A/N: (VERY IMPORTANT): Hello..there .. It`s been long since I have updated and I apologize for that… Lately I am on Authors block + I seriously have NO TIME AT ALL…University is being so engulfing. And you guys would not believe this… The chapter you are about to read now is actually been written while I was in class .. with the professor teaching… I sat at the back of the class and started typing with my I Pod Touch… anyway, I managed to have time to write during the class so please do enjoy reading. And I thank all who read and still reads this fic ,including the people who fav this story . But I`d appreciate if you guys review to let me what you think. Please do read the A/N at the end of the chappie as well.. THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND ENJOY!.

Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto.

Chapter 7: volitions and arrangements.

A knock on the door jolted Sasuke up from his deep sleep. He has always been a light sleeper. In fact. He hardly sleeps at all. Thinking about all the matters which happened to his clan and what he has done to itachi was something so difficult yet somehow his painful memories had become something so asset and valuable .but despite how much he hated those painful memories. Somehow they were precious to him.

Sasuke carefully twisted the door knob and opened the door to see shizune standing with tsunade's pink pig in hand.

"Sasuke-San, good morning".Sasuke gave her a nod as an acknowledgement for her greeting.

"tsunade-sama requested to see you right away. sakura is with her too".

"I'll be there" he replied nonchalantly and shut the door on shizune's face.

Sakura was standing beside tsunade as Sasuke came in.

His eyes fell on sakura .she looked at him and she felt her stomach forming knots inside. She did know that it was the feeling of her love to him .after all this time he still managed to make her feel that way.

Sasuke averted his eyes to tsunade .she looked at him amusingly and threw the news paper to him.

Catching it swiftly he looked at the headlines and grimaced. "When did I agree to this".

Tsunade smiled "it's part of our agreement. Plus, I have to do this in order to shut the stupid elders up. They`ll go complaining if I did not declare your arrival on time and they will suspect me helping you… don't expect impunity"

Sasuke glared at tsunade and threw the news paper back to her. She also caught it swiftly and put it on her desk.

"you know Uchiha ,your rudeness could get you killed by my ha-".tsunade was interrupted by the door opening furiously .all of them looked at the door and saw no one other than naruto standing with his hand still on the door knob being held tightly.

"what the heck is going on?!!" naruto yelled and he was eyeing Sasuke .

"I take it that you read the news paper" tsunade replied calmly.

sakura moved slowly and approached naruto who was breathing excessively .

"naruto , calm down . He came on his own will. I'll explain everything later" sakura said as she put her hand on naruto's shoulder for comfort. Naruto pushed her hand away slowly and he was still staring at Sasuke .He did not know what to feel … sure he wanted sasuke back for himself and especially for sakura . But it was shameful enough that he failed to bring him with his own hands when he promised sakura that he would. What the heck happened to his "Ninja way"… sasuke just ruined it.

"Was coming back again on a whim too sasuke?" Naruto gritted his teeth and glared .

"should you complain?... isn't that what you and sakura always wanted" sasuke replied.

This time Naruto did not reply. His whole body relaxed and his anger was slowly repressed. Guilt manifested and replaced his anger.

"I'm sorry sakura-chan,I didn't fulfill my promise to you .he came back on his own will."

sakura felt a pang in her heart when naruto was telling her this. He was burdened with that promise and he just apologized to her with such a sad and ashamed face.

"naruto "sakura grabbed his clutched Hand in to a fist gently and he looked at her in agony .

"no,sakura-chan, don't say anything…. this time I'm apologizing for both of us . You and myself for being so weak ".

Sasuke watched this scene unfold in front of him casually. But he did notice that the relationship between both his ex-teammates has developed to the better . He could feel that there is a spark between them as they both look and sound like they understand each other and feel each other's pain.

naruto turned his back to face the door and leave but he paused and looked back at Sasuke.

"welcome back,teme".

As naruto left . Somehow all of them knew that this phrase said to Sasuke did not carry the same hidden meaning Naruto used to always mean when he used to say it. It was not with happiness but with agony and remorse.

Danzou threw the newspaper on the floor and stood up . "you have done it …. tsunade-hime".

He stood up from his chair and grabbed his cane .walking away without paying any attention to his ANBU subordinates at all.

Sai was standing next to danzou but never followed him .

"It seems that you will no longer be needed in kakashi's team. For it is I know that tsunade -hime will do anything to keep him in here".

Sai was looking at the tossed newspaper on the floor. Scrutinizing what's written on the headlines. It seems that it is the time for him to leave team 7. He was just a replacement after all.

Smiling , he followed danzou .

sakura was still starring at the spot naruto left from.

"that naruto is hard to deal with I am sure that you are aware of this Sasuke . He is your teammate after all".

"Former teammate you mean" . Sasuke replied with a glare.

Sakura looked at Sasuke with hurt eyes. How could he say that? Did they really mean nothing to him at all?. Was he really changed to that extent?.

sasuke looked at sakura and knew she had reacted to what he just said. She immediately looked away and turned to look at her master. It was too much to take for one day , she thought .

"now Sasuke, you will have to act as good as you possibly can. There will defiantly be a trial…. for this trial I will be doing all the arrangements in order to get you to stay here and earn the elders trust back as I told you before " tsunade said while crossing her fingers and looked directly at him. Giving her a nod she was content.

tsunade turned to look at sakura .

"sakura,....since Sasuke is here there must be some changes. Sasuke will be staying with you tonight" .

Sakura's eyes widened "shishou , I don't think that's such a good idea" .

Tsunade sighed and stood up from her chair. She put a hand on sakura's shoulder.

"Don't worry; it will be for one night only. Don't you want to get rid of all of this?.Besides him staying with you will be the last thing the elders would think about. Now go both of you and stay in your apartment for the rest of the day."

sakura looked at the floor and sighed in agreement. Sasuke did not like how the things were turning .but he had to stay patient to get to what he wants.

He swiftly moved his hands and started forming some hand seals. Tsunade was immediately alerted as she pushed sakura at the back and stepped in front of Sasuke .

"What the heck you think you're doing?" she said in a warning tone.

After finishing the hand seals nothing happened at all. Sasuke looked at tsunade and explained. "I just did an invisibility jutsu ,you don't want anyone seeing me walking with her.

tsunade nodded and sent them both off. Sitting back on her chair .. she knew she had to prepare for the worst to come.

Walking down the streets of konoha along with the throng and the chattering was quite normal for sakura . she can see people talking to each other , gossiping and pointing fingers at the news papers. more people were also looking at her pointing and talking. saying something about "Team 7" or "he is a member of this girl`s team".

Sasuke was walking beside her and listening to all of this. He then looked at sakura who sighed and started walking a bit faster .He could tell that she was beyond relived that he cast invisibility Jutsu in order for people not to see him.

Sakura turned around the corridor and he followed her. They finally reached the apartment after taking some stairs up.

She opened the door and let him in. when sasuke entered, he noticed that the hole which was made during his fight with tsunade on the wall was fixed with brown wood . It did not match the white walls and it was still evident it was broken. But he could tell this fixation was temporary.

Sakura looked at him and then at the wall . hesitantly she opened her mouth to speak.

"Yamato-taicho … Tsunade-shishou asked our captain to fix it for me"

Silence

"You live alone" sasuke stated.

"yes…long after all of my visions started .. I did not want to bother my parents and brother. I didn't even tell them about all of this. I'm just glad they understood when I told them that I wanted to live alone"

"you're the same"

"wha?"

"you still talk too much" sasuke inquired.

Sakura was silenced with this. She slowly nodded and turned to give him her back.

"I`ll show you to the guests room" .

She led him and directed him to the bathroom and kitchen in case if he needed something to eat.

Sasuke thought she really needn't to show him where everything was. The apartment was really small . it only had two rooms , the guest`s and sakura`s .one small bathroom next to the kitchen with a cozy small living room.

"you feel anything, Karin?!" suigetsu asked worriedly.

Karin looked scruple as she shook her head.

"No use .. we have to move to the next village" Karin replied.

Night time has come and sasuke was in his room. Sitting while holding more of his father's cloths sakura had given him.

He really needed to talk to sakura about how and why was his father`s property were within her hands.

He slowly went out of the room and knocked the door on sakura`s door.

Sakura opened the door and asked if he needed something .

"I need to talk to you about my father`s cloths"

"What about them?"

"Where did you get them?"

"Where else .. the Uchiha compound "

Sasuke grabbed her wrist tightly and pulled her out of the room.
"Sasuke -kun , you're hurting me" sakura tried to pull her hand .
"You think that I would allow anyone to enter my compound" Sasuke glared .
She looked at him warningly and then realized what he meant.

Of course he wouldn't want a stranger to go through his father`s belongings , let alone anything else. Who would??.

"Sasuke -kun, I'm sorry ... I just wanted to ........I'll never approach the Uchiha compound ever again"
He didn't say anything back .he just let go of her wrist slowly and turned to go back to his room.
Sakura gulped . He held her wrist and pulled her out of her room. But pulling her resulted closeness .
She felt her heart beat faster and faster each minute. Sighing she stepped back to her room and grabbed the door knob to close the door.

Turning to see the window. Her body physically shook as she saw the sun setting. It's the time for her to experience what she always does. Breathing excessively, she tried to calm down as she put her hand on her chest.
"c...calm down , it's not the first time. I'll do well tonight too"
She told herself this as she hoped that this time everything would disappear .after all an Uchiha is brought just like the dead knocked the door again and she jumped.

"there's one more thing" Sasuke said behind the inwardly, she gathered herself and replied.

"y-yes,Sasuke-kun?"
"tsunade told me that ANBU's will be around the village looking for me. In order to perfectly cover the fact that the hokage has helped , we will go there and tsunade will claim that she caught me. so I'll spend the next few days in prison until the trial ".
Sasuke waited for a reply . But he did not hear it. usually she replies quickly.
He turned to look at the clock hanged on the wall. it was 9 pm .
"Is it time?" sakura heard his voice.
"Do you care?" sakura said to herself.
Silence met Sasuke's question again.

she heard his footsteps .he was walking away. She was just too scared to say anything .sinking to the floor she covered her face with her hand and let silent tears trail her cheeks.

"god!,where are you Sasuke ?!!!" karin yelled in frustration .
Suigetsu was thinking silently.
Karin broke suigetsu's chain of thoughts and shoved him.
"How can you be so freaking calm!!!" she shrieked.
"Karin "
"Sasuke!,we can't find him and you're calmly standing here thinking!"
"Karin "
"I can't believe you!...madara will kill us if we don't find out where he is"
"WILL YOU JUST LISTEN TO M KARIN!!!" this time suigetsu is the one who snapped.
"what?!!,this better be good"she warned.
"I think he might be in konoha..." he scrupled .
Karin laughed sarcastically and pushed her glasses
"are you CRAZY!"
suigetsu looked at her with a serious face.
"think about it. sasuke's konoha friends came to get him back remember. They said something about his teammate who can see dead uchiha's…I know it's hard to believe , but I think Sasuke went to konoha to confirm this".
Karin looked dazed for a moment .thinking about all of this. She bit her lower lip and looked at suigetsu.
"Then we are heading to konoha "

The lights were closed .except for a little lamp on sakura's left night stand. Gulping as she closed her eyes tightly. she tried to sleep.

sakura felt a big thud .like something fell off from the roof on her bed.
She felt a heavy ,extra weight next to her feet .
"what was that?,what kind of game are they playing now?" she was talking to herself inwardly.
She felt like it was was a person.
Sakura started shaking when she felt that person shift and she felt that person's hand hold her leg.
"no!!" she struggled but the grip grew tighter.
The voices and cries began. They were calling for an Uchiha.
"help us...."
"Why won't you bring him"
"tell him to stop, please"
The person who was gripping on sakura's leg started to move and crept up to her.
She took a look at his face which was so close to her.
It was a couldn't see his eyes because they were gone. She could see two black holes on his face. Where are his eyes?!!!.
Sakura started to breath fast and excessively .panic and fear controlled her whole body as she felt the man holding her body and pinning her . She felt her body being parasailed .she couldn't even move her fingers or toes.
"g...get......o......" why was it so hard to talk?!.
"Stop my brother" blood came out of the man's two wholes which were supposed to have eyes in.
Sakura's panic grew bigger as she saw the blood drip down from his cheeks down to his chin to her cheeks.
"n.....naruto...shi…shi..shou..hel.....help"
Sakura did her best to fight the parlays in her body.
"Stop him...will you stop him?"
Her body was released from the paralys and she immediately fell off of her bed .still shaking ,she looked around her room to see some of the dead uchihas looking straight at her. In lead, was the man who held her on the bed.
All of them were bleeding .
Some with chopped legs on the floor and some with swords stuck into their stomachs and chests.
"what do you want?" sakura yelled with panic intruding her voice.
She shakily pointed on her bedroom door and yelled.
"you're damn Uchiha is here!...just leave me alone"
Sakura held her head and rested her back on her nightstand.
"please,....just leave me alone" she whispered in a pleading way.
They all vanished. except for the man who held her.
She looked up to see him still there .
She tried to stand up to run away.
Getting up and still keeping her eyes fixated on him . She tried to reach for the door.
"I'll be back" he said and vanished.
She grabbed the door knob and opened the door quickly .
Not knowing where her feet were taking her. She found herself in the kitchen. Just what she needed to calm down. A glass of water.
She opened the sink and filled her glass.
She realized that her hands were still shaking. The water was falling off the glass as she was shaking the glass as well.
Taking a sip to wash away all the dryness out of her throat. she slid down to sit on the kitchen's floor.
"sakura"
She turned to see Sasuke standing.
Sasuke saw her face filled with panic and fear. He also noticed that her body was shaking.
"Something happened "he stated.
She was still looking at him without saying anything. Sasuke approached her . she looked up with her head to look at his standing figure.

"did….did I wake you up?" that was the only thing that came through her mind to say to him.

"I heard noises … figured something happened" sasuke replied coldly.

Sakura nodded slightly and smiled while getting up. she put the glass on the kitchen`s table and turned to see face noticed that her shaking still did not it was wearing off.

"Nothing is changed…you're here … I thought that this is what they wanted…." sakura said in confusion.

"………"

Sakura averted her eyes to the clock and sighed. Looking back at him she opened her mouth to speak.

"You should go back to sleep….you will be having a rough day tomorrow with The ANBU and all……There are many things I would like to tell you about … but now isn't the time"

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

Sakura smiled and nodded. He turned and went inside to the guest's room.

Sure sakura was afraid and was about to lose her mind from what's happening.

But she was happy that sasuke lifted a bit of her fear when he asked if she was okay. After all this time… sakura thought he doesn't care at all.

Somehow, with the way he questioned her if she was okay...She felt the waves of concern.

Smiling to herself, she decided not to sleep for tonight. And for the first time in a long time that she decided to prepare something for herself to eat.

"Thank you, sasuke-kun" she whispered.

A/N:a lot of people complained about my way of writing…I want to apologize and notify you that English isn't my first language so please do bare with me. If I find a way to improve I will definitely demonstrate this in writing. I`ll do my best. Please review so I can update faster. Thank you all … REVIEWWWW love ya