"Sano, is... a friend. I met her during one of my missions. I, uh, haven't seen her in a while. I promised that I'd bring her home with me... once things settled down." He admits slowly.
"And she's not here because...?" Asks Naruto. Waiting for an answer.
Sasuke folds his hands in his lap. "I figured that after waiting for so long, she's probably forgotten about me and has moved on." He says somewhat dejectedly.
It takes all of two seconds for Naruto to punch her old team-mate in the face. "That's bull." She tells him, standing over him intimidatingly. She grabs his shirt collar at the front and drags him close to her face.
"You are an idiot. Go find that girl, and bring her home. You made a promise, and so help me you will keep it!" She orders, leaving no room for argument.
Sasuke gulps and nods his head, unwilling to admit that he's at all frightened by his sister-in-law.
Naruto releases him, and Sasuke makes a hasty exit.
Itachi wraps his arms around his fuming wife. "I don't suppose it would be alright to give him breakfast to go?" He asks.
Naruto quickly calms in her husbands hold. "If you want to." She says dismissively.
Itachi smiles, and grabs a plate.
It takes a week for Sasuke to return, with a cute brunette in tow. Itachi and Naruto are pleasantly surprised to meet the girl. She's quiet but thoughtful in a way that calms Sasuke, and makes him seem less tense.
It turned out that Sasuke met her on a mission, and then continued to meet her whenever he was in or round the area she had lived in. They had known each other since about two years before Sasuke left to find Orochimaru.
It only took them a week to settle in together with Sano's family giving their blessing. Eight months later, they were married. A month after that, they discovered that they were expecting their first child.
The time flew by for both Itachi and Naruto while taking care of the twins. They would occasionally take up a mission, trading who went and always making sure that one of them was home with their rapidly growing children.
Which has brought them to where they are now, in a local park having a picnic. Eventually the twins become restless because they're bored of sitting on the blanket, so Naruto takes them to a section of the park set up specifically for younger children.
Itachi, Sasuke, and Sano watch from the blanket as she plays with the children who giggle happily while they slide down the blue plastic slide.
Sano, who is now nearly seven months pregnant smiles and takes Sasuke's hand in her own. Both of them are excited for the birth of their first child. Sasuke, much to his own relief and joy, is no longer worried about the continuation of his clan. He is content and happy with the family he has, and is excited to see the product of their shared love.
Storm clouds are still visible in the blue sky, but a double rainbow lightly shines through the haze. Naruto smiles and points at it. Everyone looks at where her finger points. "That's gotta be a good sign somewhere." Says Naruto, looking at the other adults.
Then the first raindrop falls. She laughs. "Then again, prehaps not."
Itachi and Sasuke both roll their eyes. "Why don't the four of you head home, and we'll pick up the stuff and meet catch up with you. I should stop at the market on the way back, anyway." Offers Sasuke.
Naruto shrugs. "Sure, we can do that. Right Sano-chan?"
Sano loops her arm through Naruto's. "Of course." She agrees. The two of them had become fast friends, much to Sasuke's relief. Naruto has always been family. It ment a lot more than he ever admitted to her that she would accept the woman he loves.
The women head home still linked at the arms like old friends, rather than only a year of knowing one another. They each hold one of the twins' hands. Sasuke and Itachi watch for a moment.
"It's rather beautiful, isn't it?" Asks Itachi quietly. Sasuke nods his head. Their hope, their dreams, their love lays with the four (and a half, including the unborn child) people before them.
They gather the supplies in no real hurry and pack them back into the baskets that they used to carry the food on the way to the park.
They walk silently through the streets, nearly vacant because of the incoming storm. Sasuke and Itachi quickly buy what they need, and head home at a slightly faster pace as they see the first raindrops fall in the distance.
The air suddenly feels too heavy. Like a great weight weighs the both of them down. Fear, like a spark that turns into a wildfire, seeps into them through their links. Something's wrong. They share a brief look, confirming that it was a mutual experience.
They run. Fast, faster, faster still! What's wrong? What's happening? Sasuke remembers when Itachi first felt Naruto's fear on the day of the fire. Is this how he felt? As if his heart had been paralyzed?
They quickly make their way to the main house. Itachi's house, and run inside, kunai drawn. They both toss the baskets and groceries down. They land without making a sound. The house, though never totally clean, is a wreck. Even a gennin would know that a fight had occurred here.
Sasuke's gut clenches. Naruto would have been the only trained ninja in the house, and he can't feel her chakra. He can feel Sano close by, and easily pinpoints her position. "The secret room." He says, knowing that Itachi will remember the room Naruto had insisted being built into the house.
Itachi flys up the stairs as if possessed by a demon. It's rather amazing for a blind man. Sasuke follows. They run into the library at top speed. Itachi doesn't waste any time in biting his thumb and swiping the blood across the seal keeping a heavy bookshelf in place. The bookshelf easily and immediately swings open to reveal the hidden room.
Sasuke's breath catches in his throat. Sano is crouched in front of the only bed in the room holding a kunai in an amateur grip, ready to protect the twins as they sleep peacefully behind her. When she sees Itachi and Sasuke she lets out a strangles sob. Sasuke rushes past Itachi, and gathers her into a hug, and tugging the kunai out of her tight grip.
"N-Naruto-chan! You have to find her! She made me come up here! She was fighting! She told me to bring the twins. Please!" She begs Sasuke, worried about her friend.
Itachi stiffens, and sends out waves of his chakra. Sasuke can see how the large amount of chakra weakens his body, but he doesn't say anything. He's ready to move as soon as Itachi gives a direction. He knows Itachi will keep an eye on his distressed wife.
Itachi suddenly stiffens. "I don't understand." He murmurs. "We were only gone for ten minutes at the most, but I don't feel her chakra anywhere."
Sasuke gently removes himself from his wife. "I'll go look and send a report to Tsunade." He says, knowing the look of shock in his brothers eyes. "Sano, keep an eye on him. have him stay here. Make sure he realizes the children are alright." He tells her lowly, hating to leave in this type of situation.
Sano, Kami bless her, nods. She takes Itachi's hand and leads him to the bed despite her own fear. Sasuke leaves through the window, not wanting to have to go through the wrecked house again.
He runs to the hokage's office at top speed, and quickly reports the situation. Then he leaves, knowing that the others will be deployed with haste.
He searches outside the village, using his sharingan to try and detect any trace of movement that could possibly be her. With the bright orange, it should have been an easy task. But Naruto has always been rather good at hiding herself when she didn't want to be detected.
The rain starts to fall quickly and heavily. The morning light is hidden behind ominous clouds. Neji offers to take his place, and Sasuke accepts. He hasn't slept all night, and he is exhausted.
The trip home is oppressing. There is no good news. All of Konoha's best are looking for Naruto, but there is nothing to go off of. No scent has been left behind, nor even the faintest trace of chakra. Nothing was even found in the house. It should be impossible to be missing, but it is. The situation seems helpless, and Sasuke has to be the one to deliver the news.
He opens the door, and enters the house. He hears the soft hum of conversation, and makes his way to the twins' playroom. They sit quietly and watch a movie put in by one of the adults. Sano sleeps quietly in a rocking chair, while Itachi stares unseeingly at the television screen. He has never seemed truly lost in his blindness until now.
Itachi turns his head and looks at Sasuke. Suddenly Sasuke doesn't know how to tell his brother that his wife hasn't been found. How can he tell them that even their hokage has lost hope in finding her.
Itachi turns his head away, and Sasuke knows that his brother already suspects the truth. He places his hand on Itachi's shoulder. "It's late. You should go to bed." He says softly. Itachi looks at him. His eyes are blank, scaring Sasuke immensely. Itachi is supposed to be the strong one. He doesn't know what to say.
"The twins should be put in bed." He coaxes the older man, hoping to get a response from Itachi. To his relief, it works. A little bit of light makes its way back into Itachi's gaze. He takes Sousuke in one arm, and Akira in the other, and then silently takes them into their rooms and tucks them into their beds.
Sasuke turns off the tv, and gently shakes Sano awake. "Wha?" She asks with a yawn.
"We should be heading home." Says Sasuke quietly, half afraid to leave Itachi alone. He knows his brother would never do anything as irreversible as suicide. They both know that the twins need him. He pulls Sano gently out of the chair, and helps her as she stumbles along tiredly behind him.
Itachi sits quietly in the hall on the floor, directly between the twins' rooms.
"We'll be back tomorrow for breakfast." Says Sasuke.
Itachi doesn't say a word. Sano quietly walks into Itachi and Naruto's bedroom and grabs a pillow and a blanket from the bed before she places them around the eldest Uchiha. He won't be sleeping in his bed tonight, if he sleeps at all.
They make their way out of the house and to their own. The depressed silence weighs heavily on their hearts and minds. They go into their own house and crawl into their own bed, not bothering to turn on any lights on the way.
"What's going to happen now?" Asks Sano quietly. Sasuke doesn't know how to answer her. He doesn't know the answer for himself. Instead of trying, he gently circles his arms around her and holds her as hot tears start to soak into his shirt.
"We will move on. We won't ever stop looking, but we will move on like she would have wanted us to do."
=D =D =D =/ =D =D =D
Busy, busy, busy. That's my excuse... well mostly anyway. I've had a bunch of time, but no inspiration to actually put words onto a blank page. It's hard!
Stay tuned for the next chapter, though it will be super, extremely short and probably somewhat depressing... Get your tissues ready, folks!
Oh, and the next two chapters (Because the next one is so short) will be releases together. TTFN, all you Tigger fans!