Chapter 8: Making a Decision

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For some reason, Sakura didn't want to tell the hokage. Nor did she want to tell her mother, Ino, Sai, Kakashi, or anyone about this incident. No, she just wanted the head of Uchiha Sasuke.

Her stomach had ballooned in those last 4 months with the undeniable roundness telling everyone in Konoha the story without words. Many of the village folk frowned upon her, others shook their heads at fate, more than Sakura. She wasn't the first young kunoichi to become pregnant; Sakura had taken care of more than her share of pregnant young women when she began to train under Tsunade. It was the shinobi life. You never know if you'll see your loved one again, so mind as well make the most of your time together.

It was tragic.

After the first few weeks of glares, Sakura began to grow used to the looks. Now, anyone who looked at her, knew precisely to move clear out of her way. She had the face of mother bear protecting her cubs—her eyes were dark and threatening. No doubt, everyone knew she was pissed.

As she marched her way through the village, she finally came to the criminal headquarters where ANBU were trained and summoned, the (rather unstable) police force was gathered and prisoners were kept under strict guard. Walking into the prison, the guard in charge at the front desk looked at her furious gaze and raised an eyebrow.

"Can I help you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, isn't it obvious I'm here to see him?" Seriously. Everyone in konohagakure knew he was her child's father. Feigning ignorance of it was usually only done so as an insult, and she would have none of it, no matter what the intentions were.

"I'm sorry, he's not allowed to have visitors. I can only allow it with permission from the—"

She yanked him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him close to her face, "I'm the godaime's trusted apprentice, and have been for over four years now. I can predict what she will allow and how she will react better than you even know her middle name. And I know damn well that she would not forbid me from simply talking to my unborn child's father." Releasing his fisted shirt she crooked her eyebrow, "Now, if you would please be so kind!"

The startled young guard nodded, getting up from his seat and walking her through the rows of mostly empty cells. There were a few cat calls from unlucky dimwits, who became silenced after a single glance from the fierce young woman. They came to a door at the end, one guarded by two anbu officers and a barrier jutsu from the looks of things.

"Haruno-san here would like to speak with the prisoner…" he glanced at Sakura, "she has the Godaime's permission."

The two anbu nodded stepping out of the way for her and momentarily releasing the barrier jutsu. The door, not surprisingly, wasn't locked. They didn't bother; a lock to an s-ranked criminal was about as useless as lying to a mind-reader. To contain a criminal of his class required much more than a flimsy mechanical contraption.

When one of the anbu followed her inside, she glared, "I would like to speak with him alone, if you don't mind."

"I'm sorry, I can't allow that."

She rolled her eyes, "he got me pregnant, he's not going to kill me. And besides, what worse can he do than this?" she asked, pointing to her stomach, aware of the Uchiha watching her argue.

"Five minutes." The anbu stated harshly. "If you're not out by then, I will have to come in and escort you out."

"This shouldn't take long." She snapped, her attention finally leaving the anbu officer as she glared at the stoic midnight-haired young man sitting on the edge of his bed.

The masked shinobi walked out, and as soon as the door shut, she snapped, "What the fuck is your problem?!" she nearly shouted.

"Whatever do you mean?" he asked smugly, calmly, as if to insult her rage with his collectedness.

"You know damn well. Why are you acting like a jealous prick?" she crossed her arms angrily.

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, "I'm not jealous at all. Why should I be jealous?"

"Because I love Naruto and not you? Are you just so spoiled from getting all the attention, that when it finally leaves you, you throw a little temper tantrum? Sounds like you haven't grown up much at all."

He glared, "what do you know about me?"

"A lot more than you obviously know about me." She snapped back. Alright, so it was a bit of a cliché answer, but it got to the point. "Stop playing the fucking victim. Get over your little childhood trauma and move on."

Direct target. She hit the nerve dead on, and she knew, slightly fearing for her life now and wishing she had allowed the ANBU to stay with her, as he stood up, that perhaps it was a line she shouldn't have crossed.

"You don't know what it's like to lose everything, everyone." He walked up to her, cornering her against the wall.

She was fearful, yes, but it didn't stop her from being angry as well, "Actually…" she pushed him away with her arms, now stalking him, "I do. While you were playing traitor with that snake ass, my father went off to ambush one of his hideouts, in hopes of finding more clues to bring you back. And guess what. It killed him." She hissed, "And since you've screwed me over, quite literally I might add, I've lost the respect of many the people in this village, even people who meant quite a bit to me." Now having him against the wall, the roles were reversed, "And I lost every fucking dream I ever had, I watched every single one shatter in front of my eyes, all thanks to you." She spat, and Sasuke could have sworn he saw fire in the pupils of her jade green eyes.

Getting in his face, she growled at him, "so please, allow me to keep one of my dreams. Get out of my life and leave me and Naruto alone."

He raised an eyebrow, "And this is coming from the one who wouldn't stop chasing after me even after I told you time and time again that I had cut all cords with you."

She backed off, satisfied having gotten out everything she wanted to say, "My mistake," she said, pressing her hand against her stomach, "and obviously not my only one."

"Then why are you keeping it?" he asked.

"One, because you would kill me if I didn't. Two, because I'm not so cowardly that I would take a life to make up for my mistakes." She glared. "But you never answered my question. Why does it bother you so much that I am with Naruto now?"

"He is taking what is mine, and you are allowing him to do so." He responded, sitting back down on the bed.

"What the hell do you mean by that? I never swore myself to you. Sorry if you think that, but there was no pen and paper contract." Sakura rolled her eyes, the sarcasm seeping out of her words.

"You have what is mine in you." He nodded to her stomach, "Do not think I will allow that idiot to raise my child."

"Oh, so now you want some picture perfect family where we live happily ever after? Don't you know you screwed that up before you even screwed me?"

Sasuke was silent. Inner Sakura was doing a victory dance. She had rendered the almighty Uchiha Sasuke speechless and was feeling very, very proud of herself. "I cannot raise a child by myself, and I will not marry anyone but the mother of my child in order to keep the sanctity of my clan." He responded calmly.

"Oh, great to know that I'm a cause for charity, not a wife to be loved!" she threw her hands in the air, "and what makes you think I'm going to marry you, huh? Sorry, but if I ever get married to anyone, its going to be someone who first off, loves me, and secondly, wants to marry me so he can spend the rest of his life with me, not to keep his clan from looking like the fucked up family unit that it is, will be, and always has been."

He glared at her, "you know nothing about my family."

"Yeah, 'cause they're dead! And you know why that is? Because they're a series of murderous, traitorous fucks that dug their own graves in their quest for power. Gee, sounds like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh?" she bit. Damn, if words could kill, I would be in the ANBU by now.

Within a millisecond he had her back thrown against the wall and her face yanked upwards in his hand. His eyes bore the red glare of the sharingan, yet it didn't scare her. The only thing she was afraid of was the force of his body pressed against her stomach, that it might crush the child. "Don't you EVER talk about my family like that, you understand?"

She glared back with the same intensity, raising her knee and kicking him in the anatomy she wished he never had to begin with. He stumbled back somewhat, allowing her to get away. "Fine." She spat as she reached for the door, "but don't think that I will ever become a part of it either."

Exiting the prison cell, the metal door slammed shut and the two ANBU looking at the girl who walked past them in a fast pace, head held high and proud. The masked jounin looked at each other, the first one shrugging, the second shaking his head. Oh the generation they had bore…

Night fell. Sakura lay on her back, her left hand holding up a worn picture frame, the other lazily resting on her stomach, subconsciously protecting the child growing within. The lights were off as she had bid goodnight to her mother, who now thought she was fast asleep. Instead, here she was, fully clothed, with no intent to cuddle up within the sheets below her.

The light of the moon provided all the light she needed to see the old worn traces of the young faces of team seven. She had to laugh at how Kakashi had now grown a few wrinkle lines around his once young crease-eyed smile. She knew that those creases bore the weight of reassuring his comrades during their toughest battles and toughest of times. Sakura had many people she looked up to in her life, among them Hatake Kakashi.

Her saddened eyes moved toward the spiky haired blond, the one she constantly yelled at and put down during her younger days. She hated herself for it. She was just another ignorant villager, scorning him because, well, everyone did it. Before team seven was formed, not once did she ever try to look past his goofy grin to see the sadness behind his eyes, nor did she ever believe that he could possibly become the future hokage. She never expected to grow up and respect him for the person he was, much less fall in love with him.

No, she never thought these things because of her constant adoration for the stoic Uchiha standing to the left of her in their group picture. The boy was looking away, out of the picture, an obvious desire to be anywhere but with his group. Some things never change. Her nose slightly twisted upwards as her mouth fell downward into a micro-expression of disgust. Now, she hated him. Yes, he was talented. He had become perhaps the strongest of the rookie nine, next to Naruto and Neji. Yes, he was extremely handsome, the body of an Adonis with his willowy yet defined and toned muscles rippling under taught skin. His black raven hair made him even more beautiful as the soft tendrils made a midnight conterast with his milky white and unflawed skin. And those eyes…

Sakura was starting to blush as she thought of the night he had taken her. No Sakura! He used you! Anger welled up her heart as she looked at his picture. He thought he was too good for his team then, and he still did today. She thought perhaps Kakashi's teamwork training had gotten through to him that he wasn't the only person that mattered. Maybe it did, but as soon as he learned it, it seemed to have left cognition.

It suddenly dawned on her. Maybe Sasuke didn't kill his inner self. Maybe the mask they were trying to remove was already taken off when he left them. Maybe the good Sasuke they knew, the one who tried to save her during the sand's raid against Konoha was all just a mask. Maybe this cold-hearted arrogant jerk she faced in the prison cell was the real Sasuke.

If this was true, there was no hope. And maybe Madara was right…

Earlier that day…

Sakura walked back up towards Team Seven's training ground where she had unexpectedly run into Sasuke. She slammed the ground with all her might, ripping the earth where he sat years ago, eating lunch while Naruto was tied up. She made sure no one would ever sit there again, hoping there would never be another case like Sasuke's.

"That's a mighty punch you throw." She heard a voice say above her. Looking forward, she saw a man with an orange spiraled mask sitting on top of the memorial stone, ignorant of the disrespect in this action.

"You…I know you…" she hissed, "You're the Akatsuki guy we met in the forest…"

"Actually, you also know me another way." He hopped down, walking toward her, "My name is Uchiha Madara."

She froze. This was not a good place to be, alone with no way to protect herself from an Akatsuki, much less the most powerful Uchiha that ever existed. "What do you want?" her voice slightly quivering as she tried to hide the fear in her face and failed miserably.

"Calm down little blossom, I'm not going to hurt you." He smirked behind the mask, and Sakura could hear the faux innocence in his voice. "I merely want to offer you a…proposition." He reached out, a gloved hand tracing her cheek. She wanted to bat it away, but was too afraid of what may become of her if she did so.

"continue…" she spoke, defiance reflecting in her voice and eyes instead of her actions.

"To the point. I like that." He chuckled, "Alright, well, we of Akatsuki aren't too happy with Sasuke right now. He failed to capture the eight tails after all, and simply up and left without giving us any warning. So, as a result, I had hoped he would be a little bit more useful, but it turns out he's going to be more of a burden than an asset to us. Especially if he talks."

"He's not much of a talker…" Sakura scoffed, hardly comprehending that she was having casual conversation with an Akatsuki member, much less the leader.

"He's a lot like his brother." Madara looked up at the blue sky, the white wispy clouds seeming to move by, instead of the world moving underneath them.

Sakura didn't know what to say. Naruto had told her what the elders had told them—that Itachi indeed was a kind, peaceful person and Madara's story was true. She was strictly forbidden to tell Sasuke this under the threat of death. Even he wasn't allowed to tell Sakura, but he did anyways, knowing that she wouldn't tell a soul. To see how calm a man Itachi was and how irrational Sasuke had become made her wonder what caused Madara to think they were at all alike.

"You're probably not on the best of terms with Sasuke right now, no?" Madara finally spoke up.

"Che, that's an understatement." She rolled her eyes.

"I could sense the sharingan firing up while you were talking to him in the prision."

"You were stalking me?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Well I wanted to talk to you, but I can't exactly do that where hundreds of people are around you." He pointed out, "anyways, back to my point. You're mad at him. You want revenge on him for using you like this, am I right?"

She looked away. Yeah, she had wanted to pummel his face in to the ground on more than one occasion. She was angry, bitter, and wished that he had never existed. Basically…"Yes, I do."

"And your boyfriend is the nine-tails. Pein needs every Akatsuki member's chakra in order to extract their biju, yet he has no way of knowing who is giving their chakra and who isn't. Itachi always gave the least amount."

Sakura's eyes widened, "are you asking me to join Akatsuki?"

"The rumors were true then. You're quite sharp."

"I can't! If you haven't noticed, your organization is konoha's sworn enemy and I'm pregnant! I'm no use to you guys."

"Actually, after you created a cure for Sasori's poison and healed the kazekage's brother, your name spread like wildfire throughout every country. If you haven't noticed, our men have been dropping like flies. We need a healer. In turn, we'll train you up to become strong enough to defeat Sasuke."

She bit her lip. Sakura had to admit, the thought of being able to dethrone the almighty Uchiha was a little appealing at this point. Plus, she could protect Naruto from the inside and gather as much information and warn Konoha of any attacks. "But…how will I be able to train while I'm pregnant? I've been taken off shinobi duty because of this."

"For now, we don't need you to fight, just heal. Until you have the child, our female member will be able to help take care of you. After that we'll train you."

Sakura looked away, "and if I refuse?"

"I'll have to kill you." Madara shrugged.

"Well then it doesn't seem like I have much of a choice then, no?" she clenched her fists.

"Well you could go down as a martyr and solve nothing, or you could join us and get something done." He rose out his palms, gesturing the weight of either choice, "you decide."

She sighed, "Can I at least think it over?"

"Sure. But I'll have to 'stalk' you for the rest of the day to make sure you don't try to tell anyone. If you do, I will definitely have to kill you."

She rolled her eyes, "great."

Later…

Getting up from her warm place on the bed, she reached for her shinobi back-pack on the floor as she made her decision. She locked the door to her bedroom then walked over quietly to her window as she opened it just wide enough to get out. She closed it from the outside for good measure, then set about to walk through the village as inconspicuously as possible.

Finally reaching the training grounds, she looked around curiously for the man with the spiraled mask. Seconds later, the man emerged from the trees, mask finally taken off. What she saw shocked her. And he's over 80 years old?! If Sasuke were to grow his hair out and age a little, he would be an exact representative of the face she was presented with. It's a wonder he keeps it covered up…

"So is that backpack a comforting measure or have you accepted my offer?" he asked, finally causing Sakura to close her gaping mouth.

The girl looked up at the five stone faces of Konoha's hokages, living and deceased. Never taking her eyes off the carved mountain, she replied solemly. "I accept."

"Well lets be on our way then, shall we?" Madara smirked and grabbed her hand, the two vanishing out of thin air.

END PART I


RA: Don't worry, Part II will be up just as soon. The only reason I've divided these into parts is because, well, you've seen everything from mostly Sakura's point of view. We have an omniscient narrator for her feelings, emotions and inner thoughts, but what about Sasuke? What's his take on all this? Keep reading and you'll find out ;]

Also, I've decided to hold a one-shot contest! Check out my profile for more details.

Well, that's all for now. I know I sound like a broken record, but please keep reviewing! Thank you so much to everyone who has! Your words of encouragement are what keep me writing and not feeling like a total failure XD.