CHAPTER SEVEN

SECRETS

Three days have passed since Sasuke's been home. Housing Karin and Shimeji had made life interesting; however, they were also a reminder of Sasuke's unfaithfulness. She wasn't sure of the details of his and Karin's relationship, or if they were romantically involved. All she knew was that the Uchiha household had grown in size. Surprisingly Sakura didn't dislike the two. Karin made keeping the house clean a little easier, and Sarada had someone she was forced to socialize with. What Sakura didn't feel comfortable with was the process of sharing a bed with Sasuke. She no longer felt comfortable with his arms wrapped around her. His breath against her shoulder sent a chill up her spine. She wouldn't admit it. It was unnatural for a wife to feel this way about her husband. Just as it was unnatural for her heart to quickly beat whenever her eyes happened to meet with Naruto's, even if it were for only a few seconds glance.

'Sasuke cheated too...so why am I the one feeling guilty?'

The pink haired woman walked into her office at the hospital to discover a letter beside her old Team 7 framed photograph. She picked up the envelope and flipped it around to see there wasn't a name written on either side. Carefully she tore open the paper and pulled out the message. Immediately she recognized the handwriting as Naruto's.

Sakura-Chan

I know I'm not the smoothest guy around, but do you want to meet me tonight at my office? I have a surprise for you. I know I've asked you a lot of times, but I hope this time you'll say yes? Haha. Let's shoot for midnight. It'll give both of us a chance to sneak away. See ya!

She tore up the letter and tossed the pieces in the trash, then plopped down in her chair. How did he expect her to sneak out at midnight? Didn't he realize that Sasuke's sleep schedule was unpredictable?

"Knock, knock, knock," Ino announced as she opened the door to Sakura's office; in her hand, she held a bag of pastries. "What happened to you? You look like someone died."

Sakura glanced over at the girl and gestured for her to shut the door. When Ino did, the pink haired girl let out a large sigh. "I don't know what's wrong with me. With Sasuke being back, you'd think I would be happy."

"I don't know, I mean, you found out he had a baby with Karin," Ino voiced as she set the bag on the desk. "If I found out Sai had other children, do you know what I'd do? I'd kick his ass to kingdom come, that's what I'd do! Yeah, and while I'm at it, I'd probably go have a baby with someone else to see how he'd like it!"

"I thought you hated the pregnancy phase," Sakura spoke up.

"Well, yeah, but at that point it'd be more of a principle thing," Ino grinned before flicking her friend in the forehead. "Remember, I tell these jokes to cheer you up. The last thing anyone wants is to see you moping around looking depressed."

"It's about Naruto," Sakura quietly said, "He wants to still see me. I think he may be serious about leaving Hinata."

Ino blinked her eyes rapidly in disbelief before questioning, "Are you serious?"

When Sakura nodded, Ino whispered, "But what about Hinata?"

"I don't know," Sakura groaned. "Beforehand, I had my doubts. I thought this was going to be short-lived fling, but he seems serious. I don't know whether to call him stupid or bold, but he's making it obvious that he wants to be with me. I just…I don't know how it'll affect the children, our spouses, our reputations…it's just…I don't know."

"What happened to your backbone, Sakura?" Ino asked as she sat on the corner of her desk. "If you want something, go for it. You're smart. Is the situation fucked up? Yeah. I'm not going to lie to you and say it isn't. But what I think is more fucked up, is living a lie. That's the position I'm in. Unlike me, the guy I wish I had pursued, doesn't see me as anything more than a friend. On top of that, he's married to a crazy bitch—I'm sorry, I promised I wouldn't call her that, but his wife wouldn't hesitate to try and beat me senseless. Hinata wants Naruto's happiness. If anything, she might willingly give him up."

"But I set them up…" Sakura mumbled.

"Now that could be a problem," Ino sighed.

"I really do wonder what would have happened if I had hooked up with Naruto when we were kids. What would our life be like now?" Sakura lightly laughed as she pulled out one of the small pastries. "It's weird, but when I wake up in the morning, sometimes I wish it was his face I saw."

"Not Sasuke-kun's?" Ino questioned, "Don't take this the wrong way, but Sasuke-kun doesn't have a bad face."

"No, he doesn't, but…I don't know, it's just a strange thing I've been longing for recently," Sakura said with a tiny smile.

"Have you guys had sex?" Ino asked, causing Sakura to almost tumble out of her seat.

"Wait, what?!" she exclaimed.

Ino leaned closer with a sly expression pinned to her face. "Are you guys fucking?"

"We've done it once," Sakura quickly admitted, earning a high-pitched squeal out of Ino. Swiftly the pink haired woman slapped her hand over her friend's mouth. "Ino, quiet down. Like I've said, we only did it once. I didn't even expect it to go that far, it just happened."

"You are so lucky," Ino sighed. "Not about the Naruto part, but that you're actually doing something. You know the last time I've had sex?"

"No."

"It's been too long," Ino voiced with an annoyed 'tsk'. However the girl leaned closer to Sakura and whispered, "But now I'm so curious, Sakura. I wonder if I flirted with Shika what he'd do. Would he think I was joking? Would he push me away? Or would he be totally into it, and say, 'save me from Temari'. I mean, I guess she's attractive, but waaaaay too serious."

"Hinata's cute," Sakura mumbled. "She's docile, busty, loyal, polite…ugh, I'm going to look like a monster. She's going to cry. I just have this unsettling feeling that's what's going to happen, because that's what I would do. If I were head-over-heels in love with Sasuke and I found out he and Karin had a thing going on, I would…" Sakura stopped mid-sentence as her eyes widened.

"What?" Ino immediately asked.

Sakura's face went pale as if she had seen a ghost. "I slipped up," she admitted. "Sasuke must know something's different. I haven't said anything negative about Karin or Shimeji. Why didn't I realize it before?"

"Or maybe he thinks you're being mature?" Ino suggested with a shrug. "I mean, from what you told me, Karin showed up at your doorstep out of desperation. You're a kind girl, Sakura. It's not out-of-character for you to show hospitality to someone."

"I hope you're right," Sakura said, although she didn't sound too optimistic.

"Maybe with the Hinata situation, you could get her to fall in love with someone else?" Ino suggested, trying to change the subject back to one of their earlier topics.

"It wouldn't work," Sakura said. "Hinata's had a crush on Naruto since we were like…five?"

"So?" Ino replied with a smile. "There's something the two of you have in common. Both of your husbands are rarely home because they're off banging other women. So like you moved on, there's a chance her eyes have wandered too."

Even though Sakura was highly annoyed by Ino's statement, she had to admit that the other girl had a point. "So…what should I do?" Sakura asked.

"Nothing," Ino laughed. "Leave that to me. Just consider me the goddess of love and beauty and leave the matchmaker game to me."

Once again, Sakura didn't feel too optimistic, but knowing Ino supported her made a few of her regrets disappear.

That night, after dinner, Sakura put Sarada to bed, and went to her own bedroom. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. Sakura could only assume he was in his office working on decoding the jutsus he had stolen. She slipped off to his office and peered in through the door to see Karin talking to Sasuke.

"Do you actually plan on using these?" Karin questioned, however Sasuke ignored her and continued to study the scrolls. "Sasuke-kun, we don't even know what the consequence is. With forbidden jutsus of this caliber, I can assure you there's some kind of equivalent exchange!"

"Keep your voice down," Sasuke commanded.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm worried about you!" she whispered, then added, "We all are. Isn't that right, Sakura?" Karin glanced over her shoulder to see the pink haired kunoichi standing in the doorway. Sakura was sure the sensory-nin had detected her the moment she first started eavesdropping.

"You found one you're interested in, haven't you?" Sakura asked.

"Yes…" he answered after a moment. He glanced back toward the two women and flashed a tiny smile. "I finally found a way to save my clan."

"But Sasuke, you can't forget that Obito, Itachi and Madara are dead. How can you resurrect your clan without them?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke cocked his head to the side and flashed her his trademark grin. "Sakura, I'm talking about saving my clan on a much wider scale. These ninjas have forbidden time jutsus."

"Wait, time jutsus?" Karin asked, just as confused as Sakura was.

"I'm not sure how they figured it out, but according to this scroll, the caster can rewrite an event in time. I simply would stop the massacre," Sasuke explained.

"But that…that would drastically change everything," Sakura said, remembering that the person Sasuke became was because of the pain he had experienced throughout his life. Without the massacre, how much of life would even remain the same.

"How many rewrites are you allowed to have?" Karin asked. "Because then you could save my clan too!"

"I'm not sure," Sasuke said as he returned his gaze once more to the scroll. "But if we had the power of the Uchiha Clan, think of all that could be accomplished. Think of everything that would have been prevented."

Although what Sasuke said sounded insane, Sakura was curious. He found a jutsu that could rewrite time; it was the very thing she asked for. However Sakura wasn't sure if would dare use such a powerful jutsu all in the name of changing the identity of her husband. She was very curious. She caught sight of the clock and saw it was almost midnight. "Sasuke, this is a lot to take in…I mean, so many things are going to change…I just need some fresh air. I'll be back in a bit. I just need to think all of this over." She walked over and kissed the side of his ear.

"How long will you be gone?" he asked.

"Not long," she lied before taking a step back. Karin's eyes followed her the entire time until she was outside of the room.

Sakura was surprised Sasuke didn't stop her, but she made sure to take her purse so she could ride the monorail to the other side of the village (that was as large as a city). During her ride to the headquarters, she couldn't help but think more about that jutsu. What if Sasuke was able to prevent the Uchiha Massacre? What would be the result? Sakura felt as though that event had affected everyone. Indirectly, the things that happened to Sasuke, helped to push both her and Naruto to become stronger.

Sakura stepped off the train, and walked toward the Hokage's headquarters. The door was left unlocked to the building, and Sakura entered with ease. Quietly she moved up the stairs, as she continued to Naruto's office. She stopped when she saw his office door cracked open. Curiously, she stepped inside to see candles lit on the floor, with two bowls of ramen present. Naruto was sitting in front of one of the bowls.

She sat down in front of her bowl. It would be a lie to say she wasn't nervous. Sasuke was going to find out. She knew her husband had a temper, and yet Naruto's smile…eased her rapidly beating heart.

Naruto started eating, but Sakura remained quiet and mentally torn. She was so sure before, but now she didn't know. She couldn't piece together her feelings in a way that made sense. "Naruto," she spoke up, causing him to stop eating. "How long do you expect us to keep this up? Someone is going to find out. Have you talked to Hinata?"

Naruto sighed and frowned. "I tried," he said, "I really did…but I hate to see her cry. I can't explain it, but when she cries…I sort of feel like it's my job to make everything right."

Sakura stared down at her ramen, refusing to give Naruto any eye contact.

"Sakura-chan, you don't know how long I've waited to be with you like this…" Naruto continued. "You were always my better half."

"What are you talking about? I still am," she forced herself to laugh. She looked up at Naruto, as tears spilled out of her green eyes. The blonde moved closer to Sakura, so he could wrap his arms around her. The moment they made contact, she buried her face into his shoulder and sobbed.

"Naruto, I feel selfish," she cried.

"Sakura-chan, you're not selfish."

Sakura moved her face so she could look him in the eye. "Sasuke has a jutsu with the power to rewrite an event in the past. You don't know how badly I want to take it so I could be with you. I don't care about the consequences; I just want to be with you."

Naruto fell silent. It was clear from the look in his eye that he was deep in thought.

"Naruto?" she spoke up, hoping it would say something.

"It can change any event?" he asked.

When she nodded, he smiled.

"Then we could make it so my parents never died," Naruto laughed.

"But what about us?" she asked.

He leaned in and kissed the corner of her lips, then whispered, "No matter what happens, I think I would always love Sakura-chan. You should eat before your ramen gets too cold."

She had to admit, he was more mature than he was as a teenager. That Naruto would have been too embarrassed to kiss her. That Naruto would have backed off leaving her to be with Sasuke. There was something exciting about this Naruto. This Naruto was actively pursuing her. This Naruto made her feel desired.

'This is still Hinata's Naruto…'

Sakura immediately pushed that thought to the back of her mind as she moved so their lips could meet. She could feel a rush as their kisses deepened, as his tongue stroked against hers. She felt his hand slide to her thigh before he pushed her down on the ground. A smirk crossed her lips as applied her strength to roll the both of them over, so she was sitting atop of him.

Naruto didn't say anything, he just stared up at her. It was as though he was looking at a piece of artwork. It was a longing gaze Sakura couldn't remember Sasuke offering her. She felt embarrassed and yet beautiful at the same time.

"Don't look at me like that," she told him while poking his cheek.

"Can't help it," he said.

Naruto reached up and stroked her side, before allowing his hand to slide back to her rear. It was after he firmly squeezed her that Sakura leaned down and hovered her lips above his.

"So, do I look more womanly?" she whispered, allowing her breath to tickle his lips.

"You haven't changed a bit," he said with a light laugh.

Sakura's eye twitched.

"But that's what I like about Sakura-chan," he finished.

A/N: I decided to go ahead and release another one. YAY!