-1To Live is So Much Harder…

Disclaimer: don't own it, probably never will!

Chapter 7

"Hey, how are you doing?" Sasuke asked as he and Sakura were walking down the street towards her and Naruto's house. They left the baby in the hospital so that Shizune could check him out. He had cried so much his first few days that they were worried that something was wrong with him. Shizune promised that she would take good care of him and she would call them the moment that they learned anything.

"I'm…I'm okay," Sakura replied, just a bit winded. She still hadn't recovered completely from giving birth, and she and Sasuke were worried that they hadn't seen Naruto since the baby was born. They managed to convince Shizune that Sakura was ready to head back home, despite the medic's objections. As quickly as they could, they packed Sakura's stuff up in a scroll and took off for the Namikaze home.

"You sure?" he asked once more as he watched his pink-haired lover struggle down the road. Quickly making up his mind, he walked over and snatched her up from the ground, bridal style.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?" the medic asked as she blushed. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she loved the feel of her lover's arms around her. A small smile graced her lips as she relaxed into his embrace.

"Giving you a ride. You don't mind too much, do you?" the Uchiha smirked as he saw the look on her face. It was the same look she had the first time he had confessed his love for her and had held her for the first time. Their eyes met and locked onto one another until a noise was heard behind them, breaking the spell.

"Ahem," Ayame cleared her throat as she spied the two totally engrossed with one another. She held her small son on her hip and did everything in her power to keep from ripping into them. "Lord Uchiha, why are you holding Lady Namikaze in such a familiar manner?"

"Uh, I'm just helping Sakura back home after she had her baby. Her worthless husband seems to have disappeared, so I have to pick up the slack!" he forced a smile hoping that Iruka's wife would pick up on the playfulness him his voice. Her glare told him otherwise.

"Ayame, have you seen Naruto? It's been days since I saw him last, and I'm worried about him," Sakura pleaded as she watched the older girl's face set hard. Sakura could see the barely controlled rage just below the surface. "Oh god, she knows!"

"Lady Namikaze, I haven't seen Naruto…Lord Namikaze… around here since just before you had your baby," Ayame replied through clinched teeth as she turned on her heel and began to walk away. What she had told Sakura was the truth: She hadn't seen Naruto on the streets, but she had seen him laying in his hospital bed when she and Iruka had gone to visit earlier in the day. Iruka and Ayame held each other and poured their grief out as Tsunade informed them of his condition.

"Hey, Ayame! What's your problem?" Sasuke called out, clearly irritated at her attitude. Ayame turned back around, her eyes glistening with unshed tears as she snarled at the younger couple.

"My father always told me that if I can't say anything good to someone, then to not say anything at all. Thus, Uchiha, I have nothing to say to either of you!!" With that last remark and a rather rude gesture, Ayame stormed away, leaving behind a startled and confused couple.

"What the hell was that about? You don't think…?" Sasuke asked as he looked at the woman in his arms. Sakura nodded her head sadly.

"She knows," Sakura confirmed softly, bringing a scowl to her lover's face. A small growl escaped his throat as he began to carry Sakura to her home.

"What the hell did Naruto do? Run around town and tell everyone what happened?" the Snake Summoner asked as he began to look around, noticing that other people on the street were either turning away and ignoring them, or sending them withering glares. Sasuke felt a shiver run down his spine as he began to speed toward the Namikaze estate. Sakura looked around fearfully, the sight of all the hateful gazes making her want to run and hide.

"Is this how Naruto felt when he was growing up?" she mused as Sasuke began to wonder the same thing. It was bad when he first came home, but now it felt a hundred times worse, and he really couldn't understand why. After five minutes or so of roof-hopping, they finally arrived at the Namikaze estate. The sight that greeted them was shocking, to say the least.

"Hold," a dragon-masked ANBU ordered, holding out his hand as Sasuke landed before the front door of the large house. After setting Sakura down, he turned to confront the ANBU.

"What's going on, Neji?" Sakura asked as she followed her lover to the door, noticing a large seal had been placed on it. Glancing around, she noticed the same seals on all the windows as well. What she failed to notice was the dark red stains on the door, the front steps, and the sidewalk. "I need to get inside, clean up, and look for Naruto. If you'll excuse me…" The masked Hyuga refused to move.

"I'm sorry," Neji replied, though his tone clearly showed that he wasn't, "however, this home has been sealed upon orders from the Hokage. It shall remain so until it's rightful owner returns."

"WHAT?!" Sakura barked as she glared daggers at the ANBU, who refused to remove his mask despite the fact that they knew exactly who he was. Sasuke took a step forward and slapped Neji's hand out of the way, then suddenly backed up as Neji's wakizashi instantly appeared against Sasuke's throat.

"Are you attacking a fellow Leaf Shinobi while in the commission of his duties? You know the penalties for that, don't you, Uchiha?" Neji sneered as he activated his Byakugan the very instant Sasuke activated his Sharingan. Unfortunately for Sasuke, he was still at a disadvantage, seeing how a razor-sharp blade was poised to end his life. Sasuke finally realized the danger he was in and deactivated his blood limit.

"No," the Uchiha replied calmly, past the lump in his throat, "I'm merely trying to help the Lady Namikaze into her house. She is tired and wishes to speak to her husband." Sakura quickly nodded her head, agreeing with Sasuke. The Dragon turned his head toward her, his mask hiding the smirk on his face.

"Lord Namikaze is not in at the moment, thus the reason the house is sealed," Neji answered, delighting in the look of confusion on the other two's faces.

"Neji, this is my house, too," Sakura said as she made to move past the two men, only to receive a nasty shock from the seal. "What the hell!?"

"Like I said, the house has been sealed until Lord Namikaze returns," Neji smiled under his mask. Sakura was beginning to get really angry, which amused Neji even more.

"It's okay, Sakura, we'll merely go to the Hokage and get her to release the seal. You are the Lady of the House, after all," Sasuke replied, causing the ANBU to grin viciously under the mask. Reaching into his vest, Neji produced two scrolls and held them out toward Sakura.

"The Hokage thought you may wish to speak to her, so she supplied these to give to you as well as a message," Neji spoke formally to the pink-haired medic. Sakura's eye twitched somewhat at Neji's tone. "The Hokage stated, and I quote, 'Tell Uchiha and Haruno that I am busy and that I don't have time to put up with their petty little concerns. It is all explained in the scrolls.' Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a home to guard."

"Haruno?" Sakura thought as she broke the seal on the first scroll and read it, her skin turning deathly white as the words forced their way into her startled brain. "What?! You have got to be kidding, Neji! This can't be real, there are certain procedures that have to be followed, laws that have to be obeyed…."

"What's wrong, Sakura?" Sasuke asked, worried about the condition of his lover. A stray tear slid down Sakura's cheek as she handed the scroll over to Sasuke, who promptly read it and dropped it to the ground. "Divorce? When? How? Why?" he sputtered, his eyes locking onto the Hyuga once more.

"Seriously? You two didn't see this one coming, after what you did to him?" Neji responded incredulously, shaking his head. "By the way, Miss Haruno, all laws and procedures were followed. The evidence was so overwhelming that the Hokage followed Lord Namikaze's wishes and expedited the proceedings. You are shinobi, after all, not civilians. The Hokage has final say over these matters, not civilian courts."

"What? Did Naruto go crying to the Hokage about how we wronged him? Did he beg her to throw Sakura and our baby out on the streets? I knew he was hurt, I just didn't think that jackass would…urk!" Sasuke raged until he felt Neji's sword pressed once more to his throat.

"Do not speak ill of Lord Namikaze in my presence ever again, traitor! I, and most people in Konoha, including you two, owe their lives to him! He has saved this village more times than most of us want to even think about! We owe him a little respect!" The Hyuga growled under his mask, letting off no small amount of killer intent.

"Neji, we're talking about Naruto here. You know, our knuckleheaded friend? The ramen-eating fool? My husband?" Sakura responded quietly, trying to calm the Hyuga. "I really need to talk to him! I gotta make him see reason, I have no place to live now! What are me and the baby going to do now?"

"He is no longer your husband, Haruno! You lost that right when you first spread you legs for the scumbag here!" Neji spat, his comments causing red to creep up Sasuke's neck. Despite his anger, there was nothing he could do with a razor-sharp sword pressed to his throat. "If you will open the other scroll, it may answer some of your questions."

"Okay," she responded quietly as her eyes flickered over to her lover. Breaking the seal, she read silently for several moments before tears began to openly flow. Sniffling and wiping her eyes, she turned back to Sasuke. "It's from Naruto. He…he says he's sorry for wasting my time over the past five years. He says he should have known that I could have never really loved someone like him, and that he should have never stood in our way! He says he divorced me as quickly as he could so that the three of us could be a family. It says he sent all my stuff over to your compound before he left. He hopes that we'll be happy to…together and that he hopes for the best! Oh god, after what we've just done to him, and he still worries about us? Sasuke…?" With that, she broke down as great sobs escaped her lips. Neji removed his sword, allowing the Uchiha to rush over and comfort his lady, wrapping his arms around her and supporting her the best he could.

"I…I've got nothing now! Nowhere to live! My husband has forced me out!" she bawled as Sasuke held her close and rubbed her back soothingly.

"It's alright, Sakura," Sasuke replied as he continued to consol her. "Naruto said he sent your stuff over to my place, you can stay there with me! It's not like we hadn't already planned on that anyway," he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. Sakura had the good grace to blush at the look on his face. "We knew you would have to leave him eventually."

"Yeah, eventually, but not this soon! This has been my home for five years! I….I was hoping that we could have broken this to him slowly, not like what happened!" she sniffled, looking into Sasuke's black eyes.

"Come on, let's go home," he said as he picked her up once more and turned toward the ANBU, "This isn't over yet, Neji!" Sasuke carried his lover away from the Namikaze estate and began to roof-hop toward the other side of town. Neji watched them go, his eyes narrowed behind his mask.

"Oh, you have no idea, Uchiha! You have no idea!"

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Ino was once more sitting by Naruto's bedside, her head resting next to his as she whispered softly, hoping that he could hear everything she was saying. She talked about how things were going around town, how their friends had come to visit him, how much they all missed him, and especially about how Iruka and his family had come and visited earlier in the day. Naruto remained motionless the entire time, his mind still shut down, the only clue that he had lived through his attempt was the steady rise and fall of his chest.

"We all really miss you, silly," she sighed as she reached out and placed a hand on his chest, reassuring herself that he was indeed still alive. Naruto made no sign that showed he even knew that she was there. Ino laid her head back down and snuggled up next to his, getting as close to his ear as she could. "I really miss you. I need to hear your loud voice again. I need you to wake up and drag my ass down to the ramen stand and force another bowl of that stuff down my throat. I'll let you in on a secret: I really do like ramen, I just bitch about it to get a rise out of you," she giggled softly before her face became serious again.

"You'll never guess what happen! Shikamaru finally got off his lazy ass and asked Temari to marry him, and she 'yes'! I guess seeing everything that happened to you really opened his eyes, he even volunteered to resign from Konoha and move to Suna for her. She told him that wasn't necessary, so she sent a message to Gaara to let him know what was going on. He should be here in a day or so to work out the details, and to see you, of course. Shika thought about it later, and realized that this could be a good thing for Konoha. A political marriage will strengthen the treaty between our two villages, even if the marriage didn't start out as one. Believe it or not, but Temari thought that was a great idea! Man, those two are so romantic, I just can't stand it!" she smirked, her last statement laced with copious amounts of sarcasm. She half-expected to him laugh out loud and agree with her, but the only answer she got was the steady beeping of his monitors. She sighed again as the great chasm of despair began to open wide for her once more. Tears began to form in her eyes, but before they could fall, a muffled sound came from behind the door to his room. Ino raised her head as she watched Shizune walk in with a loud, squirming bundle in her arms, a look of desperation on her face.

"Shizune, is that…?" Ino asked as the medic quickly crossed the room and stood next to Naruto's bed. Ino noticed that the sounds got quieter the closer Shizune was to the stricken blonde on the bed.

"Yeah, it's Sakura's baby," Shizune replied as she bent down and placed the small, thrashing baby next to Naruto in the bed. Much to her relief, he quickly got quiet and still as he snuggled up to the Toad Sage. Ino and Shizune both sighed as they watched the two on the bed, baby and wanna-be father both. "That's the quietest he's been since he was born! I was getting really worried there about his health, but he seems to relax when he's near Naruto. I wonder why?"

"He would have made such a good daddy," Ino replied sadly as her imagination began to runaway with her, thoughts of Naruto and lots of children outside, romping around and playing with each other. She watched Naruto smile as all the kids dog-piled him before a call from the front door of his house drew his attention to….

"Ino? Are you okay?" Shizune asked as she watched the young blonde woman space out before her. Ino quickly shook her head and looked at the concerned medic.

"Yeah, just tired and stressed out, that's all," the mind-walker responded as she reached out and stroked the baby's face, then Naruto's. If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn she had seen a small smile try to force it's way onto Naruto's face. "How long are you going to leave the baby here? Sakura's gonna be pissed when she comes in and finds them like this."

"Don't worry about that, she and Sasuke left the hospital for a while to head back to the estate. Knowing those two, it'll be a while before they return. I'll leave the baby here until they get back because he really needs some rest. The staff will tell me when they get back." Shizune gave Ino a wink as she handed the young blonde a bottle. "If he wakes up before I get back, he's going to be hungry. Do you think that you can…?"

"Sure," Ino smiled as she took the bottle and set in next to her on the table. Shizune smiled at her as she walked back out the door, leaving the three alone in the room. "You will make a great daddy one day, Naruto! You'll just need to find the right woman," Ino said as she stroked the whisker marks on his cheeks, tears sliding down her face.

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Sasuke was livid. It was bad enough that he and Sakura had discovered the words 'bastard' and 'traitor' painted on the outside walls of the Uchiha compound in big, red letters, but it was what he found inside that had really pissed him off.

"What exactly do you mean, 'reparations'," the Uchiha seethed as he stood at attention before the Hokage. Tsunade narrowed her eyes as she leaned forward and rested her chin on her knuckles, her gaze withering. "And what does that have to do with what I found at my home?!"

"Simple, Uchiha," Tsunade said with a predatory smile that would make a shark piss itself in fear, "As you may remember, imprisonment wasn't the only part of your punishment for betraying the village…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know! I was also locked into the rank of Genin until such time as I proved my loyalty to Konoha. But what does that have to do with strangers moving into the Uchiha compound?!" he bellowed, only to have Tsunade stand up from behind her desk in the blink of an eye and backhand him, causing him to stumble. Blood poured from his split lip.

"Watch how you speak to me, Jounin! I am still Hokage of this village and you will speak to me with respect! Understand me?" she snarled, causing Sasuke to nod his understanding. He was very thankful that she hadn't used her famous chakra-infused punch.

"Good," she replied as she took her seat once more. "Now, it was stated in your sentencing that any additional punishments can be added as warranted by the Hokage. After reviewing your case, and the expenses incurred in your retrieval over the years, it has been determined that a financial award to the village was appropriate."

"But….but that's my home! It's the Uchiha ancestral grounds! You….you just can't take most of it away from me and my clan just to punish me!" Sasuke pleaded with the Hokage, but to no avail.

"Your clan? Right now, Uchiha, your clan consists of yourself and your illegitimate child! That hardly warrants the amount of land the Uchiha compound takes in the village! Do you realize that your clan compound comprises approximately one-fifth the total area of the village? That's an awful lot of land for just two people," Tsunade smirked as she saw the desperation in the Uchiha's eyes.

"I need room for my clan to grow, Lady Hokage! I will rebuild my clan, and we'll need space to live," Sasuke growled, coming dangerously close to another slap.

"Understood. At that time, you can buy back some of the land from the village," Tsunade replied as she set several sheets of paper before the angry Jounin. "As you can see, you still have more than enough land in which to raise a family. We didn't take your house, nor any of the immediate area. We didn't take any of your personal or family fortune, though we were well within our rights to do so. You do have a child to raise, and I am not so cruel as force a child into poverty."

"No, but you will force him to grow up in cramped conditions," he shot back, earning a death glare from Tsunade.

"Cramped conditions?! You have a huge house and over one hundred acres to raise your children on! What do you know of cramped conditions? You weren't forced to live in a small, two room apartment from the age of four and beyond! No real place to call your own, no family to support you, no one really giving a rat's ass whether you lived or died!!" Tsunade yelled, causing the young man before her to cringe, waiting for the promised slap. Suddenly, understanding lit up his world.

"This is about Naruto, isn't it? What did he do, beg you to punish me when he got you to expedite his divorce from Sakura? Did he demand that you take everything from me like he thinks I've done to him? Like he's done to Sakura? Do you know he threw her out on the street without a penny to her name? God, I never thought he would be that petty!" Sasuke saw a brief flicker of grief flash across her eyes before her face became a stone-cold mask once again.

"First off, I haven't spoken to Lord Namikaze since before he had a clone bring me the divorce petition. Second, he may have taken sole custody of the Namikaze estate, but he has left Sakura far from penniless. He signed over an eighth of his family fortune to his ex-wife, which is approximately what your entire family fortune is worth. He also signed over a nice sized house to her, which happens to be close to your own home. Had you read the divorce decree, you may have noticed that. Third, Lord Namikaze has absolutely no knowledge of what punishments have been levied upon you. He specifically asked me not to punish you for your transgressions, but as Hokage, I have a village to look out for. The land and buildings confiscated from you are being assigned, rent free, to the refugees we have taken in from other villages. Also, several of the buildings are being converted into orphanages for those children who have lost their parents. The old orphanage was a disgrace and entirely overfilled. You wouldn't want to allow those children to suffer, would you, seeing how you're a…father…now yourself?" Tsunade asked in her sweetest voice.

"Uh…no ma'am," he replied, deflated and defeated. This had truly had been one hell of a day.

"Good! Now, take the weekend off, then report to me first thing Monday morning. Until such time as I deem you and your judgment sound, you are restricted to D-rank missions. You will meet your new Genin team here at 8 AM sharp, do you understand?" The Snake Summoner bristled at the thought of having to perform such low rank missions, but he realized that Tsunade was being extremely lenient with him. Things could have gone much worse. He merely nodded his understanding. "Excellent, you're dismissed."

"Um, Lady Hokage?" he asked as he began to step out of her office. Tsunade glanced up from her paperwork, looking annoyed. "If you see Naruto, could you tell him that we're worried about him? We haven't seen him since the baby was born, and we all really need to sit down and talk about what happened." Tsunade's eyes widened in shock.

"Oh god, they don't know!" she screamed in her mind. Her child was laying in a hospital bed, dead to the world, and the two that helped cause it knew noting about it. "If get a chance to tell him, Mr. Uchiha, I'll let him know……"

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A/N: Writing these short chapters is driving me nuts! I can only get some much in, but I want to add so much more! Anyone that has read any of my other stories can attest to the length of their chapters. These just seem like drops in the bucket!

I hope everyone likes how I've started off the punishments for Sasuke and Sakura. Trust me, we are far from finished. Heh! Later!-Lord Talon