The Bride
He doesn't realize the baby she's carrying is his, when he shoots her in the head at her wedding. He'd been too distracted by the fact that she was marrying a man that wasn't him.
When Sakura wakes up from the coma he puts her in, childless and alone, there's only one thing on her mind. Revenge. Revenge against her ex-boss. Her ex-teacher. Her ex-lover. Revenge against Sasuke. Kill Bill-esque Assassin AU
Disclaimer: M for very descriptive intercourse, graphic depictions of violence, portrayals of major characters as moralless, drug abuse, alcohol, language, adult themes, babies, unwanted groping/harassment (trigger warning), mention of dog fighting w/no descriptive details, and brief mention of human trafficking.
This is more of a dark/violent/heavy romance than it is an outright revenge saga. It's centered around the sasusaku au relationship with some plot lines and scenes loosely taken from Tarantino, rather than being fully framed around the vengeance bloodbath that is Kill Bill. If you are uncomfortable with this premise, or are under 18, please do not proceed.
Cover Image by: Jyacira1 on Twitter. Used with permission. Do not repost.
The work alternates between the present and the past. It is complete and in three parts.
The Bride | VOLUME III
With Sakura's quest for vengeance derailed by the discovery that her daughter had survived the wedding massacre, Sakura wants to see Sarada again.
Begrudgingly, she makes contact with Sasuke, so that she can request this.
She's using a prepay for now, but had exchanged numbers with him at their last meeting. He answers her call on two rings.
"Your timing is good," he says. "I need to leave for a mission at the end of the week. Do you want to stay at the house with her, while I'm gone?"
Sakura mulls this over. She's staying in a hotel while she looks for a more permanent residence. She hadn't put too much thought into her plans after exacting her revenge on her ex-lover.
Now that she has not gone through with it, she needs to figure out what the hell is going on.
"Who usually takes care of her when you leave for… work?" she asks.
She's sitting on the edge of her bed, messing with a loose string in the cheap bed sheets.
"I drop her off at Itachi's house," he says. "If he's on an assignment too, Naruto stays over."
She can hear running water on his end of the line and various clanging and clinking sounds. He is likely in his kitchen, at the sink.
"Our schedules don't usually conflict in that regard. We plan for it."
Sakura bites her lip. Her daughter was being raised by three men. All trustable for the most part.
The one she felt the most iffy about, was her kid's own father.
Sakura isn't answering him, and Sasuke deduces that she is nervous to watch Sarada alone.
"Itachi can come check on you guys," he adds.
Sakura eyes the ceiling of her room. There's a questionable brown stain at the corner and her gaze remains on it for a while, before she responds.
"O-okay."
She can hear a high pitched voice faintly questioning Sasuke in the background. Sarada is asking him who he's talking to.
Sakura smiles at this.
"Come the night before, so she doesn't wake up alone. I have to leave before noon."
Sakura's smile fades as she hangs up with him. She doesn't necessarily want to engage with him more than she has to, but sharing a child with him made that desire nearly impossible.
She groans, upset.
The night before Sasuke leaves for his mission, it storms.
Sakura shows up at his front door, drenched. Her clothes are sticking to her body like a second skin.
He looks her up and down as she stands in his front entryway, dripping all over the slate tile.
She drops her weekend bag on the ground and shakes out her hair.
She is getting unnerved at him standing there, in silence.
"I didn't have an umbrella," she says.
Sakura has forgotten how judgemental Sasuke gets, when she's ill prepared.
"Where's Sarada?" she asks, teeth chattering.
Sasuke bends over, grabbing at her light bag.
"In her room, getting ready for bed," he says.
Sakura notes that Sasuke is in loungewear, likely about to turn in as well.
She had purposely came later than he'd asked, so she could interact with him as little as possible. She trudges after him as he leads her to the guest room.
He hands Sakura her bag at the doorway.
"There are towels in the attached bathroom you can dry off with," he says.
She pulls her bag fully out of his hands, unsure why he'd even bothered to pick it up, and nods her head at him.
He walks off. He disappears to another part of the house as Sakura steps farther into the spacious room, to peel her wet clothes from her body.
The storm does not ease up throughout the night, and the thunder is loud and the lightning is constant. Sakura stares out the window from the plush bed of the guest room. Water drips in torrents against the glass.
When Sakura wakes up in the morning, she tiptoes to Sarada's room to check on her. Sarada isn't in her bed though.
Sakura wanders. She doesn't think Sasuke has left yet. It's too early.
Sasuke and Sarada are not anywhere discernible in the house, so as a last resort, Sakura checks his room. The door's open a crack. She pushes it and peers inside.
She takes a sharp inhalation of breath at the sight in front of her.
Sarada is tucked into Sasuke's side, beneath his blanket. She's thrown herself across him, clutching a stuffed animal over his chest and is seemingly asleep.
Sasuke's eyes are closed, but he opens them and turns his head towards Sakura when she appears in the doorway.
They gaze at each other. His face is solemn and she can see his discolored eye stand out in the morning light.
Sakura looks to the top of Sarada's sleeping head and approaches the bed.
Her kid is in a maroon, mid-sleeved sleep dress.
Sakura had forgotten her cover-up when she'd come looking for them. Her matching tank and shorts set are slightly racy and she doesn't want Sasuke to see her this undressed. She tries to ignore his now heated gaze on her body.
She's not forgetting the metal plate screwed into her skull, because he'd attempted to shoot her brains out.
Sakura sits on the edge of the bed now though. She wants to see her daughter like this.
It's weird to see someone loving and depending on Sasuke so innocently.
At least he wasn't fully fucking this up.
Sasuke's eyes are still on Sakura.
Sarada senses the weight change on the bed and cracks an eye open blearily.
She grabs at Sakura's hand and tugs on her.
"Come sleep with us Mama," she says, sleepily.
Sakura's eyes widen. Sasuke is gauging her reaction.
Sakura lies down tentatively, facing towards them. Sarada is sandwiched between both of her parents for the first time and she's happy. The small, Sasuke-like smirk on her face is an indication.
"Dad keeps me safe from thunderstorms," she informs her.
Then, she falls back asleep.
Sasuke and Sakura look at each other, over their daughter's small, sleeping form.
Sarada keeps one hand on each of them.
Sasuke is fidgeting. He has to go.
He eyes Sakura, then pushes Sarada closer to her and slips out from under her so he can get ready.
He stands next to the bed, assessing the two girls.
Sakura had fallen asleep. Sarada pushes her tiny back into her mother's front, and snuggles with her favorite stuffed rabbit.
Sasuke looks at them for a moment longer, feeling morose.
He doesn't like these constant reminders that he'd separated his kid from the mother she definitely needed, because he'd been mad over a fucking… misunderstanding.
He knows he was in his rights to be angry though.
You couldn't just leave Taka-Hebi. It didn't work that way. You either died on the job, or you were executed if you wished the rendering of your services cut short. It's how both he and his brother's groups operated.
How all groups of this nature operated.
Sakura was aware of this, when she'd ghosted.
If she had desired to leave and start a family, that sort of thing was negotiable. For a price.
She'd done it all the wrong way.
It was further complicated by the fact that she was his lover and left his group to start a life and a family, without him.
Though, it was all out in the open now that she was just running away from him and trying to hide under the guise of normalcy.
He turns his back on them, as he heads into his bathroom.
Sakura's not here, but Sasuke does a sweeping look across his house and panics. His brother was coming to his place on short notice and it clearly looked like a woman was residing here with him.
Itachi was going to notice this immediately.
Sasuke thinks he might be able to get away with passing it off as some random person, but his brother was one of the only people that could really tell when he was lying.
There wasn't anything official against getting involved with a subordinate in your death squad, but it generally wasn't done.
He rubs at his forehead and then eyes his watch.
His head lifts, at the knock on his door.
His brother was always punctual. If he was late, he was sending a message by being tardy. His passive aggressiveness was somewhat irritating, but Sasuke was used to it.
Sasuke lets his brother inside. Itachi gives him a head nod as he walks over the threshold.
"What's going on?" Sasuke asks, shutting the door.
Itachi is walking across his living room, to the built-in bar alcove where Sasuke keeps his alcohol. Sasuke surmises that he's stressed out, and that this is not going to be a pleasant visit.
"That client you borrowed Deidara from me for, is not pleased," his brother says, back turned.
He's pouring himself a substantial amount of liquor, having uncapped the bottle with an audible sound.
"And?" Sasuke questions.
Sasuke's eyes are fixated on one of Sakura's sweaters, thrown messily over the back of the couch.
Sasuke looks towards Itachi again quickly, before his brother notices what's drawn his attention.
Fuck.
It's no use though.
Sakura's make-up bag is sitting out in the open, next to the champagne glasses to the left of his brother's hand.
Why would she put that on the bar counter there!?
From the way he's frozen slightly, Itachi notices it at the same time as him. He had been lifting his cup to his lips, back still turned.
He puts his cup down on the surface of the bar, then faces Sasuke.
Itachi's analytical gaze scans the room, quickly taking in all of her other possessions thrown about.
"You're seeing someone," he states.
Itachi did not trust most people. Not without cause. It was not really possible to be overly involved with a civilian.
It usually ended badly. If they found out too much, they needed to be handled, in order to be kept quiet.
Sasuke doesn't answer. His eyebrows are drawn together in irritation, however.
"Who is it?" Itachi asks.
Sasuke runs a hand across his face, then walks towards his couch. His fingers are itching to push her sweater out of sight still. He opens his mouth to speak, but he's cut off by the front door unlocking.
Sakura isn't paying attention as she walks inside, but she freezes once she looks up and sees the two of them.
Her eyes get big. She has her hair up in a ponytail and she's in athletic leggings and a matching crop top.
She'd gone on a run.
Itachi gives his brother an unimpressed look, then says, "I see."
He, of course, is aware of her identity. They'd spent substantial resources on training her and getting her up to speed with their operations.
She'd been working for them for over a year, and had already gone on several missions. Some with Itachi's people.
Sakura walks in all the way and shuts the door.
"Hi," she says, quietly.
Itachi grabs his drink and takes a sip of it, looking at the two of them judgmentally, over the rim of the glass.
Sakura smiles awkwardly, without teeth. She walks past Sasuke, heading in the direction of his room.
"I'm going to shower," she murmurs at him.
He nods at her stiffly in response. She makes herself scarce, disappearing from view and from earshot.
Itachi shakes his head at Sasuke in disapproval.
"That. Is not wise," he advises.
Sasuke flicks him off.
"I didn't ask for your opinion," he says, angrily.
Itachi downs his glass.
He doesn't have much else to say on this matter at this time, but he hopes his little brother doesn't end up doing something foolish because of this.
Itachi's eyes are on his niece, as she colors an image in a coloring book in front of him.
He is babysitting her at his home while Sasuke is out on a mission. Sakura had come by for a couple hours to spend time with her, but she had just left a short while ago.
Itachi frowns subtly, disturbed by the circumstances. It has been several weeks since Sakura had confronted Sasuke and found Sarada to be alive and well.
Itachi had been rattled for the period leading up to their confrontation, concerned that his brother was going to let her take him out, as a form of penance for his past indiscretions.
He'd put a small amount of faith in Sakura possessing some level of sensibility. He couldn't imagine her going through with her self-imposed mission, after finding out about Sarada.
Regardless, he hadn't been certain on what she would do. What Sasuke had done to Sakura was not something Itachi had approved of.
Her anger was not without cause.
Yet, he was also now uncertain, on what to do about her slaughtering five of their men.
Neither himself or Sasuke had discussed any retribution for the executions. They'd simply gone over how to divvy out the responsibilities of their expired staff members.
Sarada looks up at her uncle abruptly.
"What's going on with Mom and Dad?" she questions. "Why was Mama gone for so long?"
"What did Dad do?"
Itachi rubs a hand across his mouth, then smiles at her softly.
He takes a couple minutes to respond. The sound of Sarada's crayons softly etching against the paper, fill the silence.
"Your father does foolish things when he's upset," he says, finally.
Sarada looks at him, puzzled.
"What does foolish mean?" she asks.
Itachi pulls at her book, dragging it towards himself so that he can look at her work.
It's very neat.
He pushes it back at her so she can continue, then says, "It means to lack good sense or judgement."
Sarada squints her eyes at him.
"What does judgement mean?" she asks.
Itachi was a patient person by nature, so the nonstop, rapid fire questioning of a young child does not grate at him.
"It's one's ability to make a good choice," he states.
Sarada is nodding her head now. That made sense.
"So… Mama is mad at him because he did something really stupid to her?" she questions.
Itachi messes up the hair at the top of her head.
Stupid was an understatement.
Their girl was clever though. Sasuke needed to start being more careful with what he did and said around her, since she was getting older and more aware and observant.
He pulls his hand back and leans back in his chair. He rests both of his palms at his abdomen, fingers crossed together.
Once Sarada was old enough, she deserved to know the truth.
He doesn't think she'll like her father very much, when she finds out.
Sasuke needed to prepare himself for when that day would come, as well.
It's the next day, and Sakura has come to Sasuke's house to see him. He'd only just come back from his hit. Sarada is not home and is still with Itachi.
Sakura wants to discuss their arrangement and figure out a more stable schedule to see her daughter.
Sasuke's bones ache and he is annoyed.
He had not wanted to take this assignment, but the client had specifically requested him and had offered too much money for him to pass on the job.
The mark had been irritating to take out, as he'd been heavily guarded. A diplomat.
High risk jobs made Sasuke more anxious than they did in the past. He'd never been caught, or ever come close to blowing a cover, but his thoughts would stray to Sarada on these.
If he died and didn't make it back home, she'd be alone.
"Are you listening?" Sakura asks, frustrated.
No. He was not listening.
He looks over his shoulder, giving her a blank stare. She is trailing him as he walks through his house, putting things away.
"I said, I want a more structured schedule around when I get to see Sarada," she repeats.
Sasuke leads her into his office and drops a couple things into the drawer of his desk.
He walks out, her following him still, and heads towards his spacious kitchen.
"You can see her whenever you want," he says.
Sakura makes a noise with her tongue, the heels of her shoes clacking loudly on the dark, grey wood of the kitchen floor.
"Yes, I know that already," she exclaims. "But, I don't know when you're—when you plan to not be around! It makes this difficult," she complains.
Sasuke shrugs, opening the door to his refrigerator.
"I told you that you could stay with her while I'm gone, but you didn't like that," he says.
Sakura sighs and doesn't respond. It's true. She hadn't been fully comfortable with watching her alone. Itachi's presence the past couple of times, had helped.
She's still new to being a mom. Part of her worries that she'll mess something up and Sarada will get hurt while in her care.
Sakura has her arms crossed and she's leaning her back on the island counter, eyeing him with irritation.
She is in a jean jacket and a loose, but short, black dress.
Sasuke's eyes fall to her bare knees as he shuts the fridge door, uncapping a sparkling water and taking a sip.
"Hey!" she says, good naturedly.
He looks up from her legs, to her face. She looks entertained now, rather than irritated.
She knew about his weird kink for that part of her body. She had always found it funny before.
She still did, it seemed.
He lifts a shoulder at her in response.
Sakura is biting her lower lip now, her expression suddenly heavier than it had been a second prior.
Sasuke walks up to her, slowly. He puts his bottle down on the counter behind her.
He is facing her, looking down at her.
He is too close.
Sakura's arms uncross, and her palms drop to the counter edge, a hand on each side of herself.
Sasuke is breathing more rapidly than what is usual for him, but it is not loud. Sometimes his demeanor from work slipped into his behavior outside of it.
You weren't gifted in stealth by being loud.
When she licks her lips, he leans in and presses his mouth to hers.
Sakura's eyes shut, and she kisses him back.
Sakura hasn't been touched in five years and Sasuke hasn't been with anyone else since he fucked her over. He's slowly undressing her right now, in his kitchen, because he wants her.
Her eyes are wide and unblinking as he takes each article off of her. His hands trail her skin after each removal.
He feels rusty at this, but he wants to map her body. It's the same, but it's different. She has a scar from the emergency c-section where they'd delivered Sarada and he's paused over it.
His eyes lift to hers and his fingers trail over it.
He gets on his knees in front of her and her hands come down to his shoulders.
She thinks he's going to remove her panties and play with her pussy, but instead he kisses at her belly. At her scar.
She gasps.
She's not sure if she likes it.
"Sasuke…"
He looks up at her.
She shakes her head at him. She's squirming.
Stop it.
He stops and focuses on something else instead. His gaze drops to her knees and he wraps his hands around them, his fingers pressing into the skin at the back.
Sakura is running a hand through his hair, pushing it back from his face.
"Get on the counter," he says, letting go of her and standing up.
She lifts herself up and sits on it. He uses this as an opportunity to take off his shirt and kick off his pants.
He had more scars littered across his torso than she remembers him having, now that she's looking at him up close.
She'd been too emotional when they'd been arguing several weeks ago, in his bedroom, to have noticed then.
When he enters her, enters her for the first time in five years, a choked sound escapes from the back of his throat.
Sakura furrows her eyebrows at him. Shakily, she brings a hand up to rest against his cheek.
He's looking down at himself inside of her, his eyes averted from hers, hair in his face.
She gasps softly as he thrusts a couple times into her.
She knows a substantial amount of time has passed, but in reality she hadn't been cognizant throughout it.
It's blank.
The most eerie thing for her, is that the last of her fresh memories are being pregnant.
Seeing him at her sham of a wedding.
Not too long before that, she'd been intimate with him too.
It feels more familiar for her than it does for him, because she wasn't awake for the time they'd been separated.
She still resents him, but her desire for him has overshadowed it for now.
Sasuke had lived through every agonizing moment of their time apart. This is too much for him right now.
He grips at her forearms tightly, with each of his hands. One of her arms is between their bodies, her palm still on his face. The other is at her side, hand flat on the counter. His fingers wrap all the way around her bones and she stares briefly, at the contrast between their respective sizes.
He finally lifts his head to look at her face.
"I'm going to—come," he says, with difficulty.
Sakura makes a face at him. He's not moving in her anymore.
"Already?" she asks.
She's kind of disappointed. It had only been two minutes.
He clenches his jaw and nods at her.
She squeezes her pussy on his dick tightly and says, "Okay."
His eyes widen and he grunts loudly, his mouth open as he blows his load inside of her.
He's not embarrassed at his performance. At all. Their dynamic and their situation was all sorts of fucked up already.
He doesn't give a shit that he's lousy in bed, after being celibate for half a decade.
He's looking at her sadly now, his dick still in her. His arms drop, hands on each side of her now, caging her on the countertop.
She frowns back at him. She's never seen him like this before and it's annoying her. He had no right to make her fucking pity him!
She was the victim in all of this.
Right?
She's not as sure as she was a couple months ago though, gazing into his dull eyes.
Sakura's hand has not moved from his cheek yet and she leans forward and kisses him softly.
He moans in response, kissing her back languidly, his tongue licking at her lower lip before it pushes into her mouth and slides against hers.
He pulls out of her, then pulls her forward so that she's standing and her feet are on the floor. Then he winds an arm behind her lower back and yanks, so she's pressed flush against his body as they kiss.
She always liked kissing him, she muses.
Sakura is rubbing her legs together as they make out. She drops her free hand down and starts playing with herself.
Both of Sasuke's hands have moved to her face, cradling it between his palms as he devours her.
Sakura increases the speed of movement at her clit. She's soaking wet.
He keeps his lips on hers. One of Sasuke's hands drops to her ass, gripping the flesh there. The other drops to her breast, manhandling her there too.
She licks at his tongue, then pulls her mouth off of his, panting loudly as she approaches her orgasm.
He'd forgotten how loud she gets when she comes and his eyes pop open to look at her flushed face while she's moaning.
He's supporting her against the front of his body. She's falling forwards as the orgasm consumes her, her own fingers still deep in her own pussy.
Her other hand finally drops from his cheek, to his shoulder. Her nails dig into his skin there.
Sakura drops her forehead to his chest as she rides it out. She's breathing hard, and then she's removing her digits from herself with a wet plop.
Her sticky hand slides up his chest and she rests her palm flat. Over his heart.
He's nervous for half a second that she's going to use the touch of death on him. That she'd wanted sex, just so she could get a good opening to do it.
But it's not the case.
Both his hands rest at her lower back now. They stand in each other's arms for a long while. Neither of them say anything. They just feel.
Itachi is bringing back Sarada the next morning, when Sakura is about to leave.
Itachi eyes his brother with concern.
What was he doing?
"Mama!" Sarada yells, happily.
Sakura had been by the door, very close to grabbing the handle.
Sasuke is near her. He was walking her out.
Sakura kneels down on one knee and opens up her arms as Sarada runs into them for a hug.
"Hi, sweet girl!" she says back.
She hugs their daughter tightly, the expression on her face blissful.
Sasuke looks on with what looks like bored detachment, but Itachi knows that this is one of the expressions he reverts to when he's guilty.
"Are you here to see me?" Sarada asks, excitedly, pulling slightly away.
Itachi had not been planning on staying, but as Sakura responds to Sarada with an, "Of course," and gets dragged away by her, he lingers.
Lingers so he can scold his brother.
Sasuke has turned his back on him, attempting to walk away.
"Sasuke."
Sasuke shuts his eyes tightly, then opens them again.
He turns around and eyes his older brother.
Itachi shakes his head at him.
"You're doing something stupid," he states.
Sasuke frowns. He doesn't want Itachi in his business.
He doesn't respond and instead walks off, towards his kitchen. Itachi follows after him.
The back doors are thrown open. Sarada had led Sakura outside to play.
Sasuke looks at them for a moment, then his eyes drop to his French press for coffee. It's dirty. Week old grounds are still inside of it, from before he'd left for his taxing assignment.
Itachi stands around near the island, watching his niece and her mother having fun.
He feels bad for Sakura.
Sasuke has his back to him again, washing the glass beaker of his coffee press in the sink.
"This is what you took away from her," Itachi says, quietly.
Sasuke freezes, the beaker almost slipping from his fingers and shattering.
"Leave."
Itachi eyes his brother's rigid back.
He doesn't want to leave. It's clear that left alone, his brother is going to continue digging his own grave of emotional turmoil.
He nods his head though.
"Tell Sarada and Sakura I said goodbye."
Then, he walks out.
Sasuke is grimacing. The water of the sink is still running. He places the glass of his press on the marble of the counter, harder than necessary. It cracks.
"Fuck," he mutters.
He looks up, out the large window over the basin.
Sakura has her hands on her hips, a smile on her face as she watches Sarada run around.
She turns her head slightly, her eye catching his.
Her grin disappears.
Sasuke turns the faucet off. He grabs his press and throws it into the garbage.
Sakura is conflicted and she does not know what to do.
She goes to see Kakashi.
When she walks through the door of the sanctuary, Iruka is holding up a shotgun at her.
"How can I help you, Sakura?"
She's clearly lost the status she once had, in her previous life.
Slowly, she lifts both of her hands up, in surrender.
"I'm not armed," she says. "I want to see Kakashi."
Iruka cocks his head to the side, the scar across his face catching the light.
"You're not welcome here," he states.
They both snap their heads in the direction of a clapping sound. Kakashi has entered the main room from the back.
"Come now Iruka, Sakura is an old friend. No need to give her such a cold welcome," he says, jovially.
Iruka lowers his weapon, sheepish.
He stashes it beneath the counter, then rubs the back of his neck.
"Apologies, Sakura-san," he mumbles. "We've been getting conflicting directions on protocol as it pertains to you. One day it's 'shoot her on sight' the next it's, 'touch her and die.'"
He looks to Kakashi.
"It's really quite confusing," he says.
Kakashi shrugs at him, then gestures at Sakura to come closer and follow him.
"Confusing indeed! But these are confusing times for all of us, I think," he says.
Sakura lowers her hands, gives Iruka an uncertain glance, then follows after Kakashi.
The smell of wet dog is not as prominent as Sakura remembers it. Kakashi has led her to the sprawling amount of outdoor land at the back of his place.
"Technically, you're no longer able to utilize my services you know," he says.
Sakura moves a hand to grip at her opposite elbow, standing awkwardly in place at first.
Kakashi gestures at a small, circular patio table and matching set of chairs.
Sakura is talking before she's even fully sat down.
"I don't know what to do. I can't forgive him. I really can't. I don't think I ever can."
Kakashi's one exposed eye widens, his eyepatch covering the other. He'd lost that one in a gruesome fashion, having it pulled out by a mark's bare hands.
The mark hadn't survived and neither had Kakashi's eyeball.
"But Sarada loves him. And he's so good with her," she continues, babbling.
The wire of the patio chair is digging into the bare skin of her thighs, her legs exposed from her skirt.
Kakashi is listening, a fist resting under his chin as he leans forward.
"And I—" Sakura starts.
She plays with her earlobe, but her hand rips off of it quickly, as if burned.
"I—"
I think I still love him too.
Kakashi lifts his hand up, stopping her from continuing.
"This is a tough one, Sakura. I don't know if I can give you an answer on what the right thing to do is here."
Sakura looks away from him, out into the grass of the field. She's disappointed.
"Mistakes were made," he says. "You left the organization, knowing it's something you can't do."
Sakura's eyes are dangerously close to rolling, but she controls herself from the visible reaction.
"He thought you were killed in action. He mourned you," Kakashi continues.
This is news to Sakura.
"Then, he discovers you're alive and well in Suna. Pregnant and getting married to another man," he presses on.
Sakura places her hands on the table in front of her and stares at her cuticles. She taps her fingers a couple times against the wired surface.
"Lovers or not, he was duty bound to take you out due to that breach in protocol."
Sakura looks up at Kakashi.
"Fuck his sense of duty!" she says, heatedly.
Kakashi lifts a hand up again to silence her, then shrugs a shoulder.
"I've known Sasuke for a long time. He's never been the way he was with you, with anyone else."
Sakura turns her head, peeking at the horizon beyond this time. The sun is about to set.
"Personally, I don't think he's the same man that shot you five years ago," Kakashi adds on.
Sakura thinks this too, though she's had trouble accepting it.
"He's had to live with that on his conscience these past five years, while you were asleep."
She turns back to him, her lips tight. Her fingers are rapping on the table more obviously now, and Kakashi's lone eye drops to them.
"Honestly, you guys were both idiots about it," he says.
Sakura pauses the movements of her hands, dropping one to the edge of her skirt to grip at the fabric.
She steels herself for an unwanted reprimand.
"You should have told him you were carrying his child and he should not have shot you, once he saw that you were pregnant."
Sakura sighs.
"Sasuke is very act now and think later," she says.
Kakashi nods his head.
"Indeed, he is," he agrees. "Or he was," he amends.
She narrows her eyes at him.
Kakashi takes a minute to adjust himself in his seat, before explaining.
"I fear that all he does these days is think. It's not entirely healthy. His brother is worried about him."
Sakura glares.
"Good. He deserves to hurt," she says, crossing her arms.
Kakashi lifts a shoulder, then shakes his head. These kids were insane.
Though, Sasuke wasn't much of a kid anymore. He was 35. Sakura was 29 now, almost 30, if he recalls correctly. She'd lost half of her 20s.
Kakashi can't believe how much time has passed before his eyes.
Sasuke is at her back, over her body. Sakura is on her chest, in bed. He pulls at her hand and pins it flat in front of her at the wall, with his.
His other hand goes down to her hip and caresses her, then lifts her slightly off the mattress so he can enter her.
She gasps and he groans at the feeling. His fingers lace into hers on the wall, at the head of the bed.
Then he drops his weight on her. His chest presses into her back and he starts to pound her into the mattress.
Sakura is crying out loudly as he fucks her. She's a little drunk.
He's not.
They are on the tail-end of a mission. It is rare that they do one together. He doesn't think it's practical. She's usually too distracting for him to focus properly.
This specific one made sense for them to do together however, based on their combined skill-set.
The assignment had multiple marks. The missive had outlined that the targets met all together, once a week, at a bar that served as a front for their money laundering. The client had wanted every occupant at this meeting, terminated.
Sasuke had sent Sakura in through the front, instructing her to intentionally get herself captured with minimal resistance.
"Act like you're weak," he had said.
He'd used her disturbance at the front of the building, to slice through everyone in the back.
Someone had been tying her to a chair as he'd busted through, bloody and wild eyed.
Sakura had utilized that distraction to end three of the people in her immediate vicinity, with little difficulty. She preferred to use her hands to break people's necks, when in close range.
They are in their hotel room afterwards, having just been paid.
He had been overcome by an uncontrollable desire to take her and lose himself in her tight pussy.
Sakura had been downing miniature liquor bottles from the room's minibar, when he'd grabbed at her abruptly. She'd yelped in surprise, but responded enthusiastically to his advances.
She's moaning wantonly beneath him now.
"Shut up," he mutters. "You're being loud."
She just moans louder, rather than acquiescing.
This annoys him.
He fists his other hand into the hair at the back of her head and yanks at it.
"I said, shut the fuck up!" he growls into her ear.
She laughs at him.
She's not taking him seriously. He's not sure he's really taking himself seriously either.
She pushes herself back onto him roughly and he groans, releasing his hold on her hair. Sakura squeezes at his fingers, keeping them laced with his, at the wall.
She quiets down though. They shouldn't be drawing attention to themselves after a hit.
He couldn't wait to do this until they'd gotten home though. They needed to travel tomorrow, and realistically he would not be able to fuck her for at least twelve hours if he'd held off on it. Something about dropping all of these bodies with her had made his dick hard.
Sakura squeezes her pussy around him in quick succession and he bites at the back of her shoulder in response. She makes a pained noise, then reaches her arm back to pull at his hair and run her fingers through it.
His teeth still latched onto her skin, he pushes in and out of her a couple more times, then comes hard inside of her.
Sakura makes a satisfied sound from beneath him, as she feels the warmth of him spilling into her.
He's checking out of their room the next morning.
The male receptionist is eyeing Sakura with a smirk.
"Did you and your wife enjoy your stay?" he asks.
Sasuke things this guy is a fucking prick.
Sakura is behind Sasuke, giggling behind her hand.
She's hungover and her hair is a mess.
She looks like she's been thoroughly fucked. Repeatedly. She hadn't bothered to fix herself up much this morning.
Sasuke looks at the receptionist coldly.
He doesn't correct him about Sakura being his wife, and he doesn't answer his question either.
"I'm paying in cash," he says, icily.
Sakura wakes up from her dream, thrown off. She blinks rapidly, getting her bearings and recognizing the walls of her cheap hotel room.
She'd been dreaming of a memory. Of Sasuke grabbing at her in bed, in the early morning dawn. Of him being at her back and moving her hair aside and kissing at her neck.
Of his arm wrapping around her and their fingers lacing together and then falling asleep again wrapped up like that. Content to just do that and not ready to wake up yet.
She remembers stuff like this and it shakes her.
He'd been this way with her. Presumably loving her secretly. He'd never verbalized it.
And then... he'd stood over her pregnant and defenseless form, and shot her.
She had underestimated the depths of his emotions when she'd left him. She knew that now. Yet, she hates him for falling back on the cold actions and doctrines he lived by, rather than letting himself feel and thinking it through, before he pulled the trigger.
She had hurt him by leaving him without any explanation. On top of that she'd broken a rule. You couldn't just leave the organization.
She knows she shouldn't have disappeared the way she did. But she was young and she was scared. She had only been 24 when she'd taken that pregnancy test, while out on that solo mission gone awry.
Sasuke had been sleeping on his right side at the edge of his bed. His right hand was tucked under the pillow at his head and his left arm was thrown over the edge of the mattress, dangling dangerously close to the ground.
His lengthier hair is in his face and he's groggy as he gets shaken awake.
He'd been in a rather deep sleep. He might have been dreaming about Sakura at some point, but it's hazy.
"Papa. Dad. Wake up!"
Sarada is alternating between tapping at his bare arm and jostling him, until he comes to.
He cracks an eye open and looks at her. He grunts at his daughter, hoping that's enough of a response and acknowledgement to get her to state what she wants this early in the morning.
"I'm really hungry," she whines at him.
He blinks at her. She's clutching her stuffed rabbit tightly and eyeing him worriedly.
These are indicators to him that she's had a bad dream.
Sasuke takes a deep breath and rubs at his eyes, then rolls back to create space in front of him on the mattress. He pats the spot and Sarada clambers onto it, pressing herself against him comfortably.
He looks at the back of her head sleepily. She needs a haircut.
"What do you want for breakfast?" he asks. His voice is laced with sleep.
He feels unusually fuzzy this morning. Almost liked he'd been drugged the night before.
He blanches, his eye rotating to his nightstand. The drawer is popped open slightly.
Shit.
He had rashly popped an Ambien at some point, angry that he couldn't sleep because of self-reproach surrounding the mother of his child and their circumstances.
Sarada seems cold, so he reaches down and pulls his blanket over them, tucking her into it and against his body.
She holds her rabbit to her chest in front of herself and yawns.
"Pancakes?" she mumbles.
"You had pancakes yesterday."
"Waffles?" she tries again.
Those are like the same thing, he thinks.
But he says, "Sure," to her without much complaint.
Sarada is getting cozier. She's going to fall asleep again, he can tell.
"Did you have a bad dream?" he asks, after a pause.
She shakes her head quickly.
She doesn't want to talk about it.
"Why are you so sleepy Papa? You're usually awake by now."
His kid doesn't miss anything and he smirks behind her head.
"I was up late."
Sarada hums in response. Her breathing evens out shortly afterwards.
Sasuke stares at his little girl a while longer. He loves her very much.
She'll get too big for stuff like this soon and that makes him unexpectedly sad.
He is happy he has her, but he's unhappy at the situation he'd created around their life. Leaving her without her mom. And him, alone.
He's still sleepy too. He passes out behind her, his arm thrown loosely over her little body.
They don't wake up again until noon.
He makes her waffles.
She's pretending she's immersed in a cartoon on her tablet, but she's peeking at him while he cooks.
He looks bored while he stands behind their kitchen counter, stirring batter. Then he looks annoyed as he fishes out an eggshell that had fallen into the bowl, with deft fingers.
Sarada giggles quietly behind her screen as she sits at the kitchen table, swinging her legs back and forth.
She likes her dad.
Sarada is tricking her uncle Naruto into supplying her with information about her parents.
Her dad was out on business and the goofier of her uncles had been tasked with watching over her this time.
She liked her uncle Itachi and her uncle Naruto in different ways.
Itachi looked a lot like her papa. He let Sarada do whatever she wanted at his house and always taught her something cool or new when she was there.
Her dad had explained to her that Itachi was his real brother. By blood. They had the same parents.
Naruto was his brother too, but they weren't related. Their mama and papa weren't the same as his and Itachi's.
"You don't have to be related to be family, Sarada. Remember that when you're older."
Naruto also let her do whatever she wanted when he was at her house, but Itachi knew when to say no if she started pushing boundaries.
Naruto didn't.
Sarada took advantage of this.
Sasuke would often come home from a trip, put Sarada to bed and then proceed to give Naruto shit about being outsmarted by a five year old.
"Fucking moron. In what world is it okay to let her have three cans of soda?"
"I don't fucking know. She said you and Itachi both let her do it!"
"You're not supposed to believe half the shit that comes out of a kid's mouth, especially hers!"
His daughter was low-key manipulative of the three of them, if she wanted to be. She knew she had them all wrapped around her little finger.
This was a Sakura gene. Or maybe it was a little bit of Sasuke too.
"Are Mama and Papa the same age?" Sarada asks, innocently.
She and Naruto are sitting on the spacious couch in the den of the house.
"Huh? No. He's older than her," Naruto responds, distractedly.
They're watching a soccer game together on TV. Naruto's really into it. Sarada was too, for the most part. She has questions she wants answers to though.
"How did they meet?" she asks.
Naruto punches a fist in the air. The team he was rooting for had just blocked a goal from being made by the opposition.
"When she got arrested," Naruto says.
Sarada looks away from the TV at her uncle, tilting her head to the side.
"What's arrested mean?" she questions, curiously.
Naruto's hands fly to his head. The opposing team had made the goal this time. His eyes are still on the TV as he responds.
"The cops— it means getting taken in by the police."
Sarada's eyes go round.
"Isn't that for bad guys?" she asks, gulping.
Naruto freezes. Oh shit. What the fuck was he saying?
"Is Mom a bad guy?!" Sarada asks, panicked. "Is that why she was missing for so long?"
Naruto starts moving his hands around animatedly, turning to her. He's thinking rapidly on how he's going to do damage control here.
Sasuke is going to kill him.
"No, no! Your mom's not a bad guy!" he says.
Sarada is biting at her lip, her face pale.
"So why was she 'rested?"
"Arrested," Naruto corrects.
Shit. This isn't the type of crap she was learning when Itachi was watching her. He was teaching her how to multiply and do like, division and shit. He was giving her random facts about rainforests and the savannah.
Meanwhile Naruto is over here getting dangerously close to teaching her about cops and robbers.
Fuck!
Sasuke's trip had been brief, he'd been gone for less than 24 hours. When he gets back, he's got Sakura in tow.
Naruto has moved to lounging on the living room couch, while Sarada takes a nap in her room. His head turns towards the direction of the door to greet the bastard, but he cuts himself off when he spots Sakura.
"Sakura!" he yells.
She smirks at him as she approaches.
Sasuke is not in sight yet.
Naruto stands up, buzzing with poorly contained excitement.
Sakura stands in front of him, unmoving. Then, she's being pulled into a bone crushing bear hug. Naruto is rocking side-to-side, babbling happily as he pulls back from her.
Naruto and Sakura had always gotten along. For the most part, Sasuke hadn't cared about their fondness for each other.
Unless they were teaming up to piss him off.
Then he wanted them separated as soon as humanly possible.
Sasuke walks in from the entryway, eyes them uncaringly, then disappears in the direction of his kitchen.
When he comes back, he is holding an uncapped bottle of beer and sipping on it casually.
Sakura and Naruto are sitting on the couch now.
"Where's Sarada?" Sakura questions, looking around.
Naruto starts rubbing at this hair and Sasuke narrows his eyes at the back of the blond's head.
"Oh—Sarada? She's taking a nap!" he says, quickly.
Sasuke walks around the sofa, so that he can get a good look at Naruto's face.
The idiot is flustered. Which means he had either done something stupid, or let his kid do something stupid.
Sasuke was this close to firing him as a babysitter.
Sakura glances at Sasuke briefly, but turns back to Naruto. She opens her mouth to continue talking to him, but is cut off by Sarada's hurried footsteps, dashing in from across the house.
"Mom!" she says, running up to her.
Sakura's smile is all teeth as she reaches a hand out to her.
Sasuke is still standing, across from the couch, facing all of them. The corner of his mouth lifts half a centimeter as the two of them hold hands. He is starting to live for these kinds of moments.
The euphoric feeling comes to a sudden and screeching halt, when Sarada begins abruptly questioning Sakura about being a bad guy and getting arrested.
Sakura's mouth drops open.
"What?" Sakura questions.
Sarada points at Naruto accusingly.
"Uncle Naruto, told me! But I think he's lying!" she says.
Naruto is frozen, his back straight and his hands clenched.
Sasuke has murder on his face.
Moron!
It is much later in the evening, after Naruto has left and Sarada has gone to sleep.
Sasuke and Sakura are alone together, in his room.
Sasuke is kissing down Sakura's body, having started at her mouth. His shirt is off and so is hers, but she's still in a bra.
He's kneeling over her, his lips making slow and sensual stops down her torso. He bypasses the scar from her pregnancy, going around it and not lingering.
She doesn't like it if he pays too much attention around there, so he doesn't.
He sits up slightly so that he can unbutton and unzip her jeans.
He yanks them down, off of her hips, smacking at her to lift herself up so he can pull them off better.
Sakura complies.
She looks at him. Her hands are up in the air in front of her, floating with nothing to hold onto. She'd had them in his hair, but he'd moved back so he could undress her.
His locks are in disarray, standing up in all directions from her tugs.
Sasuke gets one of her legs out of a pant leg, then the other. His hands noticeably tighten at each of her knees, while he pulls at the denim.
He leans forwards again, after tossing the garment aside, and continues his way down her body.
He breathes hotly over her panty covered pussy.
Sakura gasps at the sensation.
He lifts his eyes towards her face. She's looking down at him, her expression uncharacteristically somber. They stare at each other for a brief moment.
Then, he looks away, putting his mouth on her over the fabric.
Her hands dive into his hair again, tugging painfully.
He continues to mouth her through her underwear, but moves his hands to the undersides of her thighs, pushing her legs up and slightly back, towards her upper body.
She whines out his name.
He lifts his head up from what he's doing, his fingers digging into the flesh of her skin.
"What?"
"Stop teasing," she complains.
She's annoying.
He sighs audibly. After a pause, his hands move towards her panties, to slide them off her suspended legs. He grabs at her thighs again and latches his mouth onto her exposed clit.
She squeaks, then cups her tits over her bra.
He sucks on her unhurriedly, getting off on the way she's responding to him and grinding against his mouth.
He dips two fingers deep into her snatch after a while, continuing to tongue her clit with the flat of his tongue.
Sakura snaps her legs shut around his head from that. He pushes one of her legs down and away, irritated. He pins it against the mattress, his hand cupped around her knee to keep her limb out of his way.
He stills for a moment, basking in the feel of her kneecap beneath his palm.
Her free leg relaxes and rests over his shoulder, her foot at his back.
She arches off the bed as he proceeds with the assault on her pussy, then she comes with a scream.
He pulls back from her abruptly. She's squirting and it's messy as fuck.
He watches her shoot out in front of him. His hand goes down to rub at his dick, over his pants, while she finishes sloppily.
Her eyes are shut tight and her bottom lip is between her teeth.
When she finally opens her eyes, he's looking back at her intently with his mismatched eyes.
She looks embarrassed, but she doesn't say anything.
His hand is still over his crotch. He's on his knees, sitting back on his heels.
Sakura's eyes drop to his clothed hard on and she gives him a questioning look.
She wouldn't mind him inside of her now, but she doesn't believe he wants to.
She's not wrong.
He doesn't think he'll last very long again. He doesn't even want to try.
He gives her an annoyed look now.
"You better not have woken up the kid. You're so fucking loud when you come," he mutters.
Her eyes widen.
She hadn't thought about Sarada being asleep.
The house was still and it was late. She frowns.
Sasuke has had more time than her to be attuned to their daughter. He had more experience with being careful and cognizant around her.
Her gaze goes towards his closed door, worriedly.
Sasuke would have heard her door open if she'd woken up. It's fine.
Naruto had left pretty quickly after he'd been outed by Sarada.
Sasuke had abandoned his beer on the coffee table. He and Sakura had spent the next half hour consoling their daughter, explaining some half-true version of their first meeting to her.
The two of them had sat next to each other, Sarada standing in front of them with each of them holding one of her hands.
They'd made it sound like Sakura had been a damsel in distress and Sasuke had swooped in to save her, instead of Naruto's version of, "Sakura got arrested and Sasuke used it as an opportunity to introduce himself, then recruit her into being a contract killer."
Sasuke gets off his bed and heads towards his bathroom.
He strips off the rest of his clothes and then he gets into the shower.
Sakura has followed him and is hovering near the sink while he adjusts the water, before he steps all the way in.
He eyes her, his expression neither happy nor sad. It's just neutral.
If she wants to come in with him, she can.
He leaves the frameless glass door open behind himself and she approaches slowly, taking her bra off and then following after him.
His dick is still half-hard as he rinses himself off, under the stream of hot water.
He steps back so she can get in front of him. Her hands slide down her hair as it gets drenched and she moves it back from her face.
They just stand there for a minute, under the water.
Then he wraps an arm across her waist, pulling her so her back is against his front. He rests his chin on her shoulder.
Sakura is frozen for a second, but then she places one of her arms over his and tilts her head against his too.
They are both content for the first time in what feels like many years.
Sarada is excited when she discovers them both in the kitchen, the next morning.
Her dad is at the island, drinking his coffee as he looks out the window and her mom is sitting at the table with a glass of juice and her cell phone.
She skips in and looks between them both, then runs towards her mom and sits next to her.
She thinks she likes her mom. She's very pretty.
Sakura puts down her device and smiles at her, her fist is on her cheek and her elbow on the table.
She leans in and they rub their noses together.
Sarada giggles and pulls away, kicking her legs in her chair happily.
"Are you hungry?" Sakura questions.
Sarada nods her head up and down.
Sasuke is watching from across the room. Something is aching inside of him, but he ignores it.
He can't change the past. He needs to focus on the present. On the future
Sakura has stood up from the table and is walking towards the fridge.
"I want cereal!" Sarada yells out.
Sasuke puts his mug down and gets her favorite cereal box from the pantry, while Sakura gets the milk out.
He approaches Sakura, then stands next to her petite form as she looks up at the cabinets with uncertainty.
She looks to him nervously. Her question unspoken, in her anxious glance.
Where are the bowls?
He reaches over her head wordlessly and opens the cabinet so she can see. She'd inadvertently ended up in front of them.
Sakura tries to reach for them but they're too high up.
He makes a face at her struggle.
He didn't think his kitchen was that impractical, but now he has two girls who likely can't get anything that's elevated in it, without his assistance.
He grabs it for her and puts it down on the counter in front of her.
Sarada is looking at her parent's backs from the table.
They're being weird.
"What are you guys doing?" she questions. "It's just cereal!"
Sasuke turns back to her, leaving Sakura's side.
"Your mom's too short to reach the bowls."
"She's like me!" Sarada proclaims.
Sasuke is back at his mug. He shakes his head.
"Other way around. You're like her."
Sakura scoffs.
Sarada is pouting.
What was the difference? Sarada thinks.
Sasuke is holding up a clean spoon as Sakura turns around and walks past him, to put breakfast in front of their kid.
She plucks it out of his fingers on her way, giving him a sassy look as she goes.
Itachi is mildly injured and has come to see Sakura because of it.
Out of the entire cell and expanded squad, she and Karin were the most proficient in first-aid. Sasuke finds it irritating that none of the men had bothered to master this area.
Sasuke notably doesn't count Kabuto. The guy made everyone's skin crawl. No one really went out of their way to see that creep when they were hurt.
Sasuke looks sullen as his brother sits on his couch and removes his shirt.
Sakura is kneeling between his legs, assessing damage.
There's a deep gash on his forearm that needs to be addressed, but other than that he looks clear.
Sasuke does not like the way this looks from his angle.
Like she's about to blow his older brother right in front of him.
"Sasuke," she says.
He's leaning back against the wall across from them, a foot propped up flat behind him as he stands there.
"Hello? Sasuke!"
He shakes his head and his eyes come into focus on her frame. She is looking at him over her shoulder expectantly.
"I said, I need towels!"
He frowns. He's not leaving them alone together.
Itachi is looking at him funny now too and he's uncertain what he's doing with his body language that's giving him away.
Sakura growls. She puts her hands on Itachi's knees, so she can push herself up to stand.
"Fine. I'll get them myself. You're useless!" she says, stomping off.
She disappears from sight and Sasuke mean-mugs his shirtless brother.
Itachi looks at him for a moment, but then his gaze drops to his wound.
"You usually don't get beat up," Sasuke states. "What made you get sloppy?"
Itachi purses his lips. He doesn't answer. His brother would not understand.
Sakura comes back in a huff. She has a couple of soft, mid-sized towels in one hand, and a bowl of water in the other.
"You're a shitty assistant," she sniffs.
Sasuke wasn't standing here to assist. He was standing here to supervise.
He knows his brother isn't going to try anything, yet he can't help but stand around like this. Once in a while he was irrationally possessive. He made a concentrated effort to control himself most of the time, but this time he doesn't want to.
Sakura stares at him after she's dropped the towels on the couch and placed the bowl on the coffee table. Her hands are on her hips.
"Go away," she says.
Sasuke's arms cross.
"Why?"
She lifts a hand at him and waves it around in the air.
"You're making me nervous!" she exclaims.
Itachi is looking between the two of them and then looking back down at his injury.
He is not imagining that he's losing more blood, the more this is delayed.
Sakura notices his subtle discomfort and turns to him, making a sound of frustration at Sasuke.
She dampens a towel, then wraps and presses it to Itachi's arm tightly.
"Hold this here for a minute," she instructs.
His brother does as she asks, sitting back against the couch. His eyes are on the ceiling as Sasuke and Sakura continue to bicker.
Sasuke's gaze had been pinpointed on Sakura's fingers touching his brother's skin. His eyes lift to the back of her head, so he can glare at her some more.
Turning back to Sasuke, she says, "Get out!" and stomps her foot.
Sasuke clenches his jaw, eyeing her down for longer, then pushes off the wall and begins to move.
Sakura keeps her eye on him, following his movement until he's out of sight.
Stupid jerk.
She shakes her head in disbelief, then looks back at Itachi.
They share knowing smirks, but don't say anything.
Sakura fixes him up and dresses his wound without issue after that.
"You and I have unfinished business."
Sakura had said this to Sasuke, as she'd walked over the threshold of his front door. She had come to his house again, arriving late. After Sarada has gone to bed.
They are in the den together, and they are having a drink.
Sakura's glass remains untouched.
"You missed the headshot on purpose," she says, quietly.
Sasuke's gaze is on the lone, spherical ice cube in his glass. His broad shoulders are pressed into the back of this room's couch.
Sakura is next to him, but she has intentionally left a substantial amount of unoccupied space between them.
She's sitting on the front edge of the couch, her legs stretched forwards slightly, but somehow under-crossed like a pretzel.
Subtly, his eyes move from his glass, to the contortion of her limbs.
He shrugs.
"So what if I did?"
He was an excellent shot. There was no way he'd miss an opening at point blank.
Sakura takes a shaky breath.
"I don't think I can do this with you," she starts, slowly.
Sasuke's expression doesn't change as he looks up at her. He doesn't speak for a while.
"I never asked you to and I didn't expect you to either," he says, finally.
It's not the same, being with him now.
He's different.
She's different.
"It's not the same, is it?" he asks her, quietly.
She looks up at him and shakes her head, no.
Sasuke leans forward and deposits his glass on the table. He swallows audibly, then shifts closer to her.
Sakura does not withdraw.
"I'm… I'm sorry," he says.
Sakura looks back at him, expressionless. Her green eyes are unblinking.
She breaks the eye contact and stares at the ground, taking a deep breath.
She doesn't really have anything to say, so she nods her head up and down instead.
He's not looking for forgiveness anyways. He knows he did something rather unforgivable.
Sakura's voice sounds shaky once she starts talking.
"I still want to be in Sarada's life though…" she says, trailing off.
She looks back at him now.
He is nodding down at her.
Sakura is talking, trying to put into words how she is feeling, but then she trails off again. They eye each other without moving for a full minute.
Then, they are kissing each other with fervor, their hands in each other's hair and on each other's faces.
When Sakura emits a soft moan, he pulls away from her and shakes his head.
Not here.
Sakura gasps as he pushes into her. He's on top of her, in his bed, holding himself up at the elbows.
They are over the covers and they are both naked.
He had yanked her by the hand forcefully, until they'd reached his bedroom. He had pushed her in before him, and then closed the door.
From there, he'd undressed her and then himself.
He'd run his hands across her body and listened to her breathing change and then he'd led her to the mattress.
As he sinks into her farther, he drops his weight over her fully and her arms wrap around his back.
His face is pressed into the side of hers, his arms caging her head. He breathes into her skin loudly as he slides in and out of her.
He's going to last longer than before, but not by much.
Sakura is put-off by his lack of stamina in the bedroom. She remembers him as being tireless and she's not sure what to make of this.
Her legs are on either side of his body, knees bent, her feet flat on the mattress. She pushes herself up against him and he breathes in sharply, lifting himself up to separate from her.
"Stop," he says, pained.
She slides her hands to his upper arms and looks at his face in confusion.
"Why?" she asks, annoyed.
His eyes are on her nose and then her lips and then her ears. There are no earrings in her lobes.
"I'm not going to last," he mutters. He is back to holding himself above her, with his elbows.
Sakura's eyebrows draw together.
"I—" he trails off, swallowing.
Now her eyebrows rise. His dick is still in her, but not all the way. She feels it twitch against her wetness.
"I haven't slept with anyone since you," he admits, quietly.
Sakura's eyes get big and she almost looks upset by this revelation.
She worries the bottom of her lip and her eyes search his face. His skin is smooth, his hair falling into his eyes.
She wraps her legs around him now, pulling him back down to press flush against her body.
His cock sinks into her deeply and her eyes flutter shut.
His hand goes to her cheek and he searches her mouth with his.
Sakura is moaning into the kiss, her fingers pulling at the longer hair at the back of his head, near his neck.
He comes into her hotly, his grip on her body tight.
Sakura wishes he was able to last longer, if only to delay the moments after intimacy, when she'd have to sort out her plethora of conflicting emotions towards him.
Part of her says she's being stupid for doing this with him, but another part of her wants him around her and inside of her so strongly that it frightens her.
Frightens her because she doesn't remember yearning for him this badly, before she'd left him.
Sasuke remains over her for a minute or two longer, then rolls to the side of her and stares at her.
She turns on her side too, and stares back.
He doesn't bring up the conversation on the couch, not one hour ago.
I don't think I can do this with you.
She hadn't made it five minutes without getting naked for him and allowing him to sink into her heat.
Her hand comes up and traces the features of his face lightly.
He used to get irked when she did this before, but he lets her get away with it now.
Sasuke's palm drops to the dip of her waist. His other one is under a pillow, beneath his head.
Sakura's hand moves from his face, to slide down his neck. It goes down from there, her palm lying flat on his chest.
Again.
He swallows, nervously.
She was doing the opening of the death-point strike that would still his heart too frequently, to be a coincidence.
His face darkens.
"Just fucking do it if you're going to think about it so often," he bites out.
After a pause, Sakura shakes her head.
She can't do that to her daughter. Sarada clearly loves her father very much. Sakura is not cruel enough to take him away from her.
She's not him.
"I'm not you," she says, simply.
She leaves her hand over his heart and his stays at her waist and she falls asleep, facing him.
He lies awake, his eyes on her as she slumbers.
Sakura pays Itachi a visit later that week, alone.
"How are you, Sakura?" he questions, letting her inside.
She shrugs as she comes in, taking off her shoes.
It felt disrespectful to leave them on, in his house.
There was something more formal about Sasuke's older brother and Sakura had subconsciously always recognized it.
Her eyes land on the black books and the laptop spread out at his dining table, halfway across the large room.
He notices, as he leads her towards his set-up.
"You took out the accountant," he says, over his shoulder. "I am now required to balance the books."
Sakura looks away, sheepishly.
She follows after him and sits at his table, drumming her fingers against it once she's settled.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence?" he asks, sitting across from her.
Sakura is pointedly looking everywhere but at him. After a minute, her eyes rotate to his.
"I want to leave for a while," she blurts out.
Itachi blinks at her. He's otherwise reactionless.
He looks down after a time, his slim fingers beginning to flip through the silky pages of one of his books.
He arrives on a specific page. His finger slides down it, until it lands on something.
He says a number. A large sum that doesn't mean anything to her.
She eyes him in confusion.
"Your backpay," he clarifies.
Sakura's eyes bug out.
"With vested interest," he adds on, looking up.
Sakura had come here to tell the more sane half of this organization's leadership, her plan to go on a temporary sabbatical.
She hadn't expected this though.
"If you require space and some time to yourself, I suggest you settle down locally," he says, tone short.
Sakura looks glum.
"That is not meant to come off as a threat," he states.
She eyes him apprehensively. It had sounded like one.
Itachi dog-ears this page of his book.
"You left once before. Unannounced. Pregnant. Lost and confused."
There was a reason she had come to Itachi to talk this through. He got straight to the point and that's what she needed right now. There was no skirting around issues with him.
"What's your reason this time?" he questions.
Sakura looks down at the surface of the table, her digits still rapping against the wood.
"I'm afraid," she says, quietly.
Itachi does not respond, instead closing the book in front of him with a soft snap.
"Running when you feel in over your head, is not the way," he says.
Sakura stills her fingers. It's another one of her nervous tells and Itachi is staring at her hands in disapproval.
"You took five staff member's lives in your quest for retribution," he states. "That is not something that would normally be taken lightly."
She's aware of this.
"As Kakashi expressed to you recently, mistakes were made. On both sides."
Sakura's lips purse in an ugly fashion.
What the hell, Kakashi!? Conversations with him were supposed to be confidential!
"Technically, you're no longer able to utilize my services you know."
Irritating.
Itachi begins tidying up the books in front of him.
"I'll have my real-estate agent find you somewhere suitable to live. Is that okay with you? If it is not, you may say so," he says.
He stacks the last of his books on top of each other, then looks at her expectantly.
He was right. She was just trying to run and hide because it was the easiest thing to do. She thinks about Sarada, and what disappearing again would do to her.
Sakura's face crumples briefly, but she smoothes it out, looking up.
Itachi and Sasuke resembled each other greatly, and she'd always found it intriguing. She blinks a couple times at him, distracted. She's now analyzing the differences between their noses.
She's in the middle of visualizing her daughter's nose too; questioning which dominant gene in their side of the family made everyone look so similar to each other, when Itachi clears his throat at her.
Sakura shakes herself out of it.
She nods.
"Okay. Tha—that will work," she says.
The home Itachi's agent finds for her is more than suitable.
Sakura is unsure what she's supposed to do with this much space, but when she realizes that it's the perfect size to have Sarada stay with her sometimes, she's happy.
There's enough room for her daughter to run around out back and the property itself is very aligned to what Sakura finds comfort in. It's stylishly furnished, to her taste.
She smiles softly to herself. She thinks Itachi himself had been more involved in selecting the property and closing this deal, than he had let on.
Sakura doesn't mind this. She's still getting back on her feet and this level of support does not feel invasive or controlling to her. The idea of this would have bothered her a few months ago, when the only thing on her mind had been revenge.
Her priority is being present for her daughter now, though.
Sakura's new residence is not far from Sasuke's, but it is not overly close either.
It's perfect for the amount of independence she wants right now.
Sakura spends a week to herself, settling into her home and buying things to make it more personable.
She's in the middle of nailing a painting to a wall, when Sasuke calls her.
"Sarada wants to see you," he says.
Sakura hammers the nail in, before she responds.
"Sorry. I'm getting the house in order," she says, apologizing for the noise.
Sasuke stays silent on the line. She rightly assumes that he's been informed of her new home ownership. She gets distracted by straightening out her picture frame and Sasuke still doesn't bother saying anything. They listen to each other breathe for a minute or two, but it's not uncomfortable.
"Okay, when do you want to bring her over?" she asks, finally. She nods to herself. The frame looks good. "You can stay for a while too, if you want," she adds on, quietly.
When they show up at her door a short while later, Sarada jumps into her arms excitedly.
Sakura laughs as she twirls her around, holding Sarada up against her hip.
"Hi, sweet girl!" she exclaims.
Sasuke closes the front door and walks in silently, perusing the house his brother has selected for his… for the mother of his kid.
It's nice.
"Is this your house, Mama?" Sarada questions.
Sakura puts her down on the ground and nods enthusiastically.
"It is! And guess what?"
Sarada is giddy.
"What? What?" she asks.
Sakura bends over, so that they're closer in height.
"You have a room here too... If you want to stay with me when Dad is away for work. Would you like that?" she asks.
Sarada jumps up and down, happy.
She looks to her father for his approval. He shrugs his shoulders, turning his head and nodding absently.
Fine with him.
He'd been in the middle of eyeing a decorative bowl on an end table, lifting it and looking underneath it.
"Can I see my room?" Sarada asks, excitedly.
Sakura grabs her hand, looking to Sasuke briefly. He's too preoccupied with snooping around to join them.
Sakura leaves him to do what she recognizes as a perimeter sweep and leads Sarada to her bedroom.
Sasuke's arms are wrapped around Sakura's body as they lie in her bed later that evening. His hold is too tight, but she's so drowsy that she doesn't bother to slip out from underneath his embrace. They are facing each other, pressed together.
They'd ordered take-out eventually. The three of them had eaten in Sakura's kitchen and then she and Sasuke had cleared the table while Sarada had run off into the backyard, to expel some energy.
"Will you be okay? Living alone?" he had asked her.
Sakura had given him a disbelieving look.
"I was alone that entire time before I met you. I'll be fine," she had said.
Sasuke had looked disgruntled, but hadn't pressed it.
Right now, he was asleep. Inhaling and exhaling above her forehead, his breaths disturbing the pink strands at the top of her head.
She herself dozes off briefly, but when she cracks an eye open a short time later, she spots Sarada over Sasuke's shoulder.
She's standing next to the bed apprehensively. Her eyes, a mix of both of theirs, is on the two of them. Sasuke had told Sakura that sometimes, Sarada had bad dreams. Sakura thinks that this was one of those times.
She wants to sleep with them.
Sakura nods at her.
Sarada climbs in the bed quickly, pressing herself against her father's back.
Sasuke wakes up a while later. He's got an eyeful of Sakura's hair in front of him, and the warmth from Sarada's small body at his back.
He's sandwiched between the two girls he cares about most and he is overcome by an overwhelming amount of emotion as he feels them on both sides of him, sleeping peacefully.
He knows he doesn't deserve this. He can't put into words how he feels about having it.
He wants to be a better person for his kid. He wants to be a better person for Sakura.
He's not sure where this whole thing is going.
For now, the three of them being together like this… it's enough.
FIN.
If you like The Bride, check out other fics by illCat (me)
Blow: Drug Dealer AU. Multi-chapter WIP. Pt. IV pending editing
Marionette: College AU with a twist. Multi-chapter WIP. Ch. 17 pending editing
Courtesan: Sex for Money AU. One-shot.
Tarnished: Good Girl/Bad Boy HS AU. Two-shot.