Sasuke was still unconscious when Naruto returned the next morning.

(He wasn't wearing a new ward, because Tsunade had given up. With the events of the past few weeks, there was no point in pretending she and Jiraiya were successfully hiding him from Akatsuki any longer.)

"You walked?" Sakura asked.

"I live here too," Naruto replied in a low voice, and Sakura agreed with him too much to bring herself to retort. She gave him the news about Sasuke instead.

Naruto nodded, then walked past her and sat down beside the bedroom doorway.

Lee didn't go out that day. Sakura went home long enough to let her parents know she was fine and to change clothes, but otherwise stayed at the apartment.

Mid-morning dragged to late afternoon, and Naruto stayed beside the door. Sakura tried to make him to eat lunch at the table, but eventually quit and brought the food to him. It wasn't until Iruka showed up that he finally moved.

Kakashi and Gai were playing a vehement—on Gai's side—game of cards at the table, while Sakura sewed a patch over the rips in the cushion. Lee was busy scrubbing the carpet with some horrible-smelling mix of chemicals that Gai swore would make the bloodstains disappear. Sakura suspected it wouldn't do anything but ruin the carpet further, but there was no telling Lee that.

It took Iruka the better part of half an hour and the promise of dinner at Ichiraku's to convince Naruto to leave for the evening, but he finally managed it. Naruto left his post bedside the doorway and went to pick up his coat from where it was drying in the windowsill.

Sakura had thrown an eighth of a cup of Gai's chemical stuff into the laundry when she made an attempt to wash Naruto's jacket, since it couldn't get any worse, unless the chemicals completely ate away the fabric. It didn't do that, but it did turn it an interesting pinkish-yellow and puce color, except where the bloodstains had been. Those were now tan.

"Auuuuuugh!" Naruto shook the coat, as if he could recombine the colors that way, while Sakura covered her mouth with her hand and tried very hard not to laugh loudly. Gai looked distraught.

Iruka patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Come on, Naruto-kun, it's not—that bad."

"It's the only one I had!"

"Well . . . maybe you should consider wearing a different color now. Orange isn't very stealthy."

"It's pink!" he said woefully.

"Pink isn't very stealthy either."

Iruka shepherded the still-complaining Naruto out the door. Later the card game finished, with Kakashi the winner, and soon Gai left to do three hundred pushups—or five hundred crunches, Sakura hadn't paid attention. That evening, Shizune arrived with more saline drips, and told Sakura that if Sasuke hadn't woken up by this time tomorrow, they would move him to the hospital.

Sakura offered dinner to the anbu outside the door, and noted that it had changed at some point; the mask was different.

That night, Kakashi slept on the couch, and Lee set up his guest futon on the bedroom floor so he and Sakura could sleep there.

She stayed awake long after Lee and Kakashi were asleep, trying to talk to the snake and waiting.

-'

When Naruto came over the next morning, he was wearing a pale green jacket that clashed so horribly with his orange pants she could only stare in amazement, Sasuke was still unconscious, Kakashi had left for a two-day mission that required the copying power of the sharingan, and Sakura learned from an accidental slip that someone had broken the windows of Naruto's apartment yesterday.

"That's so stupid," she muttered, leaning against the wall.

He shrugged and grinned. "Yeah. But the way I figure is, since the rent and stuff's being paid out of taxes, if they wanna break it, they're still paying for it."

"That's not good enough."

Naruto scratched his cheek. "Iruka-sensei helped me tape over the windows, and it's not cold yet, so it's not a big deal. This wasn't so bad."

"Don't just say—!"

She cut herself off when Naruto gave her a look. Sakura stared down at the floor for a minute, arms still folded. Naruto toyed with a loose thread on his sandal.

At last she nodded, without speaking, and went to help Lee move the couch over the carpet stain.

Naruto sat by the door again until Hinata and Neji showed up early that afternoon.

Sakura had asked Hinata to come, but she hadn't expected Neji. Lee hadn't either, but he greeted the both of them cheerfully. Naruto finally dragged himself away from the door at the sound of Hinata's hello; and within half an hour the five of them were around the table, drinking the green tea that Hinata had brought and made while Naruto told one of his stories from the time he had spent training with Jiraiya, complete with dramatic hand gestures and voices.

(It was during the fifth month of his training that the after-effects of the fox demon started lasting beyond Naruto's immediate use of the chakra. They still wore off quickly in the beginning, so Jiraiya never took him to Tsunade for an examination. But eventually the scars, claws, and eyes took longer fade, and then longer, and finally in the eighth month a week passed before it became obvious that they weren't going to fade this time. Jiraiya and Naruto then returned to Konoha.

Naruto told only Sakura about the nightmares he'd been having since the second month.

He told no one about the dreams with the man whose features he could never make out, who always apologized for something and told him to never stop enjoying life no matter what.)

This story involved a missingnin thief Jiraiya had been hunting down to help out their expenses, a bordello, cross-dressing, and Naruto's sexy no jutsu. Sakura had heard it once before and been intensely disturbed by the mental images, so she was drinking her tea and actively ignoring Naruto's voice by thinking of the library in the inner rooms of the Hokage's office.

So she didn't notice when Neji's eyes narrowed, or when he started actively using the byakugan; but it was hard to miss Hinata stiffening next to her.

Lee had already seen Neji's action. Naruto caught on and fell silent a few moments later.

In the quiet, Sakura could hear the snake speaking, but it was too soft to be anything other than hissings.

Neji placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder. "Hinata-sama," he said under his breath, "I'm required. . . ."

She nodded. "Um, thank—thank you for the tea, Naruto-kun, Lee-kun, Sakura-chan. I'm sorry, but we have to. . . ."

Sakura smiled and stood up, prompting everyone else to stand as well. "No, thank you for coming over to visit us! It was fun."

She grabbed Naruto's wrist when he made a move towards the hallway and forced him to see Hinata and Neji out the front door. He distractedly promised to tell Hinata the rest of the story when he saw her again—she asked despite the fact she'd been blushing non-stop by the time he got to Jiraiya's kimono being too small—and then Lee offered to walk back to the Hyuuga compound with them. Neji just nodded.

Lee didn't intend to go far from the apartment, at least not until he felt everything was fine, but he said that he would for the same reason that Neji went along with it.

It was the same as the reason he didn't talk about Neji's curse seal, or the fact that Tenten had nearly failed the genjutsu requirements of the Academy, to anyone who didn't already know; and the same reason that Neji and Tenten didn't talk about Lee's mother having never been married. Some things belonged, and stayed, within one's team.

He suspected that whatever had happened to Sasuke, as long as it didn't put Sakura and Naruto in danger, was probably one of those things.

-'

By the time Sakura finished shutting the door, Naruto had already pulled his wrist free and was halfway to the bedroom. She caught up before he reached the doorway.

"Sasuke?"

His gaze jerked away from the snake and focused on the two of them. Less than a second passed before Sasuke closed his eyes—and when he opened them, they were just black again.

"You're alive," he informed Naruto. The bland statement failed to cover the relief in his voice.

"Yeah," the blond replied, scratching his cheek. A few moments of silence passed before he added: "No thanks to you, asshole."

Sasuke glanced at her. Sakura nodded once—Yes, he told me; yes, I'll take it to my grave—and Sasuke turned his attention back to Naruto.

"I told you not to fall behind, dead last."

Naruto bristled. "What, you wanted me to fight the whole damn Sound Village by myself? —I can, but not without . . . lend a hand next time, you jerk!"

"You looked like you were doing fine on your own, fox," the viper commented. "In fact, if you hadn't run out of humans to tear apart, Sasuke might have died out there."

"Kyomamushi-sama," Sasuke said abruptly, setting a hand on the snake's head. "I am grateful for your help; but the fight is over, and your presence is not crucial anymore. Please return to your own place and let yourself rest."

Sakura had the feeling that if the snake could smile, it would be. "I enjoy hearing you talk like that. Any time, Sasuke," it replied, before disappearing. His hand fell to the blanket.

Naruto looked like he was still trying to detangle the elevated speech pattern Sasuke had used. Sakura took a step into the room. "You shouldn't be sitting up so soon—your nerve endings and muscles aren't fully reconnected yet."

"Where's Orochimaru?"

She froze. Naruto stiffened.

"He's dead," the blond said flatly.

"You killed him."

"Yeah."

Sasuke laughed bitterly. "Of course you killed him. Who else could?"

"Hey—!"

"Where's my sword?" Sasuke interrupted.

Naruto's eyes narrowed further. "What do you want that thing for?"

"It was useful," the other teenager replied. "I have no reason to throw it away."

Sasuke emphasized the 'it.' Naruto growled and moved forward, until Sakura grabbed his arm with both hands.

"No!" she said, and he let her pull him back. "Not right now. Just—not this time."

She maneuvered enough to push Naruto into the hallway with those last words, and shut the bedroom door behind him; but not enough to click the lock.

Sakura let out a breath and tucked a stray bit of hair back underneath her forehead protector before turning around. She looked at Sasuke for a few moments, then said a brief, silent 'thank you' that the snake was gone before slapping him.

It was hardly the strongest punch she could have delivered, and Sasuke was trained to handle worse with ease. His head only jerked a fraction to the side, and that was mostly from surprise. But it made the point.

When he shifted to glare at her, Sakura glared back. "Don't be so cruel. He was really scared for you."

When Sasuke didn't reply, she sat down on the side of the bed and unclenched his hands from around the blanket. Then she made a little upward motion. "Lift your arms so I can change the bandages."

-'

When she left the room to get a fresh bowl of water, Naruto wasn't in the hallway. The apartment was small, and it took less than a minute to determine that he wasn't anywhere in it. Sakura swore to herself.

When Lee returned a few minutes later, she sent him to look in the nearby area. He came back and said that he hadn't seen Naruto anywhere, but the anbu guard who had been on top of the roof was now gone. Sakura resisted the urge to swear at Sasuke, but just barely.

Sasuke told her he wasn't hungry, but she made him eat half a bowl of broth and drink two glasses of water before leaving him alone.

It was getting late then, almost the time that Shizune said they would take Sasuke to the hospital, and Sakura had just remembered that she hadn't sent word that he was conscious. She was trying to decide if it would be okay to go herself or if she should ask Lee to do it when Naruto kicked open the front door and stomped in. He was carrying a sheathed katana.

Oukei entered behind him, his anbu mask pushed up to the top of his head and a bemused expression on his face. He stopped by the doorway when Sakura waved him back and followed Naruto.

She reached him before he got the bedroom door open again. Sasuke immediately pushed himself into a sitting position when he saw the blond, and Sakura made an annoyed sound as a faint pink begin to stain the bandages again.

"Here." Naruto shoved the sword at Sasuke. "We're useful too, so if you pull this leaving shit again I'll break every bone in your body and then Sakura-chan'll heal them crooked!"

Sasuke stared.

"I can't do that, Naruto," Sakura commented, after a long pause. "There's a code I'm supposed to follow."

Naruto turned and gave her his 'c'mon, pity me!' expression. "Sakura-chan! But it's for his own good! Couldn't you just heal a hand crooked or something?"

She folded her arms and rolled her eyes. "No, Naruto. Do you want people to think I'm a bad healer?"

Sasuke pulled the sword out slightly. "You put it in the sheath before it was clean?" he said incredulously. "You failed basic weapons maintenance, didn't you?"

"Screw you!" Naruto retorted. "I brought it back, didn't I? You can clean your own junk!"

"Thank you."

"I'm not your—huh?"

Sasuke didn't deign to repeat himself.

Naruto shifted on his feet. "Uh. You're welcome, I guess."

Sasuke pulled the sword out the rest of the way. "Do you have any rags I can use, Sakura?"

"Um." She let her arms drop. "Lee used most of them on the carpet, so they've probably still got those weird chemicals on them . . . there might be more, let me look."

Sasuke and Naruto were already bickering by the time she returned with two rags and a bowl of warm water, which was about the best sign there was.

-'

Once the sword was clean, and Sasuke had set the sheath aside to wash it out later, Sakura stood up.

"I'm going to go inform Shizune-san that you're awake, so she won't stop by later. Naruto, you're coming with me."

"What? Why!"

"Because you ran off enough today."

". . . I don't get it."

"Move."

She glanced back at Sasuke as she herded Naruto out the door. "Please stop sitting up until you've healed more. And if you need anything, I'll be back soon, and Lee's here."

"I'm fine," Sasuke replied.

Of course you are, she thought, but didn't say it out loud.

-'

Sakura waited to speak until they were about half-way to the hospital and Oukei was following far enough behind that he wouldn't overhear. "Hey, Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"You . . . you saw his eyes, right? This afternoon?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"What was that? I mean, that was the sharingan, right? They were red. . . ."

"I dunno," Naruto said, scratching the back of his neck. "It looked like it. Kinda."

"'Changing' . . ." Sakura murmured, clasping her hands in front of her. ". . . You said his eyes changed once before, right?"

Naruto nodded again. "But that was just getting another one of those comma things, so he had three like Kakashi-sensei. Not like this."

Sakura let out her breath in a sharp hiss and intertwined her fingers.

". . . What do we do, Sakura-chan? Neji and Hinata must have seen it, so we can't . . . should we tell Kakashi-sensei?"

"We ought to tell Tsunade-sensei," Sakura replied.

Naruto made a face. She didn't say any more.

Sakura and Naruto were both painfully aware that Tsunade didn't like Sasuke. Logically, Sakura knew that the woman had no real reason to; Sasuke had defected from Konoha almost at her arrival, giving her no time to get to know him (Like that would have helped, she conceded), and he left for Orochimaru of all people, and he beat the hell out of Naruto, her favorite, in the process. His fate in her opinion had pretty much been sealed the same day he left—not even Sakura and Naruto together had been able to keep her from declaring him a missingnin.

They had barely been able to keep him from being formally arrested and standing trial.

Sakura had grabbed Naruto as soon as he came out of the haze that the wards put him in and had gone to plead for Sasuke in person. Tsunade had listened to their request with that one blank expression Sakura was never able to interpret. She then had Kakashi called into her office, explained the situation to him, and asked his opinion, all without showing any emotion.

For some reason, Kakashi had rubbed at his hair, and took a long time to reply. Sakura used the silence to speak up again. She felt like she was fighting a losing battle, and thus saw little point in being polite.

"We already have Anko-san," she mentioned quietly, "and no one suspects anything of her. It's not like he can command eternal loyalty. And—and she turned out fine. She's a little weird—"

Naruto snorted.

"—but she's okay," Sakura finished, ignoring him. "Sasuke isn't hopeless, either. And he's given us all this information on the Hidden Sound village; not even a spy could have gotten all that. He's trying to make up."

Tsunade held up a hand, and Sakura stopped talking. The woman looked over at Kakashi. "Well?"

"I think having him arrested right would be a very bad idea," Kakashi said evenly. "He's chafing already under this house arrest. If you try to put him on trial for something he believes he had every right to do, we'll lose him and the sharingan forever."

"'Every right to do'?"

Kakashi's mask was very useful at times. "His older brother has had a severe influence on Sasuke for the majority of his life. I'm certain that he felt justified in the actions he took."

Tsunade was silent as she considered his words. She tapped her thumb against her desk, and looked at a point somewhere beyond the three of them.

"Fine," she said at last. "I'll make the arrangements, but it won't be easy. Kakashi, you'll likely have to speak on his behalf at the meeting."

Naruto grinned and started to laugh, but Tsunade hadn't finished. "And if he leaves Konoha again, you'll be expected to hunt him down."

"Hey, hey, hag, you can't—"

"Tsunade-sensei, that's too—!"

"There is no other person in this village—or, frankly, this world—who can hold out against the sharingan," Tsunade said flatly, interrupting them. "Because of time and politics I couldn't afford to send you last time, but that will no longer be an issue." She paused, and then added, "And as he's your student, he's also your responsibility."

Kakashi bowed briefly. "I understand, Hokage-sama."

"HEY—"

Sakura clamped a hand over Naruto's mouth.

"That's all. I'm going to have a lot of arguments to counter in the next few hours, so unless there's anything else. . . ."

"Thank you very much, Tsunade-sensei," Sakura said, bowing as far as she could without risking Naruto dislodging her hand. "I promise Sasuke isn't a threat to Konoha."

"It's dangerous to give your word so easily," was all the woman replied.

When they got into the hallway and the door to Tsunade's office was shut, Sakura pulled her hand away. Naruto immediately jerked back and glared at the door. "Why's she being like this?"

"She's just doing her job, Naruto," Sakura said as she looked at the reflection of Kakashi in the window. "Sasuke hasn't done much to inspire confidence in himself."

Naruto swore and jerked back to face the front. "Kakashi-sensei! Don't—"

Sakura grabbed his wrist and squeezed hard.

When Naruto looked over at her with a scowl on his face, Sakura redirected her gaze to the windows. It took Naruto a moment, but finally he looked as well.

After a few seconds, the blond grit his teeth loudly, but some of the tension left his arm. Sakura squeezed his wrist again, gently this time, before letting go. She continued following Kakashi down the hall, and Naruto trailed along behind her; and both of them avoided looking at the windows' reflections again.

(In their four years under the man, Naruto and Sakura had never seen so much weariness on Kakashi's face before.)

Naruto grumbled under his breath, and Sakura subtly glanced back to make sure that Oukei hadn't come within hearing range of them.

"Damn sharingan. Damn Uchiha," Naruto continued. "Damn Itachi. Somebody should just kill that guy alrea—"

"Don't." Sakura's voice was sharp. "Don't even think it. No one can touch Itachi."

"He's just one guy, Sakura-chan," Naruto replied. "If he didn't have those stupid eyes—"

"That's not what I meant," she interrupted again. "I meant you can't touch him, because of Sasuke. You can't take everything from him, Naruto."

Naruto was silent for a full block, and Sakura didn't look over at him.

"That's not . . . I wasn't trying to do that."

"I know you weren't trying to," Sakura said gently. "But you end up doing it anyway."

"So what? Are we just supposed to let that dumbass keeping chasing after him!"

Sakura bit her lip. "Sasuke will get stronger, and he'll win the fight and kill that damn man, and maybe then he can start trying to live like a normal person. Or maybe he'll never be strong enough and Itachi will kill him. But it's his fight."

Naruto growled, low and threatening, and grabbed her arm. "You just talk about him dying. . . ."

Behind them, she felt Oukei move closer and begin concentrating his chakra. Sakura shook her head vigorously, but this time the anbu ignored her.

"Don't think it's easy for me to say that!" she hissed, still trying not to let Oukei overhear. "I don't want Sasuke to die! But I don't want to see him walk away again, either, and it's what he'll do!" She jerked her head to the left and stared at the deep red eyes glaring at her. "It's what he'll do, if you keep trying to protect him. He doesn't want that. He doesn't appreciate it."

". . . I know," Naruto finally snarled. "I know Sasuke hates my guts for always jumping in. But I don't . . . I can't just. . . ."

Sakura placed a hand over the one clamped around her arm. The motion made Naruto realize that his claws had cut into her skin, and he quickly let go. She bit down a wince.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan."

"It's okay."

Oukei was still hesitating, ready to move if necessary, so Sakura made a little hand motion behind her back. He finally let his hands fall, no longer poised to attack; but he began walking much closer behind them now. She dropped her voice accordingly, knowing Naruto would still hear it.

"You did the right thing that night."

". . . It wasn't me."

"You still did the right thing, Naruto. Just because he'll be an ungrateful asshole about it doesn't mean you can let him die. But with Itachi. . . ." She trailed off, and finally shook her head. "It's not the same. If you kill Itachi, nothing will ever be okay again."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know," she whispered. "Just because I know what we can't do doesn't mean I know what we should."

-'

When Sakura arrived at the hospital and notified Shizune that Sasuke had woken up, she neglected to mention his eyes. Naruto said nothing at all.

She parted with the blond afterward, and headed home long enough to tell her parents that she intended to stay at Lee's until Sasuke either went to a hospital or was healed enough to return to Kakashi's. To her surprise, they said nothing to her—at all—so she packed a spare dress and a few toiletries and left.

Lee was surprised when she told him about her parents' silence as well, but when Sakura shrugged it off, he nodded in acceptance.

Since Kakashi wasn't sleeping on the couch that night, they moved the futon to the living room.

-'

Two days later, Tenten showed up and told Lee that Gai wanted the team to meet.

Technically there wasn't a team anymore; Tenten had made it to chuunin level, and Lee was a jounin, and Neji would immediately become a chuunin himself as soon as he could make the judges feel comfortable placing him in charge of others. (Hinata had told them that he would make it at the next exam. Naruto had just laughed until Neji stood up and ordered him into a fight. Naruto lost, but he had still been wearing the ward then, and Neji knew it.) Lee went anyway.

Sakura had returned to the Hokage tower the day after Sasuke woke up. Tsunade had tested her on the latest drug she'd learned and then dismissed her; and Sakura had spent the rest of the day studying scrolls in the library.

Since it was early morning when Lee left, she went back today as well, thinking that the other teenager would be home in time for lunch. Sakura stayed in the library until early afternoon, when Tsunade was preoccupied with a meeting and she was able to leave with several scrolls on the chakra flow of the human body and no questions.

She returned to the apartment to find that Lee had not returned, and Sasuke had made lunch and borrowed a pair of Lee's pants long enough to wash his own clothes. When she yelled at him for moving around while still injured, he told her to quit babying him, he was fine now.

"There was a big hole in your stomach, Sasuke," she replied. "That takes time to heal."

"It was a gash, it didn't go all the way through, and you're talented," he said flatly. "It's a pointless demand for me to stay in bed."

The first three statements were all true, and the fourth one probably was as well, so Sakura had a hard time arguing further. She wound up saying it was pointless for him to stay on his feet out of spite; and Sasuke ignored her and went to the bathroom to clean out the sheath of his katana. Sakura ignored his ignoring her and sat down at the table to study one of the scrolls.

Sasuke eventually finished cleaning, came back to the living room, and sat down on the couch to sharpen the sword with a whetting stone that he'd taken from the pack of weapons that Sakura kept on Lee's bookshelf. They worked in silence.

A couple hours later, it was nearly dinner time, and Lee hadn't returned. Sakura rolled up the second scroll she'd been reading and the separate one full of notes she'd taken, and realized she was going to have to buy food if they wanted to eat tonight. They'd run out of the previous supplies.

She swore under her breath, causing Sasuke to finally look up from where he had managed to draw out sharpening the sword for hours, in-between hanging his clothes to dry. Sakura gathered everything up and hid it all in the bedroom closet, before hunting down her purse. She counted the amount in there, added a few coins from Lee's, and walked to the door.

Sasuke had seen her going back and forth with the scrolls, but she didn't worry about him looking for them. She could count on him not to care that much about her secrets. Some things wouldn't change.

"If Lee comes back before me, tell him I'm shopping," Sakura said as she pulled on her boots. "And tell him I'll be fine."

"You'll be fine?" Sasuke repeated.

"Bye," Sakura replied as she pulled open the door, not explaining.

-'

The Asagiri grocery wasn't very busy at that time of day, so they ignored Sakura longer than they could have if she'd gone earlier.

Sakura had known that they would avoid helping her as long as possible, and that it would be faster to go to a different grocery on the other side of the village; but unlike the others, the Asagiri family didn't raise their prices for her alone. Ino had been childhood friends with one of their daughters before entering the Academy, so even when the mess with Naruto really began, they still served her in a reasonably quick manner.

But then Sasuke came back, and things went bad. She'd left her mother to do the shopping then, or had asked Lee to do it if she was eating dinner with him. But once it was clear that Sasuke was just as welcome at the Rock apartment as Naruto, even Lee was dragged into the mess—and then Sakura took over shopping again, because Lee got very loud when arguing about things he thought were unfair.

It hadn't been as bad when it was just Naruto, because in the end people knew that Sakura was the one person who could invariably bring him back to himself. Sasuke wasn't granted that saving grace, since he'd shown a bad habit of inadvertently pushing Naruto into the fox in the first place.

Sakura finished reciting the hundred rules of shinobi behavior to herself, and not for the first time considered walking out of the grocery without paying. Then she set her purchases on the counter, leaned against it, and began reciting the sayings again.

When she reached rule twenty-five, she repeated it an extra time. A kunoichi must possess a heart that never shows tears.

Sakura closed her eyes, started tapping her foot, and went on to rule twenty-six.

She sensed another person enter the store a few minutes later, and assumed it was a customer until Ino banged her palm on the counter beside her and called, "Hey, Saori! Are you asleep back there?"

"Ino-san!" Saori answered cheerfully, jogging out of the stocking room. She stopped when she saw that Sakura was still in the building.

Ino tapped her fingers expectantly.

Saori stepped up to the counter and started ringing up Sakura's purchases. "Sorry, Haruno-san," she said, not looking up at the other teenager. "I didn't see you there."

"Mm," Sakura replied, handing over the money.

Ino picked up the second bag before Sakura could. "I don't know why you still shop here," she said loudly as they walked out of the store. "The produce quality is too poor to make up for such lousy service."

"Ino-chan!" Sakura whispered fiercely. "Don't be so mean!"

"Pfff." Ino waved off her admonition. "Their family hasn't even tried to enter the Academy in three generations. Who cares about them?" She gave Sakura a wide grin. "So, I do get to make one of the speeches at the wedding reception, right?"

Sakura blinked. "What?"

Ino was now wearing that I-know-something-you-don't-want-me-to-know grin that always made Sakura nervous. "I figured Lee-kun is going to propose pretty soon, since half of Konoha knows you two are having sex."

"WHAT?"

Ino snickered. "Please, Sakura, you were over at his apartment, at night, in a sheet. What did you expect people to think?"

"What? But—how—there wasn't . . . oh, shit." Sakura covered her eyes with a hand. "That's why my parents are mad, I'm so dead. . . ."

"Why? You're fifteen, you're a woman. And he'll be old enough to ask in a couple months, right?"

Sakura shook her head, eyes still covered. "My parents aren't shinobi, Ino-chan. They don't think like us. I'm still a child to them."

Ino paused, then shook her head with a small laugh. "Glad I'm not you!"

"Nrrg." Sakura pushed away the hair that was caught beneath her hand and wrapped her arm around the bag again. "Who told?"

That grin. Again. Sakura braced herself. "I saw Tenten earlier, and she told me to tell you that Lee-kun would be back late. Gai-san's meeting turned into a lecture on the pleasures of youth having consequences."

". . . You're kidding."

"Nope!" Ino said gleefully, interlocking her fingers behind her and rolling her shoulders back.

Sakura brought the bag up high enough that it hid her face. "Please stop sounding so amused, Ino-pig-chan."

"Hmph. She also said Gai-san gave them a lecture on proper birth control—"

"Ino-chan!"

"—and that Neji said something, but she wouldn't tell me what that was. She said you'd figure it out when Lee-kun got back."

Sakura frowned, and let the bag slip back down to waist-level.

When she realized that Ino was staring at her expectantly, and wouldn't drop the subject until she got something like an answer, Sakura shifted the bag to her other arm and tucked a bit of hair behind her ear. "He probably said there was no reason for him to listen to the lecture. And you know Lee—everything Gai-san says is important."

"'No reason'?" Ino repeated, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Well, the byakugan can see through stuff, right? So, he probably already. . . ."

Ino and Sakura stopped to ponder that for a moment.

"Eww," they decided.

"Gross! Can you imagine seeing your siblings—or your parents—!"

"Ick! Don't say that!"

"No wonder he's such a freak," Ino declared. "But Hinata shouldn't be so shy if it's true."

"Maybe if . . . her father seems kind of scary. . . ."

Ino shuddered dramatically. Sakura considered the subject dropped.

They continued back to the apartment, with Ino making various disturbed comments for another block. But suddenly she stopped short, grabbed Sakura's arm, and swung around in front of her. "Hey!"

"What?" Sakura replied, startled.

"That wasn't—" Ino leaned forward, cupping a hand over her mouth and whispering in Sakura's ear. "That wasn't your first time, was it?" She pulled back. "I mean, if it was, and then someone showed up half-dead in the house, that's gotta be a bad sign! It's worse than the pillow pointing north!"

"Ooh . . ." Sakura murmured. "It wasn't, but . . . well, it wasn't a major anniversary, so we ought to be okay. Right?"

"Maybe . . ." Ino conceded as they began to walk again.

A few moments later, she folded her arms and gave Sakura an annoyed, sulking look. "Why didn't you tell me about your first time?"

"Why do you think? Gossiper!"

"That's so mean! And after everything I've done for you—some friend you are, Sakura!"

The words came out teasing, but they made Sakura stop again. The other people on the street were starting to give them odd looks.

"Thank you for everything," she said quietly.

Uncomfortable, Ino tried to shrug off the sudden seriousness. "I didn't really mean—"

"I know you didn't; but I'm still grateful." Sakura let the straps of the bag slip over her wrist, and clasped her elbows with her hands, still staring at the ground. "The last month, since he came back . . . if I didn't have you and Lee, it would have been too hard."

Ino shifted on her feet. "Don't thank me, Sakura. It's only because. . . . If Shikamaru or Chouji hadn't come back. . . ." She shook her head. "I don't think I could stand to talk to you if they hadn't come back. But I didn't lose anyone, so it's not like this is hard."

Sakura bit her lip, and nodded briefly. Ino shifted uncomfortably again, and finally elbowed her arm.

"Hey, you better smile. Lee-kun might change his mind about marrying you if you don't look cute."

Sakura rolled her eyes and looked forward again. "Would you shut up about that already?" she muttered, resuming walking.

"No way—it's too much fun!"

Sakura sighed.

Ino strode along beside her, hands clasped behind her back again. Ino walked and stood like that a lot recently—she had developed very nice breasts, and she knew it and showed off quite happily.

It was quiet for half a block, until Ino spoke up again. "Besides, I can understand. He's part of your team." She tossed her head, throwing her ponytail over her shoulder. "And I know how long it took me to get over my stupid crush on that jerk—at least you wised up faster and found Lee-kun," she added with a grin.

"I never stopped loving Sasuke," Sakura replied, and Ino gave her a startled look. "It just changed."

". . . Okay . . ." Ino said slowly. Sakura was silent.

-'

When they finally reached the apartment, Sakura tried to take the second bag from Ino, but the other teenager held onto it and strolled right into the apartment.

Lee had finally returned. He was standing in front of the couch where Sasuke sat, in the middle of vigorously explaining that kenjutsu could never match taijutsu since the Leaf Spinning Wind attack could deliver damage at twice the breaking point of a steel katana. Sasuke was listening seriously.

Lee halted in the middle of a sentence to return Sakura's greeting of mixed annoyance and happiness with a "Welcome back!"

"Hello, Ino-chan," he added when he saw the other teenager. "It's great to see you."

"Sakura was letting the grocery push her around again," Ino informed him. "I had to show up. Besides, we had such an interesting talk."

"Ino-chan . . ." Sakura said threateningly. Lee gave her a puzzled look.

"Really, Lee-kun, you shouldn't have Sakura over at your apartment so much. I can't just let you get away with giving my best friend a bad reputation."

"What?"

Ino grabbed the first sack from Sakura's hand and gave him an innocent look. "Oh, everyone's heard that when Sasuke-kun and Naruto showed up, she was already over here. With no clothes on. That doesn't reflect well on a girl; people like to gossip."

"Ino-pig-chan! Stop talking! Now!"

Lee straightened, clenching a fist in front of him. "Who's been saying bad things about Sakura?"

"Word gets around, you know. . . ."

Sakura pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead. If I knew that mind-body switch jutsu I could make her shut up. . . .

"Sakura! Let's get married!"

She blinked and pulled her hand away. "Huh?"

"Let's get married!" Lee repeated, giving her his best determined look. "Then no one can ever say anything bad again!"

"You're not old enough—"

"Then we can at least tell everyone that we will!"

"You're supposed to properly ask her parents first," Sasuke commented.

Sakura gave him a death glare. Sasuke's expression didn't change.

Lee spun around to stare at him. "You're right!" He turned back and caught Sakura's wrist in his hand, and started jogging toward the door. "I can't believe I forgot!"

Sakura grabbed the doorframe as soon as it was in reach and dug in her heels. Lee, who was always aware of his strength and even more so around Sakura, immediately stopped and loosened his grip further. He turned to face her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura could see Sasuke still sitting, and beside him, Ino had propped her arms on the back of the couch and was giggling madly; and Lee was almost completely out the door.

This is so not how I expected this to go.

"Lee." Sakura took a breath and said as calmly as she could while still holding the doorframe, "I will be happy to marry you. As soon as you turn sixteen, we'll go ask my parents and your mother for permission. Now please don't go running through the streets telling everyone."

Lee just gazed at her. Behind them, Ino stopped giggling.

Then he hugged her, before suddenly picking her up and spinning around back into the apartment, barely avoiding the step and the edge of the sofa on the way.

When he set her back down, Sakura had to take a second to regain her footing. Lee pressed his cheek against hers and said "Thank you," so quietly that only she could hear. "I promise I will always be there when you need me."

Sakura hugged him tightly.

Ino gave them a full minute before saying, "Get a room already."

Sakura pulled away enough to reply, "You're in our room. And you! Stop laughing!"

Ino glanced at Sasuke from the corner of her eye. Only the corners of his mouth were turned up; but, she supposed, that could be the Uchiha version of laughter.

She pushed away from the couch and held the two grocery bags up high. "To celebrate, I'll make dinner tonight! Sakura'll be a housewife too soon to waste a day off."

"You want to celebrate by poisoning us, Ino-chan?" Sakura asked skeptically.

Ino didn't take well to that comment. (Sakura had no way of knowing, but Ino had made lunch for her own team just the past week. Shikamaru refused to eat it. Asuma had gotten sick from the fish.) Lee and Sasuke were treated to a brief verbal catfight, involving references to flower arranging, until it was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Naruto didn't wait for an answer and let himself in. "Huh? Ino?" he said, noticing the interloper immediately. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't be rude, you—what are you wearing?"

"Naruto-kun! Sakura and are going to get married!"

He blinked at Lee. Then he looked over at Sakura. "Really?"

She nodded with a smile.

Naruto smiled immediately after that as well, and if she didn't look too close it didn't have a sad tint. "That's cool," he told them. "I'm glad. And you better take care of her," he added to Lee.

Lee nodded solemnly.

Then Naruto's smile turned to a wide grin and he pointed at Sasuke. "HA! I told you so!"

"I didn't say I doubted it."

"Yeah, well . . . I still told you first!"

"Well, duh," Ino muttered under her breath. "Hey, Lee-kun, where do you keep your pots?"

"Whaaaat? You're cooking? Sakura-chan can cook better than you!"

"Shut up!" Ino snapped, adding a slur on Naruto's cooking abilities. He retorted that he could cook plenty, and Sasuke said that having various ways of preparing ramen still meant he could only cook one thing.

When the other three teenagers were distracted, Sakura hugged Lee again, resting her forehead against his jaw.

"I'll never go anywhere you aren't," she murmured. "No matter what happens."

He hugged her back as tightly as he dared.

-'

While Ino was cooking, Naruto was pestering her, and Sasuke was ignoring the lot of them, Sakura asked Lee to show her his arms. He hesitated for a moment, then unwrapped the bandages enough for her to see the raw knuckles.

"I wanted to train a little extra today," Lee told her, and Sakura wouldn't have needed Ino's comment to realize what had happened. Whenever Lee said that with a smile, it meant he had messed up on one of his crazy goals and had gotten caught in a spiral of ever-increasing hard work until he either reached a goal or wound up passing out for a while. When he said it without a smile, it meant Neji had been an ass about something. And given what Gai had been lecturing on, she could guess what.

"We're lucky," Sakura said quietly, rewrapping the bandages, "to come from families where who our fathers were isn't so important to who we are."

"I know," Lee replied. "We're very lucky."

-'

Lee was not surprised when he found the collection of scrolls hidden in his closet later that evening. Sakura had told him before anyone else what she was going to try to do.

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