My sincerest apologies for keeping you all waiting, but here you are. :) This is the final chapter in this great love story.

After those two great reviews from sahi . sony . 1, I was upset by what was said recently. It was meant that Sakura and Itachi end up together in the end from the beginning; what you said was an utter insult. But no matter; there is still love and support much appreciated. :')

Reminder once again: polygamy was NORMAL in Heian-era Japan, so I understand it is hard to believe in today's standards.

Fun facts today which includes the difference between Buddhism and Shinto: Shinto is a religion to emphasize the joys of the natural cycle of life, being in harmony with society as well as nature itself; all of this is done with rituals, respect for those around you, cleanliness of body and mind, and celebration altogether. Buddhism, on the other hand, is just preparing for the next life after this and thus denies everything worldly with meditation and prayer. (from Yahoo!Answers as to the differences between the religions)

So, there is a movie called "Splendor in the Grass". That's one of many TCM names.

Chapter Eleven

The Splendor in the Grass

Itachi had come all the way out here...for her and for Sasuke.

He didn't have to do this, but he did.

Her father's health began to take a turn for the worst, despite everything she and Tsunade could do. In fact, the prayers and the sutras given from the local temple served as a reminder of when Princess Izumi suffered and died after her pregnancy.

"Perhaps they could help, but in the end, it's the Buddha's decision when it's time for him to go," Itachi told her when they were alone one day. Sasuke was taking his afternoon nap, the old woman back in the village for her other patients and thus entrusted Sakura with her own father - but the rosette doubted even her own hands or the paper sutras could keep Kizashi's final days at bay much longer.

It's the Buddha's decision...just like his grandfather said on his deathbed.

There was no way to stop the flood from hitting the ground, and it took an effort to turn her face so that the salty water didn't touch her clothing. "I haven't even seen him for years, and only once when Mother died. Even I couldn't save her, either..."

One of his arms came to wrap around her and hold her close. She leaned into his embrace, needing it so much and uncaring now if anyone would see. Shisui might as well be the only one allowed.

~o~

She couldn't stay away from him no matter how hard she tried. Three years were enough to put her at peace, but with her impending illness, she feared her time was running out, so she sought him out because her daughter - who was still young enough - needed a guardian.

And he was the one.

Never did she think she would see him HERE of all places; she just happened to spot him from a distance as she paused here in this province for her stay. I'm here for one thing only that I had to come all the way here alone; I may not have much time left, but I have already said goodbye to Aoi just in case. Another cough wracked her body that she covered her mouth with her cherished fan she kept all these years.

She never intended to return here, but her soul was tugged in that direction in which she had to ask for the Buddha's protection even if her prayers might not be answered - especially with what her inner spirit sneered at her for.

I refuse to let the fact get to my heart that I killed his wife. I didn't even want her to die...but it still happened.

Trying to tell herself that did little good. And what she saw added to everything. It was old wounds slowly coming open again.

It was also old feelings she thought she had locked away, no matter how hard she tried. Seeing her old love and that pink-haired woman - as well as the young boy she knew was his son - in this province and blending in with the crowd...

...it convinced her he must have taken a new lover when his official mourning wasn't expired yet.

The way he looked at her was what Lady Konan remembered all too well, and it made her heart squeeze into itself. Her eyes did that, closing tightly and keeping the burning tears at bay - a burning which rose in her heart and she slapped her hand over, pulling at her kimono in the process and threatening to tear it into shreds.

That dark voice had come to her mind: See? You are feeling it again. You never should have come.

The spirit was right, but it was too late to turn back now. She came too far to do that.

~o~

Her father died before the cherry blossom event would be over.

Sakura was kneeling before the statue of the village temple, hysterical to her core and weeping uncontrollably - and dressed in black. Her tears hit the wooden planks of the floors. Her heart was torn into shreds; this had to be how Itachi felt when he lost his mother and then his brother, if not the way he lost Izumi.

What did it matter if you lost your family or a true love? The pain was all the same to her.

Itachi knelt with her at the shrine, and so did several villagers - and Shisui, the little prince whom no one knew about, and old Tsunade. Everyone really loved Kizashi when he was alive, so here they were now to mourn him and honor him.

The services would begin, but Sakura had no intentions of staying here forever. She had duties to go back to eventually. Part of her wanted to do that, and for the very reason, she wished Itachi would go back to the palace, take his son with him, and return to his duties. Alas, he refused and declared he would be with her and help her get through this.

"Shisui, my son and I will remain here, as the official story remains. No one will be bothered if I am gone for a while, because there are people beneath my right wing that I trust to ensure there is no trouble. And it's not like anyone will quarrel - much," he added with a chuckle, "at this time of year. As far as anyone is concerned, I am touring this village and can manage on my own. I didn't learn how to use the sword for nothing," he promised, managing to make her smile a little more. "That means it will be just you and me alone for the first time."

His words shocked her utterly; it wasn't the first time, but he had gotten all the more emboldened since abandoning his seat for this wilderness where he would be at risk of bandits if anyone learned who he really was.

"That also means I have you to back me up."

He was referring to the dagger from his late wife, and she reached to lay her hand on her left hip which was where it was hidden. She smirked, thinking to herself that she was all too happy to oblige as promised.

The next few days were spent with Sasuke, as if they had become a real family when she and Itachi weren't even married yet. The little prince happily ran through the falling petals from the trees, watched by his father and caregiver. It was under this spot that they had a picnic prepared at Sakura's family home - but now, she was considering letting someone else have it when she returned to the Imperial Palace. There were too many painful memories there.

Just look at these trees...the flowers swaying in the breeze...and many falling to the grass - all of it splendid as a painting.

And here she was in the kimono he'd brought with him, stating Ino was kind enough to give it to him since Sakura didn't deserve to miss this event without it; it made her laugh and shake her head. Good old Ino with knowing the white lavished with rich pink blossoms was her best.

She found herself reciting a poem for the moment and all its intricate details that seemed to move the man sitting beside her.

"Splendor does the cherry blossom create amongst the grass. Tiny feet pad across the earth, leaving the trail in wake without a care. The man and the woman longing sit beneath the tree of transience, bridging the gap of the great river to cross."

What she was telling him was here they were now, after many years of waiting and her righteous will to refuse being his concubine. After these years of losing people they loved together, they were going to finally make the best of what they had left in life. And he gazed right back at her over his fan with the Uchiha crest and the verse from his late wife; she batted her lashes in return as she did the same with her own, this one with the flowers above their heads.

The spark between them could very much rekindle the actual flames.

Sakura then excused herself by saying she had to get more water from the stream that wasn't too far away; it was actually just beyond the trees down this hill, which was one of many views around this tree. Picking up the small bucket she brought from home, she headed for the destination, glad she could do these things without trouble and without fear of trouble coming...but if you said such things to yourself, it meant something would really come your way.

And that was just what she did as soon as she rose from the riverside, bucket in hand, but when she turned around, she was startled and dropped it so that water splashed onto the grass and the container itself lay on its side.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Sakura demanded, hands around her hips, one of them placed over where her dagger was waiting to be drawn if the situation became threatening.

The woman was garbed in plain black, her hair blue as twilight. But it was also cut short above her shoulders rather than long and touching the ground. She's someone who renounced the world; is she a member of a temple?

"I was going to ask you the same question," the blue-haired woman answered, "and what is your business with Itachi Uchiha?"

Something inside Sakura twitched, realization dawning on her. This stranger knew the emperor, but he never once mentioned...wait. Now I know who she is. And for that, her fingers closed around the beginning of the hilt of her hidden weapon. "I see it now. You're Lady Konan of Nagato. I thought you left Konoha not even three years ago."

The other woman stayed where she was, golden eyes hardening and flashing from the core. "It doesn't surprise me that you know who I am, for you recall my history with him," she said, voice now cold as ice. Sakura nodded, gritting her teeth.

"Have you come back for him now that his wife is gone, his pain is healing, but his official grieving is yet to come to an end? You have the gall to show up after all this time and when he is the emperor. What's your business, damn it?" Sakura demanded hotly, her finger itching to draw it out...

"Because no matter how hard I tried to stay away, I can't." The woman then slapped a hand over her mouth, coughing for a little bit - which told Sakura she must have contracted something, but there was no way to determine without further examination, which wasn't about to happen in these circumstances. "It's been long enough, and I must see him. Time on my side is short."

The rosette loathed how she spoke of her heart broken in not so many words, and part of her didn't hold her to a fault since Itachi never once directly told her that their relationship should have ended. I thought things had resolved by now, but here she is before my eyes.

"You'd do well to leave at once. He has no business with you now; you're just going to reopen his wounds by being here," Sakura hissed, defending him now with her heart. "If you wanted to heal yourself, then you should have stayed away."

Perhaps those were the wrong words to say, because she saw she provoked the blue-haired woman based on the narrowing of those eyes.

"And what about you? Would you happen to be his new lover?"

Angrily, Sakura drew out her knife after the patience wore off. "No, but I am someone who is watching over his child with the woman you murdered," she snarled, brandishing the knife. The straight blade gleamed brightly in the sunlight, the inlaid pearl a rainbow that didn't lessen the threat. However, the action didn't faze Konan, and her voice remained calm despite her stoned features.

"I never did that myself, you inferior woman. It was a wicked side of myself that I never knew about...but I confess that his abandonment without even an explanation left me suffering a torment I could never withstand. I fought to not let it consume me, but everything he unlocked in me without trying too hard made me damn it all. I..." She squeezed her eyes closed.

"...I loved him so much that his wife was in the way, and I wished we could have been together - but I NEVER wanted her to die the way she did. And I also cursed the one who spurned him, rejected him for her own selfish reasons..."

For a second, she considered lowering her weapon as she listened to this woman's story, but despite understanding now and feeling guilty as she knew who the unnamed woman was, the witch still was responsible for what happened to an innocent woman. And Sakura had no intentions of saying she was the one who "rejected" Itachi.

Konan finished: "And I left with my daughter afterwards, to atone for these sinful feelings, before he and everyone else learned I had been responsible as you accuse me."

"Yet you are here now, because you failed locking your heart away...but you'll have to go through me now before you dare to reach him," the rosette growled, and so she lunged in the direction of the woman who also drew a weapon of her own, having come prepared herself.

She was finally going to protect herself and her man back there - against this jealous woman.

~o~

Sakura did not yet return from the river; he began to worry especially when his young son ran up to him and asked him when Aunt Sakura was coming back.

His instincts told him something was terribly wrong, so he was going to investigate. Shisui was in town enjoying himself and probably picking up a "nice girl" as he used to often boast about having one day to settle down with. For that, since he was alone, he had to pick up his sword which was laying innocently in its hilt. "Son, stay here or at least hide in the tree," he ordered. "I'm going to find your aunt." The boy nodded and slipped into the great crack beneath the large tree trunk.

In hand was ebony based with gold, and the casing bore a skillfully crafted dragon. If Sakura was in danger, he would cut them down - but when he arrived at the source of the struggle not even deep in the woods, he heard himself gasp in shock at what he saw.

Sakura...and KONAN. Both of them fighting each other out with their daggers, but I don't see any wounds...yet. And that meant he had to stop it before it got worse. He bellowed out to them both.

"SAKURA! KONAN! THAT IS ENOUGH!"

Both women ceased their dance of the blades, and by this time, both of them were unkempt to the hair. When he looked upon the shocking appearance of his former lover, he almost couldn't believe it: she looks the same as I remember...yet different. Her hair is shorter. Because she renounced the world...

...but WHY is she here?!

And more importantly, why was she fighting his son's guardian and the woman he loved?

"...Itachi." Seeing him made her fall to her knees, and her curved knife hilted with lush brown wood fell down to stab the earth. "You're finally before my eyes for the first time in many years." Her words came out in a harsh breath, but while they were genuinely honest, they did nothing to soothe his heart like they used to. He had to demand to know what was transpiring between them.

"She attacked me first," Konan breathed out, reaching up to tame her frazzled hair, and his attention shifted to Sakura who was glaring with two pools of green fire at the other woman...which said just about everything.

She intended to kill Konan herself.

"It was her who admitted she was responsible for the death of Princess Izumi...the spirit we could never find," Sakura said harshly, still holding out her pearl-inlaid knife. She took more raspy breaths. "I was going to kill her for causing you and all of us such pain..."

Konan...she was the one. She was the spirit - oh, gods, how could...?!

Now he had no idea how to take in all of this, except with a myriad in his heart: contempt, coupled with guilt and pain threatening to renew itself. He looked upon the one whose arms he'd fallen into because of his then one-sided love for the rosette who continued to keep her weapon aimed at the other like a wild cat. This was the fierce Sakura few spoke of. But while it roused him, it disturbed him because this woman had a child of her own; to kill her meant depriving the girl of her mother just as Sasuke had been deprived of his own.

My heart is protected from being shredded all over again. It doesn't surprise me that it was her all along, but it is still painful. Sakura, please don't do anything, he pleaded with his eyes when they locked with hers. You only dig two graves when you go down the road to avenge one person and yourself. Killing her won't bring Izumi back...and you'd give her daughter the same loss as us.

Her blade - Izumi's blade - lowered a little then, but remained up all the same.

And the blue-haired woman finally spoke. "What she says is the truth, but I swear on my Aoi's life that I never wanted it to happen. I didn't realize it until after your wife passed; it was a wicked spirit I never knew there was. When I missed you greatly without so much as a word of your absence...my soul left my being. And so I left Konoha without a word other than the letter." Golden brown eyes lowered to the earth.

"But my time is running short. I am gravely ill." There was a wince on her face and a hand going to the middle of her body for emphasis. "I managed to come all the way out here just to see you one last time, and to entrust my daughter guardianship."

An invisible nail had been driven to his core when she told him she was dying but still ventured out here just to see him. All the way from Ame for THIS. "Because your daughter has no one left, and you still trust me despite what I have done to you," Itachi finally spoke. It all made sense now, and because she never truly recovered from him, this was the last chance.

He chose to give that chance to her and accept this. Just because that poor girl needed someone in her life even if they were a border apart, and Sakura seemed to be considering this and therefore put the knife away. Thank you, Sakura.

"This will be the least I can do for you to pay for the consequences I played a part in. I feared losing Izumi when we were first married - the way I lost Sasuke and my mother, and my fears did become reality when she painfully gave us our son. But even long before then, I saw another woman who wasn't my wife, and it was because of my love for that woman who refused my advances that I found comfort in your arms. I never saw everything becoming what it is now."

And for that, he made Konan so unhappy and worried that she had no way to reach him until it was too late.

Sakura remained where she was standing, though her face was hard as river pebbles. I see it in your eyes, however; you feel guilty, but we both know it was necessary. And that face was softening now with his decision and understanding that the young girl over in Ame needed someone after her mother was gone. "Well, I'll have difficulty forgiving you, but if Itachi agrees, then so will I."

Itachi smiled at her decision to be compassionate for a child's sake. And Konan forced one of her own.

"Then will you both be so kind as to return me to the border between this land and Ame, where I shall spend the rest of my days in peace now that you have given me what I desired?"

If they agreed to that, it meant first taking Sasuke back to Shisui's protection while they both went out together. His captain and best friend would guard his son with his life, so that was enough for him and the rosette to venture out there with this woman who was wronged as much as all of them were. There was going to be no more bloodshed, and certainly no more tears today.

He would never forget Konan's letter, so during the short journey - with Sakura on his back and holding onto him - he found himself repeating everything word for word to her and the blue-haired one beside them who was shocked that he recalled everything so well.

"You said you had to leave and attempt to mend everything yourself, that there would be more pain if you stayed...yet here you are now. But I see it is truly desperation to grant guardianship of your child, which I am too happy to oblige to for both your sakes." He sighed. "To know another child will lose their mother..."

Sakura interrupted him, and it was amazing that her earlier anger was subsiding. "Then we're going to provide your daughter with the happiness she needs even if she is far away from us," she said, "and her well-being will match the level of Sasuke's as soon as we are married, right, Itachi?"

Warmly, he agreed with her, then finished speaking to his former mistress as soon as they reached their destination. "Please, take care, Konan, and try to find the peace you sought. Perhaps love never dies, but there are ways to make it less painful. No one ever said it was easy." Something I know too well.

Konan's cheeks now had two perfect tears streaking down them. She lowered her face, but her words were heard clearly.

"Thank you both, and please forgive me for the pain I unwittingly caused you. I am now...at peace."

That was the final time they would see her, and the couple were rushing back on the same horse in time for the sky to darken with an incoming storm. They wouldn't make it back in time, so any shrine would suffice.

~o~

Present...

"So, that's it - that is our story."

The rain was still pouring if not monstrously as prior, but the sky had grown all the more darker as the day was ending. Here Itachi Uchiha and his future new bride Sakura concluded their tale to the wise old priest who intently listened with all the feelings necessary. Not even yet a formal proposal, but it will happen.

"I am terribly sorry about your late wife, Your Majesty. When I learned of her death, I sympathized for your son...but now I see a new ray of light in this lady," he said when he looked upon Sakura who bowed her head in thanks. "I wish it will last until the cycle ends, but we must cherish what we have while it lives."

They intended to do just that. While the little prince was safely back home under Shisui and Ino's protection, they would spend the night here and then return. Just the two of us...

"And, Your Majesty, you've chosen a rare woman to make you alive again and raise your son with you. Regardless if anyone complains."

That alone was enough to make Sakura wipe her eyes with the back of her free hand, with the other lowered to her lap and still holding her comb. The words touched Itachi just as much; perhaps he could someday call this man to help perform the wedding services with the one in the capital. The more, the merrier.

They had a room to share rather than someplace separate, and that meant something which was years in the making and destined.

Behind screen walls, all doubts were cast aside, because no one said that they couldn't do this - and this was a Shinto temple rather than a Buddhist, meant to celebrate life and respect it - and they were confident they would marry after his mourning period to the world would conclude. There was no reason they wouldn't have time for this, especially after what transpired today.

The emperor found he was unable to sleep that night, which the rosette noted as she, too, couldn't keep her eyes closed and drift off into oblivion. "Itachi?"

"I find that I am unable to sleep tonight."

"Because of today?" she asked, pulling her white garment further over herself. He chuckled at both her question and the action.

"Yes, but mostly...it's you." And at long last, here they were so he could speak from the heart without fear. Did it ever feel so wonderful - much more when she looked upon him with the adoration he waited for?

She sputtered ever so lightly, shocked and unsure how it could have been her, but he assured her by leaning down and capturing her lips with his. "Because I am so happy it's difficult to keep my eyes closed." Pray Konan finally moves on as I feel we now can.

Sakura raised her head a little higher, and she shifted as if about to stand and leave him, but there was no way she was getting away from him and teasing like that. "You have no fault in any of this. I never thought I would have trouble sleeping since it's never happened that way," he confessed, and it was all true.

The only one, it seemed, who might render him unable to fully rest was her.

"You certain you don't want me to leave, Your Majesty?" she asked, laying back against him. He turned into her and wrapped an arm around her warm, sweet body. Already, he couldn't wait anymore.

"Absolutely not. You're my bride now, and my bride should stay close to me...always." Sakura...my bride...

She echoed the last word with him, clutching onto him as the last resort. What followed was like a dream where they were free as the falling leaves and tree blossoms.

The removal of both their white yukata was the gentlest of throwing aside tapestries to see what treasure was hidden...and the feast he was granted was worth the long wait. A canvas pale as the moon was framed and enhanced by her long hair sweet as the flowers in the season. She was slim but satisfying enough to meet his hands' needs. But the main attraction was her breasts which were tinier than his late wife's and Konan's; the tips were the right shade as her hair and her lips which his own found way to, before traveling down to her delicate throat and eventually to her breasts which made her cry out if swallowing it down to prevent the sounds of passion from escaping this room. Imagine the horror of the priest and his monks if they caught them!

What they did as man and woman could not compare to him and his wife or even him and the woman who once more left their lives. He couldn't get enough of her enchanting aroma which made him wish that the flower she was named for had such an exhilarating incense; he ravished her from top to bottom without hesitation.

Sakura was everything he dreamed of and more. He couldn't get enough of her body, her ethereal hair, or even her heart.

This woman is going to be with me to raise my son, to be the one I turn to in great need...and for what we are doing tonight after years of waiting.

She seemed to be thinking similar thoughts as she had her turn above him, enticing him with great skill despite never seeming to have been with a man before him; she'd waited for him, which thrilled him. She ran her fingers through his hair which was shorter than hers but still long enough to reach his legs, kissed and caressed every contour and muscle to provoke him into arching into her touch.

As promised, there was hardly any sleep that night, but what was lost had been worth what was gained, and it was a love that withstood the test of time.

And as dawn approached, the rain subsided.

The cherry blossoms were still in bloom. Though right now, they did not represent incoming sadness...but the joys of living in the present.

The confrontation between Sakura and Konan comes from "Rashomon" (at last I bring it to light!) in terms of one of the accounts within. For those of you who haven't seen it, it depicts three parties and a witness who each have different versions of a mystery in 9th-century Japan: the murder of a samurai and the rape of his wife. The bandit's version involved luring the man into the woods on a false finding claim with intention to "sell" - only to ensnare him and tie him up, then bring the wife to her husband...only to be attacked by the woman and her dagger, no direct contact, and ends with having her before her bound husband's eyes. Thus the wife pleas with the bandit and her husband to fight to the death, because having her "shame known to two men is a fate worse than death. I will go with the survivor". And of course, it ends with the samurai dead; the wife runs off, leaving the bandit to run off with her horse and the dead man's weapons.

I won't spoil anything else about this gem of a movie, but if you're a fan of Akira Kurosawa, then you must know what I am talking about. :) Anyone new who is interested, feel free to look for it and let meh know how you liked. Dailymotion is a good place to find it, though it is in parts. (Keywords: Rashomon 1950)

Sakura WOULD have killed Konan if Itachi hadn't interfered, before anyone says she is useless. (narrows eyes) Because she is a strong-willed woman already in here, intent on avenging her mistress and mother of her charge, it was very likely.

In "Genji Monogatari", when Lady Rokujo is on her deathbed, she entrusts the guardianship of her daughter to Genji. Extended in "Aoi no Ue" the Noh play, she becomes an onryo (a vengeful spirit) and attacks Murasaki.

Ending with what finally became of ItaSaku: I'd been at a dilemma on whether or not to have them consummate their relationship in a temple of all places. Usually it is considered filthy to do such things on holy grounds, but there was a moment in "Chosen for the Marriage Bed" by Anne O'Brien (one of my favorite love stories ever) in which husband and wife did it in a room they shared for the night in the priory. ;D

Hope you all enjoyed this story, so review with much love! :'3