She shifted into consciousness slowly, not wanting to leave her dream world. It was warm there, safe, peaceful, but her rational mind pulled her out of it. Sakura opened her eyes to see a defined chest in front of her face. Confused, she looked up to see a sleeping young man next to her in bed. Memories flooded back from last night, and while she was a little embarrassed that she had cried again, she was mostly in a euphoric awe that he had agreed to start a relationship with her. This is really happening.
Smiling to herself, she noticed that his arm was around her waist, holding her to him slightly. Not wanting to wake him up, she started to scoot backward a bit, but she was stopped when the arm pulled her back and held her tightly. She tried a couple more times with different strategies on how to get out of the bed, but the arm wouldn't let her leave. When she sighed and tried to think of a new plan, she heard a light laugh above her. Sakura met Sasuke's eyes and saw that he looked bemused.
"Hey! If you were awake, you could've said something!"
"I wanted to see how long you'd keep it up."
"Jerk," she replied, but it lacked any animosity.
Smirking, Sasuke released her and got out of bed. Without her consent, her eyes roamed over his muscular back to see the scars from training and missions. Before he turned around, she caught herself for staring at him and quickly sat up in bed. She didn't know what to say or do now as this was a new situation for them. Usually, one would wake up first and quietly get ready for the day before exiting the apartment, leaving the second one to wake to find the apartment empty. What do I do now? I mean, I have to get ready and go to work. That's obvious, but should I make breakfast? Does that make me seem like too much of a housewife when we only just started dating? I don't want to put pressure on him to move quickly, but maybe he wouldn't even see it like that.
Movement in the room caused her to look up and see that Sasuke had walked to her side of the bed and was looking down at her. He brought his hand up and tapped her forehead lightly, adding "Stop overthinking. I'll go make breakfast."
Sakura stretched her arms in the air and smiled to herself. Of course, he saw right through me. Why was I nervous anyway?
Getting up and dressed, she went to the kitchen to find Sasuke also dressed and making some food. They ate comfortably together, but Sakura was surprised when he put on his shoes to leave at the same time she did.
"Are you heading out too?"
"Yeah. I need to check in with Kakashi."
The two left the apartment and walked down the street. Sakura was preparing to bid her companion farewell when they reached the street that led to the Hokage's office, but Sasuke continued as if he hadn't noticed it.
"Aren't you going to Kakashi-sensei?"
"Taking the long route."
She shrugged it off and continued on her way to the hospital with Sasuke following, getting even further off the track to the Hokage's office. In front of the doors to the hospital, Sakura turned around and smiled at Sasuke.
"Well, I'll see later, Sasuke! Oh, you still need to do your physical since coming back from the mission." Seeing his scowl, she laughed and added, "Fine, we can do it tonight at my apartment, but you can't skip out on it altogether!"
Sasuke nodded and turned to leave, retracing his steps toward his sensei's office. Did he just want to walk me to work? For some reason, that realization made her happier than she thought it would. Smiling a little, she turned toward the hospital to start her day.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Once again ignoring social protocol, Sasuke leapt to the window of the Hokage's office and slipped inside. Kakashi wasn't there, so he wandered around the office looking at the various scrolls and books stacked up. He didn't know how anyone could make sense of the chaos, let alone know which pile was which. At the corner of the desk was a partially opened scroll, and as his eyes skipped over it, he noticed his name. Generally, he wasn't one to snoop around other people's things, but curiosity got the better of him.
Opening the scroll, he found a report from the ANBU. It detailed where he had gone, who he spoke to, how in-depth the conversations were, his interactions with any villagers, etc. Well, he knew he was being watched, and since he was an ex-convict, he thought they probably needed this level of documentation to prove he wasn't a threat.
Sasuke was about to leave the scroll back where he found it when he saw something marked "Warning." Looking at that section, he found a long list of reasons why he should not be allowed to stay with Sakura and why his contact with her in general should be limited. The same sort of information was listed about his relationship to Naruto, minus the living together. At the bottom, in bold writing it said, "We strongly advise these relationships be kept to a minimum. Over-association should be strongly discouraged, if not banned."
Who were they to say who I can talk to? I haven't done anything, but they want me to not talk to two of the only people who trust me. If the ones who fought for me to be free suddenly stopped interacting with me, I think that would be far more worrisome. Then it hit him. They don't want me to succeed in this. They'd rather I stayed in jail forever.
It wasn't a comforting thought, but he couldn't really blame them. They knew nothing about him apart from rumors and what they may have noticed while tailing him. Although he knew that, it still made him angry to think they were trying to manipulate his life. Rolling up the scroll, he put it down on the desk with a little too much force, wrinkling it.
"You shouldn't touch what isn't yours, you know."
Looking up, he saw Shikamaru standing in the doorway watching him. Sighing, he let go of the scroll and turned to face his former classmate. Unsure of what to say, he simply looked at him.
"Look, I'll get straight to the point. I still don't trust you yet, but I do trust the Hokage, Naruto, and Sakura. You must know that they were a pivotal force in deciding your hearing. Even so, you've been given a lot of freedom. Much more than I would have given you. Make sure you don't mess things up again. I'm not sure you can do that for very long, but I hope you prove me wrong. I don't trust you, but I also don't want to see you stumble and fall again. Just watch yourself, ok?"
Hearing this from a former classmate gave Sasuke mixed feelings. He understood that Shikamaru couldn't fully trust him yet, but hearing how unsure he was made the Uchiha's hackles stand up a bit. Deciding not to push the subject, Sasuke just nodded in response.
Kakashi came around the corner with a smile on his face. He had clearly been listening.
"Now that we've got that settled, Sasuke, why don't you tell me about your mission? Shikamaru is my assistant now, so he's going to stay here for the time being."
Taking a deep breath, Sasuke started into the details of the mission. It had gone according to plan, but the possible clue toward the Otsutsuki turned out to be a dead end.
"Alright, that's a shame. So… when did you get back?"
"Last night."
"And?"
"And what?"
"You know. What did she say when you were back?"
Glancing at Shikamaru, whose presence made this conversation even more uncomfortable, he said, "Not much. She was asleep after all."
"So, no developments?"
"Mind your own business. Are we done?"
Sighing, Kakashi looked at Shikamaru and dismissed him for a minute. When he was gone, he stood and walked to stand in front of Sasuke.
"I know you don't like to talk about things, but I think it will be better for you in the long run. I have a lot of experience with keeping everything bottled up, and it doesn't end well. You don't have to talk to me, but at least talk to Sakura or Naruto or both, ok? I know you think I'm being a prying, obnoxious former sensei, but I do still care about you."
Letting his guard down slightly, Sasuke decided that the nosy Hokage would find out sooner or later anyway. He looked to the side and said, "I know… when I got back, Sakura asked if we could start dating. I agreed."
"Really now? No wonder you didn't want to talk about it before."
"It's not a big deal."
"Of course. No big deal at all."
Kakashi went back to his seat at the desk and dismissed Sasuke. However, before he opened the door, he couldn't help but say one more thing.
"You read the report on you, right? It's to be expected, so don't give it much thought. You've done nothing to warrant any restrictions on your movements. Just focus on the things you have, and don't worry about the formalities. I trust you, Sasuke."
Sasuke had paused when Kakashi started talking, but now he resumed walking toward the door. He muttered a quiet "Thank you" before opening it and walking briskly out the room.