She wasn't in the mood to beat the crap out of her boys or to watch them beat themselves senseless. She had just helped bring three new lives into the world and their mother was doing great. They were premature but they were fighters. One had given her the greatest scare but the emotional roller coaster was worth it to see the smiling faces of the preemies' parents. Now Sakura was ready to get off the ride and go get some much needed sleep. Her idiotic boys had headed to the training field to blow off steam. She vaguely recalled Sasuke calling it a victory fight but the stupidity of it was too much for her to take in her current state. Without thinking she had followed them and was now cursing under her breath about the long walk back to the tower and her comforting bed.
"Here I was hoping you had come to your senses, I guess not. So, has the time finally come?" she questioned the wind stopping her in her tracks.
"I'm almost impressed, almost," a feminine voice purred as she came up from the earth.
"This really isn't a good time, Umeko," Sakura warned.
"You forced my hand, don't bitch now," Umeko snapped back.
Her long white hair shown in the sunlight and her ocean blue eyes bore into the green emerald of the exhausted medical ninja. Her forehead protector had a flower inscribed on it. She was from the village Hidden in the Petals. Sakura had spend sometime there until she learned the dark purpose of the place.
"I didn't do anything, I've been here," Sakura smiled at the angry young woman.
"My little wondering blossom, I know you've been keeping busy trying to block our moves. I'm sorry you had to learn things the way you did but it will not change what is to come. They will pay for destroying the old ways of the world! All of them, we will not rest until they are all dead," the silver woman snarled.
"They didn't destroy anything, they saved us from a great evil and all you do is complain because the world has changed for the better. Even if you manage to kill any of them a new Kage will take their place, you will never accomplish your goals," the pink woman yelled.
"I thought you would understand. You being the scorn woman of the Hokage We could have used your help. Was becoming like a sister to us not good enough for you? Why did you run home?" the flowered headband woman demanded.
"You once asked me if I had something to die for, well I do, I have someone to die for. You will not lay one finger on his blond little head," she left the threat unsaid.
Haruko had been sent by Tomo to babysit her senseis so that Sakura could go get some rest and not worry about the men tearing each other apart for fun. The sight she came upon startled her. Once again, the woman who she trusted with her Hokage's life was standing off with an unknown ninja. It looked like they were getting ready to brawl.
"I'm not very happy with you," she heard the intruder say.
"I don't give a damn. I'll do it again to protect the men I love. Did the Kazekage pay you a little visit?" Sakura asked darkly, a scary gleam in her green eyes.
"Did you whisper sweet nothings into his ear when lying on his pillow? Tell him what we were up to?" the snow white haired woman accused.
"Gaara and I were never like that. I just sent him a message and directions to your door step. He told me he would take care of it, so I entrusted it to him and came home to keep an eye on things here," was the explanation from the woman Haruko looked up to.
The young student of the Hokage had enough of listening she wanted some answers so she zipped in beside the wife of her sensei. Sakura's heart fell, she wanted to do this quick and quiet with no witnesses. If she had left out the small talk, this fight might have been over by now.
"Aren't you a cute little thing," the blue eyed beauty coed at the hazel eyed demon.
"She's not your type," the medic growled dangerously.
"You don't know that," the vixen snipped.
"Yes I do, she loves the Hokage almost as much as I do," Sakura assured her.
"Pity," the Umeko woman pouted.
"What's going on?" Haruko demanded.
"Remember when you asked me why I came home, I only told you half the story. Standing before you is the other half," Sakura confessed.
"You're going to have to do better than that," the prodigy stated not happy with the explanation.
"I spent some time down south in a the village Hidden in the Petals, an all female ninja village. I was brought in to heal someone but by the time I got there they has died from their injuries. They invited me to stick around, I was fascinated by them so I did. I was there several months before I learned that the village was created for one reason. Destroy all the five Kages who fought for peace. As soon as I learned that, I stole some of their plans and left. I see now I should have killed you all," the wife of the Hokage snarled.
"It was probably best you didn't see that body, you would have noticed the signature of the Kazekage's closest protector and brother," grinned the Petal ninja.
Having just left Suna a few months before she would have noticed the poisons used or the wound marks as Kankuro's handy work. If she had seen the body it would have told her all she needed to know about the place and she could have found damaging information on them sooner. Haruko had heard enough, this woman was after her father figure. She attacked the silver vixen before the rosette could stop her. She used her superior strengths the strike the woman. Striking her full on in the chest the flower ninja turned to mud and trapped the girl.
"What a rookie move," came the sultry voice of the woman Haruko thought she was punching.
Sakura had thought the earth style user had used that technique, she was never the one to take an opponent head on without testing the waters first.
"Leave the child out of this, its my will of fire you have to deal with," the ninja of the Leaf warned taking a battle stance.
"Oh my, you always know what to say to me," crazy blue eyes danced as she got ready to fight the second legendary medical ninja of the village Hidden in the Leaf.
Naruto and Sasuke were sitting in the dirt laughing. They had both failed horribly in their attacks and were making fun of each other for their clumsiness.
"How did a klutz like you end up as the Hokage of the Leaf," Sasuke jabbed adjusting his torn shirt.
"Klutz or not I'm still better than you," retorted the child like man.
"I would say it sounds like you need your ass kicked again but I should," the Uchiha trailed off noticing something out of the ordinary.
"Do you feel something? That's Sakura's chakra," the Hokage yelled as he teleported himself to her side.
He had appeared close to her but she was in the air coming down on a wall of rock. It may as well have been paper the way her monster strength tore through it. A small woman was sent flying over the dirt and grass. She recovered, standing tall with blood soaked mud caked in her once pure white hair.
Sasuke appeared beside Naruto with his snake mask on and a freed Haruko ready for revenge. The blond wanted to jump in and help but the rosette was doing fine on her own. She smashed to dust every boulder that was sent her way. The uninvited guest was doing her best to stay out of the the line of chakra infused blows that were meant for her. The white haired ninja sent a mud slide from her mouth at the attacker. Sakura was buried under a mountain of rock and mud that hardened quickly. The intruder was panting slightly but looking smug. It didn't last long as the mountain blew like a volcano from the inside.
"You think you can defeat a Kage with that amount of power? You're pathetic," growled the dirt covered woman as clots of dirt and rocks rained down around everyone.
"To think, you were holding back on us, you never showed this kind of power when you were in the village," the instigator mused.
"I only use this power to protect people important to me," the monster explained flexing her arm.
"I'm not the strongest of our village you know that, we will find a way to carry out our plans," Umeko warned her one time friend.
Naruto moved to join his wife but she held up a hand to stop him. The half crazed look she gave him stopped him more than her gesture. A glare set in across his face as he steeled his mind to help her. She growled as she slammed her foot down in his direction and the earth crumbled beneath him and the other two Leaf ninja behind him. She returned her attention to the Petal ninja.
"And I will be here to stop everyone who comes this way. Remember this, I am not the strongest by any means in this village or any of the other five countries you seek to destroy," the pinkette warned.
"You're just a pawn like me then," the blue eyed beauty laughed humorlessly.
"I was a pawn who became queen so she could do anything to protect her king," stated the wife of the Hokage.
"The king won't forgive you for not telling him about all the pawns coming after him and the others," Naruto heard the smaller woman foretell as he pulled himself out of the crater his wife created.
"Maybe I don't deserve his forgiveness," lamented the love of his life.
Umeko glared as she reached for her ninja tools. She sprayed a handful of kunai at her opponent. At her feet she exploded a smoke bomb. Sakura swept her arm sending all the blades away from her. As the smoke cleared reveling the Petal ninja was gone. The medical ninja fell to a knee, she was spent, physically, mentally, and emotionally. She looked up into the blue sky wondering where her life would go now that the women of the Petal were on the move. Blackness took over as her body shut down.
Naruto was furious, it hadn't taken him too long to get out of the ruble but the intruder was gone and his beautiful wife was covered in dirt and scratches unconscious on the grassy floor. He was going to give her an ear full when she woke up.
Awaking in her and Naruto's room alone she had to get somewhere else to think. Stumbling out of the lodgings to the stairs to the roof for some fresh air. She was lost in thought staring at the six faces carved into the mountain. Noticing the man beside her she made no move to acknowledge him. She was half expecting to feel the blade at her neck again from when she first came home.
"Haruko told me her story but I want to hear it straight from you," Sasuke stated sitting next to his teammate and friend.
"She knows earth is weak against lightning right?" Sakura asked still looking at the mountain faces.
"Yes, and don't change the subject," growled the annoyed ninja.
"Its what she told you, I was down south in a village of female only ninja. I was there for a while before I found out what they were really up to. Their whole purpose was to destroy the Kages. I stole some plans and sent them to Gaara. He told me he would handle it so I trusted him with it. The man had started a war to protect Naruto, I figured he could handle one village. I should have destroyed the place," she told him.
"You should have at least told me," he grumbled.
"You don't have to forgive me, maybe you should have let that rouge kill me, all I bring him is pain," she cried.
"I've lost respect for you and its not because of what happened out there, its because of what is happening right now. When did Crybaby Sakura come back? Where did the disciple of the Fifth go? What happened to the woman who would call us idiots and smack us on the head for talking like that?" Sasuke questioned.
More tears spilled out her eyes, this wasn't like her anymore. Only when there was lightning and thunder did she cry like this. Something donned on the male next to her. A fun grin graced his handsome face.
"I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm just scared to death that I'll loose him," she sobbed.
Gently he pulled the bundle of blubbering mush into his lap and let her work out her tears. That was how Naruto found them. Her encased in his best friend's arms, protecting her from some unknown heartache. His chakra was concealed because he had been dodging his assistant, so neither ninja noticed him. The Hokage's fight or flight response kicked in. He'd be damned if he didn't fight for her now. His muscles coiled ready to spring on the couple but Sasuke opened his mouth.
"Look, I don't know what you're worried about. Naruto's ninja way won't let him go back on his word. He promised to love and honor you till death do you part. Pretty sure there is an unsaid clause in there about loving and honoring you even when you pull stupid shit. Its a good thing in both your cases. You're not going to loose him, hell, you're going to have to purposely try and get rid of that man and even that fails. Remember how far you both chased after me? He'd go twice as far for you," Sasuke comforted.
"Why did you find me then and not him?" she asked her hand reaching to her necklace, thinking he should be by her side and not the man that was.
"I had Haruko watch you and come get me first when you regained contentiousness. He may not even know you're awake yet. I needed to know what you knew about the village Hidden in the Petals," he answered.
For some reason that made her cry harder, thinking of the danger her love was in and if she had been stronger she could have destroyed that village and protected everyone she cared about. In that village's version of a Kage was a powerful ninja she didn't know if she could beat alone. She needed Team Seven, it seemed that would never change.
Naruto moved so Sasuke could see him. He motioned for the husband of the silly woman to sit next to him. Naruto complied, all the fight gone out of him thinking she was crying over him. They moved her weight with little effort and Naruto held her like he might shatter her like glass. Even though her eyes were closed tight, trying to trap the tears, she knew the moment she was in his arms. His smell always relaxed her. The crying quieted and she drifted off to sleep.
