Apologies for the lateness! It's my final year of uni so things are scatty at the moment.

.

Kiba slammed his fist into a tree. "Sai! For fuck's sake. Look, there's no way Sasuke would get past me, Shino and Hinata. It's impossible. Neither bugs or dogs are susceptible to Genjutsu and Hinata's eyes are miles better that the Sharingan anyway." He crouched slightly in a menacing manner. "Now get out of here before me and Akamaru rip your liver out."

"It's 'Akamaru and I', actually." Sai frowned. "And although I appreciate the werewolf reference, I don't feel it applies here."

"Just go!"

Sai rolled his eyes and shrugged at Shino. "Thanks anyway."

"No problem." The man nodded, a fly dashing out from behind his glasses and into his shirt. Sai suppressed a shudder. Naruto was right; this guy was just with one suspect down, Sai had only two left in the village.

But he was going to be late for dinner, and if he didn't even check in once Ino would actually kill him, and their child might cry, which was somewhat worse somehow.

.

"Ugh, Sakura really. You should do something about this hair." Ino scolded, tugging a brush through the pink strands. "I suppose you at least grew it out a little."

"Just as you cut yours." I muttered, and Ino's hand patted my arm in acknowledgement.

"I know, it's strange. I've become everything I said I wouldn't. I'm a real little woman, waiting at home to take care of the nest." I kept my eyes on the floor as she laughed carelessly. "I thought Sai would be surprised but he just shrugged as though he didn't care. But Sai's just like that."

"As long as you're happy." I ground out, trying to sound as cheerful as I could while still chained to a wall. Ino had brought in a large lantern and was currently styling my hair and make up so that I didn't look quiteso rogue.

That fact that I was rogue didn't come up.

"Do you... have children?"

He hands stilled in my hair, and she sat back, pretty blue eyes flitting across my face nervously. "Two. A girl and a boy. The boy was born a year after you left. Yoshio. He looks just like Sai." She smiled. "He's so clever, and funny..." A stab of pain went through me.

Hanako.

"I didn't know you two were even seeing each other." I said softly.

Ino smiled, cupping my chin so I was staring at her. "Yoshio was the result of a one night stand. We weren't really together until after he was born." I raised and eyebrow and she laughed. "I know. He got it into his head that we should be together and I went with it."

"Isn't that sort of taking advantage?"

Ino smiled. "Sort of. But he seems genuine, and I really am happy with him. He's better at this stuff than you give him credit for." Her eyebrows furrowed, catching herself. "Well, better than you gave him credit for. I suppose you're not really..." She blinked away tears. "It's so weird. It feels like you've just been here the whole time."

I sighed.

"I heard that you've been saying you have a daughter." She said, thoughtfully. "Kakashi confirms it's his." Oh really, that would be the first time he'd actually acknowledged Hanako as his own. I snorted and, at Ino's confused look, said as much. Blue eyes narrowed. "He's fighting your corner, you know. I know he's a lazy ass, but he's in love with you. I think."

"You're so convincing."

"Well I don't know!" Ino pouted. "He's acting as a witness at your hearing, so that counts for something."

"It depends if he's helping me or not." I said dryly, as Ino stood up, dusting off her knees. "Call me paranoid but Kakashi isn't one of my most trusted people right now." I sighed. Kakashi had never been an easy person to figure out, even when I'd spent every day with him. The only thing you could never question was his strong, unflinching devotion to Konoha.

A Konoha I wasn't a part of, anymore.

Ino sat back on her heels and smiled. "There. Done. Everything about you screams 'Reformed' now."

She held up a mirror, and I glared at the girl reflected back at me; Ino was right. Big green eyes lined softly with brown to look innocent and humble, long pink hair tousled just enough to look a mixture of angelic and downtrodden, and my bruises had been softened to look more like a feminine victim rather than a hardened fighter.

It was awful.

But it might help.

"Thanks." I said, and forced a smile. "It looks good." and almost on cue, the door to my cell opened. Shikamaru glanced at the two of us before activating his shadow control and making me stand up.

Ino scowled. "She doesn't needto be controlled, Shikamaru!"

"Orders are orders." Shikamaru sighed, but as we walked through the corridors to the council room, I realized that this was much lower security than I'd expect. Either Konoha was short staffed or they were stupid enough to be relatively trusting of me.

This might not be as hard as I'd assumed.

Tsunade sat at the head of the table, with the council members and clan leaders spreading out either side of her. I recognized more faces than I expected: some of my old comrades had attained their hereditary positions in my absence: Neji and Hinata were both present, as was Sasuke himself, though from his position at the table it seemed he held almost no real power. Naruto was sat next to Tsunade, and Kakashi was not too far down the line.

I'd not even known that the Hatake family was a clan.

Ino's father gave me a barely perceptible nod, and behind me, Ino reached out to hold my hand. Shikamaru knelt me down in the centre of the room and I bowed my head low.

"Haruno Sakura." Tsunade's voice sounded so much more tired than I remembered. "You are to be tried before the council and clan leaders of Konoha. Are you aware of the charges laid against you?"

"I am, Hokage-sama." I said quietly.

.

The hearing passed in something of a blur, despite my best efforts to keep myself focused. I remember feeling sick as Naruto, Sai, Sasuke and Kakashi recounted the details of the night before my defection in all the detail they could.

Kakashi, after a hesitation, even told them that Sasuke had attacked me, and that he had blamed me. I tried to speak up to deny it, but something about his expression silenced me.

Tsunade had decided to hold a hearing for Sasuke another time, but stressed that this didn't excuse my subsequent actions.

Witnesses from other countries gave evidence against me, and I was given the chance to defend myself. Afterwards, I remembered nothing of what I'd said but Naruto at least, had a less betrayed expression on his face, though he kept his eyes firmly turned from Sasuke.

When Hanako came up, Tsunade checked Ino's, Kakashi's and the hospital's accounts of why they believed I was pregnant, and concluded that I was telling the truth about giving birth on the run.

I'm not sure if it was out of mercy, fondness or even for the sake of the people who loved me, but the council ruled that I would be under house arrest for a total of ten years, lending my services and skills as a medic nin to the village whenever they required it.

It was an astonishingly light sentence, but according to Sai, Tsunade had wept after the hearing, alone in her office, and had put a ban on Sasuke leaving the village at all until his own hearing.

"It's his word against mine." I told Sai, as he escorted me to the guarded house in the Hokage's grounds. "There can't be a conviction. I left it too late."

Sai glanced up at the Hokage tower, and his hands tightened on my wrists. "Despite pretending otherwise, the Hokage is a very emotional person. While this gives her strength beyond belief, it also confuses her when she needs to be... well, like me. She won't make an informed decision, because she believes that Sasuke touched you. She loves you, and she's angry."

"Look at you." I smiled. "Talking about love and hate like a normal person. What a family man."

Sai smiled softly. "Well I have infants to teach, and I'd like it very much if they were as kind as my friends." I blinked, unsure how to take that comment. "Here you are. It's not big, but considering its purpose I'd say it's actually very aesthetically pleasing."

He was right, I supposed. The house was a neat little white plastered bungalow joined to the wall of the Hokage tower at the back, with a sloping red roof leading to a neat red door. It wasn't big, probably only big enough to hold the necessary rooms, and about the size of Naruto's old apartment. But it did look neat, and fairly pretty.

The assortment of cameras and ANBU hiding places were probably the only things that ruined it.

"So I'll be living here for the next ten years..." I said bitterly. "Wonderful." I pursed my lips at the realization this was a home for one. "Where will Hanako fit? There's only space for one, right?"

"Well if- whenwe find her, Tenzou can build an extension quickly. He's coming down later to fix a clinic to one side." Sai smirked. "He's a pretty handy builder to have around. No time to even make him a cup of tea and he's off on his way."

"Be nice." I grinned, and Sai unlocked the door, channeling chakra into the handle to open it. At my raised eyebrows he smiled guiltily. "Chakra locks?"

"Well it's your home, but it's still a prison." He explained, shrugging as he pushed the door open. "If you need any groceries just ask, since your friends will probably be visiting all the time anyway." It was strange, I realized, to hear Sai speaking so openly about friends and emotions. In many ways he was the same, but he was... well, five years older now.

They all were. Seeing so many of my peers in that meeting had brought it home a lot more than I'd expected. Everyone I knew was an adult now, and I'd missed it...

I turned to say goodbye to Sai, but he'd already gone. I bit back a wry grin; some things would never change.

It was only half an hour before my next visitor. A gentle knock on my door (more out of courtesy than anything else) and I turned to see Kakashi standing on the porch, an ANBU holding the door open. Kakashi looked at me pointedly. "Can I come in?"

The ANBU sighed and I struggled against the warm feeling in my chest when Kakashi shot him a glare. The ANBU agent shrugged and disappeared, though I had a creeping feeling he was still within earshot.

Kakashi cleared his throat and I blinked. "You really don't have to ask." I frowned.

"Really?"

"I mean, I have no say over who comes and goes anyway." He looked away, guilty, and I sighed. "What do you want?"

"Firstly, to apologize." Kakashi said, and my eyes narrowed. "I know how harsh this sentence is on you, and I know that I'm partly to blame."

"Partly?" I choked out.

Kakashi nodded, reaching out and grasping my shoulder. "Sakura, you know you're not innocent in all of this. You were number one in the bingo book and we both know what that means." He met my eyes, stony grey and hard.

He was right. You don't get to number one without doing some of the worst things a ninja can imagine. I had given up honour, spat in the face of friendship and betrayed everyone here in some of the worst ways imaginable.

"... So yes, I'm only partly responsible. But you are too."

"What do you mean?"

"You think I've been doing nothing these past years?" Kakashi smirked, and tugged down his mask. "You forget, Sakura, that I'm a prodigy. Sasuke married not too long after you left, but for some reason he and his young wife have yet to conceive."

I stared at him, not quite recognizing the man I knew. "What...?"

Kakashi lowered his voice. "I might not go about things the upfront way you and Naruto prefer, but I can get vengeance quite satisfactorily."

I didn't quite understand what he'd done, but I had the feeling that I really didn't want to know exactly; I had enough clues. I backed away and sat down heavily on one of the armchairs, leaning on my knees.

Kakashi tucked his hands into his pockets and waited patiently.

It took me a while to speak. "Why?"

"What he did was unforgivable, Sakura. I might be able to work with him on a professional level... even if it is just barely... but he won't go unpunished."

"I thought you didn't believe me. I thought you didn't care." I hated those words, how weak they sounded, but they needed saying. We needed to clear the air.

"Don't be stupid, Sakura. I'm not good at showing how I feel, but even I'm not that cold." He crossed the room to stand closer to me. "What Sasuke wants more than anything is an heir, and that is something he'll never have."

I thought for a moment, processing what Kakashi had said. "Unless..." I choked up, eyes widening at the implications of those words. "Unless he knows."

"What?"

"Maybe he knows someone has made it so that he can't have anymore children. Maybe he knows I had a child after leaving Konoha..." I trailed off, pleading with Kakashi through my eyes.

Please understand.

"... and he thinks Hanako is his child." Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "But there's no way he could escape ANBU's watch. He's under as much surveillance as you are."

"This is Sasukewe're talking about." I hissed. "He evaded ANBU for years. He could have Hanako! She could be right here, in Konoha..." Kakashi took me by the shoulders, shoulders slouched.

I met his eyes, and my breath hitched; he looked so pained.

"Kakashi... do you... not want to find Hanako?" I whispered, and Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

"Is that what you think?"

The room seemed to spin a little, and Kakashi's hands on my shoulders tightened. "I don't know. You don't seem to mind if she's here or not. You don't seem like a father."

"Because I'm not, Sakura." Kakashi growled. "You have to understand how this is for me. My family is you, Naruto, even Sai and Sasuke. For me, family is a word that applies to people who you have forged those bonds with. Hanako is a little girl with my DNA, but if she saw me in the street she wouldn't think any more of me than any other man. To me, she is a little girl who needs my help, and who is your daughter." He took a deep breath. "I wasn't given the chance to be her father."

He didn't say it to accuse, but I felt the need to defend myself. "I didn't do it deliberately!"

"I know." He said, and smiled sadly. "But it was done, and you need to understand that I can't feel the love for her that you do."

I sighed. "You're too reasonable." I eyed his attire properly for the first time since he'd arrived at the house. "What are you wearing?"

He looked down at himself, apparently confused. "My... uniform?"

"It's ANBU."

"Well... yeah."

I frowned; sometimes a conversation with this man was about as progressive as using your head to bash a hole through a wall... Although I suppose that isn't impossible. "So, you're on duty?" That, for some reason, irritated me. "You're on guard?"

"Nope, just finished." Kakashi said blithely, either not noticing, or pretending not to notice my rising irritation. "I brought you a present."

"Don't think that will get you out of trouble."

"Won't it?" He smirked and produced a thick brown manila folder, tossing it lightly into my hands. Confused, I glanced at him warily but he simply watched me lazily.

Then the name on the front made my breath catch. "Is this allowed?" When he didn't respond, I tore it open, my eyes devouring every last word inside the folder. "How did you getthis?" Inside was all the information amassed so far on Hanako's disappearance, including a witness report from Kakashi himself.

They were slowly working their way through possible rival villages, as well as any criminal groups in the area at the time. I couldn't believe how much had been done already...

"Tsunade and Naruto have been working hard with Shikamaru, and Sai has been doing some snooping within the village, though he thinks I don't know about it." A warm feeling swelled in my chest, tears threatening to burst forth. Kakashi moved to kneel before me, taking my hands in his. "Everyone is working hard."

At those words, my shoulders began to tremble and I closed my eyes, reaching for him. Kakashi's arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me close, stroking my back. "I thought..." He shushed me gently, cradling me against his chest. "Thank you Kakashi."

And after that, it was almost like it had been before. We looked over the information together, and discussed ideas as though it was a mission we were sharing. Kakashi made us dinner and we ate together, and I felt... worryingly relaxed. In his company it was easy to melt back into 'us'.

That... was a horrifyingly tempting prospect.

.

Frustrated, Naruto sat twitching on the bench, glaring at the empty space in front of him. No longer dressed in uniform, he wore his comfy orange and black jacket and trousers, but the scowl on his face was anything but his usual.

Beside him, Sai lounged back with his arms slung over the back of the bench, watching the same empty space with a much milder, though less expressive face. "Did you hear me, Naruto?"

"...Yeah." He chewed his lip. "But it's still annoying. I really thought we'd find it was either Sasuke-teme or the council." He scowled darkly. "I want to beat the shit out of him."

"You've done that numerous times already. I don't think it will really help any more this time."

"Shut up Sai." Naruto blew a loud, frustrated raspberry. "I just want to do something more, you know?" He stood up and kicked at the dusty pavement. "There has to be something else we can do."

Sai smiled. "Well actually there is something Shikamaru wants Ino to do, so you could come with us on the mission?"

Naruto turned to stare at Sai, agape. "And you didn't mention anything until now?"

Sobering slightly, Sai nodded. "The drawback would be that it leaves Sakura without three of her closest allies, right near the snake's nest."

Naruto ran a hand through his hair. "Well... there isn't just one of me, you know?"

.

Sasuke grunted heavily as he sat down at the table, his wife dutifully went about placing his plate before him and he picked up his chopsticks without a glance in her direction. When she sat opposite him, he noticed the dark stains on her arm and frowned.

"You made a mess."

Embarrassed, she tugged down her rolled up sleeves to hide the marks on her arms. "Well I've never done that before. I couldn't help it. I'm the only one who got stained though." She smiled tiredly. "Miku, show your father."

Sasuke turned to look at the small child beside him for the first time. Her head was kept firmly down. Sasuke reached out and took hold of her chin, lifting it so that he could inspect her face. "Very good." He agreed, and his wife grinned. "You look very good Miku." He offered a tight smile, but the girl scowled at him.

"I want my mum." She said quietly, but firmly. "And that's not my name."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry Miku, but your other mother did something very bad. She was a thief, and now she's in jail. I've been looking for you for a very long time, and everything I'm doing is for your protection, so no one takes you away." It was a lot to say at once, but his tone was firm enough that Miku knew she was being told off, and looked down guiltily.

After a brief hesitation, Sasuke laid a hand on the top of her head, and ruffled her hair gently. Across the table, his wife pushed Miku's plate a bit closer to her. "Eat up, Miku-chan. You need to eat to be a strong ninja like your father."

Something in Miku's eyes sparked, and she looked up disbelievingly. "You're a ninja?"

"We both are, darling." Sasuke's wife smiled. "Now hurry up and eat before it gets cold."

After a moment of thought, Miku frowned. "Why do I have to sleep in the cellar? It's cold down there."

"I told you." Sasuke's wife's voice went a little higher, and her eyes widened. "It's only until we're sure you're safe."

"Yes." Sasuke said sharply. "No one's taking you away again. You belong with me."

.

Well, at least WE know who the bad guy is! Sorry this chapters a tad short and maybe boring, but my mind is all over the place at the moment with teh sickness. By the way, I'm a bit worried I'm making Kakashi seem a bit of a baddie... he's meant to be a bit of a douche but that's cause he is anyway. He's not going to suddenly bond and get all fired up about a child he didn't know existed because he's not Maito Gai.

Hope you don't all hate me, and that you're bearing with me!