.1.

Her muscles ached and her head was sore, and her eye were dry as sand. These were symptoms she had become accustomed to over the past few years. Sakura listened to the machines beep and clink as she slowly opened her eyes from where she lay on the hospital bed. The events from earlier came to the forefront of her memory and she slammed her fists against the mattress.

"Easy there"

Sakura looked over to the chair by the window and noticed Kakashi with an open book in his lap. A fresh daisy had been plucked from the garden outside and set on the table next to her, with the dirt still clumped at its roots.

"Hey" She trailed off.

"I see you punched a hole through your house." He commented lightly, with his masked face turned towards the open window. "Have you already paid off the loan?"

She let out a heavy sigh. "Sometimes I regret ever telling you, Kakashi-sensei. And no, with Sarada's Academy classes lately, I haven't been able to go on any missions."

"That's Rokudaime to you," he said with a small smile. "So what made you think that was a good idea?"

"She's asking questions Kakashi. She's so smart, just like him. She knows our relationship is odd, she sees how the other children interact with their families. But now she won't even believe that we're married" Bitterness rose unwanted. "She's asking me questions about him that I can't answer, because he never told me. My own child doesn't believe in me."

"I'm trying to hold the honor and pride of the Uchiha family together while he's gone, but I'm so overreached that I can barely hold myself together, let alone a family."

"You're strong Sakura. Are you still doing the healing treatments every night?" he asked.

Her head fell to her chest and he noticed how dull her hair had become and how pale and sallow her skin looked as she brushed her bangs from her face.

"Every night when she goes to sleep. The sessions last about half an hour."

"It looks like it's killing you." He stood up and walked closer to her to get a better look.

"If I don't, it's going to kill her." She said with an empty voice.

"We don't know for sure. Right?" He ruffled her hair and softened his tone. "I'll go find Sarada-chan and see if she'd like to train with me today."

A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

"Thanks Kakashi"

And once again she drifted off into nightmares.