Sakura awoke to a bright white ceiling reflecting harshly in the room. She shielded her eyes against the invasion and moved to sit up. Once her eyes adjusted she took in her surroundings, she was in the hospital wearing the normal patient attire. Sakura sighed and threw the blankets off her, she probably had slept for a few days, a waste. She let her feet touch the cool tile and started to look around for her clothes. She found them hanging in a small closet in her room. They had been dry-cleaned and Sakura shook her head. Quickly Sakura dressed in her dark navy pants, navy shirt and put on her flak jacket, she left it unzipped and swiped her shoes from the bottom of the closet. She grabbed her headband from the side table next to her bed and tied around her head.

After dressing and discharging herself she made her way to the apartment she kept in the village. She quickly moved through her apartment gathering things she would need for her journey. After packing a backpack Sakura sat down at her table with a pencil and several sheets of paper. It took her a few hours to construct decent letters to her loved ones. Afterward she put the letters in envelopes and put them in a side pocket of her backpack. When she swung the backpack on her shoulders her body protested in exhaustion. She was pushing herself to her limits but everything was so time sensitive it had to be done quickly.

Sakura left the apartment keys on the table along with a letter to the landlord and the rest of her leases rent in an envelope. She looked around her apartment and then shut the door behind her and made her way to the Hokages office.

Sakura opened Kakashi's door and he looked up from a folder setting it down on his desk. She approached his desk and bowed low.

"Lord 6th, I want you to accept the marriage proposal and stop this war," Sakura said confidently and stayed there bowing.

Kakashi sighed and leaned back into his seat. "Sakura, we can't lose a valuable ninja like yourself."

Sakura stood and shot him a glare that made Kakashi get more serious. "You don't want to lose one person out of the thousands in your army? Do you have any idea what the causality rate is on both sides? The Leaf needs to put away our pride and let me go. I'm willing to sacrifice myself for everything and everyone. I want the fighting to stop," Sakura preached at him. Kakashi nodded his head as he mulled it over.

"No."

"WHAT," Sakura exploded with anger and she took a few large steps and put her hands down on his desk cracking the wood slightly. "What do you mean no?"

"Regardless of your pleas and request my answer will still be the same. If we lose you, then other villages will take it as a sign to start sending requests to take Naruto and Sasuke away and along with many other talented ninjas away. We would be defenseless," Kakashi deduced quickly. He had already started to receive some petitions for Naruto and Sasuke. It was a pain how the other villages were letting their lords run things.

"If the fighting doesn't stop now, there won't be anyone to send," Sakura pressed back.

"My answer is still no."

Sakura lifted her hands and slammed them down again on his desk breaking it in half, Kakashi looked at her destruction in awe. It always surprised him just how strong she really was without infusing her chakra. "If you don't approve, then I will leave and be branded a rouge. How about that," Sakura challenged her glare turning deadly.

"And if you do, I will have Anbu sent after you immediately and will hunt you down for the rest of your days. You are staying," Kakashi did not back down, in fact he stood to his full height. "Sakura, I know you want what is best, but you leaving is not what is best. You'll be forced into early retirement after you've finished your tasks of training knock off versions of you. I'm looking out for you. Everyone is looking out for you, trust us Sakura. We'll win," Kakashi said as he walked around his destroyed desk and patted her on the head. Sakura smacked his hand away.

"If you will not be proactive then I will. I'll kill that Lord and then I'll kill myself," Sakura said going back into the deep recesses of her mind. Tags, blood, medical supplies, bones cracking, the war had followed her home. "I won't train any pupil the send to me after a few months I'll have a psychotic break from being forced into a life I did not want, they'll think I'm crazy and won't want to harm me. At that time I will then kill the Lord and then myself so the Leaf doesn't have this blow back on them. Don't tell anyone," Sakura revealed her plan to Kakashi who stood there with a blank expression.

"If that's your plan then my answer is still no," Kakashi said in a flat tone.

Sakura tisked and stated, "then I know what I have to do. Give these to Naruto and Sasuke and this one to my parents." Sakura reached in her backpack and handed him three envelopes with her neat handwriting on the front. Kakashi took them and watched her head toward the door.

"I'm serious Sakura. The moment you step out of the village gates I will have the Anbu on your trail all the way to the border," Kakashi warned.

"If you didn't want me to leave you would have them on the other side of this door. Which means a part of you thinks this could at least temporarily stop the fighting. However, you'll have Naruto and Sasuke to deal with. Please don't let them blame themselves," Sakura said as she reached for the handle. She twisted and pushed the door open letting it close behind her. She calmly walked through the village taking in the sights and sounds one last time before leaving. Many of the villagers greeted her and wished her luck assuming she was going back to the front lines.

At the village gates Sakura saw an army of Anbu waiting for her. She sighed, closed her eyes and buckled down on her conviction. This was the only way for the fighting to stop.

Sakura easily spotted Ino among the group, and she felt something tug on her heart strings however she continued and the Anbu made a hole in the group for her as she continued on her way out of the gates.

"Sakura," Ino let out softly and reached a hand out but stopped herself and let her hand return lifelessly to her side. The look on her face hidden behind the mask.

"Sakura Haruno, you have left the village unauthorized, as such you are now considered a rouge ninja and we have no choice but to come after you," Sakura did not recognize the voice of the man. Sakura reached up, untied her head band and dropped it to the ground. Before the metal clanked on the ground Sakura was gone and the Anbu gave chase.

It took a lot to hide from the Anbu who were coming after her, the group was very skilled and on top of that they had Ino, her best friend, with them. Ino knew most of Sakura's hidden tricks and tactics so she had to go out of her ordinary behavior to avoid getting caught. Over the course of eight days Sakura barely kept herself hidden and had several close calls with the Anbu chasing her.

However, she successfully made it to the village hidden in the Mist and waited for the Mist Anbu to pick her up, she looked across the bridge she had crossed and saw multiple Leaf Anbu waiting. They were not permitted to cross the border and she knew at this point there was no turning back from all of it. Ino took off her mask and walked the very edge of the bridge. She a pained expression and looked as if she was trying to find words.

"Just tell them I'm sorry," Sakura called across the cassem to her. Ino just nodded her head and pressed her lips together.

"You take care of yourself Sakura," Ino called back and then she placed her mask back on and disappeared with the rest of the Anbu.

Shortly after Sakura found herself surrounded by different group of Anbu all had kunai drawn.

"I am Sakura Haruno, I am here to marry your Lord who started the war. Take me to the Mizukage," she ordered. And by her own surprise they did as she asked. They fed her and gave her fresh clothes to change into. The travel to the Kirirgakure took another exhausting eight days and the Anbu presented her to the Mizukage who Sakura recognized.

"Sakura," Mei looked up from her desk of paper and was bewildered to find Sakura standing in her office. "Sakura what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to end the war. You must call a truce today," Sakura said firmly. "Where is the Lord that started all this?"

"Lord Ayoto withdrew his request a couple of days ago and a peace treaty has already been called between Leaf and Mist," Mei informed.

"What? Why did he withdraw," Sakura inquired, none the Anbu had told here any of these things transpired. However, Mei did reveal it was only a couple of days ago.

"He heard about the battle between the Leafs Legendary Sanin disciples and how you proclaimed you were coming for him next. He simply got scared and immediately withdrew his request," Mei sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"I branded myself a rouge for no reason. Oh god what have I done," Sakura took a few steps back and raised her hand to her head. She had branded herself a rouge, meaning she could never return to the village without being killed or captured and then killed.

"About that, I received a letter from 6th Hokage a week ago letting me know you were headed this way. Part of the peace treaty was to pardon your rouge status and he sent along a very handsome man to retrieve you whenever you made your way here," Mei said in an amused tone.

With that the door opened and when she saw Sasuke standing there her knees gave way in relief. Before she could fall onto the ground Sasuke reached out and steadied her bringing her close to him. He rested his chin on the top of her head and squeezed her close to him.

"Sasuke," Sakura whimpered out as she buried her face into his chest taking in his familiar scent of fresh rain.

"Hn," Sasuke hummed back before pulling away. He bowed towards Mei and the two left the office.

They were escorted to a large opulent inn inside Kiri and were told their stay was free but were sternly told by the Anbu to be gone by morning. The only problem was Mei had only reserved one room for the two of them to share.

"I'll sleep on the floor," Sasuke said as he reached for a pillow from the bed.

Sakura walked up quickly behind him and threw her arms around his waist. "Sleep with me tonight."

Sasuke's face felt hot instantly and he stuttered, "S-Sakura, I don't think you know what you are asking."

"I know what I'm asking. I'm done waiting for you to take the lead. I almost threw away my whole life for everyone. It made me realize how much I'll only ever want and love is you. Sleep with me tonight," she repeated.

Sasuke untangled her arms from around his waist and turned to face her. He cupped her face in his hand and smiled down at her. They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment before Sasuke closed the space between them resting his forehead on her. Softly he said, "ok."