Summary: [Only a thin line tells love and hate apart, truth and lies, happiness and sadness. Sacrifices are made to save the ones you love. Sometimes you have to hurt yourself to gain the happiness you long for. It is your job to make the line thicker between these so alike yet so different feelings. In the end, it was only a true lie that started all of this.]

Rating: [M16+/18, Pregnancy, not a kids story!]

Warnings: [Character death! Rape possible, sexual content. OOCnes. Characters are adults.]

Characters/Pairings: To many, be surprised. Main Naruto & Sakura.

Jutsu:

Sasukes Chidori Sharp Spear: Chidori Eisō: Sasuke forms the original Chidori into a spear or blade-shape, adapting it for mid-range attacks with a maximum range of about five metres.

Tobis Jutsu/Madara: Jikūkan Idō: Tobi's Space–Time Migration technique, which is originated in his right eye, allows him to teleport himself or anything he touches to another location or a pocket dimension; the latter of which is implied to be inescapable.

Chapter 01

If I am what I have and if I lose what I have, who then am I?
- Erich Fromm

The water was running as the last shaving foam washing away. To the left was a bathtub with a dull yellow curtain, the hem green and black from mould; the toilet on the left was not looking much better. The green ceramic tile on the floor fractured, the white ones on the wall were looking pretty much the same. The mirror above the sink was cracked in the left top corner and an irritating buzzing sound from the light bulb which didn't really works. Sometimes the room was lit for a minute and the buzzing started again. A man was standing in front of the sink facing the mirror.

With his hands on both sides of the sink supporting him; he stared at the reflection in the mirror. The face that stared back up at him didn't look familiar he knew it was him.

Blue tired eyes looked back at him, the shadowed blond hair, the whisker marks on his cheeks. His tan skin; his shoulders and nose, red with sunburn.

He grunted softly, narrowing his eyes on the spot of his cheek. He managed to shave without cutting his head off, only a small trial of blood reminded him that sneezing and shaving at the same time wasn't a good idea at all.

His hand turned off the running water, grabbing the towel to move it across his face. He wanted to shower, but with the mould curtain to his left he had decided against it. A dip in the small river he would cross tomorrow will do just fine. And let himself fall on the old mattress which will be his bed for the night, at least the bed had clean sheets and not mouldy ones. With a groan he flipped over onto his back, letting the fan above him cool his naked frame down. He hadn't bothering to get dressed because of the heat of the night; it was awfully hot and humid, far too hot for his liking. He just stared at the ceiling. The last couple of years had gone by fast, in a way and yet slow in another way and the thought that he was running away would never leave him. In his mind, this was the best for him, after everything that happened. After all he endured, he needed space; space to grow up and just be himself for once. He remembered his last major fight like it was yesterday. The thought was burned into his body and his mind… and it scared him.

… As the morning dawn emerged, the horizon turned into a warm orange. A thin layer of morning mist was lingering above the land, hiding the blood drenched ground underneath it. Many lives had been lost; all victims of the stupid idea of revenge and hate. As the first sunrays touched the land, it started washing away the thick, bloody air of the night after another night full of fights, bloodshed and death.

His breathing was shallow, his lungs hurt as he held his pain stricken side with his good arm; the other one hanging on his side. He had used his Fūton: Rasen Shuriken, twice without having the time to throw it or escape from the blast and his injured right arm could not keep up anymore. Broken ribs were poking him in the inside, His torso was full of cuts and his left ankle was left swollen.. Blood dripped from his wounds; he had got some bad punches and his chakra was on its last stand. Behind him, many dead bodies of his opponent lay; to his side a beaten up person, painfully defeated to its misery. Naruto wanted to get his hands on Sasuke but that bastard on the ground didn't let him.

He had said that he'd throw Sasuke at the blond for him? Did it happen? No!

Sasuke had been fighting Kakashi; well that was what was happening when Naruto last checked. He hoped his Sensei wasn't down… and even more, he hoped that he was still alive. He hoped that Sakura was save now.

Why did Madara have to laugh in his face? Naruto was getting more irritated than he needed to. Why did he have to waste his chakra on these already once dead people? Why?

He had taken down Akatsuki members; he had survived while the enemy had been brought down. However, the one here, with the mask, was one of his hardest. He knew that if he was fighting Sasuke, the battle could be even uglier than this one.

As far as he knew, Sasuke wanted to rip Kakashi apart and nearly did too, but his female teammate had saved the day, in a way. However, that aside… the night was over; the fight felt like it was coming to an end.

"You are a rebellious one" Naruto froze at hearing Madara's tired out breath again. He spun around to face the apparently not beaten up masked man who was clutching one of his deeper wounds.

"Natural" Naruto hissed as his body flickered back from his glowing Kyubi chakra back to his normal state. He was done for if this fight didn't end soon. He cursed under his breath.

"You are out of chakra" Madara concluded as he pulled himself off the ground.

"I'm not the only one" Naruto replied, still standing his ground.

"You are right" Today was not a win or a loss of this war however, them retreating, was a win in the end. Naruto's eyes narrowed when Sasuke landed next to Madara, he started violently coughing as he landed; blood splattered onto the dirt. Sakura must have got a good punch onto him; in addition, his Sensei did the rest to him. Naruto admitted that much about Sakura; even with all her feelings for the dark haired boy, she would punch the living daylights out of him to save a friend.

Sasuke groaned; his dark eyes looked grey as he tried to focus on Naruto.

"I see…." Naruto finally said. Sasuke frowned at the unexpected remark. "We will come back" Naruto's icy eyes made Madara chuckle.

"We let you know little fox" He Replied as both last living Uchiha vanished via Jikūkan Idō.

Naruto frowned as he breathed out, his eyes on the sky. He felt beaten, sad, angry, however, in the end only tired. The Kyubi's charka was still burning in his system. He was still able to use it but at the moment he didn't know what more tolls it would take to his body. He already knew that using the Kyubi's chakra would hurt his system but he needed to get used to it.

"So tired" he said, catching the beautiful sunrise. A bird flew above him, whistling its musical tune as Naruto's world stained into black, his unconscious mind replaying the events from the previous nights…

…Naruto sighed, not liking the thoughts he was recalling. He dragged one arm over his eyes, shutting out the world. He needed some sleep to refill his chakra resources up for the long travel tomorrow. He needed to escape his thoughts for a few hours but he knew already that something else will display in his dreams tonight.

Painful. Again and again. Tutoring him with his feelings of love.

He missed his home.

He missed his friends.

And he missed her the most.

The one who tortured his heart and soul. The one who let his heart flutter and bleed at the same time.

How he wished with him growing up, with the increasing knowledge that he would grow out of her. But he failed miserably. He failed in all ways possible. Even after years apart, his feeling did not change a bit. No lie he told back then could cover this up. He was still in love with Sakura. He loved her green eyes. The pale skin…

"Naruto" she breathed out her hand reaching out to caressing his cheek. Her green eyes glowed in the near non existing light of the night. He leaned forward touching her lips softly, trying to find out what she was liked and how she tasted. His tongue licked her lips and she responded sweetly to him, exploring the art of tongue kissing. His hands wander up and down her sides, touching her, playing. She hummed noises out he liked to hear, while leaving kisses and a wet trial on her neck. He heard himself groan as her hand touched him. The feeling was pure pleasure and over whelming. It was causing him all of his willpower not to let go of his hovering position over her.

"St…" He moaned "...op" it was hard to talk; his brain felt like it had shut down some time ago. He lowered himself on her, breathing hard and looked in her glowing eyes. They were filled with something that let pleasure run over his body. His legs slowly took her prisoner; one hand was holding Sakura's hand above her head, the other holding himself up. Painfully slow, he guided himself with her legs, pushing down. A small whimper reached his ears and he kissed the small tear away. His whole frame was stiff, demanding movement.

"Hmm hmm" she sighed softly. "Move" she breathed out, he did; at first, slowly though. After earning a moan from her, she suddenly thrusted herself up against him which causing him some unexpected pleasure; his wants over through his mind and he forgot how to be slow. He instinctively thrust into her rewarding them both again. The cycle of pleasure had them both in a state of moans and gasps. He was lost in pleasure, that same was happening to her but she was reaching her limit, screaming his name muffled in his shoulder and he was done for too…

…When he awoke from his slumber, a scowl glued onto his face. Dawn was near. Naruto's breath was somewhat hitched and his body was sweaty. He had fallen asleep before he had known it and awoke just the same as the many other times like this in the morning. It was very same dream he had had for many years. His hand ran through his long strains. He didn't know if he should applaud at his mind to have worked out that perfect fantasy with all the detail work, or frown that he had to wake up like that again. He didn't know. A sigh was heard throughout the motel. He only wished that this dream would have been reality and not only a delusion of his desire for her.

oooo

He was standing there, completely still in front of the memorial stone. His arm holding his left side, dry blood under his fingertips, 'At least it had stopped bleeding throughout the night', he thought; his frame not noticeable in the last moments of the night.

Black pants, black sleeveless shirt.

A silver chest protector.

A sword on his back.

Half of his face hidden under a cloth mask.

In his free hand, a white and red Anbu mask

His upper arm showed the mark of his true status.

He hated the job, he felt like losing to the dark side of a Ninja, but the work needed to be done. Konoha needed him there and he did his job well, even after so many years of not of being in the Black Ops Anbu division. After his failure with Sasuke he needed to prepare for the next encounter, well, help Konoha for the next encounter; help them survive. He thought back to the Sasuke from years ago…

"No lecturing this time?" Sasuke mocked his old Sensei.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, his Sharingan uncovered and activated. His body already was in battle stance. "You won't listen anyway" the Copy Ninja breathed out.

Sasuke unsheathed his Katana slowly, his red eyes never losing sight of Kakashi; their battle was on. They clashed together, blocking the attacks of each other, than slithering away from each other some distance, only to clash again. The clashing of metal echoed through the air. Kakashi's hand connected with the boy, a punch in the gut, but Sasuke managed to make a wound with is Chidori Eisō. The shadow clone disappeared in an explosion of smoke. It was to be expected.

"Tsss" Sasuke breathed. His expression showed no surprised. A few hand seals followed and Sasuke let his thunder element roll over the floor lurking out the hiding real Kakashi.

The silver haired man jumped in time away and landed gracefully after the crackling vanished. He should have known, Kakashi told himself. He was a calculated fighter and Sasuke was too. Therefore, it could go on for hours like this until his or Sasuke's chakra fades out. Neither man wanted that. Moreover, Kakashi will make sure his former pupil will be dead when he is finished with him. However, he was aware that Sasuke had just about the same idea in his head about him.

They blocked each other's attacks again. Jumping away, blocking, sliding to the left or right. His resources were burning down. Sasuke's were doing the same as well.

Why did Kakashi have go through so many opponents to get his hands on Sasuke. With full resources, the win would be easier. Again more punches followed.

"Hmpf" He heard, Sasuke whiped some blood from his lip. At least he touched him but he had been hurt as well, both were panting. He needed to end it soon; he would never allow Sasuke to get to Naruto. He should never have the memory of killing his friend. Kakashi would take the burden and add it to all ones he already has. It will not matter to him, he was used to it, and he will handle it and much better than Naruto would.

A giant fireball rolled his way, he jumped, a Kunai flew by him; Kakashi's eyes widened as he saw the tag. The paper bomb exploded. Kakashi's ears started to ring, his vision blurred for a moment as well; he landed hard. He panted, trying to focus his senses and to locate where his opponent was. However, his senses didn't recover for at least ten seconds.

"Time to die" Sasuke was in front of him, his Katana high above his head ready for a nice clean cut into two.

"YOU WON`T" A woman's voice shouted as the ground beneath them grumbled to pieces, both ninja were about to jump away. Sasuke's sharingan caught the pink hair of his ex-teammate. With green eyes filled with fury and her body battered and bloody. Sasuke's opponent landed with a loud thud near Sakura.

Kakashi winced; he cursed her being there but also thanked her at the same time.

"Not yet" She hissed back at him as she put her hand above his ribcage before starting to use some of her healing chakra. The Copy Ninja stayed alert but a bit disorientated. He used the time to catch his breath.

"He will kill you" Kakashi hissed out angry with her being here and himself in such a weak state, he won't be able to make sure nothing happened to her.

She didn't reply. It wasn't like she didn't know it yet but it was a big possibility of being killed by the hand of her old teammate.

Kakashi's arm shot up, pushing Sakura away as his Kunai connected with the Katana. Their red eyes narrowed from Kakashi to Sakura and back. Kakashi still half-sitting thought about the next move.

"Bastard" Sakura muttered helping herself up. "Evil Bastard" she yelled to Sasuke who had a smirk on his face.

"Annoying bitch" he said to her. Kakashi used the small distraction and let his fist punch him, but it was caught. The fighting had started again, punches, sounds of the blades clashing than the ground beneath some grumbled, both ninja jumped. This time Kakashi got a hold of Sasuke in the air, wilding him down. It was not a Shadow Clone Sasuke quickly found out as they landed with a loud thud. A red and pink flash moved into Sasuke direction. Sakura's hand glowing blue as she sent a punch to the motionless body.

Sasuke's eyes went wide as the fist connected with him; he didn't have enough time to dodge completely as she got his left side. He winced as he jumped to the opposite side of the field trying to get some distance between them. He held his side. He could feel at least three ribs broken.

'Don't let her hit you again!' He told himself. As if that would happen again, was his second thought.

Now he knew her punches were deadly, she was not useless anymore; though Sasuke would never admit the truth.

"Nice" Kakashi praised the girl and got his stance on front of her. "-But you still got to get your ass out of here" he ordered but she did not moved an inch.

"You wish" she said. Kakashi knew that with her help the two still wouldn't be able to win the fight.

"Find Naruto" He ordered "And bring him here" His voice stern and stoic. "I won't last much longer" He added above a whisper

The clenching of her hands was heard, the leather gloves gave it away.

"Fine…" she said after a while and made slowly some steps backwards. Her eyes never leaving Sasuke's chest. She had learned over the years to never look in the eyes of an Uchiha and she followed the set principals. Nevertheless, it was hard.

"Go now" Kakashi commanded; she leaped away, leaving the Sharingan Users to themselves…

The fight went on forever; it had felt like hours to the tired and injured Kakashi. He shifted a bit in front of the memorial stone still not completely back into the present. The stone had his friend's names engraved in it and more than once had he thought, that he would be one of them. Not today, not tomorrow but hopefully in some years, well that's what he thought. Sometimes he had also thought it was only luck that saved him the day he had encountered Sasuke…

Kakashi leaned on the wall for support. The sun let the rays wander above him. His body hurt like hell. His left eye had started to cry bloody tears a while ago. The only chakra left was a tiny flicker, the only thing keeping him conscious. Sasuke had vanished with an angry grimace on his face not too long ago. First he felt relieved but then. He had failed to stop Sasuke, he wished he could though but there will always be a next time. There will be a next time! Moreover, maybe… he should let Naruto handle Sasuke, well, that's what Kakashi was thinking. The little bastard will grow ever more powerful. Sasuke had already surpassed Kakashi however it was only enough to win the battle. The Copy Ninja had problems to keep up with him; only because of the techniques that Sasuke used needed a good amount of chakra that he was able to survive the encounter. He was the one with years of knowing, the knowledge of surviving a war to make wise decisions and survive. Sasuke was a calculated one, but to bolded with his hate; this had been his advantage in this battle. He looked down at himself, he was pretty beaten up. He let groan of pain and a ray of sun light landed next to him.

His tired eyes moved to the person he did not know of now, if it was an opponent, he would not be able to survive another fight. His eyes looked at the golden lit person

"Naruto"

He moaned, letting himself sliding down the wall. How come he was lit up like a light bulb? He had no idea and he was too tired to think of something. Two hands grabbed Kakashi's falling body; another Naruto caught him.

"Good to see you alive." One of them told him, he nodded weary.

"What happened? Is one of you real? What happened to Sakura?" Kakashi demanded in a weary voice.

"A lot" Naruto said "And Madara, we're fighting him and he refuses to stay down"

Another Naruto clone walked up from behind them holding Sakura. "Both of you need medical attention" The clone shifted the girl in his arms as another got Kakashi in a piggy pack position.

"I don't like it" he said annoyed but had a soft tune.

"Bear it or should I get Guy?" The clone said. Kakashi shuddered a bit and left it.

He let Naruto win this small battle, leaning on the boy who he normally carried after a long fight. Somehow the rules were now the other way around.

"But Madara…" Kakashi voice weakened "…bastard…"

Days later he had woken up under Sakura's gaze who looked like a walking zombie. He sighed again. After being lost in thoughts and staring without focusing on the names of the memorial stone he looked up into the sky. The stars were still out; the dawn was nevertheless near and the sound of a thud not far away. Kakashi lone eye narrowed at his visitor.

oooo

She yawned, the nurse next sighed from exhaustion. "I need my bed" Sakura whined and the other nurse purred some coffee in the cherry red mug.

"Me too" another yawn followed and they both laughed.

Sakura hated the late night shift, it was tiring even without work, but what could she do. She could get herself out of it, she was the boss here but it was unfair to her colleagues, so she was cursed like everybody else to do 2 weeks of late night shifts every two months. This was already the last night of it, and the next 7 days were free. She was happy. She would have time for her daily, normal not so 'ninja' life and she will enjoy every bit of it. Sakura stirred the sugar in the coffee looking at the ticking clock on the wall of the coffee kitchen. 4:05 AM she need to survive until 07:15 AM than she would head straight to a shower and the heaven called bed. Her tired head started drifting off to the blond hero of Konoha…

"Naruto" He was already walking away from her, "Please" She had begged him "Hear me out". Her heart aching with every step he made away from her. Was he still thinking that she doing this intentionally? Sakura thought, That she was standing here to hurt him? She knew he was hurt; that his heart ached just likes hers. She understood that his sadness and hurt had turned into anger.

"I will say it once again" Naruto said, his back to her. "I don´t want to hear it, just because you would feel better." He started to walk again.

"Please" Her voice made him walk quicker. "Why" she asked, still following him "Why not believe me?" This got the better out of him; his eyes filled with anger his, body stoic. He turned around, his face wild.

"I won´t be the one you use to get over Sasuke" He said "I will never ever play this part, because it will shatter me in the end!" His voice got louder with every word.

Her cheeks were red like her puffy eyes, her tears were falling down. His words hurt her. They were breaking her. Why? Why did he not want to believe? Yes, she was not the nicest person to him. She used his feelings to stop him to go after Sasuke. That was wrong, but it would not change the fact in her life now. The very true fact.

"Believe me" She pleaded again. "Everybody grows up from faded crushes!" She wiped the tears from her face with her hand.\

"Yeah-" He whispered his eyes full of emotion "-and I just did from mine" She froze right on the spot, not able to say anymore. It was too hard to believe, that he would ever say something like this; to end something that could turn into something big and beautiful.

"I did but you did not" He said and turned his head back around, leaving Sakura behind, crying with the silent plea for him to stay and believe her, but he would not because he was hurting more than her. No more, he made himself clear. He was not able to take more of her, he was sick of her and he needed to get away from her. She had to understand that but she had made the experience a painful one by her own doings.

On the next day Naruto was gone, off onto another journey. The blond had said nothing to nobody; he just took off in the middle of the night. His small apartment neatly cleaned: no food was left behind and the small fridge turned off. When she stood in his small apartment it still smelled the same as the boy… and his Instant Ramen. Everything was put away neatly, nothing was left behind dirty. Even the water was turned off and the electricity cut. He was not coming back; he hadn't still after a couple years. Sakura only thought that he would only come home when Sasuke and Madara had been defeated or the time to take over Tsunade's position. She knew and it hurt. This was one of the only times she allowed herself to cry and she had. She cried the whole night in his bed, until she was too tired to cry more and drifted to sleep.

She had felt useless, left behind, not worth it, most of all alone and hurt. Even Sai said to her she did it to herself, not sparing her one nice word. She believed he was right. Just like Kakashi, who had his eye narrowed as he told her that he had no time for training with her? She got the meaning; he believed too that she was a lying bitch. Slowly she started to believe it she really was only a lying bitch along with everyone else. It didn't seem to matter that she told the truth; everybody thought that she was lying. Or was it the other way around?

"It didn't matter anymore." Well this was what Sakura had said to herself, after the night full of tears.

Like she had assumed after Kakashi statement to her, he had vanished into thin air and Tsunade said out flat that he is back in the Black Ops. It saddened her that Kakashi left her behind too. He didn´t want to hear any word, it became like that when he joined. He had forgotten her when she was younger and now, he forgot about her completely because of his mistrust and anger. That was the way it seemed like. On top she was no one important to him anymore while as he still was to her. She understood that on the day he narrowed his eye on her leaving her, just like Naruto had, behind…

The sound of a ninja wearing an Anbu mask coning into the doorway of the coffee kitchen brought Sakura out of her sad memories. The clock told her it was still only 04:15AM.

"He is back" the smooth voice said, she knew the voice, it was his teammate's. It had been a silent arrangement Tsunade did for her, well, for her Ex-Student. He avoided the hospital like a plague treating his wounds in the bathroom in his home. Nobody ever really knew just how badly he was still injured when he took off again, never showing pain or emotions about it. One day he will be carried dead out of his own home with his recklessness. She could not let that happen. She was not important to Kakashi, but he was to her.

"Thank you Sai" She said and stood up, leaving the white coat behind and grabbed the small medical kit. The cool air hit her when she took off, she knew where he was, it was where he would be each morning around this dead hour of the day. With a relatively loud thud she made her announcement to him. She straightened herself out before closing the distance between the two. She saw how he narrowed his eye once again at her, in the inside she felt like crying but on the outside she couldn't show any emotion towards the man. He sat down, letting her take of the chest protector and pull his shirt up. The click of her medical kit was heard, the wound stung when the sterilizer hit the hurt flesh. Still no reaction from Kakashi, Sakura was used to it though. She let her healing chakra cover the wound but she never touched his skin, he did not like to be touched. Eventually only a pink line was left behind. She grabbed the tonic, put it on and a large patch found the way on his side. Her hand roamed over his leg, she sent chakra throughout a slightly-less deeper cut in his body. The soft click of her medical bag shutting was heard again.

The sun was up now, sending the first rays of the day to them. He did not even thank her once since she started to treat his wounds after his missions. Not one word to her since the day he said to her, he had no time to train with her. And this was already years ago.

Silently she bowed to him, leaving him alone, like he preferred anyway. She vanished in the shadows of the trees. Oh she wished…. She wished…. Somebody would tell her: Don´t cry over anyone who won't cry over you. Maybe that is true, but she couldn´t help to feel like that.

Kakashi leaned on the memorial stone, looking her retreating. He sighed and looked in the sky.

Sakura sighed and looked in up to the morning rays.

Naruto stood in the window frame, wiping some sweat away looking up to the rainbow clouds.

How every body wished it wouldn´t be like this.

They wished for happiness, an ending to the sadness and a brighter future. Though not only their personal problems were in the way, something bigger, something more fearful.

It made them angry, worried and sad… the looming evil in the horizon. How they wished the war was over though it wasn't, well, no not really. The enemy had retreated years ago, leaving broken Villages and exhausted Shinobi behind. Blood, loss and tears but the victory they held was that they had survived and they will survive again.

The War was over? No it was only the beginning….

Beta Reader: xXChirushiXx - Thank you!

Link: .net/u/2933591/

Updates: Hopefully weekly, depends on our School/University workload.

This story start off with some changes:

1) Sasuke does not have Itachis eyes yet.

2) Edo-Madara was not involved until now.

3) Sakura has more guts against Sasuke.