Disclaimer/Warning: Nope, still don't own Naruto...language ahead.

Thank you for all the support so far! That really makes my day! Oh and in response to a question if Naruto and Sakura work at the same school: No, Naruto is a teacher at Konoha High School and Sakura is the nurse at Konoha West Elementary

ENJOY!

Come What May

[All Time Low]

How do you get up from an all-time low?

I'm in pieces, seems like peace is the only thing I'll never know

How do you get up from an all-time low?
~All Time Low by The Wanted

Sakura anxiously sat in the nurses' office- fidgeting with her phone. Why did Hinata have to call off today of all days? She didn't want to see Sasuke; even if they were just talking about his daughter. Her dream, nightmare really, brought back a sting of old feelings. It was starling how hurt she felt even after all these years. A knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts and she braced herself. Sasuke walked into the room holding a small bag and a book- it was her journal. When the door closed she felt trapped and uncomfortable.

"Sakura," was his simple greeting. "I came to drop off Akane's medication that she takes at 11:30 every day." He placed the medication on the table beside her. "And I also have your journal."

She forced her hand not to tremble as she took back her precious journal- running her hand along the cool hardcover. "Thanks." She was hoping that he would leave, but he continued to stand there. "Is there something else you need?"

He glanced away for a moment before focusing his stare back to her. "When you left…"

Sakura turned away from him, busying her shaking hands by putting away Akane's medication- she was shocked to find that she was prescribed ADD medicine, but decided to ask about it later. "I don't want to talk about it."

"When you left I expected that you'd come back, but you didn't." He continued on, placing his hands in his pockets. She had learned long ago that it was a nervous habit of his.

"Of course I wasn't coming back," Sakura replied. "What for? Our relationship wasn't going anywhere."

"We were happy."

"How long would that have lasted?"

There was a pause before Sasuke barely muttered, "Akane needs a mother."

Sakura had a feeling that she knew where this was going. "Where's her mother?"

"She abandoned her after birth," He replied. Sakura could tell he had no emotional attachment to Akane's mother by the way he calmly stated this.

"Yes, I agree that Akane needs a mother; however that has nothing to do with me."

Sasuke opened his mouth, but his sentence was interrupted by a crying child coming in with scraps on his knee.

"Mrs. Uzumaki I'm hurt!" The child cried.

"I need to handle this," Sakura said, quickly getting the needed items to help the child. "Thank you for Akane's medication, I'll make sure she takes it every day."

"Sakura-"

Sakura wasn't listening though. She focused her attention on the child and didn't look back at the Uchiha. As she placed bandages on the boy's scrapes she heard the door open and close- finally she could breathe again. She didn't mean to come off uncaring- she really did care about Akane- however it wasn't her responsibility to be a mother to her.

Two weeks had gone by since, what Sakura called, the Series of Incidents. She saw Akane every day at 11:30 to give her, her medication then it was off to the hospital. It was a Tuesday afternoon where Sakura did not have to report to the hospital so she picked up a shift at the school, figuring she'd help Hinata out with some filing they were behind on. It took the two of then an hour and a half after the school day ended to get everything done in the office.

"Thanks for helping Sakura," Hinata said. "You could have gone home after your shift."

"To do what? Sit in an empty house for the rest of the day?" Sakura replied. "It was fun to hang out with you. Hey, you know what? We should go on a double date!"

Hinata's eyes widened with happiness. "We should! I'll ask Kiba about it tonight."

The two finished cleaning up their office before locking up for the day, walking down the abandoned halls of Konoha West Elementary. Upon walking outside Sakura stopped short when she caught sight of a familiar brown haired girl with tears streaming down her face.

"Isn't that…" Hinata began when she caught sight of the child as well.

"You go on, I'll take care of her," Sakura said. Hinata looked at her friend uncertainly, but Sakura waved her off, saying she'd give her a call later. She approached the small girl, patting her shoulder softly. "Akane what are you doing here?"

Akane looked at her with fear in her dark eyes. "Daddy forgot about me!"

"I'm sure he didn't forget you sweetie. He's just running a bit late," Sakura told her reassuringly. Yeah, almost two hours late! What's that idiot thinking? "How about we try to give him a call?"

Sakura pulled out her cell phone and let the girl call her father. Her heart almost broke when the girl got the answering machine to her father's phone.

"Did Daddy leave me too?" Akane whimpered.

Sakura stooped down to Akane's level to give her a hug. Did Sasuke really tell her that her mother abandoned her? "No of course not. He'll be here soon. I'll stay until he comes, okay?" Akane nodded, leaning her head against Sakura's arm and was soon asleep. Sakura pulled out her phone and redialed the number Akane had just called.

"Sasuke Uchiha," A deep voice answered.

"Do you know where your daughter is?"

"Sakura? How did you get my number and of course I know where she is. She's-"cue realization in 3, 2, and 1: "Shit!"

"Exactly," Sakura hissed. "Get over here now. You have your daughter worried that you left her!" She heard a rustle of papers before Sasuke hung up his phone. She waited with the sleeping girl for another twenty minutes- it was now 5:00pm. Sasuke rushed out of his car and to where the two females sat: one sleeping and the other looking absolutely pissed off.

"Akane," He muttered worriedly. He slowly lifted the girl into his arms and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Sakura…thank you."

"Just worry about the daughter you scared," Sakura replied, crossing her arms in anger. "If you can't pick her up on time then put her in afterschool daycare. There's a program that the school runs that you can sign her up for."

Sakura saw in that moment a different side of Sasuke appear. The side that absolutely cared and was worried about his daughter's wellbeing- she was seeing his fatherly side and it was almost scary. She felt some of her anger deflate at the tenderness he was showing, but was still furious. "Bye Sasuke."

"Wait," He said, reaching out to touch her arm. "Why don't you get dinner with us sometime? As a thank you of course."

She looked at him guardedly. "I'll give it some consideration." Which basically meant: hell no. She rubbed Akane's back as a silent goodbye to the girl, before hailing a taxi back to her apartment. She was so furious that Sasuke could forget his child like that. Akane needed a mother to take care of her- she could tell that Sasuke was beginning to feel overwhelmed with so much responsibility along with getting promotions in his firm. Sakura made a mental note to check on Akane over the next few days to make sure she got into an after school program.

[A Few Weeks Later]

She was emotionally and physically exhausted. She worked a double shift at the hospital and watched a child die in his mother's arms. Sakura felt like if one more thing happened before she was able to go to bed she would probably break down and cry. It was nine at night before she got back home where she saw Naruto at the kitchen table staring blankly at papers in front of him.

"Hey hun," She greeted, shuffling tiredly over to kiss him. "You look more tired than usual. What's up?"

He looked at her with tired blue eyes. "I…I'm being sent out on a tour. I've been put on the active duty list."

At that exact moment- when she thought she couldn't feel any more emotionally or physically exhausted- she felt her world fall apart around the edges. She knew that it was always a possibility for him to be sent off- but now that it was actually happening she didn't know if she was ready to let him go. So, she did the only thing she was capable of doing at that moment; wrap her arms around her husband and cry.

[Author's Corner]

~Again, thank you for all the reviews and such so far!

~And yes...plot twist