Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto

Chapter 8

The Kazekage and his Children

Past…

The Hokage was standing in front one of the buildings in the village of Konohagakure. Being the leader of a very prestigious and well-known village, Sarutobi knew that he must stay calm at all times. However, when the thought of his upcoming conference with the Kazekage of the hidden village, he couldn't help but walk back and forth due to his nervousness.

He was already old and through the years, his skills had diminished a lot but he was still considered as the strongest shinobi in the hidden leaf village. Sarutobi felt someone approaching. He didn't have to turn his head to know who that person was because he already knew that it was Itachi.

"I'm glad that you're finally here," Sarutobi said when Itachi approached him. He looked at him and he saw that he was not alone. Behind him were his younger brother, Sasuke and a certain pink-haired girl.

Itachi nodded his head to acknowledge Sarutobi. Sakura and Sasuke also did the same. Sakura looked at Sarutobi and she can see that he didn't look SO old unlike the Sarutobi in the future.s

Sarutobi smiled. "I can see that you brought your brother and your girlfriend. I guess the Uchiha clan's future leader finally found his future wife."

Itachi's face turned red at Sarutobi's comment while Sakura just smiled. She didn't seem to be affected at all.

"Sakura is only a friend," he said, looking down in order to hide his flushed face. Sasuke looked at his brother and he was wondering why his face is all red.

"Aniki, your face is all red. Do you have a fever?" Sasuke asked worriedly, which made him blushed even more. Sarutobi chuckled a bit at Itachi's reaction.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

A few minutes had passed and the one they've all been waiting for finally arrived. The Kazekage was with his two children and he had at least four shinobis with him who served as his bodyguards just in case they encountered S-rank criminals on the way to Konoha village.

The Hokage and Kazekage shook hands as soon as they saw each other.

"I'm glad you finally came," Sarutobi said in a kind and cheerful manner, as if he's befriending someone.

"I am happy that I was able to arrive here on time," the Kazekage replied. He tried to smile even though he really felt tired after the long journey.

"Let's go inside. I bet all of you are really tired from your long journey. We'll just start the meeting later," Sarutobi said as if reading his thoughts. He motioned the Kazekage to go inside the building but before that, the Kazekage whispered something to Sarutobi about the person who would look after his children.

"Yes I didn't forget that. Itachi would you please come here for a moment?"

Itachi who was currently standing beside Sakura, went towards them.

"What is it Hokage-sama?" he asked although he already knew that Sarutobi called him for his mission.

"I just want to introduce you to the Kazekage of hidden sand Village. This is Itachi Uchiha, a member of one of the strongest clans of Konoha. He's the one I assigned to take be with your children while you are on a meeting," Sarutobi explained.

The Kazekage smiled at him.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Itachi."

Itachi bowed his head a bit to show respect.

"Temari, Gaara come here."

The two children heard him and they immediately went beside their father.

"Itachi, this is my second child, Temari," the Kazekage said, pointing to a little, eight years old girl with her blonde hair tied in two. The little girl smiled at Itachi and he smiled back.

"And this is Gaara, my youngest son," the Kazekage said, this time pointing to a boy with red hair. The little boy is looking blankly at him. Itachi guessed that the little boy is the same age as Sasuke.

"Temari, Gaara I will be going to an important meeting. I want the two of you to stay with Itachi. He will be the one to look after the two of you while I'm away," the Kazekage said to his children who both nodded their heads obediently.

After saying those words, the Kazekage, together with his bodyguards (who are ninjas from hidden sand village) followed the Hokage towards the building where the signing of peace treaty will take place.

Present…

Upon seeing Shizune unconscious, Tsunade immediately ran to her side, followed by Kakashi and Naruto.

"Shizune, wake up," Tsunade said worriedly as she bent down and laid Shizune's head on her lap.

Sasuke just looked at them blankly. He was too shocked to even move or speak. He looked at the empty hospital bed where Sakura was supposed to be sleeping.

And for an unknown reason, he felt empty.

Past…

Sakura looked at the two children in front her and she couldn't help but smile because she thought that they were both cute especially Gaara. She tried to suppress the urge to hug him but did not succeed.

"Gaara-kun you're so kawaii" Sakura exclaimed, hugging him as if he is s stuff toy. Temari giggled when she saw her brother's reaction. He looked shocked.

"Where do you want to go?" Itachi asked Temari. She looked up and she saw him smiling at her.

"I want to go to the park and buy ice cream but I forgot to bring my money," Temari said sadly while looking at him.

"Don't worry. I'll treat you to an ice cream," Itachi said as he held Temari's small hand. His family was wealthy so money was not a problem.

Temari squealed in excitement then suddenly, she remembered her younger brother.

"Will my brother also get an ice cream?" Temari asked him.

"Of course," Itachi told her and once again he looked at Gaara who was still being hugged by Sakura and he noticed that he didn't speak even a single word since they arrived. He wondered if he really had a demon sealed within him because he looked harmless.

Sakura finally let go of Gaara when she saw that he needed some air.

Temari held his brother's hands while her other hand held Itachi's. "Let's go."

Sasuke saw what happened and he felt jealous because Sakura and his brother were paying too much attention to other children other than him.

Itachi looked at Sakura and before he could say something, she already beat him to it.

"Don't worry. You can go ahead. Me and Sasuke will follow you," Sakura said, as if reading his thoughts.

Itachi nodded his head and together with Gaara and Temari, he started walking towards the ice cream shop with Sasuke and Sakura behind him.

Sasuke walked fast in order to catch up with Sakura.

"onee-chan, does aniki hate me?" Sasuke asked her. Itachi was far from them so he couldn't hear their conversation.

"Of course not. What makes you think that he hates you?"

"Because he's not paying attention to me anymore," Sasuke said sadly.

"Itachi is doing that because it is a part of his mission," Sakura explained.

He finally understood her so he kept quiet.

Sakura looked at Sasuke and she felt really sorry for him. Now she understood why the older Sasuke hated Itachi so much that he would do anything just to kill him.

It always hurt when someone betrayed us but that pain was nothing compared to the pain we felt when the one who betrayed us was the person we love.

Sasuke trusted and loved his old brother but he took away everything from him by killing their parents and all the members of the Uchiha clan.

Sakura hated Itachi for making Sasuke's life miserable but at the same time, she also wanted to thank Itachi.

She wanted to thank him because he didn't kill Sasuke. If he did, she wouldn't have met him.

And right now, there was something she wanted to know. She wanted to know what Itachi felt when he killed his own parents.

Her thoughts were cut off when she felt Sasuke holding her right hand.

Present…

Shizune slowly opened her eyes. Tsunade was relieved when she was all right.

"Shizune, where's Sakura?" Tsunade asked.

Shizune saw Tsunade, Kakashi and Naruto looking at her worriedly and she laughed.

Naruto was annoyed.

"This is not the best time to laugh. Sakura-chan's in trouble!" Naruto shouted.

"Shut up dobe," Sasuke said as he went towards them.

Naruto stood up and he grabbed Sasuke by the collar of his shirt.

"How can I stay calm when I know that Sakura is with Orochimaru? She might get killed!" Naruto said angrily.

"Sakura is alright. You don't have to worry," Sasuke told him.

"What! How did you know?" Naruto asked him.

"Isn't it obvious? Shizune is laughing because she just pulled a prank on us," Sasuke said coolly.

Naruto was confused. He glanced at his sensei and he realized that he looked calm.

"Sasuke is right. Nothing bad happened to Sakura," Kakashi said.

"But how come Sakura-chan's not here?"

"Because she was transferred to another room and 'Hinata' is there to look after her," Shizune said, giving emphasis to Hinata's name because she knew that Naruto likes her.

As soon as Naruto heard Hinata's name, his mood changed.

"Shizune-san, where is Sakura-chan's new room?" Naruto asked her.

"I'll just accompany you so that you would not get lost," Shizune said as she stood up and went to the door. She wanted to get out of the room because she saw Sasuke glaring at her. It was quite obvious that he was not happy about what she did. However, she couldn't help but smile. For her, there was only one word that best described Sasuke's reaction:

Priceless

Past…

Itachi and the others finally reached the park where there was an ice cream stall.

"Temari, what ice-cream flavor do you want?" Itachi asked her.

"I want a chocolate flavor."

"Eh, how about you, Gaara?"

"I also want chocolate flavor," Gaara answered. That's the first time he talked ever since they came.

At first, Gaara didn't really trust Itachi but when he saw that he was kind to his sister, he finally gave in and decided to talk to him.

Itachi bought two chocolate ice creams in cones. He handed it to Gaara and Temari and they both accepted.

That was the time when Sakura and his younger brother finally arrived at the place. They both went towards them.

"What ice-cream flavor do both of you want?" Itachi asked them. He noticed that Sasuke seemed distant to him today.

"I'll just have the same flavor of ice cream that onee-chan wants," Sasuke said, avoiding eye contact with his brother.

Itachi looked at Sakura and asked her what ice-cream flavor she wanted.

Sakura reached for her pocket in order to get money to buy ice cream but Itachi stopped her by holding her hand that she was supposed to use in searching for the money.

"I'll be the one to pay for it. Just tell me what ice-cream flavor you want."

The ice-cream vendor smiled when he saw Itachi holding Sakura's hand.

"Your husband is really sweet," the vendor said as if teasing them.

They both blushed when they heard his comment and they were too shocked to speak.

The vendor continued to speak. He really thought that they were couples. He looked at the three children with them.

"So the first-born child is a girl and the middle child is that little red-haired boy," the vendor said as he looked at the two siblings.

"And the youngest looks a lot like his father" he said, obviously referring to Sasuke

"Of course he looks like me because he's my brother," Itachi said coolly.

"Sorry my mistake. So you only have two children but the two of you look too young to be parents. Maybe both of you eloped," the vendor concluded.

"Yes. Our parents didn't approved our relationship so we eloped," Itachi told him.

Sakura was surprised by what he said then he whispered something to him.

'Just play along,' he said in her ear. He was so close that she could feel his warm breath in her skin.

Itachi wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and she couldn't help but blush.

"Now can you give us two strawberry-flavored ice cream? My wife and my brother are waiting."

The vendor was about to give them the ice cream when they noticed that something was wrong. They looked behind them and all that Sakura and Itachi saw were Sasuke and Temari.

Gaara was gone.