Your regularly scheduled story has been interrupted by this three part interlude that may or may not become canon to the story:

The stars in the sky could be seen clearly from Wayne Manor. Which was odd because in so many other places in Gotham that wasn't the case. The darkness and mayhem that Gotham was associated with couldn't be seen at the Manor, which brought her a small measure of peace. But only a small measure because for the most part Sakura Haruno wasn't happy.

She was outside the room Bruce had provided for her where there was a balcony attached. It was, without a doubt, her favorite place to be since it was the one place where she could truly think. The balcony doors were securely closed behind her and she sat on the railing just looking up at the sky and swinging her legs idly.

She had been living with Bruce lately. Staying with Clark had become rather uncomfortable as his relationship with Diana progressed. She didn't have a job since legally speaking, she didn't exist in their world so she had been living off Clark. It wasn't something that sat well with her. Not that Clark made her feel like a burden. Whenever she broached the subject with him, she was waved off as if the subject didn't matter, but it did. She was a single woman living with an attractive man who had a significant other. Bluntly speaking, she was a kept woman except there were no romantic entanglements between the two of them.

If she were in Diana's place it would bother her. So with due respect to the Amazon Princess Sakura asked Bruce if she could stay with him until she figured out what she was going to do. Clark hadn't been exactly happy about her decision, but it turned out to be the best move. Bruce, although he didn't live alone, had plenty of space for her to stay. Not to mention there wasn't really a steady woman in his life that she knew of that would feel uneasy about her presence.

Snow fell from the sky and touched her face, causing her to shiver. She should have grabbed a blanket as she didn't want to waste chakra trying to keep herself warm. She thought about going back inside but didn't really want to. Because, while she felt she wasn't a particular burden on Bruce he did have a family that she wasn't really comfortable around. Especially this time of year. She felt like an outsider. It was December 1st.

"What are you doing out here?" Sakura hadn't heard the doors open but given who had joined her it wasn't something that should have surprised her. A blanket was thrown over her shoulders and Sakura looked up into a familiar pair of ice blue eyes gratefully. Sakura smiled wearily before turning away from her host and huddling a little more into the blanket that had been given her.

"Thinking."

"About?"

"Home."

Bruce made a noncommittal noise and moved closer to Sakura's side. He was close enough to touch, but neither of them made a move to close the final distance between them. She was glad he didn't as she was certain if he did she would cry, which would only serve to make them both feel uncomfortable.

"You know you have a home with us as long as you wish, Sakura."

She knew that. That didn't mean she belonged. That didn't mean she didn't miss Naruto's smiling face or Kakashi's perversions. Sakura closed her eyes and lowered her head in an effort to control the pain in her heart and keep it from being heard in her voice.

"I had a life away from this world Bruce. I had purpose and meaning. Sometimes I feel like I'm here because I'm useless. I want to go home. I need to prove my worth." He didn't reply which wasn't unusual. When he was at home he was never much of a talker. When he was Batman he wasn't much of a talker either. She guessed that was just his nature. "It will be Christmas soon and I don't even know if my loved ones are even alive. They don't know if I'm alive." Sakura sighed at his silence and continued. "We don't know where I came from, but Hal offered to take me with him and talk to the Guardians, to see if they know of the world that I came from, to see if they know how I managed to arrive here and why."

"You want to go."

"I do."

Sakura turned around then and bit her bottom lip only to see Bruce staring at her steadily. She met his gaze unflinchingly because he had to know she was serious about this. She wanted him to understand and respect her decision to leave. She didn't know why that was so important to her, only that it was.

"And this has nothing to do with Clark and his relationship with Diana?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I am aware that you're fond of him." Of course, he was. There was very little that could be hidden from his all knowing eyes. He wasn't even supposed to know that Clark and Diana were together. They didn't want people to know yet, but it didn't surprise her that Bruce had somehow come across the information.

"I am fond of Clark, but not in the sense you're implying."

Silence descended among them that eventually had to be broken. "I can't make you stay, but I ask that you keep in mind that this is a special time of year. If you leave now then Hal has to leave as well. And what of his family? His friends? I have no doubt that he'd go now if you asked it, but you should take his feelings into consideration."

He was right and she knew it. She couldn't ask Hal to help her search for her home world right now. It wouldn't be fair to him. Sakura looked down once more.

"But if this has something to do with Clark and Diana I ask that you reconsider." Sakura's eyes widened at the request, but she didn't get the chance to question him on it. "Come on. You've been cooped up in your room the entire time you've been here and you've yet to meet anyone."

He was right. She had been rude and the honest truth was that she couldn't believe that he tolerated it. Sakura climbed down off the railing and thereafter bowed. "Please forgive my rudeness." Bruce waved a hand and gestured for her to come inside and she did so. She thought she saw a bit of warmth in his normally cold eyes, but it was gone so quickly she was certain she imagined it. Her eyes closed as she walked in and when the warm air from the heater hit her face and seeped into her bones a sigh of bliss escaped her lips. She ignored Bruce's chuckle.

They walked out of her room and down the hallway and Sakura had yet to relinquish her blanket. She knew she'd have to eventually. She actually felt odd walking around Bruce's opulent home wrapped in a blanket. She decided to hold on to it until someone told her to let go.

"So how many children do you have?"

"Three sons."

Sakura glanced at him, surprised. Three children. She wouldn't have thought it of him. He seemed so disciplined and controlled. It sort of surprised her that she was wrong. "And no wife? You've been...busy."

Bruce raised a brow at her phrasing then chuckled. "Two are adopted. Only one is my biological son—and that is a long story." Sakura blushed and turned her head hiding her face from view, but she had a feeling he knew she had just embarrassed herself.

"And they all stay here with you?"

"The oldest lives on his own, but for the holidays, he comes and stays a week or two. So he's not here now, but he'll be here later on this month. You'll meet him soon."

"And are they...like you?" Bruce frowned obviously wondering what she meant. She could have meant several things. Handsome, smart, rich were only the starters. However, that wasn't what she meant in the least. "I've heard about Batman's Robin...so I wondered..."

Bruce didn't reply and Sakura figured she had gone a little too far. The rest of their walk was completed in silence. He led her to the dining room—it was her first time being there as she took her meals in her room. Her eyes immediately landed on Alfred, who smiled at her in welcome.

"Miss Sakura, it's good to see you out and about."

"It's good to be out, Alfred." Alfred, aside from Bruce, was the only person in Wayne Manor that she'd had contact with. There were times when she felt like she was being watched, but since she didn't detect a threat she didn't bother searching for the presence—especially since nothing perverted was going on.

Alfred pulled out a chair for her and Sakura sat down at Bruce's right side. They weren't alone for long. A little boy entered the room shortly after them. If Sakura had to guess she'd say he was about 8 or 9. His eyes took in the room and somehow Sakura knew by the way he took everything in was that he was trained. No child paid that much attention to detail unless at some point in his life he had to. The boy finally met Sakura's gaze and she knew without a doubt that this was Bruce's biological son.

"Damien, come meet Sakura."

Damien stalked forward and raised an eyebrow at Sakura. She had no idea what he expected her to do, but something about him gave her the impression that he was an insufferable twit, which would be normal for a child his age.

"Can you fight?"

Sakura smiled. "Can you?" She already knew the answer to the question, but she wanted to hear his answer. He opened his mouth but before he could reply to her an older boy walked in ruffled his hair and gave him a slight push out the way. Sakura bit her bottom lip when she saw Damien scowl. The older boy walked over to her and extended his hand, which Sakura took and shook slightly. Sakura silently admitted that he was a cutie.

"I'm Tim. I've heard a lot about you."

Sakura smiled. "I'm Sakura. I wish I could say the same."

Tim was a little taller than her, but being a part of the Justice League made her used to being the smallest one around. She was just thankful that Damien was shorter than her. At least she had some height on someone...for a little while at least.

"So, what are you going to do about your secret identity?"

"Secret identity?" Sakura asked Tim curiously. He, himself, told her that he was Red Robin—not Batman's Robin. That was someone completely different. Although, she now had a clue as to who Robin actually was. She still never asked the question again, though. She figured if Bruce wanted her to know he'd tell her. Besides, Tim told her he was Red Robin but she technically wasn't supposed to know. She had been sworn to secrecy and she wasn't about to break Tim's confidence. He was becoming someone she enjoyed being around. He was extremely intelligent and had a decent sense of humor. But although that was true, she wondered why Bruce adopted him.

Speaking of Bruce, he had gone to Wayne Enterprises leaving the three of them at home with Alfred who only appeared when she was snooping. She swore the old man had some sort of tracking device on her that she just couldn't find.

"Yeah, I mean you hair is a dead giveaway that you work with the Justice League and for safety reasons, we can't afford to have that type of connection."

She was aware of that. She often altered her appearance when she lived with Clark but she only did that because he told her he didn't want people to know he was Superman. She supposed the same line of logic could be used for Bruce.

"When I leave the house I alter my appearance."

Tim looked at her quizzically. "Really? How?"

"Like this." Sakura moved her fingers slightly altering her eye color and changing it to blue while she changed her hair to a fiery red. Tim's eyes grew large.

"You'd be great for undercover work!" Sakura laughed. "Can you make yourself look like someone else?"

Sakura furrowed her brow and then said, "You mean like this?" Tim immediately jumped away from the table toppling his chair when he found himself looking into the insane eyes of Joker. Sakura laughed and returned to her normal appearance.

"Keep that one a secret. Not many people know I can do it."

"No, problem. In fact, I'll forget that ever happened." Sakura pressed her lips together to keep from laughing again. He hadn't looked particularly happy that she was amused at his expense. "Come on." Tim grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled her to her feet.

"Where are we going?"

"My room."

Sakura grinned and said, "I'm not that type of girl." She had the delight in feeling him drop her hand like it was on fire and seeing his face turn a deep red color. Sakura quietly admitted to herself that she liked teasing Tim. He made himself such an easy target that she just couldn't resist. She never had that type of relationship with any guy back home, but she sort of wished she did. It was so amusing.

"I didn't mean-" Tim took one look at Sakura's face and scowled. "How old are you anyway?"

"You're seriously asking me my age?" The offense on Sakura's face wasn't to be taken lightly and yet Tim was obviously incredulous.

"Aren't you a little young to be concerned with people knowing how old you are?"

"Aren't you old enough to know asking in the first place is rude?"

Tim scowled again, grabbed her hand, and dragged her along. Sakura couldn't help laughing out loud as he tugged her.

When he opened the door to his room Sakura's eyes grew large. It was nothing like her ornately decorated bedroom that looked like it was designed specifically for a woman. In fact, the only clue that it was a bedroom at all was the bed. Otherwise, it looked like an office. Or realistically speaking, like the Batcave. She had only been in there once, but she only needed one time for it to leave an impression. She was certain the same could be said for Tim's bedroom. Monitors filled the room from floor to ceiling that he turned on as soon as they entered the room.

Once the computer booted up he immediately started typing and pulled up image after image for her to look at.

"What's going on, Tim? Who are these people?"

"They're metahumans like you."

Sakura frowned. She didn't know what that was, but just from the context clues, it wasn't a definition that fit her. "I'm not a meta...human. I'm just human."

"No offense Sakura, but you'll never be 'just' a human. Especially since you're a member of the League." Sakura's frown deepened, but she didn't reply and Tim took that as his sign to continue. "Teenage metahumans all over the world have been disappearing lately. I have evidence that points to a group called N.O.W.H.E.R.E being behind their disappearance."

"Kidnapping? Have you told anyone from the League?"

"Besides you? No."

"Why would you tell me?"

"Because this is something I wanted to handle myself, but I was thinking...maybe you'd come with me."

"Come with you where? Have you talked to Bruce about this?"

"New York and he'll be fine with it...if you ask for me."

Sakura's eyes grew large. Tim was nothing but trouble. He thought he could look at her with those pretty blue eyes and get whatever he wanted. But Sakura was no sucker. "Wait a minute, Tim."

"Come on Sakura. I'm not blind. Anyone can see that Bruce has a soft spot for you!"

She didn't know whether or not she'd call it a soft spot. Bruce was a hard man who didn't tolerate foolishness from anyone well. It just so happened that she wasn't capable of tolerating high volumes of B.S. either. They recognized that in one another and as a result worked well together.

"He doesn't have a 'soft spot' for me. You make it sound like something that it's not."

"Soft. Spot." Tim reiterated clearly causing Sakura to roll her eyes.

"So you want me to exploit it." Sakura deadpanned. Not missing a beat Tim retorted, "Yes."

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at how seriously he uttered his 'yes'. "No! I'm not even supposed to know you're Red Robin."

"Then I'll tell him that I told you. We'll wait a few weeks and then you can convince him to let me go."

Sakura ran a hand over her face when she realized he wasn't about to let this go. "How about this, tell him I know that you're Red Robin and then if he doesn't kill us both we'll discuss me convincing him to let you go to New York."

"And you'll come with me?"

Sakura smiled sadly at Tim not giving him an answer.