Over his life, Sasuke had developed a trick of looking through people while walking. He focused on some inanimate item in the distance and kept his gaze on it as he moved, no matter who came through his vision. It reduced the people around him to objects that had to be navigated--he would look at them long enough to determine that they weren't a threat, and then dismiss their existence from his thoughts.

It was a trick that came in handy while he and Naruto were walking towards the Hokage's tower the next morning. Sasuke slid his hands into his pockets, constantly refocused his gaze on the buildings in the distance, and was able to mostly ignore the people staring at them from the edges of his vision.

But it was impossible to ignore the fact that he and Naruto were technically being escorted to the tower. Kakashi, who'd shown up at the apartment again that morning, was walking behind them, and Sasuke could sense the anbu following several meters further back, even though he refused to look at her.

Naruto was whistling as if everything was normal, and the fact that the other teenager was apparently used to being treated like a prisoner of war only served to aggravate Sasuke more.

--

The meeting with the Hokage wasn't as bad as it could have gone--she didn't sentence him to death, or even strip him of his ninja status--but it didn't go well.

Tsunade must have used the hours between when she was informed of Sasuke and Naruto's return and the time they arrived in her office to work out any anger she had, because she was remarkably composed the entire time she stood in front of Sasuke while he sat on the couch and cursed him out.

She informed him that not only had he made himself a threat to Konoha, but that his presence was going to create a lot of unrest among the villagers. That he'd destroyed the shaky calm between Hidden Leaf and Hidden Sound by returning. That righteous vengeance was not a good reason to put other people's lives at risk, or even a good ideal to live by. That actions have consequences. And that she wasn't able to remove the curse seal.

She'd tried to take off Anko's, and it had almost killed the woman. Sasuke was even further advanced; there was no hope for him.

When Tsunade had finished, and was staring down at him with her hands on her hips, Sasuke stopped gazing stonily out the window and looked up at her.

"I already knew that," he replied. "I know all of that."

Tsunade had continued to stare down at him for a few silent moments, before saying "Good."

Then she dropped her hands from her hips, turned to Naruto, and asked what the hell he'd done with this ward.

Naruto hadn't spoken since both Tsunade and Sasuke had harshly told him to be quiet the first time he tried to speak up in Sasuke's defense, and now he gave the woman a slightly nervous grin and scratched his elbow. "I, uh, lost it somewhere."

"Again?"

"I was running around a lot!" Naruto said defensively. "Those stupid things have really thin cords! It's not my fault they keep breaking!"

"'Really thin cords'? What do you want to do, hang it around your neck with rope?" Tsunade asked with well-veiled amusement.

Sasuke pretended to drink the tea that she had perfunctorily ordered and stared out the window again.

Half a minute later, when the lecture had trailed off into Tsunade telling Naruto to stop calling her hag or she was going to make the next ward with a chain, Sasuke heard the door behind them open.

He looked at the reflection in the window, but whoever was there was mostly hidden behind the door, and it was too hazy to make out a recognizable face. Tsunade looked over Naruto's shoulder.

"Sakura, what it is?"

Sasuke's hands tightened around the cup, and a moment later he set it back down on the tray and folded them, one curled up loosely and the other laying over it.

"Um . . . I . . . I heard the rumors," Sakura said from behind them, and her voice, unlike Naruto's, hadn't changed much over the past few years.

The blond burst into a wide grin--which Sasuke noticed didn't hide his teeth, whatever that meant about the surrounding company--and turned around enough to lean over the back of the couch.

"Hey, hey, Sakura-chan, look!" he crowed, pointing at Sasuke. "I told you I would! I kicked his ass until he came back!"

"Shut up already," Sasuke muttered, shoving Naruto's hand away.

Naruto ignored him. "Will you look at his leg? He's pretending it doesn't hurt, but I think I really busted it."

Tsunade glanced over at him, and he could see Sakura moving out from behind the door and into the room. Sasuke tilted his head enough to glare at Naruto. "You wish, dead last. I'm fine."

"Liar. You were walking weird the whole way here! And it keeps making popping noises!"

Sasuke turned the power of his glare up a notch.

Tsunade looked between the three of them for a moment--Naruto twisted around and giving her an expectant expression, Sasuke who was back to glaring out the poor window again, Sakura standing near the door with her hands in front of her and the fingers intertwined--and then snorted.

"Sakura, look at his leg. Come on, Naruto, I have to make you a new ward."

Naruto sulked as he turned fully back around and stood up from the couch. "I hate those things," he muttered. "They make me feel weird."

An almost regretful expression flitted across Tsunade's face, and she briefly rested a hand on his shoulder.

But then she pushed him toward the door and replied, "Well, I don't like having to remake them. It's time-consuming."

Sasuke watched the reflection of the two of them leaving, and then picked up his cup again. It took Sakura a moment to walk up beside him.

"Hi, Sasuke."

She'd cut her hair a little shorter than before, but she still wore her forehead protector as a headband. "Hello."

". . . So, can I see your leg?"

He frowned as he set the cup back on the tray. "It's just a minor bruise. It'll heal soon enough."

"Well, let me see it so Naruto won't whine that I didn't do my job later."

"Your job?" Sasuke looked up at her. "You're a medical ninja?"

Sakura nodded. "I finished the official training a few months ago."

Sasuke paused for a moment, and then nodded. He pulled up his pants' leg past his knee.

"Augh!" was Sakura's immediate reaction. "Sasuke, you were walking like that?"

". . . Jumping," he said, staring in only half-concealed amazement as Sakura's vague discomfort abruptly disappeared.

Sakura made a noise under her breath that Sasuke interpreted as 'you moron' while she knelt down next to him and gingerly touched the dark bruise spread across his knee. "Does it hurt more when bent or when you're standing?"

"Bent."

"Okay." She poked the edge of the bruise below the side of his kneecap. "Does this hurt?"

"Yes."

"A lot?"

"No."

"Good," Sakura murmured. She pulled up the other leg of his pants and pressed the skin around his good knee, before doing the same, though more carefully, to the bad one. Sasuke folded his arms over his chest and hid his hands in the crooks of his elbows.

"Hm. It's swollen, but I think that's from the bruise, not from a fluid buildup." She pulled the pants back over his good leg.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke said.

Sakura blinked. "Huh?"

She caught on a few seconds later, though, and looked down at the carpet. Then she moved from her kneeling position to a sitting one. Sakura pulled her legs towards her chest and folded her hands over her knees, interlocking the fingers again.

"It's okay," she said quietly. "After . . . Naruto and I made Kakashi-sensei finally talk to us, and . . . I'd forgotten about your family." Sakura brushed a strand of hair away from her face and smiled slightly. "It's kind of funny--I really thought I loved you, but I didn't even remember something that important."

She looked up at Sasuke, who was watching her with a blank expression that almost hid his surprise. "And, okay, you're not exactly as brilliant as I thought you were," she told him, still smiling. "But . . . I can understand why you thought you had to do that. And I'm glad you're back. We missed you, Sasuke."

Sasuke stared at her for a few more moments, then glanced down at the floor before looking to the other side. ". . . thank you."

Sakura nodded, looking away as well. It was quiet between them for a little bit.

Sakura pushed herself onto her feet. "All right, I'm going to get a scroll and some ink for the jutsu. Can you move to the floor? It'll be easier than telling Tsunade-sensei that I let you put your feet on her table."

"Fine," Sasuke said.

Sakura nodded, stood still for a moment, and then turned around and left the room. Sasuke watched her reflection until the door closed behind her.

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