Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Naruto.
Hey guys! I'm sorry that I have hardly been updating school's been going on for two weeks and I've been busy practically all summer :3
But sadly I won't be updating frequently like I'd hoped. I really need to make all A's and B's this semester so I can get my license and get a job and start saving up money for college and a place to stay. I really do hope you'll forgive me :3 What I'm going to do is I'm planning on finishing this story and then the other one I have going and then once I finish those two stories I plan on going on hiatus as an author and just making stories in folders and documents and such without actually publishing them on here and then when I have about 90% done I'll start doing a weekly update like clock-work and while I do the weekly updates on chapters and such I'll finish the last 10% while that's happening. Make sense? Anyways I figured it would be less frustrating for me in terms of responsibility and it would be less frustrating for you as readers. I just wanted to give you some sneak peaks of what I have coming up!
The Kingdom (5% done)– set in a more medieval setting, Sakura's parents are brutally murdered by Sasuke's evil uncle Madara, who's exiled for his crime. Sasuke decides to take on Sakura as his own responsibility, but what adventures will that lead to?
Attitude (35% done) – Sasuke is a spoiled brat who has no appreciation for anything. What happens when his parents send him to live with his brother Itachi on a ranch/farm? Especially when Itachi has two adopted teens Sasuke's age, Sakura and Sai.
Love's Enduring Promise (4% done) – [[sequel to Love Comes Softly]] Sasuke finally comes home from college over seas, but what will he find when he comes back? Much to his surprise few little remains the same. What will he do to amend the withering bonds between him and his bride of one day?
((Rurouni Kenshin fic [not yet named])) (20% done) Kaoru is the niece of a wealthy political figurehead uncle. What happens when her uncle hired Kenshin, to be a personal bodyguard who follows her everywhere and watches her every move. Will Kaoru embrace it, or will she put her foot down?
Hope you eagerly await what is to come! Feel free to private message me with questions on any of those stories. I might not have a lot written but I can tell you right now I have the perfect plot line for "The Kingdom" I also plan on making another one called "Pink Shrew" based on taming of the shrew by Shakespeare (of course more modern and funny). So please be sure to message me and leave reviews/comments! I'd be more than happy to respond!
PLEASE REMEMBER TO READ AND REVIEW **WOOT FACE!** ^(^0^)^
Sasuke awoke suddenly by a knock on his door. It was Naruto again. The blond invited himself in and sat sideways on the foot of Sasuke's bed with a slight grin on his face. Sasuke just silently and menacingly glared at him with a hint of confusion wonder just what it was the dobe wanted from him.
"She's asking for you" Naruto finally sighed with a sympathetic voice that was slightly crackly.
Sasuke's eyes widened at her being awake finally. He knew that she must be distraught after everything that had happened and he planned on spending one more day here then immediately taking her back to Konoha to make sure that she got the best medical attention to fix of anything that Ino couldn't as well as make sure that nothing else has been damaged. Sasuke was also concerned for her rest. She wasn't really known for accepting a slower pace or taking her time, unless it was to annoy someone else.
"You might wana go down there man, she's pretty upset" the blond added.
Sasuke didn't need to be told twice. He threw the covers off and put on a shirt before running out of the home and down the dirt path toward the encampment where Sakura was. He threw the flaps of the tent open to see a half lidded Sakura mumbling and seemingly acting as if she were a zombie. Sasuke quickly went to his knees by her side and took her hand and told her that he was there.
"huh….?" Sakura grumbled confused as she looked over to Sasuke and saw his concerned face looming over hers.
Sakura let a bitter smile take over her face as she started to shed tears and whimper, "I did it again…"
Sasuke felt horrible and knew that she had no fault in it what so ever. She had been sent on a mission and was only doing what she'd been told to do. On top of that her protection wasn't just her problem. She shouldn't completely take the blame for yet another lost, unborn child.
"Don't ever say that" Sasuke said sternly as he felt his insides ripping apart as he continued, "Your safety isn't just your problem. That child wasn't just yours, I should've told Tsunade explicitly not to send you anywhere. I should have come sooner. There are so many things that I could've done over to help you, but it just didn't work out that way Sakura. The most important thing right now is to make sure you're in good enough shape to travel. I'm taking you back to Konoha."
Sakura looked up at him with questioning eyes as she asked, "Why so soon?"
"I'm getting you out of the line of fire. You've been put in enough danger and I'm never going to loose you like that ever again."
Sakura knew that Sasuke's decision was final, so silent and defeated she packed what little things she had stored in the cabin before stepping out onto the front porch, although it was more of a limp than a walk. She took one last good look around the place she was leaving. She hated leaving so soon. She hoped to be able to help rather than be helped and catered to. Sasuke followed out the door behind her. He knew it was important to be able to get her to go back to Konoha. It was far too dangerous for her out in the boonies where they were. Sasuke had specifically talked to Shikamaru earlier and informed him of their departure. Shikamaru said that they would be out there for another two days or so before everyone else headed back as well.
Sasuke squatted on the ground in front of Sakura and made a gesture with his hands for her to hop onto his back. Sakura rolled her eyes but humored him by climbing carefully onto his back and wrapping her arms around his neck, at least traveling like this she could get some rest. She tried to find the good side of all of this but the truth was she felt hollow inside. The extra heartbeat she once had was now gone, her hand over that region of her body reminded her of that absence of life. She felt completely responsible for it. She should have never been walking around alone, let alone jump into something that she thought she knew about.
Sasuke leapt off the ground and into the trees jumping from branch to branch. It was a long trip home; if he kept traveling without rest then he might get there the next morning. Since Sakura was on his back she could get some sleep, and he didn't need any. He knew that he was over exhausting himself; he hadn't eaten for days, and the fact that he was still in emotional shock added to his declining health, but Sakura was worse. Most of her fingers were still broken, for the most part her lungs were in bad shape from breathing that humid clammy air in the cavern she was forced to reside in for days, she needed treatment over time it was bad. She was also in worse emotional shock then Sasuke. She had to watch Kabuto do the deed of the devil as he extracted life from her. The life she and Sasuke created. Sakura eventually went limp on Sasuke's back, and he could easily tell that she was gone off to a better place in her subconscious, or so he thought. After a few hours he felt tears soaking the back of his shirt, she was crying in her sleep. He had to keep himself from loosing it seeing just how much pain the pinkette was in. That night running through the hospital doors of Konoha at 4am, he promised himself that he would die before he saw Sakura put through that much again. All he could do was collapse in the middle of the lobby causing a stretcher to be sent for him as well.
"Uchiha!" came a booming feminine voice causing the raven-haired man to open his eyes slowly but surely as his vision went from double to single, and a blond right in his face.
Her amber eyes were filled with rage and mixed emotions as she asked, "What the hell happened back there? Why is my favorite pupil lying in a hospital bed hovering in and out of consciousness! Explain yourself!"
Sasuke knew he didn't have time for Tsunade's nonsense and he accusations, but he humored her anyway, "She was kidnapped while on the mission you sent her to do. She was tortured, starved, and had her child removed from her womb as she watched the deed being done."
Tsunade covered her mouth as tears pooled in the corners of her eyes muttering, "What?..." in disbelief.
Sasuke frowned before he ripped the IV out of his arm, stood up, and walked towards her growling, "This is why she can't leave the village when she's pregnant, she's weak, and because it's an Uchiha she's carrying it's like asking for someone to just take her out from under your nose. You don't realize just how much more important of a target she is than other women in a similar circumstance as her. Don't ever send her out on a mission without my consent ever again."
The Uchiha's words resonated like that of a judge's gavel as he left the room in search of Sakura. He wandered down a few corridor halls as he read nametags on the doors wondering where on earth she could be.
"Excuse me…" a nurse came up behind him, "If you're looking for Sakura she's being held in ICU on the next floor. Make a right and go all the way down the hall and she's on the left."
Sasuke nodded in appreciation as he made his way to the elevator. The bell chimed and he entered the elevator only to see Naruto standing there as well.
Naruto gave him a goofy smile as he said, "I knew I'd see you here."
"Hn" was all Sasuke leaked out of his mouth as he entered the elevator and pressed the button going to the next floor up.
"So how is she?" Naruto asked thinking that Sasuke would have already seen her.
"I don't know" was his honest answer as he glared at Naruto out of the corner of his eyes warning him to now ask any more questions.
As far as Sasuke was concerned Sakura was his responsibility and Naruto asking those kinds of questions about her just rubs his failure to protect her in his face, and he didn't like it. It made him feel like he was a failure at the only thing he ever deemed purposeful and important in his life.
When the elevator doors opened Sasuke was the first one out and sped walked down the hall towards Sakura's room. He'd be damned if he wasn't the first person to see her if she was awake. But sadly when he walked through the doors into the room she was unconscious. He was surprised that she was able to walk around when they were in the village way back. More than happy with his decision to carry her back to Konoha, Sasuke let out a mental sigh of relief that her vital signs were stable. However a nurse that tended to Sakura told them that Sakura would require intense treatment, especially on her hands. They were practically, completely shattered, and pieces of her ribs weren't just out of place but missing. Sasuke knew he was going to have to go back to an empty house that night much to his despair. He decided that he would stay with Sakura for as long as his fatigued, worn body would allow him before a nurse made him leave. Naruto for once stayed silent as he stood by Sakura's bedside for a while, but eventually left leaving Sasuke and Sakura alone. Sasuke never knew the true meaning of loneliness until he realized just how much he missed Sakura's eyes being open, her breath where he could sense it (not inside an oxygen mask), and most of all her overall presence. It was a cold and desolate walk home for the Uchiha who staggered and plodded all the way back to the compound and collapsed on his bed not even bothering to take a shower or clean up the slightest bit.
Sakura awoke the next morning startled when the heat of Sasuke was absent. The last she remembered she was on his back, but then she realized that there was a presence of warmth on her hand. It was a very scraggly and very disoriented Uchiha, her Uchiha. It was clear that all he'd done was barely bathe. He hadn't shaved or cut his hair so it was looking slightly mangy. She didn't realize just how long she'd been sleeping.
"Sasuke?" she said in disbelief as she felt the five o' clock shadow on his face that was almost a beard, "How long have I been out?"
Sasuke took her hand off his face and put it back into his hands again as he grumbled, "A week and a half…"
"Sakura!" came a voice from the doorway, "You're really awake!"
It was Ino carrying a bouquet of flowers from the shop. She had come to visit Sakura several times after the shop closed bringing some of the left over carnations from the store to put on her bed-stand table in a vase. Ino had been worried almost as much as Sasuke and Naruto, who was bound to show up any minute. Sakura quickly sat up and put a hand on her head causing Sasuke to stand up and put his hands on her shoulders forcing her to lye back again on the bed. Ino was already hugging Sakura and refusing to let go.
"Ino pig…" Sakura gasped, "I can't breathe!"
Ino finally let go with her friend's plea for air, but held onto her other hand that wasn't occupied by the Uchiha's. Sakura never imagined such a welcoming party to be in her company for only being conscious for a few minutes. Sakura smiled to herself with inner thoughts that it was all finally over. Then a nurse walked in and informed her that she needed to stay for another week to continue treatment on her missing bones and shattered fingers. Sakura looked at her hands with a distant and sad expression, they were the hands that were supposed to protect what was important. She'd failed, and every time she told herself that she could slowly feel her heart sink down into the bottoms of her stomach.
"Stop it" Sasuke growled with a scowl on his face, "I already know what you're thinking."
Sakura just gave him her own scowl before looking away and resuming a placid and distant look on her face. She didn't look forward to the long road of recovery ahead of her. She only wished that she could close her eyes and count to ten and this would all be a bad dream, but she knew that was too good to be true. She didn't want to spend another minute in this hospital. She wanted to go back to her shower at home and cry like the last time she did when she'd lost a child. The worst part was that she was so close. She was only a month or so away. Her abdomen was still swollen from it, but there was nothing else there.
"Ready for your daily treatment?" A nurse asked as she brought in a small cup filled with a gooey white liquid.
Sakura knew what it was. It was a solution made to grow bone back. It was a mixture of chakra infused calcium and a regeneration genetic code. It tasted brutally bitter, but she knew that it was the only way to grow back the bones that she'd lost. Sasuke looked at her with slightly saddened eyes as she scrunched her face swallowing the disgusting medicine. The nurse gave her some water to wash it down with before beginning the treatment on her fingers.
After treatment Sakura was put under anesthetics so the medicine could get through her system quicker. Sasuke made it a habit to visit her everyday before they gave her the treatment and put her under. He would stay an extra few minutes just to watch her face in repose. The only time he didn't see her eyes drown with sorrow was when they were closed. He wanted to make her smile again, he didn't want her to ever feel like she's failed. She didn't fail him, he had failed her. They each had a role to play in the process of having a child and neither of them dreamed that something this horrendous could happen so suddenly. Sasuke now knew he had to investigate who was after his future offspring, and why. He knew that Sakura was the one in the lion's den and had probably heard all of what they wanted. They were close to getting it too. He now regretted killing Kabuto so soon. He wanted to squeeze him like a snake squeezed a rat, until he'd squeak everything he knew. Sasuke had to many questions and too few answers, so on the last day of Sakura's hospitalization he kissed her on the forehead while she was unconscious before leaving the room. He had to go speak with Tsunade.
"Tsunade-sama… there's a-"
"Send him in" Tsunade said waving her hand lazily while looking at some papers, "I already know who it is."
The lady bowed before leaving the room and sending Sasuke in. Tsunade looked at her papers for a few minutes just to see how long the Uchiha would wait, but surprisingly she knew he was dead set on something because he didn't say a word, he just narrowed his eyes at her the whole time like they would bore holes through her skull and torture her.
"You already gave me the business about Sakura," she growled looking up from her papers to look into Sasuke's eyes, "What do you want now?"
"I want to go on a reconnaissance mission" he stated swiftly with confidence.
Tsunade rubbed the palms of her hands and examined them as she asked, "Why?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes even further as he growled, "This isn't fair to Sakura. She and my future children are being hunted down for their DNA and the Sharingan, at least that's what I suppose is happening. I want to know who's behind this and why."
Tsunade stood up from her chair and walked to face the window behind her desk looking out over the leaf village. Everything seemed so peaceful, not everyone had even discovered what had yet happened to the poor pinkette and the future of the Uchiha clan. The future was literally in the palm of her hands, right in front of her, but she was left with a choice, a hard choice. She could either, let the Uchiha out of the village and risk Sakura's mental stability again like the last time he was gone after she'd lost a child, or she could allow him to go and get valuable information that could lead to Sakura's safety. It was a hard choice to make, but Tsunade wished that there was just more time.
"Are you sure you want to leave Sakura in the mental state she's in?" Tsunade asked hoping Sasuke would change his mind and allow someone else to go.
Sasuke looked sideways rethinking his motivation. He wanted to protect Sakura, but he knew that he also needed to protect Sakura from herself, her negative thoughts, her habit of curling into her own shell of self pity and wallowing. Knowing full well that's what she was going to do if he left, Sasuke was reconsidering everything. Leaving the village sounded like a really good plan at the start, until Tsunade pointed out that one major flaw.
"Could you send someone else? I need to know who's behind this…" Sasuke asked sincerely as he got up.
Tsunade smiled to herself, "Of course, I'll even let you pick who goes if that makes you feel better."
Tsunade wasn't used to compromising with people, but the fact that she was able to get the Uchiha to reconsider his brash plan put him in her good graces. Sasuke nodded and left her office quickly, wondering who on earth was going to be able to fill the shoes of something like that. He clenched his fists facing down at the cobble stone streets of Konoha as he thought of mixed feelings. He knew that Sakura needed someone to protect her, someone to comfort her, someone to lift some of that blame and burden off her shoulders so she didn't recoil into an abyss of depression like she did before. On the other hand he didn't want anyone else going to get the personal information on his vendetta of things to do. He wanted to solve and deal with this problem personally. He didn't want anyone else getting involved, but if he had to pick someone he knew that Kakashi was his safest bet.
He found Kakashi in the usual spot, reading his perverted novels up in a tree on the training grounds.
"Get down here" came Sasuke's commanding voice as he punched the tree causing it to fall over.
Kakashi hopped down from the tree scratching the back of his head as he said, "Yo…"
Sasuke rolled his eyes before saying, "I need a favor."
Kakashi scowled at him then said, "First you abruptly halt my reading by forcefully destroying my seat, and then ask me for a favor? Don't think so."
Just as Kakashi was turning around to leave Sasuke said, "Then do it for Sakura…"
That last statement had peaked Kakashi's interest so he turned back around which meant he was listening. Sasuke told Kakashi about someone being after Sakura and Sasuke's child, and how Sasuke wanted to go on a reconnaissance mission, but didn't want to leave Sakura alone in the village due to what had happened. Surprisingly enough, Kakashi didn't know just how serious Sakura's injuries were, both physically and mentally. Kakashi waved goodbye to his student before launching off into the trees headed towards Tsunade's office to get he details on the mission.
Sasuke wiped a few stray hairs from his face to the side before turning around and heading towards the hospital. What lay in store for him there, he wasn't sure.
To Be Continued…
Sorry guys that it's taken so long to update! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hopefully the next won't be too far behind! Love you all!
PLEASE REMEMBER TO REVIEW! ^(^0^)^ WOOT FACE!