AN: It's all going downhill Ash, we're gonna need goggles. We have to accept it just like the characters deal with our crazy fanfictioning. Hugs and kisses 3
...
Sasuke was not naturally taken aback when his secretary showed Sakura to his office. He leaned his head on the back of his chair and trained his dark eyes on her. Sakura thought he never looked more lovely in his posture right now, his jawline showing to advantage.
"What do you want Sakura?"
She held her chin defiantly, "What do you think I want, Sasuke-kun?"
Something passed over his eyes, she can't quite put her finger on it, and his lips curled up on one side in a smile. She directed her attention on a framed picture on his desk. It was taken on a hunting trip- grubby Haru holding an arrow in one raised hand sits astride the supine body of a wild boar and grins for the camera, Sasuke with immaculate clothes stands not far behind.
"I am serious about training your medic-nins here Sasuke-kun," she said while her eyes were glued to the picture. "I can easily get a leave of absence from konoha if you let me. I know particularly you lack good medics here. I could introduce a lot of techniques, I've been working hard these years with Tsunade-sama and I just learned a passive skill medic-nins badly needed in the battlefield."
"And what do you expect in return?"
"Time with Haru," lots of time with Haru. "I still need to personally report to the hokage but I can make it from here to there and back again in a less than the required travel time. And after that, will you let me be his friend?"
He swung his chair so that he was facing the window. "He's got lots of friends Sakura. Out with it, you think he's your son right?"
"Yes, yes."
"Well you're not his mother as far as he knows. I showed him a reconstructed memory of his mother leaving us and she looks nothing like you. He took it rather well I think, we've never been close since then."
"You showed him a fake incident and lied to him like he was a stupid child?"
He waved off her question. "Now you can go back to konoha and marry some dull genin and bear him sons and forget about Haru."
"He's my son!" she tapped her chest for emphasis but end up hurting herself with the force of her hand. "I've a right to him. What you did is kidnapping Sasuke-kun, I could file a complaint against you right now and that will cost you your position. You were a criminal and my child's custody shouldn't be granted to you."
He sneered like the criminal he was, Sakura had the urge to punch that sneer of his (fuck it) handsome face. "But I did not kidnapped him Sakura. Did you forget? You willingly gave him to me. You were always inconsistent back in that dreary daffodil fields, I should know you'll change your mind any second."
"I did not. Who would have the heart to give their own child away?"
He was unmoved. "You, apparently. Now you almost used up your border pass and I will not certainly approve any extension Sakura."
Sakura waited in silence, hoping he'll reconsider. But silence had always been Sasuke's suit. He matched her silence with his. In one impulsive moment, she suddenly tugged on his sleeve and just as suddenly he caught her wrist in a firm painful grip. Any man's grip would've been nothing to her but he was far too strong and she couldn't, for kami-sama's sake, ignore the warm heat of his palm.
"You are one cruel man." She trembled with anger. "When I come back, I'll make sure he's coming home with me and you can rot in your high chair becoming lonely and bitter every single day." She pulled her captive hand forcefully and stomped her way out of his office.
...
Her feet led her to stand outside oto's ninja academy where children were assembling in pairs and groups to eat lunch. One solitary figure was opening his lunchbox under a tree at that moment and Sakura ran in his direction with a wide smile.
"Haru!" She sat next to him. He was not happy to see her there. He ate his lunch with met eyebrows thereby transforming himself into his father. Sakura couldn't help herself, she hugged him and kissed the top of his head. Maybe because he couldn't get hugs from his father, Haru didn't push her away.
"Now you see me friendless and lonely, I hate you." Typical Uchiha tactlessness. Sakura giggled and assessed the other kids.
"Everyone's looking warily at you Haru, I guess they want to be friendly with you but are too shy knowing you're the kage's son."
"No they hate me because I'm a bastard."
Sakura paused to look at his hands pulling the ends of his shirt. "Haru, if I'm your mother-"
"I would hate you. But you're not my mother and I'm glad."
She hugged him once more, hiding her ready-to-fall tears from his gaze. "I'm going home this evening, back to konoha. Would you like to come and see the village where you're born? "
He pushed her arms away and shook his head sadly. "I won't leave daddy here alone. He gets so lonely at night he sometimes stands by my bedroom door."
"I see."
"Daddy needs a wife, I think" the boy proudly concluded.
The bell rang and Haru stood up to go. "Haruno-san, how do you know I was born in Konohagakure?" The children raced to their classes and the schoolyard's empty by then. Haru saluted, "nevermind", and ran to his next class.
Sakura didn't move from her position since Haru left until the time came for her to go.
...
At the hokage's office, Tsunade was not pleased. Sakura's mission scroll specifically warned her not to enter Otogakure for reasons not stated. In fact, all her missions forbid her to enter under any circumstances the newest hidden village. Sakura told the hokage she broke the protocol.
Tsunade reached for her bottle of sake. "You met your son?"
"You knew?!"
"You were raped and kid-"
"Tsunade-sama please, I don't want to talk about that."
Tsunade drank the alcohol in one go and pointed the then empty sake bottle at her student. "The council had to compensate you for a failed experiment and bad decisions. The village, we, owed you a lot."
"If you mean the concoction incident hokage-sama, any kunoichi of the leaf would do what is required of her."
"But would you give up your child if the council asked you to, Sakura?"
Sakura stared at her boot-clad feet. Her hands were clenched tightly. "Yes hokage-sama, if it will benefit the village and the rest of the shinobi world."
"You've become a model shinobi Sakura, right out of a book. Cold and hard like me," Tsunade said with a slur.
"But I am happy to serve the leaf hokage-sama." Sakura said automatically.
"Fuck if you do. I'm sick of hearing that line all the time. That's your son in oto and I know because I'm the one who delivered him into his father's arms. So you can strangle me now."
Sakura remained standing there observing her boots.
"It was cruel but as the council believed at that time, it has to be done. They didn't want a criminal's son to live in the leaf's settlement" Tsunade reached for another bottle of sake. "What's his name?"
"Haru," Sakura choked on the word. She rested her palms on the kage's desk, her chest wracked with sobs.
Tsunade drunkenly placed a mission scroll beside her student's palm. "I've been waiting to give you this. It's all I can do to make it up to you. Attached is a letter to the otokage requiring you to stay in his village indefinitely. Don't screw this mission up Sakura, your life depended on it."
"Tsunade-sama, why didn't the council ordered me to give my baby up? they were known to deliver brutal orders."
"They're getting old, they want to shoulder the guilt this time, it gives them a feeling of distinction." Tsunade laughed bitterly. "Plus, they know you'd rather follow Sasuke in exile than live here without the child."
"They were right."
