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Her red and yellow civilian jacket crumpled around her arms and back as Sakura strode past Konoha's gate. The extra layer would have been sweltering in normal midday heat -- but today, clouds had shuttered away the sun, and a breeze rose and fell, almost like a tide. Extra weight and warmth and comfort was welcome. She meandered to the closest patch of forest outside the wall. Color, sound, even smells seemed to diminish as rays of light gave way to shadow. Sakura had predicted this, and in tribute, already muted her hair by wrapping it in a filmy scarf.
Sakura picked the most inviting-looking tree within shouting distance from the gate, and thumped down to rest against its broad trunk.
Sasuke's trial began at midnight -- a ploy sprung by the elders, then turned upon its head by Tsunade-sama and Kakashi-sensei -- and twelve hours later, his fate still hung upon undecided, silent lips.
She drew her knees up to her chest, quick-bitten nails relentlessly picking at the fabric of her long, black pants. Seven days, with less than two night's worth of sleep, Sasuke had lain, had paced, had leaned in the most secure cell Konoha could boast. (Ironically, it had been crafted to cage Naruto.) Sakura didn't know what she had expected to happen when she and Naruto insisted on being his 24/7 sentries. But she hadn't expected for Kakashi-sensei . . . no, he was a sama now. Lord Hokage-sama to agree, and all the clan heads and elders to nod along.
She hadn't expected the incessant nightmares, spiking fear that Sasuke's own Sharingan would kill him in a genjutsu. (Was it even possible to subconsciously trap yourself in a mind mirage?) She hadn't thought Sasuke would, in his own defensive, roundabout way, confide in her and Naruto. Tell them he stayed away from them to protect them from this aftermath. To keep them from being tried as his accomplices. That he was prepared to die, so long as they kept alive the truth about his brother, about his clan, about the Hokage and Danzo and the elders.
She hadn't expected to wait for Sasuke's verdict by herself. Kakashi-sama was still deep in discussion, maybe in his office, maybe elsewhere, with a council of clan heads and influential civilians. Yes, civilians.
She stopped picking at her pants, sliding her hands down instead to press against leaf-strewn earth. The ground was comfortingly solid, familiar, and unyielding.
Sakura still reeled at the thought that Neji and Hinata had brought about the biggest upheaval since Hashirama and Madara founded Konoha itself. While the village speculated over Sasuke, the cousins wrested control of the Hyuuga from Hinata's father, declared themselves co-leaders, and abolished the mark separating branch house from main house. And then while everyone was agog over that, they urged the Aburame and Akimichi clans (the other two houses of the four original noble clans) to create a council of fifteen clan heads and fifteen lead civilians. No more select few noble clans and elders deciding the fate of Konoha. (As the Senju head, Tsunade-sama needed no urging, but agreed with them in an instant.)
Naruto had run off to train somewhere. Possibly by the base of the ruined statues of Hashirama and Madara, since Sasuke had shooed all of his teammates away with stinging complaints. Sakura would have followed him, but all she wanted was to be still. She wasn't in the mood to cope with Naruto's restless, boundless energy. She didn't need to be the wind; she just needed to know when it was passing her by, softly, like ripples that you couldn't see, but feel.
Sai, too, seemed to need a place to be at rest. After shooting sympathetic looks at Naruto's retreating back, then at Sasuke's tense stance, Sai had patted her shoulder. (When did he become so in tune with emotions in general? Had someone knocked his and Sasuke's heads together?) And then said he'd be painting at the rock faces of Hokage long gone, if anybody needed him.
Sakura had no idea where Yamato-taichou was. She'd heard chatter he had been freed in the aftermath of the last major battle, but few had seen him in person. She decided to trust he would find his way back to half-lecture, half-praise his sempai soon.
Most of all, she hadn't expected the sheer depth of what Sasuke, his clan, and all the undefended of Konoha had suffered. But Sasuke had looked the elders in the eye and declared them craven and weak. So weak that he was obliged to leave the village and seek Orochimaru for power, and then kill him. So weak that they couldn't curtail Danzo, and he had to seek and kill him, too. So weak that they refused to cut the leash of a slowly dying Itachi . . . and Sasuke had to watch him die twice.
The avenger held nothing back. He talked for hours, producing evidence of the horrific things that the elders and Danzo and Itachi had done, as fire shadows in deed but not in name. Some sanctioned by Hiruzen, some not. How the elders and Danzo stoked their own power, while forcing Itachi to keep up his reputation as clanslayer, war criminal, kunai-for-hire, to protect Sasuke and further Konoha's interests.
Sakura could never condone half of Sasuke's choices or actions after he threw his lot in with Orochimaru. But after she knew what he knew, saw the village and its history as he did . . . She couldn't judge him. She had a (admittedly bad) habit of smacking Naruto seven ways to Sunday, just for being silly.
Who was to say she wouldn't want to start a revolution, had she been born a child with red-cursed eyes and fire-blessed lips?
The wind picked itself up, like a child with a new surge of energy, snatching a couple wisps of pink hair falling free from under her scarf. She realized her eyes had been boring holes into the closed toes of her civilian shoes, and she looked up. Sai hopped down from a bird of paper and ink, skimming just above the lowest nearby tree, dispelling his creation in the same breath.
"Hi," he said, tugging absently on the hem of his croptop. He was back to his awkward self. "No word, I take it?"
Sakura shook her head.
"Can I get your opinion?" Sai took a small scroll from his pack and laid out an ink sketch of a rippling brook beyond her knees. "Something's off. Or missing. Or something. But I can't parse it out."
Sakura squinted at the sketch, but couldn't see the flaws that were troubling her teammate. Sai thanked her, then curled up to nap, trusting dreams to help him wake up his inspiration.
Sakura didn't know if she could ever trust dreams again.
She didn't know if five minutes had passed, or five hours, when Naruto returned and yelled at Sai about the futility of catching up on his beauty sleep. Sai was too sleep-addled to voice his trademark suspicions about Naruto's boy-parts. He simply waited till Naruto sat down next to Sakura, then fell asleep on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto muttered darkly, but didn't move. Within moments, his head lolled against the tree trunk, probably dreaming of ramen and blondes and secret jutsu.
Sakura closed her eyes and smiled. It wasn't every day she got to enjoy peace and quiet when Naruto and Sai were within ten miles of each other.
* * *
She heard footsteps, and promptly opened her eyes. They were the purposefully loud footsteps that ninja made, when they wanted to announce their presence. She shifted, legs uncurling and ankles swiveling to tap her toes together.
Neji and Hinata, both still wearing formal clan-themed kimono, strode over to her. Hinata shook her head gently to stop Sakura before she leaned over to wake Sai and Naruto up.
"Let them sleep a bit, they need it," Hinata said. Then she beamed. Even Neji's solemn lips twitched with an urge to smile.
"Please," said Sakura. She couldn't bring herself to finish with tell me Sasuke will live free.
"Hai!" said Hinata. "They heard Sasuke-kun's plea! He is safe now!" She was too happy to stay coherent, but cooed snatches of words behind her hand to keep the noise down.
Sakura didn't mind. Sasuke would be alright.
Neji stood just a mite taller and chimed in, "The council has backed Lord Hokage-sama in granting Sasuke full pardon, since he helped bring victory to end the war and surrendered himself willingly after Naruto . . . apprehended him. He is no missing nin, he is not a bingo book target. He will have to perform extensive community service in Konoha in order to be reinstated as a ninja and promoted to jonin. But the elders . . . they have been found guilty and tried as criminals of war, and will be kept in shame and captivity until the end of their lives."
"And Itachi-san," said Hinata, picking up where Neji trailed off. She was all-but jumping up and down in her excitement. "Itachi-san's getting a memorial stone, midst tributes to the rest of the Uchiha family. His honor is restored." She glanced at Neji, still getting used to the fact that his forehead no longer bore the mark that could kill. Sakura's hands dug into the earth by her thighs. She realized that Hinata's and Neji's complicated relationship gave them a unique insight to Itachisan's and Sasuke-kun's relationship. One that she would never really achieve.
She was too happy that Sasuke's vengeance was complete, that both Uchiha and Hyuuga clans could finally find healing, to feel left out.
Neji nodded to Hinata. "I wish we could wait for Naruto and Sai to wake, but we must get back to the clan, Hinata-sama."
"Just one more thing, Neji-sama!" said Hinata, breezily pretending to ignore Neji starting at the new honorific. She focused on Sakura. "Sasuke-kun will not be kept in bonds, but he will need to be monitored for the next few months. Kakashi-sama volunteered your team."
Sakura rose to her feet and hugged them both. Neji cleared his throat awkwardly. Hinata laughed like she was running out of breath, whispering to Sakura that the only girl who could sneak hugs without flustering Neji was Tenten.
"And congratulations to you two," Sakura said, drawing back and smiling at them. "You're doing more for your family, for our village, than pretty much all your ancestors combined."
Hinata blushed and smiled back, self-conscious timidity reappearing. "Well, revolution just had such a nice ring to it."
Then the cousins waved and left to wreak more benevolent havoc on Hyuuga tradition.
Sai woke as Sakura watched them walk back through the gate. Chances were, Sai sensed hugs were exchanged without him being included, and couldn't let that stand. After Naruto and Sasuke had been admitted to surgery, Sakura had clung to Sai and cried. Naruto had also hugged him in a moment of loneliness after the surgery. Sai had been more than happy to take any and all offered hugs ever since.
Sakura was about to tell Sai the news, when Naruto snorted and jerked awake, fingers searching for his kunai and eyes wild with fear and worry. Sai and Sakura calmed him with murmured words, grounded him with firm hands.
"I . . . I just dreamed that Sasuke was pardoned, but some bastard ninja parole officer killed him in his sleep," said Naruto, breathing still labored.
"I'm pretty sure no one could kill Sasuke in his sleep," said Sai, nose wrinkling at Naruto's (probably fishcake-flavored) breath.
"We can't take chances," said Naruto, blue eyes locking on Sakura. "Team 7 gets to guard Sasuke. We gotta make 'em let us do it. Just like we did when he was locked up."
"Well, of course they'll let us," said Sai, rolling his eyes like it was obvious. "Everybody knows we're arguably the clingiest ninja team. We've got better motive, better moves to tie his ass down here than anyone."
Sakura blinked three times in rapid succession. Well, when Sai put it like that . . .
But Naruto wasn't even phased. He was babbling to himself. Sakura tried to get his attention, tried to tell him and Sai the good news. But then Naruto was giving Sai the scram-right-now look, and Sai rolled his eyes again and sauntered away.
"There was . . . something else in my dream," said Naruto, fingers playing with bits of leaves scattered around his legs. "Sakura, this is gonna sound dumb. Really dumb. But I gotta get it off my chest. If -- no, when -- Sasuke's freed, it's okay if -- "
"Naruto," Sakura tried again.
Naruto looked so pained at being interrupted, she let him go on. Naruto blurted out, "If Sasuke actually gets his head out of his ass and wants to date you, it's okay."
Sakura stared. Dating Sasuke sounded wonderful, but it was the last thing on her mind right now. She didn't even know if Sasuke wanted to date anyone.
"He's a stubborn teme, but you're the only person who has any chance with him," said Naruto. His eyes were as vulnerable as two droplets of water in danger of falling under their own weight. "And I . . . well, you're nicer to me than you used to be. Nice enough to worry about my . . ."
Sakura couldn't believe that Naruto, for all his talking of dating her, liking her, wanting to be with her, was actually confessing as a part of getting her together with Sasuke. She hadn't even thought his crush on her was that serious. And now he was self-sacrificially planning to give her away like the father of the bride, or something.
"Naruto, hold on," she said, fingers worrying the fibers of her pantlegs again. "It's way too early for that. You don't have to do this."
"Yes. Yes, I do," said Naruto. Sakura began to suspect there was more to this than she thought. "I . . ." Naruto huffed and glared up at the cloudy sky like it was responsible for muddying his thoughts. "Sakura . . . my heart's a mess, okay? My head's a mess. Everything's a mess. I care about a lot of people -- a LOT of 'em! -- but do you know who are always up top of the list? You and Sasuke. You . . . and Sasuke." His eyes drifted back to her, and for a few seconds, he looked like he'd lived twice his seventeen years. "And it's taken me a while to figure out what that means. A WHILE."
Sakura felt all the air draining from her lungs. Naruto was an idiot. Sasuke was an idiot. She was the biggest idiot. She should have seen this coming a long way off. Should have seen this coming from the moment Sasuke shielded Naruto from Haku's senbon with his own body, then tried to pass it off as instinct.
Was it common for a girl to get a double confession? Was this just a side-effect of being on a close-knit ninja team? Would Tenten or Hinata know what this felt like?
"Hmmm." Sai's voice drifted down to them from several branches up in the tree above them. "I always thought you had a thing for blondes."
"Sai!" she hissed. Her world might have tilted off-kilter, and she might not know how to feel right now, but she definitely didn't need Sai needling Naruto.
"You think I LIKE BLONDES?" Naruto's voice raised to a yelp. Sakura almost expected him to jump up and tear Sai down from the tree himself.
"Well, why else were you always pulling out that ridiculous sexy-no-jutsu technique?" Sai asked blandly.
Naruto's face turned scarlet. "It was bold and rebellious. It made people pay attention. I felt really powerful . . . and . . . I felt wanted." His voice softened, and he hunched down as if he wanted to fold in on himself.
"Well, next time you want to feel like that, feel free to borrow one of my crop tops. It's a lot less work," said Sai, jumping out of the tree.
Naruto pretended to regurgitate his ramen.
They soon forgot their banter when Sakura told them the good news about Sasuke. Sai let out a long, low breath, and looked slightly less pale than usual, if that were possible. Naruto broke down crying without shame. His whiskerlines grew darker, as if the care and strain had carved them deeper into his skin. Soon Sakura was sobbing, too, and Sai hugged them and patted their heads and did not tease.
Once their eyes were dried, the three members of Team 7 rose and dove back into the heart of the village. Passersby knew without asking what they sought or what they needed, so they picked up kernels of information along the way. Rock Lee (very exuberantly) crowed that Sasuke would never go back to that damned cell, or even the Uchiha compound. He was given his own apartment, paid for by funds from Root.
Even though the clouds still held the sun hostage, Sakura's mood was no longer desaturated or subdued, but vivid and bracing. She nearly tore the scarf off her head, and tied the large jacket over her waist for safekeeping.
They also learned from Konohamaru that Sasuke now boasted a considerable mass of wealth. All the seized Uchiha property, plus the property of Danzo and valuables Itachi had stashed, was written over to him. Sasuke was already vowing to return everything he could trace, back to their original owners in lands and villages who couldn't shake off Danzo's manipulation.
Sakura expected Sai to tease, but Sai said nothing the entire walk through the village. She expected Naruto to hop on the rooftops and run as soon as he knew Sasuke's new address, but he just ambled besides her, waving to everyone and exchanging brief well-wishes.
The last morsel of information came from Kurenai. Kakashi was helping Sasuke settle into his new apartment immediately. Probably giving him cryptic warnings slash advice slash praise, too. Kakashi had a fondness for making you feel like life was learning to dance with two left feet.
Once they entered Sasuke's apartment, everything became a blur to Sakura. Sasuke nodded to each of them, and that was all the acknowledgment they got from him. He was arranging scrolls on a shelf as fastidiously as a schoolteacher preparing a classroom session. Kakashi smiled his crinkly behind-a-mask smile, cautioned them not to kill each other while celebrating Sasuke's new lease on life, and poofed into oblivion. Sai made quips, Naruto yelled at him. It was a ridiculous scene, but it made Sakura feel at home. She could get used to this.
She plopped herself down on a tatami mat, closing her eyes and thinking about the future. A future free from Tsuki-no-me, from artificial armies, from dog-eat-dog tension between all the hidden ninja villages. Nothing would be ideal, and new problems would always rise like bubbles and foam in a boiling pot. But she had what she needed to make it through.
"Sakura."
Sasuke's voice cut through her thoughts and jolted her to hyper-awareness. As always.
She opened her eyes and slanted her head to glance up at him, standing beside her shoulder.
"I plan to take many far-reaching missions, as soon as Kakashi feels I've earned the trust back," Sasuke announced, voice quiet, but tone still managing to sound as dramatic as if he were screaming from the rooftops. "There are a lot of leads I'd like to follow. Languor never suited me before. Never will. I wanted you to know."
"Teme!" Naruto shrieked, with all the severity of a mother using a child's full name.
"I will always circle back to the village to prove myself. Get used to the idea," said Sasuke. Now he was done with the bookcase, instead folding clothes from a hamper Sakura hadn't even noticed. "Don't try to run after me and bring me back every time I leave for a mission. It won't be like before."
"Slow down already. You can think about running around later."
Sasuke's black eyes burned so, Sakura expected them to bleed red to rise to the challenge. "Says the one who was telling me to. . ." He left his sentence unfinished, but the glance in her direction clued Sakura in.
And also Sai.
"Naruto?" Sai asked, somehow managing to sound half-dead but also sweet. "Did you give Sasuke the same talk about feelings you gave Sakura?"
Naruto flushed a red that made his bright orange jumpsuit look almost pastel in comparison.
Sasuke's smile curved in snide . . . was that delight? Sakura thought it might be.
"Anxious to play matchmaker, usurukontachi?"
"No, no, it's not . . ." Naruto began, arms flailing like a paper windmill about to tear itself apart. He finally gave up and yanked on his hair, then stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Fine, fine, fine. I don't want to see either of you pining, okay? Because if you're pining, then I'm pining, and then we're all pining. And everything's awful and even ramen won't fix it."
If Sasuke could lower the temperature in a room, he was definitely using that power right then. Sakura wanted to dive back into her jacket.
"Pining?" Sasuke repeated. "Nobody's pining but--"
And then suddenly Sasuke stood taller than he already did, eyebrows rising, hair on the back of his neck bristling. He looked from Sakura, to Naruto, to Sakura again. And he appeared to have a similar epiphany to the one Sakura had underneath the tree outside the village.
Sai took this golden opportunity to take responsibility for his big mouth. "Sasuke, do you want to go for a walk?"
Sasuke grunted an assent, and the two were out of the room in a flash.
Naruto toed the carpet shyly, resigned to his fate at Sakura's wrath.
"Na-ru-to," she said. She walked up to stand beside him, quelling the urge to smack him upside the head. Instead, she rested her chin on his shoulder. "Don't try to bring me and Sasuke together. Just don't. We have to decide that for ourselves, okay? And you saw Sasuke! He has no plans for anything like that."
Naruto sniffed. "But he tapped your forehead. The way his brother would do."
Sakura felt warm all over just at the memory. That was the only overtly affectionate gesture she could ever remember him making. Sasuke really did know how to make even the littlest things stand out.
"Yes," she conceded. "But it might not mean that kind of love. Let us figure that out, Naruto. We have lots and lots and lots of time now."
* * *
Even though Sakura was convinced they had plenty of time, Sasuke insisted on visiting Sakura in her own new apartment that very night. (But only with Sai accompanying him on the journey and then pissing off when Sasuke told him to piss off.) If circumstances featured any other man, Sakura would have joked about a lover's tryst and sent the man packing with a kiss from her fist.
But this was Sasuke standing in her main room, every inch a distant gentleman, so this visit had to mean business.
"Sakura," said Sasuke. He cleared his throat, frustrated and off-kilter. "Do you still feel the same way you did when we first formed a genin team?"
Oh. So much for business. Sakura knew this answer would not be to Sasuke's liking, but she wasn't going to lie to him. Not after he'd laid so much of his own secrets bare before so many people.
"I'm not the same person I was then, and my feelings have developed along with me," Sakura said, trying not to sound too shy. Sure, she was a waif named for a delicate springtime flower soon carried away by the wind. But she was also a waif who could punch through rocks, and throw a man further than she could track with her naked eye. So, standards, girl, standards.
"Then, I liked you because you were pretty, because you were cool, because you didn't need anybody. But I didn't know you. I didn't know anything about you, hardly. I got to know you better as we got older, but honestly, Sasuke? Even when you came back during the war, and we all had to slide back into sync and fight together as a team, I didn't really know you. I knew your chakra, I knew your power, I knew your fighting sequences. But now, I'm getting to know you better. And I love the person you've become, so far as I can see him."
Sasuke didn't interrupt, or sneer, or huff, or snort once. He blinked, and he watched, and he waited. "You've grown kinder," he said simply. "And tougher. Usually those don't mix. I'll understand once we both get to know each other better, I expect."
And that was all Sakura really needed to hear. This was not alternate-universe Sasuke simpering with roses, looking for a date--but he wanted to let her in, and her to let him in. Whether it was as a friend, or as a romantic interest, she would be a part of his rich inner world. She laughed. "Thank you. You've . . . almost grown kinder," she answered. "But I think you'll get the hang of it, and soon you won't be dancing with two left feet."
"Hn." And Sasuke tapped his finger against her forehead, right where the diamond emerged when it was time to flaunt her power. Sakura practically felt like she was glowing, and it almost distracted her from the question she'd been meaning to ask.
"So, Sasuke . . . did Naruto promise to FINALLY respond to Hinata's confession if you came here to ask me about my feelings?"
Sasuke blinked at her. "How did you know?"
Sakura rarely felt more smug than she did in that moment. "Because I saw respect in your eyes, when you saw how she and Neji were trying to right wrongs done to and in their clan, like you were. And then you looked constipated when you saw Naruto being oblivious while she gawked at him."
"She deserves to know his intentions," said Sasuke, with a grimace. "And so do you. Sakura, I . . . I'm not like you are. Or Naruto. Or Hinata. I don't feel like you do. But I . . . I do want you to be safe. To be content. And to thrive."
Well, coming from Sasuke, that was as good as a bouquet of roses. Sakura laid her head on his shoulder, briefly so as to not make him too uncomfortable too soon, and said, "Now that I know you and Naruto and Kakashi-senpai and the village will be okay, I will be okay, too."
To her surprise, Sasuke looked shaken, like such serenity hadn't occurred to him in his wildest dreams. By some prearranged method, Sai had returned, and rapped on the window. Sasuke simply nodded his farewell for the night and jumped out the window of the main room.
Sakura left the window open, inviting the gentle night wind to play with her hair.
It was time to make some wild dreams about happiness come true.