SUMMARY:

They have to decide. They need to decide soon. They need to choose who will give it all away for the other. With Kurenai constantly reliant on Shikamaru to raise her son, and Temari constantly busy with her position in Suna, the pair realise the decision will not be easy. To have a happy life with each other, one of them will have to sacrifice so much... But who will be willing to do it? Or better yet, who will ask the other to do it for them?

Author's Note: This chapter is very, establishing storyline again, establishing where everyone is, some little tid bits of fluff~

WARNINGS

NaruHina- Yeah, not a lot of focus on it, but it's there, and pretty obviously there, though in this chapter it's bare minimum... It gets the next chapter.

NejiTen- This contains massive spoilers for those of you who aren't up to date with the manga, also it's quite sad and will be focussed on more later on. Probably next chapter

KibaHina- One sided, and in past, and a line by a drunk Kiba.

SasuSaku-OHMYGOSH. I'M FINALLY EXPLAINING THE SASUSAKU PART IN THIS CHAPTER~

SaiIno/ChoIno- Big thanks to PenumbraChey (Whose name I love) for helping me with this. SaiIno is talked about in past, ChoIno has alot more focus and is present~ AND GETS SOME SWEET ACTION IN THIS CHAPTER~ WOO

WARNING: I don't want anyone correcting me saying I spelt Itachi wrong. Itashi is a blend of Itachi and Sakura's father's name Kizashi... If I see a review about it I will... Do something unpleasant.

Oh my gosh this chapter just kind of happened because I couldn't stop writing... Thank you so so much for all the reviews... One day I'll start replying to them on here, but for the moment, you have my undying love, affection, and virtual cookies. And some vegetables... Because good ninjas have vegetables.

((Please have pity on my for any mistakes or randomness, it is three in the morning and I'm still writing... ))

R&R! I love to know what you think

Plus, seeing reviews makes me update, I love them X3

A dull, dark red haired boy leapt down from a tree to roar at a traveller going past in the darkness of the night. It was late, too late for a normal traveller to be travelling, the boy had to police the area, to protect his parents like they protected him. His dark eyes narrowed as he began to form the hand signs for his fireball jutsu. The traveller looked at the small child in horror, he couldn't be more than six. The child was about to shout out his jutsu but just in the nick of time a raven haired man swept him into his arms.

"That's enough, Itashi" The man grunted, slinging the boy over his shoulder before looking over to the petrified traveller, the dark haired man bowed his head to the traveller. "I apologise for my son's behaviour... It will not happen again..."

"I-Its... It's okay..." The man stammered whilst he slowly backed away. "Aha... B-Boys will be boys."

"Indeed..."

"I'll be going then..." The traveller yelped as he ran back down the path. Once out of the line of vision and out of ear shot, Sasuke Uchiha placed his son back down and raised a brow.

"What was that?"

"That was the giant, fireball explosion technique I've been working on!" Itashi smirked, crossing his arms smugly. "I was gonna fry him, then take the pills for mother!"

"Hmph. Itashi, I've told you not to use that technique." His father spoke slowly yet sternly, the small boy frowned, as if he was hurt deeply by the short sentence. All he'd been trying to do was prove to his father that he was good enough to get the supplies this week. "And anyway, your mother doesn't need us to steal now."

"Huh? Why?"

"She..." Sasuke struggled for a gentle way to break the news to his son. "She would prefer to tell you herself." Sasuke shrugged. Well handled, he thought. "Now hop on my back, your mother wants to speak to you."

"Hn... Fine..." The boy huffed, giving an effortless leap to his father's back, knowing the skilled Uchiha would catch him in time.

Itashi Uchiha resembled his father more than his mother. His eyes were the same as his fathers, along with his nose and cheekbones. Hell, he'd even inherited his father's attitude, which Sasuke now realised was a serious problem. Despite all this, Itashi Uchiha, retained a mix of both of his parent's stubbornness and his mother's compassion. He resembled his grandfather in the sense of his hair colour, and he resembled his late uncle in the sense of the style. It seemed somewhat appropriate that the two components of his name met like that.

'And of course,' Sasuke mentally added, 'He had to gain Sakura's prominent brow, he had to get her large forehead didn't he?'

"SHINO! I SWEAR TO FUCK YOU'VE GOTTA BE CHEATING!" Kiba bellowed, standing up from his stool in protest. The others around him groaned as Naruto placed a hand on his shoulder, making the Inazuka sit back on his stool.

"You're so pissed." Naruto laughed. "I can't wait to see your hang over."

"I suspect it'll be crippling." Sai added, the two remaining members of Team Seven laughed good naturedly as the messy haired man growled at them.

"HEY! I SWEAR TO DRUNK I'M NOT GOD!" He slurred loudly, going to stand up and, in the process, throwing his hand of cards on to the floor. Shino sighed as Naruto and Lee pulled him down again.

"Keep it down, Kiba-Kun." Hinata hissed at her team mate, he looked at her groggily and frowned.

"Jeez, sorry Hina..." He whispered bashfull, "I don't mean to be loud I pwomisssh." He whined, like a little lost puppy, eliciting muffled laughed from the blonde Hokage who sat next to him.

During this whole scene, Ino watched her unofficial partner sit in silence, a focussed expression on his face. She nudged him gently and he jumped, turning himself entirely to face her, that glazed look of admiration on his lips as they tilted into a smile.

"What's up?" She frowned, though it was hard to keep a concerned frown when he gave her that smile... It was the sweetest thing she'd ever seen.

"Just thinking." He replied, that smile still on his lips as he looked at her. Ino loved it when he looked at her, well to be brutally honest, she loved to be looked at by anyone, but the way her team mate looked at her... It cancelled out anything she had felt before. It wasn't just him looking at her as a pretty face and a toned figure, he looked at her like she was an art work, like he knew no other way to appreciate her other than to stare into her eyes and smile. Ino tutted loudly and shook her head.

"You're spending too much time with Shikamaru... You're starting to sound like him." Ino sighed playfully.

"O-Oh sorry!" Choji cursed under his breath, obviously not catching onto Ino's attempt at a playful joke. She now remembered why she stopped making jokes like that around her team. She tutted and sighed once more, reaching out to put her hands on his face. She practically felt the skin under her hands heat as she touched them, though his shocked expression dulled after a few moments it was still evidently there. She stroked the side of his face gently, choosing to say nothing to ruin this trance they had become warped within. He placed his hand on top of hers and held it against his face for a few moments, then the meaty hand took the thin, delicate one into its control and placed it ever so carefully against his chapped lips.

He lay the most intimately chaste kiss on her hand before letting her regain control.

Ino felt like her heart would burst at any moment, she needed to repay him somehow... The sly Yamanaka leant forward, unintentionally flashing a glimpse of the cleavage shown by her sleek black dress. She pulled a strand of hair from her face and leant sensually close to the smartly dressed Akimichi and smiled mere millimetres from his face. She placed the most innocent kiss she could ever remember giving onto his cheek and smiled at his flustered expression.

A soft swish of water being displaced and a long, airy sigh was the only indication that the two bodies situated in the water baths were still alive. A dishevelled head of black hair was visible over the high edge of the bath and the top of a blonde head was flitting in and out of vision. From another angle one could clearly see the contented smile on Shikamaru Nara's lips as she watched his fiancé curl up beside him. She tangled her nude legs with his, her upper body half leaning on his as she lounged on him, looking up at her lover with her hands flat out across his chest. One of his arms was around her shoulder and hugged her to him, his hand on her waist. The other was situated so his hand could comfortably reach hers and intertwine their fingers. Though they were both stripped of all clothing the pair only ever looked in the other's eyes, for it seemed to them unnecessary to look anywhere else.

"Let's just do it." Temari broke the silence first, smiling up at her love.

"Do what?" He replied lazily, though his attention was consumed by her.

"Get married. Let's just... Do it." She repeated patiently.

"What about where we're going to live?" He murmured.

"We'll sort it after, why should we worry about it anymore? We've been worrying about it for four years... Lets just... Do it. Get married here, in Konoha. Invite my brothers and a few others. Invite our friends and families and just do it. We can have a nice long honeymoon and figure out where we'll live then."

They both thought about it for a while, of course it was a badly thought out plan, and for two strategists it was a weak plan at best... But it was a plan, a lazy plan... She had proposed it so she wouldn't have a problem with it... She was far too stubborn and it was lazy enough for him not to worry... Despite it being so poorly thought out it was perfect.

"Hmm..." He hummed, looking up at the glistening night sky and then looking back at her. "You're sure you just want to do it?"

"Mhmm..." She nodded. "I want to become Mrs Nara." She smiled widely up at him before leaning back against him to look up at the sky. "Temari Nara... It has a ring to it don't you think?"

"I couldn't care if it sounded absolutely terrible, the fact that it's you makes it work." He chuckled.

"Tch, you've been spending too much time with Choji, it's made you soft." She mocked playfully, he poked her ribs with the hand on her waist.

"I can be loving sometimes on my own accord." He replied indignantly, his fiancé laughed and he found himself laughing with her.

"Only when you can be bothered to get off your lazy ass and do it." She murmured.

"Itashi Uchiha! I told you not to go out at this time!" A shrill voice shrieked.

As soon as the crimson haired Uchiha was spotted by his mother in their small home he was pounced upon. She wrapped him into a hug and moved her hands across his body to check he was alright. Her emerald orbs were narrowed in anger, yet filled with relief.

"He was getting you some pills, for the hospital." Sasuke muttered, receiving a hopeful glance from his son. "He saw a traveller and was trying to barter the prices down."

Itashi had never been so grateful for the fact that his father could lie so easily.

"Aww... Itashi,you needn't do that anymore, the hospital is set up now... We're getting the supplies sent to us... So there is no need to worry anymore. So please please please, don't go out at this time again okay? It's dreadfully late and there are nasty people in the forests around here."

"I could have handled them..." Itashi growled, sighing with embarrassment as his mother continued to fuss over him. He batted her away and looked at her defiantly.

"Father taught me techniques and I could take anyone now!" The small boy fist pumped the air to have his mother raise a brow as she stood up quietly. "But still, I'm sorry for making you worry mother... I didn't meant to make you worry about me..."

Sakura smiled at her son and shook her head, "Its okay, now you go up to your room and actually go to sleep this time!" She chastised him softly and the body nodded, walking up to his mother who wore nothing more than her pyjama shorts and his father's shirt. She bent over so he could kiss her cheek, he went over to his father and did the same.

"Night!~" He called loudly as he ran up the stairs with heavy footsteps.

"Night." Both of his parents chuckled in return. They both looked at each other and smiled.

Sakura looked at her husband, in nothing other than a pair of black trousers and licked her lips. He raised his brow and looked at her slyly, walking over to stand right in front of her. She sneakily hooked her fingers into his belt straps and looked up at him.

"The last time you looked at me like that, Itashi was conceived." He uttered softly, a smirk going across his lips.

"Mmm... That was one hell of a night though..." She smiled dreamily, unhooking her fingers and trailing her hands up his chest before wrapping them around his neck, arching her back so her body pressed up against his. His arms held onto her waist carefully as he sighed in thought.

"The hospital isn't going well is it?"

"We're in the middle of nowhere... No one knows we exist." Sakura sighed. "Maybe if we moved closer to Takigakure... It wouldn't be bad for Itashi to have some friends either..."

This was the conversation they had every night. Whether they could risk becoming part of a village without being recognised and putting their son at risk.

And between her bright pink hair and the well known appearance of the 'last' Uchiha, they had no chance.

Still Sakura tried, she desperately tried, and it upset her husband that he had to say no.

"I'll sort out the lack of customers... I'll talk to a village leader and get sign posts for the hospital, let people know that we're here."

Sakura sighed defeatedly, but nodded. "Thank you Sasuke, now can we go to bed?"

"Of course, Mrs Uchiha." He smirked, holding out a hand to her, she smiled at him and giggled like a little school girl.

"Oh that never gets old..."