Author's Note: Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the characters or world of Naruto they are the property of Masashi Kishimoto, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be is for entertainment purposes only.

Warning: Major Character Death

Prompt: Day Two: [theme: home] Konoha / home / a place you can never go back to

Sakura kept a close eye on the village through the rear view mirror as it grew tinier and fainter with every growing mile. No matter how far she traveled, Konohagakure would always be home to her. Her whole world existed in Konohagakure. It was here that she had been born and raised. She had adored growing up there. She loved the schools and her teachers. She had made so many good friends, most of who still lived in their tiny home town. Her heart yearned for the fond memories that could be found on every street corner.

It was breaking her heart to leave. Konohagakure was home, but it was a home she could never return to. It had been the location of so many important events in her life, including where she had met the father of her unborn child. As a young woman, Uchiha Madara had come into her life like an avalanche and now, years later, he had left her like a whisper.

The memories of their first summer were forever branded onto her heart. She had just finished her degree and returned home. Excited and ready to start her career, she had spent every evening going through potential job offers and dreaming of a new beginning in some far off place. She was young, unattached, and free. With the world as her oyster, she was ready to drown in pearls.

The only barrier that had slowed Sakura down and kept her from immediately taking flight after graduation was her parents. Truthfully, Sakura's parents had been so proud of her and would have supported her through any decision she had made. All the same, they were still her parents and they couldn't help but feel a little bittersweet at seeing their little girl spread her wings and leave the nest. The ache in her parents' chest had led them to ask Sakura for one simple request.

Just one last summer, Sakura. Please.

Her beautiful, wonderful parents who had raised her and supported her all through college wanted just one last summer with their little girl. They wanted just a little more time together as a family in Konohagakure before she spread her wings and flew off to horizons unknown. Sakura couldn't see any reason to say no, so she didn't. She agreed to give them one last summer before she accepted one of the job offers in one of the big cities that were so far from home. She'd eat her mom's bad cooking, listen to her dad's dumb jokes, and breathe it all in one more time.

That familiar breathe of summer had started off being like so many of her summers that had come before. She did chores around the house by day and saw all her friends at night. Her last summer had originally only managed to differentiate itself in the small changes in life's little moments. That summer she found that as she helped her parents, she now saw their gratefulness reflected in their aging bodies. Her father's casual slouch now came more from age then from laziness and her mother's smile left more wrinkles around her eyes then it used too. Those little moments taught Sakura to treasure her home because she was quickly learning that she wasn't the only one who was getting older. The knowledge was bittersweet in her heart.

The nights she spent surrounded with her childhood friends did nothing to ease her heartache. She still loved them and enjoyed their company, but they just didn't seem like enough anymore. There was something in her heart that felt like it was missing. Yet, no matter how often she pondered about it she couldn't put her finger on what her life seemed to be lacking.

She spent the first few weeks of summer questioning this feeling in her heart until the night where Uchiha Madara walked into her life.

There had been nothing remarkable about that night. Everyone from her year in high school had all gathered together at Sasuke's house just like they had so many times before. The boys were competing over this game and that game. Naruto had let Kiba bait him into another argument until they were causing a raucous that had the whole room's attention. Sakura had felt lost in the crowd as everyone jeered back and forth about whatever the boys had been talking about.

Nothing about this argument had been new or different from any of the arguments before, it had a comfortable, monotonous feeling of routine to it. It was the monotony of this old charade that had left Sakura feeling restless and caused her to quietly withdraw from the living room and head to the kitchen. She had just finished getting a glass of water when Sasuke's father and uncle had entered the room. The entrance had triggered a feeling like lightening down her spine. She had met Fugaku many times over the years and was very comfortable in the stern man's presence.

It was the sight of the uncle that turned her into a lightning rod. Madara Uchiha was a man that she had heard about only in passing before. The perpetual bachelor of the family, he was several years younger than his older brother but still a good deal older than his nephews. Over the years, his constant work in the business sector had left him constantly travelling and far away from Konohagakure more often than not. Truthfully, in all the years Sakura had known the Uchiha family, she had never met Madara.

Years later, she was still trying to figure out if that was a blessing or a curse.

From the moment that Fugaku introduced them, Sakura had felt a pull towards Madara. There was something different about him and she had an overpowering need to sate her curiosity about this stranger. The look Madara gave her let her know the feeling was mutual. It was several weeks later when their bodies were molded together in a small, dark closet somewhere in the Uchiha manor that Madara paused to remark on how he still didn't understand how Fugaku had remained oblivious to their instant attraction in that moment.

Over the course of that summer, Sakura quickly found herself pulled into a whirlwind romance. Sultry trysts in closets grew into romantic midnight dinners by candle light. There was just something that was right and perfect about their relationship even though every fact and argument seemed to be against them. Madara supported her drive and ambition while she enjoyed his traditional mannerisms and tastes. It wasn't long before a silent agreement grew between them.

They didn't need the world's approval for their relationship. They could both spend their days fulfilling their every dream and desire as individuals and at night they could return to one another for a brief respite before the dawn. They knew they could love each other passionately within the privacy of their homes and they proceeded to happily do so for many years with no one the wiser.

But now their happiness had come to an end. The December to her May had suffered a silent heart attack during one of their rare nights apart and died in his sleep. She had been distraught at losing him and forced to grieve in isolation from the world around her that knew nothing of her past romance. She didn't regret loving Madara, Sakura didn't think she could ever truly regret anything involving Madara. For this very reason, she knew she wouldn't regret this last effort she was taking to hold on to a piece of her love.

He had been a through lover, both in the bed and out of it. He had gifted her plenty of things over the years and had quietly left her several assets in his will to make sure she would be well taken care of when he was no longer there to do so himself. There had been one "asset" that she had been fully aware of long before his passing. It was the only matter that had ever caused them to consider taking their relationship public.

The possibility of having a child together.

At the time of their discussion, they had decided against it. They were happy with just the two of them and a child would be loved, but wasn't really necessary. In hindsight, Sakura was very grateful for Madara's forethought. Her darling was a proud man, but he was also very practical. He knew that if they later changed their minds and decided to have a child that it would likely be too late for him. He was not getting younger and he wanted to make sure that if Sakura ever wanted a child, he would be able to provide it for her. Together they had looked through the relevant medical literature and found a bank that could keep the "necessary material" frozen and saved for a rainy day.

Sakura had never thought that she would have to face that day on her own. Children don't magically appear and she'd have to say something to everyone around her if she just suddenly became pregnant in her forties after years of being single. There was no way her loved ones would take the news of her hidden May-December romance well. They wouldn't have supported it when Madara was alive; they certainly weren't going to support it now.

Their lack of support didn't change the fact that Sakura finally found the time to be right for her to become a mother. She wanted a child and she wanted it to be one from the man she loved. More importantly to her, she wanted to tell her future son or daughter about their father without secrecy. She was not going to tell some elaborate lie about sperm banks or donors to anyone. She had never been ashamed of loving Madara.

In the past, it simply would have taken more work to share their relationship then it did to hide it. Now the tables had turned and Sakura found that coming forward about her love life just wasn't an option anymore. She could handle the backlash, but that did not mean she would subject her child to it. This baby was a special link to her lost love and she was going to treasure and raise their child with all of her heart and soul, even if it meant she could never return home.

Author's Note:

Thank You!