On the outside of the cottage Sasuke Uchiha closed his eyes. He crouched against the wall, listening carefully and feeling more paralyzed with every word.

He had left the cottage largely to get away from Sakura. There was really no purpose to checking the water traps so soon after pulling up the morning's catch. There wouldn't be any fish in them after being disturbed so recently. But when he got to the water's edge he could hear her voice from the night before ringing in his ears, accusing him of running away.

She only knew that he had changed. She didn't know why. And there was no way she could guess how much it would pain him to explain. But then she had told him about Naruto. His old foolish teammate was starting a family. He had Sakura's respect. He was the goddamn Hokage. Everything went to Naruto. And Sasuke berated himself for pretending to be angry about this. He wasn't. By the time he and Naruto had fought for the last time, Sasuke had more than recognized his growth. He saw that Naruto had gained considerable wisdom. Perhaps more than himself.

Sasuke had intended to return to the cottage to tell Sakura that he was glad of their growth, how the two of them had changed since the war. He had even determined that he would tell her, no matter how hard it was, about the family he had caused to die for his pride.

But at the cottage he had immediately detected a second chakra note. The genjutsu was still active so Sakura would have had to invite the second person. When he got closer (and hid his chakra) he realized it was not a human.

Once against the wall he heard Sakura trying to explain the changes in his character to Tsunade's slug summons. He realized he had left her a loophole to exploit in contacting Tsunade instead of her team in the field. But then she was talking about her feelings for him. About wanting to kiss as well as to punch...and Sasuke couldn't help but imagine both. He had to wonder why he had argued so viciously with her. Years ago she was never worth the bother. But now a few words one way made him irate and some the other way made him desperate for isolation.

And then she was crying. Sasuke couldn't move. He couldn't think. For a moment there was just a flood of memories - Sakura crying over him, thinking he was dead, Sakura taking his hand and Naruto's and marching into the chunin exam, Sakura holding him in the Forest of Death, calming him down from the maddening rush of power of the curse mark, Sakura feeding him an apple in the hospital, Sakura begging him to keep her at his side as he sought revenge, Sakura staring up at him in the remains of one of Orochimaru's lairs, Sakura trying to strike him down on a bridge but without the necessary killing intent for the task.

And then she declared her loyalty to Naruto. Naruto. Always Naruto.

But they were talking again. "Katsuya?"

"Yes, Sakura-san?"

"Do you know if Naruto sent word about this to Kakashi?"

The slug seemed to hesitate. Finally she spoke as if picking her words carefully. "I do not know what communication they have had. I believe Kakashi-san knows your absence is due to a ...fluid... situation. But, Sakura-san, it is Lord Hokage who wishes to be in contact with you most. Here."

Sasuke moved as softly as he could to a spot where there was a hole between two slats of wood. He could see Sakura had put on the kimono he handed her earlier. She was holding something that could have been a weapon. She handled it like a kunai.

Sakura gave a short laugh. "Hah this overkill. That Naruto. Diplomacy, my ass. He just wants to be at the center of everything."

"Lady Tsunade said that the Lord Hokage feels you will know when to use it."

"Sure, I think so. Please let them know I'm grateful."

"Of course, Sakura-san."

"Thank you again, Katsuya, for healing me and for contacting Lady Tsunade. You've been wonderful."

"Oh that's all right, Sakura-san. It is my pleasure. Good bye, then."

"Good bye, Katsuya."

There was a burst of smoke and the slug was gone. Sakura moved in her seat and Sasuke could see she was eating rice from a bowl. He had to admit he was hungry himself.

Sasuke remained in his crouched position weighing his next steps. He wanted carry on with his initial plans, but they seemed fraught now. Another shouting match with Sakura seemed abhorrent; he didn't have the energy for it and now that she mentioned kissing... But what if he told her his experiences and she cried? Sasuke thought he might prefer she hit him.

After a few minutes he stood up. He made up his mind. He headed to the door and stepped inside the cottage.

Sakura looked up from her bowl. Nothing seemed different or disturbed.

"No fish?"

For a second Sasuke had no idea what Sakura was talking about. Then he remembered. He picked up a bowl for his own breakfast. "No, it's getting too late in the morning."

He served himself and sat on the floor cross-legged. "You look better."

"Mh. I guess. I healed more of the damage so I should be just fine with at least another day of rest."

A lie, Sasuke thought. But digging at it would mean digging at the conversation he had overheard. "Another day?"

"Yes, it'll be several days before I have all my chakra back but at least with another night of sleep I should get enough back to be fine on my own. Right now I can't move very quickly or easily. I don't suppose you have anything like crutches?"

"Hn. No." He frowned as he ate. He wanted to be on his way. He was already packed but he couldn't leave Sakura. It hadn't even been 24 hours since the Iwa shinobi had first ambushed him, but he felt as though at any minute they might descend on his cottage.

"I'm sorry to be inconvenient. You really don't have to stay, Sasuke." Sakura sounded like she was going to say more but decided against it.

Sasuke thought there was something odd in her tone, like she was telling a lie. Like she didn't mean what she said. "Hn."

Sakura scratched her head and adjusted the kimono over her shoulders. It was too large for her but she had folded it just so, letting the sash close it tight. "I was considering going to the river to try to clean myself. Before the fight I was in the field for two days, so it's been three days without a bath."

Sasuke looked more closely at Sakura. There was grit on her hands and smears of dirt on her face. There was dried blood in her hair.

She coughed. "You don't have to stare, I know I'm a mess."

"No." He paused and Sakura looked at him sharply. He'd had an idea. "Not the river. You can bathe at the hot springs."

Sakura's eyes lit up. "There is a bathhouse near here?"

Sasuke wanted to clear his throat. Not exactly. "There are springs in the forest, no one lives there. Takes an hour to walk there."

Sakura looked confused for a moment. "Springs? Oh, you mean there are pools open to the air out in the forest? Oh... um..." Sakura blushed and stared into her bowl.

"You don't want to go?"

"Well, it's just..I mean...in the open..."

"I go there every other day."

Sakura shot a look at him, shock plain in her eyes. Sasuke suddenly wanted to see her blush a bit more.

"People from the village don't go there very often since there are cheap baths in the village. I think I'll go today." He paused, feeling amused at the stricken look on Sakura's face. "Bathing out in nature is supposed to be good for you, isn't it? But if you would rather stay here..."

Sasuke finally had to chuckle. Sakura's face was turning red as a hand gripped her kimono shut. She was clearly torn between wanting a bath and possibly leaving herself exposed. Hm, well she was the one who sat around in a bra, he thought. It wasn't like he didn't know what a naked woman looked like.

"There are several pools. Visitors over the years have put up stone walls between them so you'll be in one and I'll be in another. I'm not a pervert like Naruto so you don't have to worry about that."

Sakura's face had an interesting parade of emotions flow over it, from embarrassment to irritation. "I...I... you were just teasing me! You made it sound like everyone bathed together!"

"I didn't say anything, you just assumed that." Sasuke paused and then decided to dig in further. He found he was enjoying how Sakura's eyes seemed to spark. "Maybe you're the one who secretly wants to peek at the men's baths?"

"Whaa-at? NO! Don't be ridiculous!" Sakura folded her arms over her chest with a harumph.

"Hn." Sasuke finished his food while Sakura fidgeted in the over-sized kimono.

"I never would have thought..." Sakura sat on her ankles and looked around the cottage like she still couldn't understand what she was seeing.

"What is it?"

Sakura shook her head. "I don't really know. I guess, how much you've changed. You help people - you help me - you cook and catch your food and..." She gave a small laugh. "You tease. Who are you and what have you done with the real Sasuke Uchiha?"

Sasuke had meant to tell her. He was going to eat and then while he cleaned he would explain his life ever since the war. But the idea of bathing had changed that plan and he had been thinking of telling her along the way. But... Perhaps that could wait until later.

He pulled out a pole that he used to arrange the thatch on the roof. He handed it to Sakura to use as a walking stick. "I still have a temper. I still hate being told what to do." He reminded her.

"Heh, yeah." She took the pole and held it, as if checking its balance.

Sasuke got up and cleaned the remains of breakfast. He pulled out thick cloths that served as towels and handed one to Sakura. Then he picked out a change of clothing for himself and picked up a bar of soap. Sakura assembled a pack of bandages and wrapped them in the makeshift towel.

"You've changed too." He remarked. "A lot."

"Yeah?"

Sasuke had a feeling she knew but he told her what he saw anyway. "You're calmer and more determined." Somehow Sasuke found he was grinning. "You don't let me get away with my bullshit anymore."

Sakura snickered. "Back in Konoha the chunin and some of the jonin call me Bitch Queen." She looked at him with a smirk. "I don't let anyone get away with any bullshit."

Sasuke was a little taken aback. The old Sakura would have run away to hide, or cried in shame at such a name. Wouldn't she? "B-... really?"

Sakura shrugged and got to her feet, pushing off the pole. "I call myself that too, just to let them know I don't care what names they use as long as they get their shit together. You would be surprised how many shinobi can end up being lazy just because their Hokage sometimes acts like a knucklehead."

Sasuke laughed. "Well that hasn't changed."

Sakura smiled. "I don't think it ever could. No matter how much I yell at him."

They stood in the little cottage looking at each other, half smiles on their faces at the memory of a foolish blond genin with entirely too much energy.

"Shall we?"

"Lead the way."

Sasuke stepped out in front of Sakura and held the door open for her. She smiled to him as she walked by. The sense that Sakura was an adult slammed into him again.

"By the way," she said to him over her shoulder. "Naruto got some of that perverted crap under control." She giggled. "Two years ago he tried one of his stunts to sneak into the women's showers. I was absolutely going to clobber him but Hinata was closer. Let me tell you, never ever startle a Hyuuga. She not only sent him through a wall, she nearly disabled his entire chakra network!"

Sasuke caught up with Sakura. They set off at a slow pace, with Sakura leaning on pole. "And that cured Naruto of his bad habits?"

"No, not really. But he stopped trying to sneak peeks all the time. I think Hinata might have said something to him while he was in the hospital that let him know she didn't appreciate it. Or maybe once they were having sex he was finally satisfied."

Sasuke couldn't help choking slightly at Sakura's matter of fact tone. His eyes went wide and it took a moment to register that Sakura was giggling at him. "Hmph. I don't see why I needed to know that."

Sakura laughed all the louder. "I got you!" She sang out.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, but he knew there would be color on his cheeks. He supposed he deserved it. Although he very much did not want the visual in his head.

Sakura's giggles finally calmed down. "When he became Hokage he realized he would be followed by ANBU everywhere and turned running away from them into a game. He would lose them and then he would go visiting. The ANBU always assumed the worst - that Naruto was kidnapped or unconscious or somehow in trouble. When they tracked him down they would jump in, kunai out." Sakura sounded exhasperated.

"He thought it was hilarious when he would be at a restaurant with Choji and Rock Lee and ANBU ninja would leap through the windows and scare everyone half to death. But after a week the restaurant owners and merchants whose stalls got trashed by ANBU sent their repair bills to Naruto. Then he started to get that it wasn't very funny."

"I take it he still finds other ways to..." Sasuke was going to say 'annoy people' but he changed his mind. "To keep things lively."

"Oh yeah, definitely." She chuckled. "I had to hold him down and Tsunade stood over him, making a fist, so he wouldn't make funny faces while the stone mason sketched his face for Hokage Mountain. A few months ago he snuck into Kakashi's apartment and switched out his Icha Icha books for books with the Icha Icha covers but blank pages. Kakashi was almost in tears trying to figure out where his copies - signed by Lord Jiraya - went!"

A few chuckles got away from Sasuke before he got hold of himself.

"Oh yeah! And last summer there was this noble lady who was staying in Konoha because of threats to her life. But we were having a heatwave the whole time. It wasn't bad enough that it was hot, but she just wouldn't stop complaining. Finally she tried to order Naruto to make it rain. 'Rain?' he said. 'You know, wet stuff...falls out of the sky!' she answered."

Sakura grinned. "We all knew what was gonna happen next. We barely had time to dive for cover when Naruto summoned a few hundred little toads to rain down on us. Damn, that lady screamed super loud." Sakura gave an evil little giggle. "And then she passed out."

"Hn." For someone who claimed to think pranks were stupid, Sakura certainly seemed to enjoy it when other people were the butt of Naruto's practical jokes.

"Naruto and Hinata got married almost two years ago." Sakura mused. "She's been great for him. He's calmed down so much, it's almost creepy. And I think Hinata got a little more bold when she started going out with him."

Sasuke glanced at Sakura. He wondered if she knew how she was grinning like she knew a private joke. Then she looked at him and Sasuke almost looked away.

"Do you ever... um.. Well, I guess it's kinda personal. I hope you don't mind. I mean, especially if you leave tomorrow..."

"What is it?"

"Well, do you ever think about that kind of thing? About kids and marriage and that kind of thing?"

Sasuke was dumbstruck. In a manner of speaking... His tongue felt stuck in his mouth. He looked away from Sakura and cleared his throat.

"Right...never mind. I mean, what's the point if you're just going to wander around all the time?" Sakura gave an uncomfortable laugh. "Sorry to pry... I guess, I just think about it more now. Hinanta's starting to get big and she's so excited. And when I go have dinner with them Naruto has a million questions - as if I know anything about raising babies!"

Sasuke was desperate to change the subject. "You seem to spend a lot of time at Naruto's side."

"Yeah, I guess. There's still a lot of people who don't want to back Naruto. A lot of them are just old farts who are stuck in their ways. But they can make a lot of trouble for him if they get the younger shinobi on their side. So I try to make sure people don't even think about it." Sakura grinned at him. "Are you starting to get why I'm the Bitch Queen of Konoha?"

"Hn. I'm more interested in how you became jonin."

Sasuke was sure he saw Sakura's grin falter. But she looked away quickly when a bird called. "Huh. Well... I guess I just kept going up the ladder, you know? I made chunin a month after my 14th birthday. It's really tricky to advance to jonin, of course. You have to get a bunch of recommendations." Sakura pressed her lips together and her eyes looked thoughtful. "I got several during and right after the war, but they were mostly for medical work. Lady Tsunade wanted to see what else I could do. When- I... Um. Well, I was 20 when I finally got the last recommendations to convince her."

Sakura lapsed into silence. Sasuke wondered what it was she was trying to avoid talking about. She had been so eager to detail Naruto's career, and particularly his extracurricular activities, but she dodged explaining the work she had done.

"The test is hell but... the recommendations pretty much prove you can pass. So I passed." Sakura stared up the road, lost in thought again.

They walked quietly for time. The forest noises were plentiful. Through the trees the sunlight was gaining strength in the midday.

After a time Sasuke took them on a narrower path. It trailed up a steep hillside. Sakura was laboring as she walked, even with both hands on the walking stick.

Sasuke went to Sakura's side and wordlessly took one of her hands off the walking stick and wrapped it around his upper arm. Sakura looked askance before her face relaxed into a smile. She was getting used to his acts of courtesy.

"We're almost there."

The road curved around the hill and for a time they were over the tree line. Sasuke turned and stopped. The forest laid out before them for miles, cut on one side by the river and in the distance was the roofs of the village. He pointed to a shadowed spot more than a mile away. "There used to be a couple of houses over there. It's just ruined char now. They burned down during the war. People in the village think it's haunted by the families who lived there and died in their homes."

Sakura's hand tightened on his bicep but she remained quiet. Sasuke turned them back and continued walking.

Soon the ground evened out and the trees became thin. After a few more minutes of walking they came to a clearing with a large outcropping of boulders. Surrounding the boulders were large pools of steaming water. Two of them had a wall of rocks stacked between them.

Another pool was tucked away behind a natural rock face and several short trees. Sasuke pointed to it. "That one is a lot cooler than the other two. People have left washbowls around there to bathe with. After you clean up there, you go over to the hot pools." He pointed to the first two pools.

"So... the first bathing pool is for everyone?" Sakura pulled away from him, nervousness lining her eyes.

"Aa. I'm going to walk over to the other side of these pools to make sure we're alone. I'll wait by this boulder over here. You can call me when you're done." He plucked the soap out from his kimono and passed it to Sakura.

Sakura nodded. "Okay." She walked to the bathing pool and set down the pole. She threw him a small smile and turned around.

Sasuke turned back to the path and went the long way around the rocks. He didn't know how other people did it when they came here but it didn't seem like it should be hard to give Sakura her privacy. He imagined her taking off the borrowed kimono, removing the bandages around her midsection, and then peeling off her bra... A dim warning went off in his head and he shut his eyes and shook his head. He didn't need to be thinking about that.

But the image of Sakura disrobing persisted as he tried to think of other things to think about. Sakura in the bath...no, no, not that. Sakura... in his bed? No! Sakura...holding onto him as they walked... perhaps. And wearing no clothing? No, no!

Sasuke forced himself to focus on the forest around him. He checked and checked again for any other chakra signals or evidence of other people, but there was none. For a moment he wondered if he was being reckless bringing Sakura here where they were exposed. Surely she could tolerate another day without a bath... But she had looked so piteous in the cottage.

It didn't matter. They were there now, there was no point in second guessing himself. And Sakura was smart. She understood the risk. If they were attacked she could probably hide while he drew away the enemy. Hopefully.

Sasuke frowned. This was something they should have talked about, rather than heading out, chatting about Naruto, as if they had no cares in the world. He asked himself yet again, what was he still doing there?

It was like... he was distracted. But, if he was being distracted from what he ought to be doing... what was it he ought to be doing?

He had reached the rough path that left the pools and meandered back into the forest. If he wanted he could leave. Was that what he ought to do? Why was he always leaving? Sasuke made an annoyed sound. He had been just fine with his transient life before Sakura showed up and got herself struck by his chidori.

Sasuke reminded himself that he had meant to finally tell Sakura about an episode where he hadn't wandered away, but had tried to set up roots and support someone other than himself. He still had to tell her. He took a deep breath. It wouldn't be easy.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called. Her voice was somewhat distant behind him and it matched the cadence of the woodland birds. "Sasuke! I'm done!"

Sasuke cleared his throat and turned back toward the pools. He would tell her as a way of explaining why he needed to be alone. She would understand when she heard, he thought. And then tomorrow she would be on her way back to her team and he would disappear off down some road. It would be best for both of them, he told himself.

Sakura walked from one pool to the next, dripping water from her hair. When she saw him she smiled broadly and Sasuke gave her back a small smile.

At the water's edge Sasuke stripped off his clothes and found an old water bowl that wasn't too damaged. He doused himself thoroughly. Sakura had left the soap out for him and he dunked it in the water. As he washed he let himself think about Sakura's questions. Who was he without his pride? If he wasn't a shinobi from Konoha, if he didn't take pride in the Uchiha name...who was he? Just like it had years ago, the realization that he could be whoever he wanted was bracing.

He was Sasuke Uchiha. And he would go where he wanted. He rinsed himself off and wrapped his kimono around himself. He went around to the pool opposite the one Sakura was headed to. There he laid out his things and sank into the hot water.

Above the sun was already bending toward the western horizon. In the distance he could hear a hawk cry as it attacked its prey. Panicked twitters told him it was wood thrushes, perhaps a colony in a tree.

Even though the wall was thick enough to keep people from seeing from one pool to the next, sound traveled over it quite well. He could hear splashing coming from Sakura's side. He let himself float and simply listen. After a minute Sakura giggled then more splashing.

Sasuke had an urge to go see what Sakura was doing. He knew it to be a bad idea at once. He found an underwater stone big enough to sit on and he accommodated himself on it. He did not need to leave that rock.

He sat back and let his thoughts drift away on the steam.

He was almost drifting right to sleep when a shadow loomed over him. "Hey!" He shouted and plunged his hands into the water to cover himself.

Sakura laughed. She wore his kimono which covered her all the way to her thighs. "Your shinobi reflexes are already getting dull, Sasuke. Just letting you know that I'm going back to the other pool for a bit."

"You didn't have to come over here to tell me that!"

"Hee-hee I can't believe I got this close. And don't worry, I can't see anything under the water anyway." Sakura walked away giggling.

Sasuke grumbled to himself. At the very least the person who was so concerned about her privacy should show some considerations for others!

He thought about what he could do in revenge. He wondered why he even cared. He wasn't really a prude, he had just reacted out of surprise, much the same way as Sakura had when she was healing herself that morning wearing only her bra. He had to admit it was a very nice sight.

Sasuke cleared his throat. He'd already ordered himself away from such thoughts.

After a time spent thinking about the direction he would head in tomorrow, Sasuke decided he was done in the water. He pulled himself out and dried himself off. From the other pool he could hear Sakura getting back in.

She called over, "Sasuke, are you getting out?"

"Aa. I'm done."

"Oh well, I'll just warm up a little-"

"No, take your time. I'll just sit right here." Sasuke had finished dressing and hopped on top of the wall. Without looking he settled and sat down, looking away from the pool where Sakura was.

Of course, Sakura screamed and splashed when she saw him, diving down until the water was just below here eyes. She seemed to calm down when she realized he wasn't going to turn back around. She moved around in the water and settled down.

Sasuke spoke without preamble. "I lost a second family. Three years ago. It was carelessness that led to it and my pride that took it away again."

Sasuke could feel Sakura's gaze on his back. In a way he was glad he wasn't looking at her as he spoke. "I tried to travel without spending time with people but sometimes I needed to stop in towns or do work for various people. I didn't care what I did for a while. And because of that I didn't care who I spent my time with. There were women eager to spend nights with me..."

Sasuke waited for Sakura to shout or curse or something. But all he heard was water lightly splashing on rocks. "They were willing and I didn't think about anything but my own pleasure. It made it so I didn't have to think about anyone else.

"I was in a country far away to the north. Lots of mountains up there. I ended up in a village with an animal market where I worked as the security for the market operator. I made sure no one caused too much trouble, the animals weren't stolen or killed and no one even considered robbing the owner of the market. It meant I lived in the town for three months. It was one of the places I stayed the longest. There was this girl, lady, I mean, named Meiko. She liked to come by with sake. We would drink too much and..." Sasuke stopped himself for a moment. Meiko. He remembered how her dark brown eyes would flash in irritation at him.

"Then one day she came to the market with her father and an uncle. She showed me her belly. I couldn't tell anything but I wasn't going to lie about being with her."

"You didn't run." Sakura's voice was hushed.

"Hn. We were married less than a week later." Sasuke felt cold. It had been so rushed but he had told himself it was for the best. If that was where he needed to settle down to start a family, so be it. Then he laughed. "We were not a good match. We argued about everything, or just ignored each other. After a few months I seriously thought about leaving. But she was starting to show."

"We lived with her family, her parents and her brother several miles away from the village. It was..." Sasuke wasn't sure how to continue that statement.

Sasuke watched a squirrel leap from branch to branch. "One night I felt my son kick. Meiko was absolutely certain it was a boy and..." Sasuke felt choked for a second. He forced himself to breathe. "I wanted a son. So I stayed."

Sasuke was keenly aware that he had never spoken about this to anyone. He could feel himself shaking but he pushed on. "I had to work but I didn't know anything about raising animals. Like I said, some people just steal the animals, especially when they're on the road to market. So I protected Meiko's father's animals when they were on the road. Usually it was pretty boring work. After the first couple times someone tried to hit us and I put them down they learned to leave us alone.

"But no matter how far away I seem to get, my name bends some ears. This family that hated Meiko's family, they were called Tohoku, heard that I was related to famous ninja. That's all they really knew. So they decided to hire extra muscle for the next raid." Sasuke made a face and closed his eyes.

"They came at us with serious weapons and fought almost at random. The idiots even killed a couple of the cows they were trying to steal. But there were a lot of Tohoku. And one of them put a sword in Meiko's brother's stomach. I went after that guy and he started yelling at me, smearing my name, insulting my family. He couldn't even know my family, but he called us filthy and worthless. So...I..." Sasuke sighed deeply and stared at the sky. Clouds were racing south, tinted on the west side with golds and oranges. "I killed almost all of them. Two of them got away.

"I got Meiko's brother, Hiroshi, to a doctor. He was barely able to survive. We thought we had a narrow miss. But we had to get the cattle to market. In the mountains, once winter descends no one can move. Selling the animals was the only way to earn money for food to last during winter. Meiko was getting far along and she didn't want me to go. But after that I couldn't leave her father to drive the animals and defend them by himself. We had a nasty fight about it, actually." Meiko could have a terribly sharp tongue when she wanted.

"She said I was cursed, that the Tohoku wouldn't have been so violent against her brother if they didn't know who I was. I screamed at her that it was because I was there, because I was an Uchiha, that her brother survived and we got most of the cattle back. Then she wouldn't talk to me anymore." Sasuke paused. He felt cold in his heart.

"So I went with her father. It was easy, completely without incident. It turns out he could have made the trip alone." Sasuke took a shaky breath. "If he had... If I had stayed with Meiko..."

Sakura was dressed and at his side on top of the wall. She spoke softly. "The Tohoku killed her?"

Sasuke nodded, unable to look at Sakura. "Everyone. Meiko's mother and brother, even the goatherd boy who had the bad luck to come in for a drink of water. Hayato, her father, was almost catatonic with grief. But he wouldn't let me attend the funeral.

"I left. On my way down the mountains there was a lake in the process of freezing over. That's where I threw away my weapons. That's where..." Sasuke's voice left him. His hands twitched on his crossed legs. He had seriously considered pitching himself into the lake.

"I'm sorry. It must feel like you always lose your family." She squatted next to him, knees at her chin.

"Hn. It was years ago."

"But I bet you still remember them. I know you still remember Itachi. And your parents."

A broken breath stole in and Sasuke realized he was closer to crying than he liked. He gripped his thighs under his hands tightly. "If I can't protect my family from idiot thugs then... what good am I?"

He felt warmth on one hand. Sakura lay her hand on his. She whispered, "You're protecting me."

"I'm being stupid." He responded. "I shouldn't have brought you up here where we're exposed." He looked at Sakura willing her to understand what a fool he was, but she didn't seem to accept that theory.

Her face lightened slightly. "And here I was just going to thank you profusely for bringing me here. You have no idea what a relief it is to feel clean again."

Sasuke felt his face move a faint step toward a smile. "Actually, I do know."

They were quiet for a moment. And then Sakura spoke softly, "thank you for telling me."

Sasuke nodded. "I've never really told anyone. But I've been meaning to tell you all day." He paused. "So you can understand why I have to stay alone and go my own way."

"Oh."

Sakura looked down at their hands for a long moment. "I guess you did have to think about kids and marriage, and I've been bringing up bad memories by talking about Naruto."

"No, it's okay. I like hearing about it. Just..." Sasuke sighed. It was painful to hear that Naruto was doing so well. But it was also... In lieu of a smile, Sasuke looked at Sakura. "I think you expect that I still hate him, but I don't. I was actually passing by the village down the hill when I heard Naruto was made Hokage. I just wanted to hear more and more and eventually I just stayed in the cottage, fixing it up and helping the people in the village so I could hear about what he was doing."

A grin broke out over Sakura's face as she made a little noise of surprise. She chuckled and shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?" She withdrew her hand. She was so close, and then she shivered. "There's a breeze up here and we still have wet hair. Let's go back before we both catch cold."

"Hn. Okay."

-傷-

This one was tough to write. But I have to move on. Reposted to correct errors.