what's this? another update in less than two weeks? shock horror!

that's mainly because i'm now officially starting my second year at uni and i have a proper job (!) which means i dont know when the next update will come, so have 5k of fluff and Sasuke-Tsunade interactions to tide you over until then.

also, i may have lied about itachi, but read and see ;)

also also - remember when i said we are entering Headcanon Land? this is it.
so thanks to blackkatmagic, the various anons, and yetanotherpromptblog for one of the ideas in this chapter. love u.

sasuke is still, INFURIATINGLY, fun to write

finally:
HERE THERE BE GAYS

"You didn't have to do that." Naruto muttered as they walked out of the cave, the smell of ozone heavy in the air, and Sasuke rolled his eyes heavenward because of-fucking-course.

"Your idealism is going to kill you." He said, in lieu of agreeing or trying to explain his motivations to the dead-last, because he was a missing-nin-turned-mercenary not a psychologist.

But of course, Naruto wasn't going to let that go just like that. "Like you just killed Nagato?" he accused, and Sasuke wondered about that, wondered at his capacity to pity people who'd tried their damnest to kill him, instead of those he swore to protect when he accepted his headband.

With a frustrated sound, Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the shoulders and roughly pulled him so he was facing what was left of the Village. They didn't even need the advantage of higher ground – the Village was so destroyed that nothing interrupted their view for over a mile in any direction.

"Look at this." He ordered roughly, "All this destruction, all this death? That's on him."

Naruto suddenly jerked his head back, trying to smash Sasuke's nose, but the Sasuke let him free with a sound of disgust, stepping back.

"You forgot to mention the part where he brought everyone back!" Naruto hissed, eyes flashing red for a split-second, and Sasuke sent a silent prayer for patience, because if he asked for strength he was going to strangle this idiot with his bare hands.

"Not everyone." he snarled, cursing Tsunade in his mind. He'd signed up for sticking it to the big man, not stamping over the rose-tinted glasses Naruto refused to part with even in the face of a massacre. "The people caught in fallen buildings will suffocate to death for the second time. Those disembowelled or decapitated will die all over again, in agony this time. All who've lost family, lost everything in the initial Crush, they'll wake to nothing."

Sasuke paused, suddenly out of breath, trying to reign his temper back under control and ignore the wide-eyed shock Naruto was directing at him. "It would've been kinder to leave them dead." He added at last, bitter and resentful.

(Kami only knew he'd wished for that when he woke that awful morning, only to find that it hadn't been a nightmare, and that his beloved brother had really murdered their entire family. The bitter resentment at being the only one left alive, at having to bury and grieve for those lost all by himself – there had been many times, before he'd firmed his desire to be an avenger, that Sasuke had wished he'd died with his family. It would've been kinder that way.)

"You can't mean that." Naruto whispered, sounding shell-shocked, and Sasuke snorted as he was jerked out of his introspection and moved to leave, half-way through the seals for the shunshin when the blond grabbed his arm and forced a pulse of chakra into his system to disrupt his concentration.

"What happened to you? You and Sakura both, you're so – so cold!" he accused, and Sasuke absently thought that this might be the most observant thing Naruto has said the whole day.

"We grew up." He replied shortly, but Naruto's grip wasn't easing and now Sasuke was getting angry.

"When will you get it through your thick skull?" He demanded, chakra twisting through his system and coming out in electrical sparks that shocked Naruto into letting go, and Sasuke took private satisfaction in the burns he glimpsed on his palm and fingers. "While you were off talking to frogs and peeking in bath houses, I was planning to kill a Sannin and she was bathing the world in blood on every mission."

(And Sasuke hated her, hated Sakura fiercely, hated her with every fibre of his being, hated and feared her in turn after Itachi told him what he'd found in her file, but right now, she was less annoying than the dobe in front of him.)

"We've left you in the dust long ago." He added, because he couldn't resist twisting the metaphorical kunai he'd ran through the blond's heart some more. "Catch up, or forget about us."

And finally, with Naruto too stunned to stop him, Sasuke let shunshin take him away, the memory of Nagato's face as he ran his Raikiri through his heart making his blood sing with satisfaction.

When Sakura woke up, her injuries were gone, but her body felt…wrong. Like some sculptor had tried to mould her again out of inferior clay and wasn't quite sure where each body part belonged so he'd ended up with something human, but… off.

She heaved herself up on her elbow and pried her eyes open, blinking as they adjusted to the light. She was bemused to find that someone – or likely a group of someones – had arranged all the dead side by side in two rows on one of the flattest parts of the Village with minimal debris – probably one of the main Village roads.

There was that word again. Dead. She'd been dead, and now she wasn't.

She squished the part that wanted to panic about that and forced it under, leaving it as a nice, gift-wrapped present for Inoichi or one of the Kiri psychologists to unpack, because this was not the time for a panic attack.

Instead, she tried to wrap her head around who'd died and been brought back, but bodies stretched further than she could see both ways, and she was wary of using her chakra – the memory of soldier-pill-induced heart attack was still too fresh. She was amused to find Kubikiribocho beside her and she pulled the sword into her lap, somewhat comforted as she went back to looking for familiar faces.

Akamaru's white bulk splattered with rusty brown was easy to distinguish amongst the chaos, as was the majestic hair of the Hyuuga beside it. So her future Hokage was still alive. That was good.

Sakura spotted Ino's signature ponytail, and her gaze flickered to her childhood best friend, a mix of relief and regret in her chest. Ino was draped over what looked suspiciously like Hinata, and her shoulders were heaving, shaking with sobs. Sakura's heart twisted in her chest, and a weight came off of her shoulders at seeing a piece of her childhood in one piece.

Movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention to the reunion of the Nara family. Shikaku looked battered and bruised, Yoshino at his side only slightly better off – both were gathered around Shikamaru who was groggy but sitting up and alive. Then Sakura saw the unmistakeable blue of Chojuro's hair across Shikamaru's lap, the Nara's hand almost absently running through it to his father's growing amusement, and Sakura breathed a sigh of relief.

Sakura's eyes flickered over a multitude of faces, seeking ones she recognised and cared for – Anko stood beside Kurenai, looking a bit shell-shocked as she stared at the tiny fist poking out of a bundle wrapped in what looked suspiciously like Anko's old trench-coat, Kurenai's expression adoring, if exhausted. Great timing to have a child, Sakura mused wryly, in the middle of death and destruction. But she was glad, immensely so, that both survived – a spark of light in the progressively bleaker-looking situation.

Then, she saw Genma.

Sakura winced as she forced herself to her feet, but it was high time for this conversation. She hefted Kubikiribocho onto her back, clipping it safely into its harness that had somehow survived the battle, and made her way over. As she neared, however, she saw that her partner wasn't alone. Aoba was with him, near him, almost on him, and the scene looked…intimate.

Hesitating, Sakura froze, torn. She wanted to disturb them, but didn't at the same time. She wanted to talk to Genma, but dreaded actually having to talk. She wasn't sure how long she stood there, but eventually, Aoba pulled away enough for Genma to push himself up on his elbow, and when he did, their eyes caught.

Sakura gulped. It had been easy to respond to the not right feeling in her chest and let her Hiraishin take her to Genma when she'd been on death's doorstep already. It had been easy to cover him with her body and take the blow meant for him, easy to reach out and touch and joke and ignore the tears and the panic as Genma laughed, until eventually her vision went black and her heart stopped beating.

But now, faced with the prospect of having to talk about their issues…

Well. She couldn't exactly escape now. Squaring her shoulders, Sakura pasted on a hesitant smile and made her way over.

"You…you kissed me." Kiba mumbled, trying to push himself onto his elbow but failing, crushed under the combined bulk of Akamaru and a full-grown Hyuuga.

"You died on me." Neji hissed, pearly eyes glassy and bloodshot, eyelashes stuck together with tears.

Kiba winced. "I- yeah. Sorry for that. Still." He coughed, ash in his lungs, and grinned tiredly. "You kissed me."

Neji made a sound of frustration and- oh.

Huh.

Even smitten as he had been with the brunet for over a year, never once did Kiba even entertain the idea that Neji would kiss like that.

Or kiss him, for that matter.

"Tell me," Neji murmured against his lips, bottom lip catching on Kiba's canine in a way that shouldn't have sent a shiver down Kiba's spine but it did, oh god it did, "that I haven't misread a hint?"

"A hint?" Kiba asked incredulously, raising a hand that only had a slight tremor to it by now and threading his fingers in Neji's glorious hair. "Neji, I was a step away from grabbing a megaphone and shouting it from the Hokage Mountain, but I decided I would hold off until you were officially sworn in as Rokudaime. If I'd been any more obvious in my 'hints' I would've thrown myself on your lap and not moved."

"A not unwelcome alternative." Neji replied, the look in his eyes relieved and wicked in a way Kiba hadn't accounted for. "Would've saved me thinking you'd died before I could confess." His voice was harder this time, despite still being low and quiet, and Kiba should've probably realised what throwing himself in front of that blow meant for Neji would do to the teen, but– well. There were more important things to worry about at that point.

"Will you forgive me if I promise to never do that again?" Kiba asked, hopeful and teasing at once.

Neji, seemingly grateful for the lighter tone, smiled. "I could be persuaded."

Genma woke to the feeling of a weight on his chest and fingers tightly clutching his arms, and the memory of Sakura's death at the forefront of his mind.

He was groggy, disorientated and grieving, but he now had an answer to "what would I do if the kid died" – pick a fight with a god, apparently, even with a broken back.

He'd watched Sakura throw down her life to take that blow for him, then saw Kakashi die while trying to make up for his reckless run at a man who could manipulate repulsive forces.

It seemed that it wasn't just Sakura who had grown dangerously dependent on their partnership.

He lifted a hand – slowly, because it felt like his brain hadn't quite gotten to grips with having functioning limbs just yet – and carefully laid it on the head on his chest, feeling its owner freeze beneath his fingers.

"You fucking idiot." Came a familiar, gruff voice, muffled as it was by his shirt. "You absolute, irresponsible fucking wanker. I hate you. Never do that again you bastard."

"Hey," Genma drawled, his own voice rough with ash and hoarse from screaming, "I somehow miraculously come back to life and the first thing you do is swear at me? That's just mean."

Then Aoba raised his head and Genma had an entirely new reason to be breathless than the heartbreak in his best friend's voice. Aoba looked tired, worn, pained and relieved and something else stirred beneath the surface, but his eyes–

His eyes were blazing Sharingan-red.

"What in the hell?" Genma whispered as his hand moved of its own accord, sliding from Aoba's hair to frame his eye, thumb unconsciously stroking the raven's cheekbone.

"Guess there's a reason my ma never told me who my father was." Aoba joked but it fell flat, his voice too shaky, his eyes desperately flickering over Genma's face, as if still struggling to believe he was alive.

"But how-?"

"I watched you die." Aoba said simply, shrugging, and Genma's thumb froze where it rested on his cheekbone.

"I... what?"

"I love you, you bloody idiot. Have done for an age."

And that – what?

They were close, had been for over a decade, and Genma would be lying if he said he'd never entertained a 'what if', but he'd never imagined that his feelings would be reciprocated.

"I'm not expecting a confession or anything, you don't need to look so panicked, that kinda shit only happens in movies and the cheesy porn Kakashi reads." Aoba snorted when it seemed Genma's entire capacity for speech had taken an unannounced vacation. "But you asked, and it was gonna come out at some point, so… yeah."

Genma blinked, still stupefied, desperately scrambling for words, before he gave up. He moved his hand from Aoba's cheek, saw the split-second that the raven looked crestfallen, clearly expecting him to cut the contact short, but Genma had other plans. His hand fell to Aoba's nape and he pulled him down till they were forehead to forehead, and smiled.

"You might need to give me some time to adjust." He murmured, chuckling when Aoba rolled his eyes as if to say obviously. "Not because this is weird, but because this is wish-fulfilment on an insane degree, and stuff like this doesn't happen to people like me." When Aoba blinked, thrown, it was Genma's turn to laugh and roll his eyes.

"You say you're not expecting a confession, but you're going to get one anyway; I love you too, you big lug, but if you steal my blanket, I'm kicking you out of the bed." Genma teased, delighted when Aoba laughed.

"Says the one who's been sleeping in my apartment for how long now?" he demanded, and Genma joined in the laughter, accepting the raven's point.

"Touché." He admitted, then as Aoba shifted to a slightly more comfortable position, his eyes met wide emerald and he froze.

Aoba, annoyingly perceptive as usual, rolled off of him and raised himself up on an elbow, shooting Sakura a measured look.

"Do you want me to stay?" he asked Genma, but he was facing Sakura, making sure she could read his lips.

Apparently, Aoba wasn't particularly impressed with Sakura's refusal to speak to him. That…could prove interesting.

At the same time, Genma felt a selfish need for the comfort of his (boy?)friend's presence and he found himself nodding before his brain quite caught up with his body.

Surprised but visibly pleased, Aoba sat up and beckoned Sakura over.

(Genma tried not to linger on the enormous sword strapped to her back, nor the care with which she unbuckled it as she settled down on the ground opposite him, close but oddly careful not to touch.)

"Hi Gen." she murmured, almost shy, and that was such a bizarre concept Genma almost gave in and pulled her into a hug right then and there.

"Hey kid," he echoed instead, sighing as he smiled wryly, "we've got some stuff to get through, hm?"

He was expecting a laugh or at least a smile, but Sakura looked like he'd hit her. Then, she bowed her head, and if not for the amount of people surrounding them, he'd have thought she was going into dogeza.

"I apologise for over-reacting." She said quietly, and by his side, Aoba tensed, clearly not having expected the words either. "I shouldn't have expected you to ignore or disobey orders for me. We never did clarify whether we were on the same level of commitment for each other. I assumed we were, and I assumed wrong – I'm sorry."

Genma tried to wrap his head around the stream of nonsense that just left his kid's mouth, and found that he couldn't.

"Look, pinky-" Aoba began, but Sakura cut him off.

"Sakura, please. 'Pinky'…belongs to someone else." She requested, still uncharacteristically quiet and withdrawn, and Genma had no delusions as to who she meant.

Aoba seemed reluctantly amused. "Sakura, then." He corrected, earning a nod. "Look, kid, Genma has disobeyed orders for you before, and you've done the same. He literally lost his shit when you pulled that stunt with the Path, so I don't think commitment is your enemy here. If you want my opinion, then I'd worry about communication, 'cause you're both godawful at that."

Sakura's expression mirrored Genma's complete bewilderment. "Have you been talking to Inoichi-san?" she asked at last, and Genma couldn't help but snort at that.

"No, just happens that I have eyes, thanks." Aoba snapped, but even Genma could tell it was without heat.

"Mmhm, about that." Sakura said, extending a hand much like Genma had done. "Do you need help switching that off?" she asked, and when Aoba grumbled but nodded, her fingers lit blue and a moment later, the Sharingan was gone and Aoba sagged with relief.

"Right," he began, rising to his feet, "I'm gonna go check on the others. Behave, children." And with that, and a parting caress to Genma's hair, he was gone.

Suddenly alone, the earlier awkwardness returned, but this time, Genma didn't resist the impulse to open his arms and pull Sakura in for a hug.

"You didn't over-react." He mumbled into her hair, knowing she'd be able to hear. "It was just- too much too soon, and I hadn't quite been able to work through what you'd told me in Mist. And then we hardly saw each other because you were with the Kiri delegation and I was at Aoba's and then Orochimaru came – it all just piled up without any resolution, and I'm sorry it ended how it did." Then he paused, and the next breath was caught half-way between a sigh and a sob. "Doesn't mean I wanted to see you die."

Sakura tensed in his arms, but eventually shrugged. "Worth it." She whispered, like Genma knew she would.

"Yeah, we're going to have that talk." He decided, torn between amusement and exasperation. "But first, I'm glad you're alright."

Sakura relaxed and somehow managed to cuddle closer, arms squeezing even tighter around Genma's midsection.

They were going to be alright.

Tsunade was sitting in her makeshift office, trying to figure out just how many losses the Village suffered even after Nagato's magic trick, feeling a headache coming on even before her door opened without a single knock and Uchiha Sasuke's head poked in.

"Not that I'm not thrilled to see you – actually, I'm really not – but why are you here, Uchiha?" she asked, not bothering to even feign politeness.

"Drove my chidori through the bastard's heart as ordered." Sasuke reported, signature scowl in place as he stepped into the room. "Couldn't reach his ass, though."

"Naruto tells me it wasn't for lack of trying." She pointed out, amused as the Uchiha shrugged. "So, once again. Any reason that you're here, Uchiha?"

There were a few seconds of silence as they sized each other up, then Sasuke slouched. "I want you to release me from my vows." He said, blunt as can be, and Tsunade barely restrained herself from doing a double-take.

That… wasn't what she was expecting.

"That's not how this works, Uchiha." She said once she regained her bearings, smirking tiredly. "You have to make this interesting for me as well. What are you going to give me in return?" she asked, knowing the teen wouldn't care for the subtle wording of politics.

Sasuke seemed to be considering her for a moment, then threw himself onto one of the chairs in front of the desk she'd asked Yamato to make, frowning. "The Uchiha complex survived the Crush." He began, and Tsunade snapped to attention. "Use it as barracks or housing or whatever. Redistribute the wealth amongst the population. I don't care for it, but as the last surviving Uchiha, it's mine to do with as I please."

Carefully restraining her surprise, Tsunade nodded. "Now you're talking. So you give me the Uchiha complex and I release you from your vows. What then?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"I don't know." He admitted, and Tsunade supposed that the battle-fatigue had dulled the sharp edges around his personality, because this Uchiha Sasuke was almost civil. "But whatever it is, I won't find it here."

That was a not unlikely assessment, and Tsunade nodded, though she felt the need to push a little more.

"Even now that your brother is missing or dead, your family avenged? Your life goal has been achieved, Uchiha. Surely, you must've planned beyond fratricide." She pressed, but instead of bristling or the return of the impenetrable walls the kid had built around himself even before he'd left the Village for Orochimaru, all she got was another shrug.

"Not really. I didn't expect to survive Itachi." He said simply, as if that should've been obvious, and Tsunade wondered whether suicidal ideation ran in the family or it was just her luck.

"Would you go back to Orochimaru?" she asked, an idea forming in her mind, even as the Uchiha looked at her like she was crazy.

"He's still after my eyes." He scoffed, shifting uncomfortably.

"Not anymore." A sibilant voice joined the conversation, and Sasuke froze – with his back to the door, he didn't have Tsunade's advantage in position, and Orochimaru hadn't made a sound when he walked since he was on her genin team.

"Orochimaru was under a seal of his own." She hastened to clarify when she felt the daggers the Uchiha was glaring at her. "When we removed it, we also removed his obsession with the Sharingan, since it was directly caused by the seal's influence."

"So he's not crazy?" Sasuke asked bluntly, eyebrow raised doubtfully, even as he subtly twisted so he had Orochimaru in his periphery.

"He's recovering from three decades of being mind-controlled and malnourished," Tsunade replied, just as bluntly, "but he's not about to go around giving people cursed hickies any time soon, no."

Orochimaru looked like he regretted entering her office, that same judgemental expression on his face that Tsunade remembered from their teenage years, when Jiraiya would start talking about the female form or she would gush about Dan. It made something in her chest ease up, and her smirk held more amusement in it than bitterness now.

Suddenly, Sasuke stood, and a split-second later he was in Orochimaru's personal space, single Sharingan blazing red and staring right at him, less than a foot away.

The Sannin swore and snarled but didn't move, glaring right back, and after a few seconds Sasuke deactivated his doujutsu.

"Hn."

Before Tsunade had a chance to ask what the actual fuck, Uchiha?, Orochimaru hissed something vicious and unintelligible, but Sasuke hissed right back, eye narrowed and lips curled, and Tsunade didn't have to have the snake summoning contact to know the two had just cussed each other out in her office.

To her surprise, however, the Uchiha brat just looked amused.

"I can work with that." He nodded, as if the exchange of profanity with the Sannin had been enlightening instead of incomprehensible.

Orocchimaru snorted but glided into her office, settling gracefully on the only free chair left. "I'll be working to establish Sound as a shinobi Village and serve as its kage." He announced, then turned to Sasuke. "I could use a Jounin Commander."

"You offering me a job?" Sasuke asked, incredulous, but he was looking less world-weary by the second.

"You're a mercenary, Uchiha. Get used to it." Orochimaru snapped back, and if Tsunade was any drunker she would've called it prissy. When Sasuke's incredulous expression didn't fade, the Sannin scowled. "You've commanded troops before. It wouldn't be much different to train them."

"I am, technically, still a genin." Sasuke pointed out, and at this point, his incredulous expression had turned into a shit-eating grin.

"When Tsunade releases you from your vows, that won't matter." Orochimaru rebuffed, and Sasuke's grin grew.

"The great Sannin Orochimaru, eavesdropping?" he drawled, and Tsunade only belatedly realised that it was banter. Apparently, it wasn't just suicidal ideation – Uchiha Sasuke was straight out suicidal.

But the fact remained that Orochimaru still hadn't cut the kid's head off, and Tsunade's disbelief shifted from the Uchiha to her old teammate.

"I take my offer back. Juugo will do just fine." Orochimaru snarled, turning away from the Uchiha to glare at Tsunade in a clear change the subject, damn it.

It took Tsunade a few seconds to get with the programme, after her revelation of Orochimaru and Uchiha Sasuke get along. "You don't seem too torn up about your brother's death." Tsunade pointed out, her brain seizing the first issue that had stood out to her and jumping on it.

Sasuke shifted uncomfortably. "What, are you a shrink now?" he demanded, drawing a soft sound from the Sannin beside him.

"I am a doctor." Tsunade snapped back, grin showing too many teeth to be comforting.

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed by your bedside manner." Sasuke drawled, and Tsunade bit back a laugh.

"Remember Uchiha, once I release you from your vows there'll be nothing stopping me from punting you out of the window when you're being a brat." She reminded him, and got a smirk in return.

"But I enjoy being a brat. I've found I'm really good at it."

Orochimaru snorted, muttering something under his breath, but Sasuke ignored him.

"Back to the original topic," Tsunade demanded, "I've decided you need a shrink and am gracious enough to do the honours." She pulled out three sake cups and filled them up. "So. Itachi. Talk, Uchiha."

Sasuke shrugged, clearly uncomfortable now. "He could've gotten out. He may have died in the original Crush, but after bony asshole did his thing, he should've been able to get out. The fact that he didn't means that he chose not to."

"You're saying your brother committed suicide." She clarified, and even Orochimaru was sitting up straighter now.

"Pervert Sannin said Itachi was planning to let me kill him." Sasuke explained. "Absolution of sins by fratricide. Plus, his illness was treatable. Letting himself suffocate after a building fell on him isn't that out of character."

And while his tone was blasé and he had clearly either repressed the idea of his brother choosing to die or truly come to terms with it, there was something that stood out to Tsunade even more.

"I never told you his illness had been treatable." She pointed out.

"Lucky for you, I'm not an idiot." Sasuke replied, with an attempt at his trademark cocksure smirks, but it fell flat.

Orochimaru made a sound like he disagreed, but again, Sasuke ignored him.

"My teammate in Oto is a medic-nin. I know he differences between a viral and a bacterial infection." He clarified, and at that, Orochimaru snapped to attention, frowning.

"Karin's ability allows her to transfer medical chakra. She's not a medical ninja the way Kabuto was." He said, in a tone that demanded, in no uncertain terms, explain now.

But Sasuke just smirked, vicious and smug. "That's what you've been led to think."

And instead of growing angry, instead of beheading the brat and being done with it, Orochimaru just hummed. "Hm. Interesting."

And Tsunade decided she truly had no idea what was going on anymore.

As Sasuke left the Godaime's office, officially released from his vows to Konohagakure and with the job of Jounin Commander in Otogakure under his belt, he felt free for the first time since the Massacre.

He stood on the Shodaime's head, watching the ruins of the Village he'd grown up in, fingers sliding carefully over the three-ringed necklace in his pocket.

He'd gone to the place Tsunade had pulled him out from before he even set foot in her office – he hadn't found his brother, and the debris had looked untouched, but he'd activated his Sharingan just out of curiosity, and he'd found chakra.

Familiar chakra.

His chakra.

It was a tiny dot, but after he investigated a bit more, he'd found Itachi's necklace carefully hidden under one of the bigger stones. The three red gems in the middle of the silver rings reflected light in an odd way, almost lazily. The fact that the middle one held his chakra gave him pause until he realised that there was liquid in the gems.

Blood, to be precise.

His blood.

And if he had to guess, the two gems on either side held his parents blood and chakra.

He'd snorted, aware that nobody without a Byakugan or Sharingan would've found the necklace, or known exactly where to look – putting two and two together was easy after that.

Making Tsunade think Itachi had allowed himself to be killed was easy, even if he'd almost laughed at the idea. Itachi had been killing older, better and stronger shinobi than him since he could walk, had beaten Orochimaru at thirteen, survived Akatsuki and Orochimaru's second invasion and a disease that was killing him with every breath – the notion that he'd be beaten by a fallen building was ludicrous.

But he'd played the conflicted brother, half relieved the man behind most of the suffering in his life was dead, half grieving that his only remaining family was dead, with ease.

It was the least he could do.

If Itachi had chosen to leave this Village in the dust under the cover of his suicide and find a new life elsewhere, who was Sasuke to criticise him?

He was planning on going back to Orochimaru, after all.

With a satisfied smirk, he let the necklace go and turned away.

Genma wasn't quite sure how long they sat huddled together, each refusing to move and soaking in the closeness and relief and catharsis of seeing the other had made it, but suddenly, Sakura twitched.

She untangled herself from the embrace and perked up like a rabbit, then she was on her feet and jumping almost before Genma realised what she was jumping at.

Or who, for that matter.

The street where the dead had woken up had been slowly emptying as people went to find their families or shelter for the night, but it was still busy. So busy, in fact, that it took Genma a second to pinpoint the figure Sakura had thrown herself at.

"Pinky-chan."

Ah.

The assassin's voice was rough and weary, and there was a tremble in it for the first time ever, but the relief in it was palpable as he wrapped his arms around Genma's partner, heedless of the fact that she was clinging to him like a limpet and he was essentially supporting her entire weight.

"I was worried." His kid mumbled, face buried in the Kiri-nin's shoulder, and Genma didn't miss the fond look that shone through the weariness for just a moment at the words.

"Metal-dick didn't stand a chance." Yuki joked, but it was more wry than cocky, and Sakura didn't look relieved in the least.

Genma watched, feeling more than a little out of touch as the assassin sighed fondly and pressed a kiss to Sakura's temple, far more gentle and reassuring than he would've thought the man capable of.

"It's okay, pinky-chan. I'm alright, you're alright, your boyfriends are alive and well. It's going to be okay." As he spoke, he stroked Sakura's back with one hand, and Genma suddenly felt like he was invading on a private moment, which was an incredibly bizarre feeling when applied to his kid and the assassin.

Slowly, Sakura loosened her arms and raised her head enough to rest her forehead against Yuki's temple instead. "Okay. Okay, yeah." She breathed, then pulled away enough to smile at the assassin. "Could you stay here long enough to come with me to see Inoichi?" she asked, and Genma officially had no idea what was going on.

Then Yuki laughed and ruffled her hair. "Of course. Poor blondie won't know what hit him." he promised, and Sakura must've seen the sincerity because she unwrapped her legs from around his waist and slid down.

When her eyes met Genma's, she looked better. More…whole.

It was then that he realised that they really were going to be alright.