AN: So I've pretty much worked this entire fic to get to this point, and even now it feels slightly out of character for Sasuke to act as he does in this chapter as I reread it. Sooooo, sorry if you get that feel. I get the impression, until Naruto the manga actually ends, anything that isn't a tragedy will seem ooc for Sasuke, so hope this satisfies at least a bit.

Chapter 21: Hikaru

Sakura paused when she heard Konoha in the whispering of the crowd outside the palace.

"I heard the Myoji demanded the sanction be lifted from our or they were going to kill that baby they bought!"

Sakura felt like someone winded her as she stared at the grand entrance into the newly built palace. They wanted the sanctions lifted? They were going to use her child as a political move and if she didn't do something quick, they were going to kill him. There was no way they Five Great Nations would agree to such a demand with how much of a threat the Rain Village posed.

She didn't even know if Sasuke was going to come back and she just couldn't wait any longer. Making sure her genjutsu was still in place, Sakura snuck into the palace.

# # #

Sasuke tore open the scroll from the carrier hawk and read through it.

They won't do it. Get her out.

Sasuke glanced at his teammate and signaled to him to move forward. They had been forced to wait until midnight, but at least now his team might get in before alerting anyone. Waiting until they were gone, Sasuke lowered his hood and took the false response from Konoha to the palace gates and waited for the guard to open the door.

"What is your business?"

"I have a response from Konoha."

Taking the scroll, the guard looked it over before handing it back to Sasuke and nodding to other guards to escort him in. When he reached the foyer inside the palace, one of the Myoji clan members greeted him and read the scroll.

"This the most favorable outcome," he mused, rolling the scroll back up. When he looked back up at Sasuke, however, his expression faltered.

"Wait, aren't you… Uchiha!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What concern is it of yours, I'm delivering the message on the Hokage's behalf."

Taking several steps back he shouted, "Guards! Kill this man!"

Stunned at what could have went wrong, Sasuke immediately disabled each guard as they rose their blade to him and stood in the center of the bodies scattered throughout the room. Grabbing the Myoji man by the throat, Sasuke held his blade there dangerously.

"Tell me where Sakura Uchiha is," he said.

The man shook his head. "I..I have no idea what you are talking about. She isn't here!"

"Stop lying!" Sasuke shouted, but at that moment, Sasuke sensed Sakura's presence and he threw the man to the ground, rushing to where he felt her.

Sasuke ran through the corridors, searching every room, unable to pinpoint her exact location. He was so close he could feel the sweat dripping down his forehead. If someone stood in his way, Sasuke didn't hesitate to kill them immediately. He could not afford to waste any time or it might cost Sakura her life. Finally reaching one of the finely decorated bedrooms on the upper levels of the palace, Sasuke laid eyes on Sakura.

She was face down on the floor, her hand holding a wound bleeding profusely on her chest, her other trying to lift her body off the ground. She was staring at something he couldn't see inside the room when she suddenly screamed.

"Hikaru!"

The sound of her desperate scream sent Sasuke into overdrive. He immediately associated the name with that night at the Inn and suddenly Sasuke was seeing red. Looking deeper into the room, he recognized the clan leader watching him intent eyes. He was wounded and holding a small baby in his hand with a knife to its throat.

"Take your wife and leave," he said calmly, looking directly at Sasuke. "Or I will cut the baby's throat."

Sasuke's look of resentment couldn't have deepened any further, and faster than lightning he was behind the man, snapping his neck and taking the child from his broken arms before he had any idea what happened. Hearing others coming, Sasuke scooped Sakura up into his arms and vanished from the room as the footsteps echoed in the hall.

Sasuke landed in woods just outside the Rain Village and set Sakura down, leaning her against a tree. She had the child in her arms in a vice grip and all Sasuke could do was take a step back and watch her as she healed her wounds with one hand the best she could, but Sasuke hardly noticed since couldn't take his eyes off the baby in her arms, his black hair and eyes so familiar and startling.

"Hikaru," Sasuke said, staring at the child.

Sakura looked up at him with heavy eyes. She hadn't realized it until she saw him again, but ever since Sasuke had said that was what he would call his son, she had subconsciously named him that. Sakura felt the wound close and knew she would be fine to go on by herself until she reached the nearest village, but given the way Sasuke was watching her, she knew he finally understood and even as she feared what came next, she was relieved of the burden of her lie. Now she just had to endure the consequences.

The moon was shining down through the canopy around them, and Sakura clutched her son tighter.

Sasuke couldn't keep from glaring at Sakura, trying to understand why she would lie to him so blatantly, but even as he felt the anger, it didn't compare to the feeling of realizing he had a son. They both knew the other was aware of what each knew, but that didn't mean either of them knew what to say.

Standing up, Sakura wiped some of the blood from her face and looked at Sasuke. "I guess you know that I lied about Naruto."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.

Sighing, Sakura felt the desperate urge to get somewhere safer, somewhere she could feed her child. "I'm going to go, Sasuke."

Sasuke could only watch her walk away in shock before he felt he could move and flashed into place before her. Sakura only paused and gave him a look of discontent.

Sasuke was never much for talking, but in that moment, he felt so angry with her that all he wanted to do was yell at her.

"Why would you lie to me about this, Sakura? And to do it to such a degree as to suggest you slept with Naruto and that was why you could never return to Konoha? I don't understand what happened. Why would you lie to me about my own son?" Sasuke shouted, but as he saw the weary and utterly destroyed expression on Sakura's face, he calmed.

Pulling the child's head to her chest, Sakura kept her gaze on the ground as she spoke. "I don't trust you, Sasuke. And I don't trust the village. The Uchiha name has put a burden on you like no one else and I refuse to let the same burden rest on my son's shoulders. And even more importantly, I refuse to let him have to suffer by being one of the people who loves you."

Any anger Sasuke had felt evaporated as he understood what she was saying.

"When I thought you had left me, Sasuke, I knew I had to get away from the village when I found out I was pregnant. But when I learned it was a lie, that you had come back for me…I did everything I could to find you, and I proved just how dangerous it was for me to be with you. I can't rely on you, Sasuke, and I can't let my mind be tormented by your constant mood swings. I can't raise this child with you," Sakura said, the moonlight catching the few tears sliding down her skin.

Something was tearing and ripping at his chest so painfully, and as if in slow motion, he fell to his knees before her, the resounding thud of him hitting the ground echoing throughout the woods like it was deafening out all other noise. Sasuke stared wide-eyed at nothing, trying to comprehend how he had made Sakura come to this conclusion. He wanted her to stay with him more than anything in the world and she even had his child in her arms but was ready to walk away from him.

How did I fuck things up this badly?

When he felt Sakura walk past him, Sasuke immediately turned and stood simultaneously, his arm reaching out to her, and pulling her back. Recalling that night when he had left Konoha so many years before, Sasuke remembered the painful expression on her face and realized how she must have felt. Echoing her words, Sasuke tightened his hold on her.

"Sakura, I would do anything for you. Please, just stay with me," he said, noticing her posture stiffen. "I'll change, I swear. I'll never leave your side again."

Sakura didn't turn back, but every word he said made the pain worse and she fought to hold her ground, in denial that Sasuke was so desperately begging her to stay just as she had with him that night so long ago.

"I thought you were dead, Sakura," he said. "I didn't know how to go on anymore, but when I saw my ring, I knew you were alright… it never came off until recently…"

Sakura looked up at him, startled that he had believed she was alive based solely on that, but when she realized he was looking for an explanation, Sakura cast her eyes away.

"Apparently that missing nin who found me knew what kind of value the old ninja clan's heirlooms had and he wanted my ring…so he…raped me, to take it," Sakura said, her voice even and holding no emotion.

Sasuke's expression turned to anger as he remembered the bruises and how stupid he had been. Just the thought made his sharingan engage, and Sasuke swore to himself he would tear him limb from limb.

"I'm sure you don't want anything to do with me now," Sakura muttered before turning away to leave again.

"Sakura," Sasuke called, his tone sharp, as if daring her to keep walking. "I love you more than anything in this world and nothing is ever going to change that. Everything you've lied about has been because of me, and everything I've ever believed about you has always remained true. I don't think I could bear to lose you again, not now. Just… stay, Sakura."

Sakura cried silent tears as she heard the unmistakable desperation in his voice and as she stared up at the full moon, just like the night he left her, she felt surprised he chose such similar words to say to her. She didn't think he would have remembered, but she knew now he was trying to tell her to not make the same mistake he did. But Sakura knew it wasn't a mistake.

"Things have changed, Sasuke. I'm sorry."

There was nothing Sasuke could do as she vanished from his sight, only the blood on the ground proof that she had been there at all.

# # #

When Sasuke awoke the next day, he found himself staring up at Naruto, lying where he had been the night before in the middle of the forest. Streams of light moved across the forest floor and Sasuke felt like something was wrong. He felt like he shouldn't be waking up there, where she left, but like he should have been waking up in his bed, and finding Sakura beside him.

The fact that all of that had just happened was unacceptable to him. He couldn't believe it… he…

"Sasuke."

Sasuke focused on Naruto's voice, stared at the tips of his black headband ties hanging down past his neck.

"Where is Sakura?" Naruto asked, trying to get Sasuke to get up.

Pulling Sasuke up to a sitting position, Naruto splashed cold water in his face.

"Sasuke! Where is she?"

Finally seeing Naruto's intensely blue eyes, Sasuke said, "She's gone."

Naruto's eyes tightened. "What do you mean, gone?"

Sasuke shook his head. "She left, with our son."

Naruto let go of Sasuke and fell back on his knees. "She was pregnant when I told you to leave?"

"Apparently," Sasuke muttered, "she had a baby in her arms."

"And did it… you know, look like you?" Naruto asked, watching Sasuke.

For some reason, Sasuke felt like he might hit Naruto, but he didn't have it in him, so he just nodded.

"Well, why did she leave? Why didn't she come back to Konoha?" Naruto asked, almost getting mad.

"Because of me."

Naruto almost face palmed at how stupid his two closest friends were. They were more trouble than managing the entire village. Glancing over his should, Naruto yelled to his ANBU captain.

"Get search teams together. Send half of them to find Sakura, the other half to find Tsunade. She'd have the best luck of any of us finding her," Naruto said.

# # #

The next day, Naruto found Sasuke sitting at the edge of the dock, staring out at the completely smooth surface of the lake. Naruto was a few meters behind him, unsure of what to say, so Sasuke spoke first.

"She has our son. I should have known her loyalty would only last as long as I was the only person in her life to devote herself to. She made the right decision… taking him away," Sasuke said, his stoic expression back in place.

Naruto frowned. "That's not true, Sasuke. Things have changed and Sakura hasn't been around to see it. She doesn't know you are different."

"Does it matter?" Sasuke asked. "My name is like a curse. Perhaps if she can manage to change his identity, he will be better off."

Naruto frowned at his back. "Is that all they mean to you, Sasuke? You're going to give up that easily on her? If we had done that with you, you would be dead right now."

Sasuke's eyes flared wider for a moment before he closed them. "She doesn't want to come back, Naruto. What am I supposed to do?"

Naruto took a deep breath and breathed out slowly before admitting the truth.

"I don't know, but you can't give up on her."