The next morning Hanabi's mind was solely on the discussion between her father and Hinata. She was furious that he would even suggest that her sister should be clan leader. Why even train her then? All of her life was dedicated and steered in that direction. It was unfortunate but she lived for the approval of her father. If she didn't get it she trained even harder until he showed some sort of happiness toward her progress. Things were even more exciting when she could contend with her sister. There was no holding back in those matches because she only viewed Hinata as competition. As children, they weren't allowed to play very much with each other and her father was very strict with that. The most time they ever spent around each other was observing each other's training sessions. It was clear Hinata had no desire to put any aggression into her fighting and that was where she failed. As a result, simple observing became overwhelming hate for her sister's weakness. She couldn't understand why Hinata lacked the strength to become a good leader. Was she not an Hyuga? Either way she took that as an opportunity to excel and she did. Hinata wasn't going to take what belonged to her that easily and she would make sure of it.

"Miss Hyuga?" her instructor called. "Is something distracting you?"

"No not at all. Again!" she yelled getting into her defensive stance.

"Maybe we should take a break. I'm really concerned about you hurting yourself. You've been training all morning."

"AGAIN!"

Anko sat in the doctors office, waiting nervously for his solution for her recent problems. She didn't know what she could have been doing wrong. There was no way she was pregnant. Hopefully the scans they did will help. Before she could think any more into it the doctor came back into the room. He grabbed the closest chair pulling it in front of where she was sitting. Once seated he looked through her folder for a few minutes, still being silent, still not making eye contact with her. "What's going on doc?" she finally asked. It was like hearing the question made him snap back to reality. He finally closed the manila folder and looked at her. There was definitely something wrong.

"You seem to have an aggressive cancer taking over your abdomen. It's worrisome because we see it in a few different places on the abdomen...we can try a few different types of treatment but-"

"Cancer?" she asked shakily.

"I don't want you to lose hope Anko. There are many treatments and ways that we can contain it's growth and ultimately heal you. We need to attack it immediately though so I'm going to need you back here tomorrow to begin the first round of treatments okay?"

She sat in silence unable to answer with words but managed a nod as she tried to process the information. Of course this would happen right now. The time when she finally has hope that maybe she can handle this life. She had love and her career was making her comfortable. Sleep was finally achievable without nightmares and now she has cancer...perfect. She needed to get away from this now, right now. "Well thank you for your help" she finally said forcing a smile onto her face.

"We'll be seeing you tomorrow right?" the doctor asked, standing up from his seat.

"Right" she agreed, quickly grabbing her things to rush out of the room. Each step she took felt heavier than the last. Her chest was tightening, it felt as though she couldn't breath. As soon as she was outside she felt her emotions hit her hard. She ran to the side of the building, crouching down in the alley to cry in silence.

"Anko?"

She looked toward the voice but her vision was blurred from her tears. After wiping her face she was able to see that it was Hinata. "Oh hey, how are you?" she asked, trying to make herself sound as cheerful as possible, wiping her face quickly to get rid of the evidence. The last thing she needed was someone to pity her.

Hinata was not buying the facade Anko was forcing herself to keep up. She immediately set the basket down at the edge of the alley and crouched down beside the woman. "Do you want to talk about it?"

The question only made Anko start crying again, this time a little harder. "No" she said through her tears.

"Ok" Hinata cooed as she reached out to rub her friend's back. "How about this then? We go to my condo and drink some tea. Then when you're ready you can talk to me or you can just enjoy another cup of tea."

Anko looked at Hinata for a moment before nodding to the idea. The girl gave her a smile as she stood up, holding out a hand to help her up. Once up, they took off toward the Hyuga's place. The walk was silent with a few jokes to keep the air light from time to time but all in all they were mostly silent. They soon got to the place and Anko immediately made her way to the patio in the back, dropping heavily onto one of the chairs. She let the sun bath her in it's warm rays, allowing her to close her eyes and embrace the warmth of the day with all that was on her mind. After a few minutes, Hinata joined her handing over a cup before sitting on the opposite side of her. "I love your set up here...with the flowers. It's lovely."

"Thank you, I love my solitude. So when I got this place I wanted to at least make a sanctuary for myself. Life is already so inopportune that it's good to have a consistent and relaxing environment to come back to after a long day" Hinata explained, nestling into the chair.

"I don't think that's possible for me anymore" Anko said finally, keeping her face forward.

Hinata sighed as she looked over Anko predicting that it had to be something serious. She's never seen her like this but she also didn't want to push anything if she didn't want to talk. "It's never too late. Pursuing happiness is a lifelong journey."

"Yeah that would mean to have time...which today I found out is very limited."

The Hyuga furrowed her brow at Anko's words, now turning her body in her direction. "What do you mean by that?"

"I have cancer" she simply said as she took a sip of her tea.

"Cancer?" Hinata whispered. "Well I'm sure there are treatments,right?"

"Yeah but the doctor said that it was aggressive. I don't think there's any hope Hinata" she explained, her voice cracking a bit.

"Let's see first before you give up. Are you going to tell anyone else?"

Anko sighed heavily, wiping a few tears away. "I'm thinking about it, but for now I want to keep it quiet."

"You have my word."

The next morning met Sasuke on his second pack of cigarettes. He hadn't slept the night before. Sleep was not something that could be achieved when it seemed like life was about to fuck you and there is absolutely nothing he could do about it because truly...it was his fault. He'd been reckless most of his life and selfish. Now it was time to reap what he had sewn for years. The last thing he ever thought he would be doing is planning to raise a child with a woman he had no desire to deal with. However, he knew the child did not need to punished for his father's mistake. This was beneficial for him after all. He was finally going to carry on his bloodline. That was the goal all along right? "Of course it is" he'd say to reassure himself. His mind did immediately think of Hinata during his reassurance. He knew this would hurt her. Should he be the one to tell her or should he just let her find out on her own? There was no good way to deliver news like this.

"Sasuke!"

That voice. He looked over to see Sakura making her way up the steps and turned his head away to continue smoking his cigarette. "What are you doing here?" he asked in between drags.

Sakura tilted her head to the side, sighing heavily as her eyes fell on the ash tray. It was overflowing, which meant that he had to have been on the porch most of the night. She knew he only smoked this much when he had a lot on his mind and for some reason she was happy that he might be thinking about her and the baby. This was why she loved him so much. Though he was cold to her Sasuke was not a completely heartless person. He cared when it was important for him to do so. "I just came over to show you the ultrasound photo" she responded, pulling it from her purse as she made her way over to him. Once close enough she held it out, practically glowing with happiness and pride.

Sasuke hadn't budged, in fact he looked down at the picture and looked back to the horizon. "So it's really true...you're having my child" he'd finally say, continuing to smoke. He took one last drag before putting out the cigarette so he could give her his undivided attention. "I don't know what to say or do right now but since that is my baby...I'm willing to help you in anyway I can to ensure the child's happiness and health."

She smiled brightly at his words, knowing this was not the ideal situation for either of them but she was happy. She was going to have a child for the man that she had loved since the day she met him. "Thank you" she'd say gratefully, quickly wiping away a tear. "So what do you think we should do from here?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. We're going to need to be in one household I believe and probably...get married" he answered, looking away as he mentioned marriage. His resistance to what he said was evident but it wasn't his call at this point. Everything needed to appear very stable for this child. That was all that was important.

"Marriage?" she'd say with a bit of surprise, raising a hand to place over her heart. It was now beating wildly as she imagined the idea of being his wife. She would make him so happy and she knew with enough effort she could make him love her. She could definitely do it. "A-are you sure?!" she asked excitedly.

"Of course I'm sure. The child will need stability and a strong family unit will ensure that" he'd simply say, reaching over to take the picture from her hand. His thumb ran over the area where the little bean was developing and he couldn't help but smile. That was his child and he was going to make sure that they knew happiness even if it meant giving away his own happiness.

Sakura couldn't stop the tears from coming at this point, especially when she noticed the way Sasuke was looking at the photo. He wanted this child just as much as she did. "You'll be a great father" she'd say to him, taking the opportunity to move closer. She knew this was her moment to say something that would chip away at his hardness. "You can teach them all about being a Uchiha and they'll carry on your legacy Sasuke. This is bigger than all the bad stuff. We're going to raise a powerful individual" she added, taking his other hand in hers. "We get to work as a team again on something so important. You know me Sasuke, I'm all in." Her eyes searched to find his and once he looked at her she held him there, smiling once again.

His eyes locked on hers and for once he didn't completely feel disgusted. He never once noticed how strong she could be and now he understood why his friend would love her. Of course he didn't know if could ever return those feelings but he felt comforted in the fact that he had a partner who would be working together with him on this. Maybe he could even grow to love her. "So then Sakura...will you marry me and live together as one?"

"Yes I will."

Hinata went to the local market later in the day, smiling as she greeted her favorite vendor with a wave. She picked out a couple of items, taking time to pick the best ones she could before handing over some money. Since the market was pretty peaceful she decided to keep walking, glancing around at the different things. As she kept walking she managed to wander into a huge greenhouse. It was littered with beautiful flowers, all with an array of bright colors. They were really a sight to see. She couldn't help but wonder who was responsible for this lovely place and it was then that her eyes landed on the Yamanaka name. "Of course" she said with a sigh remembering that Ino's family did actually own a flower shop in the city. Now her only goal was to escape without running into the blond. Unfortunately, life had another idea for her. As she was trying to find the exit she noticed two people through some flowers. They looked familiar and as a result she decided to take a closer look. It turned out to be the two people she didn't want to see. Sasuke and Sakura stood together, hand in hand looking at flowers. They looked...happy. She could feel tears starting to well up as she continued to look at them. Ino soon joined them with a heavy booklet, looking as though she were explaining somethings to them. It was then that she noticed the book had the title "Wedding Flowers."

"Wedding?" she whispered to herself as she looked away from the scene, feeling as though her chest was about to explode as everything started to fall into place for her. They were actually doing it. They were actually going to be together. It made her start to wonder if she was just a mistake in his life. How could he do this to her? She needed to get away immediately. In her daze she ended up knocking over a flower vase which alerted the others that there was someone in the building. Realizing what she had done she started to frantically make her way toward the exit. "Hinata?" Sasuke called out but hearing his voice only made her move even faster. He managed to catch up to her enough to grab her arm which she reacted by pulling away furiously. "Don't touch me!" she yelled as she turned around, tears streaming down her face. "Why did you even follow me? Aren't you picking out flowers for your wedding?!" she asked shakily even though she was angry.

"Just let me explain" he pleaded, moving closer to her.

"No!" she shrieked. "There is nothing to explain. The biggest mistake I ever made in my life is you" she spat before turning on her heels to run off.