Story summary:

Sakura had often dreamt of the day he returned and what it would mean for them both but fate had a different idea. She was going to learn the hard way that the biggest lesson you can learn in life is not only to be grateful for having eyes, ears and a mouth, but to use them properly too.

Kindly note: Minor OC involvement

Author's notes:

It's been over ten years since I last came to FanFiction and a friend of mine once jokingly said that once you get a taste of this community, you'll never truly leave it. How true!

So here I am, presenting to you my first piece of writing in over 10 years! Go easy on me please haha!

This SasuSaku fiction is set post-war and pre-Gaiden and addresses the idea of how Sasuke and Sakura might have gotten together. I've decided to indulge in some good old fashioned drama, ditching the darker plotlines, and focusing entirely on stirring some emotions… (I hope!).

I've actually typed up about half of this fiction in really rough short hand, but only properly edited and cleaned up the chapter below so I'm really eager to see and know what you guys think!

Without further ado, I present to you…

Chance

The light spring breeze drifted in through her open window and gently blew against her face. One arm propped up her head as she sat behind her desk in her office with closed eyes. Sakura was allowing herself a brief moment or two to simply indulge in the presence of her own company before she got back to working on the coming year's annual budget submission for Konoha Hospital. In the haze of her mediation she drowned out the hum of the bustling village and glimmers of jet black hair gently swaying in the breeze could be seen behind her eyelids.

Opening her eyes she stared absentmindedly to the vast book collection on the other side of her office. Her eyes roamed over the colourful spines of all the medical textbooks she had studied over the years of her training however she wasn't seeking out a particular book. Truth be told she had been nothing short of distracted as of late because some days ago Uchiha Sasuke had returned from his long journey of repentance.

His return didn't quite happen the way she dreamt it would. Firstly, she wasn't there to greet him, not because she didn't want to be there but because no one was informed of his return to the village. There was strict instruction that only certain ANBU and Naruto would meet him at the gate and take him to a secure holding location, namely prison. In prison he was to remain isolated with no visitors being permitted.

She had learned he was coming back from Naruto who knew better than to keep this secret from Sakura. It seemed that Naruto he had received a message from Sasuke saying he was returning and shortly after this, a group decision had been taken that Sasuke had to be independently assessed to ensure he didn't pose a threat to the village. Even though Naruto and Sakura knew that he was done with those demons of his past, it didn't mean everyone agreed. Sakura knew for a fact that even people like Shikamaru held some reservations about Sasuke and it was important to make sure everyone adjusted to his return in as positive a manner as possible.

So he remained in a holding cell and underwent questioning for 4 days. Two members of ANBU and Ibiki Morino were conducting the interrogation and it was advised that Naruto was not present for this. Naruto having understood the delicacy of the situation did not protest. For Sakura however, it plagued her thoughts to know that he was back and she couldn't even see him. She was trusting in Naruto once again to ensure his safe passage back into his home and whilst she didn't like that she was once again placing such a burden on Naruto's shoulders, on this occasion it truly was all out of her hands. There was some relief at least in that at the end of every night Naruto would drop her a message saying "all okay" to imply that each day of interrogation had gone well.

After the days of interrogation came the isolated psychometric testing and paperwork. For this he still remained in the holding cell as he completed the paperwork and testing, all of which took a further 3 days. However Sakura understood it was a far more relaxed atmosphere as they tried to understand where his alliances, aims and goals stood now. Additionally, she found out that things could potentially be wrapped up and finished after this psychometric testing so that he could finally be completely pardoned.

She lifted herself from her desk and stretched her arms over her head, gently tilting from side to side. Smoothing down her top and skirt she closed a few folders on her desk, reached for her keys to lock her office and wandered over to Naruto's office in the Hokage tower.

The weather was remarkably beautiful and pleasant for June. Normally the heat would be so humid and heavy that people would make a point of avoiding being outside at this time of the day. It seems this year they might have escaped a particularly difficult summer heat.

As she approached the tower she was greeted by many civilians and fellow shinobi. After the war Sakura Haruno had become one of the most recognised shinobi for all her efforts to heal the wounded but also in helping Naruto and Sasuke in defeating Kaguya. She'd even coined a nickname of 'one punch wonder woman' as she delivered the final blow to the creator of all chakara. So as she walked through the village it wasn't uncommon for her to receive polite and respectful greetings. Sometimes she even had to stop for the occasion confession that was delivered to her. Truly she was flattered and if not a little saddened since deep in her heart she knew no confession out there was enough to change how she felt in her heart.

As she entered the building and walked up the winding stairs to the first floor she wondered what said man had discovered about this world on his journey and perhaps more importantly whether and what he had learnt about himself. Who was he now? Why come back now?

Standing outside Naruto's office she knocked and heard Naruto beckoning her inside. The purpose of this visit was not social, rather Sakura was there to discuss her upcoming budget submission for the hospital. It was Naruto that told her to come at that particular time during the day, presumably the number of meetings he had to conduct was steadily increasing in anticipation of the full budgetary review.

"Sakura-chan!" He tilted his head to look around a particularly dangerous tall pile of papers sat on his desk and she smiled.

"Naruto. Every time I visit that pile of papers on your desk gets taller and taller."

He groaned and sunk back into his chair, "You don't need to remind me. I swear I'm working as hard and fast as I can but these damned requests come through even faster!"

She giggled, "Well is this the part I tell you that pile is about to get the tiniest bit taller since I'm nearly done with my budget submission?"

"I'm just going to burn it all. An accidental fire, what a shame."

She cackled once, "What's the matter Hokage-sama, can't handle the pressure of your job?"

At this he jumped straight out of his chair with the cheekiest grin plastered all over his face and looked her dead in the eye with his piercing blue gaze, "No way Sakura-chan".

She tilted her head and smirked, "Good to know. So my entire budget request will get accepted then? Excellent!".

She watched beads of sweat trickle down his head and sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "I don't see a reason for your budget request submissions to all get rejected Sakura-chan."

"None of them should be rejected Naruto, the hospital needs this cash injection to keep functioning and to keep up all the research we are doing surrounding chakara manipulation and impersonation!" Hands on her hips she mockingly looked incredibly angry.

Sakura knew she would potentially have some push back on her requests, after all no one gets everything they ask for at budget time, but she knew she was going to fight for every single penny she could. Besides a little bit of acting and dramatic antics couldn't hurt her case.

"Ahh, you know if I could I'd give you all the money you need I would, and well, I'm not entirely sure how much we have to play with this coming year but I know that it's tight." He was scratching his head and Sakura could see the clogs in his mind turning slowly. Of course he wouldn't have a total grasp of the budgeting process, not yet anyway, he'd only just become Hokage.

A soft smile graced her lips and her heart felt warm knowing that everything he'd worked hard for as a child had manifested in his dream coming true. To be acknowledged, to be Hokage and saving Sasuke. Naruto was truly something else.

"Hey… Naruto… is he…?"

Naruto's stature shifted and his face somewhat hardened, "He is actually-"

Before he could finish he was interrupted by a knock at his door and he beckoned them in. Sakura turned to the door to see two ANBU agents walking with their hands resting on a tied up and blindfolded Uchiha Sasuke.

Sakura felt like she'd just been punched. She had no idea that he was coming here. Her lips parted as she stood rooted to spot and took the sight in.

He stood in the center of the office between two ANBU agents in a white restraining coat. His head was cast slightly down as his field of vision was covered by a black leather band. Just as she had often dreamt, his black hair beautifully framed his face as it gently swayed with the light breeze in the room. His right arm was crossed over his front courtesy of the binding he was in whilst the left sleeve was lightly pinned across him too. He wore his usual loose black trousers and black sandals. Little things she'd started noting without realising included the fact that his hair was slightly longer than usual and his skin more tanned.

She hadn't realised she was holding her breath until Naruto spoke up from behind her, "I presume everything is to your and your colleague's satisfaction Ibiki?"

Ibiki's eyes glanced over to Sakura briefly and she knew she had to leave. Naruto probably broke protocol calling her here to discuss the budget just as Sasuke was coming to his office. Now his insistence on being prompt on the time to talk about "the budget" made sense.

For Sakura, it was torturous and relieving all the same to have finally seen him and now to have to leave. She was desperate to know how everything was proceeding, what did he say, was he staying for good? Maintaining her composure both mentally and physically was becoming difficult as she noted she was experiencing symptoms like heart palpitations, sweaty palms, blurring vision.

She slowly turned to Naruto to both plead to look after Sasuke but also to silently bid him goodbye with just a glance. She knew she had to get out of there. As she walked, she felt like she might choke on her emotions swelling in her throat. She was getting closer to him as she went for the door when Naruto softly spoke, "We'll see you soon Sakura-chan."

At the mention of her name she could see Sasuke's head twitch slightly upwards. She paused. She was now standing right in front of him. Should she speak up? No, now wasn't the time for that, there were also too many people in the room which she was trying not to forget about in her dazed state. So she started walking again and was finally out of Naruto's office.

As she shut the door behind herself her hand instantly reached to the wall to support her and she allowed herself a second or two to catch her breath before quickly hurrying out of the Hokage Tower. She had to get as far away from that room as possible, it was like an instinctual self-defending function that had kicked in. She hurried back to safety of her own office in Konoha Hospital.

Slamming the door behind her with a little more force than necessary she braced herself up with her palms flat against the door for a moment as she tried to catch her breath. What in the hell had gotten into her? She knew Sasuke was back in the village so this surprise meeting shouldn't have caught her so off guard. She wasn't in control of her thoughts or emotions so she went to sit behind her desk. Head in her hands she was struggling to rationalise how she felt.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed but she was at least grateful she had successfully calmed down. Unfortunately that didn't mean she had had a productive afternoon. She could barely concentrate as she begun to hear the whispers of his return spread like wild fire amongst all the hospital's staff. Most of the day she found herself in a trance-like state, replaying his figure in her mind as she sat at her desk drumming her fingers along her desk. By 6:30pm she decided to call it quits and went home. There was no message from Naruto that night and she didn't find that to be such a bad thing.

That night she dreamt of fields of golden barley in the dead of night dancing from left to right as a storm brewed. One solitary Sakura tree stood tall in the middle of the field. With one all-mighty strike, a burst of lighting set the tree alight.

The stage has been set!

What did you think? I humbly could not thank you enough if you chose to leave me a review.

As I mentioned it's been over 10 years since I came back to the FanFiction community and I don't think I realised how much I missed the feeling of writing and hearing feedback what people think. And most importantly I sincerely hope you enjoyed this first chapter. Any writer will know that the true goal isn't just to get their plotline out there, but to stir something within a reader.

Also be warned, I love a good bit of drama in any romance so be warned, drama ahead!

Thank you

M