"MOM SNAP OUT OF IT! He needs your help!"

Blinking she let her inner medic take over, now was not the time.

She took him from her daughter and order her to go inside and start a pot of hot water and gather certain supplies. Once inside she laid him out on the small cot she used for those who came to see her for help.

Taking a deep breath she let her chakra flow into the man to assess him. He stirred, turning his face towards her, his swollen eyes barely able to open. She tried not to focus on his features and what he might think. Because today of all days, she had forgone her disguise, and now here she was in all her green eyes pink haired glory healing Kankuro Sabaku. Just one of the many she had tried to avoid for over a decade.

"S…Sakura SAKURA!" he tried to sit up his voice full of surprise and a little apprehension.

"Kankuro you lay down right now or I'll knock you out. You know I will."

She ignored her daughters questioning look. Instead focusing on the man before her. His breath was labored but he was struggling to remain conscious.

"We….. thought you were…dead. Tsu..nade declared.. you…"

"Shhh, Kankuro, just rest while I heal you. Okay. We will talk when you are rested."

"He….doesn't… believeeee." He trailed off as he finally succumbed to the exhaustion and injury.

"Mom?"

She took a deep breath, "Yes?"

"How do you know that guy?"

"He is from the Village hidden in the Sand. I've worked with him before on missions when I was a ninja."

"He said they thought you were dead. I thought you just left."

"It's a long story. When I'm finished healing him I will answer your questions okay?"

She saw her reluctant face but was relieved when she nodded.

Sakura spent the next four hours healing the damage within. Suturing cuts and placing healing compresses on various areas. Wrapping his injured ribs, and making sure he was stable. Afterwards she gave him some more pain medicine that doubled as a sedative to help him get some much easier rest.

She walked into her kitchen and washed her hands and face in the sink, and poured herself some much needed tea. Resigning herself she sat at the table next to her waiting daughter.

"This isn't going to be easy for me to tell nor is it going to be easy for you to hear. Before you were born I made some choices, things I may not be altogether proud of, but I did them because I cared about the people involved. And I thought they were the best options."

She smiled at her daughter who had a troubled look on her face.

"You know how I used to be a medic nin in the village of Konoha in the land of fire, yes? I trained under one of the legendary sannin. Tsunade, who is also the Hokage. I was one of the best in all the nations. And after the war many villages needed help restoring certain things. One of those things being hospitals, and the staff to fill them."

She tooka sip of her tea and folded her hands around the steaming cup staring into the contents with a half smile.

"I was sent to Suna on a mission with an undetermined duration. The project took over a year to complete. And during that time I met your father."

Looking up now to give a sad smile to the wide eyed girl.

"He is a good man, but he is also an important man. And there are a lot of people that depend on him. I'm not proud of what I did leaving before anyone knew, but I did it because I thought what I was doing was right for him. "

She shook her head blinking back wetness.

"I was so happy when I found out I was pregnant with you. I love your father, I still do to this day and I hope that you both can find it in yourselves to forgive me. You see, long ago, your father struggled really hard with his life, he had been made a jinchuriki. And those burdened with that responsibility are often rejected in various ways by their village. And the experiences he had led him to grow up troubled and full of hate for a long time. His villaged dispised him and thought he was a monster. "

She shooker head seeing the frown on her daughters face.

"Don't worry, he didn't stay like that. When we were young we faced the chunin exam together, There was a huge fight and your father ended up fighting my teammate Naruto. Who by the way is a sort of uncle to you. Naruto beat him and told him that fighting for yourself was not the correct path for ultimate strength. That when you fight for someone you love, then that is what makes you truly strong."

"Mom, how come you've never told me these things before?"

She shrugged, "I was aftraid. Of how you would react. Afraid that you would hate me. But please be patient. I'm not finished with my story."

She reached over and tucked a strand of crimson hair back into the cloth that covered her daughters hair.

"After that battle your father spent many years changing his life, and the perceptions people had of him. Eventually he became a great leader in his village. He worked very hard to bring prosperity to the people. He even formed an alliance with Konoha, which should say how much he changed considering he had been apart of the attack during my chunin exams. Then during the fourth great war against Madara, and Obito he was the commander of the whole allied forces."

The pink-haired Kunoichi sighed.

"When I found out I was pregnant that was the happiest day of my life, and I wanted to tell your father. I was just waiting for the right time. When I had finally gotten up the nerve, I had been walking through the market places in Suna. I was thinkinga about how I was going to tell him when I had overheard some of the villagers talking about the Daiyamo, and how he was bringing his daughter to try and form a political alliance between the ninja and civilian leaders in Wind country. At first I thought they were just a bunch of gossips but then later I was speaking to a woman named Temari, She's also your father's older sister and your aunt. She told me about the visiting Daiyamo as well, and commented about disliking his daughter who was also joining him on his visit."

She had to take a sip of tea and dry her eyes as a tear finally leaked out.

"The Daiyamo could be ruthless if he wants to be, and angering him would have made things hard for your father's village. Not to mention stressfull if the elders sided with the Daiyamo which they normally did. He could raise taxes or close trade routes. There was potential that it would devastate Suna if he refused the union. And I couldn't let him do that. So I left,"

"But how do you know he'd refuse the Daiyamo's daughter? He might have chosen her anyway."

Sakura shook her head, "Your father is a very honorable man. He would have chosedn you and I. Which is romantic, and I would have loved it. But In the long run the seeds of resentment might have grown into something which would possibly make him hate us. Or the people would be disappointed in him. And like I said he had worked very hard in his young life to better himself. I couldn't let my feelings for him corrupt what he had worked so hard for."

She looked down at her tea cup, letting silent tears shed.

"It's okay mom. I understand, I get why you did it. You've told me time and time again that a ninja's life is to serve the village, and that's what you were doing, and helping him to do as well."

In that moment Sakura watched her daughter grow well beyond her years. The knowledge that her daughter took such things with such maturity was a little saddening to her, but it also made her proud, and a little relieved. She had spent many nights worrying about this particular conversation for so long that time had built a fear in her that had been almost crippling. That is until the moment when she had resigned herself to spill the beans.

"We have a choice to make her dear. That man in the other room is named Kankuro, he is your uncle, an older sibling to your father. I would rather not be found, but if you wish to then we can stay until he wakes up. He will likely demand we return to Suna with him, and then there will be a lot of things that I have to answer."

She smiled softly to her child, who stared back with a worried expression.

"Will you get in trouble?"

"Probably. I'm technically what they call a missing nin. It means I left my village without permission. I abandoned my duties you see."

Suddenly her daughter stood up with a fierce determined expression.
"Then we need to go now, before he wakes up. We should have at least 3 hours to get a head start, 5 if you went a little heavy on that sedative."

Sakura smiled at her daughters concern, and rested a hand on her arm.

"Listen sweetheart, you have to take somethings into consideration before we make this decision okay? First of all he has definatly seen me, and possibly you. It's hard to say how cohearant he was to truly determine that. Secondly, he will tell your father, and my village as well. Which means there will be others coming to look for us. We will always be on the move now. We wont be able to stay in one village for very long. I leave this decision up to you sweetie.. Thirdly, well, we might have to move to a different village anyway. I'm sure you didn't cover your tracks that well, and when those drunks come to, they will likely seek retribution. And if we wish to remain hidden, then we need to avoid drawing attention to ourselves, especially from ninja."

Sayuri nodded and took a deep breath of her own.

"We should get ready to go mom. Before he wakes up."

Sakura nodded and together she and her daughter gathered a few things and were gone within the hour. Only leaving a loaf of bread, an herb filled pouch, and a note on the table next to Kankuro's sleeping form.

Please make yourself some tea with the herbs I left in the pouch next to the bread. It will help with some pain, and with some of the after affects of the paralysis poison.

It was so good to see you Kankuro, and I regret that I must again leave in such haste. But I doubt you would have let me leave if I had waited for you to wake up for me to say good bye. I would ask the favor of your silvence but I know that will never work. I hope that you do not hate me for leaving again, as you all are in my thoughts always.

I know you will likely show this to Gaara as well….please know that I never ment to hurt him. I did what I thought was best to better help him serve his people. Though I am deeply sorry that such things came between us. I did what I did because I loved him, and I always will

But please I ask that you do not look for me. Perhaps a request asked in vain, but it was worth a try.

Thinking of you always, Sakura