I quite love how this chapter came to be... lol i hope you enjoy it.

By the way; you either like the plot of this story and you read (like most of you are doing; thank you :)) or you don't like it and go looking for something that fits your tastes better...

If you don't like the plot i am not keeping you here...

On with the chapter for those of you who are enjoying the story so far...

One tends to dislike a few things when reading stories, nothing can be up for our expectations... I am sorry.

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Carved on skin

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She stayed there holding him tight in her arms; everything forgotten as she felt his pained soul; her chakra flowing into him trying to soothe his battered mind… She felt the tremor that raked his body every now and then and his ragged breathing… muttering softly in his ear that everything would be okay while she let her fingers run through his black locks…

"Sasuke?" she called softly and felt his hands tightening on his back, but soon he relaxed and moved away from her.

He stared down at her with wide eyes not saying anything only looking helplessly at the woman in front of him; looking so small and fragile.

"What did you do to me?" he asked with a soft whisper.

"Not me… Fugaku…" she corrected and watched as his eyes lowered to the ground. "He thought you were going to hurt me…" she mumbled as she absently pulled her legs together between his parted knees.

"Hn." Was the only thing she heard from him.

"Are you alright?" she asked as if she was scared he'd snap all of a sudden.

Sasuke grunted in response feeling too ashamed to actually look up at her… but when her hands grabbed his clenched fist he had to look at her with astonishment… her green eyes glued to his hand.

"I am sorry…" she whispered. "I said you were selfish, but…" she bit her lower lip. "Truth is I am the one being selfish… I just…" she pressed a hand to her eyes as she held his with the other. "I want them to have you from now on…" she sobbed. "It's been a long way, Sasuke… I just don't want you to waste this chance… Itachi… Your mother and your father… all of them would want you to be happy more so than being avenged…" she looked up only to find his black eyes looking down at her with incredulity. "She wiped her tears and composed her nerves… "What is it?" she asked softly letting his hand go.

He felt her fingers leaving and he wasted no time in grabbing the retreating hand… she gasped.

"I thought… I thought you had forgotten, Sakura…" he said in a lowered voice regarding her face with scrutiny.

She felt some resentment tugging at her broken heart and she pulled her hand away from his… as she averted her eyes.

"Remembering the past won't help you in the present to change the future…" her voice was a cold caress on his shivering back. "You're still their father… I cannot change that and don't get me wrong, Sasuke… Either way you're still my former teammate, Naruto's best friend and the father of my children… Of course I'm worried about your wellbeing…" he stared at her with hope deep inside his chest, but her eyes told about a broken heart. "You can still trust me, Sasuke. You can still come to me when you're in pain or trouble. You can still come to me when you need help… but please… let the past go." She pleaded.

His indifferent façade took over his face and he was the same old Sasuke once again; he stood from his crouching position and turned to go to the bedroom… he stopped on the hall and without turning he said…

"Will you explain to them what really happened?" he asked.

"Of course I will…" she answered still sitting on the floor, wiping more tears…

…

"Ah… so… okay…" Naruto read through the pages Sakura had written about Sasuke's condition, while Tsunade read over again trying to find a single flaw…

"It seems to me he's all better now, Hokage-sama…" Inoichi said from his chair as he stared down at the young couple.

He knew Sakura since she was a kid and he wondered how it was possible she had ended up in this mess with an Uchiha.

"Great timing too! Yamato came from his long term mission 5 days ago and he volunteered to help with the Uchiha compound…" Tsume said showing her sharp fangs in a very Kiba-like way. "Guess what?" she asked with a mischievous smirk.

"What…?" Naruto was the one to ask even though the question was directed to Sasuke.

All the members of the council turned to look at him with surprise…

"Uh… The main house is finished already…" Shikaku replied stifling a yawn.

"What?" Naruto yelled standing from his chair as if that was the worst thing ever…. "Why now? No one notified me of this!" he complained childishly.

"We are notifying you Hokage-sama…" Tsunade muttered as she glanced at Hiashi who was looking disapprovingly at his son in law.

Naruto caught the hint and sat immediately adopting a serious pose with a heavy scowl mimicking his…

"Of course, then… Sasuke is to move from Sakura's place as soon as it can be arranged. The ANBU will remain on his watch until deemed necessary. What else?" he asked looking at the other faces.

"The seal… I can do it if you'd like Hokage-sama…" Hiashi added still glaring at the young Hokage.

Sakura cringed inside… She didn't know much about him, but if he did on Sasuke what he did on Neji that'd be unfair, she took a step towards the podium; Naruto and Tsunade were really scared about it.

"I can do it…" Sakura supplied ignoring the deep glare Hiashi sent her way. "Kakashi-sensei can assist me…" she added as Naruto nodded eagerly with a huge grin.

"Yeah! That will do! Please be sure to tell Kakashi and so we can do this tomorrow morning…" Naruto said. From the podium he caught Sasuke looking at Sakura's back with a deep glare.

He sighed… Sasuke wouldn't change; he still thought he had done nothing wrong and he'd still think Sakura hated him with everything she had…

And so the next morning arrived…

"Ah… well… you know the hand signs… The main points are in his chest and head…" Kakashi said as he talked to Sakura.

"Yeah…" she sighed absently.

Kakashi kept his eyes on her face; they were waiting for Sasuke to come in he was being checked by Inoichi and Hiashi in a room next door… Naruto, Tsunade and the rest of the council were already seated on the podium.

"Kakashi-sensei…" he heard her whisper so no one else could hear.

"Hmm?" He added softly taking a step closer to her.

"This is not the first seal he gets…" she muttered not meeting his eyes. "Is this going to hurt as much as the one you did long ago?" she asked as she fidgeted nervously.

"This will hurt much worse… Sakura." He eyes snapped up with a worried tint on them that had Kakashi frowning deeply. He shifted is weight and kept a stared on her… with his both eyes looking sternly at her. "Sakura…"

"No… No... Is just that, well, you know; Mikoto and Fugaku, I just don't want them to feel bad…" she said with a fake smile.

He narrowed his eyes at her, but his thoughts were interrupted as the door opened and in walked Sasuke followed by Inoichi and Hiashi.

"You may begin, Hatake…" Hiashi mumbled with annoyance as he walked over to take his seat.

Sasuke was shirtless, handcuffed along with his ankles just like a criminal; he kept his eyes lowered to the ground knowing full well Sakura was there.

"Please walk to the center so Haruno-san can proceed…" Tsume ordered and watched him move with short steps to the right place.

"Are you okay with this, Sakura?" Kakashi whispered closely, she only nodded.

Kakashi sighed and moved out of the seal to leave her alone; she walked over to the criminal prompted him to sit; his back to her and then she started the right hand signs…

As she placed her hand over his back, between his shoulder blades he gave a quick shudder before the seal started to form like a carved tattoo, he growled in pain, but soon it was too much to bear and he couldn't hold in a yell… his eyes tightly closed.

Sakura gritted her teeth in pure pain for him; Kakashi had noticed it… and inevitably with his glare she had noticed it herself; she was still in love with this man… Putting him through pain wasn't what she wanted and that had only awakened her sleeping feelings….

…

"Hey, mate… How are you feeling?" Sasuke was blearily opening his eyes to the world when a familiar ceiling greeted him; Sakura's bedroom, along with a familiar annoying face.

"Hn…" he grunted.

"So, I take it you're good already… Look, Mikoto-chan is waiting outside to meet you and Sakura-chan needs to check on you…" Naruto said trying to keep his face in check, but when he mentioned Sakura, Sasuke could see the small grimace on his blurry face. "I'll let them in now…" he announced.

Sasuke was barely aware of his surroundings; his body felt numb and his throat was dry… he faintly heard the door opening and then some voices… the bed shifted under someone's weight and Mikoto's face appeared in front of him with her big green eyes shedding tears uncontrollably.

In the mist of the moment it seemed as if those eyes belonged to someone else… suddenly there was no black hair only pink and it dawned on him… It felt like that time, when they had fought against Haku… He was sure he had been dead and then he was awakened by someone's cries over him… Sakura.

His hand reached to touch her cheek softly feeling her tears running down and then a small smile tugged on his lips…

"Don't cry, Sakura…" he whispered hoarsely.

Mikoto stared down at him with wide eyes letting her tears fall… Sakura on the doorway felt her heart throbbing painfully in her ribcage and Naruto that had been on his way out of the bedroom stopped and turned…

His wide blue eyes caught Sakura's pained face and he turned to her in time as she turned to him… She wasn't thinking; her whole body trembled and as she collided with Naruto's chest she let him hug her tightly; she let him drag her out of there and guide her to the living room…

"Why did you let me do it?" she cried on his shoulder.

Naruto hugged her tighter.

"Because only you could do this, Sakura… It had to be you." He muttered softly against her head.

"I can't do this anymore, Naruto…" she cried again making him close his eyes in pain.

A soft grunt escaped his throat and he felt guilty; Sakura had cried all the afternoon locked in her office while he talked with Mikoto and Fugaku; she was too nervous to actually face him. Mikoto had been more kind and calm, but Fugaku had just locked himself in his bedroom not wanting to see his mother and that was something to worry about…

"You're being stubborn, Sakura-chan…" he smiled bitterly against her forehead.

She sobbed, but separated from him so he could explain his statement.

"Yeah…" he wiped her tears with his thumbs. "You've always been in love with that idiot… What's the point of hiding it now?" he held her face.

"Naruto… I… I wish it was…"

"Me you fell in love with… I know… But I wasn't. You need to let go of the past, Sakura."

Sakura widened her eyes when she heard him say that; only days ago she had been the one saying that to Sasuke… She couldn't hold old grudges against old and battered friends… she couldn't hold grudges against her first love… Letting go of the past didn't mean she had to forget… she just needed to use that to change the present so she could prepare for the future.

"You know I was really nervous the day I married Hinata…" Naruto started and she snapped her head up to see his nostalgic expression. "Neji came looking for me the previous night; he was really angered, he had been on a long mission so he didn't know I had proposed a month before…" he snorted as he relaxed. "He said I was doing this because I wanted to get over you…" Sakura lowered her eyes in shame. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan… that's in the past… anyway, I couldn't answer him, because I had been thinking I'd marry her and then I'd forget about you… he was probably right at that moment." His voice was a soft whisper.

Sakura couldn't believe she had done so much damage to Naruto…

"I am sorry, Naruto…"

"Don't be… Let me finish the story, Sakura-chan…" he chastised her funnily making her smile through her tears. "So that night I ended up in a fight with him… He was deeply worried about Hinata and I promised I wouldn't tell anyone about it, so now I need to kill you, but after I finish the story…" She smiled again. "…He told me about Hinata's feelings for me… I have to be honest on this, Sakura-chan, I never noticed!" he pleaded and she nodded with a smile. "But that made me look at her in a different light… Of course I had this huge and undying crush on you, but you had the same huge and undying crush on Sasuke…"

Sakura lowered her eyes again… she had never asked Naruto about it because she thought she'd be misinterpreted… But she yearned to know how he had overcome the crush…

"I realized multiple things that night; first of all I wanted you to be happy and if I couldn't make you happy I had to let you go... as simple as that." His voice was steady and deep. "Then, well, it's easier to love someone who loves you back; Hinata deserved a chance, like you gave me one long ago…" She looked at him with a passive expression as if she was learning life from the wisest man in the earth. "I had to admit I was losing you to Sasuke… I had to admit I wasn't the one to make you happy… I had to endure the pain of knowing you were to give birth to his children… I had to withstand the fact that I had already lost you to the unborn twins…"

"I don't know how you did it, Naruto…" she said burying her face in her hands.

"I married Hinata making Neji believe that I was deeply in love with her when I wasn't…" he lowered his eyes. "And is the worst thing I've ever done…" she felt her chest constricting in pain and he noticed. "But I felt a whole lot better when I was on the party and you were wearing that awful yellow dress… I thought 'oh god, at least Hinata looks much prettier than her…'" he joked and she hit his arm playfully. "No, but really… It's weird… but that day I felt like I was the luckiest man ever; I was marrying a beautiful woman; she knew I wasn't completely over my past love and even then she was willing to try… because she loved me… and then it was easier…" he said with a true smile. "At first it felt like a dream; I'd be astounded to wake up each morning next to her and she'd blush so much she'd faint… She wasn't you, she wasn't even close of being you and… I liked it… It'd be a thousand times worst if I had married someone who reminded me of you… but she was too different… She was soft and kind, quiet and shy; she had dark hair and a paler skin… I married a princess, Sakura…" he said with a noble smile, his eyes not meeting hers probably remembering a particular moment with his wife; probably the very exact moment in which he fell out of love with Sakura and fell in love with her.

"Sure you did, Naruto…" she smiled up at him.

"So, now that you know this, I'll have to kill you, Sakura-chan…" he said pulling her in a hug that she returned. "I think he loves you… just, you know, he doesn't know what to call it, yet… If you don't want to believe he loves you then you got to admit he cares… You're not just any woman, you're the mother of his kids; he's too sick and Mikoto is infatuated and Fugaku is too angered… you need to be the one sustaining the roof over them all…" he said softly.

"I'll try… I don't want to be a pest to our busy Hokage…" she gave a short smile and he nodded as he stood from the couch.

"Then this busy Hokage needs to return home, to his princess and his kids…" she stood too and nodded like a little child, Naruto was amused by her shy behavior so out of character sometimes… he pulled her again. "Ah! Stop being so cute, Sakura-chan! I don't want to be unfaithful!" he whined as she pushed him off.

"I can't breathe, you moron!"

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