Summary: Sasuke returned to Konoha after ten years of abandonment. He served his time and dedicated his services to the good of the village but still many judge and hate him after all these years of sacrifice and finds himself one day forced to protect his family. In doing, the Council sets before him an ultimatum: Give up the Ninja life forever or be put away for the rest of his life. He strikes a bargain that grants him permission for one last outing to retrieve his brother's remains, taking him into Sound Territory but what he finds when he gets there isn't like anything like when he had left it. The desire to stay starts eating at his subconscious and comes between him and the wife he's betrayed once before. The struggle to find happiness might come at too much of a risk.

Author's Note: This is my fourth Naruto story. But only my second Sakura and Sasuke one. I have two Neji and TenTen but they are both One-shots. Anyways, I like deep and emotional stories so that's what you can expect from me. This won't be short-lived so be ready for a fifteen to twenty chapters and a year or two adventure. I have it all written out pretty much but you know how life likes to intercede. Let's get started!

A Desert in the Heart

Prolong

love is not lost, it dies like all things do

buried in the backyard where a lone dove cries

and waits for broken wings to heal...to fly again someday


The fifteen year old kunoichi bit her lip upon entering the well known village called Konoha. Her heart beat frantically in her chest, her black eyes scanning the area filled with people dressed in elegant and peasant clothing all intermingling together. The thought alone made her smile. She just knew from her first look that this place would accept her here, even though her home town hadn't. She sharply jerked her gaze to the side, her purple hair was pulled back into a low ponytail but her bangs crept in her eye and with a frustrated sigh she pulled them from her face smiling at the man that greeted her. "Your name, onaa-chan?"

"Yukari."

The man eyed her scratching at the wrap that rested right under his eyes, "Last name?"

It wasn't that she feared her last name, it was more on the lines of fearing an outsider's reaction. Missions had brought her to many a village and the knowledge of her last name sent people into dangerous fits of rage or sudden sobs of sadness. But as she looked to the village she felt sure that she wouldn't be judged here. To be safe however, she gave him her mother's name. "Tsuki."

"What is your business in Konoha?"

"I have a message to deliver to the Uchiha compound." She watched his response with serious intent.

He merely shrugged, "Sign here." He pushed the clipboard out on the table and Yukari quickly scribbled her name down. "You have two hours to deliver your message and get whatever supplies you need. But if you do not return within that time our police force will come look for you and bring you to our Kage, understood?"

"Hai." She bowed lightly, "Would you please tell me how to get there?"


Sakura snapped off the water to the sink and grabbed the towel on the side, rubbing her hands dry. She gazed at the window to the backyard, her smile widening to the point of a grin. Her children's laughter brought her happiness but the man that played with them was what caused the sudden blush to her cheeks. Sasuke blew fire from his mouth, only a small ball that rose to the sky, the two twin boys giggled in awe chasing after it as if it were a harmless bubble. Sasuke watched them with wonder shining in his gaze but when danger was too close to their skin, the awe was drowned by a protective shadow. He moved with a ninja's grace, wrapping his arms around their tiny bodies and sweeping them back away from the glowering fire when they got too close. Their raised laughter the only response, oblivious to the danger.

Eighteen years had past since Sasuke left when they were children. Ten years since he had come back and now it seemed as if he never left. It hadn't felt like that until recently. Though Sasuke had been able to kill his brother, everything that Itachi represented still burned inside him. The death of the murderer of his clan had not given the spirits rest and had continued to haunt him. The first year Sasuke had returned had been the hardest. Not only was he imprisoned for the beginning six months with Tsunade and the Council hounding him but the sleepless ghosts from the Uchiha compound seemed to follow him everywhere.

Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi had taken it upon themselves to help him deal with the life-sucking burdens Sasuke was drowning in. It was a time in her own life that Sakura wished she could forget. Everything about him had been shattered. They had to rebuild Sasuke from the jagged pieces that were left. And though many times they wanted to give up, they had stood by him. Needless to say the reward for their hard work was more then any of their dreams could aspire.

Sakura giggled to herself when little Itachi punched his father boldly in the stomach. Little Sasuke watched idly by, sucking his thumb, worry shining in his big black eyes, hoping for the fighting to stop. Sasuke however was far from letting the boy just stand there. He grabbed him in his arms, as if holding the child hostage from Itachi but with one jab to the shin, Sasuke tumbled to the floor with Little Sasuke and Itachi falling down on top of him. Sakura threw down her rag ready to make way out to get in a few good hits of her own when she turned to the living quarters. Markers and crayons scattered the floor upon scribbled sheets of paper.

Instantly she yelled. "Itachi! Get in here!"

Giggles snapped off like a light switch and Sasuke gave a cut reply, "In a moment."


Yukari tweaked a purple, black bang between her two fingers, nervousness forcing out her little horrible habits she tried so hard as a child to get rid of only for them to be amplified as an adult. She could hear her sensei screaming in her head, "Uchiha, if I were an enemy I'd laugh in your face." Yukari gave a frustrated sigh yanking her fingers away. She read the sign again and looked down at the piece of paper in her hand.

Straightening her back she headed in the compound known as the Uchiha district. Her brows knit when she noticed many of the shops boarded up and closed and from the vines growing on some of them, had been closed for a long time. But renovations were being done she could tell and there were people walking around and talking amongst themselves or to customers. It was an awkward quiet, a respectful hush used in cemeteries or in shrines.

She continued on to the housing area, her eyes widening at the huge lake that laid to the side of the road. It made her smile seeing a small dock with a baby boat tied up to it. Yukari turned her eyes back to the road. Her fingers instantly entwined in her hair again upon noticing that no one traveled the road she was on. Her sandal clad feet stalled in the dirt and glanced wearily around. All these houses were in worse wear then the marketplace had been. Decaying and rotting, the houses nearly were broken apart by the jungle that inhabited them. Yukari sighed heavily turning back the way she had come and hoped that someone would help her find the person she was looking for.

But upon doing so she noticed a house that had been at the very end of the road. She swiftly spun around and caught sight of it again. Clean and brightly colored, the sun seemed to only shine upon this two story dwelling with beautiful colored flowers and large yellow and purple trees to lean over it as if to protect it from harm or devastation.

Yukari ran down the road very quickly now, her anticipation passing over her nervousness by a landslide. She skid to a halt in front of the walkway, puffing her stressed breath until she sharply sucked it in upon hearing child's laughter echo all around her.

Child…children…She placed a hand down upon the mailbox to steady her sudden swaying form. She hadn't thought that there would be others…From everything that her mother had told her about her father, he was never a family man. The quiet type that stayed close to only a select few but would rather be alone.

She shook her head. She wasn't even sure if this was the residence of her father. There was nothing to worry about, she told herself, you are just going in there to ask for directions. With that thought in mind, she traced the walkway that went to the backyard.

Yukari had meant to push open the six foot door to the fence but instead her fingers grasped it and she hauled herself up on her tippy toes to peak over.

His back was to her, two boys swung on each shoulder like a bag of potatoes but they were laughing hysterically, fighting with half-hearted diligence. Yukari smiled, nearly giggling herself until a female's voice called, "Itachi! Get in here." She choked, coughing and spurting, falling back on her butt in her shock.

"In a moment." Came his gruff voice.

Yukari stalled in breathing hearing a pair of footsteps drawing near. Soon more steps were added against the long grass when she assumed the boys were put back on their feet. She had told herself, more then a thousand times in the seconds that it took for the man to open the fence to get up and run but none of it took. All she could do was stare wide mouth and wide eyed up in the direction the door would creak open.

Sasuke put his twin boys back on their feet, telling them with a slight hand gesture to be silent. Quickly they slapped a tiny hand over their mouths to hide the giggles and grabbed onto his pant leg with the other as they followed behind him to the gate. He grabbed a shovel as he past cursing Sakura for making him abandon all his weapons during his times with the boys. And though all his highly trained senses told him there was nothing to fear, the person behind the door still had an expensive amount of chakra at their disposal.

He swung the door open harshly with the shovel raised only to stall at the sight of the female draped across the ground. His boys' giggles finally busted forth, "Papa's scared of a girl!" Itachi pointed.

Little Sasuke pulled on his pant leg, "Are you scared of a girl, Papa?" He pleadingly inquired.

"Of course he is." Sakura's voice stopped the laughter instantly and both the boys ran to her to hide against their mother's legs "I mean who wouldn't be." She smirked, placing a hand on her hip smugly as she walked up beside her husband and looked to what had caught their undivided attention. Until she saw the female herself. "Oh." She whispered, her green gaze going to Sasuke, narrowing her eyes upon seeing him scrutinize the young girl so harshly. She dropped them back to the girl, who seemingly couldn't stop staring at Sasuke just the same. "Can we help you?"

Yukari's mouth wobbled with shock and unsuppressed surprise. She tried to form a collective sentence but everything was being thrown aside by the intense stare she was receiving from the male Uchiha. She couldn't stop thinking just how much he had looked like the picture her mother had painted for her. Everything, from his dark black eyes to his chin-length bangs, his strong bone line, even the length of his body, all agreed with the painting. Her heart was pounding in her ears nearly blocking out all noise until the woman that stepped up finally asked her if she needed help.

Yukari shook her head to rid it of the numbness it had been encompassed in and swallowed deeply looking up. "I..I.." She began again but nothing made any sense that past her lip. Her conscience was eating at her, telling her not in front of the two boys, they didn't deserve to find out from her. So she opted for a safer way, "May I have a drink? I'm afraid this weather has gotten to me." She was parched if it was any conciliation to the lie she just told.

The woman seemed hesitant, glancing quickly to the man beside her momentarily before looking back. "Of course. Please come inside. Go help her up," She pushed out the twins. They grabbed each arm making it more difficult then if she had no arms to begin with. They lead her into the house leaving behind the parents.

Sakura turned to him, Sasuke's eyes trained on where she disappeared into the house never blinking. She snapped her fingers in front of his face which he swatted aside glaring at her. "Can you stare any harder?"

A smirk would have swept across his thin lips if his attention could distance from the woman in the house. But his gaze went right back to where she had been.

"What? What is it?"

"She has Uchiha blood in her."

"How can you tell?" He looked at her with annoyance which she glared at and quickly ask, "Well, how is that possible?" Sasuke shook his head.


Sakura leaned against the counter, her green eyes watching the female with the same interest Sasuke watched her now. He sat at the table, his legs folded neatly under him with his arms crossed objectively. She wondered briefly if that was a face his own father wore when he was contemplating and her eyes drifted to the family portrait hung up next to their Buddha shrine. They were not a religious family but they honored the dead even if one little boy had grown up to be a man. She thought sadly however that even though the man was still alive, the boy had died a long time ago.

"You have beautiful children." The woman said to her and Sakura nodded in her thanks. Upon her silence, Yukari's fingers went straight to her long dark purple bangs, fiddling with them in her nervousness.

Sakura smiled and scowled herself. The girl was still a child and here she was treating her like a prisoner. "Are you sure I can't offer you something to eat?" She asked nicely.

Yukari shook her head, taking up the glass of water in her hand, "This is fine, thank you." The twins' laughter echoed the house again, "They must be a handful."

Sakura giggled to herself, "At times but when that happens I normally just send them to the Hokage."

Yukari's eyes widened, "The Hokage?" She gulped, "Do they get that bad?"

She shrugged, "I get a few days to my self so its worth it. And when I do get them back, they're too tired to mess with anything for a while."

Yukari opened her mouth to whisper sympathy to the two boys but a large crash shook the house.

Sakura flinched, her eyes narrowing in worry when she didn't hear the boys any longer but then footsteps started running up the stairs with lightning speed. The fire lit in her green orbs and she past Sasuke, gripping his shoulder as if saying silently, 'This is your fault' before whispering, "Please excuse me." She hurried out of the room.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes staring at the female that become so familiar in the last five minutes. Everything about her reminded him of someone he knew, except the twisting of her bangs with her fingertips. The way she sat, how she spoke, the way her eyes took in everything around her with just a slight glance.

She caught his gaze suddenly and he forced his sight elsewhere but it broke his train of thought allowing words to pass over his lips, "You are new to this village." It was a statement but she nodded. "Where are you from?"

"My mother was originally from Sound," She saw his shoulders tighten, "But she moved to Rain before I was born."

"Why are you here?"

"I had a message to deliver."

"And that brought you to my compound?"

"Well, it is for you." She smiled lightly.

Sakura stepped in, "Sorry about that. We won't have to worry about them for awhile." She smiled triumphantly going to the cabinet to pour herself a large glass of sake.

"What is the message?" Sasuke asked ignoring his wife for the moment.

"I'm your daughter."