Quake

Chapter Twelve

-Funeral-

Sakura let out a sigh of contentment as she snuggled closer to the source of warmth next to her. She opened her eyes then, and looked into the face of her sleeping husband. Sadness entered her eyes, as she thought about their unborn son. Would he have looked like Gaara? Would he have had her eyes? What would he have been like?

She wiped away the tears that had started to form, not wanting to wake him with her blubbering. It wouldn't do to dwell on things that would never be, it wasn't healthy. So she reached up and brushed his bangs out of his face, stroking his cheek tenderly as she finished.

"Good morning my love," he said with his eyes still closed. He leaned into her touch, unable to remember a time when he had woken up without her now. Finally he stared over at her and his peaceful demeanor fell. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she smiled sadly, "I was just thinking about our son."

He seemed to understand and brought her close to his chest. "What I've been thinking about is…if he had to be taken away…it must've been for a reason. Maybe something would have gone wrong with the birth or something like that and fate was sparing him." He told her lovingly, but she could tell he was still sad about the whole thing.

She snuggled into him, wrapping her arms around his midsection. "I never thought of it that way, but it makes sense. I just wish…" she said, unable to continue.

"I know, I know." He answered her thoughts, burying his face in her hair. The door creaked open slowly and three pairs of green eyes peered in. Both Gaara and Sakura looked over towards the door to see their children.

"Mommy. Daddy." They all said in unison.

"Can we come in?" Toshiro asked for the group.

Gaara sat up a bit and gestured them over. The door opened wider and the three rushed to their parent's bed. The twins crawled in beside Gaara and Toshiro snuggled closely to his mother, with Satomi in between Natsumi and Toshiro. "What's going to happen about brother?" Natsumi asked dejectedly.

The older redhead sighed at the thought, "We'll have a funeral back home for him. So we'll probably need to leave as soon as possible."

Sakura brought her son closer to her, sad but happy to be going home. If she had lost another one of her children while they were here she didn't know what she would have done. She didn't want to think about it. "You kids need to get ready. Make sure everything is packed away neatly okay? Your father and I will go speak to Naruto to inform him of our departure." She said tenderly.

"Yes ma'am." They nodded and reluctantly pulled away from their parents. They were gone behind closed doors now, and Gaara forced himself from bed.

"Don't worry I'll take care of it, you can stay and help the kids if you want." He leaned over and kissed her forehead tenderly. He got up then and started to dress in some clean clothes. He wanted to be out of this village as soon as he could.

She got up as well and began to pull on her clothes. "If you don't mind. I don't really want to be away from them right now." She said softly, buckling her skirt.

After he had finished buckling his vest on and securing his shoes, he walked over to her and leaned down, kissing her softly. "I know you don't," he smiled, giving her one more kiss before leaving her alone in the room.

Gaara appeared right outside the Hokage Tower. He wondered if Naruto was even in this early, even though it was nearly ten o'clock. He went in and headed up towards the office and opened the door to see a diligently working Naruto. "Well if this isn't a sight for sore eyes." He laughed, giving his blonde friend a smirk.

Without looking Naruto threw a pen at his friend, who dodged it of course. "Jerk." Naruto muttered. Finishing the scroll in front of him, he put down the pen he had been using and sat back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head.

"I'm glad you came in, it saves me the trouble of looking for you." He said, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

The redhead nodded and sat down in the chair that was situated in front of the desk. "Looking for me? What's wrong?" he asked, folding his hands together and settling them on his reclined stomach.

Naruto became serious then. "Nothing's wrong, but you and Sakura-chan disappeared for the rest of the day before I could tell you the news."

Gaara arched a brow and leaned forward, taking note of the aura around his friend. "What news?"

"I contacted Temari in Suna and told her about what happened. We have arranged a time for a joint funeral this afternoon before sunset. As we hold the funeral here in Konoha, so will another one be held in Suna." Naruto said, sitting up in his chair and lacing his fingers together on the desk.

Gaara slowly sat up, staring at his friend. "You did all of that?" he asked, his voice showing nothing but surprise and awe.

"It was the least I could do for you guys, after everything you'd been through. And I didn't think you and Sakura-chan would be able to handle putting the whole thing together so soon." Naruto said, concern in his voice.

"Yeah…" he trailed off and then stood. Naruto got up as well, keeping an eye on the redhead. "Naruto…thank you," he said quietly, moving around the desk and hugging his friend tightly.

Surprised, Naruto slowly brought his arms up and returned the embrace. "Don't mention it."

After Gaara returned to the hotel they had packed all their belongings except for what they would need to get ready for their departure the next day. When the elder redhead walked out, he was fidgeting with his Kage robes. Sakura looked over from straightening Toshiro's tie and smiled at her husband. "How did you ever manage without me?"

She grabbed onto his robes and smoothed them out, fixing the things she saw fit to fix. "I don't know," he admitted with a small smile.

Both the girls watched their parents, trying to make their black dresses as presentable as their father. Done fixing his robes, Sakura turned to her daughters and inspected their dresses. Once she was sure everything was in order, they left for the funeral.

When they arrived, Sakura looked around. It was the same location that the Third Hokage's funeral had been held at. They walked to the front and stood, waiting for the other villagers to arrive. Shortly after everyone quieted down and Naruto walked up to the podium, dressed in his Kage robes as well.

"Today we are here to honor a life that never got the chance to live." The blonde began solemnly. He took a deep breath and continued.

"Many times in the life of a shinobi, things happen for reasons we don't understand. And maybe we were never meant to. But in my experience, out of every bad thing there comes something good. Whether it happens shortly after the bad thing, or later down the road. You just have to have faith." Naruto paused then, trying to reign in his emotions.

Sakura had begun to cry softly at her friend's words. He may be an idiot most of the time, but when he put his mind to it he was an amazing leader. Gaara placed his hand on her shoulder reassuringly and then looked down at his downcast children. Minako stood by Toshiro, hugging his arm and leaning her head on his shoulder. He seemed at ease from the contact she was giving him, because he leaned his head on hers, letting a few tears slid down his face.

Akito stood in front of his father and next to Natsumi. Seeing what her dad had done to comfort her mom, he placed his hand on her shoulder as well, not really sure if it would help her or not. She blinked and looked over at him, a small smile forming on her sad face. She leaned into his embrace and then looked ahead again as the villagers came forward, placing white lilies on the table beside them.

After the villagers finished, Akito and Minako went forward with their parents and added their lilies to the table, leaving the Sabaku family for last. Once everyone was back in their place Naruto continued.

"As we mourn this loss, so does our friend and ally, Suna. As we speak, they are holding a candlelight funeral at the only source of water the village has." That said, Naruto walked over and placed his lily on the table. "So let us not look at this with a heavy heart, knowing that we lost a child, but with hope, knowing that someday, we will see him again."

The funeral ended then and the villagers dispersed, some giving their regards to the Kazekage and his family. Neji and Tenten came up and bowed with respect to the family. "We're glad you could get the twins back," Tenten smiled at her friends. "And I just want to say thank you Sakura, because just as Naruto said, good things will come." She set her hand on her stomach and smiled.

"Yes," Neji nodded, a small smile forming on his face. "Thank you."

Sakura returned their smiles, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'm just glad I could help."

They both waved goodbye and left just as Lee and Choji came up to pay their respects. "We hope you guys have a safe journey home." Choji nodded, "Tell Ino and Shikamaru I said hello."

Lee simply waved enthusiastically as the larger man dragged him away. Gaara looked over at Sakura and then his exhausted children. "We should probably go and get a good night's sleep. We have a long trip ahead of us."

They waved everyone goodbye and went back to the hotel in silence. It wasn't a bad silence, but it was needed to finally let go.