Crumbling

Summary: Sakura could only stare as her world fell away. Alternate Universe, study in real life situations. Sakura-centric.

We'll see if I make this a two-shot or a one-shot. Let me know in the comments once you read it!

The Ground beneath my Feet

Sakura could only stare as everything she knows falls away, crumbling like a cookie under the fist of one particularly belligerent child. She couldn't blink, couldn't even breathe as her husband stood before her, stoically telling her the news. Within her chest, her heart seems to skip over a thousand beats, stifled by the weight of his words.

She could feel the ground beneath her crack as if punched by God, fragmenting into a network woven by the spidery thread of his lies. His words filled her ears with a strange white noise, buzzing like a thousand insects in her head. The world had come to a standstill and she could hardly believe it as his voice echoed.

Born today…

She feels her body scream for oxygen and sharply draws breath, keeping frighteningly still as she digests the news. Only three months into her marriage and she could feel it slip from her hands like a badly constructed house of cards. As it registers that he is telling her that, under no uncertain terms, would his child be raised by anyone other than the Uchiha Clan… Sakura doesn't know what she was feeling anymore.

Suddenly, the room is too small. The apartment they had rented and furnished, the memories of a five year relationship lining the halls, the paint job they had done together on that wall by the front door out of a ridiculous notion that it would be a good idea… She didn't want to look upon the life they had built. It was all a lie.

A lie.

Her lungs clench in a natural reaction to her intense panic attack, but Sakura holds her breathing in check. Reacting feels like a monumental chore and she knows he is certainly expecting her answer. Their relationship is at stake, balancing on the edge… yet all she knows is that she has to get out of there. Running is probably not a good idea, but Sakura has seen and heard enough. Though he'd known her since kindergarten, Sasuke hadn't even noticed how distressed the news made her. Sakura had always been a perpetual fidget, idly fanning her fingers or jiggling her leg to a tune only she could hear. Relaxation manifested in her tapping nails or feet. Now, though, she hadn't even blinked while he'd delivered his blows.

Sasuke, ever the good husband, was too busy setting down rules to notice how stiff his wife's shoulders were. With a jolt, Sakura excuses herself, hurriedly snatching her keys and her coat on her way to the door. Just as she pulls it open, she hears her name and footsteps, but she isn't about to find out what else her lying, rat of a husband had to say for himself.

As she storms down to the parking lot, she curses his timing. She'd just gotten home from work; he hadn't even given her time to change into her pajamas before he ambushed her. After a sixteen hour shift of three emergency operations, Sakura had simply wanted to come home to her bed with her loving husband to embrace her while she blissfully slept. Instead, he slaps her in the face about the birth of a child that is not her own.

Some days, Sakura could honestly say Sasuke is a real asshole.

Swiftly climbing into her car, she ignites the engine in one deft twist and backs out. She almost expected the lot door from the stairs to open, but her husband wasn't the kind of man who chased women down. It had taken her until college to get him to look at her and even then, only until after she graduated from pre-med had he decided to ask her to be his girlfriend. This was why, despite his inevitable charm with the ladies, Sakura had never felt the need to worry. No matter how much they flirted with him, flashed some skin or batted their lashes, Sasuke never looked their way.

All that trust to be thrown back in her face when her husband coldly informs her that, not only had he cheated on her… a baby had resulted of that union. A baby that had only just been born; a baby that had been conceived before Sasuke had even proposed to her.

Sakura skids to a stop before the red light, feeling dizzy and panting hard. She feels sick, but she isn't about to barf up whatever is in her stomach (nothing, her medic side reminded her) in her brand new Touareg. Steeling herself with pure willpower, Sakura stares ahead intensely. She knows she could go to Ino. The blonde woman would get angry for Sakura; her best friend would rage and insult and shout as loud as her powerful lungs would allow. She would give Sakura reasons to dump the cheating cad and get herself a real man.

However, Sakura already knew all of this. Add to that her shocked state, the young surgeon was sure any more excitement and noise would only lead to a full blown episode and possibly cardiac arrest. As much as Sakura wanted to get angry, it wasn't what she really needed right that moment. With her mind made up, Sakura activates her turn signal and waits for the light to turn green again.

Temari isn't quite sure what she would make of this, but she keeps her questions to herself. When one of the most brilliant doctors at her hospital showed up at her door, looking on the verge of a breakdown, the blonde could only show her in. Sakura had mechanically slumped into a chair and taken the offered tea with the barest of nods. Unused to seeing the normally bubbly doctor so downtrodden, Temari merely waited her out. In her experience, women like Sakura needed a healthy dose of patience rather than a barrage of questions. Years with her volatile younger brother had given her a bodhisattva-like well of infinite patience and serenity… somewhat. Her hand on her teacup twitches when Sakura's mouth opens for the fifth time to close without having made a sound.

Noticing the gesture, Sakura smiles a little apologetically. "I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here," the doctor begins slowly, as if thinking her words very carefully. "I'm not too sure either. I stopped by the hospital first."

Aware that Sakura's shift had ended over two hours ago, Temari looks vaguely puzzled. Sakura then holds up a piece of paper. A thin sheet from the hospital's standard photocopier… a birth certificate.

"It's a boy, healthy, blood type O negative… like his father." Sakura says tonelessly, pushing the paper toward her boss. Temari snatches it up, growing steadily less patient with her employee until she catches sight of the name and signature in the father's space. If she recalls correctly, Sakura hadn't just given birth so this must mean…

"Well…" Temari drawls, putting the paper down to look Sakura in the eyes. "What do you plan to do?"

Sakura's gaze is surprisingly steady for someone who looks like she has just lost her whole world. "I need a lawyer." Her voice quavers and Temari cannot help but notice how still Sakura is. As if the woman was afraid that moving any more than necessary would result in her body crumbling into a million pieces. Like a frail, silly little porcelain doll.

Temari's smile is positively predatory as she stands, gesturing for Sakura to do the same. "Grab your things, we're going for your counselor."

Sakura stands clumsily, proof of her distress; the pink haired doctor was normally quite graceful. Temari's famous temper ignites at the sight of her best medic dealing with such a low blow from the man she adored. Eyes aflame, she leads the way to her BMW despite Sakura's protests about the late hour.

"He doesn't sleep, anyway," is her cryptic reply.

Gaara stares over his steepled hands at the medic his sister had brought into his office. They had both been silent for the better part of the hour and Gaara's patience is beginning to grow thin. Temari had insisted he had better be good to her, so he'd been reigning his infamously monstrous anger with great effort. Off to the medic's side, his sister had gone and fallen asleep in her seat, obviously bored with them. Hiding the aggressive curl of his upper lip behind his hands, Gaara decides it is time to cut to the chase.

"So he cheated on you," he states coldly, watching with some satisfaction as the medic flinches. It surprises him, though, when her eyes find his and they're calm pools of green.

"Yes," she responds readily, but without anger. It was a mere fact now, there was no use getting upset about it. Something inside of her was dying, crying, and slamming fists at the unfairness of it all. She had, after all, loved him her whole life. She knows she's in shock, like she'd been run over or shot or electrocuted. The pain would come, given time; but for now, she enjoyed a blissful emotional numbness. "But I'm not sure what I am going to do about it."

Unlike most wives he'd seen crawl in here, bawling to the high heavens about their cruel, ungrateful husbands, this woman seemed to be taking it in stride. When her lower lip trembles, he amends that thought. Still, as she looks up at him, something changes. Almost like a caterpillar's metamorphosis, gone is the meek woman who sat before him in silence. Instead, before him sits a veritable typhoon of anger and loathing of the female persuasion. Within him, something quails in fear while another part of him feels almost impossibly attracted.

"I have undeniable proof of his infidelity with this signature on the birth certificate. I also ordered a paternity check to ensure the statement to be true," she remarks carefully, slowly.

"Paternity exams are not foolproof," Gaara points out.

"No, they are not. They are, however, quite adept at denying the fatherhood of he who is completely unrelated to the child. Since Mogami Karin's family is totally unconnected to the Uchiha Clan, one can safely assume that the child's DNA will quickly confirm or deny the legitimacy of her claim," Sakura rebuts matter-of-factly. Though inside, she is a mess, Sakura knows that she needs to have a weapon on her side. She'd never been much of a fair player, not even as a child. As a grown woman, she was more than capable of recognizing which battles were worth fighting head-on and which needed a more tactful approach.

Gaara stares at her for a moment, secretly pleased. She'd have made an excellent lawyer, he thinks. "So what do you want? All of his money?"

The look she gives him is almost reproachful. "We arranged a prenup; however, among the terms, adultery was a binding clause that lead to forfeiting of all assets should it be grounds for our divorce. Should I wish it, I could run him dry." At Gaara's impressed glance, Sakura looks vaguely smug. "The reality is, though, that I don't know what I want."

Gaara hums, searching at her fascinating eyes. At first she had been as poised as an angel, but now she was like an Empress. Cold, terrible, unreachable and grand; it is breathtaking. Some women look beautiful when they cry, but Sakura looks glorious when she is angry.

"Why not arrange a failsafe? We'll draw up the divorce papers and start the process. Cancelling is possible at all times, so you don't need to feel pressured to choose. When you decide, you can either get him to sign, or call me up to determine the dismissal. What do you think?" He was giving her a choice, unlike her husband, who hadn't even bothered to ask her for her opinion on the matter.

For the first time since she walked into his office, Sakura smiles.

It was a well-known fact that Sakura hated her own smile. It wasn't lady-like or dignified, it wasn't even attractive. Her friends, of course, would argue nine ways to Sunday that she is clearly mistaken. In all her life, Sakura had never felt the need to practice her smile in front of a mirror or change it. So, like a baby, her smiles seemed to come from somewhere deep within. Like a flickering flame, ignited by the passion of her soul and growing as it is fed with wonder and delight. It always started slowly, no matter what, quirking the edges of her lips until it bloomed into a full stretch of her plump lips. Then, as if she found everything to be impossibly wondrous, it would split to show her teeth and widen like the sun's rays over the horizon on the dawning of a new day.

The crow's feet that would spread from both of her eyes were witnesses to the strength of her beaming expression. On those occasions she was truly joyous, her green orbs would hide beneath the lids; almost like it was too much for her to handle and her heart was overfull at the sight. Watching Sakura smile was always an experience and it made those around her mirror her expression out of the sheer enchantment that was her gladness. It would spread around the room, faster than any contagious pathogen. Temari had often said that her smile was like Muhammad's Qur'an; even if you didn't feel it, the moment you were in its presence, you believed it.

After Sakura found out about her husband's infidelity, her smile, which had always risen from the depth of her being, had slowly died. Her coworkers and friends grieved in silence as they watched Sakura face life with a sad sort of demeanor; like the soft bittersweet touch of a dying butterfly. Gone were her sudden laughs and the random giggles; all that was left of her were the broken pieces of a woman who no longer recognized her reflection.

Temari had invited her to sleep in her house, since she had so much room and no one else to fill it. Sakura, however, had always been one of those people who knew where the boundaries between employee and employer lay. Instead, she'd called up Ino and politely asked for the chance to sleep in her apartment.

It was almost funny how Ino had promptly asked her where she was, hung up on her and knocked on the door of "Sabaku and Co. Agency" within less than five minutes. Gaara, impressed despite himself, had asked her if anyone owed her favors. Ino, with the most wicked smile Sakura had ever seen on a friendly face, had dutifully informed him that she had everyone in her back pocket.

When your best friend works for the Intelligence Division of the Japanese Government, that kind of offhand boast always rings frighteningly true.

Once the blonde got permission from Temari to keep Sakura under house arrest for three days, things went off at a dizzying pace for Sakura. Within a flurry of blonde hair and brightly colored nails, Ino lead the way back to her car and deposited Sakura in the front seat. Hanging on for dear life, Sakura will only ever say one thing about the way back to Ino's apartment complex: "I never saw a red light."

Though Ino's eyes had been burning with righteous anger and her growling mouth was practically foaming, the blonde merely lead her inside, rushed her to the bathroom and let her soak in scented water for an hour. When the water got cold, Ino swept her hair through the most lavish of her shampoos and conditioners, washed her from head to toe, wrapped her up in a luxurious towel and sat her on the couch with a stern look.

"Don't move," the woman warns, before fluttering off to the kitchen. Almost like a whirlwind, she comes back bearing ice cream, smores, and a box full of all of her nail polish. Without even asking for Sakura's consent, she plops down and chooses a color. In seconds, she's finished with Sakura's left hand and the pink haired doctor is still sitting there, wondering where her clothes went.

With a spoon procured from one of the many drawers of Ino's magical coffee table, left hand commandeered by her best friend and her favorite flavor of ice cream in her lap… Sakura finally cries.

It takes her some time before she can speak through her hiccups, but Ino is well versed in the art of interpreting Sakura-ese… even when half of what she says is interrupted by a gasp. Patiently painting Sakura's toes a very pretty shade of mauve, Ino lets her friend vent. Though whenever Sakura had trouble with Sasuke, since they were in diapers, Ino had always displayed her temper with vigor. Right now, however, she could tell her friend didn't need to hear her complain and rage. Sakura, right now, needed desperately to find herself.

So Ino waited and listened, humming softly to console Sakura whenever she fell silent. All those years of devoting herself to him, all those little things she went out of her way to supply, all those nights crying over him… Sakura couldn't help but feel it had all been for nothing.

All of it, every moment of her life, had been for naught. For as long as she could remember, she had loved Sasuke. She had loved him with everything she had to give. Ever since she had met him in kindergarten and seen the way he shot people petulant stares… the way he had shared his crayons with her… how he smiled just like his mother did…

Since before she could write her own name, Haruno Sakura had loved Uchiha Sasuke. After all those years, after all those dates, after all that effort to get him to look at her! One conniving slut spreads her legs and it all goes to hell. His own secretary! If he'd had the decency to wear a condom, to make sure she had no sexual diseases, anything!

All things stop, just as Sakura begins counting back. The baby must have been 26 weeks along by the time she and Sasuke were off on their short, but sweet honeymoon.

"Ino-chan," Sakura says softly, looking horrified. "I've had sex with a man who knew he was going to be a father."

Ino looks stunned by this, her deft stroked of the polish-saturated brush pausing midway. With the help of the Uchiha Clan's impossibly large workforce, her wedding had been planned and celebrated within five weeks of Sasuke's proposal. In a little over a month, Sakura had become the blushing bride she had always dreamed she would be. The wedding had been prepared to her exact specifications, catering to her every whim in the way only the wealthiest families in Japan could afford to.

After all, Sasuke had a deadline to attend to. A dead line that had been probably over 21 weeks old, gestating in his secretary's uterus.

Only three days ago, Sasuke had offhandedly mentioned children to her. Though Uchiha Fugaku had made it perfectly clear to Sakura, on her wedding day, that he expected grandchildren within a few months... and Sakura knew Sasuke had a strange fixation with the idea of progeny… it was like a slap to the face. Sakura had told him she still needed time. She was, after all, the most successful surgeon in the hospital. Temari had been mentioning a promotion and Sakura wasn't keen on popping a bun in the oven and shooting her chances at a place on the board.

"What do I do?" She wails with true, unadulterated agony. Ino caps her polish and slides onto the sofa, smoothly embracing her best friend. Sakura has always loved Ino's hugs, they were warm like a summer day and smelled strongly of Ino's flowery companions.

Ino looks at the wall, her browns knitting together with worry. Advice is a dangerous thing, she finds, and she honestly doesn't know what to say.

"You should talk to him when you're ready," Ino replies softly, hoping she wasn't making a mistake.

Sakura looks up at her with liquid eyes, bottom lip trembling. "And say what?"

Ino smiles, running her hands along Sakura's feather-soft hair. "Whatever you want to."

Almost a month has passed before she can face Sasuke again. Though numerous phone calls had been made, mostly by one very worried Uchiha Mikoto, Sakura makes an effort to take her time deciding. She knew the choice was lying just under the surface, bubbling like a pot that had been left over the fire too long. It was only a matter of time before it would all spill over and burn the cook… but as of right now, she still felt lost and confused.

Like a child in a dark forest, surrounded by the unknown noises of animals in the inky night. It was a forest she knew and the road wasn't far off, but it was hidden from her. It was exasperating, but Sakura was willing to occupy those listless hours waiting to make up her mind in her work. From a medic with an enchanting bedside manner, she became a demon. Diving into the ER and the OR with the intensity previously unseen, Sakura was soon becoming the most efficient doctor at Konoha General Hospital. Her coworkers, frightened but curious, had turned to their boss for answers.

Temari, aware of the situation and absolutely amazing at keeping secrets, said nothing. She would merely bark at them to quit gossiping and get back to work. Dr. Haruno had always been among the best!

Of course, when Sakura nearly fainted after three shifts (without Temari's consent), the blonde had to step in.

"I thought you said you could deal with this," Temari drawls as she walks into Sakura's office one day, nearing the end of the month. Sakura looks up and scowls.

"I AM handling this," she snarls in response, standing up so suddenly her chair topples over. At the noise, she is startled and all that fight drains from her. She bends to pick it up, surprised when Temari is there to help her. "I'm sorry," she murmurs, looking down in shame.

Temari's smile is crooked, but not unkind. "You're angry. That's a good thing." And then her boss walks out. "Don't forget it when you see him."

With her boss' forceful prodding, Sakura decides that maybe it was time to go pay her husband a visit. Still, the intimacy of their apartment wasn't something she was ready to face. She was almost certain that if she stared him down in the confines of the home they had built, she would end up forgiving him without really wanting to. If she wanted to forgive him, it had to be on her terms.

Terms he'd taken from her the instant he'd told her she'd be the mother of a child that she hadn't given birth to.

So instead of trying to catch him at home, she drives to the main Uchiha Corporation building in downtown Tokyo. In her bag, the divorce papers weigh like lead on her spirit, dampening her smile as she greets the receptionist. Instantly recognized, the woman quickly leads her to the special elevator that reaches the offices of the upper management posts and swipes her card. With a grateful bow, Sakura enters and presses the proper button.

In the soft silence of the elevator, Sakura awaits. She goes over everything she has wanted to say, glances through all of their memories together, swipes through all those moments they shared… and decides that maybe they'd pull through. Leaving Sasuke would have been an adventure in the unknown that Sakura didn't feel ready for. Loving only one man her entire life, to be bereft of him was like heresy. To remove Sasuke from her mind would be to kill that little girl who had blushed when he'd proposed, to slay that piece of her that believed in true love. It would mean to amputate a part of her that had been the core building block of her being. Sasuke had been her life for so long… the idea of going on without him hurt worse than the first time she broke her leg learning to ride her bike. He was present in every second of her life, consuming her entirely. With work, they could turn this into an exercise in trust to strengthen their bond. His betrayal could be overlooked if it worked in their favor as a couple… couldn't it? That feeling that she'd been stabbed with an electrified blade; it would go away… wouldn't it?

The metal contraption dings and Sakura exits while looking into her bag, looting for the divorce papers. While she wanted to forgive him, she wasn't quite sure how he'd react to the flawless case Gaara had drawn up in her favor. She wanted to show them to him away, as a sign of her good will and willingness to trust him again…

"Well," a voice interrupts her thoughts, "look what the cat dragged in."

Something inside Sakura freezes and the voice she'd been hearing since Sasuke delivered the news increases to a screech. The words jumble together, but Sakura knows what it is saying. She raises her head slowly, keeping a careful tab on her anger levels to avoid the sudden, ridiculous urge to punch the building to the ground.

Karin sits in her usual spot, red lips split into a smile that's full of knives. With her oddly chopped hair, Sakura had always though the woman was disgraceful… but Karin had been someone Sakura secretly envied. The woman worked with her husband almost twelve hours a day, at least. The Uchiha Coporation demanded quite a bit from their heir and Karin lived it right beside him. She knew Sasuke's habits even better than Sakura did. Worse, Mogami Karin was a beautiful woman. Tall, with curves in all the right places and a fashion sense that made women jealous everywhere; Karin was the most godawful kind of secretary.

She had never made it a secret that she had the hots for one Uchiha Sasuke. Flauntingly, even, she'd caused a few ruinous tiffs between Sasuke and his wife during Sakura's weakest moments, when Karin's taunting got the better of her. The woman was a shameless flirt and she did her best to antagonize Sakura whenever she could. As Sasuke's girlfriend and, later, his wife, Sakura had been the target of Karin's baleful scorn. Worse still, every Uchiha family function was practically a meeting of the board members. Christmas was a company ordeal and New Year's implied a visit to the temple en masse in an Uchiha Corporation omnibus. The fact that she had been absent at the wedding had been a blessing for Sakura. It had been a little strange, since Karin would have been the first to happily object to their vows.

Now she knew why. The deceitful wench had been pregnant with her husband's child. As Karin's ugly, triumphant expression filled her eyes… Something in Sakura snapped. Why was Karin still here? Why hadn't she been banished for her deceit and her "seduction"? That had been what Sasuke had called it, after all. What he had titled it in order to obtain her forgiveness.

SAY NO.

The voice she normally kept carefully under wraps since childhood, the voice that had helped her through the bullying and pulled her through her darkest days… it was roaring. Like a dragon, it slithered just beneath her skin and filled her with so much icy fury, she felt she was going to burst. Karin watched with dumb shock as the meek lady before her, the woman she had delighted in torturing became a force of nature.

In fine form, without a trace of tears, Sakura burst into Sasuke's office without a second thought. Two dark heads turned to regard her and both Uchiha flinch at the swell of feminine rage that she is projecting. Brandishing the papers in the manila envelope like a shield, Sakura stomps toward her husband with her head held high. She slaps the divorce forms onto his desk and stares him right in the eyes.

As always, she is beautiful. Her anger makes her cheeks rosy, her green eyes bright and her mouth pouty. Like an avenging Goddess, her eyebrows swoop down and she looks ravishing. Without saying a single word, she gives Sasuke one last glare before gracefully turning on her heels and walking straight back out. Her pink hair flying behind her like a banner of war, the door closes before Sasuke can even get a word in.

Itachi looks at the legal stamp clearly visible on the envelope and smirks cunningly. "Checkmate, little bother."

To be Continued?

Words: 4,800

You tell me! Vote, and I shall continue it! I thought perhaps a two-shot, to ensure a happy ending in the future… or maybe a look into Sasuke's Point of View? It could actually develop into a real story. I'm considering it.

So, tell me! What would you most like to see?
Sasuke's POV.
Sakura and Gaara, getting to know each other and further on… happy together.
Sakura and Itachi, getting to know one another and with some creative writing, happy together.
Sakura and Sasuke getting back together.

You may vote on more than one, as long as they don't clash.

I'm not too sure I would be pleased to see them together, as the INDEPENDENT WOMAN THAT I AM (ROAR), however, it's not entirely impossible. (… It would be interesting for me to try, since I am such a horrible person, I never look back on a choice I have already made. Getting into that vibe would be superbly tough for me.)

"...like Muhammad's Qur'an"- It was well known that anyone, no matter their beliefs, who would hear the prophet Muhammad recite the word of God... they would find it too beautiful and join Islam. So, to assimilate Sakura's smile to it would basically mean that anyone who sees it feels instantly happy and smiles back. (No disrespect to Islam.)

"Advice is a dangerous thing"- phrase by J.R.R. Tolkien; Lord of the Rings, Book One.

I got the original idea from a coworker who only told his girlfriend he had a daughter after the babe was born… from another woman. To my surprise, his girlfriend accepted it at decided to support him as the father of the baby. That got me thinking… what would I do in that situation? Honestly, I still don't know. So I though… well, what character do I know who would actually accept the child of the man she loved who is not her own? Why, Haruno Sakura, of course! Loving a man all of your life does that to you, I think.

This story was so hard for me. I lost track of what I wanted due to an overwhelming workload and suddenly, I didn't know who Sakura was. I always have a sit-in with the characters, but Sakura kept postponing on me. She seemed to think that one conversation should have been enough to inspire me.

I had to pull her back for a cup of coffee and insist on having a good talk with her about it. She cried at times and she almost punched my teeth out… but at least I walked away knowing what I wanted. She's my favorite girl in the world. Aside from Ino, who will most likely kick Sasuke's butt to next year for all his shitty husbandry.

I also re-wrote this so this so many times, I think I got lost someplace. If it doesn't make much sense, my apologies.

With love,
HCG.