"Sakura-san," a voice startled her back to the present.

"Zetsu," she turned to see Sasuke's bodyguard standing in her doorway.

"Sasuke-kun told me to prepare your lunch. Apparently you didn't eat your breakfast." Zetsu's gaze was planted on a tray filled with rice rolls, salmon and peaches on her side table; still untouched. He was carrying her lunch packed in a lacquered lunchbox.

"'I guess-" she brought the blanket up to cover her chest marred with Sasuke's love bites "-I don't have the appetite."

"He told me to let you get an afternoon walk," he said dismissively. "It'll be good for the baby,"

Sakura smiled. Zetsu handed her her lunch and turned his back on her.

"Remember: no crossing the borders, no evening walks, report back once the sun goes down. Communicate once you sense some suspicious presence down there." With that, he was gone, melted on the concrete floor.

Sakura sighed. Right, Sasuke insisted on her daily afternoon walk once he confirmed her pregnancy for aside from their nightly roll in the sheets, she wasn't getting any exercise.

When the hotness outside became less unbearable, Sakura donned on her own Akatsuki coat and Sasuke's sandals, grabbed her lunch and went straight for the door. She ran through the fields of daffodils, ignoring a few angry bees until Madara's hideout up in the hills was reduced to the size of her thumb. She squinted her eyes and tried to guess the location of her room in that age-old building. She gave up when she got tired and laid down on her bed of daffodils to gaze up the serene blue sky.

"You'd call me stupid, won't you Naruto?" she shouted and raised both her hands to the endless sea of sky as if reaching for something. Her green eyes turned blue with the sky. That Naruto has the same color for his eyes made her heart heavy with guilt. "I've always been stupid around him, neh?" she rolled to her stomach, using both her hands to support her upper body up, letting the afternoon heat permeate her back. She closed her eyes and sniffed the smell of crushed daffodils when she sensed someone approaching her on tip-toe. She sat upright and slowly reached for the pair of chopsticks inside her lunchbox. Where's her kunai and sleeping bombs when she needed them most?

"Got you," a faintly familiar voice whispered behind and Sakura stiffened when she felt a senban injected on her nape. She felt her heart stopped momentarily then resumed pumping with deep fervor. It became apparent to her that she could not move a muscle save for her eyes. The name of the intruder remained at the tip of her tongue.

"Static senban," Karin declared, peering over Sakura, "you can't move not unless this needle would be extricated honey." She sat in front of Sakura and adjusted her eyeglasses dramatically.

"You're pretty," Karin said, playing with the split ends of her fiery red hair, "and Konoha prettily wants you back." Sakura's eyes dilated.

"They send you here to bring me back?" she asked telepathically.

"Yeah, got a problem with that?"

"I don't know if I can trust you." And besides this place is already like a home to me.

"Oh honey the only person you can't trust is yourself." Karin shrugged dramatically, "do you think you can trust yourself to leave Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura's eyes watered. She didn't answer. She noted the affectionate way Karin said Sasuke's name.

"Figures," Karin said knowingly. "I myself had a hard time leaving that bastard. I used to think I love him you know, but not after he attempted to kill me. You were there, he commanded you to kill me as a test of your love for him."

"I'm sorry."

"Well I'm not. I moved on. I had a new life now, doing suicide missions for Konoha as a test of my loyalty to my adopted village. And right now I'm gonna steal you away from that bastard,' Karin smiled a little girlishly, "serves him right." She started to reach for Sakura to carry her back but she saw the panic in Sakura's green eyes.

"You love him," Karin said. It wasn't a question and Sakura didn't bother to answer. "Listen honey, the great ninja war has just started and we don't need foolishness such as this love to stop us from winning this war. Konoha needs you to be there for Naruto. You're gonna keep that stupid ninja moving and you're gonna be there when he will defeat your Sasuke…"

"No."Baka-Naruto, did he fell in a stupor again from losing all of his teammates?

"We're going to win this war. You're coming home with me. You're going to fight alongside the great ninjas and we're going to win this war."

"How could I possibly trust you? You were our enemy once," Sakura said, too reluctant to leave Sasuke.

"How could you possibly trust Sasuke-kun? He tried to kill you once," Karin calmly replied.

Sakura, in the absence of better things to say, wept.

"I'm sorry honey," Karin appeared to be sympathetic but she carried Sakura over her shoulder and her lacquered lunchbox in one swift motion. "You've got no choice."

Sakura tried to wiggle her way out but soon realized the futility of such action given the catatonic state of her body. She was going back now. After two months, Haruno Sakura is going back to her old life.

Karin whistled as she walked cautiously over the stalks of daffodils. She turned back to look at Madara's hideout from time to time. "Say honey, do you think Sasuke will mind if I bring your lunch with us?" she asked Sakura, jiggling her lacquered lunchbox. A reply never came instead she felt a pool of tears on her Hidden leaf cape. She gave a deep sigh.

"It may be painful but you'll get used to it pretty soon," she said in an attempt to save her cape from being drenched in tears.

"Will you give me a chance to be with him for the last time?" Sakura blurted out telepathically. The idea came out automatically that it unnerved her.

"What's in store for me?"

"You don't have to carry me back home. I'll walk with you without complaints."

Karin thought or a while. "Hmm, I don't have much strength to carry you the entire way back home, yes but… I want to be the godmother of your baby."

Sakura smiled, she would have reached for her tummy if she could. "You will be the godmother of our baby," she replied, not surprised by Karin's ability. She wasn't a sensor ninja for nothing, and an Akatsuki member for that.

Karin laid Sakura down the ground and extricated the senban from her nape. "Meet me by the waterfalls on the eve of the full moon."

Sakura felt her numb body came to life. She sat up breathing, checking her very own vital signs. Unable to speak, she nodded her head in affirmation. She hoped to kami-sama tonight would not be a full moon, or tomorrow night, or the next night, or the rest of the nights.

"Sakura," Karin said to call her attention. It was the first time Sakura heard Karin speak her name. It sounds so light on Karin's tongue like wild cherries. It sounds just right sans honorific. Sakura looked up to see a woman who loved, and maybe still love, the same man Sakura swore her life on. Their love for Sasuke, it was their connection and the reason maybe why Tsunade-sama sent Karin to fetch her home.

"You might not honor our agreement but I'll still wait by the waterfalls," Karin stood up. "You know how it is to wait. You waited for him for years. Love him as much as you can while you still have time. Tomorrow he'll wait for you to come back too," she stood straighter still and turned her back, ready to go.

"I'll wait for you by the waterfall at the eve of the full moon, and I'll bring you home." With that she was gone leaving Sakura staring at the expanse of the greenery. She stood after a long time and walked her way back to the building that was both her prison and her home. Zetsu was standing at the doorway, holding out her lacquered lunchbox by way of greeting.

"You didn't eat your lunch. It's already cold,"