When they arrived at Sunagakure, Sasuke was there—at the entrance to the village, in a turban and a coat, waiting for her.
Coincidences do happen, though.
Or maybe it wasn’t a coincidence, but the power of Sakura’s feelings bringing about an inevitable reunion.
“Sasuke!”
Sakura raced over to him. For a moment, she was concerned that Ino wasn’t there, but her joy at seeing him again was greater and she quickly forgot all about it.
“How’ve you been?” he asked.
“Good! You? How’s your arm?”
“Nothing to worry about. I’m getting used to it. It’s working pretty well.” Sasuke moved the prosthetic arm made from Hashirama’s cells for her.
“Make sure to say something right away if anything feels weird, okay? I’ll take a look at it.”
“Yeah, thanks,” he said, and patted her on the head. The gesture alone made her so happy, she very nearly stopped breathing. She wondered again where Ino was. After all, Sasuke was finally here with them.
“Looks like you’re really working hard, huh, Sakura? Doing all this stuff to take care of kids’ minds.”
“I’m surprised you know about that, Sasuke.”
“Yeah, well, we’re from the same class, after all. I just wondered what you were up to while I was gone from the village. Actually.” He paused for a moment. “I wasn’t wondering just because we’re from the same class. I had another reason.”
“What?”
He looked at her. Their eyes met; he held her gaze.
“Sakura,” Sasuke said.
She was surprisingly calm.
I’m not a child anymore. I don’t get so worked up anymore. I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long…
“Sakura.”
“Sasuke…”
She felt a slight breeze on her cheeks. Strange. There was no wind. If the wind was blowing, then the sand around them would be moving, but it was not. And yet Sakura felt a breeze.
She soon understood the cause of this strange sensation. Sakura’s mind was attempting to pull itself back to reality from a dream.
Standing face-to-face with Sasuke at the entrance to Sunagakure was a dream; the real Sakura was napping in the woods, not yet arrived in the sandy village. And the wind was caressing her cheeks while she slept.
On the border between dream and reality, Sakura panicked.
I don’t want to wake up. I want to stay with Sasuke. I want to hear what he’s going to say next. Sasuke’s—
Sakura opened her eyes.
It was night. She was in the woods. Thanks to the light of the moon, it wasn’t totally dark. Ino was napping nearby. Today was the third day since they had left Konohagakure. It was only a little farther to Sunagakure once they made it through this forest, and since the sun was setting they had decided not to push themselves.
When they entered the woods in the evening, they made a simple meal of their rations, and quickly decided to rest for a while. If they had been in a war zone they would have taken turns napping as a precaution, but now they only set barrier-type tags around them to detect any enemies. Fortunately, the tags had not reacted even once during their journey.
Inside her head, the echoes of her dream lingered.
The fact that Sasuke had shown up in her dream made her happy and sad all at once. The sadness was the greater part, the way she felt his absence all the more keenly when she woke up.
The sigh slipped out naturally.
A dream like that, she thought. I guess I am panicking a little, maybe.
While they traveled, Ino had told her about Shikamaru and Temari. And about Choji and Karui. And about how Ino herself liked Sai now.
All these different loves were sprouting and growing around her.
Sakura knew it was pointless to think about it happening sooner or later for whoever. Finding love wasn’t a winner-takes-all competition.
But still, in her heart, she felt a frustration that resembled panic.
I hope it’s a dream that comes true, Sakura thought, suddenly. The dream I just had comes true, and Sasuke is there when we arrive in Sunagakure tomorrow or something.
“Or not,” she murmured out loud, and laughed softly.
Her sigh was carried off by the wind.
∞
The next day, Sakura and Ino arrived at Sunagakure right on schedule.
Coming to meet them were the senior members of the Sunagakure medical team.
“You must be tired,” an older man with a wonderful beard said. “After you’ve rested a bit, we’d love to hear what you have to say, if you don’t mind.”
“That should be fine. We’re looking forward to it,” Sakura replied, and the man with the beard led them to the village hospital.
They were shown to a large multipurpose room. After they had relaxed for a short time, the meeting attendees, apparently medical personnel, started trickling in.
Sakura spoke first to the twenty or so people gathered there about the children’s therapy center in Konohagakure, the problem points in setting it up, and the current results.
No matter how many times she did it, she could never quite get used to speaking in front of a large group, but thanks to Ino stepping in from time to time to offer additional information, the talk went very smoothly.
When she was finished, it was time for the group to exchange opinions and ideas. Because of differences in village cultures and administrative systems, Sunagakure couldn’t simply adopt Konoha’s methods as they were, but the senior-level ninja remarked that if they made some adjustments before introducing the system, they would likely see significant results in Suna as well.
The entire meeting, including the exchange of opinions, was over in about two hours.
Once the attendees left, the bearded man who had shown them to the room in the first place came over.
“I apologize for asking this of you when I know you must be tired, but could I ask you to take the trouble of visiting the Lord Kazekage? He says he wishes to speak with you. Lady Temari is also with him.”
“Certainly, we’d be delighted.”
“After all, to come all the way to Suna and not see those two!” Ino said, and laughed.
“Well then, please come this way.” The bearded man stood up and began walking. His expression was hard somehow, which made Sakura curious.
They left the hospital and headed toward the center of the village until they came across a spherical building, the character for “wind” inscribed on one wall.
Sakura and Ino were shown inside. In the center of the large room was a round table, before which Gaara sat. Temari stood beside him.
“I’ve brought the Konoha ninja,” the bearded man said, and at Gaara’s nod, he bowed and left the room.
“Sakura, Ino, thank you for this,” Gaara said.
“Gaara, Temari, how have you been?” Sakura asked.
“Very well.” Gaara nodded.
Temari simply replied, “Good.”
Both of them seemed unhappy. Gaara was basically always wearing his poker face, but his countenance that day had a faint hint of severity to it.
“Um…has something happened?” Ino asked.
After exchanging a glance with Temari, Gaara turned back to Ino and Sakura.
“Uchiha Sasuke was in the village.”