Disclaimer: I do not own anything except this plot. So nerh.
I may use random flashbacks or something.
This is my first fic. Please do not mutilate me with cruelness, rather fluffy words of "you could do this better" would be appreciated.
I apologize for OOCness, but this is my story and so nerh as well.
I will also not be mentioning Inner Sakura. Solely for the reason I am lazy and I do not find her necessary.
I also apologize for incorrect spelling, so, yeah, sorry lovelies.
Written for my younger sister who made me write it after I suggested the idea.
Summary: Sasuke returns when they are seventeen. He gets Sakura to move in with him and things are going well, Sasuke has learnt how to communicate again. Now twenty; Sasuke takes on a mission that could mean he will never return to Konoha. Hopefully better than it sounds?
Stars, Moon, Sun.
Not Fair.
EARLY MARCH
Sakura stood before the kitchen counter, cutting up tomatoes for onigiri. The pinkette had a serene smile on her face in this simple task, focusing on how happy it would make Sasuke when he got back from the meeting at the Hokage tower, especially considering he was going to decline the next mission so he could be there for her birthday. It had been three years since Sasuke's return to the leaf village, and two and a half since she started living with him. Sure, it wasn't easy at first, but at least they both tried to make the relationship work, and happily enough their odd coupling did work. She moved the sliced tomato to the side of her cutting board with the knife, reaching for another tomato. She recalled how six months after his return, Sasuke had somehow avoided his guards, (for he was on probation) to seek her out so she would move in with him. The reasoning was that he loved her and couldn't live without her, but not in those words.
-FLASHBACK-FLASHBACK-FLASHBACK-FLASHBACK-FLASHBACK-
A pink-haired kunochi stood at the door of her tiny apartment. She tiredly fumbled in her pocket for the key, her forehead leaning against the cool wood. She ignored the peeling paint and groaned as she couldn't quite manage something as trivial as opening her front door.
"Kami why!" she spat under her breath, a hand coming up to massage her sore and bleary eyes. Quite simply, Sakura Haruno was exhausted. She knew taking on a triple shift at Konoha hospital during this season was a bad idea, after all, it's not like she could make people sanitary so they wouldn't get sick. And anyway, she made it bearable by thinking of it as her own solo mission, to tackle the responsibilities of the hospital and to make it through the long hours with as many successes as possible. The truth was, when there were a lot of people sick, the Pinkette would not allow herself to leave until she was ordered to by the Hokage herself. Tsunade had entered the hospital, taken one look at her, and said:
"Sakura. Sweetie. You look like a rat who was bashed repeatedly with a pole, then made to dance for several hours. If you aren't out of this hospital and in bed in the next 20 minutes, I will pummel you into a nice pink and red jam, got it?" Of course this was Tsunades way of saying;
"Gee Sakura, You look exhausted. Get home and get some rest, because I worry about your health and I care about you."
Sakura finally managed to grasp the key, scrape around the keyhole for a couple of seconds, push it in, turn, wait for the click, nearly fall into the ground when the door opens abruptly while she was leaning on it, and then kick the door shut behind her. Sakura sleepily dropped her bag and her keys, and made her way to the bathroom, seeking a nice hot shower then sleep in her little cozy bed. She shed her clothes and stepped into her cramped bathroom, mussing her short hair with one hand while yawning again. Sakura sighed and reached into the shower to turn on the tap. Hot first, now to wait a minute for the water to heat up. She clambered into the steaming cascading water and groaned.
Kami it felt good.
Sakura yawned and leaned against the wall, but suddenly stood up straight, her eyes snapping open as she grabbed a kunai off her bathroom bench and turned off the water.
There was another Chakra presence in her apartment.
Sakura growled and grabbed a towel hastily. There was a chance it was Naruto, it seemed familiar, but in her chakra-depleted state she couldn't quite tell.
"Who is it and where do you want your body dumped?" She ground out. Her aggressiveness came from;
Someone strange being in her apartment without her knowing and permission.
She was extremely exhausted being chakra and sleep deprived.
She was naked and the "someone" in her apartment could have at least warned her before she started pulling off her clothes willy-nilly.
A familiar form stepped into view as she let out a breath of air and death-glared.
".?" She yelled.
"Why Sakura," He said with a purr, "You should calm down. Oh, and I can see your ass in the mirror."
Sasuke had become a hell of a lot more talkative since returning to the village. Perhaps it was all the counseling.
"What the hell are you doing in my house?" Sakura growled, adjusting her towel and choosing to ignore the last statement.
"I would hardly call this a house." He said with disdain, looking around at the cramped space and cheap furnishings.
"Do not insult my home, Uchiha, not everybody can afford-" Sakura's speech broke off with a squeak as she was suddenly pinned against the wall by a very warm and masculine body, Sasuke looked right down at her and was giving her an annoyed look.
"Kun." He said, glaring a little.
"W-What?" she stammered, wriggling in her discomfort. Sasuke's hands shot out and grabbed her arms.
"Sasuke-kun." He said. "Not Uchiha."
Sakura realized what he was talking about and blushed, a deep red warming her cheeks.
"S-Sasuke-kun." She whispered, and Sasuke let go of her arms and stepped back.
"It's settled then." He said finally, clapping his hands together,
"What?" she asked- worried and confused.
"You're moving in with me." He stated then smirked, stepping towards Sakura, and in a flash had her over his shoulder and was walking to the door.
Sakura beat his back with her fists, wishing she had her Chakra.
"Dammit Sasuke! I am not going to move in with you! What is-" She was cut off again by another squeak as a large hand connected with her rump.
"Sasuke-kun." The dark-haired-Nin said, leaving her there.
Sakura was blushing so red she thought her face would melt, as he still had not removed his hand, more embarrassingly, the towel was slipping around her and she feared that pretty soon there wouldn't be the layer of material separating them.
When Sasuke opened the front door she yelped.
"Sasuke-kun! Please! No!" She yelped. He stopped.
"What?" he asked, as though nothing was wrong.
She sighed, there was to be no winning for her.
"Can I please put clothes on, first, then?" she whimpered.
"Please who?" he said flatly.
"Please, Sasuke-kun." She begged.
Sasuke placed her down.
"Five minutes, then we go." He said and leaned against the wall.
Sakura stared at him like he had a second head or had dyed his hair green.
"Four and a half." He stated, and tilted his head, smirking at her.
Oh Kami, He's serious.
Sakura suddenly dashed to her room, dropping her towel when she closed the door behind her. She pulled on pajama shorts and a tank top, and threw some clothes and underwear in a bag. She ran to the bathroom and grabbed her toothbrush, then to the kitchen where she got a mug and a spoon. Who knows, maybe Sasuke didn't have any cutlery. She shrugged and placed it into the bag. She grabbed her current book and slipped on her comfy flats, making it back to the front door, puffing slightly. She looked around, Sasuke was gone. She sighed then yelped again, as hands grabbed her hips and squeezed.
"You were thirty seconds late." He whispered into her ear.
Sakura trembled then turned, punching him in the chest. He smirked.
"You big idiot!" she yelled. "Stop scaring me and stuff!"
"And stuff?" he questioned, the smirk still on his face.
She yawned and leaned into him, not caring that he was being an ass.
Sasuke tenderly picked her up and placed the bag over his shoulder as the used his Chakra to dissipate them in a puff of smoke, to appear inside the Uchiha district.
That night, Sakura had the best sleep she had ever had in the massive soft bed, with an arm draped over her waist.
-FLASHBACK END-FLASHBACK END- FLASHBACK END-FLASHBACK END-
The front door clicked open and she heard footsteps echoing in from the entrance. Sasuke had most likely paused to take of his shoes. Ah. She mused on what it would sound like to hear more little footsteps running around and rubbed her still flat belly. The real present that she would announce to Sasuke would be a special gift to him. A sign she was totally and completely his and would not ever leave him. The revival of the Uchiha clan was something the elders pestered him about, and that had been his final goal since he returned after defeating Itachi Uchiha- yet not once had he pressured Sakura for anything. Every time they had made love was when she had been the one to instigate it. He treated her like a glass doll he was afraid to touch. He didn't want to hurt her, but he didn't want to let her go either. Sakura's smile got a little bigger when she recalled times when Sasuke had tried his hardest to respect her wishes and give her everything she asks of him. She wanted him to trust her when she was out by herself or on a mission. Last time she was out clubbing with the girls, she had returned to a stormy-faced Uchiha sitting in the lounge room alone, in the same spot he had been in when she had left. She has kissed him on the cheek on her way out the door while he looked over a mission scroll for the next day. He hadn't spared her another glance as she grabbed her bag and called out to him not to wait up for her, but to get some rest and she would return before sunrise. However, he couldn't bring himself to listen to everything she said.
-FLASHBACK-FLAHBACK-FLASHBACK-FLASHBACK-
Sakura closed the door as quietly as she could and locked it. She kicked off her heels and felt around with her chakra for Sasuke. Tonight had been Hinata's surprise girls only party and they took the shy kunochi clubbing. She hadn't had anything to drink, all of them preferring water and the club music as they party hopped and got the white-eyed heiress tanked. When they dropped Hinata into her bed, she had a purse full of numbers, a new shade of lipstick on her lips, and a golden party hat. Sakura snickered to herself at how bad the Heiress' hangover was going to be. She had a good night but wanted to come home and spend some time next to Sasuke before he left on a week-long mission. He wasn't in bed, or the study or kitchen. She glanced at the large clock on the wall.
Two o'clock in the morning. She progressed down the hallway and dropped her bag on a small table, and shrugged off her jacket and hung it up. A light was on and lighting the hallway- coming from the lounge room. She could feel his presence in there, his chakra too alert for him to be sleeping. Sakura hoped she hadn't woken him. She padded as quietly as possible into the dim light where Sasuke was sitting on the lounge with a scroll open in front of him, but his gaze was fixed on the wall in front of him. He was sitting in the same seat she had left him, and the cup of tea next to him had not been touched.
"Sasuke-kun?" She asked. His gaze shifted from the wall to her. His expression did not change.
"Have a good night?" He asked. Sakura looked over him and then giggled lightly. His hair was slightly mussed like he had been running his hands through it like he always did when he was stressed, his eyes looked drawn and his mouth was in a slight frown. He was upset.
"Yes. I had a wonderful night, Sasuke-Kun." She smiled at him. His gaze then fell to her dress. One of Tenten's cocktail dresses, it was short and black and made from a silky, smooth material. However the dress was slightly rumpled, and her pink hair tousled, her eyes big and bright and her lips swollen from lip-gloss. His eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed.
"Meet any men?" He asked. He was clearly being a jealous Uchiha. He had promised to let her have a night out with the girls and she was pleased he had done so, but from glancing around at the place he would have read that mission scroll at least a hundred times. He had been worried about her. He cared about her.
He missed her.
Sakura walked out of the room quickly and Sasuke's shoulders fell slightly, and then stiffened. His mind was racing. He shouldn't have let her out alone with any protection. Some guy would have danced with her and laughed with her and smiled at her and complemented her. Some guy that wasn't him. The shower had started and while his thoughts were racing it turned off again.
He heard her banging opening and closing drawers and cupboards and panicked. What if she was leaving him? What if she didn't understand what he meant? What if she left him?
He stood to go and confront her, but she stepped back into the room. His muscles relaxed and he felt the breath leave him as he looked at her.
Sakura had a large blanket and a pillow under one arm, with her short hair brushed and her face cleaned. She walked over to the couch and threw the blanket and pillow on it. He saddened, was he going to make him sleep on the couch? But then she turned her back to him and began fixing up the blanket and spreading it evenly onto the couch. His breath stopped in his chest as something warm flooded his chest. What made him stare at her was her attire. She wasn't wearing the usual big grey jumper she wore to bed, or the orange pajamas with frogs Naruto had bought her one birthday- No. She was wearing a shirt that was dark blue that came down to her mid-thigh and looked too big for her. But that didn't matter. What mattered was the red and white fan centered on the back of the shirt. She turned back to him and held out her hand to him.
He took it and he guided him to the couch beside her, flicking off the light on the wall near her as she did so.
Intertwined on the couch, Sakura lying on Sasuke's chest with his arms around her, she toyed with his hair and hooked one leg over his waist.
"You are so silly." She mumbled. "Why would I ever want to meet any stupid man at a club, when I have my own big idiot right here?" Sasuke's arms tightened around her.
"Don't leave me." He whispered into the dark. He began to fret as silence answered him, and Sakura had gone stiff. She pushed herself up and he could see the outline of her as she pressed her lips to his in a chaste kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into the crook of his neck, pressing another sweet kiss wherever her lips me his skin.
"I would never leave you, Sasuke-kun." He squeezed her and pulled her further on top of him.
"Hn."
"Sasuke-kun." She whined.
"Mm?"
"Even though you can be annoying and emotionless and aggressive and an asshole, and sometimes you ignore me or say mean things or do stupid things like wait up all night for me when you have a mission- Not good Shinobi behavior. And even though you sometimes don't say thank you or be as close to me in public unless another guy is there-" Sasuke shifted a little uncomfortably. "Even though there are things that make me upset or frustrated with you, or you annoyed or angry with me-" He closed his eyes-
"It would be impossible for me to ever leave you, because you are exactly what I need. You are my stars and my moon and my sun. You are… everything I need to survive. I would have nobody else but you." Sakura pressed a last kiss to cheek.
"I love you, stupid. And don't you forget it."
Her breathing began to slow and she relaxed against him, her breath fanning against his neck. Even though the dark was making it difficult to tell, the silver light filtering in from the moon revealed the couple intertwined on a long couch under a blanket, where Sasuke Uchiha was smiling softly down at his pink-haired love.
FLASHBACK END- FLASHBACK END- FLASHBACK END- FLASHBACK END-
Sakura continued cutting tomato as she heard his soft footsteps pad down entranceway to her. She bent slightly to the cupboard and got out a plate to put Sasuke's tomato on when she felt his arms wrap around her waist from behind, and he buried his face into her hair. Something was wrong. He wasn't so overly affectionate after coming back from the Hokage tower. Ever.
She turned slowly in his embrace and he just hugged her tighter.
"Sasuke. What's wrong?" she asked, concerned.
The dark-haired Nin said nothing but hugged her even tighter. Then he muffled something into the crook of her neck where he had buried her face.
"What was that, koi?" She asked, her hand coming up to stroke his hair.
"There was a- problem." He said, drawing back to look at her. His expression was blank as it usually was, but the slight crease of his eyes, the slight tightness of his mouth.
"What happened?"
"There was a change of plan." He looked at her blankly.
"A change of plan?" She asked.
"I have to go on a mission." He said, keeping his face emotionless. Sakura's anxiety melted away. She could fix this, thank god. He was upset he was going to miss her birthday? How sweet.
"Oh, well that mission to cloud only goes for the week and a half, right? So you'll be back only a couple of days late, and I can still move the party plans, so we can-" He cut her off, his eyes narrowed and he would not meet her gaze.
"Not the cloud mission." She shut her mouth and thought for a moment. There were only three A ranked mission going right now. One for cloud, and the others had left this morning, which left her clueless. Unless it was an S-Ranked mission, seeing as how Tsunade knew about the plans and would only send him unless the village needed his skills, which meant they needed the sharingan, and that left- Sakura tried to recall any S-Ranked involving need of powerful kekkai genkai and felt her insides freeze.
"Sakura. The Hokage and elders have requested that my ANBU squad and I take on the-"
"No." She breathed.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, then the pink-haired woman grabbed his arms.
"We talked about this mission, Sasuke. I told you to refuse it. Shishou cannot force you to take on this mission because of its chance of survival and we agreed that you would not be offered this one. If she ordered you I am going to-"
"Sakura." Sasuke's voice cut through her rant, and her eyes were welling up. "I accepted the mission. I'm leaving in two hours. This is not up for discussion." He released her and walked out of the room to their bedroom to pack. Sakura's legs felt like the bones had disappeared and she steadied herself as he walked out of the kitchen.
Who was that man? The man who just walked away from her was not her Sasuke-Kun. That was not the man who created the life in her womb with her. That man was Sasuke Uchiha- Avenger. Killer. Emotionless. Sasuke Uchiha before he returned and Sakura taught him how to feel again. He was slipping away and he hadn't even left.
She knew the mission, Her teacher and almost-mother- the Hokage herself- had Sakura go through that mission scroll and help her rank it and assign a percentage of survival. The mission was to go into what remained of sound country, get into the final rebellious nin-camps, and take them down from the inside out. It was a mission to stop the blood-thirsty sound Ninja from killing more people than they already had. They were without order or true leadership- just gangs of thugs looking to kill anything and anyone. But then, at least half of them had some sort of special attack or unique jutsu. The mission was supposed to last for a month, and was only S-Ranked due to the sheer numbers of sound ninja that remained. The hard part was that they had to be destroyed as quickly as possible. Chakra depletion was very likely, and if one sound ninja knew you were there, nine would follow, then nine for each of those, and so on and so forth.
Sakura felt sick. He was supposed to decline if this mission was offered to him. She had spoken to him about it and he had agreed not to take on the mission because the survival rate was less than thirty percent. But then, they didn't know anything that was happening within sound itself, where supplies could be found, where the camps were, and so the numbers dropped with each extra thing that could and most likely would go wrong.
When she first spoke to him about it they did have a fight, and she told him exactly what would happen if he took this mission. Every other mission was fine, just not this one. The mission itself had been on the backburner for two months now. No ANBU team had been asked to take the mission on. How could de do this to her? The one thing she directly asked him to do- the one thing she begged him to listen to her on, and he couldn't even do that. She had begged him. Held onto him crying and told him not to take this one mission. She must have meant so little to him.
An hour later Sakura sat numbly at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in front of her. She had the whole day off from the hospital, and no missions lined up because it was her birthday and Tsunade wanted it to be special. Sasuke was in his study with the door closed, probably gathering what information he could before he left. A sharp knock resounded at the door and Sakura got up stiffly to answer it, when she opened the door she was not expecting to see Kiba who was practically dripping blood everywhere.
"Sakura. This is not my blood. Shizune requests you at the hospital, they need help there stabilizing some enemy Nin that just got brought in. so yeah, she says she can keep 'em good for another ten minutes, but yeah. I'm pretty sure she wants you to hurry." He shrugged and then waved. "I'm off to shower. Ja -ne." Kiba disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Sakura turned sharply and walked down to her room and pulled on her medic clothes, then moved to the study and knocked once, then opened the door.
"Sasuke-kun." She said softly, stepping into the room and looking at the dark haired nin who was in his ANBU uniform, his raven mask on the desk beside him. "I have to go to the hospital, but I.." She trailed off, as he had not given her the slightest glance of acknowledgement, instead rolling up the scroll in his hands and taking another one from a pile.
"Sasuke-kun?" She asked again, stepping closer.
"Hn." He grunted, unrolling the new scroll.
"I have to go to the hospital to help Shizune, and I wanted to say goodbye to you." She said, wringing her hands.
"Goodbye." Sasuke stated without looking up. Sakura felt her anger bubbling up inside her.
"You don't have to be such an asshole!" She hissed.
Sasuke didn't look up.
"Sakura. Stop being so annoying. Maybe you should go do your job for once instead of playing house-wife around my home."
Sakura had never felt so betrayed. His words burned her. He knew she didn't want him on the mission. He had known how she felt about it. He knew how long she worked in triple shifts to get this free time on her schedule, how much time she'd spent working late in the Hokage office doing work for Tsunade so he would have time off with her so they could celebrate something together.
He knew and he still took the mission. Any other mission was fine. When he had a mission and missed their anniversary, she was okay with that. When he took a mission and forgot to send a message for her that left her sitting alone in a restaurant with his birthday present- She was fine with that too. But this. This was the only mission she had ever said for him not to take. She told him if he took this mission what she would do. How she would not wait for him. She hadn't had thought he would be so freaking stupid!
She turned and marched to the door, casting a glare at him.
"You remember what I said about this mission, Sasuke? I told you if you took this one mission- I wouldn't be here when you got home."
"Tch." Sasuke was rolling up the scroll in his hands, reaching for another one.
Sakura felt tears build up in her eyes.
"Goodbye Sasuke." She hissed, leaving off his favored honorific.
Sakura made a hand seal and disappeared in a wisp of smoke.
Sacrifice.
Blood poured from a heavy wound, and a gurgling erupted from the warrior as dark pupils widened in the moment of death.
"Sakura."
APRIL
A flat line made the pink-haired medic look up suddenly.
"We lost this one." Sakura muttered, looking up from the unknown ninja's body.
She had spent the previous 6 hours working hard on two other enemy ninja, and successfully got them stable, this one, however, was not so lucky. Or perhaps he was lucky. He died with Sakura's anesthetic Chakra pumping through him. The others would be interrogated by Ibiki, so it could be said this guy was lucky to die so soon. She supposed her concentration had waned seeing as how a month ago three other enemy ninja had been brought in by Kiba, and Sasuke had left her on what was most likely a suicide mission.
"Well done, Sakura. We got two of them, at least. This guy was probably too brain damaged to help anyway." Sakura nodded in response. She was tired. A shift at the hospital, training, another shift, and then these three- she was low on chakra, low on tolerance, and low on emotional range. At a little over one and a half months pregnant, Sakura's stomach was still flat and toned, with only the slightest of incline between her hips- not noticeable to anyone except her and her many hours she had spent measuring exactly how flat her stomach was every day.
Tsunade, Shizune, Hinata and Naruto were the only people who knew of her pregnancy, and Sakura had been sleeping at Hinata's clan house, because the Uchiha domain just seemed to big and quiet when she was alone. Naruto also knew about their fight and claimed he was going to "Rip that Teme's nuts off and feed them to him!" Then looked at Hinata sheepishly and proclaimed "What? He's already revived his clan with my precious team-mate! He must pay!"
Apparently Tsunade had been sending messages to Sasuke and his team, and receiving them back- but there had been nothing for her.
She had spent the last couple of free nights being dragged around clubs, bars, and parties by Hinata and the other girls but had been finding less and less enjoyment in the times. She couldn't drink, be near smoking, and was paranoid about dancing too much so she actually spent most of her time sitting there sipping juice or water in a nice dress while Hinata chatted to her about anything and everything.
She hadn't been out to buy anything for the baby as she wasn't sure what was going to happen when Sasuke got back. Would she get the baby if they didn't mend things? Would the elders demand it go to Sasuke as he was rebuilding the clan? Would they shove other girls at him if they knew of their relationship status? She sighed and walked towards the change rooms. She missed Sasuke. She really and truly missed him. But he hurt her again.
She often wanted to slam her head in a refrigerator door. Why had he taken the mission? It had been getting to her; he would never have taken the mission if he loved her. And she was fairly certain he loved her. He came back to her once before, so why not again?
Sakura sighed and got out of the shower, dressing in her normal medic outfit of a black shirt, her black shorts and the medic skirt on top with her boots. She had new gloves that she got from Kakashi and Naruto on her birthday almost a month ago, and she kept them with her all the time. They were expensive and comfortable and handled everything she could throw-Boulders included.
She made her way to the Hokage tower; she needed some information, especially seeing how distant Tsunade was being with her about the whole subject.
A nicely dressed couple approached Sakura on the street, happy to see Naruto and Hinata; she hugged the dark haired girl then the goofy blonde. They must have been coming back from a clan ceremony.
"Ey Sakura-Chan! Me and Hinata-Chan are going to get some Ramen for lunch. Look at how spiffy we are!" He proclaimed and struck a model pose in his black Yukata. "Wanna join us?"
Hinata giggled at her boyfriends antics and patted his arm. Her deep purple kimono with a moonlight sky and cloud design was especially flattering.
"Sorry Naruto-kun, Hinata-Chan, I've got to go and see Tsunade about some things." She shrugged.
Naruto pouted but nodded.
"Oh-kayyyy. If you have to. I'll have Hinata-Chan all to myself!" He proclaimed, scooping the beautiful dark-haired woman into his arms.
"Good-bye Sakura-Chan!" He yelled as he took off for the Ramen stand. Hinata was bright red and could only manage a weak wave.
Sakura smiled despite herself and continued on to the Hokage tower. She walked up slowly, enjoying the march buzz about the place and reached the heavy doors, sensing nobody but her teacher inside, Sakura opened them.
"Ah! Sakura! What can I do for you?"asked the blonde Hokage, looking up from papers scattered all over the massive desk- Obviously happy to have some sort of distraction.
"Shishou. I wanted to know about why Sasuke took the S Ranked mission. Because I think, given the circumstances, he wouldn't have unless he had to." Sakura had gotten straight to the point, and was proud of herself for that.
Tsunade's smile froze on her face. For nearly a minute she sat there looking at her pupil, before collapsing forward onto her desk with a sigh.
"Sakura. Let me put it to you this way. Sasuke was told that this mission had to get done. Okay? Now, there were two choices of who could possibly get to go. Now, Sasuke's ANBU team is made up of Himself, Kakashi, and Genma. You see? Safe. Fine. They are all highly skilled Ninja, and very capable. The other choice was to ask someone who has great medical knowledge and brilliant genjutsu as well, allowing large groups of people to become trapped by her. The squad we had picked for her also had Sasuke on it, as well as a soon-to-be Hokage and an emotionless asshole who refers to said person as "ugly."
Sakura felt her throat go dry.
Two choices. He was on both of them, and he chose to leave her here.
Why?
So she would be safe.
The way he came into the kitchen and hugged her so tightly like he never wanted to let her go.
Ignoring her so she wouldn't get hurt.
Getting her angry so he wouldn't have to face her and say goodbye.
Sakura felt her stomach drop and her heart start beating at a pace that almost hurt.
"Oh God."
Tsunade took a swig of Sake from a bottle she produced from somewhere behind the desk.
"He made me swear not to say anything unless you came to me personally and asked. He really had no choice in the matter. If he had said no, the mission would have been offered to Neji's team, and we would have sent Hinata.
The world moved like Sakura was on a boat on a rocky ocean.
Hinata. She would have been devastated to see her best friend sent on such a mission, and Hinata would simply die if Naruto was sent.
Sasuke had gone with what he thought was best. To protect those he loved. He left with Kakashi and Genma because they have proven themselves brilliant Shinobi, and Sasuke would not be as destroyed if something were to happen to them. Terrible as it sounded- Kakashi had told them that if he died in battle- his life would have finished the way that was honorable. And if it happened and we were surrounded, to leave his body until we reached victory. For Shinobi continue fighting.
"I have to go." Sakura muttered, and a swirl of smoke took her place then disappeared into nothing.
Tsunade simply lifted the bottle of sake in a salute then took a swig.
Sakura walked into the Uchiha district, using her keys to get into her and Sasuke's house, and marched into the room she had left untouched for almost an entire month. Cleaners were told to leave things as they were, but to stop dust from building up. They came once a week. She looked around the bedroom but found nothing. No note was left. Nothing. She recalled the empty feeling she had got when she returned that night after bringing back the enemy nin, and Sasuke had already left. The Study. That was where he was, not facing her.
The scrolls were in a neat pile in the centre of the table, and Sakura sat in his chair and began unraveling them, looking for something, anything, she didn't know what she was looking for. Then there. In the third scroll she had unraveled, marring Sasuke's perfect lettering was a smudge. A perfect smudge that looked like a single drop of water. This had been the scroll he had when she proclaimed she was leaving him, she was certain.
Did he actually shed a tear?
Sakura sighed.
What a stupid idiot. The biggest stupid idiot ever.
Stupid. Bloody. Idiot.
If he had told her- She would have cried and begged him not to go anyway.
Sakura sighed and walked back to the bedroom. She didn't know what she wanted. The phone rang and Sakura hesitated before answering. She picked up the white phone from its cradle and looked at the caller I.D.
Ino.
"Hello?"
"Oh My God Sakura! We're going out tonight! Get your heels on, get ready, you have an hour. Okay? Okay!" Then the line went dead. Sakura placed the phone back, and then bit her lip.
Sasuke wouldn't want her to be sad, would he?
She headed over to the closet and began pulling out items. She shifted into the lingerie she bought for Sasuke and had ended up wearing it whenever they went out, he seemed to enjoy it. She chose the black and lacey set and placed it on the bed, turning back and then selecting a green dress, some jeans and heels, and a couple of tops, then closing the cupboard so she could take advantage of the mirror on the back of the door.
First she stripped then put on the lingerie. The green dress went on first, but looked too flashy. She twirled In front of the mirror. She wasn't smiling. Next she pulled on a pair of nice dark jeans and a strappy shirt with a corseted back. No. again, no.
She tried several of Tenten's clothes, then some of Ino's she had, but nothing looked right.
Finally she stood in front of the mirror in a silver sparkly top that came down low at the front, and the top itself stopped above her belly button. The black jeans had silver stitching and the bright pink pumps she was wearing had little pink diamantes all over them. She turned slowly in the mirror and felt like ripping her own hair out.
It all looked WRONG.
She sighed and scooped up the phone, dialing Ino.
She picked up on the second ring.
"Yeah Forehead?" Asked the blonde, probably trying on her own clothes.
"Uhm, Ino, I'm not feeling too good. I'm gonna stay in tonight. I had a massive day with all the surgeries." Sakura didn't have to change her voice at all, she sounded pretty down.
Ino sighed down the phone, and tutted.
"You should be taking it easy on yourself, instead of doing all of this. You're going to run yourself ragged, you know? It's not good. Rest tonight but I am buying you lunch tomorrow, okay?"
"Thanks, Piglet. Love you."
"Love you Too, Forehead."
Sakura hung up the phone and looked back in the mirror. She took out the earrings, took off the necklace, the top, the jeans, the heels. She pulled off the lingerie. Something wasn't right.
She needed something. Sakura looked in the cupboard. Her usual orange pajamas didn't look very inviting either. Then her head turned to a chest of drawers near the bed. She walked up to it and pulled open the top door. Having been left unopened, she was hit by the delicious scent of Sasuke. Sakura's hands were shaking as she reached in and pulled out one of his shirts and tugged it over her. It fell a bit long, and it was a bit big, but it was perfect.
With nothing but his T-shirt on, Sakura felt calm, and possibly, the slightest bit happy since he left.
She closed the drawer and opened another one, getting out a spare blanket that also smelled like Sasuke. It was hard to describe, but it was male and delicious and warm and safe. Her Sasuke-Kun.
Sakura wrapped the blanket around herself and turned out the light. She crawled under more covers and was surrounded by Sasuke's scent. She curled up and put a hand to her stomach.
"Just wait until your daddy gets home. He's gonna love you. You see, your daddy had a hard life and now he has us he's going to protect us always. I'm going to be the best oka-san I can be, and I know that you'll have the best otou-san."
Sakura smiled and whispered some stories of Sasuke and team seven until she fell asleep.
Sasuke Uchiha was bathed in blood and rushed at the remaining sound-nin, slicing the man open with his katana.
It was done. Two down, two camps to go, as far as their Intel showed. Genma was injured and being helped along by Kakashi. Sasuke quickly surveyed the damage before setting a light what was left with a fire jutsu.
Genma chuckled. "How come there are so many of these bastards? I just want them all to kill each other, you know?" Gurgled the Konoha-nin.
Genma's head lolled forwards as more blood seeped from a shoulder wound. His bear mask drenched in blood.
"Let's get to shelter." Sasuke murmured as they walked away from the flames now devouring the camp and all that it contained.
Sasuke's head then snapped to Kakashi, whose face was hidden under a wolf mask.
"I just want them to all kill each other." He repeated.
Kakashi suddenly smiled.
"You know, it sounds like you're getting a plan, captain."
Sasuke nodded.
"I just want to get home."
Kakashi nodded as well.
"Me too."
"Me Three!" Proclaimed the heavily injured and drugged Genma, cackling loudly.
This will most likely be a two-shot or three-shot?
Depending on what people want.
I may bring Sasuke back, but what state he will be in really depends.
Ohhhh. MWAHAHAA. :D
R&R please- love to me, hopefully, unless you hated it? ah.
Much Love,
Admiral.