I Do Not Own Naruto

Chapter 2

Sakura forced herself not to run straight to Naruto and demand to know if her suspicions on her husband being home were true or not, she didn't dare to act like her twelve year old self who would do anything to know where he was. If Sasuke wanted her to know he was home then he'd be certain to send her a letter and a possible rendezvous spot for them to meet up and get together. But he probably wouldn't, not because he didn't love them or want to see her but because when they were forced to say goodbye; as they would be forced to do; it would hurt that much more.

Something of a quiet agreement between them had come to pass early in his travels, and it was why they had slowly stopped writing one another. They didn't like hurting. He had hurt so badly when he had first lost his family, and it had driven him away in the process. She had hurt so badly as well when he had left her behind and then gone on his revenge rampage. Hurting each other was something they were very good at, and loving each other was something they had come to be good at later.

Which was why two days after seeing the hawk circling over her backyard repeatedly she was tempted to lure it to her and write a note for Sasuke on it. It was his hawk; this only ever happened when she felt his presence.

"Mom?" Sarada called out to her again and as she was doing her laundry again.

"Hmm?" she turned to her daughter. "What?"

"Did Dad have glasses?" Sarada asked then. Sakura blinked, where had this come from?

"I-I don't think he did, I guess…" she trailed off. She didn't know if Sasuke had glasses now, she hadn't seen him in forever, but when they had been younger he hadn't had glasses. In fact, next to the Byakugan, he had had the keenest eyes of shinobi; the Byakugan saw through everything. And her eye sight hadn't been bad either, especially after training under Tsunade's merciless temper… so no, she didn't know why this question was something Sarada was asking. Besides, Sarada didn't really need the glasses, they were a seal to repress her Sharingan which she had activated as a toddler. Sasuke had demanded the seal too, Karin was just kind enough to supply it because she was in love with Sasuke and adored Sarada and happened to like her. no doubt if someone else asked her to do this Karin would have a whole slew of swear words for them, give the finger as she stalked off too.

Sakura looked to her daughter then. Sarada was scowling, now what?

"You guess? You're married to him and you guess!?" Sarada spat out, Sakura looked away as a tear slipped past her guard. Sarada didn't notice, she knew because her daughter wouldn't look at her at this moment as she scowled at the ground.

"Well, your dad was never in the village much when he was younger… now as well, but!" Sakura started hastily but a look from those eyes of Sarada's stopped her cold.

"Hey Mom, are you really his wife?" she demanded in a tone which had knives twisting in Sakura's heart. That was something that she had been asked repeatedly since returning with Sarada from villagers, it was a tone the council held for her as if she were lying about who her daughter's father really was or that she was under a genjutsu from Sasuke to be his mindless slave of a wife. It was something everyone asked her at one point or another and now…

Now her daughter was asking! It broke her heart then, and no one had successfully broken her heart since Sasuke had left the first time. All the pain from the past years welled up in her gut as she glared down on her daughter.

"Now what is all this about?" she snapped, her tone a fiery ice as she scowled at the ten year old glaring at her. "You're acting really strange today."

"The thing that's really strange is your relationship with dad!" Sarada shouted at her.

Sakura flinched then, for her daughter really had no idea what her relationship with Sasuke was like, and neither did anyone else! Not that this was any fault of Sasuke's or hers', it was really the choices that were made out of their hands and ripped them apart and Sakura hated talking about it. With anyone! Ino, Hinata, Temari, Naruto or Kakashi! No one understood half of her relationship with him! They all only remembered what it had been like when he had been hell bent on destroying everything! Sakura's fists tightened as she fought off her desire to lash out at the pain her baby was inflicting on her.

"And strange is an understatement, to be honest," Sarada snapped in a cold, flat, matter-of-fact, know-it-all tone which snapped her then.

"Sarada!" Sakura shouted as she slammed her fist into the ground before she could throttle her daughter for her stupidity. Not everyone got a happily ever after and not everyone got a chance to be happy with the ones they loved! Sometimes love meant letting go, sometimes it meant hardship, sacrifice and making the hard choice, sometimes love didn't even mean you got to be together! She was lucky though, her love was alive, he was out there, he was safe and hopefully healthy! That was more than she could say for Tenten or Tsunade.

She looked at her daughter's teary eyes and stood up with shame welling in her. Sakura knew better, she knew better because she was the adult here and Sarada probably didn't even remember Sasuke. She had been three when he left, and toddlers didn't remember much, perhaps just snippets here and there.

"I'm sorry for raising my voice at you. Dad's away on some really important job, you see, he'll be back soon," she hoped. "I'm sure our feelings are mutual, so I'm sure he'll be alright."

There, she thought, the standard answer. But it wouldn't stop Sarada's tears, and she knew that as she stared at her baby. Kami did Sarada ever look like Sasuke! It was sometimes painful how much like him she looked. Cracking caught her attention then and pulled her attention from Sarada to the second house.

It imploded!

"N..No… The Loan!" she shrieked, she was so close to paying off that rebuild loan from the first time this had happened and her world wavered as she fell back.

Fuck her!

Sasuke was going to never let her live this down if he found out! Just kill her now!

"Mom!" she heard as the world drifted off.

Sasuke bolted awake when he felt a tremor in the earth and looked around. He was a ways away from the village but that didn't mean he wouldn't feel Sakura's temper when she shook the ground with it. It was either her or Tsunade and since he had no idea what the status of Tsunade was he didn't know if it was Sakura or not. But he had a sneaking suspicion that it was her as he leapt up to the roof of the abandoned out pose and stared around the forest. His eyes were whirling with energy and life as he scanned the area, the far off chakra signatures of a lot of the dobe, and the village. It felt… larger than when he had left; the village; the sheer amount of dobe clones felt annoying as he sat on the roof and tried to see if he could find Sakura's chakra.

He was so damn close…

But he was so damn far too, as he closed his eyes and shook his head. The hawk crying out as it swirled over his head and came to land beside him. The bird looked at him with those all seeing eyes. He held out a calloused hand, the bird nipped it, Sasuke slid the back of his fingers over it's head then as he looked for the reply message.

Pulling out the response he had received from the Hokage he blinked twice at who sent it.

The dobe!?

Alright, he'd been out of the village for a bit but even he was shocked to read the dobe's name where the Hokage signed. Sasuke smirked to himself then, good for Naruto; he'd still rather deal with Kakashi, but good for Naruto for becoming Hokage like he used to scream about as a child. The dobe was still a dobe but it appeared that now he had made his dream a reality so good for him. Sasuke's only dream at this moment was to see his wife again, a dumb dream, he knew but it didn't matter as he sat there reading the letter on his instructions.

Wait for the dobe…

The dobe did know this was just a relaying of information then right?

No matter, the dobe was coming and Sasuke's eyes weren't 'recharged' yet so he could leave for the other dimension where the Ōtsutsuki clan had resided. But until his eyes were ready again, he wasn't really going anywhere; which was the frustrating part of all this as he sat there with the bird.

"The dobe's Hokage, the world really is going to hell," he informed the hawk who chirped in response the disappeared as he was released summoning then. He wondered how his wife and daughter were doing as he stared at the chakra swarm where the village was. He hopped down then, he felt like going for a walk, it would sooth his nerves and his wants before he did something rash like run to the village, grab his wife and run off with her. which was a really tempting prospect in his mind; and no one was ever going to find out just how tempting it was. Mostly because his damn Sharingan would not let him forget Sakura dressed up in lacy black numbers or tiny red silk nothings.

She was so damn close, and yet she was so far from his grasp

Not that it was the most important thing in his world, he had other things to worry about at the moment than getting his hand on his wife again. Things like the feeling of being followed again as he moved through the forest again.

The shadow moved, and a man was hurling towards him. Instincts took over as he evaded the blade, his hand grabbed the chain which had wrapped around a tree and pulled the man to him with his irritation pulsing through him. No one knew he was even here! So who the fuck was this!?

His hand released the chain as he pulled his sword, tangling it in the chain as he slammed his knee into the back of his attacker. His fingers moved the one handed signs he had long since perfected as the electricity coursed from his only hand, through the sword, down the chain and into the body of his attacker.

The man was blown into the brush then, Sasuke's eyes narrowed on his family crest as his rage boiled in him. That damn blonde! False Uchiha! The one who ruined all of his hard work on restoring his family name! that blonde head turned to him and red met red as he stared into a three tomoe Sharingan whirling with it's own life in the eyes of a boy who was maybe fifteen.

"You…" he snarled. "Who are you?" he demanded only for the boy to disappear with a contemptuous smile and in a bunch of leaves.

Forget Sakura, when he got his hand on that guy again there was going to be hell!

For now, he'd return to the watch tower and wait for the Hokage, he'd bring the topic up then about the false Uchiha. There was more going on here than he had thought.

That's all for now folks.

Enjoy Scarlet Spring.