Gone Tomorrow
Chapter 1. Now; Duty
Shinobi by rights only live in the present, because somewhere they know they could be gone tomorrow. Gone in an instant. Because they love what they know, the present keeps them grounded.
Shinobi are also never optimists; from the Hokage with his high ranking jutsu's, to the genius from the important clan, to the lowest Academy student. Even though many had optimistic facades, they were pessimists in the privacy of their own mind.
For Uchiha Itachi, arguably one of the best shinobi in Konoha since Madara (the forbidden name) it was no different. Even the resident genius of the Uchiha clan was bound by the same mortality that others beneath him held.
"Godaime-sama, I have reports from the medical offices. I need your-"
The pink haired woman cut herself off abruptly when she noticed the sight of Uchiha Itachi, 5th Hokage, sleeping at his desk with his dark clothing, more fit for an ANBU operative, slightly askew and his head in his arms.
Sakura grinned, a little bitterly, (for she knew what Konoha really was), and gracefully turned to slip away, but was stopped by Itachi's smooth baritone.
"No need Sakura, I'll look at those reports now"
Sakura was slightly surprised by the familiar address but she shook herself mentally and placed the box of reports on the obsessively neat desk.
Sakura slumped bonelessly on the couch of the office exhausted from Tsunade's intensified training and nonstop duties.
The familiar ache in her chest as she looked at Itachi's weary visage intensified until it was almost physical; one that she couldn't heal. She sighed and ignored her ravaged heart as she tore her face away and let the peaceful oblivion of sleep wash over her.
Usually silence didn't bother Itachi, he in fact preferred it, but he felt silence eat him away as he waited for Sakura to say something. Finally giving into the temptation he glanced at the worn face of the young pink haired kunoichi and saw her eyes closed in sleep, brows furrowed. For years they had skirted the feelings that laid heavily between them because of their duties to their honor and village… what would it have been like if he had claimed her as his own? If they had the family they so desired but avoided?
For once Itachi had no answers.
The sun beat down heavily on the stone of the Hokage Monument and the lone figure sitting on her father's carved head. Long blond hair with streaks of red waved behind Naruka Uzumaki, not the blond idiot she constantly played every day.
The woman's heart within her weighed heavily even more so with the absence of the one who owned it.
Sasuke…She was so tired, tired of hiding what she was from her friends, her family, so tired of hiding her femininity (unless it was the kunoichis of her generation who never judged her), yet hesitant to see her friends reactions to what she had kept from them for so long.
Yes, her genjutsu was damning but also safe.
She did what she had to do for the village but it just made her feel emptier. Her last letter from him to Naruto (his ignorance hurt her) was three months old and crumpled in her shaking hand.
A lone tear escaped and slid down her tan face.
Shinobi are not optimists, suffocated by doubt, and Uzumaki Naruto was no exception.