Thank you for reading! I don't own any of Naruto! Please let me know if you enjoy! Updates every other Saturday!

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After enjoying the feeling of Itachi's lips pressed against hers for a moment, Sakura pulled away from Itachi and stared up at him with wide green eyes.

Itachi stared back and though he didn't move to grab the pinkette or rekindle their kiss, it was clear by the intensity of his onyx gaze that doing so was all he wanted in the world at that moment.

Sakura gasped for breath, her chest heaving, before she quickly turned and fled.

Itachi clenched his jaw but he forced himself to remain disciplined.

Whether or not Sasuke was truly gone, Sakura wasn't his.

Itachi had to remember that.

After their intense exchange of unspoken feelings, Itachi and Sakura's second kiss passed without mention.

Words weren't always necessary.

Itachi had made it known before Sarada's birth how he felt about Sakura and he took her gesture in the kitchen as proof that perhaps, one day, she may return his affections.

That was enough for the time being.

What kind of monster would Itachi be if he tried to play with a grieving widow's heart?

A grieving widow………….

Sakura bore that title well.

Itachi admired the grace that Sakura displayed in the weeks following Sasuke's figurative burial.

Sakura was not melancholy or depressed.

Though Itachi could see behind the sweetness of her smile how much she missed his brother and probably always would, Sakura was doing her best to move on with her life.

Sarada grew every day and in her baby girl, Sakura found a new reason to go on.

Sakura was a loving and attentive mother.

Despite her situation, Sakura was far from being a single parent.

Itachi urged Sakura to take more time off of work to focus on Sarada and herself. Thoughtfully, Itachi picked up extra hours at work in the police force to help insure the pinkette and her little girl had everything that they needed.

Itachi had told Sakura the truth. He really wanted a family.

His willingness to assist with little Sarada didn't fade after Sakura had healed from her birth.

Sakura often lingered in the nursery doorway when she found Itachi caring for Sarada or playing with her, watching the bright smile on her little girl's face as she laughed with her uncle.

But Sakura's smile faded whenever she thought……

Sakura had no husband, but Sarada had been left without a father.

Sakura knew that Sarada would suffer more than her from Sasuke undertaking his dangerous and unnecessary mission.

Sakura frowned every time she mused over that fact.

Children always suffered the most.

However, Itachi was a good replacement for his brother as a fatherly figure.

One evening, at dinner, when Sarada was several months old, Itachi was cleaning her up in her tiny chair after she finished eating.

Sarada thought it was funny that Itachi had to wipe her fingers off after she had stuck them down in her little bowl of rice. Sarada looked right at him as she exclaimed exuberantly, "Da-da!"

Itachi immediately stopped and looked at the little girl, who innocently beamed back at him.

Then Itachi glanced over to Sakura.

Sakura didn't know what to say.

Itachi had been one of the first people Sarada had seen.

Itachi had cared for her before she was even born and every day since.

What else was baby Sarada supposed to think?

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A little while later, after Sarada was peacefully asleep, Itachi found Sakura watching over her in the nursery.

Quietly, Itachi came to stand in the doorway, wanting to talk to the pinkette.

Sakura glanced over her shoulder and whispered quietly once she noticed Itachi was there, "I'm sorry she…...did that. Babies say strange things."

"...I'm not." Itachi replied.

Sakura slowly turned around to look at Itachi, trying not to let her eyes drift over him as he stood in his training slacks and kimono.

"I didn't mean that in a disrespectful way. It would be an insult to my brother's memory to hide the truth of her parentage from Sarada." Itachi explained, "Although, I think it would also be a mistake to deprive her of someone who could act in a similar role in Sasuke's absence."

"You mean…..you?" Sakura asked quietly.

Itachi gazed warmly at the pinkette, "Ancient laws forced clan widows to remarry the brothers of their fallen husbands. Of course, those times are over and you're obviously free to make your own decisions, Sakura……"

Itachi took slow, careful steps closer and closer until he and the pinkette were nearly chest to chest.

"I just want you to know that I'm here." Itachi said quietly, reaching up and tucking a stray strand of pink hair behind Sakura's ear, "I've always been here and I always will be...Whatever you chose."

"...Are you asking me to marry you, Itachi?" Sakura asked with a quiet laugh, keeping her voice low so she wouldn't wake Sarada.

"...If it pleases you." Itachi said, letting his hand fall away.

Itachi silently walked back over to the door.

Before Itachi left the room, he turned around to Sakura and added, "I would never abandon you, Sakura, just know that."

Itachi left without a sound.

He did not attempt to kiss Sakura again.

He did not attempt to seduce her.

Itachi wanted to let Sakura decide without trying to sway her with affection and sex.

Besides, Itachi still felt guilty about both the kiss he had stolen and the kiss she had given him.

Itachi had no business touching the pinkette, Sakura was not yet his in those moments.

Should she ever decide to be, then, moving forward, that would be a different matter…..

Sakura frowned as she stood alone in the nursery.

Sakura was familiar with the cultural practice of which Itachi spoke, some clans still observed it.

But did that mean she……

Sakura closed her eyes and sighed.

Itachi was wonderful with Sarada, firm but patient, caring, attentive and kind…...

…...And Itachi had been nothing but chivalrous and loving to Sakura.

Itachi had held Sakura's hand while Sarada was born, let her cry on his shoulder, waited on her hand and foot…….

Itachi tried to make Sakura's life easier at every available opportunity while it seemed like Sasuke took pleasure in complicating it.

First he hated her……

Then he loved her……

They were together……

Sakura got pregnant…….

Then Sasuke abandoned her, either by choice or by meeting his death, leaving Sakura to pick up the shards of her hopes and dreams and try to build a life for herself and her daughter.

If Itachi was anyone else, things may be different.

But could Sakura really marry her husband's brother?

Wasn't that……..wrong?

What would Sarada say when she was older?

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Sasuke had spent months working and sweating in a situation where he was little more than a prisoner.

He and his few men that were still alive had been dragged into Orochimaru's hideout and healed by the snake Sanin, but at a great cost.

From the day that Sasuke and his teammates recovered, Orochimaru had presented them all with a large, ominous hourglass. Promptly, the villain had flipped the hour glass over and informed them all that they were in his debt until the sand poured so that the top chamber was empty.

That was the slowest pouring sand Sasuke had ever seen……..

Sasuke was well aware of the evil their "kind rescuer" was capable of. But the other men underestimated Orochimaru and they begrudged their burden, not wanting to wait months or years to see their families once more.

There was a dark jutsu, a cruel curse, that Orochimaru had hidden in the medical procedures he administered to save Sasuke and his dying comrades.

Sasuke urged the others to stay complicit with Orochimaru's demands until they could work together to find a solution.

Not every Shinobi was patient.

One of Sasuke's teammates tried to defect, but Sasuke was smarter than that, he knew Orochimaru well.

And Sasuke had warned everyone……

It was a futile attempt.

Sasuke's teammate fell down dead before he had made it out of sight.

The other men looked at Sasuke, bewildered, after they watched their friend meet his demise, but Sasuke just nodded to them and they continued on their way.

Sasuke knew better than to go against Orochimaru without knowing the full details of his plans.

Ironically, Orochimaru had many assignments that he intended to use Sasuke and his group to complete.

And they all involved…….traveling.

Without a choice, Sasuke resumed his nomadic driftings, dreaming of the eventual day when he would finally, maybe, get to return home.

Sasuke often thought about Sakura……..

He refrained from writing to her, afraid she would come looking for him and be wounded or killed by Orochimaru for interfering.

Sasuke often thought about his baby…….

He wondered if Sakura had made it through the birth alright. He wondered if he had a son or a daughter, what their name was, what they looked like……..

Sasuke felt like this was one of the many times in which he should have listened to the pinkette sooner.

Sakura had told him not to take the mission.

In fact, Sakura had begged him not to take the mission, just as she had begged him not to leave the village when they were just children.

Sasuke was amazed by his own stupidity.

Why hadn't he listened?

Why hadn't he just stayed home?