Chapter 1: Good Place to Fall

Sakura believed her response to all of it was remarkably mature and composed, really. Sure, Sasuke would have to replace all of his dining wear along with his table. And his wall. And most of his house for that matter. He took it in stride, his head high but his eyes faced toward one of the undamaged walls. She looked back at him. Her breathing evened and the tension slowly left her frame. Her jaw was clenched painfully tight. The space behind her eyes ached. She refused to cry.

"Sakura," He began, "You knew how important this was to me. I...My clan-"

"You and your clan can go fuck yourselves." Her hand was in a fist again. "So, what? I can't carry a child. There are other options. Surrogates. We can work something out! You can't just...decide to break up because of it!"

He looked at her again. She choked back a sob. No. She'd shed enough tears for him. Her voice softened but did not lose the harsh edge.

"After everything we've been through. After all these years, after making me wait for you to go on your little redemption trip. After all of that, you want to end things because of this?"

He stared at her.

She stared at him. Until it sunk it.

"Unless...this was the only reason. I can't...No. I can believe it. I can believe this is the only reason you'd come back to me like this. Because I was useful."

"Sakura." He couldn't meet her eyes.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be able to find a nice, strong wife to give you all the pretty Uchiha babies you want." He reached for her but she turned away from him. "I'll have someone come get my things. Don't follow me."

He huffed and mumbled something but she didn't turn back. She strode off, her head high. Her eyes bright with fury and unshed tears. Not here. Not in front of or around him.

Never again.

The Nara compound was thankfully close by. She paced on the roof, angry and ranting about everything she'd do to Sasuke Uchiha the next time she saw him. She only paused to move a piece on the shogi before returning to her rage.

Shikamaru watched with a blank expression as he leaned back on his elbows. He yawned and returned his attention to the board. He had no idea that she could be so creative with senbon. Clearly too much time around Genma. Still, for all his apparent disinterest, he was cataloging every offense against his fellow Jonin. Clearly, he and the rest of the remaining Konoha Eleven would have to have words with the last Uchiha.

"So what are you gonna do?" He took his time. He knew ten ways to win in the next three moves but this wasn't about the game. Not really. "Not that I care. But Hokage-Sama will have a lot of paperwork to deal with if you murder him."

"I..." She paused. Slowly, she started to deflate. He watched and she carefully walked over to sit across from him. "I don't know. I still have my own apartment near Ino's place. I'll ask someone to get my things and move back in there. I'm not going to kill him but I don't want to see him. Not...not for a while."

He nodded. "You know...Hokage-Sama suggested your name for a Genin team. He even has a team in mind, should they all pass. Partially Diplomacy unit, partially...well..."

She hummed and poked at one of the game pieces. He finally took his turn. "You think I'd be any good at it?"

She looked up at him. He resisted the urge to look away. He was always weak to a crying woman. Temari used it against him endlessly. His fiancee was also well aware of his...admiration for the Godaime Hokage's apprentice.

An admiration she happened to share.

And spoke of.

Often.

He closed his eyes. Willed his body to remain at ease. Troublesome women, the two of them.

"Yeah. You'd be great. You got a way with people. Kids especially. Plus, these ones aren't nearly the monsters our graduating class was."

She smiled at this. It shook at the edges but it was an improvement.

"Don't worry about getting your things. I'll take care of it."

She stared at him and opened her mouth, then closed it. "Thank you." She took her turn. "Really, thanks. You're a great friend, Shikamaru."

He huffed and stared up at the clouds.

"...and you can win now. I know you've been holding off."

"It's annoying when you do that whole mind-reading thing, Sakura."

"Yeah, I know." The smile was back in her voice. It was a start.

Several hours of crying with Ino, training with Lee, and then another ice cream-fueled crying session with her fellow Kunoichi found Sakura in front of her parent's estate. They had moved to the outskirts of the village after the war to a large house with the rest of her relatives. While the Haruno family was not a clan well known for any Ninja skills, they had merchant ties to nearly every country on the continent. Her family tree was vast with deep roots traced back to even beyond the founding of Konoha.

She stepped through the threshold and grinned as a small figure attached itself to her leg. She looked down at a head full of peach-colored hair. "Momo-chan." She admonished without any real heat. "It isn't polite to try and trip guests."

Haruno Momoko, the child of one of her many, many cousins, stared up at her with deep brown eyes. She chuckled and picked the toddler up. "Let's find your mom, hmm?"

"Sakura, is that you?" Haruno Tsubomi, Sakura's cousin, smiled. Her hair was a deep primrose color and fell in long waves down her back. "Your mother is in the storage building going through Grandmother Sakuya's things. Would you like some tea?"

"Sure, thank you. Dad and the boys are still out?"

Tsubomi nodded and took her daughter back from Sakura's arms. They both chuckled when Momoko whined. "Uncle Kiashi insisted Tetsuya join him and the others to welcome the rest of the Kumo branch of the Haruno family to the city. The rest of the ladies have gone to attack the market like locusts for food and tents so everyone has a place to sleep."

Sakura nodded. Every year, since the passing of the former Haruno matriarch three years prior, they held a family gathering of Haruno clan members from all over. With the war at an end, more and more were able to attend. "How many are we up to this year?"

"Eighty. Hopefully some of them are bringing their own supplies this year."

"Well, last year we ended up with a festival on the front lawn, what with everyone deciding to sell their wares at once." She accepted the cup of tea her cousin gave her and sipped it. "I'll help set up once everyone's back. And if need be, I can drag Yamato-taichou into setting up some housing."

Tsubomi chuckled. "I'm sure Aunt Ayame would appreciate having him around, if nothing else." She waved Sakura off then returned to cleaning. Momoko waved as Sakura walked off towards the back of the house. She pulled open the door to the large courtyard in back and paused to watch the swirl of colors in the sky. The sun was already setting. How long had it been since this morning?

She shrugged off the urge to cry again. She'd done that enough throughout the afternoon.

Haruno Mebuki had left the doors to the large storage building open and Sakura could hear her bustling about, looking for some of her Grandmother's heirlooms. A new Clan head was to be chosen during this reunion. Currently the duties were shared between her father and his siblings. She smiled and knocked on the open door. "Need some help?"

Mebuki looked over and smiled. She could tell at a glance that something was wrong but knew better than to push. "I think I'm all set, actually. And I found something, come see."

Sakura walked over to look at what was in her mother's hands.

It was a lacquered box, decorated with cherry blossoms and an image of the milky way on the top. She stared at it. "I've never seen that before..."

Mebuki grinned. "I found it hidden under the floor. I can't open it but it's pretty, isn't it?"

Sakura nodded. Her smile started to fade.

"Mom...Sasuke and I...we..." She curled up in on herself a little. It was safe to cry in front of her mother. Her mother wouldn't tell anyone.

"He didn't take the news well. That stupid boy." She sighed and took Sakura's face in her hands. "Listen to me. You are a treasure. You are smart, brave, talented, and so, so loved by every single person in this village. If he couldn't see you as anything other than a...a baby machine, then he is too stupid to deserve you for a moment longer."

Sakura chuckled and nodded. They hugged for a moment until Sakura could hear voices in the distant. Her father's jovial, booming laugh was unmistakable. Mebuki sighed and let go.

"I should go check in with them. Would you mind finding somewhere to put this?" She handed the box to Sakura, then left the building.

She smiled and rubbed her hand over the box's lid. It was quiet and peaceful and, despite her broken heart, all was well in her world.

She let a few tears fall onto it as she collected herself. With her tempermental family all in one place, even Sasuke would be in trouble, supreme ninja or no.

Then, the box opened.

She blinked down at it, at the scroll in her hand, then shook her head. She placed the scroll back into the box and picked it up, careful not to let her kimono drag on the dusty ground. She stepped into the overgrown yard and through the path she had cleared through the grass.

As always, the formerly glorious Haruno estate was dusty and silent. And now, with three years since the passing of her Grandmother, it was officially hers. She smiled ruefully.

Sasuke's timing with the breakup couldn't have been more perfect if he tried. She paused when she noticed a discarded temari ball in the corner. Ah, right, Shikamaru had invited her to join them for dinner. She walked a bit faster through the empty manor, abandoned since that fateful October night two decades ago.

The Nine-tails' attack had cost her family dearly. Only she and her grandmother had survived the destruction. The rest of her clan had been lost even before that, many of them tragedies of the Third Shinobi War. She opened the door and paused when she realized she wasn't alone.

Familiar eyes, black and intense, stared down at her from just a few steps away. She smiled weakly. News had traveled fast then.

"I'm going to stop at my apartment, then I'm planning on joining Shikamaru and Temari for dinner. Do you want to come with me? And don't say you've already eaten. I know you. Sweets don't count as dinner."

That earned her a fond smirk.

"You know me too well, Sakura."

She shrugged and offered her arm to him. "Someone has to look after you. Shall we?"

With a small nod, Uchiha Itachi took her arm.

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