Chapter  1- Homecoming
Konoha had fallen silent.  That morning Lady Tsunade received a message that team seven had tracked down Sasuke’s current whereabouts. They were close by it, and had informed her that the odds of getting to Sasuke are very high. However, they never said anything about the odds of actually getting Sasuke to come back to the village; the very same village that he had abandoned just three years earlier.  Lady Tsunade’s hopes were high, but she tried to conceal it. She knew that if they didn’t succeed she would be devastated, but she didn’t want the whole village to feel the same, so she didn’t tell a soul about the message.
Tsunade leant against the window frame, and looked over her village to the front gate. She imagined four figures immerging from the distance, and her heart was filled with hope.

“This is it” She thought, “they’re going to get him back this time, I…I guess I can feel it” She smiled at how clichéd she sounded...or how much she sounded like Naruto. “Naruto” she sighed, clutching the empty air where her necklace should have been.  She loved Naruto like a son, and she never liked to admit it but every time he left for a mission, she was worried sick. She thought back to the sleepless nights when Naruto went to train with Jiraiya, and the annoyed responses to her letters saying “For goodness shakes Tsunade! The boy is fine; have some faith in him will ya?”

Having been plunged into her day dreams, she was startled when Shizune dashed into her office.

“Shizune!” She gasped “What the hell?”

“They-you-back-he-“Shizune tried to speak but she was completely was out of breath. “Look” She finally managed to splutter and she pointed out the window with her finger. The confused Tsunade followed the finger to the window she had just been gazing out of.

There in the distance, four figures were immerging. It looked like a movie scene; the heroes had finally succeeded and were now returning home.  

“They did it” Tsunade said as one rebellious tear released itself from her eye and flowed down her cheek. “They finally did it.”

***
Naruto was talking to anyone who would listen, which was of course everyone since he was talking so loud. They all tried to block him out, but no one succeeded. He prattled on about how excited he was that Sasuke was back and that they could train together and finally kick Sai out of the group and replace the spot with its rightful owner.

Sakura was trailing behind with her fists clenched at her sides.  “Bastard, bastard, bastard, BASTARD!” She chanted in her head while glaring at the back of Sasuke’s head. She had always thought the day that they finally got Sasuke back would be the most unforgettable happiest day of her life, but she wasn’t exactly a bucket full of sunshine at the moment. She had expected to fall back in love with Sasuke the moment she saw him, but, for the lack of a better term, she had fallen out of love.  In the moment that their eyes met, the thought dawned on her that “this bastard had left me for his own selfish fucking reasons and should burn in hell” to put it in Sakura’s words. So her eyes that had been filled with hope and excitement drained and had been refilled with hate in that one millisecond.

Sasuke had seen this, and he felt his heart plunge. He was afraid this might happen.  He was afraid that the mistake he had made would forever wound the bound that was between Sakura and himself. He wouldn’t call it love, because he thought that word was being thrown around too much these days and had no meaning left in it anymore. No, what he felt for Sakura was real; it wasn’t some hormonal preadolescent phase he was going through. He proved it too himself when he had left and her face had remained in his thoughts and was haunting his every dream. Every night, he could hear her cries, and could see every last tear flow down her pretty face. He had resorted to sleeping only an hour at a time to stop himself from dreaming.

Sasuke, who was looking down the whole walk back, finally averted his eyes to the oncoming village. (Well, actually the village had been oncoming for a while and they were actually right smack in front of it, but that’s beside the point) The village gate towered above the four, and opened to reveal the village they all knew well, but Sasuke had long since forgotten about.  Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi shifted their gazes from the village to Sasuke’s expression hoping to catch a glimpse of a different emotion then cold and unimpressed. They got what they hoped for, if only for a second. Sasuke’s features very briefly altered themselves to look…relieved.

Sakura was the first to recover herself from the shock of emotional change in Sasuke, and with a pronounced “Hmph” she walked into the village, heading toward her sempai’s office. This seemed to awaken the three guys from their series of expressions, and they walked forward.  Naruto shouted “Hey Sakura! Wait up” and ran after her. Kakashi strode off following the other two, and Sasuke stared after Sakura then with a slight shake of the head followed her lead.

***
Tsunade was still staring out the window when Sakura came stomping into the fifth Hokage’s office.  She heard Sakura take her place in front of her desk and she tore her gaze away from the window.

“Sakura, congratulations on the success of your mission” Tsunade said fighting back the urge to smile.

“Thank you, Tsunade-sama” Sakura said, straightening her back.

Naruto slid in through the door with a huge smile taking up half of his face “We did it Grandma, he’s actually back home”

Tsunade felt like screaming “I KNOW!” and running over to give Naruto a big hug, but refrained from it and instead took her usual pose. “I know Naruto, now please take you place”

Kakashi lazily walked in with Sasuke not too far behind. This time Tsunade couldn’t resist a smile. “Welcome home Sasuke” She said while her smile grew. “How about you stay a while?”