, it would be for a new reason. It would be to protect the ones he loved so dearly…to protect Naruto and Sakura.
He knew now that his elder brother was interested in his sunny friend, and he couldn’t allow it. Naruto was too important to him, and to the others he loved, to allow his brother to have his way.
He turned his head away from the door, squeezing his eyes closed more tightly as he remembered the first shock when he was told his teammates were in Sound…
Kabuto bowed while delivering his message to the two in the large, snake themed chamber “Orochimaru-sama, Sasuke-kun, I’m sorry. It has come to my attention that the village has been infiltrated by shinobi from the Leaf, several familiar people” His eyes flickered briefly to Sasuke, before returning to look at his master.
Sasuke frowned as Orochimaru nodded gracefully and stood, and there was a brief flicker of surprise before he turned his cold eyes to his current mentor “Orochimaru, I’m going out there.”
The evil Sannin looked at his student speculatively for a moment, then shook his head “No, Sasuke-kun, I don’t think that would be a good idea. I will go out to meet them myself.” Then he left, with Kabuto following closely behind him.
Sasuke clenched his fists as the door closed behind them, closing his eyes. Sakura and Naruto. They undoubtedly weren’t alone. He wasn’t sure how he felt…after so long. Would they have changed? Would they be here to save him…..or to kill him? He didn’t know anymore. He hadn’t seen Naruto since that terrible day in the Valley of the End, and he would understand if the pair wanted to kill him for what he had done.
He waited a minute or two, to be sure that the Sannin and his follower were well ahead of him, and then slipped out to go see the situation himself. He had to see them. He needed to know.
He settled on the roof of a nearby building, hidden in the shadows as the two groups confronted each other in the dark, torch lit square of the village. Orochimaru, Kabuto, and a handful of Sound nin faced three figures across the wide space, already littered with the bodies of those that came before them, attempting to repel the little group. He wondered for a moment how they had got this far with only three, but then he took a closer look. He was almost shocked by the changes in his teammates. They were stronger…there was no doubt of that.
Sakura, who he once thought of as in need of protection, had so completely changed. He could hardly believe his eyes. Gone was the uncertain girl that had been so frustrated with the way she had fallen behind so quickly. She was still herself, but she was….more. As she stood across the square from the Sannin, she showed nothing but determination and strength in those brilliant, emerald eyes. Even her clothing had changed. The red, sleeveless shirt was shorter now, with black shorts and a slitted, white miniskirt over them. She wore black, open-toed heeled boots, of a heavier style than was normal for a shinobi, white elbow braces, and short black gloves. The pink-haired kunoichi had definitely grown into a strong, reliable young woman.
Naruto had changed too. The changes were harder to see than the ones in Sakura, but no less surprising. His determination was no less than before, but his loud attitude, even in the midst of a confrontation, was no longer the bluster and cockiness it was for so long. It was true self-confidence, though he still expressed it with his loudmouthed exclamations. He had gotten taller, leaner….harder. His boundless energy was more focused, and he showed no fear as he faced the Sannin and his group. There was more anger there than Sasuke remembered though…and more sadness. He wondered briefly if he were the sole cause of those, or if more had happened to the bright young blond in the time they had been apart.
The third member of the little group was a bit of a surprise to Sasuke as well. He had expected that Kakashi would be the one to come along with his teammates, but instead Jiraiya faced his fellow Sannin across the square. Sasuke supposed it made sense though. A jounin, even one as good as Kakashi was, would be no real match for a Sannin.
As the two groups faced off, Sasuke remained where he was to watch. He wouldn’t join Orochimaru’s bunch, but he still wasn’t certain if his friends would welcome him. That was when he got his next shock of the night.
“Oi, Orochimaru! Where’s Sasuke, you snake bastard! I made a promise that I’d take him home, and you’re standing in my way!”
Naruto looked quite prepared to go through the Sannin if he had to and his words froze Sasuke to the spot. ‘The dobe still cares? After all we’ve been though, all I did, the idiot still wants to take me back?’ The thought caused a crack in Sasuke’s hard-made barriers, rousing emotion that he had nearly forgotten. The fight below began as he struggled to sort himself out, and it was all he could do to watch and stay out of sight.
Orochimaru and Kabuto hung back at first, watching and assessing as Sakura and Naruto leapt forward to meet the charging Sound nin head on. The half dozen ninja were no match at all for the two, and Sasuke was startled by Sakura’s sheer physical strength ‘I’ll have to remember never to get her mad at me…’ he thought faintly as bodies went flying. Naruto’s speed was astonishing, and the blond boy didn’t even bother with any jutsu as he and the talented kunoichi beat the opposing ninja into the ground. In some cases literally, as Sakura’s punches left some pretty big craters.
As the dust of the first encounter cleared, Naruto and Sakura were standing back by Jiraiya, glaring across the square at the two remaining. The Snake Sannin smiled and said “Ah, Naruto-kun, I see you’ve grown. I’m sorry, but I cannot allow you to take Sasuke-kun back with you, nor will he be joining us.”
Sasuke activated his sharingan as Jiraiya pushed the two younger shinobi behind him, ordering them gruffly to continue on to the objective. As the fight between the two Sannin started, the two were clearly torn between helping Jiraiya and finding Sasuke, but in the end the matter was decided for them. As the two Sannin were getting warmed up, Sasuke’s eyes caught a flicker from the treacherous Kabuto, and events almost seemed to move in slow motion in. Forgetting completely about the battling Sannin, Sasuke suddenly lunged off the roof, praying that he wouldn’t be too late as Kabuto started to move.
“Naruto!”
Before Naruto could even register what was happening, Kabuto appeared behind him with a kunai in hand, thinking to catch the kyuubi holder off guard. But as Kabuto thrust the kunai at the blond’s unprotected back, Sasuke was suddenly there, taking the strike for him. His final thought before the blackness claimed him was ‘I guess Naruto wasn’t the real idiot here…’
The trip back to Konoha was pretty well a blank to Sasuke, and he still didn’t know what happened, but things felt…different. Then it occurred to him that the seal…the cursed seal, that had tainted his body and heart for so long, was gone. He could feel the difference, feel the weight lifted. Then came the sound of a throat clearing, and he opened his eyes to find Sakura looking at him from the chair she was now sitting in. She smiled at him, and said softly “Welcome back, Sasuke-kun.”
Onyx eyes met emerald ones, and suddenly Sakura grabbed his hand “Sakura. You and Naruto really came for me…”
Sakura rolled her eyes and shook her head “And here I thought Naruto was supposed to be Team 7’s idiot. Of course we came for you! Did you really think we wouldn’t?” She bit her lip as Sasuke turned his head away from her.
“I don’t know what I thought anymore. I don’t know what you thought. I don’t know. Maybe I thought the dobe would want to end things. I did try to kill him, you know.”
He heard her sigh, then looked back at her as she let go of his hand. He was a little surprised to see fondness in her eyes, but not the blind fan-girlism that marked her previous relationship with him. There was also pain, and a little sadness, and something else he couldn’t quite identify. He couldn’t help but feel guilty, knowing he was the one that put those things there.
“You didn’t, Sasuke. In the end, you didn’t, and he knows. I’m not saying that it’ll be easy, but he’s forgiven you for what happened. You’re his best friend, Sasuke-kun” She punched his arm gently “We’re Team 7, remember? Anyways, how are you feeling?”
The girl obviously thought a change of subject was in order, and he wasn’t going to argue with her. He shrugged a little “Not bad, for a guy that got a kunai through the chest.”
He looked into her eyes again, and suddenly asked urgently “Sakura, what happened after I passed out?”
She looked at him, slightly exasperated, and grimaced “Well, we weren’t exactly expecting that to happen. Naruto…well, to say he was pissed would be an understatement. He turned around and caught you as Kabuto realized his mistake, then he handed you to me as the man was backing away. Orochimaru was livid, and the sight of you going down was just enough of a distraction to give Jiraiya-sama the upper hand. Long story short, Naruto killed Kabuto, Orochimaru wounded Naruto, then Jiraiya-sama took down Orochimaru” As Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that, she shook her head “No, I’m not going to go into details, I’d rather not remember that clearly, thanks. When all was said and done, I stabilized you and Naruto, then Jiraiya-sama and I carried you both back.”
He blinked at that, and then echoed softly “You stabilized us?”
She grinned down at him “Well, you didn’t expect me to be idle while you were gone, did you? Some shinobi I’d be if I let the two of you get ahead of me, Sasuke-kun. While you and Naruto were gone, I studied with Tsunade-hime.” She reached over to brush his hair out of his eyes again, and chuckled at his shocked look, then said teasingly “Oh my, the mighty Uchiha has dropped his mask! Don’t let Naruto catch you like this, he might just think you care or something.”
He chuckled softly in return, then said wryly “Yes, because taking a kunai for him was no clue at all. I don’t think even the dobe is that dumb.”
She shrugged and chuckled “You never know with Naruto…anyways, you need to go back to sleep, Sasuke-kun. You’ll be okay soon, and I’m sure that visit with Naruto was tiring enough for one day” She stood and smiled at him “I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow…no one else will be visiting, but I’ll try to help Hokage-sama smooth things over with people. Good night, Sasuke-kun!”
As the cheerful girl nearly bounced out of the room, he couldn’t help but wonder if things would be as simple as she seemed to think they would be. But fatigue overcame him again, and as he drifted off to sleep, he put those troubles aside for a time when he was well again.
To Be Continued…