Sakura was about to commit a very bloody murderer if that insensible pounding at her door didn't stop any time soon.
She was still tired, having a restless baby in ones stomach made it hard for one to fall asleep, and thus, Sakura was unable to get a decent shut eye till the sun began peaking its ugly face through her window.
She pulled a pillow over her head in an attempt to mute out the sound. She was rather startled when she heard the pounding stop and something clattering rather forcefully against the other end of the hall. Sakura sat straight up with a jolt, the sun hurting here eyes as a ray of sunlight hit her directly in the face.
"It's okay Sakura! I got rid of him for you!" Naruto called from behind the closed door.
Surprised to hear him, Sakura jumped out of bed and dashed to the door. To be honest, Sakura didn't expect to hear from Naruto so soon. Well, she wasn't expecting him to come over at all. "Naruto."
The blonde ninja frowned at her. "You look like you just got back from a run." he accused as he crossed his arms at his chest.
"I just got out of bed, I'm huge and I very nearly snapped my neck getting out of bed, so excuse me if I don't look like a supermodel first thing in the morning." she retorted as she stepped aside to allow him inside.
Naruto took notice at all the packed up boxes with what he assumed were her things, since the apartment appeared to be bare of anything. "Sakura, it's four in the afternoon, morning was a little over five hours ago." he assured.
"You have to be kidding me, that bastard really did send someone to fetch me, like a dog?" she rolled her eyes and tried not to slam the door shut, tried being the operative word.
"What in the world are you talking about woman?" Naruto asked and then side stepped to dodge the blow that was aimed at the back of his head.
"Don't talk to me that way." Sakura chided. "And my two faced bastard baby daddy is forcing me to move in with him, and after I kicked him out of the apartment last night he said he would send someone to fetch me in the afternoon, like I'm some sort of dog." she huffed.
"Whoa, hold on a minute there Sakura." Naruto said holding up both of his hands. "Did you just say that the person we love to hate asked you to move in with him?" he asked wiggling his brows at her.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "If he had asked, I wouldn't want to beat the living fucks out of him would I?" she asked. "No the bastard right out demanded I had to move in with him, because me being pregnant with the apparent new Uchiha Heir makes me part of his clan's property." she huffed.
"Want me to beat him up for you?" the blonde offered, but Sakura only managed to laugh at him. "No Naruto, you'll only hurt yourself." she said.
A knock on her door cut whatever Naruto was going to say off. Sakura turned to open the door and a young man stood there. "Miss Haruno?" he asked nervelessly as he eyed Naruto with a cautious look on his face.
"That would be me, yes." she said with a risen brow. "Uchiha sent me to help you in moving your belongings into the Vale, said we had to escort you there to make sure you made it there." he said.
Sakura wanted to say a large variety of foul expressions at the guy, but she felt she couldn't take out on him her frustrations with Sasuke, so instead she just nodded and allowed him in so he could take her belongings down to the streets so that his crew could help transport everything.
"She's very pretty Sakura, I can tell she'll look a lot like you when she grows up." Naruto said as he looked at the picture of Sakura's daughter.
Sakura smiled and pulled the frame back and stared at it as the two of them walked, Naruto carried in his arms a box of stuffed animals that were to be used to decorate the nursery, the two of them trailing behind at the end of the Naruto Shadow Clone Parade down the path that lead to the Uchiha Vale.
Once they got there, Sakura was surprised to see that the Naruto's has gone ahead and set up everything inside her own living complex. "Thank you Naruto." Sakura said as she hugged the original knuckle headed blonde.
The rest of the Shadow clones disappeared in a loud poof of smoke, leaving only Naruto, who was blushing madly. "Don't mention it Sakura, but you're still not allowed inside, Sasuke said to meet him up inside his compound, besides I think I want to add a few finishing touches myself." he grinned broadly.
Sakura smiled at him. "You're the best friend anyone could ever ask for Naruto." she told him
"Gee, thanks Sakura, hey listen I have to go, Hinata said she needed help with one of her jutsus, and apparently it's one I'm really good at." he laughed. "So I better get going, good luck Sakura, I get the feelings you're going to need it." he said with a wave before leaving.
"And I'm back to hating you again." Sakura muttered. With a deep sigh she made her way across her door to Sasuke's compound and knocked -rather banged- on the door till Sasuke opened it up.
"You have got to be the most difficult woman to appease." he snarled.
"Oh, and you're the biggest asshole in the world, aren't we just perfect for each other?" she said in an over enthusiastic voice that was just dripping with sarcasm.
"Hn." Sasuke grunted.
"Yes, hn, are you going to let me in or leave me standing at your doorstep all day?" she snapped as she shifted her weight around. With a narrowed gaze Sasuke stepped aside and opened the door wider for her to step in.
Locking around, she realized this must have been the house of the old Uchiha Heads, Sasuke's parents, because the whole room she was now standing in was bigger than her whole apartment.
Sakura cleared her throat and looked back at Sasuke. "Naruto said you needed to speak to me?" she said.
"Yes, mainly to inform you that firstly, Naruto was the one who insisted in you having your own residence, and not just part of the main Manor reserved for the heads." he said.
"So, better for me, and for you, we'll barely have to see each other, you would probably hover over my neck all day, or worse try to kill me and my baby in my sleep, because you're sick that way in you strange demented plans to get your revenge." she rolled her eyes.
Sasuke's eyes flashed with so many emotions it was hard for Sakura to keep track of them all. A small chill crept down her back and she cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, that was rude, I didn't-"
"I deserved it." Sasuke said cutting her off. "You are also to notify me of all your activities, and I will assign someone to accompany and protect you till-"
"Excuse me, I can take care of myself, I'm pregnant, not uselessly defenseless." she pointed out. "I'll cave on telling you where I am and what I'll be doing so long as I think it's in your 'need-to-know', but other than that forget it."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed at her, his jaw setting and his fits clenching at his sides. Gods, this woman was so frustrating. "Fine, but when you have your hospital visits I will have to be there." he said.
Sakura's heart leaped and butterflies erupted in her stomach. Was he interested in the baby, was he hoping that - She shook her head internally. She was getting was ahead of herself, he might not be doing these things to her or for their baby, but for himself, or just because he has too. She nodded her head reluctantly, not saying anything, only agreeing. "Anything else?" she asked.
"No. Feel free to roam about the complex, make yourself at home. You can leave now" Sasuke said as he stepped away from the door after holding it open for her again and watched as she hurried out before shutting the door shut behind her. He rested his back and banged his head softly against the wood and sighed heavily. "Sakura..." he breathed.
Sakura walked aimlessly around the large gardens of the Uchiha Vale, she spotted a nice tall Tsubaki bush and took a seat in its shade. "Make yourself at home, bullshit, this is the newest prison I'm stuck in." she muttered gruffly.
"I see you followed through in moving in as I requested." a dry and familiar voice spoke suddenly, startling Sakura and causing her to jump a foot from her spot.
"The two of you left me with no choice." she snapped as she sat up right, wincing a little at the sudden pain in her lower back as she tried to find another comfortable position for her to sit in.
Itachi looked at her, and from inside his pack he pulled out a pillow and offered it to her. Taking it Sakura looked up at him. "Is it okay for me to ask why it is that you carry a pillow with you?" she asked.
"You've already asked, and it is simply as a means of comfort during my travels." he said as he watched her fidget to stand and then sit back down on the pillow.
"Okay, no I'm going to feel totally strange to be sitting on this knowing that you sleep on it." she said her face flushing.
"You will be keeping it, I can always steal a new one off of one of the compounds here in the Vale." he informed.
"Why did you make me come here?" she asked looking down at her stomach, her hands cradling it. She couldn't dare look at him, knowing that her face was scrunched up trying to fight back the tears she felt were coming.
Itachi did not reply, quite frankly he did not know what the answer to that was. So he remained silent for the longest of times. It wasn't until he noticed the wet stains on her blouse that he realized she was crying.
Over the years, Sakura had turned herself into an expert at crying silently, almost unnoticeable, and she was also able to pull off pretty tears. But this time it was different, her body shook with the silence she forced to keep her tears in, her throat burned and she knew that if she talked her voice could either catch in her throat and choke her with all her frustrated emotions or crack and cause her to break down.
She was tired of pretending she was alright, because she wasn't. And quite frankly she doubted she ever would be alright again. She was pregnant out of a one night stand with the man she had been in love with half her life. And he didn't love her back, nor would he ever do so, he didn't even care for her. The only reason she was living with him, well near him, was because he believed he had he duty to do so because the baby inside of her would be an Uchiha.
Fuck, the bastard didn't even know it was his daughter she was pregnant with. He still believed that the baby was Itachi's and she wasn't even sure as to why Itachi had agreed to help her after he had cursed her, branded her, after she had tried to kill him.
She was confused and above everything else, she was hurt.
"Stop crying." Itachi commanded after a long period of silence.
"Fuck you Itachi, leave me alone with my thoughts, I need to cry." she choked and a sob raked though her body. She knew this is what would happen if she spoke.
Itachi remained silent and just watched her, in turn Sakura was left to believe he had either left or taken her request into consideration, quite frankly she didn't really care which was correct. So she let the sobs rake loudly through her body until she found herself lost in the blissfulness of slumber.
"I see you are finally awake." Itachi said once he noticed that Sakura was coming to herself. Sakura blinked in her surroundings.
"Did you carry me inside?" she asked, surprised. Sitting up she crossed her legs Indian style, one hand gently scratching the top of her stomach while the other rubbed the sleepy soreness out of her eyes.
"Would you have preferred I left you outside in the rain?" he asked. Sakura looked up at him. Rain? What the- Her gaze traveled to the window behind him, sure enough it was raining, and it was dark out. "How long was I asleep for?" she asked.
"About 8 hours, five of which were induced by a strong amount of chakra I forced on you." Itachi informed. "You seemed very tired and restless." He explained.
Sakura looked at him, confused. "I suppose I should thank you, and since I do not wish to change the mood you and I are in I won't pry into it, I don't think I can handle another upset Uchiha right now." She sighed.
"I should go, it's late and I have things to do." Itachi said and before Sakura could even think about speaking, he was gone. Sighing she stood from the bed. "Damn all those Uchihas." She muttered. as she made her way to the bathroom, she really had to pee. She had been asleep so long it was a wonder she didn't pee herself while she slept.
Stepping inside the restroom, her bladder almost gave away in surprise. The Fucking bathroom was bigger than her bedroom back at her apartment. It was beautiful, complete with white tiles from floor to ceiling, the Uchiha crescent was printed on various tiles around the whole room.
Deciding she could admire the rest of the bathroom from the white porcelain toilet, she practically skipped over to the seat to pee. The first thing she admired to the full was the bathtub. Black porcelain, which not many bathrooms can pull off, but this one –hers- could. The contrast it made with its surroundings was perfect. And the little white pillow with the Uchiha seal looked dangerous, she could imagine herself falling asleep there, and while death by downing was not an ideal way to die, she believed it would be worth it, the put together as a whole was, well, perfect.
As she washed her hands, she continued to admire the sink and mirror, white with a gold paint edge. Were it any other house, she would say it was just paint, but these were Uchiha, it was go big or go home for them. The only thing crappy looking about the bathroom was the towel, and she supposed she could fill it up with her own fluffy mint colored ones, and all the cabinets with her stuff.
She was thankful for that, that apart from being in a prison home, she could make a little piece of it her own.
Stepping back out into the room she admired it all the more. It wasn't piled up with Uchiha propaganda, no. Instead it was filled with most of her furniture. And again, the contrast the mint green furniture and the faint blue carpets made with the deep brown walls and hard wood floors was a sight to be marveled at. The only thing she wanted to paint over was the insanely large Uchiha clan symbol painted on the wall behind the bed, which was piled up and messy with all her sheets.
"Bless Naruto, he must have removed everything else to put all my stuff in here." She said to herself. The more she looked around, the more it felt like it could really become home to her and her child. A smile graced her lips as she went to fix up the bed; she was tired again, but had no intention of going to sleep before exploring further.
Her house, or mansion if you want, was huge. She counted a total of ten bedrooms, two half restrooms, and four bathrooms. The Kitchen made her cry; it was hard for her to believe she had all that at her mercy, and the garden, she could already hear Ino begging her to have her way with it.
She found the room that Naruto must have chosen to be the nursery. She knew this because, one: It was right across her bedroom, and Two: It was locked tight. She smiled at his thoughtfulness, but he should know that by the time that the baby is born she wants to be able to have at least a say in how the room is organized for her daughter.
She smiled to herself as she made her way about the whole Manor, which to after a while she came to the conclusion, must be the Head House, because compared to all the other houses loitering around hers, this was by far the largest.
Sakura wasn't too happy about the idea of living in the head's house all on her own, but the thought of being able to be as far away from Sasuke, and the possibility of someday having some sort of power over him like he did for most of her childhood, thrilled her.
Finally after hours of exploring Sakura yawned loudly and decided it was about time she headed back to her bedroom to sleep. So carefully she made her way back to the main set of stairs. IT was dark, the only sort of light coming in was that from the moon, and it annoyed her.
The annoyed Pink headed Kunoichi padded her hand along the wall, feeling around for the light switch that illuminated the stairs. Once that was achieved she made her way up the stairs and when she reached the last step and reached for the switch that turned the lights off, her sights halted on a single picture frame. One she could not believe she had not seen earlier.
It appeared to be the only remaining picture of the Main Branch of the Uchiha Family. She tried to pry the frame off the wall for better inspection, and here she realized why the frame was still on the wall and not buried somewhere under piles of dust, it was stuck to the wall.
IN the picture stood a young Sasuke, one Sakura remembered from their earlier years in the academy. Back when he was happy, even in the picture one could tell it radiated off of the young carefree Sasuke. Beside him stood Itachi.
While his expression was as serious as it is now, in the immortalized picture frame, he appeared to be as carefree as he had ever been. His long hair was blowing in the wind, leading Sakura to guess that it had either been very windy the day of the picture, or that the wind had stuck at him just as the picture was snapped.
It wasn't till she paid more and more attention to him on that picture that she noticed that there was the smallest hints of a smile on his almost emotionless face. His bright onyx orbs shone brightly and Sakura noticed that they weren't the exact same shade as Sasuke's, well not anymore at least. And there was no sign of the feared and dangerous man he was today. No here, in that picture, he looked calm, happy and… dare she say it, she looked immensely handsome. Surely when he still lived here, before he killed his whole clan, he had been a well sought after young man. And something told her that he still was.
The other two people in the picture she did not recognize, a woman of great beauty and soft, jet stern features, and a man who just appeared to radiate power. They must be their parents. She thought to herself.
Yawning again she shook her head and reached for the light switch and turned off the lights and made her way back to her bedroom in a haze. She suddenly felt dead on her feet and reprimanded herself for ogling a picture for half an hour.
She made a quick job of changing out of her regular clothing and put on something more comfortable for her to sleep in, she would have remained in just a tee shirt and her panties, but having the two Uchihas popping in and out was not something she wanted and she opted for a tank and a short skimpy pair of shorts.
When she finally succumbed to sleep, her dreams were filled with a dark figure, who threatened to kill her repeatedly before finally locking his lips with hers.
