I have a good reason for my late update, but none of you really care so... here's the next chapter.

Hope you enjoy

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Fading places

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It was almost nine in the night when she got to the yellow label surrounding every single entryway to the forgotten Uchiha compound; she felt cold all of a sudden and childishly wondered if there were ghosts inside.

She got in easily and felt even colder; she stopped to pull the coat over her shoulders and then resumed her walking around the big district; old shops and houses, withered gardens and tall trees moving with the wind, the lights flickering on an off giving an eerie feeling of loneliness. She glanced down at the address she had copied from Sasuke's old file and did her best to find the right house among the many other ones looking alike.

All in all she thought the place must have been really nice before, the Uchiha's crest painted on the walls surrounding the district made it look like a… home inside home. She didn't belong there, but Sasuke did and it made her wonder if he missed this place.

She found the house and regarded it with nervousness. Sasuke lived there once and now it was plagued by haunting memories, but there were so many good ones too she hoped she'd find something so she could reach inside his rotting mind before it was too late.

She had done an exhaustive research about poisons and according to Jugo's story and the symptoms Sasuke had and she realized the poison affected mostly the brain, but put the body into a weakened state. It was like he was in a coma. There were few things she could do to prevent him from dying.

She could work on his wound and body to take out the poison and give him some vitamins and food to get him strong again, but it was useless if his mind refused to work along… she couldn't heal the brain damage that had been casted upon his head. She was as blind here as he was.

She walked over to the door feeling a chill run down her spine and slid the door open with utmost care, not wanting to cause some sort of damage. She could see the dark place barely illuminated by the moonlight coming from a window at the far end.

She saw a switch and went to it hoping the electric system was working… when the light above her snapped on to life she smiled and sighed in relief.

Every single surface was covered in dust and even if it was rude she kept her sandals on as she walked around the entry hall… it was so spacious and… it was beautiful, of course not in the current state, but it probably had been a great house.

She walked to the far end and let the moonlight wash over her as she regarded the living room. Why had the left this place untouched?

They should've cleaned it and demolished every house… there was a dirty cup on the coffee table and she felt so scared her knees were trembling. What scared her most was the fact that she remembered Sasuke used to come here often when they were genin. It wasn't healthy, now she understood many more things about him.

She walked around avoiding the coffee table and glanced to her right an entryway leading to the kitchen and with a quick scan the only thing that was creepy was a dirty plate and a glass in the sink…

She could almost see Mikoto-san; Sasuke's mother getting up from the couch as her husband; Fugaku-san drank some tea; she'd walk in the kitchen ready to wash the dishes from dinner.

She shivered and resumed her walking another door she realized took her to the back of the house were the huge backyard was probably the most beautiful image when not withered… with a heavy sigh she decided to avoid the open and walked back to the other end were a long hall, she thought, probably led her to the bedrooms.

She found a switch, but this one wasn't working; she bit her lower lip and walked ahead; there were 4 doors on her right and 4 on her left, the closest one was on her left and she slid it open; it was a small bathroom, so no point on going in there.

The next one on her right; it was a study with lots of bookshelves and a desk, some papers spread on the surface and a quill perched in a dried pot of ink, big windows casting shadows on everything.

"Probably Fugaku-san's study…" she muttered. She had read a lot about the Uchiha family and knew enough about them and Sasuke's family to know he used to be a police officer of sorts.

The next door on her left was a tool closet it was the size of her bedroom back in her parents' house and was filled with swords and different weapons she hadn't seen ever before…

"Let's avoid this one too…" she said sliding the door shut.

With a heavy sigh she opened the next one on her right and was glad to see a small living room with big doors on the other side that led to the backyard again.

She opened the door of the next room on her left and was surprised by a bedroom, it was tidy and in perfect state; she took a step inside and glanced around; nothing out of the normal, a big bed with black sheets with patters of the Uchiha's crest. A simple closet, a small desk and some papers on it, as she got closer she realized there were orders of a mission from the Uchiha's family, so this probably had been Itachi's room. There wasn't much in it, but as she turned her eyes landed on a portrait on the floor and some glass shreds around it.

It was the only thing out of the normal…

She squatted in front of it and raised it and dusted it against her coat, soon she was greeted by two smiling faces. She was astounded when she realized the smiling child was Sasuke and the much older boy was Itachi with a more concealed smile.

Sasuke's smile was like… it was so big she reminded by that one of Naruto's… She could see his teeth so bright and white! His big black eyes glinting with happiness as Itachi's stared at his little brother with amusement, Sasuke had a drawing in his hands; a cat.

She frowned when a tear hit the broken glass; why was she crying…?

She stood taking the picture with her; after all there was no one here to cherish these kinds of treasures. She exited the room and went to the next one on her right.

A big bathroom… was even bigger than the tool closet!

The last one on her left was another bedroom and just with a look she knew this used to be Sasuke's room; a simple bed and an empty closet; after his family was murdered Sasuke was put to live in a small apartment like that one of Naruto's. She realized that even if this hadn't been his room during his genin days there were two portraits on the nightstand next to his bed.

As she dusted them off she saw the old one of team seven and one of his family; she had seen it in his file long ago; she took both of them with her and exited the room going for the last door knowing full well it was his parents' bedroom.

She stopped in front of the door as if readying herself; she knew Fugaku-san and Mikoto-san had been killed in the family dojo, not their bedroom, but it was weird to go in like this.

Slowly she slid the door open and was greeted with darkness, but she could make out the bed's edge and some furniture, she went to the window and pushed the curtains, the light filtered through and she scanned the bedroom; there wasn't a desk, only a bed, a big closet and a little couch, there was a dusty blanket on it and an old little book.

She lifted the book and read the title…

"Satoru the ninja cat and his 9 lives…" She smiled and guessed this used to be Sasuke's favorite book for his mother to read.

She tucked the book with the photos and wandered to one of the nightstands and opened a cabinet. She took out what seemed like an album. She roamed the pages and smiled; it was a family album filled with nice memories about his life before the massacre.

She placed it under her armpit and stood, there wasn't much to take from this place anyway, she went out of the bedroom and sighed loudly; she was done there.

"Are you alright?" Shikamaru asked as he entered their bedroom, Ino was sitting on the bed with a worried expression.

"I am fine… just a bit worried…" she said avoiding his gaze.

"Because of Sasuke?" he asked and when she turned sharply to him he let out a loud sigh. "Naruto already told me… that's why you were late today." He said relaxed as he walked around the bed to lie on his side. "Should I be feeling worried about thinking so much about him?" he asked, though Ino heard the humorous tone in his voice she knew Shikamaru never asked these kinds of questions.

"Not at all… have you seen him?" she asked.

"No… but judging from Naruto's face he must seem bad…" he said as he took off his shirt and pants.

"He does… he's like a corpse, Shikamaru…" she said and lowered her gaze worriedly.

Shikamaru regarded her for a moment as he moved the blankets to get inside, he sighed once more.

"You're so troublesome…" she snapped her eyes up to him. She watched him lie down and face the opposite wall giving her his back. "I might be feeling a bit jealous…" she heard him mutter.

She giggled and turned off the lights as she got into bed and hugged him around the waist laying a kiss on his shoulder blades.

"Ah… I feel better now." She heard him again, but it was so emotionless she had to smile as she pressed against his warm body hearing him sigh once more. "Good night, Ino…"

"Oi… Hinata?" Naruto muttered in a low raspy voice as he turned to his wife.

Hinata stirred and turned to look at him over her shoulder with half-lidded eyes.

"Hmm?"

"Hmm… I was thinking about Sasuke and Sakura-chan…" he said and Hinata turned completely to him rubbing the sleep off her eyes.

"What about them?" she asked softly.

Naruto sat on bed and then frowned deeply making Hinata worried, Naruto was really concerned about Sakura, he worried so much about her that he was almost a father to her kids; she could remember a few times in the past when Fugaku had called him dad and Sakura was really ashamed and apologized many times with her.

Hinata knew there was a place in Naruto's heart for Sakura and too many times before she had felt insecure about her own place, but then again Naruto's heart was the biggest one in the world.

Naruto wasn't the brightest man she knew, but he was the most kind and the best of them all; he had the ability to change people and that was what made him unique. Of course he was a bit clumsy about his relationship with people. He was innocent and people took advantage of that.

"Well… when Sasuke gets better…" he trailed off and Hinata nodded. "…what will happen to them? What will happen with the twins?" he asked.

"Naruto… Sakura and Sasuke have a difficult situation ahead of them… but we cannot meddle. I know you want the best for both of them. Even if Sasuke's hope is with her you already know what she thinks of him…" she said in her soft voice.

"Yeah, but she needs to do it for the twins, right?" he asked hopefully.

"Naruto… Sasuke is not a father for them; he hadn't been there for her, for them…" she added.

"Yeah, but that was because he didn't know he had kids!" he said with a snort.

"Whatever the reason was, Naruto. He knew he could come home anytime, but he choose another path over this… over Sakura." She was fidgeting now, because few times she found herself "arguing" with Naruto. "I don't think he loved her." She said shyly and Naruto frowned.

"Then why would he do what he did?" he asked angrily, though not at his wife, but he was frustrated because he couldn't comprehend.

Hinata didn't know how to proceed, this was a complicated issue and she couldn't just say that Sasuke was a heartless man.

"Naruto…" she muttered.

"Sasuke is not a bad person… he just took all the wrong decisions. He wouldn't hurt her…" he said.

"Naruto… do you think Sasuke knows what love is?" she asked trying a different approach.

"He had a family! He knows what love is!" he said angrily. Hinata nodded in agreement.

"Let me ask again… do you think he remembers what love is?"

Naruto opened his mouth to answer but he fell silent… Sasuke knew what love was once long ago, but when his clan was murdered, he changed everything he loved for everything he hated.

Hinata put her hand on his and held it tight.

"You never met your parents, Naruto. You're right, he took all the wrong decisions, because your lives were similar and he did everything wrong, but he knew his parents, he had a brother and whole and big family living around him happily… then one day everything was gone." She explained. "It's hard to miss something you never had… but… he had it all…"

Naruto felt his chest constricting in pain; she wasn't saying something he didn't know about, but… it was the first time he saw it that way.

"Sasuke…" he muttered feeling for his friend.

"You need to wait… we all need to wait and see what will happen…" she kissed his cheek softly… "You need to trust in Sakura…"

"So…" Kakashi dragged on as he watched the boy in front of him drinking his juice…

"Hn…" Kakashi repressed the urge to roll his eyes at the monosyllabic son of the monosyllabic jerk.

"What's with your mother and your grandmother…?" he asked curiously.

"You were her sensei… shouldn't you know about your student's family?" he asked with narrowed green eyes.

"Ah… well… is not a requisite…" he tried, though the monosyllabic kid was right.

"So it is not a requisite for me to tell you…" he said as he shrugged. Kakashi sighed.

"You don't like her?" he asked ignoring his smart-ass comment.

Fugaku rolled his eyes and sighed.

"We don't like her. We as in Sakura-san, Mikoto and me…" he sipped at his drink.

"Why? Is she mean? Is she a bad nanny? She missed your birthday or something?" he mocked.

"You always forget our birthday and I don't hate you…much…" he added with a smirk.

"So? Is she a bad nanny?" he asked with a smirk under his mask.

"Hmm… we've never had her as a nanny…" he said and then grimaced. "She doesn't like us… at first I thought it was because of him, right? Since no one likes us anyway because of him… but…" he was dubious. "She doesn't like Sakura-san either… and it's not because of him…" Kakashi was even more curious now.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"Ah well… I overheard a conversation you know…? You can't tell Sakura-san… she'd kill me…" he said.

"What did you hear?" Kakashi asked.

"Something about how grandpa died because of her… but it seemed that grandpa didn't like Sakura-san when he was alive either, and because he didn't like her grandma didn't like her either… I don't know the details, but it makes me wonder…" he shrugged.

"About what?" he asked again.

"Well… it must be sad if your parents don't like you, right?" he stared this sensei and Kakashi had to agree with him.

"Yes… it must be sad…"

What had happened with Sakura's parents?

He would've never guessed in a thousand years her parents hated her; Sakura never said anything bad about them, but she never said anything good either. He was majoring as the worst sensei ever every single second that passed.

He needed to figure out what had happened for her parents to dislike her so much even before she got pregnant with Sasuke's children…

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